The status of Arizona Wildcats sophomore guard Allonzo Trier has been cloudy for nearly a month -- and there's no evidence to suggest it'll be made clear anytime soon.
Trier was arguably Arizona's best player during his freshman season, but whether he'll take the court at all this season remains up in the air. And we still don't know why.
Here's the timeline of events:
In early October, rumors surfaced that Trier, who bypassed the NBA Draft to return to Tucson for his sophomore season, would be suspended for the entire 2016-17 basketball season after testing positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Is there anything to those rumors? We still have no idea. We know something's going on with Trier; we just don't know what, as UA basketball coach Sean Miller, athletic director Greg Byrne and the entire university have been as tight-lipped as possible about Trier's status.
After UA's Red-Blue exhibition game on Oct. 14, Miller refused to comment about Trier's status. At Pac-12 Media Day one week later, Trier was a no-show, even though he had been advertised to represent UA at the event alongside his coach. Senior guard Kadeem Allen took Trier's place -- and again, Miller refused comment on the Trier situation.
On Monday during his weekly press conference, Miller was asked about Trier a third time. As one might predict, he began to get a bit testy.
Here's what Sean Miller said about Allonzo Trier today pic.twitter.com/J7Ro7PE8nq
— AZ Desert Swarm (@azdesertswarm) October 31, 2016
Being persistent, Arizona Daily Star reporter Bruce Pascoe pressed Miller about Trier, asking if the situation is pending or under an appeals process.
"I was taught a long time ago when I was four years old that no doesn't mean maybe. Maybe that's just Beaver County, Pennsylvania. But no doesn't mean maybe," Miller said.
On Tuesday, UA held an exhibition game at home against College of Idaho. The Wildcats won easily, but that wasn't the big story.
The Wildcats lost forward Ray Smith for the season following his third ACL tear in 30 months. (Two days later, Smith announced he's stepping away from the game of basketball.) We also learned center Chance Comanche will be suspended indefinitely due to academic reasons.
The kicker: Trier didn't play, and of course, we don't know why. He participated in a pregame team shootaround...
Shoot around started. Allonzo Trier on the floor. Good sign so far. We'll see what this means #ArizonaWildcats pic.twitter.com/DjCm7gtODl
— Dave Cooney (@CooneyLand) November 2, 2016
...but didn't take part in a team warmup minutes before the game began. He sat on the Wildcat bench throughout the game.
After the game, a UA spokesman informed the press that Miller wouldn't take any questions about Trier.
So... here we are, one week before the Wildcats open their regular-season schedule against Michigan State, and we have no idea when Trier will be eligible to play, if at all, during the 2016-17 season.
The only thing we know about the Trier saga is that it's a strange one -- and Wildcat fans are anxious for answers they might not receive anytime soon.
