Bear Down Wildcats

Love ya Ari...

But Ira hasn’t improved? BWill before injury? Jeter before his back was Tinkled?

Olsondogg wrote:Love ya Ari...

But Ira hasn’t improved? BWill before injury? Jeter before his back was Tinkled?

Ira has I was wrong on that but BWill was really good out of the gate and then seemed to lose his aggressive nature and started differing to others way too often. And Jeter maybe but he’s been our most consistent player all season long.

It’s so difficult to point to any positives right now. Where is the team we saw in Maui?

CatFanOneMil wrote:

Alieberman wrote:This team has quit on Miller. I think Miller has quit on this team as well.

No AZ team should ever lose to Wash St at home.

This is bullshit, we knew from the start of the season it would be a down year, and then Miller himself said this team was not good, so to suggest that anyone has given up is to believe that any other results were going to be available, they were not.

No one has given up its just a matter of a very inexperienced group of guys going through a very rough patch...how many layups under the rim were missed tonite? How many threes has Barcello missed, nothing new here it just feels worse since WSU has been abysmal for about a thousand years...don't forget they beat the shit out of ASU a few days ago.

If you watch the body language of Miller, he has pretty much given up. Remember when he spent most the game by the scorer's table? Now he just sits.

There is no way on God’s green earth that Miller has “given up”. If anything, he just realizes that screaming at this particular group of kids is completely counterproductive.

This year is about teaching and building up the kids who will be here next year.

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

If there was one thing I could change about Sean Miller, it would be the shoes. What are those? Florsheim?

MC1983 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

The head shake is some pretty telling body language.

This is a longish post, so bear with me...I don't have season tickets, but I get to go to a number of games. The seats are near Heeke and his wife, both are great supporters and they want UA basketball and Sean Miller to be successful. I don't think he wants to ruin the program, fire Miller and start the process all over. They had a huge crowd last night for a team that had lost four games in a row, Arizona basketball is THE nest egg for the University and the athletic department.

My opinion of the half-time press conference is to get ahead of what will inevitability be coming down the road for the university and the program. The NCAA is sniffing around, there is a very real chance of Miller being subpoenaed and above all, they need to preserve next year's recruiting class (you're seeing the results of what happened last year playing out on the court each night). Given the context of how much time and money the University has paid to its' lawyers, Miller is somewhat culpable in why we're here today. Does he need to be fired as a result>? No. Is it clear members of ABOR want him gone? Yes. The national narrative hasn't changed and let's be honest, the people reporting Miller is on thin ice are a bunch of irrelevant nobodys in today's sports reporting world (Thamel, Forde, Goodman, Vitale, etc.). All the good writers and journalists work for the Athletic. It's lazy reporting that doesn't pass the sniff test.

Losing five games in a row, which hasn't happened at UA for over 30 years and has NEVER happened in Miller's career is a culmination of a lot of bad apples, poor personnel decisions and some bad luck. Looking back at the roster and coaching staff since that fatal loss to Wisconsin in Los Angeles, look at how much has changed.

Gone are the following coaches: Pasternack, Book and Damon. Damon was replaced by Phelps, who has now been fired. Book gets fired and Carroll replaces him on a temporary basis. Romar leaves after last season and is replaced by Gainey and Peters. That is a lot of turnover to maintain any sort of stability.

Arizona has lost its' defensive tenacity. Since 2014-2015, they haven't been a top 25 defensive team per KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency. This year's team is letting opponents shoot 51.5% from 2 while shooting 47.4% from 2 on the offensive end. This is one of the least athletic teams I've ever seen at Arizona.

Now to the players. Make no mistake, but you don't see very many of the players the last four years in the intro videos. The only three I see are Kadeem, Lauri and De'Andre. It doesn't feel like a Players Program, it feels like the players are running the program and Sean has to sit back while the inmates run the asylum. Guys like Alkins, Trier, Simmons, Comanche, and Akot never bought in and it showed. Hard to tell if guys like Randolph and Smith really care, as well.

I really want Sean to do well and next year has the chance to be something special. But this program has been in some serious quicksand for the last four years and needs a lifeline. Hopefully it is coming soon, but the next six months aren't going to be pretty.

MC1983 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

It seems pretty clear he does not appreciate anything about it but is smart enough to give a polite answer that doesn't generate even more bullshit from the star

Chicat wrote:

MC1983 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

The head shake is some pretty telling body language.

So what I’m understanding is Heeke was not really backing Miller until the Boosters stepped forward to show there support. Once that happened Heeke decided it was best he get on board?? Is that the jest of it?

MC1983 wrote:

Chicat wrote:

MC1983 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

The head shake is some pretty telling body language.

So what I’m understanding is Heeke was not really backing Miller until the Boosters stepped forward to show there support. Once that happened Heeke decided it was best he get on board?? Is that the jest of it?

Heeke couldn’t say WHY they support Miller. Just that the administration does...

MC1983 wrote:

Chicat wrote:

MC1983 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

The head shake is some pretty telling body language.

So what I’m understanding is Heeke was not really backing Miller until the Boosters stepped forward to show there support. Once that happened Heeke decided it was best he get on board?? Is that the jest of it?

I think it is more of a directive by the booster and Robbins to start publicly backing Miller or don't let the door hit your backside on the way out.

MC1983 wrote:

Chicat wrote:

MC1983 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

I saw this put up by scheer. What does everyone make of it??

The head shake is some pretty telling body language.

So what I’m understanding is Heeke was not really backing Miller until the Boosters stepped forward to show there support. Once that happened Heeke decided it was best he get on board?? Is that the jest of it?

Heeke supports not losing his job. Supporting Sean Miller publicly helps him keep his job. That's about it.

Alieberman wrote:

Olsondogg wrote:Love ya Ari...

But Ira hasn’t improved? BWill before injury? Jeter before his back was Tinkled?

Ira has I was wrong on that but BWill was really good out of the gate and then seemed to lose his aggressive nature and started differing to others way too often. And Jeter maybe but he’s been our most consistent player all season long.

It’s so difficult to point to any positives right now. Where is the team we saw in Maui?

When you have no true point guard, no go to scorer (BWill was becoming all of these things in PAC play), and your only true post player is having trouble lifting his hands above his head without spasms...

...sometimes it isn't just the "who do we have?" but also the "who do we have in key spots on the court?"

I have seen players develop just fine under Miller...I am not worried about his ability to do that. There have been issues, likely, with focus the last calendar year. That makes sense. The players also know all of this is going on. It affects them, too. It also affects Miller's ability to sit a dong-dong, if you will, when they play stupid (though, to be fair, Miller rode Alex Barcello having a scrappy game to do just that with Randolph against WSU).

This team lost 5 starters and, what, 90-something percent of the scoring from last year. The 5 star PG recruit is at Villanova. The likely big man help, Bol Bol, is injured, but you cannot associate what happened at one school with what would have happened here. The other big time PG that we got at a star reduction due to knee issues, the one that led us in PAC 12 scoring, is gone with those same knee issues. We have another small PG with a streaky shot who has played with us for about a minute. Our only returning player that showed some ability last year, Randolph, has been a disaster of bad decisions and general "It's my turn...no one can replace me now" play. Dylan Smith still scares me every time he dribbles.

I mean...if you looked at this team after a month and said "what two positions can we not have any injuries at?" you would say point guard and center. Our starting point had a shoulder injury he played through, our combo 1/2 star got injured, and our center got injured.

Now, you get Chase back. OK...he isn't 100%, but OK. You lost some games. The bad momentum has started. You have no BWill, so BRandolph has free reign. Your starting 4, whether he was scoring or not, up and quits the team. Then your lead assistant gets, basically, shitcanned, and the whole bad vibe from last year that had cleared to an extent...the black cloud...returns.

Yeah...this team is falling apart. Some of the reasons are from column A, some from column B. The injuries alone were enough to cause the LA/ASU road trip woes. The rest of this is enough to destroy this team for this season, unless we get Chase and BWill back healthy (what are the chances)?

We were already on a razor's edge with this team to start the season. Chase can't get in foul trouble, but has to guard the other team's best big. We have a wing playing 4. We have a senior transfer PG that is close to PJC height and doesn't possess a consistent jumper. We need our freshmen to play big. That was in Maui. Since then, we lost the wing 4, lost Chase for a bit, lost the freshman most likely to play big (he was coming on), and had to fire an assistant in a cloud of NCAA suspicion.

We couldn't handle even one of the things that happened to us this year with this thin roster. Yet we have had a storm of shit since PAC play started.

SabinoDrifter wrote:Now to the players. Make no mistake, but you don't see very many of the players the last four years in the intro videos. The only three I see are Kadeem, Lauri and De'Andre. It doesn't feel like a Players Program.

TJ is very loyal. Trier is as loyal as his nature will allow him to be. Social media shows that.

Some of our former Miller players are a bit butthurt at the program "turning its back" on Book. Book was like family to them. Nick definitely falls in that category. They are young.

But Brandon Ashley delivered the best rebuke of Vitale we have seen from an Arizona perspective on Twitter this week. Kevin Parrom is ride-or-die with Coach and this program. Maybe his lack of success makes him a bad candidate for the video, or he just hasn't been back to Tucson to shoot a segment.

Who else from the last 4 years should we have on that video, beyond Lauri, DeAndre (you just named the two that will be NBA superstars), and Kadeem? Trier, for sure, if we can get one from him. But who else from the last 4 years belongs on the video with Kerr and Elliott and those guys? Gabe York?

Figure, there are precious few slots on that video. Trier is the only player from the last 3 years (if you go 4ish, you get into the TJ/Stanley/AG era, and they are represented just fine) that is really missing, if he hasn't been on it. You know Dusan is all about this program.

I don't see player support, other than the ones who are mad about Book, being an issue at all.

CatFanOneMil wrote:

Alieberman wrote:This team has quit on Miller. I think Miller has quit on this team as well.

No AZ team should ever lose to Wash St at home.

This is bullshit, we knew from the start of the season it would be a down year, and then Miller himself said this team was not good, so to suggest that anyone has given up is to believe that any other results were going to be available, they were not.

No one has given up its just a matter of a very inexperienced group of guys going through a very rough patch...how many layups under the rim were missed tonite? How many threes has Barcello missed, nothing new here it just feels worse since WSU has been abysmal for about a thousand years...don't forget they beat the shit out of ASU a few days ago.

How much confidence building and "coaching up" is taking place when your HC publicly trashes the players like the bolded above? Man, I know it really instills confidence in a group of players when their coach basically says they're all garbage with no shot to make the tourney because they cant shoot. Is that leadership?

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/464-the- ... -30534445/" target="_blank

Really interesting to get a lawyer's perspective on this although I dont think he is very familiar with all the details in the case.

U of A has spent over a million on lawyers, there is no way that these lawyers are not advising Heeke on what is best to do. Phelps falls under that to me.

PHXCATS wrote:https://www.iheart.com/podcast/464-the- ... -30534445/

Really interesting to get a lawyer's perspective on this although I dont think he is very familiar with all the details in the case.

U of A has spent over a million on lawyers, there is no way that these lawyers are not advising Heeke on what is best to do. Phelps falls under that to me.

Given the extent of the external lawyers' investigation, I conclude that the U of A is firmly committed to demonstrating "institutional control" consistent with the highest NCAA interpretation of that concept. The FBI charges against Book, the claims made in the ESPN articles (without journalistic sources being revealed) are clearly the motivators for having initiated such an in-depth, and expensive, external investigation; and one can't blame the institutional leadership for undertaking such a self-protective course of action. I don't.

Therefore, I believe that if/when there is any finding that CSM has been a party to a NCAA , or even contractual, violation, he would be dealt with severely. This is exactly my interpretation of how the Phelps firing has occurred.

I also doubt that any delays in taking action on CSM would be any different than taking action on Phelps.

Therefore, why not assume that there is no evidence against CSM at this point? Seriously!

I'm sure that any coach of any institution subjected to such scrutiny would feel some anxiety, maybe mistrust, and more. OTOH, clearing such scrutiny should put all that to rest, no?

pc in NM wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:https://www.iheart.com/podcast/464-the- ... -30534445/

Really interesting to get a lawyer's perspective on this although I dont think he is very familiar with all the details in the case.

U of A has spent over a million on lawyers, there is no way that these lawyers are not advising Heeke on what is best to do. Phelps falls under that to me.

Given the extent of the external lawyers' investigation, I conclude that the U of A is firmly committed to demonstrating "institutional control" consistent with the highest NCAA interpretation of that concept. The FBI charges against Book, the claims made in the ESPN articles (without journalistic sources being revealed) are clearly the motivators for having initiated such an in-depth, and expensive, external investigation; and one can't blame the institutional leadership for undertaking such a self-protective course of action. I don't.

Therefore, I believe that if/when there is any finding that CSM has been a party to a NCAA , or even contractual, violation, he would be dealt with severely. This is exactly my interpretation of how the Phelps firing has occurred.

I also doubt that any delays in taking action on CSM would be any different than taking action on Phelps.

Therefore, why not assume that there is no evidence against CSM at this point? Seriously!

I'm sure that any coach of any institution subjected to such scrutiny would feel some anxiety, maybe mistrust, and more. OTOH, clearing such scrutiny should put all that to rest, no?

I dont often agree with you but I do here 100%. It is becoming more and more clear that either a) Heeke knows something else is coming with Phelps b) Phelps is breaking rules even if they are not NCAA rules and UA cant afford that right now or c) The outside lawyers found something before the NCAA and Arizona did and advised Heeke to let go of Phelps

EVCat wrote:

SabinoDrifter wrote:Now to the players. Make no mistake, but you don't see very many of the players the last four years in the intro videos. The only three I see are Kadeem, Lauri and De'Andre. It doesn't feel like a Players Program.

TJ is very loyal. Trier is as loyal as his nature will allow him to be. Social media shows that.

Some of our former Miller players are a bit butthurt at the program "turning its back" on Book. Book was like family to them. Nick definitely falls in that category. They are young.

But Brandon Ashley delivered the best rebuke of Vitale we have seen from an Arizona perspective on Twitter this week. Kevin Parrom is ride-or-die with Coach and this program. Maybe his lack of success makes him a bad candidate for the video, or he just hasn't been back to Tucson to shoot a segment.

Who else from the last 4 years should we have on that video, beyond Lauri, DeAndre (you just named the two that will be NBA superstars), and Kadeem? Trier, for sure, if we can get one from him. But who else from the last 4 years belongs on the video with Kerr and Elliott and those guys? Gabe York?

Figure, there are precious few slots on that video. Trier is the only player from the last 3 years (if you go 4ish, you get into the TJ/Stanley/AG era, and they are represented just fine) that is really missing, if he hasn't been on it. You know Dusan is all about this program.

I don't see player support, other than the ones who are mad about Book, being an issue at all.

All fair points. It has been a rough four years was my ultimate point.

What did Parrom say to Dick weed?

SabinoDrifter wrote:All fair points. It has been a rough four years was my ultimate point.

Without a doubt. Moreso, really, the last calendar year. The Sweet 16 loss sucked, but was not a disaster.

But there isn't a disconnect from players and coaching staff, any more than there is other places for myriad reasons.

Are these law firms going over the program’s every move, or are they just looking into the FBI investigation?

Postmaster wrote:Are these law firms going over the program’s every move, or are they just looking into the FBI investigation?

The lawyers UA hired are to investigate the program, review the FBI documents and offer advice. There is zero chance that the outside lawyers weren't a part of the decision to fore Phelps and they most likely told Heeke this is the best course of action

Does Miller have his mojo back? It appears so and I love it

If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”, I know someone else who can drive back to Phoenix...

Chicat wrote:If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”, I know someone else who can drive back to Phoenix...

I'm in for this as a new euphemism for telling someone to eff off.

It also makes me think of Isaac Hayes's By the Time I Get to Phoenix, which I love.

Bear Down Sean

Chicat wrote:If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”, I know someone else who can drive back to Phoenix...

Chicat wrote:If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”, I know someone else who can drive back to Phoenix...

Well, if you don't love Sean Miller now you never will.

Chicat wrote:If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”....

I don't know why, but it's a perfect euphemism. Even somebody in Paris or Tokyo or Nairobi would intuitively grasp what you meant if you told them they can drive back to Phoenix.

I fucking love that phrase and imma gonna start using it.

No one will know what the hell om talking about but I will. Kinda like saying the southern “bless your heart” in California.

Very Lute-ish! Well done Coach!

Sean Miller channelling some of Lute's best news conference performances. When does he call Pascoe "Columbo"?

Chicat wrote:If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”, I know someone else who can drive back to Phoenix...

Can someone make a shirt please?

ChooChooCat wrote:

Chicat wrote:If “you can drive back to Phoenix” is the new Wildcat meme for “go fuck yourself”, I know someone else who can drive back to Phoenix...

Can someone make a shirt please?

Preferably in time for the ASU game.

Dont think I could disagree more

PHXCATS wrote:

Dont think I could disagree more

Good thing you boosted this nobody.

Never thought I'd see the day, but Sean Miller has seriously been compared to Donald Trump. You can't make this up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-miller-be ... 32012.html" target="_blank

Man you have to love coach Sean. Email headed off to Heeke and Robbins saying he is the man. Who is this tool Montemayor. F him. He probably bangs screwmeintheassbach.

We need that T-shirt for ASSU and Vegas ASAP

ChooChooCat wrote:Never thought I'd see the day, but Sean Miller has seriously been compared to Donald Trump. You can't make this up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-miller-be ... 32012.html" target="_blank

snowflakes.

ChooChooCat wrote:Never thought I'd see the day, but Sean Miller has seriously been compared to Donald Trump. You can't make this up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-miller-be ... 32012.html" target="_blank

This portion of the article:

"ABC 15 Phoenix reporter Mike Pelton started to broach the topic during a Miller press conference on Tuesday. Before he could get his question out, Miller interrupted him and told him to leave."

Is directly contradicted by the reporter himself, who said he asked twice and Miller cut off the second question.

I tried to ask him about it 2x today. At one point he told me "No comment. You can drive back to Phoenix."

Millet has given a no comment on the FBI for over a year and this dude couldn't take the hint after the first no comment? I can take reporting news, but provoking to try to create news where none existed is not reporting.

Ned Zissou wrote:

ChooChooCat wrote:Never thought I'd see the day, but Sean Miller has seriously been compared to Donald Trump. You can't make this up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-miller-be ... 32012.html" target="_blank

snowflakes.

There may not be a more softer profession in the world nowadays than a journalist, especially sports journalists.

ChooChooCat wrote:

Ned Zissou wrote:

ChooChooCat wrote:Never thought I'd see the day, but Sean Miller has seriously been compared to Donald Trump. You can't make this up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-miller-be ... 32012.html" target="_blank

snowflakes.

There may not be a more softer profession in the world nowadays than a journalist, especially sports journalists.

Maybe sports journalists but mainstream news journalists are having to put up up more shit today than ever before in this country

ChooChooCat wrote:

Ned Zissou wrote:

ChooChooCat wrote:Never thought I'd see the day, but Sean Miller has seriously been compared to Donald Trump. You can't make this up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-miller-be ... 32012.html" target="_blank

snowflakes.

There may not be a more softer profession in the world nowadays than a journalist, especially sports journalists.

You may be right about sports journalists but real journalists are out there getting threatened and killed right here in America.