Breaking Down the 2014-15 Arizona Wildcats' Scary Situational Lineups

The Arizona Wildcats just might be the best team in the country this season, and Sean Miller has a bunch of different, talented lineups that he could run out on the court in various situations.

While other good teams have strong starting fives and maybe a couple of quality players off the bench, these Wildcats are so stacked that they might have trouble finding playing time for the reigning JUCO Player of the Year.

In addition to their bread-and-butter starting five, we've put together lineups for the Wildcats in situations when they need a three-point bucket or two, situations when a rebound is imperative and, of course, the lineup we'll see on the court when they're up by 30 points.

Some of these are just wish lists of combinations we'd love to see together, but they're all a testament to how deep and talented Arizona will be this year.

PG: T.J. McConnell (6'1")
SG: Stanley Johnson (6'7")
SF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (6'7")
PF: Brandon Ashley (6'9")
C: Kaleb Tarczewski (7'0")

Barring injuries, this is the Arizona unit we will see playing together most often this season.

While most of the attention will be paid to the fabulous freshman (Stanley Johnson), the scintillating sophomore (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) or the junior returning from a season-ending foot injury (Brandon Ashley), T.J. McConnell is the straw who stirs Arizona's drink.

McConnell was a knight in shining armor last year. None of us really knew what to expect from the guy who put up outstanding numbers in his first two years at Duquesne. Not only are expectations and the level of competition more than a bit higher at Arizona than they are at Duquesne, but he was also immediately given the reins after sitting out the 2012-13 season.

Arizona was pretty good during that year with McConnell glued to the bench, but the Wildcats were a true point guard away from being elite. Mark Lyons was the primary ball-handler that year, but he averaged 4.1 field-goal attempts per assist. By contrast, McConnell attempted just 1.4 shots per assist in 2013-14.

On a team with four extremely talented big men, a distributor is much more important than another scorer.

It wouldn't be a surprise if McConnell finished the season with something close to 7.5 PPG and 7.5 APG.

This lineup also doubles as Arizona's foul-shooting lineup when clinging to a late lead. Most teams would prefer to pull their big men, but Ashley (75.7 percent) and Kaleb Tarczewski (75.6 percent) are actually Arizona's best free-throw shooters.

The Wildcats lost both the best (Nick Johnson, 78.1 percent) and worst (Aaron Gordon, 42.2 percent) free-throw shooters from a team that ranked 302nd in the nation in free-throw percentage. Hopefully Stanley Johnson can step up his one-point game (shot 63 percent in 2013 EYBL play), because he's going to spend a lot of time at the free-throw line with his style of play.

PG: T.J. McConnell (6'1")
SG: Gabe York (6'3")
SF: Elliott Pitts (6'5")
PF: Brandon Ashley (6'9")
C: Matt Korcheck (6'10")

On the off chance that Arizona is ever in a position in which it desperately needs some threes in a hurry, not only will the confused looks on our faces mirror those of Gabe York and Brandon Ashley in the photo above, but this would also seem to be their best lineup for that situation.

Though we just got finished raving about his ability and willingness to be a passer, T.J. McConnell is one of Arizona's best three-point shooters now that Nick Johnson is gone. McConnell made 36 of 100 attempts last season.

The only other returning player to even attempt 30 triples last season was York. He averaged one three-point attempt for every 5.6 minutes on the court, shooting 38.5 percent in the process.

York shot more than twice as many three-pointers as two-pointers, but that's nothing compared to Elliott Pitts' ratio. Pitts only attempted 35 shots last season, but 80 percent of those were from three-point range, where he shot 39.3 percent.

Pitts saw considerably more action after Ashley's injury opened the door for more playing time for all, but the freshman shooting guard never became anything close to a focal point of the offense. Only twice did he score more than three points in a game.

Ashley is 6'9", but he does have some range. He converted on 37.9 percent of his 29 three-point attempts last season. We wouldn't exactly call him a stretch 4, but he can step out for a triple in a pinch.

Last, but not least, no three-point lineup would be complete without an offensive rebounder. Matt Korcheck played just 101 minutes last season, but at 11.9 percent, he was the team's best offensive rebounder.

PG: Stanley Johnson (6'7")
SG: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (6'7")
SF: Matt Korcheck (6'10")
PF: Dusan Ristic (7'0")
C: Kaleb Tarczewski (7'0")

Just about every team in the country has one of these "That would be fun, but it would never happen" lineups, but isn't this one at least somewhat plausible?

Instead of putting a free-throw lineup in there to pad a small lead, this seems like the perfect lineup to have on the court when you're up by one on defense and the shot clock is off.

You wouldn't want to go man-to-man with Matt Korcheck on the opposing small forward, but this would make for one heck of a 2-3 zone with two outstanding on-ball defenders up top in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson.

Once the contested shot goes up, the opposing team has virtually no hope of getting a rebound against a pair of 7'0" giants and a third man (Korcheck) who was already mentioned on the previous slide as Arizona's best rebounder last season.

Alternatively, the Wildcats could focus less on grabbing the rebound and more on preventing the shot in the first place by replacing Korcheck with T.J. McConnell—my pick for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. But at that point, you're really just replacing Brandon Ashley with Dusan Ristic in the starting five and running out a marginally bigger lineup.

But considering Arizona was already the most efficient defensive team in the country last year, it's not a surprise that its "Defensive Stop" lineup is basically its normal five.

PG: T.J. McConnell (6'1")
SG: Stanley Johnson (6'7")
SF: Drew Mellon (6'6")
PF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (6'7")
C: Matt Korcheck (6'10")

We know that Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson aren't seniors. However, if the idea of senior night is for fans to pay their final respects to departing players, those two players belong on the court with these other three seniors.

Let's not kid ourselves, though.

This night is all about Drew Mellon.

According to Patrick Finley of the Arizona Daily Star, Mellon was just some dude lighting it up at the rec center before being plucked to join the practice squad in November 2011. He wasn't even officially on the roster until Jan. 3 of that season.

In his career, Mellon has played a grand total of 23 minutes. In the final 45 seconds of a 34-point win over Long Beach State last November, Mellon grabbed the only rebound and scored the only point of his college career.

The man has played so sparingly that we couldn't find a decent picture of him in our databases, so we had to go with the other infrequently used senior, Matt Korcheck.

But when Mellon gets announced as a starter on senior night, the McKale Center is going to give him a standing ovation. And when Sean Miller runs a play to give him the first shot of the game, that place will explode if he makes it.

If moments like those don't get your blood pumping, I don't know why you watch college hoops.

PG: Jacob Hazzard (6'0")
SG: Trey Mason (6'2")
SF: Elliott Pitts (6'5")
PF: Drew Mellon (6'6")
C: Dusan Ristic (7'0")

Two lineups with Drew Mellon?

Was this slideshow written by Drew Mellon?

No, but it's pretty safe to assume he'll be one of the players on the court when Arizona is either losing or (more likely) winning by 30 points, in an effort to prevent any extremely pointless injuries to key players.

In addition to Mellon, one player we haven't encountered anywhere else in this piece is Jacob Hazzard.

Where Mellon has scored one point in his career, Hazzard basically set a world record for points per 40 minutes last season. He played just 29 minutes, but scored 20 points.

Hazzard appeared in 13 games last year. On average, Arizona won those games by 26.4 points. So, yeah, he's all but a guarantee to be in this "Game Over" lineup.

Completing the walk-on trifecta is Trey Mason.

Son of Harvey Mason Jr.—the same Harvey Mason Jr. who played for Lute Olson from 1986-90 before becoming a six-time Grammy winner—Trey Mason appeared in 10 games last season as a freshman. Like Hazzard, they were all blowouts.

PG: Parker Jackson-Cartwright (5'10")
SG: Trey Mason (6'2")
SF: Elliott Pitts (6'5")
PF: Craig Victor (6'9")
C: Dusan Ristic (7'0")

Before the season begins, we may find out that at least one of the players in this theoretical lineup is redshirting. Until that news breaks, though, this is the closest we'll come to a glimpse into the future of Arizona.

Of course, Sean Miller has already gotten commitments from three 5-star players in the class of 2015, so there's a better than average chance we won't actually ever see this lineup on the court together.

Still, the Wildcats have a total of seven players on the roster who are either a freshman or sophomore, and two of them (Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) could be lottery picks in June.

That leaves these five guys as the ones we could see on the court for Arizona for the next three to four years.

Of the bunch, Craig Victor has the most promise, and he might actually get a decent chunk of playing time this season. 247Sports rates Victor as the sixth-best power forward in this year's class of freshmen. Should Sean Miller so choose, he could bring in Victor as the primary player to relieve Brandon Ashley—particularly early in the season as Ashley gets back into playing shape.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright probably won't play much in a backcourt that includes T.J. McConnell, Gabe York and Kadeem Allen, but he could be a nice change of pace at point guard, similar to Tyler Ulis' presumed role at Kentucky this season.

All advanced stats via KenPom.com (subscription required) and Sports-Reference.com.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.