South Region Discussion

[97cats]

im not one for all the sauce floss - Terry saying "we are the best team in the country" after the game on live television isnt my favorite.

perhaps im getting crusty

[azpatnca]

Lampkin is 6'11 and 268 lbs.

Evan Battey is 6'9 and 259 lbs.

Both gave us trouble.

Carlton is 6'11 and 245. That's the same as Tubelis.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-baske ... s-per-game

This stat keeps me up at night.

Cool, I found the match up stats page.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-baske ... simulation

This tells me that the keys to the game are limiting their offensive rebounds and our turnovers. If they can get us to turn the ball over and get offensive rebounds, they'll have more possessions and also slow the game to the high 60s low 70s. If we can keep from turning the ball over and get the offensive rebounds, we'll be overall more effective. For them, the key is to not foul, get steals and o rebounds and force us to jack up 3s so we don't get to the line and don't get a second chance. We need to hold on to the ball, rebound even in favor of running, and drive the lane and pass inside effectively, forcing their bigs to foul.

It's all we've been saying all weekend, but it's statistically proven now.

I'm trying to see who they most closely resemble, style and personnel wise.

If TCU was a better Colorado, Houston might be a better UCLA. Just read their boards. Their fans compared themselves to TCU, except with much better defense. Compared us to a better Memphis, who beat them 2/3 times.

Seems like they'll try to push us around, like Colorado and TCU did, and like Oklahoma did when Sampson was there and disrupt the flow. Hold and shove and muck it up and make us settle for bombing 3s. While they're worried they won't be able to shoot over our size and concerned our coach might have said the word rebound and turnover enough times since TCU to get an improvement.

Common opponents are Wichita State, Oregon and Illinois. They demolished Oregon and beat WS twice. Split with Illinois, but most recently embarrassed them in the tournament. We narrowly beat all these teams.

Looks like it will be super close, and it'll come down to rebounds and turnovers, and getting to the line.

If we somehow hit 3s, it'll be a good night. If we rebound and protect the ball we'll have a good chance even without going off on 3s. If the refs let them play, I hope we match their physicality and keep our heads. Samson's Oklahoma teams would get Life's teams so pissed off, and the refs didn't call any of that because it's not the Pac-12 anymore, and we'd get in our heads and not have a good day. We need to box out, go hard for loose balls, block shots, and out tough them.

I wish it could be a 7 game series.

[UAEebs86]

Weren't all those common opponents before they lost 2 of their best players?

[Chicat]

Not a good look for the Cats but look where the source is from.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-bask ... 28364.html

I'll put this as nicely as humanly possible:

that's a bunch of candy ass bullshit by a bunch of people who enjoy their fake public sainthood while likely being assholes in reality

How about the lazy writing of just regurgitating what random anonymous people are writing on a fan message board?

“People are saying…”

Get the fuck out of here with that idiocy. You going to go to Reddit next and “report” on the worst celebrity encounter PeeOnMe23 had??

[SabinoDrifter]

Not a good look for the Cats but look where the source is from.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-bask ... 28364.html

I'll put this as nicely as humanly possible:

that's a bunch of candy ass bullshit by a bunch of people who enjoy their fake public sainthood while likely being assholes in reality

How about the lazy writing of just regurgitating what random anonymous people are writing on a fan message board?

“People are saying…”

Get the fuck out of here with that idiocy. You going to go to Reddit next and “report” on the worst celebrity encounter PeeOnMe23 had??

People are saying is the equivalent of "I'm just asking questions."

[EastCoastCat]

This is a microcosm of what is wrong with our society and the misuse of social media. Just a waste of time and takes away from the joy and excitement of March Madness.

[97cats]

jealousy can be cruel

[Longhorned]

Super interesting take by an anonymous PAC-12 assistant coach. He points out how Houston's all-in focus on offensive rebounding is their big strength normally, but actually hurts the Cougars against Arizona.

Sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward when it comes to offensive rebounding. They [the Wildcats] are so good in transition offense, are you willing to sacrifice getting an offensive rebound? Because once you get it, are you able to score over [Christian] Koloko, [Azuolas] Tubelis and [Dalen] Terry when you get it? Probably not. But you have to play physical and tough. If you can't play with some sort of physicality against them, you have no chance. Will the referees allow [Houston] to be physical? On offense, it's being able to confuse those guys on their ball-screen coverages. It can't be easy to figure out. You have to slip ball screens, dive ball screens, ghost ball screens and pop your big if he's capable of making shots. You have to keep them off-balance.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... redictions

[HiCat]

Lauren Sampson Urges UH Fans to Show Out in San Antonio — With No. 1 Arizona Looming, a Home Court Crowd Could Be Huge
https://www.papercitymag.com/culture/la ... ournament/

I hope Arizona fans fill the area with red on Thursday!

[Spaceman Spiff]

im not one for all the sauce floss - Terry saying "we are the best team in the country" after the game on live television isnt my favorite.

perhaps im getting crusty

I've wondered if I'm not too old as well.

I had the same reaction after the UCLA win at home with a lot of the posing for cameras. Waving goodbye to the TCU fans, etc., I mean, maybe I'm 40 and don't get the kids these days, but I don't love it.

I'm not one who thinks emotions and celebration is bad, so I struggle with the line. I like seeing celebrations. I'm a Steeler fan and I hate when Juju made TikTok's dancing on other teams logos.

The UCLA and TCU postgames were too close to Juju for my taste. Maybe this is just the process of a midlife crisis and I can't afford a sports car, though.

[Fishclamps]

Let me settle this once and for all, you're all crusty old men who should let kids have fun

[Longhorned]

Let me settle this once and for all, you're all crusty old men who should let kids have fun

Plus, teams take on the disposition of the point guards. Kerr Kriisa has a screw loose. He loosened it himself to rattle, rattle, rattle through any and all adversity. So, the three times his team loses, they're all, "ah, fuck you." And the thirty-seven times his team wins, they're all, "ah, fuck you." It's a zero-sum game. I'll take the wins!

[Spaceman Spiff]

Let me settle this once and for all, you're all crusty old men who should let kids have fun

I'm not crusty, I'm ashy. Get it right.

[UAEebs86]

I prefer curmudgeonly.

[Chicat]

You’d like to see them act like they’ve been there before . . . but they haven’t.

[Fishclamps]

Seriously though they're just having fun, if they're doing anything that crosses the line or gets close to it you know Tommy will reel them back in

[RaisingArizona]

IMO the transitive property of common opponents is silly and way over utilized. So is the transitive property of last opponents. Each game is different and IMO hard and fast extrapolations off of either of those rarely lead to accurate prognostications.

[RaisingArizona]

Let me settle this once and for all, you're all crusty old men who should let kids have fun

I'm not crusty, I'm ashy. Get it right.

I'm more like Sideshow Bob with less psychopathy and inferior hair

[RaisingArizona]

im not one for all the sauce floss - Terry saying "we are the best team in the country" after the game on live television isnt my favorite.

perhaps im getting crusty

Waving goodbye to the TCU fans, etc., I mean, maybe I'm 40 and don't get the kids these days, but I don't love it.

If the team wins the Natty will you forgive them?

[Spaceman Spiff]

im not one for all the sauce floss - Terry saying "we are the best team in the country" after the game on live television isnt my favorite.

perhaps im getting crusty

Waving goodbye to the TCU fans, etc., I mean, maybe I'm 40 and don't get the kids these days, but I don't love it.

If the team wins the Natty will you forgive them?

They're two different things for me. I like to see the success on the floor and will give the players all the credit in the world for that.

It isn't that I'm a hardliner on the act like you've been there before stuff. I loved Sampson getting shirtless with his team and he's been there before, most recently last year. That was awesome.

Again, perhaps I'm just old and/or no fun, but it's a difference between celebrating and things like posing for cameras, waving goodbye to opposing fans, etc. It doesn't impact doing tremendous stuff and winning games, it's just a separate thing.

I'm also fully admitting this is probably subjective and there may be different feelings.

[RaisingArizona]

Fans say some ugly things. I'm not going to jump to conclusions without knowing all of the context. In my experience Dallas metro yuppies are often about as two faced as they come in terms of oscillating between trying to act classy and being brash and ostentatious as all hell.

[pc in NM]

Andy Katz's Sweet 16 Ranking:

[RaisingArizona]

Seems like Arkansas is too low

[Beachcat97]

I just wanna see all the people picking Houston to come back and express unreserved praise for AZ Friday morning.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I just wanna see all the people picking Houston to come back and express unreserved praise for AZ Friday morning.

"To be the man, you gotta beat the man."

--Michael Scott.

[Beachcat97]

I just wanna see all the people picking Houston to come back and express unreserved praise for AZ Friday morning.

"To be the man, you gotta beat the man."

--Michael Scott.

[ZagCatFan]

im not one for all the sauce floss - Terry saying "we are the best team in the country" after the game on live television isnt my favorite.

perhaps im getting crusty

Waving goodbye to the TCU fans, etc., I mean, maybe I'm 40 and don't get the kids these days, but I don't love it.

If the team wins the Natty will you forgive them?

They're two different things for me. I like to see the success on the floor and will give the players all the credit in the world for that.

It isn't that I'm a hardliner on the act like you've been there before stuff. I loved Sampson getting shirtless with his team and he's been there before, most recently last year. That was awesome.

Again, perhaps I'm just old and/or no fun, but it's a difference between celebrating and things like posing for cameras, waving goodbye to opposing fans, etc. It doesn't impact doing tremendous stuff and winning games, it's just a separate thing.

I'm also fully admitting this is probably subjective and there may be different feelings.

100%

I’d be surprised if Lloyd doesn’t shut down any further taunting by players.

Players can’t let fans get into their heads. Everybody sees the reaction and not the causation.

GO CATS!

[CatFanOneMil]

I'm probably older than a lot of you here and I really don't care that the team flexes and showboats after a win...its Tommy Fucking Lloyds team now and if he's ok with it, I'm ok with it.

We say "Lute wouldn't allow it" but we don't know that, the Lute of old days would not but the game HAS changed quite a bit.

As far as TCU fans and the noise they make, they're a so called "Christian" school, and I am a pastors kid who grew up in church and also pastored for 30 years and I say with all due respect "Fuck 'em"...christianity is so far off the rails these days as to be unrecognisable by the founding fathers, let alone the one whom they say they follow...I no longer call myself a christian because of the company it places me in, I have my dignity and morality for crying out loud...any school that calls itself "Christian" is probably the furthest thing from it...par for the course.

Back to the scheduled program:

I have confidence we beat Houston...Memphis beat them quite easily twice and recently...and they are closest to our style of play, yet not quite as athletic...

The Illinois game was pretty well knotted up until the refs inserted themselves into it and called a tech on hanging on the rim...at that point Illinois folded...I went back and watched the game, Illinois played some of the WORST defense in NCAA history during that game...there were at least three plays where Houston dribbled into the paint right in front of cockburn and just shot over him, the entire defense never even left their feet or attempted to block the shot...that game should have been an absolute CAKEWALK for Houston but instead it was close for 30 minutes...

Now people will say "Oh but we....and Illinois"...and forget that they lost a key player since we played them and we gained "Not today Ballo" and a few others on our team improved immensely...if we played Illinois now we would destroy them.

Koloko is the Pac 12 defensive player of the year...Cofi's defense was basically "I'm big go around me if you can"...those two metrics couldn't be more different if you tried...Cofi could not defend the perimeter if you lined it with donuts and doritos for him, C-Lo has owned it when he gets out there and then we have Ballo and Tubelis to suck in the lane so there's no gaps...

If Houston wants a track meet we will gladly give them one, our players are like thoroughbreds who love to run...

TCU was a really good game to prep our guys for a physical Houston, whereas Illinois was basically setting Houston up for a trap game because while there are some places where comparisons can be made, the comparisons should stop at 7'...that's it...that is the only place we are alike.

I'm picking the Cats winning it by at least 16.

[97cats]

moving day.....

[CatFanOneMil]

As far as the celebration thing goes...here's where I think the impact is:

Tommy Lloyd went over and MODELLED sportsmanship at the end of the TCU game...

Actions speak louder than words...I'm pretty sure he might say "Act like you deserve this" and it will have impact.

He probably doesn't have to say much...he HAS called them a bunch of misfits several times...so he approves of the edginess...

He does want them to play with passion...

It's his team, lets see how he manages it...I'm fine with whatever he does or doesn't do or say.

[dovecanyoncat]

I prefer curmudgeonly.

Me too. It beats the hell out of superannuated.

[SabinoDrifter]

moving day.....

get yourself some la barbeque and juan in a million before you head south

[CalStateTempe]

You’d like to see them act like they’ve been there before . . . but they haven’t.

That’s my take.

Remember the highs of a “big win” in your personal life at 19-20. It’s intoxicating and prone to making you celebrate “big”

Are these CATS a bit in the immature side, maybe, but that’s what I love about this team. The have the “ignorance of youth” and I mean that it the most positive way possible….they are gunslingers, have moxie, walk with a sawg, an internal confidence that all things are possible with a devil may care attitude.

THAT is what go them the win over TCU, not really knowing what it’s like to lose (to be TCU) to a Wisconsin, Illinois, Xavier, Syracuse. They don’t have that experience yet, thankfully.

I’ll all for letting the team ball out and feel whatever they feel after hitting a clutch three at regulation a steal in the waning minutes, and a gut it out win with a put back dunk to seal it in OT.

Let them go nuts, like we all were in that moment. It’s all good.

[CalStateTempe]

he HAS called them a bunch of misfits several times...so he approves of the edginess...

He does want them to play with passion...

It's his team, lets see how he manages it...I'm fine with whatever he does or doesn't do or say.

He said this! Ha, I must have missed it, yeah, that’s how I feel, I dig the edginess.

Good post.

[RaisingArizona]

It's not just that they had a big win, imagine the emotional bungee jump of being 15 seconds away from a magical season being over to pulling out the win. I'm not going to judge their reaction especially bc I think it's pretty likely that TCU fans were a bit over the top.

[97cats]

things even out so there is philosophy to not rub noses - that is the last thing i will say on the matter

[RondaeShimmy]

[97cats]

classic Kelvin Sampson team - ugly, tough, and hard nosed.

just like TCU it will be a challenge for AZ in the first 4 mins as they will come out and look to punch AZ in the mouth.

[EVCat]

Catching up on a bunch of posts and trying to keep them straight in my ADD brain...

The Houston fan preview from the first link was actually really, really good. Some things to quibble about, but largely very fair. We give up O boards if there is dribble penetration because we go for the block, and we leak to run, and our defense and height looks most like Memphis from their schedule, and that is a problem for them because Memphis largely owned them.

1997 was the year we won it all, so different from just Final Four years, but that season was a crazy blend of chalk and Cinderella. Yes, we beat three #1 seeds, yes the names we beat make up a holy trinity of college hoops (KU, UNC, UK), but we got a 12 seed College of Charleston in round 2, and a 10 seed Providence in the Elite Eight...and those two non-chalk games were every bit as tough as UK and KU, with a pair of 4 point wins, the Providence game going into OT and really a near-miracle Shammgod didn't end us in the final possession of regulation. So our title run had some severe seed variances (12 instead of 5, 10 instead of 2), yet the path was just as hard. Sometimes, you get upsets (Buffalo, to use recent tournament examples); sometimes you get under-seeded teams (Wichita St). Houston definitely is more Wichita St than Buffalo...don't know of a single UA fan that pays attention that wanted Houston over Illinois.

As for other years, yeah....Chalk (mostly) prevailed. 1988 caught a 5 seed Iowa in a rematch rather than the rival 4 seed UNLV, but otherwise went chalk. 1994 was dry, white chalk...boring, by the seeds 7/3/1 progression for the 2 seeded Cats, though 3 seed Louisville did have to catch a late run to beat 6 seed Minnesota. 2001 wasn't total chalk either, with us getting 10 seed Butler in the 2nd round rather than the powerful 7th place team in the ACC, Wake Forest.

As for our wildin', crazy, badsportgangstas (they must be gangsta's...I see dark skin, braids, and that one does some Crip Walk after games)...I have never seen anything but a HUGE smile on Dalen's face, and Kerr lights up as well, and also will give a nod when an opponent gets in a good word. CK is all smiles all the time. But there is this insane idea in sport that if you pay your ticket price, you have unlimited right to yell whatever you want at these 20 year old players, and they are forbidden to return fire. Or be celebratory after a tight win. I watched their center do the "too small" low hand signal after baskets, beat his chest and scream for half the court, do pull ups on a rim, and more than once saw our guys look back at their bench with "WTF?" looks on their faces in the 1st half because someone over there said something beyond the normal talk. Their guard goes straight to the mic and talks about how they deserved the win and he was fouled at the end of regulation...no talk of good team/hard fought/we had our chances...nope, just "they are illegitimate". And they are upset because we felt ourselves a bit after going from a Tucson tragedy to still alive in seconds, and remembering what was said along the way? Fuck that...

That said...I'd be happy to see them tone it down a bit, if for no other reason that it risks obscuring what they accomplish. Not in game...keep that edge in-game, go hard. But the postgame could stand to be a bit more reserved, and I am guessing that will be mentioned this week. You don't want to restrict who they are in a way that changes their play, but post game antics are not part of that formula. I'm not offended, but I get that people can be, and they are representatives of the university, blah, blah. I get it. I'd like to see more hugging and celebrating with our fans, and less seeking out their fans, even if they were vile all night.

[EastCoastCat]

things even out so there is philosophy to not rub noses - that is the last thing i will say on the matter

So being the site's Lead karma/jinx overseer I approve this message.

[RondaeShimmy]

[EVCat]

I find the best evidence of Houston being seeded too high (low? I never know...High number, Low in the list of 1 to 16) being the lines involving the surviving 1 seeds

#1 Gonzaga 9.5 point favorites over #4 Arkansas. Gonzaga also struggled to a 4 point win over 9 seed Memphis, and were even down for much of the 1st half of their 1/16 game.

#1 Kansas 7.5 point favorites over #4 Providence. Kansas was down to 9 seed Creighton at the half, and needed a late rally to win. KU was up 1 and Creighton had the ball with just over a minute to go. A 3 and dunk on the next two possessions put it away.

None of the remaining #1s had an easy time in the 2nd round, and both had games in danger in the final possessions. Yet their games vs 4 seeds have lines that push toward double digits. We are playing an "upset" 5 seed, and are hanging around near a coin toss (- 1.5) for a point spread.

You could say that's all about us, but, again...Gonzaga has struggled as much, if not more, as their 1st game was much closer than ours. We let our opponent come back within, what...5? But we weren't actually in a dogfight like Gonzaga. And our 2nd round games were pretty much all the same.

Houston is way under/over seeded. Improperly seeded low.

[UAEebs86]

[RondaeShimmy]

[SabinoDrifter]

That is really interesting.

[Longhorned]

In the game thread I'll be tracking and updating both teams' points off second chances (Houston's strength) v. points off transition after defensive rebounds (Arizona's strength). I'm hoping neither team sacrifices its strength, and we make them pay for going all-in on crashing for long rebounds.

[Beachcat97]

In the game thread I'll be tracking and updating both teams' points off second chances (Houston's strength) v. points off transition after defensive rebounds (Arizona's strength). I'm hoping neither team sacrifices its strength, and we make them pay for going all-in on crashing for long rebounds.

You have to think their aggressiveness on the boards is going to be impacted by the refs. If they're going pretty physically on these second chance boards, they're going to create contact. It's inevitable. Will we get a lot of over-the-back or other foul calls on them, or are the refs gonna let them create this contact with impunity? If it's the latter, Houston will be in great shape.

[EastCoastCat]

Can we track missed calls by the officials or do you need a special abacus to calculate?

[UAEebs86]

Can we track missed calls by the officials or do you need a special abacus to calculate?

That would require some sort of supercomputer.

[YoDeFoe]

Fans say some ugly things. I'm not going to jump to conclusions without knowing all of the context. In my experience Dallas metro yuppies are often about as two faced as they come in terms of oscillating between trying to act classy and being brash and ostentatious as all hell.

The things they were saying on the TCU message board certainly back this up - talking about during the game how they should step on Kerr's ankle, how Benn is just a thug athlete who can't shoot (that's not just a little racist, btw), how Tucson should be wiped off the map, and then complaining that Arizona didn't celebrate with class. I said it in the other thread but I've honestly not seen that kind of vitriol outside of college football nutjob fanbases before.

Why did Arizona celebrate like that against UCLA? Because UCLA talked their shit in our loss and had it coming if we won. Why did Arizona celebrate like that against TCU? Probably because TCU was talking their shit and had it coming if we won.

Fair guess given the behavior of the TCU players and the words of their fans online.