Arizona Basketball: Wildcat Seniors, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Dusan Ristic and Keanu Pinder

The 2017-18 Wildcat roster has three seniors that have been through a lot and seen a lot, Parker Jackson Cartwright, Dusan Ristic and Keanu Pinder.

Senior leadership! Unfortunately, it is very uncommon nowadays for players to stay four years at a NCAA Division 1 powerhouse like Arizona.  The Wildcats though will have three experienced seniors on their squad this year: Parker Jackson Cartwright, Dusan Ristic, and Keanu PInder – PJC, Duuuuesssss and Pinder!

Having the talent and depth is important to a team’s overall success, but senior leadership is even more important. Freshman may have the confidence and think they know what it takes to get the W, but seniors REALLY know what it takes to get the W! When it may be a close game or things aren’t going according to plan, having leaders on the team will give the Wildcat that extra edge.

More from Wildcats Basketball

• Arizona Basketball likely to schedule Florida Atlantic for 2023
• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s FIBA World Cup performance is reminiscent of Kobe Bryant’s
• Rawle Alkins a star in the Drew League this summer
• Arizona Basketball to play in ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ in 2024
• Reflections on the Pac-12, the Arizona Wildcats, and other memories

Parker Jackson-Cartwright

The last three seasons for Cartwright have been impressive. He had to step into a leadership role at the point guard position, overcome an ankle injury, while at the same time improving his stats.

As you can see, year after year he has improved in almost every category including rebounds per game!  Also, he scored double digits points in six games last season – including one game against North Colorado in which he had 15 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds. That’s almost a triple double!

Cartwright did miss six games this year due to a high right ankle sprain. He was expected to miss more but was able to make a speedy recovery.

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 9/4/2017.

Cartwright provided Wildcat fans with many exciting moments from this past season, including these two:

https://twitter.com/AZATHLETICS/status/827550310340055041

PJC even showed off his no-look skills during the most recent photo shoot:

https://twitter.com/UA_DigitalGurus/status/888175370834518016

Dusan Ristic

Dues! Similar to PJC, Dusan has improved his overall game over the last three seasons. Last season he scored double-digit points in 25 games, had two double doubles and started in 34 of the 36 games played. Besides his improvement in stats, Dusan had to move into a key role as a BIG MAN for Arizona after Kaleb Tarczewski, Ryan Anderson and Brandon Ashley went onto the NBA. Those were some big shoes to fill!

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 9/4/2017.

As a big man, footwork and mobility are crucial on both ends of the floor, and Ristic knows this. He has been putting in a lot of off-season conditioning work and putting himself in prime shape for his senior year:

Even after three seasons, Ristic is continuing to find ways to improve. That says a lot about his character and how he is open minded to trying new things. He was recently asked by Brian Jeffries before their trip to Spain how he felt about the addition to Coach Lorenzo Romar:

"Told Coach if you have something that i can improve or fix or solve, willing to work on that."

This past season against Utah in the Pac-12 home opener, PJC and Ristic stole the show! Ristic had 18 points and eight rebounds, and PJC had four points, nine assists and three rebounds including this sweet looking  assist to his big man counterpart down low:

Ryan Hanson had the chance to interview these two after the game – Tom Brady to Gronkowski!

The chemistry these two have is fun to watch! Hopefully this next season there will be more of it.

Keanu Pinder

The third senior on the team would be Keanu Pinder, the man from down under. At 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds, Pinder brings that tenacity and does all the little things that don’t show up in the box score – which coaches love!

This past season, he averaged 12 minutes per game and played in all but two games. Yes, he didn’t play a lot of minutes, but not’s about the quantity but the quality of his play when Coach Miller called his name.

Pinder did show off his athleticism this past season as well with some amazing dunks, blocks and a three-point shot. And yes you read that right.

Blocks:

A three-point shot from NBA range:

Baseline Slam:

https://twitter.com/AZATHLETICS/status/793651559682805760

Must Read: More on Arizona Basketball

With the number of freshmen on the Wildcat roster this season, Coach Sean Miller will be counting on these three to provide senior leadership and experience.