Bear Down Wildcats

Well, thank goodness Arizona Basketball exists.

I'd rather root for Miller to succeed with the new multiyear recruit plan than be involved with the dumpster fire of football on any level.

At least we have potential and a 6-1 record in basketball vs a multiyear losing streak and another retread coach. I'm excited to watch Tubelis, Mathurin, Terry, etc. develop.

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:02 pm Well, thank goodness Arizona Basketball exists.

I'd rather root for Miller to succeed with the new multiyear recruit plan than be involved with the dumpster fire of football on any level.

At least we have potential and a 6-1 record in basketball vs a multiyear losing streak and another retread coach. I'm excited to watch Tubelis, Mathurin, Terry, etc. develop.

Not why what Matt Muelbach meant when he said this team is better than last year's 3 NBA draft pick team, but this team is much more likable and much more fun to watch.

Merkin wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:18 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:02 pm Well, thank goodness Arizona Basketball exists.

I'd rather root for Miller to succeed with the new multiyear recruit plan than be involved with the dumpster fire of football on any level.

At least we have potential and a 6-1 record in basketball vs a multiyear losing streak and another retread coach. I'm excited to watch Tubelis, Mathurin, Terry, etc. develop.

Not why what Matt Muelbach meant when he said this team is better than last year's 3 NBA draft pick team, but this team is much more likable and much more fun to watch.

That was very odd, I took it as implying by the season's end they'd be better. Which, any hard working team with chemistry could accomplish that, but I'd still like to see it.

Hopefully nobody on our current roster gets the crazy idea to turn pro early. This can be a dynamic team next year -- definitely a top 15 team if they all stay on track with their improvement. All of them have unique skill sets and will get better shooting the ball and defending.

Merkin wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:18 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:02 pm Well, thank goodness Arizona Basketball exists.

I'd rather root for Miller to succeed with the new multiyear recruit plan than be involved with the dumpster fire of football on any level.

At least we have potential and a 6-1 record in basketball vs a multiyear losing streak and another retread coach. I'm excited to watch Tubelis, Mathurin, Terry, etc. develop.

Not why what Matt Muelbach meant when he said this team is better than last year's 3 NBA draft pick team, but this team is much more likable and much more fun to watch.

I took it as last year, we needed those 3 to produce or we had no shot. If 2 of the 3 didn't play well, we had no chance.

This year, we have a lot more guys who can make those contributions. It makes us harder to defend and ultimately gives us greater potential.

The downside is you felt like you could count on Zeke, etc. more than you can this year. There are more guys who can do it, but they're all at varying stages of development where it's hard to think they can do it most nights.

It felt like last year we were day traders. This year we're value investors. It feels good and the pressure's off, at least it is for me as a fan.

dovecanyoncat wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:35 am It felt like last year we were day traders. This year we're value investors. It feels good and the pressure's off, at least it is for me as a fan.

It's been longer than that, IMO. The last time we had a year where we expected any semblance of continuity into next year was 16-17, which (not coincidentally) was the last year before decline feels like it set in.

In 17-18, we were loaded, but you knew everyone was leaving. So we got upset and then all 5 starters were gone.

18-19, we'd lost all our starters and the FBI scandal killed recruiting. So, that was a year of pretty much scrambling to patch whatever holes we could. Even then, our mainstays were Coleman, Randolph, Luther and Jeter, 3 of whom left and the fourth dropped off the map.

19-20, we got 3 talented freshman to add to a few seniors. The seniors were lackluster and all 3 freshmen got drafted.

This year, we're starting over again, but for the first time in 3 years, you can see a future core. I tend to think the struggles the last 3 years were driven by the FBI investigation and the pressures of resulting fallout, but this year seems like the first year we truly are moving towards continuity in the program.

Arizona basketball has been in the bottom 10% nationally in roster continuity for three years in a row.

I was setting up a pivot table to do some analysis but fuck it, I'll just go ahead and guess that we've had the least stable roster among power programs over the last three seasons. And despite that we haven't become a laughing stock or fallen off the map entirely.

YoDeFoe wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:00 pm Arizona basketball has been in the bottom 10% nationally in roster continuity for three years in a row.

I was setting up a pivot table to do some analysis but fuck it, I'll just go ahead and guess that we've had the least stable roster among power programs over the last three seasons. And despite that we haven't become a laughing stock or fallen off the map entirely.

No disrespect to tables but I think it's obvious. Some of it might be within Miller's control, but I tend towards that the FBI investigation caused chaos that has left us in a year in, year out scramble until this year.

I don't blame Miller for the 19-20 turnover necessarily. First, I think he was under big pressure to rebound after 18-19. Next, Zeke blowing up was a surprise.

Here are the other major FBI program results since (I'm estimating last year):

Auburn: clearly the best with 3 strong seasons including a FF.
Louisville: missed one NCAA, lost in the first round of another, would have made it last year.
Miami: 1 of 3 seasons with a tourney. Lost in the first round that year.
Ok St: Zero tourneys.
USC: Probably 1 of 3 tourneys (the probable was last year).
NCSU: 1 of 3 tourneys.

Frankly, we're about Louisville level with 2 of 3, including a first round loss. I'd argue all schools but Auburn were under their expectations in the FBI aftermath, and we only really did worse than Auburn.

With the roster turnover and ESPN BS, I'm also of the mind we are not in a bad place considering. The people who just focus on us not being top 25...well, there are valid reasons that were pretty well set in stone the second the FBI announced.

Our guards are playing really smart basketball right now. Is this JTs influence?

Arizona has always been at their best when their best players are their guards

Akinjo and Baker are clearly the top 2 on this team

Alieberman wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:26 pm Our guards are playing really smart basketball right now. Is this JTs influence?

This reminds me of Villanova type teams.

When we limit to's and make 3's and free throws, we're legit. This was a really nice win. This was our second legit opponent and we passed the test.

We still need to grow on D and gave up way too many offensive boards early, but hell, this was a good win.

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:44 pm When we limit to's and make 3's and free throws, we're legit. This was a really nice win. This was our second legit opponent and we passed the test.

We still need to grow on D and gave up way too many offensive boards early, but hell, this was a good win.

True but I'd like to see us do this on a neutral court or true away game against legit team. Great W tonight. Best game of the year yet.

Lando05 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:06 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:44 pm When we limit to's and make 3's and free throws, we're legit. This was a really nice win. This was our second legit opponent and we passed the test.

We still need to grow on D and gave up way too many offensive boards early, but hell, this was a good win.

True but I'd like to see us do this on a neutral court or true away game against legit team. Great W tonight. Best game of the year yet.

Yeah, but we've only had one of those games so far this year and we lost by 3. I think this is a trust the process team. The best probably isn't this year.

Agree. We will see some high's and low's this year so I am tempering my euphoria/expectations.

But I certainly agree this is much more of a "fun team" to watch and I am impressed of how well our 3 guards have played so far.

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:17 am Agree. We will see some high's and low's this year so I am tempering my euphoria/expectations.

But I certainly agree this is much more of a "fun team" to watch and I am impressed of how well our 3 guards have played so far.

Last year, we leaned really heavily on the 3 freshmen. Dylan Smith was our leading scorer outside them, and the only one who averaged more than 7 ppg. We also had a number of guys who were basically one dimensional (Smith, Hazzard).

This year, we've leaned on Baker and Akinjo, but have another 4 guys in the 7-11 ppg range and 3 more around 5 ppg. We're scoring with spread out volume this year. Also, our perimeter guys are scoring threats on multiple levels. We don't have any shooters only like Smith and Hazzard.

It still matters that 3's fall (see the ugliness of Montana or UTEP when they don't) but when we make our shots, we have a much more balanced attack. What I like is I feel like we're doing fairly well while also having room to improve on D and the boards, which I expect we'll do as the younger guys learn.

We'll also have Kriisa at some point, who's another multiskilled perimeter player to add to the rotation. There's a lot to like this year, although I'm sure there will be some down games mixed in with good wins like last night.

The growth we are seeing this year, makes me very excited about next year when we should be returning nearly everyone. This is going to be a fun group of guys to root for for several years.

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:52 am
This year, we're starting over again, but for the first time in 3 years, you can see a future core. I tend to think the struggles the last 3 years were driven by the FBI investigation and the pressures of resulting fallout, but this year seems like the first year we truly are moving towards continuity in the program.

This is what I'm excited about

Heard there would be some sort of announcement today from the basketball program. Choo or anyone heard what it might be about? FBI/NCAA related?

Post season ban

Congrats dmjcat, you got what you’ve been crying for years for. I don’t know what made this occur now. I think the thoughts of a “deal” being made with the NCAA is far fetched. I guess we’ll see.

Hopefully the IARP sees it as a viable enough punishment, that’s all that matters.

I hate Heeke.

Not even sure this was his decision but it sure smells like his brand of surrender.

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:37 pm Congrats dmjcat, you got what you’ve been crying for years for. I don’t know what made this occur now. I think the thoughts of a “deal” being made with the NCAA is far fetched. I guess we’ll see.

Hopefully the IARP sees it as a viable enough punishment, that’s all that matters.

Yeah, I wouldn't have done this but if there's a season for it to happen... might as well be this one where COVID is canceling games, there's no fans in the stands, and it all feels like practice anyways.

Hopefully this can help us keep some of the current guys (run it back with the squad and make a tournament run) and it might be beneficial in recruiting (we've already taken our ban). The chemistry and system IQ for next season would be something we haven't seen since 2014-15 (I mean that very literally).

Post season ban is BS because the whole thing has been an albatross on the program since fall of '17. And the piling on by ESPN has added to the misery.
It's been three steady seasons of punishment despite no players EVER proven to receive an improper benefit. An assistant cuts a deal with an agent to skim money and you penalize an entire program???
And now a self-imposed one year ban. Does that guarantee that there won't be further punishment? Probably not.

I hope when all of this is settled and finished that Miller comes out guns blazing and calls out ESPN, Schlabach, Vitae, Bilas, etc... for the unprofessional Duke loving hacks that they are.

I do think Miller and everyone sees that next season could be a very special year with all the pieces in place and after four years of this shit they've had enough. Hopefully they got a verbal guarantee from the NCAA that if they took their medicine this year they wouldn't be punished further.

Chicat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:40 pm I hate Heeke.

Not even sure this was his decision but it sure smells like his brand of surrender.

Thinking the same thing. As though we haven't been punished enough by the media and the innuendo for the last three years. Such bullshit.

Of course this is calculated but why now? What leverage might it give us with a third party arbitration council? Only thing I can think of is that we know this team should be better next year snd we want to protect that opportunity

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:37 pm Congrats dmjcat, you got what you’ve been crying for years for. I don’t know what made this occur now. I think the thoughts of a “deal” being made with the NCAA is far fetched. I guess we’ll see.

Hopefully the IARP sees it as a viable enough punishment, that’s all that matters.

It's weird timing, but hopefully it means we're gearing up to argue to the IARP that we deserve an Ok. St. level punishment. This sets up exactly to compare us to OSU.

I'm not thrilled, but people are still floating a tourney with reduced at large teams this year. That would mean we're not in unless we win the conference tourney regardless of a ban.

If we have to get a ban in any year, this is an ok one. We don't look like we're weaseling out of a real ban bc we are a bubble team, not like 3-5 an out of contention. But we're in a building process for next year and unlikely to make noise if there is a tourney and we get in this year.

With the next Covid surge due to Christmas happens in a couple weeks, who can say what the schedule bodes anyway.

we need the tournament to happen to serve our ban. So...

EVCat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:10 pm we need the tournament to happen to serve our ban. So...

I'm not sure there's a rule like that. This is all to set up an IARP argument that they should accept our self sanction, and we can always point out we banned at a point the tourney was still a go even if it is later cancelled.

This reminds me of that old saying, the NCAA was so mad at Kansas that they crushed Cleveland State.

Heeke so mad about Fisch that he went back to kicking basketball.

Whatever, this is dumb, but with the core we have, we are set up for the long term instead of this year.

2020 just keeps on giving!

What has Robbins and Heeke done to impress UA alumni in the last few weeks? Seriously? What evidence could possibly have been discovered that wasn't available back in 2018-19? Arizona could've self-imposed back in the fall of '18 if they were convinced by the evidence. The program has been slowly tortured for three years now. Isn't that enough? Crap, Heeke let Butts coach the women's basketball team despite seven losing seasons in eight years. These guys have no balls. Zero!
Miller must be so fucking pissed -- not at the penalty but more about the spineless nature of the AD and Prez.

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:37 pm What has Robbins and Heeke done to impress UA alumni in the last few weeks? Seriously? What evidence could possibly have been discovered that wasn't available back in 2018-19? Arizona could've self-imposed back in the fall of '18 if they were convinced by the evidence. The program has been slowly tortured for three years now. Isn't that enough? Crap, Heeke let Butts coach the women's basketball team despite seven losing seasons in eight years. These guys have no balls. Zero!
Miller must be so fucking pissed -- not at the penalty but more about the spineless nature of the AD and Prez.

Look, I'm as mad about the football hire as anyone, but I don't ever think you should self-sanction before getting a NOA, which we didn't have in 18-19.

The NOA is what the NCAA thinks they can prove vs you. If you self sanction, then they drop more on you, you almost have to agree to increase what you already imposed. Waiting until after the NOA guarantees that you are self-sanctioning based off what they think they can prove.

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:44 pm

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:37 pm What has Robbins and Heeke done to impress UA alumni in the last few weeks? Seriously? What evidence could possibly have been discovered that wasn't available back in 2018-19? Arizona could've self-imposed back in the fall of '18 if they were convinced by the evidence. The program has been slowly tortured for three years now. Isn't that enough? Crap, Heeke let Butts coach the women's basketball team despite seven losing seasons in eight years. These guys have no balls. Zero!
Miller must be so fucking pissed -- not at the penalty but more about the spineless nature of the AD and Prez.

Look, I'm as mad about the football hire as anyone, but I don't ever think you should self-sanction before getting a NOA, which we didn't have in 18-19.

The NOA is what the NCAA thinks they can prove vs you. If you self sanction, then they drop more on you, you almost have to agree to increase what you already imposed. Waiting until after the NOA guarantees that you are self-sanctioning based off what they think they can prove.

Arizona had its own investigation. They had to know everything the NCAA had. Everything. And they had to know it long before the NOA arrived. I find it hard to believe they opened the letter from the NCAA and said, "Wow, we had no idea this happened!"

Guess Robbins realized he hadn't screwed over a major sport in a few days so decided to do this.

How do we fire this ass?

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:02 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:44 pm

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:37 pm What has Robbins and Heeke done to impress UA alumni in the last few weeks? Seriously? What evidence could possibly have been discovered that wasn't available back in 2018-19? Arizona could've self-imposed back in the fall of '18 if they were convinced by the evidence. The program has been slowly tortured for three years now. Isn't that enough? Crap, Heeke let Butts coach the women's basketball team despite seven losing seasons in eight years. These guys have no balls. Zero!
Miller must be so fucking pissed -- not at the penalty but more about the spineless nature of the AD and Prez.

Look, I'm as mad about the football hire as anyone, but I don't ever think you should self-sanction before getting a NOA, which we didn't have in 18-19.

The NOA is what the NCAA thinks they can prove vs you. If you self sanction, then they drop more on you, you almost have to agree to increase what you already imposed. Waiting until after the NOA guarantees that you are self-sanctioning based off what they think they can prove.

Arizona had its own investigation. They had to know everything the NCAA had. Everything. And they had to know it long before the NOA arrived. I find it hard to believe they opened the letter from the NCAA and said, "Wow, we had no idea this happened!"

I disagree. Say we self sanctioned a year tourney ban, then the NCAA gives us a NOA with a single, low level allegation.

We then would have massively oversanctioned. The NCAA's penalty matrix is super broad, and it's always a question of what allegation(s) they include.

Further, we had a variety of things floating, like the ESPN article, the allegation about Rawle's trancripts, etc. Even if we thought we were fine factually, you have to know they're never gonna accept a low level punishment if they load up on allegations.

Finally, bottom line, I feel like self sanctioning a tourney ban in a year where you're clearly not a tourney team is not gonna be looked at favorably. In 18-19, we would have been doing that, basically imposing an illusory punishment.

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:04 pm

Guess Robbins realized he hadn't screwed over a major sport in a few days so decided to do this.

How do we fire this ass?

The megalomaniac strikes again.

Why do I feel like Robbins and Heeke attended the Larry Scott school of sports leadership?

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:02 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:44 pm

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:37 pm What has Robbins and Heeke done to impress UA alumni in the last few weeks? Seriously? What evidence could possibly have been discovered that wasn't available back in 2018-19? Arizona could've self-imposed back in the fall of '18 if they were convinced by the evidence. The program has been slowly tortured for three years now. Isn't that enough? Crap, Heeke let Butts coach the women's basketball team despite seven losing seasons in eight years. These guys have no balls. Zero!
Miller must be so fucking pissed -- not at the penalty but more about the spineless nature of the AD and Prez.

Look, I'm as mad about the football hire as anyone, but I don't ever think you should self-sanction before getting a NOA, which we didn't have in 18-19.

The NOA is what the NCAA thinks they can prove vs you. If you self sanction, then they drop more on you, you almost have to agree to increase what you already imposed. Waiting until after the NOA guarantees that you are self-sanctioning based off what they think they can prove.

Arizona had its own investigation. They had to know everything the NCAA had. Everything. And they had to know it long before the NOA arrived. I find it hard to believe they opened the letter from the NCAA and said, "Wow, we had no idea this happened!"

Not Spiff's point - it doesn't matter what we know internally to be true, it matters what the NCAA believes they can prove. We don't know that until the NOA drops, so once it dropped this season the clock started running on potentially self imposing a ban. Put another way, if you did a bunch of shady stuff and then the police were investigating you... you wouldn't send yourself to jail. You'd wait until they charged you.

YoDeFoe wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:12 pm

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:02 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:44 pm

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:37 pm What has Robbins and Heeke done to impress UA alumni in the last few weeks? Seriously? What evidence could possibly have been discovered that wasn't available back in 2018-19? Arizona could've self-imposed back in the fall of '18 if they were convinced by the evidence. The program has been slowly tortured for three years now. Isn't that enough? Crap, Heeke let Butts coach the women's basketball team despite seven losing seasons in eight years. These guys have no balls. Zero!
Miller must be so fucking pissed -- not at the penalty but more about the spineless nature of the AD and Prez.

Look, I'm as mad about the football hire as anyone, but I don't ever think you should self-sanction before getting a NOA, which we didn't have in 18-19.

The NOA is what the NCAA thinks they can prove vs you. If you self sanction, then they drop more on you, you almost have to agree to increase what you already imposed. Waiting until after the NOA guarantees that you are self-sanctioning based off what they think they can prove.

Arizona had its own investigation. They had to know everything the NCAA had. Everything. And they had to know it long before the NOA arrived. I find it hard to believe they opened the letter from the NCAA and said, "Wow, we had no idea this happened!"

Not Spiff's point - it doesn't matter what we know internally to be true, it matters what the NCAA believes they can prove. We don't know that until the NOA drops, so once it dropped this season the clock started running on potentially self imposing a ban. Put another way, if you did a bunch of shady stuff and then the police were investigating you... you wouldn't send yourself to jail. You'd wait until they charged you.

Excellent analogy. It says exactly what I meant in half the space.

If you don't know what the cops have, you can confess to a bunch of drug sales when they think you ran a red light. Or, you can propose they fine you $50 when they're actually investigating a murder.

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:37 pm Congrats dmjcat, you got what you’ve been crying for years for. I don’t know what made this occur now. I think the thoughts of a “deal” being made with the NCAA is far fetched. I guess we’ll see.

Hopefully the IARP sees it as a viable enough punishment, that’s all that matters.

Crying for?? No, I was RATIONALLY calling for self sanctions.

If you want to see crying go back and look at your response to my original suggestion to self sanction for the 18 NCAA tourney...now THAT was crying.

The decision to self sanction was the correct one (in my opinion) although it was nearly 3 years late. Had we sanctioned in 18 we would have largely avoided the 3 year drip, drip, drip Chinese torture inflicted on us my ESPN and the rest of the blithering idiot-talking heads. In the end the adults in the UA boardroom prevailed (probably egged on by the lawyers).

Hopefully Spiff is correct and this will largely end the 3 year nightmare. Continuing down the path of doing nothing would have only continued to negatively affect recruiting and invite more negative press from the usual suspects. The only sensible thing to do once Books transgressions became public was to put the entire mess behind us as quickly as possible. Hopefully todays actions will largely take care of that.

Sucks that we won't have the opportunity to see the Cats in the tourney next year (assuming its even held or the UA makes it)

So what does Vitale have to say...?

Did he get beat to the punch?

Kansas better hope their sanctions come soon or else their two year ban won’t start until next year.

In other news, are we really the 8th best team in the Pac?

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/29 ... -ramps-up/

Beachcat97 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:48 pm In other news, are we really the 8th best team in the Pac?

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/29 ... -ramps-up/

Got to be true along with ASU being 3rd with
their 4-3 record.

It is a smart play. This is a strange, somewhat lost season for college basketball. Arizona basketball is presently going through a transition. This is not a championship level squad. Take a hit now when it matters less, rather than later on when it will potentially hurt more. It might also help with recruiting because recruits for 21 and 22 won't be concerned with the uncertainty of missing the tournament due to sanctions. The NCAA will not be content with this announcement because it wants blood from Arizona (for some reason more than the other teams associated with the FBI investigation), but an arbitrator is going to have to strongly take this into account when levying future penalties, if the process leads to a conclusion that more is warranted, such as a loss of scholarships or vacated wins.

Beachcat97 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:48 pm In other news, are we really the 8th best team in the Pac?

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/29 ... -ramps-up/

Has Wilner watched basketball this year or just focused on Larry Scott and football?

ASU #3? Despite getting their asses beaten down by double digits at home by SDSU & UTEP? And barely surviving effing Grand Canyon? At what point does performance on the court matter? I mean, ASU was down by 20, at home, to SDSU with 2:30 remaining in the game.

Arizona's single loss is to a respectable Stanford team, on the road, where the game was decided on the final possession.

It's columns like this that shows absolutely zero credibility.

zonagrad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:59 pm

Beachcat97 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:48 pm In other news, are we really the 8th best team in the Pac?

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/29 ... -ramps-up/

Has Wilner watched basketball this year or just focused on Larry Scott and football?

ASU #3? Despite getting their asses beaten down by double digits at home by SDSU & UTEP? And barely surviving effing Grand Canyon? At what point does performance on the court matter? I mean, ASU was down by 20, at home, to SDSU with 2:30 remaining in the game.

Arizona's single loss is to a respectable Stanford team, on the road, where the game was decided on the final possession.

It's columns like this that shows absolutely zero credibility.

What is the east bay times? Regardless, there are factions of the sports media that really want to see ASU ascend to greatness; (1) because it is Hurley and Duke related, and (2) they want to see Arizona taken down in its own state by what has historically been a massively inferior program. The current hate for Arizona basketball is astounding. Miller must have really pissed some people off over the past decade for the program to have become such a target by the sports media.

dmjcat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:31 pm

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:37 pm Congrats dmjcat, you got what you’ve been crying for years for. I don’t know what made this occur now. I think the thoughts of a “deal” being made with the NCAA is far fetched. I guess we’ll see.

Hopefully the IARP sees it as a viable enough punishment, that’s all that matters.

Crying for?? No, I was RATIONALLY calling for self sanctions.

If you want to see crying go back and look at your response to my original suggestion to self sanction for the 18 NCAA tourney...now THAT was crying.

The decision to self sanction was the correct one (in my opinion) although it was nearly 3 years late. Had we sanctioned in 18 we would have largely avoided the 3 year drip, drip, drip Chinese torture inflicted on us my ESPN and the rest of the blithering idiot-talking heads. In the end the adults in the UA boardroom prevailed (probably egged on by the lawyers).

Hopefully Spiff is correct and this will largely end the 3 year nightmare. Continuing down the path of doing nothing would have only continued to negatively affect recruiting and invite more negative press from the usual suspects. The only sensible thing to do once Books transgressions became public was to put the entire mess behind us as quickly as possible. Hopefully todays actions will largely take care of that.

Sucks that we won't have the opportunity to see the Cats in the tourney next year (assuming its even held or the UA makes it)

What if the IARP says thanks for banning yourself, but it’s not good enough, here’s another year. How would you feel after that? Also you’ve been a crying bitch about this for years, so yes crying is the appropriate word to describe what you’ve been doing for a long time about this.

Either way I’ve had this explained to me like a baby and this decision isn’t without logic, because the Ok State penalties ensured we were always getting a year ban and next years team is way more likely for big tourney success than this one. The risk very much exists that we’ll get sanctioned another year anyways, but if it all works out then you, my dipshit friend, will have been right all along. I can stomach that.

Thanks Larry.