Bear Down Wildcats

FightWildcatsFight wrote:And this is the time of the year where basketball is winding down, coach goes on vacation, and the message boards are dead.

What am I going to do until August?

When Kentucky marched out seven players for their final farewell, it was easy to see exactly what the Wildcats were losing.

Arizona’s news came more like a slow bleed, a news conference to announce Stanley Johnson was leaving after his freshman season, another to say Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was going as well, and a news release announcing Brandon Ashley’s decision to turn pro.

It didn’t necessarily ease the sting because the Wildcats, so tantalizingly and heartbreakingly close to the Final Four again in March, are essentially back to square one. With T.J. McConnell graduating, the only starter returning for coach Sean Miller is center Kaleb Tarczewski.

Cynics, of course, will see that word – elite – and snicker, quick to point out that Arizona hasn’t been to a Final Four since 2001, and that Miller is now 0-for-4 in Elite Eight games. They’d also be wise to remember that before Miller there was upheaval, chaos and two second-weekend berths in six years.

The reality is, the NCAA tournament is a wild card. The best team doesn’t always win the championship, let alone a game, and the best games often come down to matchups. Wisconsin was a lousy matchup for Arizona and the Badgers weren’t exactly a shabby team.

So the loss stings, and it stings even more now that the Wildcats have essentially said goodbye to a starting lineup that went 34-4 this past season.

But the real definition of elite, especially in this era of turnover, is what happens to a team when its roster is depleted by early defections and graduations. Does it crumble or reload?

Arizona is reloading.

What the immediate future holds: Let’s start with who is back for the Wildcats: Tarczewski likely could have been a first-round pick, but the 7-footer wanted to get his degree (he would be the first men's basketball player to graduate from the business school), attempt to become the school’s winningest player (he’s 18 wins away from that), and improve his game. Already one of the top defensive big men, he averaged 9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds on a team that had plenty of offensive options.

Not exactly a bad guy to build around.

And Miller has plenty of pieces with which to build.

Arizona’s reloading plan includes yet another top recruiting class, this one ranked fourth by ESPN, of four players. All are ranked in the ESPN 100, with three in the top 40: shooting guard Allonzo Trier (No. 18), small forward Ray Smith (No. 29), point guard Justin Simon (No. 37) and center Chance Comanche (No. 91). There’s also San Francisco graduate transfer Mark Tollefsen, who is at once a strong outside shooter and a highlight-reel dunker, plus junior college transfer Kadeem Allen and Boston College transfer Ryan Anderson.

Trier is, needless to say, the headliner. The Jordan Brand game MVP and McDonald’s All American can score from just about anywhere on the floor and is exactly what has been absent from the defensive-minded Wildcats for a few years – a bona fide, go-to scorer.

But he’s not the only guy who can help infuse some offense into an occasionally offensively-challenged team.

Tollefsen shot 38.9 percent from behind the arc at San Francisco. Before leaving Boston College, Anderson averaged 14.7 points per game.

As many coaches who have gone through the changeover would attest, though, the most critical players aren’t the new ones; they are the guys coming back. How players who were accustomed to playing bit parts react and adjust to bigger roles really is the difference, and Arizona has more than a few of them.

At point guard there’s Parker Jackson-Cartwright, McConnell’s understudy, who played sparingly but more than well, with a solid 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Gabe York and Elliott Pitts will be every bit as critical on the wing as Trier. York had the memorable game against Ohio State, coming off the bench for 19 points and 5-of-9 shooting from behind the arc, to prove exactly what kind of weapon he can be. He needs to be that -- if not all of the time -- most of the time this season for the Wildcats.

Tarczewski is the sure thing in the middle and he’ll be assisted by Dusan Ristic, another 7-footer coming off a good freshman campaign. The tag team, in fact, should be so strong that Comanche might have to wait his turn.

In all, the way it lays out makes for a team that is young, but bolstered by enough experience and so much talent that it’s hard to imagine Arizona not being the pick to win the Pac-12.

84Cat wrote:We need to figure out how to embed videos on this site:

ASUHATER! wrote:No

Beachcat97 wrote:
So you think we should be the favorite? Followed by which other team(s)?

SCCats wrote:

Beachcat97 wrote:
So you think we should be the favorite? Followed by which other team(s)?

There's 1) us and then 2-12) a whole bunch of teams that suck and aren't worth mentioning.

ChooChooCat wrote:Here's a real fun question that's eating at me a bit. Miller has brought together a group of players who are more renowned for their offense than they are their defense. So does Miller play to this team's strength and conjures his primary lineups based on the best offensive players or does he try to fit a square peg into a round hole and play his best defensive players and try to get the best offense out of them? This definitely seems like a crossroads year for Miller as a head man. Adapt to his group's strength or force them to play Miller ball?

Main Event wrote:I think Cal flops

SCCats wrote:

Main Event wrote:I think Cal flops

We beat Cal by nine games in the standings, their stats were (in the nation) PPG 200th, Rebounds 111th, Assists 183rd, FG % 143rd, coached by Cuonzo Martin but they're going to add two freshmen to that team and basically become (at least, generally) a fringe top ten in the country team to win the PAC title.

I agree with you ME that there's lots of potential downside to that story, lots of possibility for a "flop" but the worst part will be, after they go like 12-6 in a fairly crappy PAC, people will say "Well you have to understand, there wasn't really much returning talent on this Cal team, that their statistics for last year (see quoted above) were very bad and they did make some good strides, but..."

And people like me (and probably you) will be sitting here shaking our heads at their post season analysis.

ASUHATER! wrote:Cal will be good but does just adding two good freshmen make them one of the most improved and best teams in the nation? I don't know.

ASUHATER! wrote:So csl has 4-5 players and some moldy oranges on the bench. Big woop

ChooChooCat wrote:Here's a real fun question that's eating at me a bit. Miller has brought together a group of players who are more renowned for their offense than they are their defense. So does Miller play to this team's strength and conjures his primary lineups based on the best offensive players or does he try to fit a square peg into a round hole and play his best defensive players and try to get the best offense out of them? This definitely seems like a crossroads year for Miller as a head man. Adapt to his group's strength or force them to play Miller ball?

gumby wrote:How I see it (without having seen Simon, Smith).

PJC
York
??
Anderson
Tarcewski

Trier had some struggles overall, not just on defense. Can't just outmuscle people on drives to the rim, like he did in H.S., so he couldn't finish as well. His challenge will be to keep the ball moving and not let it stick in his hands. SJ had the same challenge. Mark Lyons never overcame that.

That fifth starter? Could be Trier if we go small. Or Smith if we go traditional. The sleeper, to me, is Tollefsen. He could steal some of those wing minutes if the young 'uns struggle to adapt. (Along with playing the 4).

As the freshmen get comfortable, the minutes will change. But i expect the four I've listed to lead the team in minutes played. But I don't think any of them will be among league leaders in that category.

We have a lot of very good players, but possibly no great players. I don't see a POY on that roster, but would love to be surprised (Anderson?). So, they better have the mindset that stops are paramount to success.

gumby wrote:
The sleeper, to me, is Tollefsen. He could steal some of those wing minutes if the young 'uns struggle to adapt. (Along with playing the 4).

We have a lot of very good players, but possibly no great players. I don't see a POY on that roster, but would love to be surprised (Anderson?). So, they better have the mindset that stops are paramount to success.

rgdeuce wrote:Lot of pics on twitter, guess they had their official photo day or whatever it is. Feels like a completely new team, weird, but exciting.

84Cat wrote:

rgdeuce wrote:Lot of pics on twitter, guess they had their official photo day or whatever it is. Feels like a completely new team, weird, but exciting.

Yep

enfuego wrote:Inside, Tarczewski is thinking about what could have been and shattered NBA dreams.