2016-2017 AZ CBB Reg Season

[The Derski]

There seems to be a lot of speculation that Trier becomes eligible once the new semester starts. I hope, because that would be awesome. The status of Trier definitely changes the possibilities for this team.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about how they've have played so far. Not the best competition... but they've been playing with 7 guys most of the way, so coming out 11-2 is awesome.

If Trier become eligible this team has final 4 potential. Can you imagine a one-two punch of Trier and Markkanen? That would be devastating to opposing defenses. Plus a healthy PJC running the point? Wow. 11-2 to this point is awesome. If we had a full squad we might be 13-0.


The plus side about where we are right now is we have two very respectable losses.

 

[The Derski]

Resilience. That is a word I describe our team so far.

 

[dcZONAfan]

We just pulverized Stanford last night. It was fun to watch (especially considering I stayed up until 4 am to do so, glad I was rewarded with a game like that). It's hard to imagine that we will have Kadeem, Rawle, Ristic, and Kobi to SUPPORT our 1-2 punch of Trier and Lauri. That's just so much offensive firepower not even taking into consideration Chance if he plays with confidence like he has been and PJC running the show and (hopefully) finding his 3 pt range by the end of the year.

Add in the fact that we are really tough defensively, I think it will all come down to can we rebound the ball. If we face a team like UNC in the tourney, how do we keep them off of the boards? We do that, we can beat anybody.

 

[gordontrue]

Great start to the reg season. The next few days will tell us a lot.

 

[The Derski]

Trier playing tomorrow!!!!

 

[gordontrue]

Trier playing tomorrow!!!!

Really!?

 

[gordontrue]

Its awesome that he's back for this game of all games... but man that's a tough game to be integrating a major piece back into the lineup.

Whatever happens later today in the UCLA game... this is AMAZING news and should lift Arizona into the tier of contenders this season.

 

[CatsTopPac]

@CatsTopPac @Arizona_Sting you guys still alive?

Sorry man. And I said I'd be on more too. Just a bunch of shit happening. I moved to PHX puke and went to Central America for a bit to do some research. Now I'm teaching a class this semester and I have to get the syllabus set and shit. Following still but just not with the regularity I'd like.

 

[The Derski]

Sorry man. And I said I'd be on more too. Just a bunch of shit happening. I moved to PHX puke and went to Central America for a bit to do some research. Now I'm teaching a class this semester and I have to get the syllabus set and shit. Following still but just not with the regularity I'd like.

Nice dude. Central America and teaching a class? That's legit! No worries CTP.

 

[The Derski]

Scroll down to the part where he talks about Arizona. It's awesome.

https://theringer.com/college-baske...florida-state-arizona-b61ec3faa6a9#.7mu0zkhbz

 

[gordontrue]

Scroll down to the part where he talks about Arizona. It's awesome.

https://theringer.com/college-baske...florida-state-arizona-b61ec3faa6a9#.7mu0zkhbz

That was awesome.

 

[The Derski]

T.J. McConnell showered with ‘MVP’ chants in Philadelphia

 

[Eco]

You guys already up 6-0 on the Beavs? That's basically game over.

 

[CatsTopPac]

T.J. McConnell showered with ‘MVP’ chants in Philadelphia

He did it again!

 

[The Derski]

I understand the effort Kadeem gives us every night but the dude just straight up gave it to UCLA in the final seconds. Kadeem pisses me off so much. This team is better without him. His defense is overrated in the long run.

 

[CatsTopPac]

I understand the effort Kadeem gives us every night but the dude just straight up gave it to UCLA in the final seconds. Kadeem pisses me off so much. This team is better without him. His defense is overrated in the long run.

I hear ya, but it's like Miller said, the problem wasn't the last few seconds as much as it was some of the mistakes that came before.

Some of my thoughts:

1) Our starting lineup needs to be PJC, Allen, Trier, Lauri, and Dusan. Rawle and Kobi coming off the bench will give them a great ability to come in and keep up the momentum, but those 5 are the best and most consistent guys on both sides of the ball that we have.

2) We lost the game because they outscored us on 2nd chance points, 20-4. We just couldn't get a board under their basket to save our lives. The good news is that it was an anomaly. Normally we are pretty stellar at getting boards so I think we just dropped our focus on it and UCLA really exposed it. Credit to them. Our 3pt % was weak and could have made a couple more, but really the 2nd chance points is what did us in. We also really struggled against their long and lengthy zone to ever get the ball inside and get our bigs going. I think we had to rely too much on Comanche and Dusan getting back to form will help a little with that. But we got a great look at about as tough a zone as we'll face, given their length inside. So we can improve on that.

3) We played a solid game. We shot over 50%, held them to 45%, really limited their 3pts, and kept the turnovers low (although we still had some rough give aways). It was a good game. This game should really help us fine-tune some of our weaknesses against really good competition. I think that we are growing and really on the cusp of being a FF team. I think the next two games will really decide. I noticed that some of our shots weren't taken with confidence and we didn't hustle as much as we should. If we let this game get to us, we will not have grown from it. But if we maintain our form, we only have one game between today and the 9th. That's a lot of time to work on it. If we look good for ASU and the first round of the P12 tourney, I like our chances in the UCLA rematch.

4) To your point Dersky, Kadeem might be our leader, but he is not our last-shot guy. Trier, or maybe Lauri if he is hot. Furthermore, with Kadeem's hand still probably not being fully healed, I'll give him a pass on last night, but regardless, Trier is our go-to. That being said, Kadeem is our leader. Miller says so, and so I believe it.

5) Finally, the only excruciating part about the game last might were the refs, and for both sides. They completely fucked up the whole first half. They called so many bullshit calls in the first half on AZ that we were at 7 midway through the half. Then, realizing it, they called a bunch of bullshit makeup calls on UCLA to even it our. They completely dominated the first half. Then they did the same thing to a lesser extent in the second half. I would have been great to watch the two featured teams do battle and instead the refs wanted their due. Fucking bullshit.

I'm not too broken up that we lost. It sucks, and it was at home, and it hurt our seeding (but only if we were going to have won out, which I wasn't anticipating), but overall I think we gained so much from the game. The lessons are there. UCLA is a really solid team and so we learned a lot about what we need to do going forward.

On to McKale North to face the scummies!

 

[CatsTopPac]

How do you guys see our team this season? One thing I've noticed in I-don't-know-how-long is that we finally went a year where we haven't lost a game out of nowhere to an opponent we should have beaten. Like every year, we lose to Cal or ASU, or OSU or some shit and this year (knock on wood) we haven't.

Obviously we are still generally vulnerable against the zone. Miller said that we had about 5 possessions in a row where we looked bad, but overall he said we scored like 30 points on 29 possessions against their zone. Take away those 5 bad ones in a row and we didn't do bad against it. I hear him, but I'd like to see that continue, because it will need to for March.

I really want to see us gel more. I know it's tough because we've only had like 5 games with everyone suited up and playing. Hopefully Kadeem and Dusan get back in the swing of things and we can continue to build chemistry. I think (hope) Trier being such a big piece is why it's taken a little while for us to settle in with him back, and not because its causing any rifts.

I think we have the talent to play with anyone. We still need to work against the zone, and everyone healthy playing their roles. Kobi and Rawle only scoring a total of 5 points was a concern too.

I think if we can win out we make a great argument for 2 seed in the West, but playing UCLA and then Oregon the next day in Vegas I think will be too tough to expect us to win out. But again, I'm so glad the Pac has such great competition again that we can see this level of talent right up to March. Miller in his press conference said it's really teaching us a lot right now.

 

[The Derski]

This season is kind of difficult to summarize. We've had so many setbacks. Even without the setbacks we've had I think the the Aaron Gordon and Stanley Johnson teams would easily handle this current team. This year we dont really dominate anyone... maybe that's not a bad thing though... (1997)...
I know I ripped into Miller after the UCLA loss but he just might be national COY considering the circumstances.

I will always remain optimistic.

 

[CatsTopPac]

This season is kind of difficult to summarize. We've had so many setbacks. Even without the setbacks we've had I think the the Aaron Gordon and Stanley Johnson teams would easily handle this current team. This year we dont really dominate anyone... maybe that's not a bad thing though... (1997)...
I know I ripped into Miller after the UCLA loss but he just might be national COY considering the circumstances.

I will always remain optimistic.

I think you're right about AG and SJ teams being better. But both teams had/have the ability to make it to the final weekend with a great run and a bit of luck.

Here's to another conference title!!

 

[CatsTopPac]

Holy shit. I can't believe we beat UCLA and Oregon on consecutive nights in Vegas right now. I think our dip at the end of the game would have cost us if Boucher played, but we still played pretty close to a full 40.

I think we are really coming together right now. I feel like Miller is getting more out of this team than he has any other, and doing a better job coaching than ever. What he's been able to accomplish with so much that's happened since the start of practices is amazing. Smith gone (I can't even think about where we'd be if he played), Trier gone for almost 2/3 of the season, PJC, Kaddem, and Ristic all out for spurts with injuries, and whatever is going on with Kobi. To bring them all together in the face of so much working against the ability to finally get cohesion, knowing roles, and playing as a team, is phenomenal to me. I just didn't think we'd get here. We ended up as one of 3 teams with 30 wins, and did so with the toughest SOS.

We're as ready as we'll every be.

BTFD!