Bear Down Wildcats

Rocking my lute-Esque red white and blue tie today at work.

CalStateTempe wrote:Rocking my lute-Esque red white and blue tie today at work.

#33 jersey, old school cactus logo hat and blue A socks here.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:Rocking my lute-Esque red white and blue tie today at work.

#33 jersey, old school cactus logo hat and blue A socks here.

Arizona vs Everybody shirt I got on Fanatics under my dress clothes.

btfd16 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:Rocking my lute-Esque red white and blue tie today at work.

#33 jersey, old school cactus logo hat and blue A socks here.

Arizona vs Everybody shirt I got on Fanatics under my dress clothes.

You're set up for a Superman style shirt tear off when 5:00 hits.

So should I roll with the Arizona vs Everyone, or the Savage Life shirt I got last year the day before Rawle broke his finger? Or one of my other 500 options lol

BearDown89 wrote:Inventoried my pile of ratty t-shirts and decided I had to update my gear for proper representation. Arriving tomorrow . . .

Jacket is here just in time and it's sharp. Nice quality and features. Perfect. Ready to roll to Taco Bell in a few minutes. Enjoy the day amigos.

If I could be indulged here to spew for a couple of seconds before rushing home to catch the first games...

Every year, some of us try to compare the current team to 1997. This year, the seeding, the region, etc. But, of course, if we think about it...there are next to no similarities. Some debunking, and what I think might happen...

The 1997 team was a young team missing a key piece for half the year that won big games in November and December actually regressed working him back in, only to have that player become spectacular in the tournament (Miles). While we lost Trier for a game, this team has been remarkably intact all year, with Alkins coming back in time to integrate, and was an instant upgrade...Miles replaced Jason Terry. Alkins replaced BrandoDylanKot. And, rather than regressing, we have been playing our best ball.

The 1997 team was stout defensively on the perimiter but missing an inside presence…that is until AJ Bramlett broke a backboard in practice and then figured out he was a powerful player. This year’s team is powerful inside, and has been all year, but has been lacking guard play to stop dribble penetration…until lately.

The 1997 team played in maybe the best PAC 10/12 in history, with 4 teams making the Sweet 16 and 3 in the Elite Eight. This year’s team gets everyone’s best games, but it has been a light PAC, and the tournament performance is highlighting that, even though we all know USC should have been in there

The 1997 team had a point guard that would define Point Guard U, and had, possibly, the most successful NBA career of any Wildcat when it comes to individual performance (Steve Kerr’s 5 rings suggest he was the most successful overall in the NBA). When we got in trouble, it wasn’t Miles who calmed things down…it was Mike Bibby. PJC has played spectacular as of late, but he is still the weakest component of our defense, and at times, of our offense. He is a senior and has been a leader down the stretch so we can hope…but he tends to tighten up on his shot late in games, the opposite of Mike

The 1997 team entered the tournament on a 2 game losing streak, having just been swept in the bay in a brutal PAC. Despite being in 5th place in the PAC, the ’97 Cats got a 4 seed. This year’s team has only one stumble since mid-February, and that was without Trier and Miller on the road in the days after the ESPN story. We think we are good, but the PAC hasn’t been the same test the ’97 Cats got. Of course, we also won and they didn’t…so who knows how good we are. Things about the UCLA semi have me worried.

THE POSSIBLE SIMILARITY THAT MATTERS: Though we struggled early in the 1997 tournament, coming back from double digit deficit in the first game and an 8 point deficit in the 2nd game, we figured out that Miles was the alpha player, but we had very good players not force their games and compliment when needed (Dickerson’s offensive explosion, his only in post season, vs South Alabama to save our bacon). This team seems to have figured out Deandre Ayton is the alpha, but we are still capable of having Trier or Dus or even Alkins explode in any given game. As long as they do not try to explode, and trust Ayton, we should do well.

THE POSSIBLE SHYAMALANIAN TWIST THAT HURTS US? Everyone zones us. We have seen nothing but 2-3 zones since the beginning of the year. We have figured out how to play against a zone. Ayton is a beast on the boards against a zone. The high low action to beat the zone has worked. We have been patient and gotten first level dribble penetration and done what we need against the zone. Zones are weak, by nature, and we have started to exploit that. NOW, WE WILL PRIMARILY FACE MAN TO MAN. Does the switch to ball pressure on the guards change our ability to get the shot we want? Or set us off for big games from Trier and company? Wouldn’t that be a bitch, though…a team everyone zones gets eliminated by man to man because they have developed a rhythm against the zone?

My prediction: Elite Eight, lose to Cincy. I mean…how fucked up would that be? But I can see it. Nothing can make this team tight…except the idea of Coach getting that Final Four. I am trying a reverse double jinx here, but hopefully that works forward, not backward to an earlier loss..

Horrific camera angle

And that's gonna be our game ugh.

Also, NCAA is stupid to use orange as an accent color. There's plenty to choose from that won't camouflage the hoop.

prh wrote:And that's gonna be our game ugh.

Also, NCAA is stupid to use orange as an accent color. There's plenty to choose from that won't camouflage the hoop.

Not allowing arenas to keep their normal courts was another in a long line of stupid NCAA decisions.

Rims look a little tight, swallowing the whistles a bit.

Clearly Gonzaga was a much better choice as a 4 seed than Arizona in the West.

i like the uniformed courts for each weekend, but the orange baseline is beyond stupid...plus i hate gyms that put the camera above the second concourse -- used to drive me crazy watching old Cal games.

whatever...

fuck ASU

UofAlum05 wrote:Clearly Gonzaga was a much better choice as a 4 seed than Arizona in the West.

didnt you hear, the are the WESTERN powerhouse, worthy to get rewarded with the top WEST protected seed (as the top team in the WEST) for winning their conf regular season and conf tournament, the vaunted WCC.

Ugh still pisses me off.

Yep, even Wazzu beat St Marys. Those Cal angles used to drive me nuts as well. Why not just attach a camera to the roof and remotely pivot it to the action or use a wire like ESpin does for football

Damn zags...that was a nice shot.

That was some regional home cooking..: charge my ass

azgreg wrote:

Yeah, we're done.

UofAlum05 wrote:Rims look a little tight, swallowing the whistles a bit.

that's what Ayton said in the shoot around video from yesterdays practice

SunnyAZ wrote:

UofAlum05 wrote:Rims look a little tight, swallowing the whistles a bit.

that's what Ayton said in the shoot around video from yesterdays practice

Probably a slight advantage for us, bc Ayton and Dusan around the rim is hopefully a major facet of our offense and it reduces the randomness of the 3 ball.

azgreg wrote:

lmao

NYCat wrote:

azgreg wrote:

"Hello darkness, my old friend..."

azgreg wrote:

First South upset. What a game.

btfd16 wrote:First South upset. What a game.

Lonnie Walker picked the wrong dropped back.

97cats wrote:i like the uniformed courts for each weekend, but the orange baseline is beyond stupid...plus i hate gyms that put the camera above the second concourse -- used to drive me crazy watching old Cal games.

whatever...

fuck ASU

that's how I feel about the courts. ehh and asu too

Nothing but close calls in Boise today

NYCat wrote:Nothing but close calls in Boise today

Better to serve as a warning for us. I saw somewhere that upsets are heavily slanted towards early games.

1 point game between the two other Wildcats.

BearDown89 wrote:

dcZONAfan wrote:

BearDown89 wrote:Inventoried my pile of ratty t-shirts and decided I had to update my gear for proper representation. Arriving tomorrow . . .

Where's this from? It's sick

Sweet right? Fanatics.com. On sale. Perfect for the weather here this time of year too.

https://www.fanatics.com/college/arizon ... 3366951738" target="_blank

Pretty sure you were on TV last night. When the game started getting out of hand, the camera cut to a gentleman shaking his head wearing a similar jacket.

Ha. It was me. I've had many confirmations from friends. My seats were prime - best I've ever had for anything.

Why weren't Ayton and Ristic in that huddle? Was it some sort of team prayer?

BearDown89 wrote:Ha. It was me. I've had many confirmations from friends. My seats were prime - best I've ever had for anything.

The Buffalo team came out with about 15 minutes to go in the Kentucky game and sat in that row of chairs right in front of me there. I thought, my god they're half our size. There's probably a 3-point shooter in there that's going to give us fits, but we'll wear them down in the end. They won't be able to keep up for 40 minutes . . .

I should've known the game was over right then and there. They were so much better than us. So much faster. They absolutely blew by us on everything. Smoked us. Shooters. We looked like we were standing still from the get go. You could see it in our eyes from the beginning. So confused and befuddled. Guys looked like they didn't even know each other. Fucking pathetic.

My CEO is a funny MFer. Came in to this . . .

UVA getting destroyed. Packline. Packline. Packline.

SunnyAZ wrote:UVA getting destroyed. Packline. Packline. Packline.

Yup. Turned the game on and right away they slip the PnR and get a bucket. Then hit them with the wide open PnPop. Bennet is usually less stubborn about it tho, let's see how this goes.

Had we one we would’ve had the easiest path to a final 4

Holy shit I am watching the game from last night! Death to the packline!! Miller if your watching turn into full court press team and go up tempo!

SunnyAZ wrote:

SunnyAZ wrote:UVA getting destroyed. Packline. Packline. Packline.

Yup. Turned the game on and right away they slip the PnR and get a bucket. Then hit them with the wide open PnPop.

What does that remind you of?

Had we played at all decent yesterday, Kentucky would have basically been the championship game of the bracket. But that Virginia-UMBC game was virtually the identical game, a near perfect Arizona-Buffalo 2.0. Maybe we weren't a fluke. Maybe our style of play and the way we deploy our personnel sucks in the tourney!

TheGreatCatsby wrote:Had we played at all decent yesterday, Kentucky would have basically been the championship game of the bracket. But that Virginia-UMBC game was virtually the identical game, a near perfect Arizona-Buffalo 2.0. Maybe we weren't a fluke. Maybe our style of play and the way we deploy our personnel sucks in the tourney!

In the tournament, your weakest links are exposed. Colorado had the same type of game plan against us as Buffalo. But they weren't quite as versatile. CU had us in trouble until McKinley Wright went down. And that's why we struggled with Oregon as well.

It should be obvious that our guard play was suspect all year long. PJC's #1 weakness is inability to create his own shot, beat his man off the dribble and also contain bigger guards. Buffalo pushed our guards out and made it difficult to get it inside to Ayton. If our guards could attack the rim better it would've opened things up. PJC could've and should've been able to drive past Buffalo's extended defense. He could've and should've had 15 assists penetrating and dishing to Ayton & Ristic for easy flushes.

BearDown89 wrote:

BearDown89 wrote:Ha. It was me. I've had many confirmations from friends. My seats were prime - best I've ever had for anything.

The Buffalo team came out with about 15 minutes to go in the Kentucky game and sat in that row of chairs right in front of me there. I thought, my god they're half our size. There's probably a 3-point shooter in there that's going to give us fits, but we'll wear them down in the end. They won't be able to keep up for 40 minutes . . .

I should've known the game was over right then and there. They were so much better than us. So much faster. They absolutely blew by us on everything. Smoked us. Shooters. We looked like we were standing still from the get go. You could see it in our eyes from the beginning. So confused and befuddled. Guys looked like they didn't even know each other. Fucking pathetic.

My CEO is a funny MFer. Came in to this . . .

Awesome seats! Did you have any observations about the AZ bench and coaches during/after the game?

SteveKerrsStroke wrote:Awesome seats! Did you have any observations about the AZ bench and coaches during/after the game

I would say just a general lack of intensity and energy. It didn't feel like the bench was all that involved. Someone else posted that Miller didn't show his usual fire, wasn't barking orders and sweating. I was expecting more of that from him frankly. For example, I could actually hear Cal screaming at his team from the other end of the court in the prior game. I don't recall being able to hear Miller at all or noticing. I truly think they ran into a buzz saw and were knocked back on their heels from the get go. My personal recap as posted on 247 in the "After sleeping on it" thread:

100% drugolf. I was at the game too. Amazing seats. First row on the rail at the baseline between the hoop and the Arizona bench. I was so excited. All my friends and coworkers were fired up for me. It was a given at work that I'd be taking the day off. People coming by my desk, text after text and social media comments from friends. My beloved Cats were coming to my second hometown. I couldn't believe it. Everybody knew what that meant to me. I was completely geeked out. I went online and bought new red Nike Hyper-Elite jacket and had it FedExed. I absolutely lucked out on the ticket. I took my daughter to the shootaround Wednesday night. We scoped out my seat and I couldn't believe my good fortune. I returned on Thursday morning and got acquainted with all my new Zags friends, a couple of Cats here and there. I looked over the rail and there was our fearless leader, Jason Scheer himself, stationed in his spot at the media table. The guy who bird-dogged espn and Schlabach on our behalf for all of us during that Miller FBI bs. I leaned over and called him. Introduced myself and had a quick chat. I scanned the AZ section and spotted Heeke, Robbins, Kalil. I ran into Paul Weitman on the concourse and introduced myself and talked about my ex-brother-in-law playing football with his son at Salpointe way way back. Tucson was in the house. I watched three good NCAA Tournament games. I could hear Calapari yelling from the other end of the floor. The Buffalo Bulls came out with about 15 minutes to go in the Kentucky game and filled the row of seats in front of me to watch for a few minutes. I thought, they're half our size. They probably have a shooter or two, but we'll wear 'em out. Then it was finally time. I'd been there for 9 hours or so by then. My beloved Cats took the floor and the game was finally underway. It was almost surreal for me. I hadn't seen the Cats play live and in person in probably 25 years. I couldn't believe I was actually looking at, watching Rawle, Zo, Ayton, Dus and Miller in real life. I really took it in. I was familiar with their looks and movements from the bird's-eye view of a television camera, but there they really were right in front of me 10-15 feet away.

And then the Bulls just started blowing by them. Reaching the basket uncontested time after time. Draining jumper after jumper. Harrison showing no fear of Ayton whatsoever. It didn't even look like the Cats were moving. Ayton looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights, Rawle looked like he was somewhere else. And it really never got any better. You could feel it. I knew we were toast at halftime. And dru's right, the crowd got underdog fever and started roaring for the Bulls. They turned on the Cats. It was a horrible feeling, a humiliating realization. My phone had stopped buzzing long ago. For the first time in my life I actually considered leaving early. I almost left with 10 minutes to go - maybe if I don't watch, take one for the team . . . nevermind. It won't help. I'll take my lumps and watch till the bitter end.

At the end of the day I spent 12 hours in Taco Bell arena. I watched seven teams play their asses off and one that looked like they didn't even know each other. What a joke. A total embarrassment. I walked home.

In the spirit of this thread, however, I guess I'm over it. I'm 51 years old and have lived through many a lost Arizona game. I got to the office this morning and the CEO had taped Ayton's SI cover to my computer screen! He was at the game too. People approached warily not sure how I'd react. Everybody knew the score, literally and figuratively. It ended up making for a lot of good office fun and joking around. I thought about selling my ticket for tomorrow, but I think I'll suck it up, put on one of my many Arizona ball caps and go enjoy that amazing seat for a couple more hours. A buddy on date night texted me earlier that the Bulls dined at Ruth's Chris tonight - on the ground floor of my building no less. I told him to congratulate them on my behalf. I'll be rooting for them tomorrow. He's a Michigan fan and he got to meet Chris Webber there too tonight. Said he was super cool and offered up a picture. That's kind of the bummer, it would have been fun to bump around downtown tonight and bump into the Cats or other fans and still have some skin in the game . . . next year perhaps.

Kentucky can get to the Final Four without playing a 1,2,3 or 4 seed

Son of a Bitch

The Sweet 16 is now Kentucky, Nevada, Loyola-Chicago, and the winner between K St and UMBC.