LAS VEGAS. The door to Locker Room 7 at the T-Mobile Arena swung open Thursday afternoon, and Arizona’s national title hopes stepped out in a wheelchair.
The passenger was point guard Kerr Kriisa, the engine behind the Wildcats’ fast and furious 29–3 offense. He was pushed by student manager Anderson Mort. Criisa’s right leg was wearing a black boot and covered in a Gatorade towel. The 21-year-old Estonian was still wearing his white No. 25 uniform and a white headband.
Criisa appeared to be FaceTimed with someone as Mort walked down the corridors towards the exit of the arena. Squeezing through the door, they stepped out into the windy, sunny afternoon of Las Vegas and made their way to the nearby team bus.
Putting his wheelchair next to the bus, Mort turned from pilot to photographer. He set aside Criisa’s low-cut pink Nike sneakers and his gym bag for a quick photo of Criisa giving her two thumbs up, while senior student manager Luke Handley also gave a thumbs up. Krisa posted a photo on Twitter with the caption: “Look how we win it all. Break. Go, cats.”
Mort and Handley then helped Criisa up from her chair and up the steps of the bus without the guard pushing against his right leg. He sank into the first seat behind the driver. After a quick telephone consultation, Arizona received permission to leave the wheelchair for a while and loaded it into the lower luggage compartment.
The question is how long Kriise will have to use a wheelchair, or crutches, or a walking boot, or whatever.
Basketball players jump and land countless times during the season, which is a routine activity that always comes with risks. A team’s fortunes could change with a bad touchdown in March – ask Cincinnati in 2000, when Kenyon Martin broke his leg in a conference tournament and shattered the Bearcats’ No. 1 title hopes. Let’s see if the Arizona season has taken a similar turn.
Criisa crashed to the floor with 32 seconds left in the Arizona Pac-12 quarterfinals against Stanford, knocking the air out of a thrilling game that the Wildcats won 84–80. Criisa slapped a tree in pain, his body awkwardly positioned as the Arizona medical staff attended to him. After being helped to his feet, he limped off the floor without leaning on his right leg.
Shortly after the game, Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd described the injury as “some kind of sprained ankle”. I have no idea how serious this is.” At the very least, Criisa is unlikely to play Friday night in the semi-finals of the Pac-12 tournament and probably not in a potential championship game on Saturday night – why rush, given that Arizona’s NCAA Tournament bid is blocked, and the #1 seed seems secured. ?
The big question, of course, is next week. Will the guy who leads the Wildcats in assists (4.9) and threes (78) ready for the NCAA Tournament? And if he plays, will he be 100%?
AP Photo/John Losh
Arizona has enough talent to beat the No. 16 seed without Criisa. After that it will be difficult. According to Ken Pomeroy, the Wildcats are the fourth fastest team in the nation in terms of offensive pace and lead the nation in assists per ball made. Both of these attributes begin with Kriisa. Last month, he scored a triple-double against Utah. It made only one revolution in March.
He is good. And valuable.
“Kerr means a lot to the team,” said top scorer Ben Maturin. “He is the starting point guard and has a big impact on the team. And we play well when he’s here. Whatever happens will happen, but we hope he will be back soon because we need him.”
In fairly wide-open years, Arizona is one of eight to twelve teams with a legitimate chance of winning a national title, and in truth, the Wildcats are at the top of that list. But removing a key element at this stage would be a lot of stress for a young team with little postseason experience.
This is one of the reasons why this Pac-12 tournament is valuable to Arizona – very few of its players have any experience of playing basketball tournaments as high school students. But this experience may not be worth the cost if Criisa is absent (or compromised) for the Grand Dance.
If need be, the Wildcats have a sixth year who could play an important role in Justin Keir. He spent four seasons at Georgia Mason and one at Georgia before moving to Arizona that season, where he was a productive member of an eight-man rotation. Kir plays more arc than Kriisa, who has made just six two-point shots in the last nine games. If needed, after Cyrus Dalene, Terry and Pelle Larsson could also probably give Lloyd a few minutes as point guard.
For Arizona fans, this unexpected joy of the season is now filled with suspense. It has been 25 years since the Wildcats’ first and only national championship and 21 years since their last Final Four. Part of this drought was caused by them.
The program has been under the microscope of the FBI and NCAA law enforcement for more than four years after being embroiled in a federal college basketball corruption investigation. Former assistant coach Emanuel “Buk” Richardson pleaded guilty and served three months in prison for his role. Former head coach Sean Miller was fired last year.
This season has been an exit from that dark tunnel. Under freshman coach Lloyd, who brought with him the winning formula from two decades as Gonzaga’s assistant, Arizona was back in the spotlight. Lloyd inherited a lot of talent, mostly foreign, and quickly maximized it. Maturin turned into a star and probably got a high pick in the draft. 7’1″ Christian Koloko lost a career-high 24 points at Stanford. Comrade big man Azhuolas Tubelis can go to 20 any night.
On paper and in real life, Arizona looks like a contender for the national championship. The Wildcats have size, athleticism, shooters, defenders and plenty of depth.
Or at least they had it all. If Kerr Kriisa fails to return to his quick and creative abilities, the Wildcats will be another team – not out of competition, but undermined.
The thumbs up picture was a good message from Kriisa to the Arizona fans. But the sight of him doing it in a wheelchair will haunt them for a long time to come.
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