Our Real Problem

[nogicat]

I am probably gonna get shit on for this, but so be it.
Our real problem is Sean Miller. He recruits great and his players play great defense but it just seems for the past three years (yes even this one even if we are 23-2) he consistently fails to make offensive adjustments. Every team does the same thing against UA. Back off McConnell (who's play has been much worse and should shoot more often) and pack the paint, and take away the pick and roll we thrive on. Yet nothing is done about it. The FT situation obviously continues to get pushed aside. I am still in shock that we never developed a bench this season... That was downright stubborn and stupid. I also HATE his usage of timeouts before media timeouts and refusing to use them at crucial points in the game where we desperately need a bucket.
In no way am I calling for Miller's head, he is a young coach and still learning, but he needs to stop so being so fucking stubborn and consistently blaming games on defense and other nonsense. He needs to make some damn adjustments, light a fire under these guys, and get the FTs addressed.
Hopefully this humiliating loss leads him to make these changes, lights a fire under the team, and we starting playing better ball.
However, seeing the same issues the past 3 years and nothing changing I dont expect anything.
He's probably just gonna say pin it on some defensive play in OT.
And the Technicals shouldnt havent been given, that's a game we deserved to lose and quite frankly Im glad we did. Been playing like solid dogshit for a month or so now minus one game.

 

[The Derski]

Those techs should have been given. Rules are rules are rules. And I'm tired of the "we deserved to lose" I keep hearing. ASU played like shit too so I guess they deserved to win?

 

[ChicagoIrish]

ASU won tonight?

 

[The Derski]

ASU won tonight?

Yeah. Beat us in double OT.

 

[nogicat]

Those techs should have been given. Rules are rules are rules. And I'm tired of the "we deserved to lose" I keep hearing. ASU played like shit too so I guess they deserved to win?

The tech for storming the court is unwarranted. Theres a rule that says if it doesnt interrupt play at that moment (live play) then its not a tech. Both in the Cal game and this game the refs stopped play to look at the clock. No tech warranted.

As for him hanging on the rim thats close but still does it matter?
We would have missed all the fucking free throws anyways

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Our real problem is Sean Miller. He recruits great and his players play great defense but it just seems for the past three years (yes even this one even if we are 23-2) he consistently fails to make offensive adjustments. Every team does the same thing against UA.

Sounds a lot like Tom Crean.

We'll take Sean Miller off your hands if you'd like?

 

[The Derski]

If Johnson ends up shooting them I would have confidence. He has always been clutch on the line late in games. IE the Michigan game. Kaleb was making all his FTs in OT as well.

 

[nogicat]

Sounds a lot like Tom Crean.

We'll take Sean Miller off your hands if you'd like?

Not calling for his job just saying he needs to make adjustments and quit being so stubborn

 

[The Derski]

I do agree Miller doesn't know how to change an offense during the game. All we do is run motion. I want too see some real offense too. other than the occasional alleyoop our offense is pretty boring. Our defense wins the games.

 

[FORKWDEVIL]

real problem is you got beat in Tempe! face it.

 

[CatsTopPac]

I agree for the most part nogi. We played good defense tonight, that wasn't the problem at all. It worries me that Miller tries to hang his hat on that, when it shouldn't even have been mentioned. ASU is pretty decent in both ppg and fg%, and we held them well under their average on both. He is definitely stubborn. We definitely need more offense, and a smoother one at that. We knew that 3pt play was going to be lacking this year, but it seems that the guys are going backwards on it, and Miller is not facilitating its maintenance.

The free throws and turnovers were the problem, and have been all season. The lulls in offense are also glaring, and have been all season. You can't sacrifice offense for defense and expect to get very far in March, you have to have both. Period. Shooting 35% and holding a team to 40%, while pointing at the defense is troubling to say the least.

The bench issues and timeouts are also classic Miller mistakes, and I have a feeling that those will be the last thing that--as a coach-- he improves upon, because he doesn't seem to be making any progress on them. Every year, we start by rotating out entire lineups, and then he squeezes it down to the point that it costs us. It seems like as far as the bench development is concerned, every year we have a shorter and shorter bench. We've talked about all of this, so I won't belabor it. I just completely agree.

And ultimately, I also agree, we did deserve to lose. So did ASU. I really feel that we need to be held accountable for the lack of free throw success, and the costly turnovers. And when we can directly point to them in such a terrible loss, then it shows that we can't ignore it, just because we win, or are ranked well, etc. It's the elephant in the room, and it's only going to get bigger if we don't face it. Hopefully this will be the wake up call for Miller to really address it with the guys and make improvements before March.

So it's only a concession that I say that ASU should have been called on those techs. Not even from an AZ fan, but from a fan of the game. There can't be such blatant violations (at any point in a game, but especially the end of a close game), with complete disregard. There is no way that there are such overt, glaring, and certain fouls, and nothing be called. It should have never gotten to that, and that is the main point. I get it. But why the fuck are they even rule if they are going to get continuously ignored. Any rule: how do refs get to pick and chose when it's administered. It's not like holding in football. The refs were scared of the fan reaction to getting two techs, and so they bowed down. And again, AZ fan aside; they cowered to the one of the most classless fan bases in the game. What message does that send? They completely lost control, and it's not fair to the game.

But yeah, I think we deserved to lose, and I'm glad they lost. It's better to face the music now, then to continue squeezing out wins, and pretending like the major problems don't exist, simply because there wasn't a loss to point to. Here it is.

And I think we are all in agreement. Miller is a very young coach, despite being a very good one. He is making some very basic mistakes that get ignored, because of the success. And he is stubborn about accepting them (obviously). But sometimes, the only way to learn is to get fucked up from it. And I just hope that he, and they, don't lose the lesson, or all of it is pointless. Lots of basketball left, but we need to improve in some major areas, or we aren't going to get very far in March.

 

[CatsTopPac]

The tech for storming the court is unwarranted. Theres a rule that says if it doesnt interrupt play at that moment (live play) then its not a tech. Both in the Cal game and this game the refs stopped play to look at the clock. No tech warranted.

Not to nit pick, but it did stop live play. They didn't take almost 10 minutes to look at how much time to put back on the clock. They took 2 minutes to do that, after they had to address that 1000 students were on the court, preventing live play. Tech should have been called.

 

[Clayton]

Arizona had like 6 chances to win that game. They need someone who can create their own shot

 

[nogicat]

Not to nit pick, but it did stop live play. They didn't take almost 10 minutes to look at how much time to put back on the clock. They took 2 minutes to do that, after they had to address that 1000 students were on the court, preventing live play. Tech should have been called.

live play as in the clock is rolling, which it wasnt.
The clock stopped on the dunk as they blew the whistle to look at the clock and well then the students ran on the court.
either way I agree with you in terms of the rules needing to be enforced at all times, but it is what it is. Every crowd we play on the road will be foaming at the mouth to beat us.

 

[The Derski]

We were up by 4 with a minute and a half left and lost by 3... So we got outscored by 7 points in the last 90 seconds.

 

[CatsTopPac]

We were up by 4 with a minute and a half left and lost by 3... So we got outscored by 7 points in the last 90 seconds.

Yep, two 3s by Marshall, and the Carson dunk.

 

[520GGATO]

Anybody remember AGs two dumb personal fouls. Yup, I think he needs to stay for a second year.

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

Hey guys. I understand we're all a bit emotional after witnessing our team fall apart yesterday but to put all the blame on Sean miller is a bit unfair don't you think? I get it, he's the coach and everything trickles down to him but at what point do we hold the players accountable? We've been shooting like crap the last 6+ games or so and yesterday it finally caught up to us. I'm hearing a lot of people blame Millers offense but the players have to make the shots too! For instance; yesterday we went 23-64 (35.9#), 4-16 from beyond the arc (25.0%), and 16-30 from the line (53.3%). Those are god awful numbers! If make our free throws and hit a few more shots then we beat ASU comfortably and nobody would be blaming Sean millers offensive schemes.

The two other reasons we lost were turn overs and lack of depth. We had 15 turn overs but didn't it seem like we had much more? And TJ, I mean come man! Our floor general can't turn the ball over 6 times, that's atrocious. Finally, the bench. zero points provided by them! ZERO! If we can't depend on our bench to come in and give us some decent minutes then we are screwed. I agree with CTP. Sean miller has failed to develop our bench this year. There were many times early on when he could have given our bench more minutes to develop but he didn't. I understand that he wanted our starting five to develop a chemistry but the lack of quality depth is rearing its head now.

Listen guys. I know yesterday sucked. Trust me, I could have punched any scummy who talked crap to me last night but were still 23-2 with a lot of season still left. We can't give up on them now. Sean miller is a hell of a recruiter and a good defensive minded coach and I'll take those qualities over an offensive minded coach any day! We gotta keep on moving. Go cats!