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Top college basketball player ruled ineligible by NCAA

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Arizona coach Sean Miller’s quest to reach his first Final Four just hit a major roadblock as one of his best players has been declared ineligible by the NCAA.

Allonzo Trier ran afoul of that institution when he tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance for the second time. He was suspended last season for testing positive and had to sit out 19 games.

The penalty for a second positive PED test mandates a one-year suspension. Arizona is appealing the suspension and released a statement on the matter.

Arizona said Trier’s second test “revealed the reappearance of a trace amount of a banned substance. The amount detected was minuscule by scientific standards and appears to be a remnant of a substance, which the NCAA agreed, Allonzo had unknowingly ingested in 2016. The University is appealing the decision and is hopeful that Allonzo will regain his eligibility soon.”

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Trier is not only the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer at 19.6 points per game, but he is also second in the Pac-12 in scoring and trails teammate DeAndre Ayton by just 0.1 PPG.

Just as Arizona contends, Trier’s attorney Steve Thompson also says the positive test was triggered by remnants from when Trier tested positive for the selective androgen receptor modulator Ostarine in 2016.

“The NCAA’s intransigence on this issue is mind-boggling,” Thompson told reporters. “Allonzo has never been a drug-cheat, and the NCAA found in 2016 that he never took Ostarine intentionally. The experts tell us Ostarine can be stored in fatty tissues for a long time, and tests can be negative but then later be positive as the substance comes out. The medical evidence also shows that the reappearance of a trace amount in his system now creates absolutely zero competitive advantage. We’ve asked the NCAA’s medical panel to review the case — as the rules provide — and the NCAA has refused. This is so frustrating and unnecessary, especially at this time of the season and Allonzo’s career.”

Thompson compared this to the case of former college football player Kolton Houston, who tested positive for a PED in 2010 and then kept failing additional tests for the next three years. Houston didn’t keep on taking the banned substance, but he still triggered positive tests because the steroid remained in his body.

Do you think the NCAA was right to rule Allonzo Trier ineligible?

Houston even went the route of having surgery to remove fatty deposits that trapped the steroids, and after three years of being suspended by the NCAA, he finally received clearance to play in 2013.

Those in the college basketball world are siding with Trier in what could be a lengthy fight with the NCAA.

Unless this suspension is shockingly overturned within the next month, Trier’s college career is all but over. He’s flirted with the NBA draft in each of the last two summers, and in 2017 he promised that the flirting would end in 2018.

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Trier was projected as a second-round draft before the news of his suspension. The suspension won’t carry over to the NBA, but scouts could see this as a character red flag regardless of the outcome of the appeal.

The suspension comes at the worst time for the Wildcats as they’ve already lost two games in February after losing just one game in December and January combined. The team will rely on freshman Ayton even more, and the potential first overall draft pick leads the Pac-12 in scoring, rebounding and win shares.

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Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009.
Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009 and previously worked for ESPN, CBS and STATS Inc. A native of Louisiana, Ross now resides in Houston.
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