Bear Down Wildcats

CalStateTempe wrote: but this was supposed to the THE year for a run and now we're left looking at this hot mess.

Actually, I haven't been seeing this as THE year. This team, at full strength, is still not as good the teams we had in TJ's junior and senior years. But yeah, we're ranked 10th based on our roster, so the potential is there. But we're now looking at being a second to third tier Pac team.

Its going to take a hell of a coaching job by Miller to get through the year short handed. I wonder if he would consider going to a zone full time to avoid the fouls. I have to believe we still have a decent shot at getting Comanche back for the 2nd half of the season if he gets his act together academically.

Still lots of talent on this team for now, hopefully AT and CC come back soon, but things should be fine. Still enough good players.

I'm a pretty big homer, one that's been blowing sunshine for years...but I'm fucking depressed...and we aren't even done with the exhibition season.

I wonder if Trier, Commanche, or Smith play at all this year after tonight.

az91 wrote:I wonder if Trier, Commanche, or Smith play at all this year after tonight.

commanche must have done something very recently...and got Miller heated. I get the academic stuff, but my guess is he's back the soonest. From what I've heard, the Trier stuff won't be sorted out for at least a month.

Ray, I think his career is done...unfortunately. I don't think he can ever trust his legs after this.

Jesus. Was so pumped for this season. Showed up to McKale and found out the ticket officd may have double booked one of my season tickets (how the hell, I dont know, hopefully they get it sorted out). Braced myself for the Trier situation but it was still depressing to see him in street clothes. Then Smith goes down the first time. Although he came back, deep down I knew it was only a matter of time. Then he goes down again. Just found out why Comanche didnt suit up right now. Awesome....

What an effing dumpster fire. This program is so snake bitten it is ridiculous. Always some major blow, one right after another. And I dont care what anyone says, Smith healthy, Trier and Comanche suited up, this was going to be a VERY good team and a legitimate final four contender come March. And we get a special dynamic player like Lauri and it has this feeling like it's almost going to go to waste. Like I wish we could have had him just about any other season rather than this one. God this is beyond depressing.

And Hansens a bozo if he thinks Pinder is on Comanche's level. I liked some stuff Pinder did tonight, but Chance was going to outstanding this year on both ends.

I think Comanche will be back sooner than later. The NCAA did not suspend him, Miller did, so I would think whatever he did, he will fix it and make sure it does not happen again.

Irish27 wrote:I think Comanche will be back sooner than later. The NCAA did not suspend him, Miller did, so I would think whatever he did, he will fix it and make sure it does not happen again.

The ncaa did not suspend him yet

Looks like Lauri and Ristic will have to carry us this season. Hopefully CC gets back at some point.

Miller should spend a lot of time developing these two guys who are hopefully still going to be here next year when Ayton and company show up for a serious run:

Kobi
Rawle

And to a lesser extent these three:
PJC
Pinder
Dylan Smith

rgdeuce wrote:
What an effing dumpster fire. This program is so snake bitten it is ridiculous. Always some major blow, one right after another. And I dont care what anyone says, Smith healthy, Trier and Comanche suited up, this was going to be a VERY good team and a legitimate final four contender come March. And we get a special dynamic player like Lauri and it has this feeling like it's almost going to go to waste. Like I wish we could have had him just about any other season rather than this one. God this is beyond depressing.

And Hansens a bozo if he thinks Pinder is on Comanche's level. I liked some stuff Pinder did tonight, but Chance was going to outstanding this year on both ends.

My feelings too...you forgot to mention Terrance Ferguson not qualifying as well.....However, it's not all bad this year...we have had a lot of good recruiting news lately as well as Lauri looking better than advertised, and Pinder as well.....but the bad news is overwhelming as of now and I'm really bummed about this year so far.

Hopefully things will get better....I can't imagine things getting worse. BTFD

To soothe the pain, turn on PAC-12 Arizona right now.


Good times...

Is it baseball/softball season yet?

Good christ...

We'll get Comanche back. From the way Miller talked about LM at SF and walk ons, I'm not optimistic about Trier. Poor Ray Smith. Horrible. Who can make a 3?
Simmons and Alkins need to really step up. Thought Alkins looked winded at times. Allen was everywhere. PJC solid. Will need to take and make threes. Pinder a pleasant surprise and suddenly crucial.

Well luckily other than Mich St and Texas A&M our very weak non-conference will help out a bit. We can still go undefeated, but by conference time without Trier or Chance we are looking at a season slightly worse than last season. I'd say outside top 25, 10 seed.

I looked at the walk-on list, and no help there. I used to be under the impression that walk-ons were the 10-14th best basketball players in Tucson, but I realize they are only their for 1) personal connections to the team 2) academics 3) good practice bodies.

1stNGrant Frys wrote:Well luckily other than Mich St and Texas A&M our very weak non-conference will help out a bit. We can still go undefeated, but by conference time without Trier or Chance we are looking at a season slightly worse than last season. I'd say outside top 25, 10 seed.

I looked at the walk-on list, and no help there. I used to be under the impression that walk-ons were the 10-14th best basketball players in Tucson, but I realize they are only their for 1) personal connections to the team 2) academics 3) good practice bodies.

Gonzaga in LA and Butler in Las Vegas won't be cakewalks.

1stNGrant Frys wrote:Well luckily other than Mich St and Texas A&M our very weak non-conference will help out a bit. We can still go undefeated, but by conference time without Trier or Chance we are looking at a season slightly worse than last season. I'd say outside top 25, 10 seed.

I looked at the walk-on list, and no help there. I used to be under the impression that walk-ons were the 10-14th best basketball players in Tucson, but I realize they are only their for 1) personal connections to the team 2) academics 3) good practice bodies.

This sounds depressing

cats101 wrote:

1stNGrant Frys wrote:Well luckily other than Mich St and Texas A&M our very weak non-conference will help out a bit. We can still go undefeated, but by conference time without Trier or Chance we are looking at a season slightly worse than last season. I'd say outside top 25, 10 seed.

I looked at the walk-on list, and no help there. I used to be under the impression that walk-ons were the 10-14th best basketball players in Tucson, but I realize they are only their for 1) personal connections to the team 2) academics 3) good practice bodies.

This sounds depressing

Hey we will appreciate game tight wins against New Mexico and UC Irvine all the more!

This team is better than the Nic Wise, Chase and Jordan Hill team and they made it to the S16.

ASUHATER! wrote:

Irish27 wrote:I think Comanche will be back sooner than later. The NCAA did not suspend him, Miller did, so I would think whatever he did, he will fix it and make sure it does not happen again.

The ncaa did not suspend him yet

What did he do?

Could cutting class be the reason?

Miller

http://tucson.com/online/video/watch-mi ... aee0d.html" target="_blank



“You know, it’s heartbreaking. It really is. I don’t have any words to really couch it, to make it better than it is. It’s awful."

http://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcat ... 6daa2.html" target="_blank



post game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qAF5qOPbfE" target="_blank

gumby wrote:Thought Alkins looked winded at times.

Thought the same thing.

ALASKAKAT wrote:Could cutting class be the reason?

The athletics department asks class instructors to submit reports regularly throughout the semester with the hypothetical course grade to date and comments. It could be anything, like a quiz with a poor score, an assignment not handed in on time, etc. But this clearly isn't related to GPA or failed courses because we're in the middle of the semester. He probably needs to fix what he screwed up.

Assuming Trier is done and Comanche returns soon, Allen could get the most minutes on this team and not even be a starter

PJC / Allen / Simmons
Simmons / Allen / Alkins
Alkins / Allen
Markannen / Comanche / Pinder
Ristic / Comanche (with Comanche getting heavy minutes, maybe starting)

1stNGrant Frys wrote: This team is better than the Nic Wise, Chase and Jordan Hill team and they made it to the S16.

Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger were both PAC 1st team and are both long time NBA players. Nic Wise was 2nd team, and Kyle Fogg was honorable mention on the freshman team.

We also played Cleveland st that year.

Longhorned wrote:Assuming Trier is done and Comanche returns soon, Allen could get the most minutes on this team and not even be a starter

PJC / Allen / Simmons
Simmons / Allen / Alkins
Alkins / Allen
Markannen / Comanche / Pinder
Ristic / Comanche (with Comanche getting heavy minutes, maybe starting)

Seem like a good team with a walk on or two getting a few a game to keep minutes down when available. Miller can work with it and still be a top conference team.

Do we ever go more than 8 deep anyway? Just can't get into foul trouble.

I still don't know whether Comanche can guard fours, but if he or Pinder can hold down that spot, I'm starting to half suspect Markannen can guard a 3 who's too long for Alkins to handle.

If Comanche becomes eligible, we obviously gain some needed depth. But the bigger question is Trier. Hard to imagine doing much in March with him out.

At this point, it is absolutely crucial Comanche figures whatever it is out. Obviously we aren't going to be all grins with Trier and Smith gone, but, having the flexibility of Dusan, LM, and Chance at the 4 and 5 alleviates doom on nights where fouls are an issue. Pinder can give the versatility to guard 3-5 in certain situations/foul trouble. So we would be adequately covered depth wise 3-5 when you factor in Rawle starting at the 3. For both guard positions, Kobi is raw and going to drive us nuts, but he will improve once he settles down. We have versatility with Kadeem who can guard 1 through small 3s. Parker at the 1. I dont see how Kadeem is not a starter, especially right now. I thought he was a starter when we thought Trier and Smith were going to be playing. He's one of our three best players IMO. Rawle can obviously slide to the 2 in certain lineups too.

Versatility is saving us right now, lets cross our fingers. I still think this team has potential to finish among the top of the conference and make a little noise in the tournament. But final four hopes are probably out the window unless Alkins and Simmons show tremendous growth as the season progresses. Our identity is LM and Ristic at this point, could be much worse. The biggest thing is going to be how quickly our team defense improves. Didnt hurt last night playing a JV team, but there were a lot of guys caught in La La land on D. Pinder, Alkins, Simmons, LM at times all looking like Dusan last year. It is expected, they are newcomers, but these guys showed good to great individual defensive potential and did some nice things so there is that. Outside shooting takes a huge hit w Trier out. Parker has shown ability in the past, Kadeem looks improved, Simmons and Alkins look like they are going to be inconsistent from deep. Our three point threat is going to have to be Lauri and that volume is going to be down because of how well he moves and his skill finishing around the basket.

I also wonder what PJC will contribute on offense. With Trier out, that's more shots for the other guards.

His primary concern should be handling the ball and playing defense. Finding his shooting rhythm and (hopefully) solving his road woes will dictate the rest. He has it in him to be a nice weapon, especially with teams doubling Dusan and LM and having to deal with both on pick and rolls. IIRC, he was our best three point shooter in the second half of last season statistically.

Something to point out. Last night, Kadeem 8 assists to 0 turnovers. PJC 5 assists to 3 turnovers. Kobi 0 assist to 2 turnovers. AKA Kadeem is going to be a damn good ballplayer for us this year. Flying under the radar here. Also added 11 points on 6 shots and made our only 3, 7 steals, 2 blocks (I believe the one was on a power forward), and grabbed four boards.

Beachcat97 wrote:If Comanche becomes eligible, we obviously gain some needed depth. But the bigger question is Trier. Hard to imagine doing much in March with him out.

Comanche was never deemed ineligible. I wouldn't worry about Comanche long term. Wake up call and nothing more. Season hangs in the balance on Trier's eligibility now.

6 guys in double figures and Lauri with 8pts 10rebs

Short 3 of our best players, we win by 51. Wait til Lauri catches his stride.

ChooChooCat wrote: Season hangs in the balance on Trier's eligibility now.

Got it. Yeah, I hope there's some sort of reasonable resolution for whatever it is AT is entangled with. Even if it means he misses some games, which seems virtually inevitable at this point, if we have him by January, it'll mean a dramatically different outlook for the conference race and beyond.

I love our freshman guards, and I think PJC and KA are about to have their best college seasons. But AT is a bona fide star. We need him in order to content this year.

CalStateTempe wrote:We also played Cleveland st that year.

And had 14 losses, nine in conference. Can we cope with that this year?

Kadeem will start. He is the team's leader (vocally and by example) and far and away it's best defender. That's gold when you play for Miller.

Nothing new in this, but getting national press.

Wow, if Lauri can play the 3...

http://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcat ... aign=share" target="_blank

“We’re gonna play our walk-ons, and they have to get ready,” Miller said after UA beat the College of Idaho 86-35 on Tuesday. “We’re gonna have to play three guards a lot. We’re gonna have to teach Lauri (Markkanen) some small forward, and we’re gonna have to take it one day at a time and be better at doing the things we can control than ever before.

Lauri playing the 3 would be awful for us.

At this point it's Rawle, Kobi, and maybe Kadeem at the 3 pending on the lineup.

gumby wrote:Kadeem will start. He is the team's leader (vocally and by example) and far and away it's best defender. That's gold when you play for Miller.

At the PAC 'All Star' game against the Aussies in Melbourne a few months ago, Kadeem was by far the best player on the floor who didn't own an Aussie passport. I told back then he was gonna be huge this year.

Chance showed some good promise, but was out of his depth against the Aussie NBA experienced big men. He'll do OK too.

I wonder if we'll have AT or CC for the MSU game.

Just thinking about the 2015 recruiting class it's crazy!!!

Arizona Commits
Ray Smith Retired
Alonzo Trier ????
Justin Simon Transfer
Chance Comanche suspended

Top Targets/decommits
Tyler Dorsey still at Oregon
Ivan Rabb still at cal
Isiah Briscoe still at Kentucky
Zimmerman in the NBA/D league

Beachcat97 wrote:I wonder if we'll have AT or CC for the MSU game.

Sure would be nice. We could use some really good news now with RS going down.

I'm not sold on this team being bad.

We have serious talent still. Things will be ok.

Am I just making this up or is Deandre Ayton on track to graduate early? Was it Ayton or another one of our '17 recruits who was going to try and get on campus soon?

Just saying, we are bound to catch a break, maybe...

luteformayor2 wrote:Am I just making this up or is Deandre Ayton on track to graduate early? Was it Ayton or another one of our '17 recruits who was going to try and get on campus soon?

Just saying, we are bound to catch a break, maybe...

I thought it was Lee, but I don't think it would be to start playing, just to get an adjustment semester. Ayton needs all the coursework time in HS he can get.

If CC returns soon, and AT only misses the fall term, we should be okay.

Gonna be interesting to see how our freshmen do. They probably weren't expecting to be asked to carry the load right from the get go. LM and RA will need to come up big.