Bear Down Wildcats

Sagarin still has Duke #1 even after the loss:

1 Duke = 91.93 6 1 73.52( 141) 1 0 | 1 0 | 93.44 1 | 92.84 1 | 90.09 8 ATLANTIC COAST
2 Kansas = 91.35 4 1 78.78( 35) 0 1 | 0 1 | 91.95 2 | 91.05 3 | 90.77 3 BIG 12
3 Ohio State = 90.55 6 0 70.00( 231) 0 0 | 1 0 | 90.00 6 | 90.38 5 | 90.90 2 BIG TEN
4 Virginia = 90.37 6 0 74.73( 105) 0 0 | 2 0 | 88.87 9 | 91.36 2 | 90.90 1 ATLANTIC COAST
5 Gonzaga = 90.37 6 0 63.54( 348) 0 0 | 0 0 | 90.62 5 | 90.76 4 | 89.49 9 WEST COAST
6 Arizona = 89.79 6 0 67.45( 303) 0 0 | 1 0 | 90.81 4 | 88.21 13 | 90.37 5 PAC-12
7 Oregon = 89.73 5 0 75.90( 78) 0 0 | 2 0 | 89.10 7 | 89.56 7 | 90.19 7 PAC-12
8 Auburn = 89.73 7 0 73.88( 125) 0 0 | 0 0 | 89.07 8 | 89.46 8 | 90.34 6 SOUTHEASTERN
9 Maryland = 89.04 5 0 67.26( 308) 0 0 | 0 0 | 88.86 10 | 89.45 9 | 88.49 13 BIG TEN
10 Baylor = 88.99 5 1 75.45( 88) 0 0 | 1 1 | 88.65 12 | 88.46 12 | 89.49 10 BIG 12
11 Michigan State = 88.96 4 2 78.86( 33) 1 1 | 1 2 | 91.16 3 | 89.10 10 | 87.16 23 BIG TEN
12 Arkansas = 88.31 6 0 71.48( 192) 0 0 | 0 0 | 88.72 11 | 87.05 22 | 88.94 11 SOUTHEASTERN
13 Texas Tech = 88.04 5 0 63.52( 349) 0 0 | 0 0 | 88.42 14 | 88.19 14 | 87.21 22 BIG 12
14 North Carolina = 87.93 4 0 68.98( 259) 0 0 | 0 0 | 87.18 18 | 90.36 6 | 86.69 26 ATLANTIC COAST
15 Utah State = 87.89 7 0 66.63( 317) 0 0 | 1 0 | 88.01 16 | 87.35 20 | 87.93 14 MOUNTAIN WEST
16 Louisville = 87.81 6 0 66.52( 319) 0 0 | 0 0 | 87.07 19 | 88.81 11 | 87.36 17 ATLANTIC COAST
17 Seton Hall = 87.59 4 1 70.22( 225) 0 1 | 0 1 | 88.07 15 | 87.29 21 | 87.08 24 BIG EAST
18 Tennessee = 87.53 5 0 68.37( 273) 0 0 | 1 0 | 86.45 21 | 88.00 15 | 87.88 15 SOUTHEASTERN
19 Kentucky = 87.51 5 1 66.93( 310) 1 0 | 1 0 | 88.54 13 | 87.77 16 | 86.16 27 SOUTHEASTERN
20 Dayton = 87.37 5 0 72.96( 154) 0 0 | 1 0 | 85.90 26 | 86.28 25 | 90.77 4 ATLANTIC 10
21 Florida State = 87.35 5 1 70.62( 212) 0 0 | 1 0 | 86.91 20 | 87.47 18 | 87.30 19 ATLANTIC COAST
22 West Virginia = 86.82 5 0 73.76( 131) 0 0 | 0 0 | 85.56 28 | 87.48 17 | 87.21 21 BIG 12
23 Penn State = 86.74 5 0 67.44( 304) 0 0 | 0 0 | 85.95 25 | 86.69 23 | 87.26 20 BIG TEN
24 Butler = 86.61 7 0 71.51( 191) 0 0 | 1 0 | 85.46 31 | 85.90 27 | 88.50 12 BIG EAST
25 Michigan = 86.47 4 0 66.10( 324) 0 0 | 0 0 | 86.06 23 | 87.40 19 | 85.73 29 BIG TEN

Surprised to see Louisville so low and Duke and KU so high, otherwise makes sense to me.

pepperdine game thread is up

btfd16 wrote:

RondaeShimmy wrote:Looks like the game at Baylor is at the exact time and date as the Big 12 championship game Baylor is playing in

I wonder how many show up

Or if the crowd is more or less into it

Kind of an important story that won't get a ton of play. Big for us.

They just made all the remaining tickets free.

UAEebs86 wrote:

btfd16 wrote:

RondaeShimmy wrote:Looks like the game at Baylor is at the exact time and date as the Big 12 championship game Baylor is playing in

I wonder how many show up

Or if the crowd is more or less into it

Kind of an important story that won't get a ton of play. Big for us.

They just made all the remaining tickets free.

Let’s say they fill the arena, does that count as as a sell out?

I would love to see Arizona send 5-6 busses full of students. Line them up early, feed them and get them in the door.

I’d rather have the crowd. This team plays up to the hype.

given what has transpired over the college basketball landscape the last five days, the next several games have become huge for Arizona - there is real opportunity for the cats in their schedule to position themselves for a #1 Seed if they can stay unbeaten till Gonzaga visits McKale.

there is no excuse in Anaheim, Sean Miller’s young squad should clean up.

could be an exciting few weeks

Have to get better defensively and at rebounding. Props to Green and Smith, I thought they did well on Ross, especially in the 2nd half.

And the refs absolute my blew 2 block\charge calls. I know they are hard to call but the easiest ones to make should be when the defender is sliding under while the offensive player is in the air.

Jeter had zero rebounds tonight. I watched him not rebounding all game long. Absolutely no real interest in grabbing boards. I'm so baffled.

Dylan Smith is officially a Wildcat

Last night's Pepperdine would have taken out just about any team in America having an awful night from the stripe, most especially Virginia, who couldn't have done too much defensively against the perimeter, and wouldn't have been able to score enough field goals to keep up.

And I'm not sure any team in America has a defensive answer for when Nico and Green are on the court with Nnaji when all of the sudden Dylan Smith's hair is on fire. If you can't efficiently hit 14 three-pointers of your own, just tip your hat.

Last night's nights game really killed us on Kenpom

Dropped to #18 overall from #11

Defense went from #20 to #41, offense though went from #19 to #10

I feared we would not prevail after that bogus charge called on Nico at the 1:07 mark. But our 3 starting freshmen have great spirit so we have the potential to outscore anyone no matter how difficult it is for them to adjust to defense in D1.

Josh and Dylan ain't gonna shoot like that very often. Can't believe that's how we won.

Pepperdine made 13 threes and Arizona was 14-24 from the line - not a good game.

if Mannion is not in that game AZ loses regardless of the contributions from Smith or Green, which were fantastic.

Arizona has not had that type of player on the floor in four years to control the game in spite of almost all the forces pulling in the opposite direction(s).

and Jeter on the glass and defense is more than concerning.

on to the next, that game can be used as a building block, to mark a W is fortunate but also a good sign.

Romar teams are always beautiful offensively. We had to know it would be a struggle. He will get them back to the tourney at some point. I like what Longhorned said, many teams lose that game given how they shot it. We shot over 70% in the second half and won by 2. We did what it took to win. I like how we won and how we played.

I hated everything about that game, literally nothing we did to win the game sans Nico's greatness, is sustainable on any level.

P.S. Colbey Ross is my starting point guard next year

Defense, Rebounding, Free Throws

These are the cornerstones that carry from game to game, these just happen to be the things Arizona is the worst at

Baylor's 3 guards + Gillespie are going to kill us on defense, then kill us on the boards and going to lose because they can't hit any FTs

Baylor has the #6 Kenpom offense and the #36 defense so kind of similar currently but they play a lot of zone. I don't feel good about this at all

I'm going to look at last night's game a little differently. First game away from home for the young guys, shot like shit from the line, terrible rebounding yet still got the win. I'm good with it.'

RondaeShimmy wrote:Defense, Rebounding, Free Throws

These are the cornerstones that carry from game to game, these just happen to be the things Arizona is the worst at

Baylor's 3 guards + Gillespie are going to kill us on defense, then kill us on the boards and going to lose because they can't hit any FTs

Baylor has the #6 Kenpom offense and the #36 defense so kind of similar currently but they play a lot of zone. I don't feel good about this at all

It's ok, we'll just depend on Josh Green nailing 3 treys in a row followed by Dylan Smith going Steph Curry in the final minutes. Those are things you can always count on.

I've watched some good teams lose to unranked teams this week. Both by blow outs and buzzer shots. Arizona didn't. I'm thrilled with the win and the heart.

I would say our rebounding is a concern. We give up way to many offensive rebounds. Not sure what our % of defensive rebounds are but I bet it’s not great. That is my biggest concern and it will hurt us at a Baylor or the Zags or Oregon if we don’t get it corrected.

I like our defense in general. Much improved over previous years and it will get better. Love our offense and like last night I see it getting us some dubs that we would lose in other Miller years. Hopefully the team just gets better and better and we enjoy the ride. I think it will

azgreg wrote:I'm going to look at last night's game a little differently. First game away from home for the young guys, shot like shit from the line, terrible rebounding yet still got the win. I'm good with it.'

Yeah but the free throw shooting and rebounding has been bad and a concern the whole season

Yesterday was just a continuation of that plus adding a team who couldn't miss

Those things will carry a team when the offense is struggling, Arizona shot 60% from the field and 55% from 3 and only won by 2

I thought our close outs were subpar throughout much of the game but the last four minutes was just guys making big time plays IMO. Just really high quality basketball down the stretch of that one. I think Pepperdine played at a 9 or 10 level and we were a 4. “Survive and advance practice” I suppose.

The theory of you win games in the paint, rebounding and at the free throw line means we are going to need to win unconventionally this year it seems. We should be better at the line and we should get to that line often.

Unless we decide to sub Jeter out for Lee not sure we will ever be a dominate rebounding team this year. Every team is going to have its warts and it seems most just cover them up rather than fixing them

ChooChooCat wrote:

RondaeShimmy wrote:Defense, Rebounding, Free Throws

These are the cornerstones that carry from game to game, these just happen to be the things Arizona is the worst at

Baylor's 3 guards + Gillespie are going to kill us on defense, then kill us on the boards and going to lose because they can't hit any FTs

Baylor has the #6 Kenpom offense and the #36 defense so kind of similar currently but they play a lot of zone. I don't feel good about this at all

It's ok, we'll just depend on Josh Green nailing 3 treys in a row followed by Dylan Smith going Steph Curry in the final minutes. Those are things you can always count on.

I think of it in terms of being fortunate this year to have somebody else step up and do the unexpected when the expected runs bleak. I say that as an Arizona fan watching another winning team I hate and rooting for them to lose to a likable underdog. They're on the ropes, and of course some role player with a punchable face steps up and saves the day, and their awful, spoiled fans start handing out daggers to everyone else's hearts.

By contrast, when Arizona has been in that situation in the Miller era, all the bounces kind of go the other way, we can't get a bucket when we need it, and we lose while trying to take solace in having defended the paint spectacularly while coming up short defending "whatchagonnadoooo?" circus shots and deep threes.

So yeah, I'm thinking less about what's sustainable, and more about finally having options on offense that deliver a 72% fg half to pull us out of the maw of defeat. Ha ha, Utah fans! Caught you staying up late hoping to see us lose and having to go bed with your hearts in your rectums. Or is the plural 'recta'?

RondaeShimmy wrote:

azgreg wrote:I'm going to look at last night's game a little differently. First game away from home for the young guys, shot like shit from the line, terrible rebounding yet still got the win. I'm good with it.'

Yeah but the free throw shooting and rebounding has been bad and a concern the whole season

Yesterday was just a continuation of that plus adding a team who couldn't miss

Those things will carry a team when the offense is struggling, Arizona shot 60% from the field and 55% from 3 and only won by 2

I understand the concerns, However I'm trying to look at the positives. Don't pee on my rainbow man.

Lots of hand wringing after a victory. Interesting.

Is there plenty to learn from that game last night? Of course.

Is there also quite a bit to like from that game last night? I think so.

Longhorned wrote: By contrast, when Arizona has been in that situation in the Miller era, all the bounces kind of go the other way, we can't get a bucket when we need it, and we lose while trying to take solace in having defended the paint spectacularly while coming up short defending "whatchagonnadoooo?" circus shots and deep threes.

this x 10

So very many of Miller's teams would have lost last night. Then everyone would be using the typical excuse of "you can't win when a team goes off from 3 and hits everything" (cough cough tournament loss cough cough). Yet, this team didn't lose.

Whether by design, or just dumb luck, Miller has a team with enough moxie and scoring ability to outshoot a pepperdine team that I doubt would have lost to many other teams in the country last night.

We're far from perfect, quite obviously, but I am unapologetically happy with the victory last night.

I'm hopeful Miller will be able to bring the defense/rebounding/FT shooting to a higher level without destroying what this team has going for it

azgreg wrote:

RondaeShimmy wrote:

azgreg wrote:I'm going to look at last night's game a little differently. First game away from home for the young guys, shot like shit from the line, terrible rebounding yet still got the win. I'm good with it.'

Yeah but the free throw shooting and rebounding has been bad and a concern the whole season

Yesterday was just a continuation of that plus adding a team who couldn't miss

Those things will carry a team when the offense is struggling, Arizona shot 60% from the field and 55% from 3 and only won by 2

I understand the concerns, However I'm trying to look at the positives. Don't pee on my rainbow man.

He’s being a drama queen. An escapee from the in-game drama queen threads. Smith’s game was not an insane anomaly—he’s shooting 46% from 3 this year.

Rebounding is undeniably a concern. What is weird to me is even when they do box out, it seems like the ball bounces off our guys’ hands and we lose the rebound. Rebounding can be improved just like defense and needs to be. We don’t know if the defensive deficiencies were just a function of stratospheric shooting by the Waves or poor defending. I saw just as many shots go in despite being closely guarded as I saw poor close outs leading to open 3s. I’m not going to overreact based on one data point—a data point that reflects all kinds of new conditions this young team hasn’t had to face yet.

azcat49 wrote:I would say our rebounding is a concern. We give up way to many offensive rebounds. Not sure what our % of defensive rebounds are but I bet it’s not great. That is my biggest concern and it will hurt us at a Baylor or the Zags or Oregon if we don’t get it corrected.

I like our defense in general. Much improved over previous years and it will get better. Love our offense and like last night I see it getting us some dubs that we would lose in other Miller years. Hopefully the team just gets better and better and we enjoy the ride. I think it will

Defensive rebounding percentage is roughly 150ish at below 75%

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-baske ... unding-pct

Though we are top 5 in effective field goal percentage.

ByJoveByJingle wrote:An escapee from the in-game drama queen threads.

Who am I supposed to unload on during an opponent's run? My wife who regards the TV glow and commentary of a late game as "cozy" while she dozes away without care as to whether or not we lose? When the chips are down and I feel sorry for myself, I'm unloading on all of you.

PieceOfMeat wrote: Whether by design, or just dumb luck, Miller has a team with enough moxie and scoring ability to outshoot a pepperdine team that I doubt would have lost to many other teams in the country last night.

This is what I find encouraging. Both Smith and Nico just played dawg ball in the clutch and didn't ask for permission from coach. Sometimes unbridled players, not Miller's plays or game plan, are gonna be what wins the day.

PieceOfMeat wrote:I'm hopeful Miller will be able to bring the defense/rebounding/FT shooting to a higher level without destroying what this team has going for it

This. It didn't sound in the brief post-game that he was determined to force the team to be of a different nature.

Longhorned wrote:

ByJoveByJingle wrote:An escapee from the in-game drama queen threads.

Who am I supposed to unload on during an opponent's run? My wife who regards the TV glow and commentary of a late game as "cozy" while she dozes away without care as to whether or not we lose? When the chips are down and I feel sorry for myself, I'm unloading on all of you.

I’ve never wanted to be unloaded on before, but for you I’ll make an exception. Lay it on me! I’ll get the tissues.

When you look at the percentage numbers there are only 3 that matter in this game, everything else is a non-factor...

Fucking Free Throws (Looking at you Chase Jeter) , Rebounds (looking and not finding you Chase Jeter)...and of course Grandmas piping hot Turnovers....

Dude is one of our most experienced players and crapped his short leg gym shorts last night...but true to Millers coaching mantra about loyalty to guys who work hard in practice he stayed in the game and did not much of anything at all...of course subbing in Ira for Jeter is an automatic turnover by way of foul or just not handling the ball.

Last nights game, if we simply adjust free throw percentage back up to a reasonable 70% and you add 5 more points to the scoreboard...drop out turnovers by 5 and you possibly add another 8 points (assuming your shooting percentage stays where it was last night)...those two things alone move the score back into an "expected range" without even taking points off the board from Pepperdine...

Then get Jeter to fucking show up on the boards (which might not be as big a deal as I expect because with the shooting percentages being what they were the over-all AMOUNT of rebounds available was probably down anyway) and you eliminate second chance points from the Waves and add a couple to our team and this is the expected 20 point blow out we were all comfortably expecting...

I honestly want to know what three teams beat Pepperdine already...I can assure you they were not teams shooting abysmal free throw percentages

USfuckingC and Cal beat Pepperdine already...not a good sign...but if you notice most of those games were really high scoring...I would not sleep on the Waves ever again.

Nnaji had a terrible night defensively. Finally at the end we went 4 small and 1 big. Still didn’t matter much. We couldn’t take advantage of our size (like Lute against East Tennessee St and look what happened there) and to Millers credit, he went small.

Looking for a much better game plan tonight and will wait for the Baylor game to see how we look against a more traditionally sized team. Two games we struggled in were against smaller well coached teams

Like I've said before, I think Baylor is the toughest matchup

Gonzaga got absolutely dominated by Michigan

Gonzaga has road games at Washington and at Arizona next

I'm glad we get Gonzaga at home because even though they got waxed today, they're a very good team. Size, depth, experience. Not sure we're quite ready for that test. Glad it's still a couple weeks off.

And I agree on Baylor. Winning at their place feels really hard this year.

wake forest game thread is up

Still undefeated and now the interesting part of the non conference is about to begin...

Isn't it a gift to see D. Smith emerge as such a valuable asset to this starting lineup? Maybe CSM knew something we didn't? Maybe? The more things change....

Smith and Jeter are good offensively now? Incredible turn around. Smith is looking like what I thought he was going to be when transferring in.

Have a week to prepare for Baylor, hopefully a ton of work on FTs. Get the defense tightened and win a tough game.

I'm going to miss the four three-point lines most of all.

Longhorned wrote:I'm going to miss the four three-point lines most of all.

I still don't know which one was the correct one.

We said it before: the depth of this team was going to save our ass in some games. It did tonight with our stud freshmen (and stud transfer) unable to connect on their FGAs.

Nico takes tournament MVP avg'ing 16 and 7 (with the game winner to boot).

Chase and Dylan both make the All Tournament team. They're joined by AJ Brodeur of Penn and Olivier Sarr of Wake Forest.

I know Green didn't score well tonight but he's my MVP of the tournament for Arizona. Winning plays, always impacting the game.

This team is different

Olsondogg wrote:This team is different

Concur.

YoDeFoe wrote:Nico takes tournament MVP avg'ing 16 and 7 (with the game winner to boot).

Chase and Dylan both make the All Tournament team. They're joined by AJ Brodeur of Penn and Olivier Sarr of Wake Forest.

I know Green didn't score well tonight but he's my MVP of the tournament for Arizona. Winning plays, always impacting the game.

Yea I love how Green hits the glass, goes up strong and uses both hands to grab all the long and/or high rebounds. Just his hustle in general going after any loose ball really helps the team win. Great at finishing on the fast break too.

YoDeFoe wrote:We said it before: the depth of this team was going to save our ass in some games. It did tonight with our stud freshmen (and stud transfer) unable to connect on their FGAs.

You'd also said Chase would bail us out at some point, despite how hot Nnaji started. I think we saw some of that.

We have options, and it helps that two of them are 5th year seniors. Jeter and Smith playing like the experience they bring is a major asset.

On your other point, I agree about Green. He brings something like Rondae or AG with his athleticism and motor. Last night, he shot poorly, so he got 12 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal and block. He's got a great physical skill set and maximizes it with how hard he plays.