Tyler Dorsey’s split with Arizona has worked out for all sides
LAS VEGAS — When Arizona and Oregon meet in a highly anticipated Pac-12 semifinal on Friday night, it will also be a matchup between two players who will forever be inextricably linked.
On one side is the star freshman guard the Wildcats landed last year. On the other side is the star freshman guard they let get away.
The clash between Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey and Arizona’s Allonzo Trier will be the first of the season because Trier was hurt when the Ducks snapped the Wildcats’ 49-game home win streak on Jan. 28. Both players are third on their respective teams in scoring this season and cracked the Pac-12’s five-player all-freshman team earlier this week.
“I respect Tyler Dorsey and his family a great deal,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said Thursday. “I knew that when he made his commitment to Oregon that would really work out because his style of play and Dana Altman’s style as a coach is a really good fit. And Allonzo has done very well for us too.”
Dorsey committed to Arizona as a high school junior in Jan. 2014, but the high-scoring Pasadena, Calif., native began to have second thoughts a few months later. Miller accepted a commitment from combo guard Justin Simon in April 2014 and continued to pursue Trier and other highly touted shooting guards afterward.
If Dorsey was already worried he’d be the odd man out in a crowded backcourt, his experience during tryouts for the U.S. U-18 team that June could not have made him more secure. Not only did Dorsey not make the final U.S. roster even though Miller was an assistant coach on the team, Trier was also among the five guards selected.
Dorsey announced he was decommitting from Arizona shortly afterward, a decision he insists was both mutual and amicable. He said after his team’s come-from-behind Pac-12 quarterfinal victory over Washington on Thursday that he has “no hard feelings” toward the Wildcats.
“I just felt I committed too early,” Dorsey said. “I didn’t take any visits. I jumped the gun, kind of. I just wanted to enjoy the recruitment. That’s all it came down to. I think Arizona is a good school with a great fan base, a great everything. I just feel I jumped the gun and needed to take my time.”
Miller hinted that Dorsey may have committed before he was ready and insisted the recruitment of Dorsey and Trier wasn’t an “either or” from his standpoint. He suggested Arizona would have taken both players even if such a scenario was unlikely given that both were Rivals top 20 recruits who play the same position.
Whatever the circumstances of the recruitment, the outcome has worked out exceptionally well for all parties. Both Dorsey and Trier have thrived as freshmen, filling holes on their respective teams and shoring up weaknesses in their own games.
Brought along slowly during non-conference play, Trier has assumed a bigger role since proving to Miller that he could defend up to Arizona’s standards. The 6-foot-4 Seattle native has averaged 14.6 points per game this season, making an impact with his ability to bull rush his way to the rim off the dribble or knock down open outside shots.
Trier was Arizona’s best player in its 82-78 quarterfinal victory over Colorado, scoring 23 points on only 11 shots and getting to the free throw line nine times. But in a sign of how he has matured at Arizona, he was more proud of the way he has developed on defense than his big scoring night.
“Defensively is where I’ve improved the most and made the biggest strides,” Trier said. “The coaches have pushed me every day to be my best. There’s no letting me slack. I can’t be a liability out there. They hold me to the same standards as every player who has come through here.”
Dorsey’s freshman year has been equally successful. In addition to averaging 13.2 points and knocking down 42.2 percent of his 3-pointers, the Oregon freshman has shed his reputation as a player who cared more about his own stats than his team’s success.
In Oregon’s 83-77 victory over Washington on Thursday night, Dorsey scored 17 points and made the game’s biggest play, an offensive rebound in traffic in the final minute with the Ducks clinging to a two-point lead. The freshman said all the right things afterward too, going out of his way to emphasize that he takes more pride in Oregon’s 26-6 record than in his own success.
“I think it was an up and down year for me, but it was a great year because we’ve been winning,” Dorsey said. “We won the Pac-12. We just won this game. All I care about is winning and helping the seniors get into March and finish out strong.”
Would Dorsey have enjoyed the same success at Arizona? Would he have been able to crack the rotation with Trier and senior sharpshooter Gabe York both there too?
“I really have no clue at all,” he said.
Regardless, he’s happy with how everything has worked out. When he and Trier meet for the first time this season on Friday, they’ll both do it as success stories.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
