The 2021-2022 Season Thread

[RichardCranium]

If we can beat Oregon St, Illinois and Tennessee on the road we should easily vault into the top 10 before we head to the LA schools

If we're heading into Pauley at 13-0 with away wins over Oregon St, Illinois, and Tennessee, and neutrals over Wichita St. and Michigan - we'll be ranked in the top five in the country.

Maybe a second #1 v #2 match up in the one season?

[Beachcat97]

My projection for the remainder of the season (wins in bold):

vs SAC
vs WASH
@ ORST
vs WYO
@ 14 ILL
vs UNCO
vs CBU
@ 15 TENN
@ 2 UCLA
@ 24 USC
@ ASU
vs COLO
vs UTAH
@ STAN
@ CAL
vs ASU
vs 2 UCLA
vs 24 USC
@ WSU
@ WASH
vs ORST
vs ORE
@ UTAH
@ COLO
vs STAN
vs CAL

[Longhorned]

#17 in the AP https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-colleg ... oll?week=3

Tennessee and Texas got BLOWN OUT in their losses. Kentucky has a loss and no top-100 wins, same with Illinois. Memphis, Alabama, and Baylor haven't played anyone.

The stickiness of preseason rankings is incredibly stupid. "We ranked you low because you have to show us you're legit. But also we can't rank you high (despite what you've shown us) because we previously ranked you low. This is rational."

That's why we have power rankings. Until we realize that they do power rankings just like they do the AP rankings.

[YoDeFoe]

https://theathletic.com/2970814/2021/11 ... he-middle/

Was this already posted? Because I absolutely love it.

[Chicat]

Awesome article.

[PHXCATS]

I thought Kerr was going to block Terry on the late fastbreak. He jumped with him

How funny was Kerr there - I was a mix of overjoyed and totally worried he was going to undercut Terry at the rim

Aftermath of the "fight" in Vegas. Rumor is the AZ fan pointed at the scoreboard when they were all being escorted out

He did not

[TheCat]

First I'm extremely happy with our performance but let's not over rotate on this. First Michigan is not a top 10 or 20 team. They are benefiting from the preseason bs rankings that also underestimated us. Our Defense is really good right now along with our inside game. Koloko is taking and making shots that last year he did not have the strength to make. Benn has started to click but was quite frankly average until the last two games. Our offense is better than I thought in the half court but quite frankly we have not demonstrated any ability against decent teams to hit any outside shot. You wont win if you can't do this in close games. We also do not handle pressure well and two recent examples to that leading to our downfall were in the tourney against Wichita State and Buffalo. Strong guards with decent size like Houston has will feast on this team if not erased by Koloko.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think we have a huge task in conference with UCLA/USC/Oregon. If we improve our outside shooting and tighten up under pressure this could be a very exciting year and draw the eyes of many recruits. Hit some shots guys and make us believe.

[KaibabKat]

Yep it is only November and there is a lot of basketball to be played.

Now, with that said, do you think that we will be a one or a two seed?

[billk78]

Yep it is only November and there is a lot of basketball to be played.

Now, with that said, do you think that we will be a one or a two seed?

The only way we don't get a 1 is because of ESPN bias and the NCAA punishing us for Sean Miller.

[EastCoastCat]

Wouldn’t it be funny if we were the 2 seed out west and had to face the Zags to go to the FF?

[U.P. Zona Fan]

Wouldn’t it be funny if we were the 2 seed out west and had to face the Zags to go to the FF?

That would be incredible if we made the elite 8 in year one of CTL.

If we faced the zags, I'd have to say CTL has a little advantage, he coached those kids and knows their schemes. And Drew timme is Hunter Dickinson with a little better range who can jump over a bar of soap, plus Ballo must have practiced against him all last year, gotta know his moves.

I think we have a shot.

[TheCat]

Ugh not sure where you got your info on Timme but that guy is nails. Not slow or can't shoot like Dickerson. If we left him open at the foul line like we did Dickerson he would get 40.

[AZCatGirl]

I'll be a bit surprised if the committee doesn't put us in Gonzaga's bracket. They know that matchup will get a lot of eyeballs.

[YoDeFoe]

https://www.thescore.com/ncaab/news/220 ... his-season

I love the inclusion of Arizona, but I'm a firm non-believer in Oregon.

Having faith in Oregon means believing in point guard Will Richardson. The senior was excellent in 2019-20, averaging 11 points on a 48/47/85 shooting split. But he didn't take a leap forward last season after missing the first 12 games of the campaign. Now that he's the clear leader, look for Richardson to make a push for Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Will Richardson is not that guy. He's not Pac-12 POY material and I'm wondering what is going on with folks who see a superstar in him. He's a fine player - he's good - he's just not that guy. And part of the reason is that the next three guys believe they're the guy...

Additionally, coach Dana Altman used the transfer portal to add several high-level pieces, including guards De'Vion Harmon (Oklahoma) and Jacob Young (Rutgers), as well as forward Quincy Guerrier (Syracuse). This is all before mentioning five-star big man Nate Bittle, who should play a role from the jump.

Guerrier is a good and productive PF who wants to be a SF this year to show scouts that he has more to his game. The trouble is two fold: 1) he's not going to get that much run at the SF position with this guard-heavy roster, 2) he doesn't have more to his game. He's successful because he beats post players to the rim with his quickness and motor. He either needs to change his dreams or change his game and I don't know which is more unlikely.

Harmon is nice - he's a shorter two guard but he's got a lengthy wingspan and good toughness. But he's another guy who deeply believes he's an NBA player and has joined Oregon to show it and 1) I'm just not there with him, and 2) I think being desperate to show your individual skills (especially when maybe truthfully those skills aren't fully there) doesn't lend itself to team success. He developed some nice mid-range scoring last season and I like his intangibles so there's some merit to believing in him. But despite thinking he's a lead guard he hasn't shown the ability to shoot from distance and he's got 62 assists to 81 turnovers in his career so far... his family has blamed that on Oklahoma's system but maybe it's just him.

And Jacob Young... he's a high usage low efficiency small and not long back-up two guard. That's it. There's so very little to merit to even mentioning this dude as a meaningful piece of a basketball team that if he's being mentioned, that's a red flag for the roster.

Nathan Bittle might get some extra run this season only because potential star center N'Fale Dante is still recovering from a torn ACL. Read that again and let me know what level of confidence you get from it.

...

[Chicat]

[Alieberman]

I really think this is a special team.

The players certainly have a great chemistry and they all seem to love their 1st year coach.

This is a recipe for success.

[EastCoastCat]

More of this please...

[Beachcat97]

I really think this is a special team.

The players certainly have a great chemistry and they all seem to love their 1st year coach.

This is a recipe for success.

It's morning for the proud tradition. Feels like we're gearing up for a nice long run of dominance in the coming years. Are there questions about recruiting and possible NCAA penalties? Sure. But it matters much more to have the right guy as coach.

[IndianaZonaFan]

I don’t think Dalen is getting enough respect for his improvement. He is being overshadowed by Koloko’s jump. But he looks like the leader of this team. And his game is suited so much better to this style.

He has a much better bounce than I saw last year. He is stronger and so important to the success of the team. I see a strong correlation to us struggling against Wichita and him being in foul trouble. Am I wrong here? Or is it just not getting talked about enough?

[Spaceman Spiff]

I don’t think Dalen is getting enough respect for his improvement. He is being overshadowed by Koloko’s jump. But he looks like the leader of this team. And his game is suited so much better to this style.

He has a much better bounce than I saw last year. He is stronger and so important to the success of the team. I see a strong correlation to us struggling against Wichita and him being in foul trouble. Am I wrong here? Or is it just not getting talked about enough?

His distance shooting has not been great, but every other aspect of his game has gone in the right direction. Rebound % is up, assist % is up, turnover % is down, win shares and BPM are up, specifically on D.

His total win shares (it's an accruing stat) were 0.4 on offense and 0.8 on D last year. He's matched the 0.4 on offense and is halfway to last year on D with 0.4 in just 5 games vs 26 last year. His Dbpm is 5 full points higher than last year.

I doubt his game will ever be sexy, but he's a stat sheet stuffer that will complement others well, which is exactly what we need out of him.

[Longhorned]

I really think this is a special team.

The players certainly have a great chemistry and they all seem to love their 1st year coach.

This is a recipe for success.

Yeah but not in a "we're proud of you for your hard work and sportsmanship" way. More like a "you overwhelmed and embarrassed our adversaries" way.

[YoDeFoe]

I don’t think Dalen is getting enough respect for his improvement. He is being overshadowed by Koloko’s jump. But he looks like the leader of this team. And his game is suited so much better to this style.

He has a much better bounce than I saw last year. He is stronger and so important to the success of the team. I see a strong correlation to us struggling against Wichita and him being in foul trouble. Am I wrong here? Or is it just not getting talked about enough?

His distance shooting has not been great, but every other aspect of his game has gone in the right direction. Rebound % is up, assist % is up, turnover % is down, win shares and BPM are up, specifically on D.

His total win shares (it's an accruing stat) were 0.4 on offense and 0.8 on D last year. He's matched the 0.4 on offense and is halfway to last year on D with 0.4 in just 5 games vs 26 last year. His Dbpm is 5 full points higher than last year.

I doubt his game will ever be sexy, but he's a stat sheet stuffer that will complement others well, which is exactly what we need out of him.

Yeah I'm a bit worried about Dalen's ability to score beyond the rim. But he's been a massive part of the flow and fun of the offense and a super effective and enthusiastic defender this season. And oh yeah, that rebounding

For his future he needs to dial in his shooting but for the team's success right now he's been fantastic.

[dovecanyoncat]

Dalen can Ben Simmons his way to paint points and defense and if he boards and dimes like he has been I'll be happy as a clam.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I don’t think Dalen is getting enough respect for his improvement. He is being overshadowed by Koloko’s jump. But he looks like the leader of this team. And his game is suited so much better to this style.

He has a much better bounce than I saw last year. He is stronger and so important to the success of the team. I see a strong correlation to us struggling against Wichita and him being in foul trouble. Am I wrong here? Or is it just not getting talked about enough?

His distance shooting has not been great, but every other aspect of his game has gone in the right direction. Rebound % is up, assist % is up, turnover % is down, win shares and BPM are up, specifically on D.

His total win shares (it's an accruing stat) were 0.4 on offense and 0.8 on D last year. He's matched the 0.4 on offense and is halfway to last year on D with 0.4 in just 5 games vs 26 last year. His Dbpm is 5 full points higher than last year.

I doubt his game will ever be sexy, but he's a stat sheet stuffer that will complement others well, which is exactly what we need out of him.

Yeah I'm a bit worried about Dalen's ability to score beyond the rim. But he's been a massive part of the flow and fun of the offense and a super effective and enthusiastic defender this season. And oh yeah, that rebounding

For his future he needs to dial in his shooting but for the team's success right now he's been fantastic.

He needs to be better than 28% from 3 (where he is now) to be a real scoring option. He isn't dynamic enough off the bounce to be a subpar shooter and still score consistently.

But that's it. The rest of his game has all trended in the right direction. The bottom line about this year is every returner took a step forward and got better. That's a credit to Miller for leaving them in a good place and Lloyd for enabling the growth to happen. I give credit to both coaches because I don't think there's any way it would be basically a 100% success rate for returners improving significantly without both the front and back end done right.

[Postmaster]

I’d prefer to see us eliminate Fduke in the tournament.

That Chet Holmgrem dude was impressive last night. Not sure who guards him.

[Chicat]

That Chet Holmgrem dude was impressive last night. Not sure who guards him.

Dalen Terry

[Longhorned]

Why doesn't Chet Holmgren grow a really long beard and just go for it?

[Spaceman Spiff]

It runs counter to every preconception I have that a guy named Chet would be good at basketball.

[Lute4God]

https://theathletic.com/2970814/2021/11 ... he-middle/

Was this already posted? Because I absolutely love it.

There's a paywall for me - can you post it?

[Longhorned]

Shoplift for me one of those frozen turkeys and send me some pictures of your wife.

[Alieberman]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

[RichardCranium]

Dalen can Ben Simmons his way to paint points and defense and if he boards and dimes like he has been I'll be happy as a clam.

As prone as I am to all things Aussie, I cant say I'm comfortable with any Wildcat in the same sentence as Ben Simmons.

[Lute4God]

Shoplift for me one of those frozen turkeys and send me some pictures of your wife.

Thanks Longhorned. I'll take it anyway I can get it... PM maybe?

[Beachcat97]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

I think UCLA’s guards/wings are the best in the league. They’re deep at those positions and can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Aside from them, though, I don’t see another team I’d say we’re “overmatched” by. Oregon got killed again tonight. USC and Colorado have been solid so far.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

I think UCLA’s guards/wings are the best in the league. They’re deep at those positions and can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Aside from them, though, I don’t see another team I’d say we’re “overmatched” by. Oregon got killed again tonight. USC and Colorado have been solid so far.

It sucks seeing KJ Simpson contributing for Colorado.

[Beachcat97]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

I think UCLA’s guards/wings are the best in the league. They’re deep at those positions and can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Aside from them, though, I don’t see another team I’d say we’re “overmatched” by. Oregon got killed again tonight. USC and Colorado have been solid so far.

It sucks seeing KJ Simpson contributing for Colorado.

Sorta feel like we have the same advantage vs. UCLA that Gonzaga has (size, defense), just not sure we can unleash the kind of onslaught Gonzaga can from time to time. Lute’s teams would occasionally have their “death runs” where we’d go on like a 15-0 run and basically impose our will on an opponent. Does our current team have that kind of explosiveness?

[YoDeFoe]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

I think UCLA’s guards/wings are the best in the league. They’re deep at those positions and can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Aside from them, though, I don’t see another team I’d say we’re “overmatched” by. Oregon got killed again tonight. USC and Colorado have been solid so far.

It sucks seeing KJ Simpson contributing for Colorado.

KJ Simpson would be fighting with Adama Bal for minutes here. I'm not going to try and extinguish your flame for him / your ire for Lloyd's recruiting for not retaining him, but let's be real about the impact he could make for Arizona this season.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

I think UCLA’s guards/wings are the best in the league. They’re deep at those positions and can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Aside from them, though, I don’t see another team I’d say we’re “overmatched” by. Oregon got killed again tonight. USC and Colorado have been solid so far.

It sucks seeing KJ Simpson contributing for Colorado.

KJ Simpson would be fighting with Adama Bal for minutes here. I'm not going to try and extinguish your flame for him / your ire for Lloyd's recruiting for not retaining him, but let's be real about the impact he could make for Arizona this season.

It's more about who's next. Kier is definitely gone and I expect Mathurin will be as well. Backup PG and perimeter depth is a big question next year and not addressed in our recruiting class to date.

Simpson wouldn't be doing much this year, but as a developmental prospect who would hopefully be stepping into a more major role as a soph, I think he'd be useful. Maybe Bal or Nowell help, but neither strikes me as a backup PG, which Simpson would be.

[YoDeFoe]

It sucks seeing KJ Simpson contributing for Colorado.

KJ Simpson would be fighting with Adama Bal for minutes here. I'm not going to try and extinguish your flame for him / your ire for Lloyd's recruiting for not retaining him, but let's be real about the impact he could make for Arizona this season.

It's more about who's next. Kier is definitely gone and I expect Mathurin will be as well. Backup PG and perimeter depth is a big question next year and not addressed in our recruiting class to date.

Simpson wouldn't be doing much this year, but as a developmental prospect who would hopefully be stepping into a more major role as a soph, I think he'd be useful. Maybe Bal or Nowell help, but neither strikes me as a backup PG, which Simpson would be.

I'm guessing the plan here is to bring in a transfer in 2022 and go all-in on Boswell in 2023

[azgreg]

[billk78]

I know its really early in the season and I shouldn't be thinking such things----

But who in the Pac-12 are we overmatched by?

I think UCLA’s guards/wings are the best in the league. They’re deep at those positions and can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Aside from them, though, I don’t see another team I’d say we’re “overmatched” by. Oregon got killed again tonight. USC and Colorado have been solid so far.

It sucks seeing KJ Simpson contributing for Colorado.

KJ Simpson would be fighting with Adama Bal for minutes here. I'm not going to try and extinguish your flame for him / your ire for Lloyd's recruiting for not retaining him, but let's be real about the impact he could make for Arizona this season.

It's more about who's next. Kier is definitely gone and I expect Mathurin will be as well. Backup PG and perimeter depth is a big question next year and not addressed in our recruiting class to date.

Simpson wouldn't be doing much this year, but as a developmental prospect who would hopefully be stepping into a more major role as a soph, I think he'd be useful. Maybe Bal or Nowell help, but neither strikes me as a backup PG, which Simpson would be.

I think we have to start considering the possibility of being without Koloko next year too. Hes playing himself into a draft pick.

[Beachcat97]

Any news on CK’s injury? Like, will he definitely miss games, or is it just a minor thing?

[azcat49]

Lloyd said it was minor and he doesn’t expect Koloko to miss any games.

[Beachcat97]

Lloyd said it was minor and he doesn’t expect Koloko to miss any games.

Very relieved to hear that. Here’s hoping the hoops gods spare us and let this team get through the entire season free of serious injury. It’s so exciting to think about this team fully healthy, with a lot more games logged, heading into March. No reason this team can’t be playing into the second weekend. This fan base needs it!

[EastCoastCat]

I’m eager to see this team in a true road game. While we should never look past teams like OSU, who is next, the upcoming consecutive road contests will tell us a lot:

@ 14 Illinois
@ 15 Tennessee
@ 2 UCLA
@ 24 USC
@ ASSU (yes they suck but I expect they will mug us and hope the Refs won’t call anything)

[IndianaZonaFan]

Didn’t get a chance to watch the game yet, but saw the box score. Looks like our bigs dominated and some good bench performances (Aiken & Pelle) to cover for poor shooting from Kerr, Benn & Dalen? Kerr with 9 dimes, and Benn with 7 boards. Looks like limited minutes for the starters too though.

[UAEebs86]

#5 in Sagarin ratings

[YoDeFoe]

Didn’t get a chance to watch the game yet, but saw the box score. Looks like our bigs dominated and some good bench performances (Aiken & Pelle) to cover for poor shooting from Kerr, Benn & Dalen? Kerr with 9 dimes, and Benn with 7 boards. Looks like limited minutes for the starters too though.

Pretty wild that starters played 20min/g and we scored 100+ and practically doubled the other team up.

[KaibabKat]

#1 in Massey ratings.

https://masseyratings.com/cb/ncaa-d1/ratings

[FreeSpiritCat]

Not sure where to post this so since it relates to Arizona basketball.

I thought I'd add this since we aren't in competition with other site's premium members. All 247 sports sites (owned by CBS) havea Black Friday/Cyber Monday special where you get one year of Premium Membership for 75% off. I thought thought is a really good deal so I subscribed. Of course I used a credit card that I won't have when the subscription expires. And if I do renew Paramount+ is added. I already am subscribing to Paramount+ anyway so might continue the sub.

The other great deal is a subscription to "The Athletic" for $1/month for 12 months. I enjoy reading their articles.