Season Recap

[CatsTopPac]

Well. There it is.

Not much to say other than we got close. With a one point loss like that, you could pick any play apart and if a basket drops (etc.), we move on.

What I will say though is that winning the Pac, having the conference POY, ROY, and COY, 33 wins, a lotto pick, and an Elite Eight, are nothing to shake a stick at.

I don't know what that game would have been like with a healthy Brandon Ashley, but I would have liked to find out. We didn't beat ourselves though. The usual suspects of FT% and turnovers didn't cost us. 70% and 7 turnovers is pretty efficient for the season averages.

Were were at least a top 8 team, and there's an argument that we were a top 4 team with Ashley. So at least that's good to know.

Defense was just a pure joy to watch this year; such a well-oiled machine. Even if we had won, I have to wonder if we sacrificed offense for defense this year. I know we were top 20 in offensive efficiency, but it seemed like even when we were taking good shots, they just weren't falling. And that might be because we didn't focus on it enough this year (near as much as we focused on defense, anyway). I'd like to see more of a consistent offensive output in terms of FG% from Miller. I know it's almost impossible to have a top defense and top offense (because there are only so many hours in practice), but it just looked like we weren't as comfortable putting the ball in the basket as we should have been (either from the field, the perimeter, or the line). It seemed like every game, the guys needed to see the ball go in the hoop before they felt comfortable.

I could pick it apart to illustrate my point, and say that NJ, TJ, and AG went a combined 11-37 (29.7%), while the rest of the team went 12-21 (57%), but it's just something else to point to. But I still think that having BA was probably a bigger deal overall.

Looking forward to a great Final Four, and here's to a better year next year. I hope that the potential for each player to grow next year, and the potential for the team next year has a big part in swaying some decisions in staying or entering the draft, but we'll see. Still a great year coming next year with the class coming in, and a lot of experience coming back.

Let's defend the Pac title, honor the process, improve as players and coaches, alike, and take the next step as a program. Bear Down.

 

[azchamps]

Tough loss. One point in OT is a heck of a way to go out. I won't complain about this season but to be honest, I could be a lot happier than I am this morning.
GO CATS!
I guess it's time to find the football forums.

 

[The Derski]

I really hope Nick stays for his senior year. Everyone seems to think he bolts. If he stays our lineup will be deadly.

McConnell
N. Johnson
S. Johnson
Ashley
Zeus

York
RHJ
Pitts

That's probably the rotation.

 

[CatsTopPac]

I really hope Nick stays for his senior year. Everyone seems to think he bolts. If he stays our lineup will be deadly.

McConnell
N. Johnson
S. Johnson
Ashley
Zeus

York
RHJ
Pitts

That's probably the rotation.

Nah man you are forgetting some peeps.

TJ/PJC
NJ/York/Allen
SJ/RHJ/Pitts
BA/CVPeters
Zeus/Ristic/Korchek

I don't know how the rotation goes, but I could see something like this:

TJ
NJ
SJ
BA
Zeus

RHJ
York
Pitts

and then at least one or two getting some minutes out of Victor, PJC, Ristic, and Allen

I don't know how much Peters and Korchek develop, but we should have a much deeper rotation from the class coming in.

 

[The Derski]

Someone with insider can you post the whole article?
Analyzing Arizona's title chances in 2014-15 - College Basetball - ESPN

 

[The Derski]

Nah man you are forgetting some peeps.

TJ/PJC
NJ/York/Allen
SJ/RHJ/Pitts
BA/CVPeters
Zeus/Ristic/Korchek

I don't know how the rotation goes, but I could see something like this:

TJ
NJ
SJ
BA
Zeus

RHJ
York
Pitts

and then at least one or two getting some minutes out of Victor, PJC, Ristic, and Allen

I don't know how much Peters and Korchek develop, but we should have a much deeper rotation from the class coming in.

I knew I was missing people, just trying to guess what our rotation would be. Seems like it could be 8 deep if Nick stays which would be huge.

 

[520GGATO]

Nick stays IMO. I don't really see why a lot of people see him going. He would be better off staying another year; he's too inconsistent on offense. It's not a put down, just what I've witnessed.

 

[520GGATO]

I think I'm gonna take a 7-day break from UA forums and just sports in general. See y'all later.
Bear Down.

 

[gordontrue]

Someone with insider can you post the whole article?
Analyzing Arizona's title chances in 2014-15 - College Basetball - ESPN

here...

No one knows what might have happened if Arizona's Brandon Ashley didn't go down with a season-ending foot injury back on Feb. 1. Remember, the Wildcats were rolling, unbeaten and No. 1 in the land.

The Wildcats, who were the front-runners to cut down the nets in Texas, became just another Final Four contender. Ashley’s departure from the lineup took away a key offensive threat, and also eliminated what was the most formidable and powerful front line in the nation.

Arizona missed out on an opportunity, but Sean Miller and the Wildcats may have another next season. However, there are questions that need to be answered.

Aaron Gordon is a virtual lock to leave school after just one season in Tucson. He’ll be a top-10 pick in the NBA draft, and his toughness and defensive tenacity will be sorely missed and nearly impossible to replace.

Ashley told me shortly after the injury that he is almost certain to return to school. He was thinking long and hard about the NBA route prior to going down for the season, but he’s a second-rounder and should be back in the lineup next season.

The keys are Nick Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and even Kaleb Tarczewski. All three will have decisions to make.

The 7-foot Tarczewski, according to sources, is leaning toward returning for his junior season. Hollis-Jefferson has always been on draft boards, but the overwhelming thought was that he’d be more than a one-and-done player as he came off the bench for the first four months of the season. That may have changed over the past month or so, as the country was able to watch the athletic wing defend and also come up with key buckets. However, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t come back for his sophomore campaign.

Then there’s Johnson, the Pac-12 Player of the Year. He’s a likely second-round pick, and it may come down to whether he wants to have a chance to go down as one of the best players in program history if he can help hang a banner next season. The flip side is whether Johnson’s NBA draft stock can soar any higher.

The addition of Stanley Johnson will help the Wildcats withstand the subtraction of Aaron Gordon.
Miller will bring in a loaded five-man recruiting class that should soften the blow of losing Gordon, and possibly bring even more than that. Stanley Johnson (No. 7 on the ESPN 100) is the prize of the group: a big, strong, versatile wing from Mater Dei in California who chose Arizona over Kentucky.

Miller will add two more recruits from the ESPN 100: undersized, blue-collar power forward Craig Victor (No. 37) out of Louisiana and diminutive point guard Parker Jackson-Cartright (No. 57), who will be a quality backup to T.J. McConnell. There’s also a pair of wild cards in junior college scoring guard Kadeem Allen and skilled Serbian 7-footer Dusan Ristic.

Let’s assume Gordon and Nick Johnson leave, which I’m told by numerous sources is the most likely scenario. The Wildcats would still have a starting unit of McConnell, Stanley Johnson, Hollis-Jefferson, Ashley and Tarczewki. That’s a group of four potential first-round draft picks.

One aspect that was missing after the loss of Ashley was quality depth, and Miller would have a deep bench with Gabe York, Elliott Pitts, Victor, Jackson-Cartright, Allen and Ristic.

Miller went to an Elite Eight his second season in Tucson, and many Wildcats fans felt the program was back after going through a rough stretch in Lute Olson’s twilight years. But that wasn't the case, as Arizona was in the NIT the following season.

Now the program is back to the point where it can lose a lottery pick in Gordon, the Pac-12 Player of the Year in Johnson and still be the Pac-12 favorite and a Final Four contender.

Even if they lose Gordon, Miller and the Wildcats could be the front-runners again to snip down the nets if everyone else decides to return.

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

I don't want to speculate our rotation next year until we know for sure who's staying and leaving. IMO, Nick Johnson's decision will have the most impact on the outlook of our team next year but everyone seems to think he's leaving. Man if we only lose AG to the draft, we have to be considered one of the favorites next year but I think we lose 2-3 players to this years draft; AG, NJ, and perhaps a surprise 3rd player, either Rondae or Kaleb.

 

[johnson]

I think we win with Ashley in the lineup because he would have been assigned Kaminsky at least some point in the game and been far more effective than Zeus was on him or, well, the oft-times Nobody At All covering him.

I'm still processing this season. I know it's important to keep perspective. It's almost worse when you are expected to be a Final Four team and get bounced in the Elite 8 and than getting bounced when you aren't (The D-Will team felt a lot more triumphant to me in 2011 than this one after the loss).

PAC-12 Regular Season Champs. Early season NIT Champs. Top 4 ranking. All things to be very proud of.

Runner-up in the PAC-12 tournament is okay. UCLA seriously deserved that win so we just tip our hats. Elite 8...I just feel like it wasn't enough to be proud about and we should have won (my fave bad non-call was NJ getting a knockout punch to the face 5 feet in the front of the ref).

Anyways, that's the way the cookie crumbles and looking forward to next year. The good news is this probably saves me like $1500 I didn't need to spend as I was about to book a flight to Dallas.

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

I think we win with Ashley in the lineup because he would have been assigned Kaminsky at least some point in the game and been far more effective than Zeus was on him or, well, the oft-times Nobody At All covering him.

I'm still processing this season. I know it's important to keep perspective. It's almost worse when you are expected to be a Final Four team and get bounced in the Elite 8 and than getting bounced when you aren't (The D-Will team felt a lot more triumphant to me in 2011 than this one after the loss).

PAC-12 Regular Season Champs. Early season NIT Champs. Top 4 ranking. All things to be very proud of.

Runner-up in the PAC-12 tournament is okay. UCLA seriously deserved that win so we just tip our hats. Elite 8...I just feel like it wasn't enough to be proud about and we should have won (my fave bad non-call was NJ getting a knockout punch to the face 5 feet in the front of the ref).

Anyways, that's the way the cookie crumbles and looking forward to next year. The good news is this probably saves me like $1500 I didn't need to spend as I was about to book a flight to Dallas.

I think our downfall against Wisconsin was our lack of depth. Kaminsky absolutely killed us, especially in over time. I don't understand why Miller didn't start Zeus in over time! I have yet to figure this out! Kaminsky had a field day out there and I feel that had Zeus been in there the whole time things could have been different. I don't know but either way our lack of depth, especially at the front line hurt us. I had high hopes for Korcheck going into this year (sometimes I felt like I was the only one who had hope for this guy all year haha). We could have really used his size and strength for depth but he just didn't pan out this year and of course losing Ashely was a big hit to our front line. I hope Kaleb & Ashely stay cuz our front line depth will be awesome next year.

 

[gordontrue]

Thinking of NJ and TJ as seniors paired with Ashley and Zeus as juniors is beyond exciting. Throw in 4-time state champion Stanley and that's a crazy elite squad.

TJ is the only one guaranteed to be back though, so lets see what happens.


Is there a potential issue with scholarship openings with Kadeem, Stanley, PJC, and Victor all coming in?

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

Thinking of NJ and TJ as seniors paired with Ashley and Zeus as juniors is beyond exciting. Throw in 4-time state champion Stanley and that's a crazy elite squad.

TJ is the only one guaranteed to be back though, so lets see what happens.


Is there a potential issue with scholarship openings with Kadeem, Stanley, PJC, and Victor all coming in?

I always get confused when it comes to scholarship stuff but it doesn't sound like there's any issues or else we probably would have heard something by now.

 

[johnson]

It was a little perplexing why Zeus wasn't in there. Only thing I can think of is that he was so ineffective against Kaminsky most of the game, Miller may have given up on him. Kaminsky was hitting longer range shots toward the end of the game too so they may have wanted a faster guy to keep up with him after/during the screens.

The frustrating part of me was that it was pretty obvious Wisconsin only had one guy that was a real threat that NEEDED to be guarded or even doubled when feasible, that being Kaminsky, and he was still shooting wide open 3s and jumpers late in the game. And we all know it was due to defensive breakdowns, not Kaminsky's Jordan-like moves.

 

[FORKWDEVIL]

ASU season recap: We won 20 plus games, We beat UOFA, Went dancing, LOL.
Tops our resume! What saddens me is that Herbie is talking about Gilling being the core of our strength. Fuck that.

 

[The Derski]

here...

thanks

 

[GumbySquad]

Word is that Ernie Kent is back in the league... is going to take over the head coaching job at Washington State.

 

[nogicat]

Word is that Ernie Kent is back in the league... is going to take over the head coaching job at Washington State.

WOW thats pretty interesting. Wonder how thats going to work out

 

[GumbySquad]

WOW thats pretty interesting. Wonder how thats going to work out

Yeah, he won't get the types of players he was at Oregon... not in Pulman, but he is a good coach IMO.