Bear Down Wildcats

Olsondogg wrote:My wife watching Rondae play: "He should be on the floor for every minute of every game"

Oh, okay, then you can entitle your auto-biography, I Married a York Hater.

Longhorned wrote:

Olsondogg wrote:My wife watching Rondae play: "He should be on the floor for every minute of every game"

Oh, okay, then you can entitle your auto-biography, I Married a York Hater.

She actually made a comment that she felt like he didn't bring much to the table.

The title of her book is "I married a Pastner hater"

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson = All American

97cats wrote:Rondae Hollis-Jefferson = All American

His defense is so good it's ridiculous. Pangos was just locked down when RHJ covered him (besides the fall-away 3, which was probably the most impressive shot by anyone all night).

I am worried about RHJ on offense. I don't understand why we never post him (and for that matter, Stanley) up and let him work. When he catches the ball facing up he's just not nearly as effective, especially in our last few games. It's probably because the paint is completely clogged, but I think we need to figure out a way to free him up and lately it hasn't been easy.

dcZONAfan wrote:

97cats wrote:Rondae Hollis-Jefferson = All American

His defense is so good it's ridiculous. Pangos was just locked down when RHJ covered him (besides the fall-away 3, which was probably the most impressive shot by anyone all night).

I am worried about RHJ on offense. I don't understand why we never post him (and for that matter, Stanley) up and let him work. When he catches the ball facing up he's just not nearly as effective, especially in our last few games. It's probably because the paint is completely clogged, but I think we need to figure out a way to free him up and lately it hasn't been easy.

You mentioned the reason why he and Stanley don't post up, and it's because the lane has been absolutely clogged by other teams packing it in and daring us to shoot jumpers. Not sure why ESPN's "expert" Dan Dakich couldn't see that when he was wailing about how Sean Miller and Stanley Johnson were ruining the game of basketball by not having him in the paint, but everyone else seems to know.

I'd like to see less picks at the top of the key and more cutting directly through the lane. I realize this takes Zeus out of his natural position, but we're getting far less lobs to guys at the hoop because the defense hasn't allowed us any space to work outside in. Rondae, Stanley, and York/Pitts cutting the lane below the free throw line should pick defenders and open things up. Or at least, to my amateur eyes it should.

Chicat wrote:

dcZONAfan wrote:

97cats wrote:Rondae Hollis-Jefferson = All American

His defense is so good it's ridiculous. Pangos was just locked down when RHJ covered him (besides the fall-away 3, which was probably the most impressive shot by anyone all night).

I am worried about RHJ on offense. I don't understand why we never post him (and for that matter, Stanley) up and let him work. When he catches the ball facing up he's just not nearly as effective, especially in our last few games. It's probably because the paint is completely clogged, but I think we need to figure out a way to free him up and lately it hasn't been easy.

You mentioned the reason why he and Stanley don't post up, and it's because the lane has been absolutely clogged by other teams packing it in and daring us to shoot jumpers. Not sure why ESPN's "expert" Dan Dakich couldn't see that when he was wailing about how Sean Miller and Stanley Johnson were ruining the game of basketball by not having him in the paint, but everyone else seems to know.

I'd like to see less picks at the top of the key and more cutting directly through the lane. I realize this takes Zeus out of his natural position, but we're getting far less lobs to guys at the hoop because the defense hasn't allowed us any space to work outside in. Rondae, Stanley, and York/Pitts cutting the lane below the free throw line should pick defenders and open things up. Or at least, to my amateur eyes it should.

Good point. Honestly, I'd prefer a Rondae post up to a Zeus post up for three reasons: 1) Rondae is just a better finisher 2) Zeus is a better shooter and I think could hit the 12-15 footer consistently if it was kicked to him as he started to show last year 3) I think Rondae would actually find the right person if doubled down low, something Zeus has done ZERO times this year.

I know that's not something we've ever seen but I would really be interested in finding out how often Zeus would hit a baseline J.

dcZONAfan wrote:

Chicat wrote:

dcZONAfan wrote:

97cats wrote:Rondae Hollis-Jefferson = All American

His defense is so good it's ridiculous. Pangos was just locked down when RHJ covered him (besides the fall-away 3, which was probably the most impressive shot by anyone all night).

I am worried about RHJ on offense. I don't understand why we never post him (and for that matter, Stanley) up and let him work. When he catches the ball facing up he's just not nearly as effective, especially in our last few games. It's probably because the paint is completely clogged, but I think we need to figure out a way to free him up and lately it hasn't been easy.

You mentioned the reason why he and Stanley don't post up, and it's because the lane has been absolutely clogged by other teams packing it in and daring us to shoot jumpers. Not sure why ESPN's "expert" Dan Dakich couldn't see that when he was wailing about how Sean Miller and Stanley Johnson were ruining the game of basketball by not having him in the paint, but everyone else seems to know.

I'd like to see less picks at the top of the key and more cutting directly through the lane. I realize this takes Zeus out of his natural position, but we're getting far less lobs to guys at the hoop because the defense hasn't allowed us any space to work outside in. Rondae, Stanley, and York/Pitts cutting the lane below the free throw line should pick defenders and open things up. Or at least, to my amateur eyes it should.

Good point. Honestly, I'd prefer a Rondae post up to a Zeus post up for three reasons: 1) Rondae is just a better finisher 2) Zeus is a better shooter and I think could hit the 12-15 footer consistently if it was kicked to him as he started to show last year 3) I think Rondae would actually find the right person if doubled down low, something Zeus has done ZERO times this year.

I know that's not something we've ever seen but I would really be interested in finding out how often Zeus would hit a baseline J.

Yes. I've said post up the forwards. Pull Tarc away. Just not getting ROI on his post-ups and they clog the lane for others. If the opposing Big doesn't follow Tarc, he can hit the open 12-footer. Doesn't require dribbling, or banging into anyone for the offensive foul. Same with Ashley, who can drive if they close out. I just know this motion/look-for-Tarc thing isn't good.

BTW, Rondae logged 37 minutes. Only Tarc and Ashley played more (38).

gumby wrote:I just know this motion/look-for-Tarc thing isn't good.

Yeah, which is why it seems like offensively we just look smoother with Ashley at the 5. Zeus's immobility (or at least game-planned immobility) shuts off a lot of options to use our superior athleticism attacking the rim. We've played a number of teams with guys as big or bigger than Zeus where pulling him out of the lane and the defender away from the rim would have done us a world of good. He doesn't need to go far. Free throw line extended please. Close enough that he's a threat for a jumper but far enough away that his man doesn't have his big ass stuck right in Rondae's way.

Funny thing is, he outscored Karnowski. Somebody tell Dakich! But, yeah, he should be the fifth option. Putbacks and short face-up shots. The others can dribble out of double teams and pass better.

Four turnovers. Sketchy first half. Great on the boards, though. Wish he'd operate down low more often. Not much of a threat catching the ball 25 feet from the hoop, but formidable when he mixes it up in the lane.

gumby wrote:Pull Tarc away. Just not getting ROI on his post-ups and they clog the lane for others.

I missed this post a couple days ago but I think that's a good way to put it, that we (for whatever reason; i think it's because Tarc can't create and then can't hold position, but I understand others think differently) just aren't getting good offensive ROI on that action.

I just know this motion/look-for-Tarc thing isn't good.

Yup.

Yea RHJ is a wizard in the paint, he can make some crazy shots and add in his leaping ability...forget about it. I love watching him play.

SCCat wrote:

gumby wrote:Pull Tarc away. Just not getting ROI on his post-ups and they clog the lane for others.

I missed this post a couple days ago but I think that's a good way to put it, that we (for whatever reason; i think it's because Tarc can't create and then can't hold position, but I understand others think differently) just aren't getting good offensive ROI on that action.

I just know this motion/look-for-Tarc thing isn't good.

Yup.

I remember when Gonzaga had Josh Heyvelt, and Few designed the offense to go through him down low. At some point during the season, they just stopped doing that. Few said something like, "It wasn't paying off."

Multi-talented:

He's off to a fast start.

Love Rondae and I think its absolutely nuts he isn't starting.
That said, 28% 3PT shooting isn't going to keep defenses honest or bust any zones. We heard stories about Rondae shooting thousands of jumpers all summer long and we know he worked hard on it and it has in fact improved from last year. Were any coaches helping him or was it TJ?? Was he using youtube?? The shooting motion reminds me of Charles Barkley with a driver - yeah it's not smooth in fact I think he was smoother last year.

His game and the offense would open up so much if he could hit even just 35% like York! Is Hank Haney available?

Overall, RHJ is a stud and I wouldn't trade him for anything but improvement on the J would go a LONG way. I guess that's what the NBA is for these days.

RiseAndFire wrote:Love Rondae and I think its absolutely nuts he isn't starting.

Apparently it's his decision to come off the bench.

http://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketball ... bench-role

The Arizona Wildcats have been bringing Rondae Hollis-Jefferson off the bench rather than starting him so far in the early part of this season, and that trend is going to continue for the foreseeable future.

"I had a talk with Rondae between our last game and tonight's game," Sean Miller said after the win over UC-Irvine. "And I really let it up to him," as far as coming off the bench or being in the starting lineup.

"He's clearly one of our five-best players," Miller continued. "And he's earned that through practice, and everything he's done this year and last. And he told me that he felt that coming off the bench was not only good for him but good for our team."

Should not have fouled out. Ugh

HiCat wrote:Should not have fouled out. Ugh

Was the difference in the game.

That was an aberration with the 2 fouls that shouldn't have been called (including the elbow to his face), but the bottom line is that RHJ's role is stunted by not being a starter. From the tip-off to the final buzzer, he needs to be out there as many minutes as possible, limiting whatever problematic 2, 3, or 4 the opposition is throwing at us. If you treat him like a 6th man, he's going to be a 6th man. He needs to be a star if Arizona is going to go on a deep tourney run.

Watching him on offense is like watching a circus show.

cats101 wrote:Watching him on offense is like watching a circus show.

He's in the wrong show. He needs to be a starter and own it. He doesn't need to "give a spark off the bench."

RiseAndFire wrote:Love Rondae and I think its absolutely nuts he isn't starting.
That said, 28% 3PT shooting isn't going to keep defenses honest or bust any zones. We heard stories about Rondae shooting thousands of jumpers all summer long and we know he worked hard on it and it has in fact improved from last year. Were any coaches helping him or was it TJ?? Was he using youtube?? The shooting motion reminds me of Charles Barkley with a driver - yeah it's not smooth in fact I think he was smoother last year.

His game and the offense would open up so much if he could hit even just 35% like York! Is Hank Haney available?

Overall, RHJ is a stud and I wouldn't trade him for anything but improvement on the J would go a LONG way. I guess that's what the NBA is for these days.

With Stanley and Ashley hitting 3's we don't need more perimeter shooting in the starting lineup. Rondae is an effort guy who can get offensive rebounds or drive in for easy buckets (or pass out to an open player).

More importantly, he's significantly better on defense, even if the offense is better with York out there, that advantage doesn't make up for the huge hit that the team is taking on defense. Furthermore, Rondae's defense frequently leads to transition offense which should off-set the lack of perimeter shooting.

azgreg wrote:

RiseAndFire wrote:Love Rondae and I think its absolutely nuts he isn't starting.

Apparently it's his decision to come off the bench.

http://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketball ... bench-role

The Arizona Wildcats have been bringing Rondae Hollis-Jefferson off the bench rather than starting him so far in the early part of this season, and that trend is going to continue for the foreseeable future.

"I had a talk with Rondae between our last game and tonight's game," Sean Miller said after the win over UC-Irvine. "And I really let it up to him," as far as coming off the bench or being in the starting lineup.

"He's clearly one of our five-best players," Miller continued. "And he's earned that through practice, and everything he's done this year and last. And he told me that he felt that coming off the bench was not only good for him but good for our team."

If that's true (which I doubt), then Rondae is wrong, and Miller is wrong for letting a player decide to have a role that isn't commensurate with what he brings to the team.

This could be the game that changes that, right before conference.

RHJ has been pretty bad on the offensive end the last couple of games. He seems to try and force something almost every time he touches the ball. Not sure when this changed, but I'm starting to cringe when I see the ball in his hands on anything but a fast break.

Oh, and how could Ristic have done any worse against Woods? As usual, the backup center has the shortest leash on a Miller coached team. We sure could have used him last night with both Zeus and RHJ in foul trouble the entire second half and BAsh not showing up to play defense. Honestly, how could he have done any worse?

Go Cats!!

Lol. That is the third time I have seen Ristic proposed as the answer to life's problems. Not trying to be a jerk, but..... Come on now

He needs to start

Bosy Billups wrote:This could be the game that changes that, right before conference.

Yep I think so too. Miller is 100% correct to emphasize defense the way he does, and we need RHJ out there providing suffocating D from the get-go. There is nothing more demoralizing on a basketball court than a team playing excellent defense from the jump and setting the tone. We need to get back to being motherfucking tone-setters instead of giving weak teams like UNLV confidence early. And the effort just needs to be there across the board as well...we know Miller is going to whip their asses for the next week or so to reinforce that.

pokinmik wrote:

Bosy Billups wrote:This could be the game that changes that, right before conference.

Yep I think so too. Miller is 100% correct to emphasize defense the way he does, and we need RHJ out there providing suffocating D from the get-go. There is nothing more demoralizing on a basketball court than a team playing excellent defense from the jump and setting the tone. We need to get back to being motherfucking tone-setters instead of giving weak teams like UNLV confidence early. And the effort just needs to be there across the board as well...we know Miller is going to whip their asses for the next week or so to reinforce that.

I agree but then he would foul out with 10 minutes to play with the way our games are being officiated!

rgdeuce wrote:Lol. That is the third time I have seen Ristic proposed as the answer to life's problems. Not trying to be a jerk, but..... Come on now

That is perfectly fine. You can laugh all you want. The fact is a few years ago we were an incredibly "small" team (Hill and Perry at 4 & 5), even though we had Tree and KNat (all star in Europe now) on the bench. We weren't small. Miller refused to play his reserve bigs. Two years ago both Grant and Angelo were buried on the bench. Grant should have played a ton but he didn't. No doubt both left because of the lack of PT. Last year even Korcheck's numbers were similar to Zeus in pretty much every category, and the only game he got meaningful minutes was in Colorado with AG and Zeus in massive foul trouble in the first half. He more than held his own and Arizona, with a rested Zeus and AG in the second half, destroyed Colorado. The more his reserves play, both big and small, the better our stars are for the final 8 minutes.

That is the issue more than anything else. Let the reserves play so the starters stay out of foul trouble and are rested for the end of the game. How much help did RHJ give us from fouling out? How much more could Zeus have given us in the final minutes with a little more rest and one less foul? And what can it do for our team chemistry if all our top 9 guys get important minutes to learn how to compete in these relatively meaningless games?

A short bench will be destroyed by Duke, Wisconsin, Louisville, and without question by Kentucky. From my perspective this is a huge Achilles' heal for Miller. Love him, but do not understand why he buries pretty much every non-starting big on the bench.

Go Cats!!

Catstatic wrote:

rgdeuce wrote:Lol. That is the third time I have seen Ristic proposed as the answer to life's problems. Not trying to be a jerk, but..... Come on now

That is perfectly fine. You can laugh all you want. The fact is a few years ago we were an incredibly "small" team (Hill and Perry at 4 & 5), even though we had Tree and KNat (all star in Europe now) on the bench. We weren't small. Miller refused to play his reserve bigs. Two years ago both Grant and Angelo were buried on the bench. Grant should have played a ton but he didn't. No doubt both left because of the lack of PT. Last year even Korcheck's numbers were similar to Zeus in pretty much every category, and the only game he got meaningful minutes was in Colorado with AG and Zeus in massive foul trouble in the first half. He more than held his own and Arizona, with a rested Zeus and AG in the second half, destroyed Colorado. The more his reserves play, both big and small, the better our stars are for the final 8 minutes.

That is the issue more than anything else. Let the reserves play so the starters stay out of foul trouble and are rested for the end of the game. How much help did RHJ give us from fouling out? How much more could Zeus have given us in the final minutes with a little more rest and one less foul? And what can it do for our team chemistry if all our top 9 guys get important minutes to learn how to compete in these relatively meaningless games?

A short bench will be destroyed by Duke, Wisconsin, Louisville, and without question by Kentucky. From my perspective this is a huge Achilles' heal for Miller. Love him, but do not understand why he buries pretty much every non-starting big on the bench.

Go Cats!!

None of those players that you mention had or have the upside to ever play meaningful minutes on a tourney-bound team. Jerret got plenty of run and was poised to get serious minutes his sophomore year, but not in year 1. This season, Miller is developing his bench to a fault. Rondae should get 35 minutes per game.

Pretty interesting breakdown of RHJ's defense on Delon Wright: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Del ... ysis-4803/

Chicat wrote:Pretty interesting breakdown of RHJ's defense on Delon Wright: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Del ... ysis-4803/

Nice video. Really interesting to me is that it shows what a great help defender Zeus is. He's rarely caught out of position defensively.

Chicat wrote:Pretty interesting breakdown of RHJ's defense on Delon Wright: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Del ... ysis-4803/

Seven points in the first five minutes. Two on an uncontested layup off a turnover to start the game. Three on a lucky bank.

Three points (putback and a free throw) in the final 35.

Great job.

TheBlackLodge wrote:
Nice video. Really interesting to me is that it shows what a great help defender Zeus is. He's rarely caught out of position defensively.

correct -- indispensable

If he's chasin Randle, we should be in good shape. Just don't get early fouls.

TheBlackLodge wrote:

Chicat wrote:Pretty interesting breakdown of RHJ's defense on Delon Wright: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Del ... ysis-4803/

Nice video. Really interesting to me is that it shows what a great help defender Zeus is. He's rarely caught out of position defensively.

Unfortunately:

Merkin wrote:

TheBlackLodge wrote:

Chicat wrote:Pretty interesting breakdown of RHJ's defense on Delon Wright: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Del ... ysis-4803/

Nice video. Really interesting to me is that it shows what a great help defender Zeus is. He's rarely caught out of position defensively.

Unfortunately:

He picks a cheapie now and again on defense like some others on the team (*cough* BrAsh *cough*), but Kaleb's biggest foul issues are on the offensive side. He needs to be more aware when he's beat for an o-rebound (over the back) and to stop lowering his shoulder when he gets the ball in the post (charge call).

The wobble...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155236360770595

5 turnovers tonight

still can't dribble in traffic

Still love watching him play! Unbelievable motor.

Wait, wut???

RHJ is trolling us!!!

https://vine.co/v/Ot1treQMmzX

#ceilingshot

Merkin wrote:still can't dribble in traffic

Yeah, really hate seeing him dribble in traffic....5 TOs is ugly and costly.

On at least three of those five he was fouled. For some reason the refs were letting a lot of grabbing and arm slaps go inside.

Merkin wrote:still can't dribble in traffic

He was okay. What you can't do is dribble into the teeth of a zone. The little spins from right to left won't work. His shot was awful last night. His defense great. He had some short drives from the FT line which were fantastic and he finished.

Need Parrom to come teach him how to work out of the high post against zones.

Nice weekend: 17/11, 17/9.