Arizona Wildcats Basketball season will begin this Sunday with an exhibition game, to say fans cannot wait is an understatement.

Thursday morning coach Miller held a press conference which included both Dusan Ristic and Mark Tollefsen. The topics ran from T.J. to Chance, to St. Mary’s, a lot was covered.

The turnout for the Red and Blue Game was phenomenal; it was sold out!

What wasn’t phenomenal is that shortly after the Wildcats lost a critical piece of the team when Ray Smith was injured in practice and now out for the season. Wildcats fans were sad but know that Smith will find his way back onto the court at McKale next season, and he has 100% support from head coach Sean Miller who feels horrible about Smith’s injury, “I’ve never felt worse for a young player than I did when it happened to Ray.”

RELATED STORY –> Arizona Wildcats Basketball Loses Ray Smith for the Season

Tollefsen and Ristic both explained how hard it was for the team when Ray was injured. “It was definitely a scary moment for sure…Ray is really I think keeping a good positive mindset, and we’re all there for him and he knows that so he’s doing well so far,” said Tollefsen.

Miller explained that Smith will have surgery this coming Monday and the same doctor who took care of him the last time will be performing the surgery this time. Also, he told reporters that Smith’s other knee is doing really well and that since Smith has already gone through this once, he knows what to do. Smith should be ready to practice next summer and a year from now they will re-evaluate him early November.

Coach Miller and the team like to get out of their daily routine in Tucson to get playing experience against another team. The Wildcats recently played St. Mary’s in a closed practice. Because it is a closed door game it can go longer than 40 minutes and can stop play if they want, which makes it a good learning experience.

“We have scrimmaged St. Mary’s the last three years…they are as disciplined and as well coached of a team as we play all season long…” said Miller, “We’ve benefited equally in all three scrimmages…we had a better grasp of what we need to work on as a team.”

Competing for the point guard position this season are Kadeem Allen and Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Miller is impressed by both and said they were different in that Kadeem was longer and could play other positions. “He’s [Kadeem] a very versatile player. Parker and him have really pushed each other, and I’ve been pleased with Kadeem. It’s been equal in many ways, you know Parker is a true point guard and only plays one position,” Miller explained, “Every game every week you see incremental improvement..as they get game experience, and they just keep adding to their practices.”

Mar 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats center Kaleb Tarczewski (35) moves in to score a basket as Wisconsin Badgers forward Frank Kaminsky (44) reacts during the first half in the finals of the west regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

But which point guard will get the start on Sunday? “They will combine in the 40 minutes in the game,” said Coach Miller. He also said not to expect that whoever starts at point guard on Sunday may not start on Friday.

On Kaleb Tarczewski, Miller told reporters where his injury was and where he stood with Kaleb, “The injury that he suffered was more to the inside of his foot, the inside of his ankle…sometimes it takes a little more time to heal..we’ve tried that he gets almost pain-free,” he said, “Our hope is as we get towards this weekend he continues to progress and then is full contact next week leading into, you know, our season opener next Friday.”

The question was, would Tarczewski play this Sunday? “He’s one of our five best players…unless something happens negative from today until Sunday, he’s going to play on Sunday,” said Miller.

Commenting on Mark Tollefsen, he knew he could play the three and the four, he will probably play more three, he can make open shots but isn’t playing in practice at that position.

“We are not going to redshirt Chance, we’re not, and the reason is that he is much further along than we anticipated.” – Coach Sean Millert

Defense is always important, and coach Miller explained which players he feels are the best at defense at this point, “Elliott [Pitts] has really made a jump from his first and second year to now. He’s playing at a higher level..we expect Elliot to be a major contributor this year.”

Who Miller feels is most defensive between the Kadeem and Elliott might surprise you. “Elliott is the furthest along defensively, he’s one of our team’s best overall defensive players, Kadeem Allen and him. I think everybody on the team would really look to those two guys as being very dependable when it comes to being in the right place and taking on these elite guards that we are going to face.”

Chance Comanche Post Ballislife game Photo by Shereen Rayan 05/02/15

Going into the press conference, the first questions posed to coach Miller were about T.J. McConnell, but most of the conversation turned out to be more about incoming freshman center Chance Comanche.

There has been speculation that Comanche was going to red-shirt this season. Coach Miller confirmed today that Comanche is not redshirting, “We are not going to redshirt Chance, we’re not, and the reason is that he is much further along than we anticipated.”

Miller went on to say very encouraging things about Comanche, “He’s playing really good basketball. You know the thing that he’s missing is just strength and his weight, and he can only gain so much of that right now. I have really great optimism about his future…we’re a foul trouble situation, an injury away from him playing..he’s more than capable of helping us in those situations.”

He went on and explained for everyone not to judge him on his freshman year; it’s going to take him awhile to bulk up, and that’s encouraging.

Dusan Ristic had nice things to say as well, “Chance is my roommate too so he made huge progress since day one..he’s put up some weight, he’s a really skilled player. Playing against him and Kaleb is a really good thing for me. Kaleb is a strong guy so I can really benefit from that and also Chance is a quicker guy…he gets stronger every day because he is working hard guy especially in the weight room.”

Dec 3, 2014; Boulder, CO, USA; San Francisco Dons center Mark Tollefsen (23) shoots over Colorado Buffaloes forward Wesley Gordon (1) in the second half at the Coors Events Center. The Buffaloes defeated the Dons 72-55. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Tollefsen chimed in as well, “I think [Chance’s] his confidence is going up..he’s got comfortable and more confident in himself as a player and really is just playing out there.”

We spoke to Chance’s mom today, Melissa McGee, and here is what she had to say, “I’m excited to hear the news that he is not red-shirting and is potentially ready to contribute to the team this year.” So are we! Glad to hear he is progressing so well. From what we saw last year as a senior in high school, Comanche is a great defender of the basket, blocking seems to come naturally to him.

RELATED STORY–> Wildcats basketball: California Commit and Tower Center Chance Comanche

Gabe York is in his senior year, and Coach Miller is looking for him to improve on two fronts, to be more vocal on offense and to be more of a defensive threat. “We’ve challenged Gabe to not be the same, but to be better..you almost don’t realize the big moments he had offensively,” Miller said, “I know he wants to finish his career as a senior and have his best year overall..the two things he has to be able to do for our team is defend better and be a more vocal consistent leader…be that guy and this team needs his vocal leadership.”

Coach Miller gave us insight on how well York is doing, “He has to lead through his own personality, and I think he’s learning how to do that.”

Mar 4, 2014; Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Boston College Eagles forward Ryan Anderson (12) shoots the ball against Florida State Seminoles center Boris Bojanovsky (left) during the second half at Silvio O. Conte Forum. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Fans are looking forward to seeing what Seniors Ryan Anderson and Mark Tollefsen bring to the team. Miller feel both contribute a lot, but focused on Anderson, “Ryan Anderson has been our best player hands down I would say that he’s dominated the practices, very similar to Solomon Hill in his senior year or T.J. McConnell a year ago in that he dominates the action in everything we do,” he said,

Miller had even more to say, “We give the gold jersey out to the best player of the week…and he’s won it six consecutive weeks and he’s been unchallenged. He’s one of our pleasant surprises..he made a huge jump this offseason physically, and sometimes you forget the value of a player that has played three seasons already.”

Adding his final comment on Anderson, “He’s [Ryan] a tremendous leader, and he’s a very good player, I look for him, especially if his health stays intact, to have a great year for us.”

Mark Tollefsen is very excited to play for Wildcats fans, “Oh man, I mean, it’s just an unreal experience. For me being a guy whose played in the WCC and you know venues that aren’t as big as this one and especially with some fans that aren’t like Arizona..it’s so much fun and especially at the Red and Blue Game it was a blast, and since that day I’ve always been ready for this Sunday and play in front of our fans, it should be fun,” said Tollefsen.

Last but not least, we cannot complete this press conference update without giving you some insight into Coach Millers thoughts on T.J. McConnell’s success in the NBA thus far, “It’s a great story on a number of different fronts for T.J. and his family.”

76ers rookie T.J. McConnell is the 1st player in NBA history with at least 12 assists in 2 of his first 4 career games (@EliasSports). — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 5, 2015

Per Elias: TJ McConnell first player since box scores noted starters (70-71) to have 7+ pts, 12+ asst and 9+ rebs in first NBA start #Sixers — Alex J. Yoh (@alexjyoh) November 5, 2015

Miller went on to explain that there is a lesson to be learned, that T.J. was the type of player who worried more about his teammates than he did for himself “The lesson to be learned…I don’t know if he ever aspired necessarily to be an NBA player, as much as he really locked in on trying to be the best player that he could be at Arizona. He was probably the guy who was worried more about how the other guys were doing towards pursuing their dream than his own and ironically it comes back in a big big way.”

The amount T.J. contributed to the Wildcats is not lost on Miller, “He was as a consistent of a player that I’ve ever coached, day in and day out..to say we are all very proud of him would be an understatement and it’s remarkable what he’s been able to do here early on as an NBA Player.”

can't help but love watching @iPass4Zona play… — Solomon Hill (@solohill) November 5, 2015

Ristic said he was able to talk to McConnell two days ago and added, “He was really happy and excited about that and after yesterday’s game and the day before that I wasn’t really surprised because that’s what T.J. does every day, you know he is really a hard working guy, he always gives 100% in every practice last year, so really it’s not a surprise for me..he deserved it.”

RELATED STORY –> T.J. McConnell Takes on LeBron James

The teams first exhibition game is this Sunday against Chico State in McKale at 6:00 p.m. MST, and Coach Miller want the stands filled and the ZonaZoo crazy..let’s give him what he wants, shall we?

Beardown Arizona!