Arizona Basketball: How Devonaire Doutrive’s absence impacts Arizona

Arizona Basketball will be out one of their key players, Devonaire Doutrive, due to violating team rules for an indefinite amount of time.

Before the exhibition game even began against Chico St, Arizona Basketball released a statement indicating that sophomore guard Devonaire Doutrive would not be playing. Because of a violation of team rules, he will be suspended indefinitely. His absence will be felt and how Arizona’s adjusts will be key to their success early on.

As a fan, hate to see this happen but certain rules are put in place for a reason. One can only hope it’s not as bad as it sounds and that he’ll be back soon. Especially with everything he has been though, hard to see a player as good as he is sitting on the bench and not able to play.

Doutrive had a stellar Red and Blue game showing, taking over the slam dunk contest and lead all scorers with 15 points. Confidence that he didn’t have last season was on full display. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to carry that over into the exhibition game. Luckily though with the news that Jermarl Baker was cleared to play, the Wildcats had the needed depth at the point guard position.

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With the sudden news he wouldn’t be playing, players had to adjust. Dylan Smith moved into the starting role and Baker saw an increased amount of minutes at the back up point guard position. Depth is not a problem for this season, but still without Doutrive their is one less scorer on the floor. Last time I checked, you do need buckets to win.

The first game of the regular season is against NAU on Nov.6 and then followed by Illinois on Nov.10, which are both are at home. Arizona should be okay without Doutrive for the first game, but not having him against Illinois might hurt a little. The next four games are all at home and winnable, but as the Cats learned against Chico St nothing is guaranteed.

Having Doutrive in the lineup sooner than later will help strengthen team chemistry. The college basketball season, especially in the Pac-12, is a long grueling one. Especially come conference play this season where there are a lot of strong teams and each win is going to have to be earned. Having a team that is working as one cohesive unit, at home, and on the road is key for this team to be a contender.

Wildcat fans can’t wait to see Devonaire Doutrive back in action inside McKale Center. He is one of the most improved players from last season and brings so much excitement to the game of basketball. At Zona Zealots, we hope he is back real soon. As always, Bear Down Arizona!