Caleb Love

[Chicat]

Boswell’s defense was subpar. On many of the nights where he was a no-show on offense he was also getting cooked on the defensive end.

If the choice is Love or Boswell, give me Love. But in truth I want to see the kids play. I think the future is brighter the more experience KJ, Krivas, and the freshmen get.

[Fishclamps]

While I agree that we need to get these stars coming in plenty of playtime, it would be nice to have a senior leader on the team

[Chicat]

While I agree that we need to get these stars coming in plenty of playtime, it would be nice to have a senior leader on the team

I fully understand that without a senior leader we could take a step back, but Bradley as a Junior can be that guy. He exhibited more poise in tough games than some of our upperclassmen this past season.

[Winger]

When you say doesn't work well I guess you mean it wont work in the B12 but won the PAC 12 ? While I agree Love and Johnson were first year players at Arizona they were far from first year players in terms of experience. If you are right we will get 2 of the top 10 in the portal that can start. That would be great and I hope it happens.
Ballo's 5 or 6 missed free throws outweighs his double digit points and double digit rebounds, leadership and his defense? It is hard to say it is a turnover when he shoots 50% from the line (a career low). The reason Arizona did well this year is because they were dominate in rebounding. You and I just disagree on what Ballo's value is because I think losing an all conference and defensive 1st team player is significant. Ballo's gone now. We will see how much we miss him or don't. Especially when it comes to rebounding. I agree we won't miss his free throws.
Sanon from what I have seen (very limited) is a really good player. He does well in high school against other 17 y/o's. I hope you are right that he is as good as Love. I think you would agree that he is not as highly rated as any of this year's Kentucky recruits so I think there is a steep learning curve for even great players. I think the guy we our going to love is Phillips. That guy can really shoot. The big man coming in reminds me of the kind of guys Oregon gets. I think he will be good because he is just so athletic.

I feel like I have seen this edition. And it didn’t work often enough and especially against legit opponents. The Pac stunk this past season. The B12, while imo over-rated (see the conference’s lousy tournament performance and historically poor OOC SOS for bullet points), isn’t going to stink next season.

If Ballo misses the front end of a 1 and 1 it’s a TO. But mostly I use that phrase because its catchy and simple and conveys the point. I am done with a PG who often doesn’t show, a chucker who isn’t a very good shooter, and a center who can’t make a FT. Didn’t work this past season, you saw that repeatedly with your own eyes, and it won’t next season either.

Time to move on.

It was the same dynamic as with Kriisa, and to a degree Tubelis, following last season.

Sanon will be a freshman version of Love. Will shoot you in and out of games. But he won’t be as good as Love was this past season. Same kind of player. Not at the same level.

[Beachcat97]

Since there are so many strong opinions in this thread: Keep Boswell! Dump Love! We’ll be better without Ballo missing 1 and 1s!

I’m just curious what some of your ideal starting 5s are for next season.

[Merkin]

I've seen a couple comments above from different posters who claim next season will be different. Love won't chuck as much. Lloyd won't let him chuck as much.

The Clemson game is a perfect example of who Love and Lloyd are. Love is going to keep on chucking and Lloyd will give him the green light. How many of us were yelling at Lloyd to call a time out and stop the chucking?

Speculation is that Lloyd let Ballo go without a fight since he wanted to have years out of the 5s, and not just one more.

That would be the same issue with Love. Going to lose years of talent down the road for a player on his last season who can't stop chucking.

[Fishclamps]

Well the theory is that if Love comes back then Boswell goes. So if you're gonna end up with 1 of them, who would you pick?

[Winger]

I’m just curious what some of your ideal starting 5s are for next season.

It is a good question but it is also impossible to answer. No one really knows what Lloyd is doing behind the scenes with the current roster and the same holds for the portal (and for the portal you can add that no one even knows the names at this point, in part because many players haven’t even declared yet).

One person may have a relationship with say Anderson and have a good idea what is going down there but you’re talking about potentially as many as 20 other players.

Plus it is always difficult to gauge the quality of incoming freshmen.

Once dominos start to fall it will become clearer. For instance, if Love announces he is coming back, you can cross off Sanon signing. If Boswell announced he was coming back I’d put a red alert out on Bradley transferring. Same dynamic would hold for Ballo and Kriivas. And the like.

[Chicat]

If Ballo misses the front end of a 1 and 1 it’s a TO. But mostly I use that phrase because its catchy and simple and conveys the point.

I’ve always thought missing the front end of a 1-&-1 should be counted as a turnover if the other team rebounds it.

[pc in NM]

I've seen a couple comments above from different posters who claim next season will be different. Love won't chuck as much. Lloyd won't let him chuck as much.

The Clemson game is a perfect example of who Love and Lloyd are. Love is going to keep on chucking and Lloyd will give him the green light.

Speculation is that Lloyd let Ballo go without a fight since he wanted to have years out of the 5s, and not just one more.

That would be the same issue with Love. Going to lose years of talent down the road for a player on his last season who can't stop chucking.

Love has "chucking" hard-wired in his DNA; but, he typically only "chucked it" when the offense was being frustrated - and that (offensive breakdown) was the 'Achilles Heel" for this year's team.

But, there is absolutely no doubt that Caleb is also a legitimate scoring threat at all times - he was PAC POY for a reason!! And, his catch-and-shoot threes should always be welcomed by ANY Arizona fan. (No player is flawless)

If he returns, he absolutely should be considered the player-to-beat for starting SG.

Arizona's dilemma is the PG position. I believe that we learned two things about PG this season.\: 1) Boz is a SG, who has many deficits as PG, and 2) Bradley is a natural PG, who is better at penetration.

And, our stellar recruiting class is loaded with "wings", but not a PG among them. One, maybe two could have really good seasons as frosh, but most likely in 6th/7th-man roles (Like KJ this year).

And, I don't care if a recruit bales because he fears competition - IMNSHO, anyone like that - recruit or present player - can go elsewhere and have a great season like Adama Bal this year...

BTW, whose "speculation" is this? ("Lloyd let Ballo go without a fight since he wanted to have years out of the 5s, and not just one more") Please share your sources...

[RawleArenas]

If Ballo misses the front end of a 1 and 1 it’s a TO. But mostly I use that phrase because its catchy and simple and conveys the point.

I’ve always thought missing the front end of a 1-&-1 should be counted as a turnover if the other team rebounds it.

Exactly. Which was why the Clemson game was like nails on a chalkboard every time Ballo got fouled. I'm still hurting from that game, it was so winnable. The thing I learned from the tournament was that when you get to the sweet sixteen, if you can't out-talent your opponent it will come down to coaching.

And that's where CTL struggles. Tournament coaching is very different than regular season coaching. Adjustments need to be made on the fly and you need every parlor trick and gimmick in your arsenal because you only have one game. Winner takes all. For example, for the Clemson game, I would have ran the twin towers (Ballo and Krivas) and had Keshad at the three. Focused the entire game on inside domination. On defense, I would have used different zones to throw them off balance (like Purdue). The minute I sensed that Boswell wasn't on his game, I would have pulled him in favor of Bradley.

Second weekend coaching shows who are the good coaches and who are the pretenders. We've lost three straight years to lower seeded teams who have had better coaching. CTL's failure to reign in Love is all on him. Love's athletic ability should have been used exclusively to draw fouls, get to the line, and create assists for other teammates. That's where he excels. The Love we saw threw bad shot after bad shot with ZERO rebounders underneath the basket. And still despite this craziness, we were within striking distance at the end of the game. It's the reason why I take leadership over talent. Because third weekend teams almost always have great leaders who know their limits and stay within the team concept.

[Postmaster]

If Ballo misses the front end of a 1 and 1 it’s a TO. But mostly I use that phrase because its catchy and simple and conveys the point.

I’ve always thought missing the front end of a 1-&-1 should be counted as a turnover if the other team rebounds it.

Someone brought up Bob Kemp the other day. Then He was a guest on Steve Rivera show.

Back when I listened to his national show, late 1990’s, he used to say that if you miss front end of a 1 and 1, it should be counted as two missed free throws.

[Merkin]

Been saying it for years, but I really hate watching all the free throws. just disrupts the flow of the game. Every FT shooter only gets one attempt. If it's an AND ONE, it's worth 1 point. If in the bonus, or fouled during a missed shot attempt, it's worth 2 points. If fouled during a missed 3 point shot, it's worth 3 points.

/RANT OFF

[TheCat]

When you say doesn't work well I guess you mean it wont work in the B12 but won the PAC 12 ? While I agree Love and Johnson were first year players at Arizona they were far from first year players in terms of experience. If you are right we will get 2 of the top 10 in the portal that can start. That would be great and I hope it happens.
Ballo's 5 or 6 missed free throws outweighs his double digit points and double digit rebounds, leadership and his defense? It is hard to say it is a turnover when he shoots 50% from the line (a career low). The reason Arizona did well this year is because they were dominate in rebounding. You and I just disagree on what Ballo's value is because I think losing an all conference and defensive 1st team player is significant. Ballo's gone now. We will see how much we miss him or don't. Especially when it comes to rebounding. I agree we won't miss his free throws.
Sanon from what I have seen (very limited) is a really good player. He does well in high school against other 17 y/o's. I hope you are right that he is as good as Love. I think you would agree that he is not as highly rated as any of this year's Kentucky recruits so I think there is a steep learning curve for even great players. I think the guy we our going to love is Phillips. That guy can really shoot. The big man coming in reminds me of the kind of guys Oregon gets. I think he will be good because he is just so athletic.

I feel like I have seen this edition. And it didn’t work often enough and especially against legit opponents. The Pac stunk this past season. The B12, while imo over-rated (see the conference’s lousy tournament performance and historically poor OOC SOS for bullet points), isn’t going to stink next season.

If Ballo misses the front end of a 1 and 1 it’s a TO. But mostly I use that phrase because its catchy and simple and conveys the point. I am done with a PG who often doesn’t show, a chucker who isn’t a very good shooter, and a center who can’t make a FT. Didn’t work this past season, you saw that repeatedly with your own eyes, and it won’t next season either.

Time to move on.

It was the same dynamic as with Kriisa, and to a degree Tubelis, following last season.

Sanon will be a freshman version of Love. Will shoot you in and out of games. But he won’t be as good as Love was this past season. Same kind of player. Not at the same level.

Not sure who you are considering legit opponents. Duke, Michigan State, Alabama, and Wisconsin all seemed pretty legit to me. I saw a team that lost some games it should not have and I agree the PAC was down mainly because of injuries at Oregon. I also saw a team that won the PAC regular season I won't discount that either.
Well Ballo is gone and Boz is gone and Caleb is still an unknown so you got 2/3 of what you were looking for. We will see what the portal provides. Hopefully a couple of starters. My thoughts on the portal is Ballo will be in the top 10 or so and Boz in the top 20.

[azgreg]

Been saying it for years, but I really hate watching all the free throws. just disrupts the flow of the game. Every FT shooter only gets one attempt. If it's an AND ONE, it's worth 1 point. If in the bonus, or fouled during a missed shot attempt, it's worth 2 points. If fouled during a missed 3 point shot, it's worth 3 points.

/RANT OFF

Every foul should be one short and the ball.

[pc in NM]

Been saying it for years, but I really hate watching all the free throws. just disrupts the flow of the game. Every FT shooter only gets one attempt. If it's an AND ONE, it's worth 1 point. If in the bonus, or fouled during a missed shot attempt, it's worth 2 points. If fouled during a missed 3 point shot, it's worth 3 points.

/RANT OFF

Every foul should be one short and the ball.

I don't like these.

The only change I'd consider would be to make the foul shot(s) optional - get the ball w/20 seconds, the option. And this probably only in the final minutes (2? or 5?)

[BBQ wildcat]

It used to be, a long, long time ago, that once a team amassed 7 fouls, the opposing team had the option of shooting free throws or taking the ball out of bounds. I wish that were still the case.

[VegasCatFan]

How about the old NBA rule from so long ago, 3 shots to make 2. Maybe after the 10th team foul.

[azgreg]

Been saying it for years, but I really hate watching all the free throws. just disrupts the flow of the game. Every FT shooter only gets one attempt. If it's an AND ONE, it's worth 1 point. If in the bonus, or fouled during a missed shot attempt, it's worth 2 points. If fouled during a missed 3 point shot, it's worth 3 points.

/RANT OFF

Every foul should be one short and the ball.

I don't like these.

The only change I'd consider would be to make the foul shot(s) optional - get the ball w/20 seconds, the option. And this probably only in the final minutes (2? or 5?)

OK, how about this. One shot, the ball, and Bobby Hurley get ejected even if ASSu isn't playing in that game?

[UAEebs86]

How about the old NBA rule from so long ago, 3 shots to make 2. Maybe after the 10th team foul.

Glad I'm not the only person here to remember 3 to make 2. Makes me feel old.

[Lute4God]

If Ballo misses the front end of a 1 and 1 it’s a TO. But mostly I use that phrase because its catchy and simple and conveys the point.

I’ve always thought missing the front end of a 1-&-1 should be counted as a turnover if the other team rebounds it.

To me the 1 and 1 is the most irritating rule in the NCAAs. Getting to the bonus should be an advantage. Time to go the 4 quarters like the women.

[pc in NM]

How about the old NBA rule from so long ago, 3 shots to make 2. Maybe after the 10th team foul.

Glad I'm not the only person here to remember 3 to make 2. Makes me feel old.

God, it was so embarrassing to see the hat tricks!!!

[Postmaster]

How about a penalty box? You foul, you go to the box until the next basket. You can come back on court without checking in, just like hovckey..

[AZCatGirl]

How about a penalty box? You foul, you go to the box until the next basket. You can come back on court without checking in, just like hovckey..

If we could get a penalty box for coaches, Bobby would be getting lots of exercise on game day.

[TheCat]

While I agree that we need to get these stars coming in plenty of playtime, it would be nice to have a senior leader on the team

I fully understand that without a senior leader we could take a step back, but Bradley as a Junior can be that guy. He exhibited more poise in tough games than some of our upperclassmen this past season.

What makes you think any of our players, including the new ones, won't enter the portal after one good season? That is not what I see happening in today's world.

[Chicat]

While I agree that we need to get these stars coming in plenty of playtime, it would be nice to have a senior leader on the team

I fully understand that without a senior leader we could take a step back, but Bradley as a Junior can be that guy. He exhibited more poise in tough games than some of our upperclassmen this past season.

What makes you think any of our players, including the new ones, won't enter the portal after one good season? That is not what I see happening in today's world.

What makes you think any of our players won’t enter the portal after a year sitting behind an upperclassman they got recruited over for?

I’d say that more playing time gives kids more NIL opportunities and thus more incentive to stick around. Bury a kid on the bench behind kids playing a 5th or 6th year and you’re more likely to lose them.

Kids hit the portal for better opportunities so I want Tommy to make Arizona the best opportunity for our best players.

[TheCat]

I assume if they were recruited over someone we have a better player and that should be the goal of the coaching staff always. Playing more will give a player more NIL opportunities the trick is they need to be your opportunities and not Arkansas with a $5M / yr NIL commitment.

There will always be a balancing act in a players final year.

[Merkin]

No harm in getting NBA feedback, and a great idea to keep eligibility.

[Beachcat97]

I’m very happy Caleb played for UofA, even if just for a year. He’s a good dude, and he brought a positive energy to the team.

While I’d be surprised to see him back in Tucson this fall, I’d also welcome his return.

[Merkin]

I imagine there is a good chance he returns since he is not going into the portal and has 0 chance for a NBA contract.

Question is, would Lloyd want him to? Obviously Lloyd has limited control over Love.

[Beachcat97]

I imagine there is a good chance he returns since he is not going into the portal and has 0 chance for a NBA contract.

Question is, would Lloyd want him to? Obviously Lloyd has limited control over Love.

If Love actually wanted to play another year for UofA, and it got out that our coach wasn’t okay with that, how do you think that would look? He’s the reigning Pac POY. I suppose Lloyd and Love may’ve had an understanding that he’d only play one year, but if not…

[Dave]

His statement sounds like someone that is not planning on coming back. I would love to have him back!

[Fishclamps]

Sounds more like someone testing the waters if he's stating that he's maintaining his eligibility

[pc in NM]

I want Caleb back, too!

Especially a Caleb motivated by expert NBA feedback on areas he needs to improve to become NBA-readty.

I think he improved a lot in the areas of concern that he brought with him this past season - not totally, but significantly. And, with a true point guard (or two?) in the back-court, The opportunity should be there!!

OTOH - BTFD in the NBA, Caleb!!!

[Merkin]

Actually since Bradley is more of a combo guard, I would love to try Love as the PG if he returns, as long as he doesn't have the green light on the perimeter unless it's a "good shot", which apparently he still has yet to learn.

[U.P. Zona Fan]

Sounds like Alonzo Trier to me. Maybe? It's been a minute. He didn't come back but no NIL back then. Maybe we have a chance.

[Merkin]

Don't know who this guy is or what his site is, but he heard Arkansas and Indiana.

Is this the ashes of old Ace's old PGU?

[dmjcat]

Don't know who this guy is or what his site is, but he heard Arkansas and Indiana.

Is this the ashes of old Ace's old PGU?

Yes

[CalStateTempe]

Ace is still alive and not in prison?

[84Cat]

Ace is still alive and not in prison?

Yep and still an asshole

[CalStateTempe]

Where did ace get his money? Ffs what a douche

[Merkin]

the shop "discriminated" against him for his Indian descent.

But he goes by Rogers instead of Thakore because?

[Postmaster]

Book should have gotten more cash from him, for all the trouble it caused.


Is he an AZ alum?

[Beachcat97]

Have to share this because it's too funny.

Every year I do a little side gig scoring AP exams (ie: essays). I just read one that referenced, and I'm not kidding, "Pac 12 Player of the Year Caleb Love" The larger context was this student's argument about the importance of setting goals at a young age. But can you imagine my reaction reading essay after essay and then getting to one that references Arizona basketball? Priceless.

[Chicat]

Perfect score?

[Beachcat97]

Perfect score?

I really wanted to. Believe me.

[AZCatGirl]

Love has a new haircut.

[Bangkok Wildcat]

Good look imo. BTFD Caleb!

[84Cat]