Pac 12 basketball

[trojanfan12]

Gary Parrish has four Pac-12 teams in the top 15 in his way too early rankings for next season.

8. Oregon
9. Arizona
11. UCLA
14. USC

He actually has USC 13th, not 14th.

Why you hatin' mang?

 

[The Derski]

Cuonzo Martin's status at Cal is pretty uncertain at this point. Dont know if people have heard but he's being investigated for his role in some harassment case at the school.
Cal to probe head coach's role in harassment case

 

[ericd7633]

Cuonzo Martin's status at Cal is pretty uncertain at this point. Dont know if people have heard but he's being investigated for his role in some harassment case at the school.
Cal to probe head coach's role in harassment case

Heard he's a serious candidate for the Ga. Tech opening. Would be a good fit there IMO.

 

[gordontrue]

He actually has USC 13th, not 14th.

Why you hatin' mang?

Haha, my bad. I guess that's my subconscious as work... although I thought it would've picked UCLA to hate on.

 

[LASports96]

USC landed their 4th commitment of the 2016 class: 6'11 3 star PF Nick Rakocevic..... had a big senior HS season.

And apparently might be the favorites for Duke transfer PG Derryck Thornton.

Fun times.

 

[ericd7633]

USC landed their 4th commitment of the 2016 class: 6'11 3 star PF Nick Rakocevic..... had a big senior HS season.

And apparently might be the favorites for Duke transfer PG Derryck Thornton.

Fun times.

I think USC was a year ahead of schedule. At this time last year, I thought going into this season they would be an 8/9 seed type of team like they were this past season. If Jacobs comes back, I really think USC is a top 15 team next season. Enfield has done a great job at USC, the cupboard was extremely bare when he took over.

UCLA/USC should be fun next year.

 

[Olyduck]

spaced out the last days but
Oregon Picks Up A Shot Blocking Machine in Kavell Bigby-Williams

 

[The Derski]

Welcome to Tucson Terrance Ferguson!

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Ferguson is a beast. 3 and D prospect that is athletic as hell. Huge pickup

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Four 5 stars plus Trier and Smith returning…. man, can't wait for CBB

 

[CatsTopPac]

Even if Miller can't get another big, we should still have enough length overall to be tough to defend. Hahaha, lots of combo guards!

 

[jontaejones]

Lonzo Ball is gonna be a f@ckin beast! Can't wait to see him play.

Pac 12 should be a three way race with the trad powers in play.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Even if Miller can't get another big, we should still have enough length overall to be tough to defend. Hahaha, lots of combo guards!

Lots of versatility too. I'm sure we'll see some 3 guard lineups as well.


Simmons can play the 1&2.
Trier can play the 2&3.
Alkins can play the 2&3.
Ferguson can play the 3&4.
Smith can play the 3&4.

Then you got your three bigs in Comanche, Dusan & Markkanen rotating around. Plus Deem & PJC. My god, our 10 man rotation is beautiful.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Lineups I'd like to see:

G- Simmons
G- Trier
F- Ferguson
F- Smith
C- Ristic
==========
G- PJC
G- Allen
F- Alkins
F- Markkanen
C- Comanche

So many variables.

 

[ericd7633]

If you want a blue print for how Zona should play next year, look no further than this year's champion. Nova played a 6-6 guy at PF. Honestly, that's what I would do with that roster. The big question though, will they have the chemistry that Nova had? All these guys are much more highly recruited than Nova's guys were, and some probably think they are off to the NBA after this season.

 

[CatsTopPac]

If you want a blue print for how Zona should play next year, look no further than this year's champion. Nova played a 6-6 guy at PF. Honestly, that's what I would do with that roster. The big question though, will they have the chemistry that Nova had? All these guys are much more highly recruited than Nova's guys were, and some probably think they are off to the NBA after this season.

Great points. And great question. Chemistry is always underrated on teams that have rosters with high turnover. I'm hoping that Trier will be the leader next year and be able to bring the guys together. The good news is that we have more talent than last year. But leadership and chemistry is what separates the good from the great next year for AZ.

 

[ericd7633]

Great points. And great question. Chemistry is always underrated on teams that have rosters with high turnover. I'm hoping that Trier will be the leader next year and be able to bring the guys together. The good news is that we have more talent than last year. But leadership and chemistry is what separates the good from the great next year for AZ.

I do think chemistry is important as well, unless you're just overloaded w/talent and then in that case chemistry isn't quite as important(see UK 2012 and Duke 2015). I don't think this Arizona team has the talent of those two schools in those years, but they do have players coming back that have logged MAJOR minutes in their careers(Trier/Allen/PJC/Ristic) to balance out quite an incoming class. Zona's back court is utterly loaded, it will be interesting to see how Miller utilizes his bigs. Is Markkanen more of a stretch 4? I know he's talented, just don't know much about his game.

 

[CatsTopPac]

I do think chemistry is important as well, unless you're just overloaded w/talent and then in that case chemistry isn't quite as important(see UK 2012 and Duke 2015). I don't think this Arizona team has the talent of those two schools in those years, but they do have players coming back that have logged MAJOR minutes in their careers(Trier/Allen/PJC/Ristic) to balance out quite an incoming class. Zona's back court is utterly loaded, it will be interesting to see how Miller utilizes his bigs. Is Markkanen more of a stretch 4? I know he's talented, just don't know much about his game.

Sheer talent can definitely replace a need for tight chemistry, but even looking at 2013 UK I'd argue that it's still important for teams with a boatload of talent. And like you said, AZ won't have quite those guns, so the talent will only get us so far next season.

Miller is trying to go out and get another big, and hopefully he can get a guy who can at least take up some minutes without too much of a drop off. I've heard rumblings that Ray Smith might get some minutes at PF since he's a big kid, even if only 6'8". But with the size AZ has in the other positions, AZ can still be pretty lengthy. Our physical weakness next year (unless we get a transfer) will be post defense. Zeus didn't produce a hell of a lot on the offensive end, but he was solid on D in the post. I'm not expecting any of the current bigs for next year to maintain that.

It looks like Markkanen will be a stretch 4 for us. People are comparing him to Dirk in that regard.

 

[jontaejones]

If you want a blue print for how Zona should play next year, look no further than this year's champion. Nova played a 6-6 guy at PF. Honestly, that's what I would do with that roster. The big question though, will they have the chemistry that Nova had? All these guys are much more highly recruited than Nova's guys were, and some probably think they are off to the NBA after this season.

Absolutely, so much is chemistry. We lose our 3 leading scorers from a team that lost in the first weekend and we come back the next year and win the national championship.

One of the things I think coaches tend to do is play overplay upperclassmen even though they might not be the best fit for team chemistry. Unlike the NBA, you can't just trade guys away.

 

[ericd7633]

@CatsTopPac @dcZONAfan @The Derski @gordontrue @Arizona_Sting first time I'm really getting to watch Stanley Johnson in the league. Dude is gonna be a beast in the league. Really impressed with him this series thus far. Bright future.