Bear Down Wildcats

Merkin wrote:

Bosy Billups wrote:

Merkin wrote:

I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Hahaha

It's okay, no need to apologize.

Longhorned wrote:

Bosy Billups wrote:

Merkin wrote:

I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Hahaha

It's okay, no need to apologize.

You on the other hand would probably still do well to apologize. First, for being wrong. Second, for being wrong at the expense of Stanley Johnson. And third, for suggesting that you were right about it when you had zero insight into the nature of chemistry issue that Rondae refers to.

Longhorned wrote:Okay, then I accept that you've disavowed your singling out of Stanley Johnson as the source of chemistry problems, and I also want credit for thinking that Stanley Johnson was going to need to adjust from high school to college basketball and a new system. I'm just kicking myself for not starting a pre-season thread claiming that Dusan Ristic was going to get a haircut and then bumping it later to show you all that I was right.

Olsondogg wrote:Now I'm worried about the team physics.

Olsondogg wrote:Now I'm worried about the team physics.

Fed up with his team’s defensive effort – and the potential reason behind it – UA coach Sean Miller laced his press conference today with some strong words.

He said the Wildcats' inconsistent defensive efforts points to being “selfish” – as NBA rumblings may be a factor in the back of their heads -- and noted that the “tremendous challenge” of keeping this particular group can “suck the life out of you.”

Here was the full context of those remarks:

“We say it here a lot -- if you’re a totally committed team on the defensive end, it’s really hard to say your team is selfish and if you have a team that picks and chooses how hard we play on defense then I think everybody would have the right to call our team selfish,” Miller said. “Because what happens is you’re more worried about what you’re doing. You’re more worried about how the game’s going for you.

“You’re disappointed that you didn’t get a shot in the last few minutes and your mindset and effort level isn’t on the play at hand -- it’s on what just happened. You start to think about that the stats that you’re gonna get on offense aren’t going to be good enough to be an NBA player and you start to think about the NBA and then you get a phone call after the game or a text message saying you’re not doing enough on offense and the whole thing goes to…”

Miller didn’t finish that sentence but you can imagine how he might have.

Miller said similar things two years ago when the Wildcats lost their edge, in part to a bit of individualism, but said this team is probably ahead of that one.

“Two years ago we had an excellent season,” he said. “One of the parts of that season was we had pockets of the Pac-12 where we unraveled defensively and it didn’t cost us a great season but it probably cost us a conference championship or maybe that next level. Instead of being right at the cusp of a number of great things we weren’t quite able to break through because our defense never really became excellent. Last year you saw what it felt like to be the best, or among the best.

“Where we’re at this year, we’re kind of in between. In many ways we’ve advanced beyond perhaps where we would have been two years ago but we’re nowhere near where we were last year.”

Miller was asked how he can guard against a team becoming selfish.

Short answer: It’s really tough.

Longer answer:

“I think with the great teams in college basketball (you) realize with team success, a lot of great individual accolades follow,” Miller said. “With a lack of team success very few follow. Not everybody believes that but it’s ongoing. It’s about working at it every single day in today’s climate of college sports, especially in basketball, because guys can leave in a year or a semester, two years. It’s about really working at that team unity and togetherness every day. It’s not easy.

“It’s difficult and I would say this team in particular is a tremendous challenge to make sure that we’re united and about Arizona and about team and about defense every day. It can suck the life out of you.”

With all that in mind, what’s the latest NBA projections for the Wildcats? Here’s the latest 2015 mock draft from Draft Express: Stanley Johnson is at No. 8, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at 18. Brandon Ashley has fallen out of both rounds while Kaleb Tarczewski is hanging in at 59. No Wildcat is listed in their 2016 mock draft.

NBADraft.net has Johnson at No. 3 and Hollis-Jefferson at No. 30, with Ashley (41) and Tarczewski (44) in the second round.

FWIW, I talked to an NBA scout in Oregon who said he wouldn't be surprised to see Johnson go as high as No. 1. ...

CBCat wrote:lol
Stanimal for a freshman did great tonight.
6'7" 245. He's a load and a big piece of the overall success. Hated that he let that dude get to his spot and hit the 3. But all worked out in the end thankfully.

3goggles wrote:Wow I was actually joking by bumping this thread but some people are still serious about this! Laughable! Dude was cheering on his teammates when he was benched, was leading the team celebration in the locker room and tweeted that it doesn't matter if he went 1/50 as long as the team wins!

FightWildcatsFight wrote: Couldn't help but notice Johnson almost entirely removed from the rest of the team in this video. Even Mellon and Korcheck were better positioned.

PieceOfMeat wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote: Couldn't help but notice Johnson almost entirely removed from the rest of the team in this video. Even Mellon and Korcheck were better positioned.

you and I have drastically different interpretations of that video.

Looks to me like he's involved, yelling, jumping, part o the team.

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

CBCat wrote:lol
Stanimal for a freshman did great tonight.
6'7" 245. He's a load and a big piece of the overall success. Hated that he let that dude get to his spot and hit the 3. But all worked out in the end thankfully.

3goggles wrote:Wow I was actually joking by bumping this thread but some people are still serious about this! Laughable! Dude was cheering on his teammates when he was benched, was leading the team celebration in the locker room and tweeted that it doesn't matter if he went 1/50 as long as the team wins!

I agree, just thought the video was interesting.

PieceOfMeat wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote: Couldn't help but notice Johnson almost entirely removed from the rest of the team in this video. Even Mellon and Korcheck were better positioned.

you and I have drastically different interpretations of that video.

Looks to me like he's involved, yelling, jumping, part o the team.

ghostwhitehorse wrote:

Chicat wrote:I did not see him pouting. He seemed totally into the game.

pokinmik wrote:

Chicat wrote:I did not see him pouting. He seemed totally into the game.

Medcalf is an idiot. Stanley was completely into the game and cheering the team on.

Chicat wrote:I did not see him pouting. He seemed totally into the game.

gumby wrote:

ghostwhitehorse wrote:

Notice how Tarc is almost entirely removed from this? Interesting.

Bosy Billups wrote:Hi, not to say "I was right, you were wrong, I knew it" but as an FYI

22:00 - TJ McConnell discusses chemistry issues

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/

Sincerely,

Vindication

It's all good though, love Stan and the team.

Puerco wrote:Not a very useful link there.

Bosy Billups wrote:Hi, not to say "I was right, you were wrong, I knew it" but as an FYI

22:00 - TJ McConnell discusses chemistry issues

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/

Sincerely,

Vindication

It's all good though, love Stan and the team.

Puerco wrote:Merk, what's your avatar this time? Looks funny as hell...