Bear Down Wildcats

NYCat wrote:Alabama lost to Georgia State at home tonight.

To sum things up...
This is looking more like a game we need to win to avoid a bad loss rather than a nice away game.

NYCat wrote:Baylor has 2 weeks without a game and to prepare for Arizona.

This worries me a bit. We'll really need to bring our A game.

AZCatGirl wrote:

NYCat wrote:Alabama lost to Georgia State at home tonight.

To sum things up...

This is looking more like a game we need to win to avoid a bad loss rather than a nice away game.

NYCat wrote:Baylor has 2 weeks without a game and to prepare for Arizona.

This worries me a bit. We'll really need to bring our A game.

We should get their best on Sunday

At this point, loses to Alabama or Baylor would be embarrassing and hugely detrimental to our tournament chances. Which of course means Alabama will look like the dream team on Sunday and make every shot.

If the Baylor game was on the road, I'd be way more worried. But you would think 2 weeks to prepare for someone gives them a huge advantage.

No excuses. Gotta beat Bama and Baylor.

Dont worry about Baylor. The game will be at 10pm local time for them..............

Beachcat97 wrote:No excuses. Gotta beat Bama and Baylor.

Wonder if Coleman is going to light it up against his old squad

PHXCATS wrote:Dont worry about Baylor. The game will be at 10pm local time for them..............

Yeah...college kids are just gassed at 10pm. Most are in bed by 9.

Not sure I get the over-emphasis on how much time they have to prepare in other posts. This isn't football. You can put together a good scouting report and execute it for a basketball opponent in days. The game is not really a series of set plays...once you have player's tendencies and maybe a few set plays or out of bounds plays reviewed, you have all you really can gain by prep time. Basketball is more of a "take what is there"...no one needs two weeks of studying the pack-line to master it. You know what it wants to do, but can you beat it?

Prep time in the tournament is 2 days for the 2nd opponent, and I don't think anybody goes into a game unprepared. A week is more than enough time to prep for a basketball opponent. You want to focus more in that time off on tightening up your own game. The advantage to having 2 weeks might be that you have a lot of extra time after prepping for the opponent to work on facets of your own game instead of just running scout stuff.

EVCat wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:Dont worry about Baylor. The game will be at 10pm local time for them..............

Yeah...college kids are just gassed at 10pm. Most are in bed by 9.

Not sure I get the over-emphasis on how much time they have to prepare in other posts. This isn't football. You can put together a good scouting report and execute it for a basketball opponent in days. The game is not really a series of set plays...once you have player's tendencies and maybe a few set plays or out of bounds plays reviewed, you have all you really can gain by prep time. Basketball is more of a "take what is there"...no one needs two weeks of studying the pack-line to master it. You know what it wants to do, but can you beat it?

Prep time in the tournament is 2 days for the 2nd opponent, and I don't think anybody goes into a game unprepared. A week is more than enough time to prep for a basketball opponent. You want to focus more in that time off on tightening up your own game. The advantage to having 2 weeks might be that you have a lot of extra time after prepping for the opponent to work on facets of your own game instead of just running scout stuff.

Was totally joking. That is why I put all the periods after

PHXCATS wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:

Frybry02 wrote:Great win in a great road atmosphere. I believe the reported attend a e was over 14600. The only PAC12 team that the cats will face on the road that will come close to that number will be ASU. Utah and Oregon are usually in 12k range. I am looking forward to this teams continued improvement the rest of the non-conference slate.

Just like our pac road games, we draw the biggest crowds wherever we go to play.

And the only reason the ASU crowd would be that big is since it's 50% Arizona fans. The biggest hostile true road crowds we'd ever see in conference aren't much more than 10-11k

Not trying to fight with you here but when was the last time you went to UA at asu for men's basketball?

Nothing about who is a good or better fan. Just things have changed the last few years with that game so want to know your base for this comment

Hater do you have a moment to answer this. I am really curious because I have been to every game in Tempe since 2003. The last few years the atmosphere and the ratio of UA and ASU fans has really changed, curious if anyone else is seeing this

Are we talking about more ASU fans showing up? I have noticed it but last season it was more noticeable. AsWho thinks they are a basketball school now.

MC1983 wrote:Are we talking about more ASU fans showing up? I have noticed it but last season it was more noticeable. AsWho thinks they are a basketball school now.

Yes. The last 5 years I would say or so, the asu ticket office has been putting the UA tickets on the market later and later or requiring other packages to get them until a few weeks before the game. And it has worked. I would say 10 years ago it was more than 50 50 UA fans. Now it is maybe 25% UA fans.

It just amazes me how many asu fans show up to one game a year for basketball and one game every other year for football.

I believe it's due to the marketing campaign for the ASU- UofA game

"Come for the Curtain... stay for an Ass -Whooping"

Fuck that low rent piece of shit curtain of distraction.

ASU basketball: It's curtains.

Do the curtains match the drapes?

PHXCATS wrote:

MC1983 wrote:Are we talking about more ASU fans showing up? I have noticed it but last season it was more noticeable. AsWho thinks they are a basketball school now.

Yes. The last 5 years I would say or so, the asu ticket office has been putting the UA tickets on the market later and later or requiring other packages to get them until a few weeks before the game. And it has worked. I would say 10 years ago it was more than 50 50 UA fans. Now it is maybe 25% UA fans.

It just amazes me how many asu fans show up to one game a year for basketball and one game every other year for football.

That's because their school puts an emphasis on beating it's rival. We don't, especially in football

azcat49 wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:

MC1983 wrote:Are we talking about more ASU fans showing up? I have noticed it but last season it was more noticeable. AsWho thinks they are a basketball school now.

Yes. The last 5 years I would say or so, the asu ticket office has been putting the UA tickets on the market later and later or requiring other packages to get them until a few weeks before the game. And it has worked. I would say 10 years ago it was more than 50 50 UA fans. Now it is maybe 25% UA fans.

It just amazes me how many asu fans show up to one game a year for basketball and one game every other year for football.

That's because their school puts an emphasis on beating it's rival. We don't, especially in football

Need to fire Hurley then since he is 0-6

Yeah the last couple years the games in Tempe have has a lot more ASU fans. I went to the games up there in I think it was 2006 and 2008 and in those games the curtained off arena was only like 80% full (like maybe 9000 people) and it was like 60% Arizona fans.

MC1983 wrote:Are we talking about more ASU fans showing up? I have noticed it but last season it was more noticeable. AsWho thinks they are a basketball school now.

Gotta be something.

They know calling themselves a football school won't fly.

PHXCATS wrote:

azcat49 wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:

MC1983 wrote:Are we talking about more ASU fans showing up? I have noticed it but last season it was more noticeable. AsWho thinks they are a basketball school now.

Yes. The last 5 years I would say or so, the asu ticket office has been putting the UA tickets on the market later and later or requiring other packages to get them until a few weeks before the game. And it has worked. I would say 10 years ago it was more than 50 50 UA fans. Now it is maybe 25% UA fans.

It just amazes me how many asu fans show up to one game a year for basketball and one game every other year for football.

That's because their school puts an emphasis on beating it's rival. We don't, especially in football

Need to fire Hurley then since he is 0-6

Nope, because it's more about the attitude then the talent. Nice try though

Speaking of assu. The tickets for the game in Tempe are up, starting at $45, about 3x the other games. The only tickets left for the KU game are in the nose bleeds at $75 a pop. I know chickenhawk fans will be there in droves (will enfuego?)

So coach calls Ryan, RyLu

cats101 wrote:Speaking of assu. The tickets for the game in Tempe are up, starting at $45, about 3x the other games. The only tickets left for the KU game are in the nose bleeds at $75 a pop. I know chickenhawk fans will be there in droves (will enfuego?)

You know it.

1st half was maybe our worst half of the season but the positives:

Luther can be a force when he is aggressive and asserts himself
Akot looked a lot more confident and actually contributed positively.... hopefully a sign of more to come

We avoided disaster. Now, we need to keep growing. That game won't fly vs better comp.

Survive and advance. It's as true in December as it is in March.

The good:
- Randolph
- Jeter's defense
- Brandon Williams stepping up with good minutes at the 1 when Coleman was out.
- Akot with a solid all-around game. Confidence booster.
- Even though the opponent wasn't good, it was nice to see the cats come out hard in the second half. No one hanging their heads like certain people last season.

The bad:
- That first half was a disaster
- Coleman some bad fouls
- Ira Lee - learn to control the energy.
- Barcello - still not the answer
- Free doutrive

Where's Rise&Misfire?

BWill is a better PG than Coleman is.

SunnyAZ wrote:BWill is a better PG than Coleman is.

BWill had a double double...and 5 assists. He had a great game

Spaceman Spiff wrote:We avoided disaster. Now, we need to keep growing. That game won't fly vs better comp.

I feel like we wouldn’t have played that game against better comp.

Longhorned wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:We avoided disaster. Now, we need to keep growing. That game won't fly vs better comp.

I feel like we wouldn’t have played that game against better comp.

How much better would Utah Valley have to have played for us to win by more than we did?

That first half was the worst I've ever seen, but they redeemed themselves in the second half - RyLu stepped up big time - hopefully he stays aggressive going forward...

I like this years team

Olsondogg wrote:I like this years team

Have to like the way we erased the 12 point deficit by the first TV timebout. Randolph comes out and hits 4 3 balls on what looked like designed plays.

With Coleman and Jeter in foul trouble others had to step up and Luther, Akot and BWill really got the job done. Nice win

Really like that the ban on Smith shooting was lifted. Huge shots

IrishAzCat wrote:That first half was the worst I've ever seen, but they redeemed themselves in the second half - RyLu stepped up big time - hopefully he stays aggressive going forward...

100

Good to see a total team effort tonight, despite the flow of the game being killed by the officials.

Miller (rightfully so) was so pissed at how they were calling defensive fouls on Utah Valley's dribble handoff action. I was most encouraged at how the defense bounced back in the second half. Utah Valley was pretty frenetic at times and they played some good team defense. Jeter has some really good footwork on the perimeter.

Dylan is maddening.

Did that first half remind you of Buffalo last year or what?

Utah Valley runs a lot of good actions, NBA sets (Spain PNR, where a guard steps up and hits the roller’s defender with a back screen on high PNR), and they simply out execute you unless your defense is ready to play. For those who do not like Miller’s offense, you were probably pulling your hair out watching the movement, action, and flexibility of the opposing offense in the first half. There was a lethal shooter, good passers, a speedy attacking PG, and action… Nonstop off the ball action. Did I mention action? I mean, like a shit ton of action.

While the base offense was pretty simple, it relied on a bevy of reads from the guards, bigs, attackers. There were numerous high ball screens, DHOs, slips, and side ball screens on each possession, especially in the first half.

Our defense did not come to play early, and the first three possessions we had on defense were brutal:

Possession 1: You see the speed of their offensive actions on display. A pitch handoff by the PG, cut around to opposite side. Same time, shooter, fakes a screen and slips to cut opposite. Pass to high post big, fake DHO to PG for an easy dunk. That… was impressive. Our guys had no idea what just hit them.

Possession 2: PG pushes the ball up the floor. However, all five UA defenders are back and on a man. Unfortunately, they provide terrible transition defense and awareness. A lifted set in transition with the big coming for a flat ball screen. PG doesn’t need a screen, as he has Coleman beat. Williams isn’t ready to help, and actually doesn’t even attempt to help. Akot out of position weak side and offers nothing as well. Easy layup.

Possession 3: Akot telegraphs swing pass to Coleman. PG reads it all the way for an easy steal and score.

The next few possession were better, but those first three were a microcosm of the issues our defense faced the entire first half. The ball pressure was soft, guys were getting beat off the bounce, we were getting killed on slips (AGAIN), nobody was coming to tag the roll/slip man, we were getting cross matched in transition, ect.

The other end of the floor was not much better due to the turnovers. Utah Valley had an aggressive help defense with everyone was on a string. Their rotations were early, helping off the weak side corners, making sure to keep the lane clogged, as they had very little respect for anyones jumper (something Miller/Randolph exposed to start the second half). They knew all the rotations to be able to defend our motion offense, flex actions, and typical sets (step up back screen for Jeter, overload back screen lob for the guard (which we have run every year Miller has been here, typically the first few possessions of each half). That requires good coaching and game prep. Well done.

That was a brief rundown of the first half. We obviously turned the ball over an insane amount of times, so while we were able to create some decent looks, our offense basically went out the window.

However, the second half was night and day different. Everything I said was completely flipped for the first six or so minutes.
Unfortunately, my recording somehow was corrupted fir the first ten minutes of the second half, so I wont be able to break it down into detail outside of my memory while taking notes.

If I remember correctly, Randolph came off our motion action and found himself free for an easy three. He nailed the jumper, and Miller began to work the hot hand. Randolph was running hard off screens, getting pin downs off our flex action, staggered to free him up coming off the right wing, ect.

Thankfully Randolph got hot, because after the initial burst, the offense went back into a lull during the middle of the half. Our sets had no threat to attack off the dribble, nor on cuts. Guys coming off screens to catch and not curl and attack. No dribble drives, no threats to break down the defense and kick. This allowed Utah Valley to lock in on what they want to do defensively, which is clogging middle, close down driving lanes and limit post ups for Jeter.

The real hero of the game was the defense in the second half. Everyone’s heads were up and on a swivel. Guys were finally hitting the tag on the big rolling and slipping, something they were really late on, or completely missed in the first half. Active rotations, guys sitting help side, instead of scrambling to pick up their rotations. Overall, much more active and aware.

Additionally, because of the ball pressure, there wasnt as much room to cut. The passing lanes were tighter due to the help defense, and the offense looked frustrated. Finally, without driving lanes the off ball action wasnt as lethal, and thus the entire offense slowed down.

Really good second half, but teams have the blueprint to disrupt Miller’s defensive schemes. This is especially without pressure at the point of attack, freshman on the floor who don’t know their rotations, multiple below average defenders eating major minutes, or guys simply not caring enough to give the effort. This team, especially, NEEDS to come to defend every night. If not, you see what can happen (1H).

Good analysis as always Clip...I seriously doubt we will face another team that comes into McKale as crisps as UV was...I did not look at their depth but my guess is that most of their guys have been together for more than one season.

We were Wisconsin in 2015 hitting 66% of our three's after not hitting any for months...we were due and no one ever notices that on the winning side.

Good wake up call before the Bama game.

Sure hope CSM has them ready on Sunday. We go as our guards go...

billk78 wrote:The good:
- Randolph
- Jeter's defense
- Brandon Williams stepping up with good minutes at the 1 when Coleman was out.
- Akot with a solid all-around game. Confidence booster.
- Even though the opponent wasn't good, it was nice to see the cats come out hard in the second half. No one hanging their heads like certain people last season.
--Dylan Smith

The bad:
- That first half was a disaster
- Coleman some bad fouls
- Ira Lee - learn to control the energy.
- Barcello - still not the answer
- Free doutrive
--Dylan Smith

Edited to accurately reflect the game.

At this point no one should put the ball on the floor in the half court other than Coleman, Williams, Randolph. Everyone else is a walking turnover machine. Should we be concerned that were a 3pt shooting team this year and are shooting it in the low 30%s? Right now they're shooting 33%, before yesterday's game they were shooting 30%.

Yesterday game showed something very important to this year's team, intensity. Arizona isn't talented - nor offensively gifted - enough to drop off it's intensity defensively any given game, have to play with intensity/energy every single game and that's why we need the bench to keep the legs fresh

Kinda concerned Smith will be trying to do too much going back home to Alabama on Sunday. With Coleman, hopefully he puts on a Maui performance against his old team

NYCat wrote:

billk78 wrote:The good:
- Randolph
- Jeter's defense
- Brandon Williams stepping up with good minutes at the 1 when Coleman was out.
- Akot with a solid all-around game. Confidence booster.
- Even though the opponent wasn't good, it was nice to see the cats come out hard in the second half. No one hanging their heads like certain people last season.
--Dylan Smith

The bad:
- That first half was a disaster
- Coleman some bad fouls
- Ira Lee - learn to control the energy.
- Barcello - still not the answer
- Free doutrive
--Dylan Smith

Edited to accurately reflect the game.

At this point no one should put the ball on the floor in the half court other than Coleman, Williams, Randolph. Everyone else is a walking turnover machine. Should we be concerned that were a 3pt shooting team this year and are shooting it in the low 30%s? Right now they're shooting 33%, before yesterday's game they were shooting 30%.

Yesterday game showed something very important to this year's team, intensity. Arizona isn't talented - nor offensively gifted - enough to drop off it's intensity defensively any given game, have to play with intensity/energy every single game and that's why we need the bench to keep the legs fresh

Kinda concerned Smith will be trying to do too much going back home to Alabama on Sunday. With Coleman, hopefully he puts on a Maui performance against his old team

Yes, we should be concerned about the shooting. When you're a small team with only one guy who's potentially a post threat, the shots need to fall.

Frankly, I'm impressed we've fought through some shooting that probably should have triggered a loss or two more than we have. D and intensity are not negotiable with this team.

Knocking down a few more 3's would be the part of our team that can change that would be most beneficial. We have some guys who are capable of making shots, but they've been mostly incapable of making them consistently. I have hopes that Smith evolving past a complete bricklayer will help allay some of the issues.

TucsonClip wrote:Did that first half remind you of Buffalo last year or what?

Utah Valley runs a lot of good actions, NBA sets (Spain PNR, where a guard steps up and hits the roller’s defender with a back screen on high PNR), and they simply out execute you unless your defense is ready to play. For those who do not like Miller’s offense, you were probably pulling your hair out watching the movement, action, and flexibility of the opposing offense in the first half. There was a lethal shooter, good passers, a speedy attacking PG, and action… Nonstop off the ball action. Did I mention action? I mean, like a shit ton of action.

While the base offense was pretty simple, it relied on a bevy of reads from the guards, bigs, attackers. There were numerous high ball screens, DHOs, slips, and side ball screens on each possession, especially in the first half.

Our defense did not come to play early, and the first three possessions we had on defense were brutal:

Possession 1: You see the speed of their offensive actions on display. A pitch handoff by the PG, cut around to opposite side. Same time, shooter, fakes a screen and slips to cut opposite. Pass to high post big, fake DHO to PG for an easy dunk. That… was impressive. Our guys had no idea what just hit them.

Possession 2: PG pushes the ball up the floor. However, all five UA defenders are back and on a man. Unfortunately, they provide terrible transition defense and awareness. A lifted set in transition with the big coming for a flat ball screen. PG doesn’t need a screen, as he has Coleman beat. Williams isn’t ready to help, and actually doesn’t even attempt to help. Akot out of position weak side and offers nothing as well. Easy layup.

Possession 3: Akot telegraphs swing pass to Coleman. PG reads it all the way for an easy steal and score.

The next few possession were better, but those first three were a microcosm of the issues our defense faced the entire first half. The ball pressure was soft, guys were getting beat off the bounce, we were getting killed on slips (AGAIN), nobody was coming to tag the roll/slip man, we were getting cross matched in transition, ect.

The other end of the floor was not much better due to the turnovers. Utah Valley had an aggressive help defense with everyone was on a string. Their rotations were early, helping off the weak side corners, making sure to keep the lane clogged, as they had very little respect for anyones jumper (something Miller/Randolph exposed to start the second half). They knew all the rotations to be able to defend our motion offense, flex actions, and typical sets (step up back screen for Jeter, overload back screen lob for the guard (which we have run every year Miller has been here, typically the first few possessions of each half). That requires good coaching and game prep. Well done.

That was a brief rundown of the first half. We obviously turned the ball over an insane amount of times, so while we were able to create some decent looks, our offense basically went out the window.

However, the second half was night and day different. Everything I said was completely flipped for the first six or so minutes.
Unfortunately, my recording somehow was corrupted fir the first ten minutes of the second half, so I wont be able to break it down into detail outside of my memory while taking notes.

If I remember correctly, Randolph came off our motion action and found himself free for an easy three. He nailed the jumper, and Miller began to work the hot hand. Randolph was running hard off screens, getting pin downs off our flex action, staggered to free him up coming off the right wing, ect.

Thankfully Randolph got hot, because after the initial burst, the offense went back into a lull during the middle of the half. Our sets had no threat to attack off the dribble, nor on cuts. Guys coming off screens to catch and not curl and attack. No dribble drives, no threats to break down the defense and kick. This allowed Utah Valley to lock in on what they want to do defensively, which is clogging middle, close down driving lanes and limit post ups for Jeter.

The real hero of the game was the defense in the second half. Everyone’s heads were up and on a swivel. Guys were finally hitting the tag on the big rolling and slipping, something they were really late on, or completely missed in the first half. Active rotations, guys sitting help side, instead of scrambling to pick up their rotations. Overall, much more active and aware.

Additionally, because of the ball pressure, there wasnt as much room to cut. The passing lanes were tighter due to the help defense, and the offense looked frustrated. Finally, without driving lanes the off ball action wasnt as lethal, and thus the entire offense slowed down.

Really good second half, but teams have the blueprint to disrupt Miller’s defensive schemes. This is especially without pressure at the point of attack, freshman on the floor who don’t know their rotations, multiple below average defenders eating major minutes, or guys simply not caring enough to give the effort. This team, especially, NEEDS to come to defend every night. If not, you see what can happen (1H).

You probably didn't hear this on the broadcast, but Miller screamed at Coleman and Akot on that play and said 'I told you what they were going to do!' and I think he pulled them at the next whistle.

Also, Utah Valley's PG laughed on his way to the basket on the breakaway layup on the third possession. He got too greedy as the game went on and was a big reason they lost their lead so quickly. He was terrible in the second half.

Last night was a good win, from a development standpoint.

SabinoDrifter wrote: You probably didn't hear this on the broadcast, but Miller screamed at Coleman and Akot on that play and said 'I told you what they were going to do!' and I think he pulled them at the next whistle.

Also, Utah Valley's PG laughed on his way to the basket on the breakaway layup on the third possession. He got too greedy as the game went on and was a big reason they lost their lead so quickly. He was terrible in the second half.

Good catch. In my notes I had Miller being pissed, for obvious reasons, and subbing Akot and Coleman out that early was likely had to do with game prep.

Yeah, second half he had no space to operate. The ball pressure was good, the help off the ball was ready, and all his driving lanes disappeared.

UAEebs86 wrote:Where's Rise&Misfire?

Witness protection for the upcoming Sean Miller/FBI trial.

The defense is pretty good, but the transition defense has been pretty bad so far this season. Offense has to slow the pace and makes it's shots in the half court to prevent fast pace transition offense the other way, and stop turning it over. The defense is really good in the half court, have to force teams to waste clock because in transition the driving lanes are wide open.

Thanks TucsonClip, as ever.

I don't get why the transition D is so ineffective. We'd seem to have the right personnel for good transition D. How on earth is the floor so open?

Longhorned wrote:Thanks TucsonClip, as ever.

I don't get why the transition D is so ineffective. We'd seem to have the right personnel for good transition D. How on earth is the floor so open?

A lot of new players, including guys like Williams, Randolph and Akot, who still need to tutoring on where to be, who to pick up, how to not get cross matched in transition. A lot of it is awareness. While we have guys who are athletic, can slide side to side, and stick on their man, this year it has been the issues off the ball that have slowed us down defensively.

Overall, we have been good. But transition defense is all about communication and awareness. That is definitely a process and something Miller can 100% get these guys to improve on over the course of the season. The issues in previous years was the lack of athletic or lateral ability from our defenders.