Bear Down Wildcats

In the coaches poll.

http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/ba ... ll/2014/1/

It feels so good to be back in full effect. We need to reach Indianapolis this year.

Right were I expected. I want that final four do bad

UNDERRATED!

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UNDERRATED!

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UNDERRATED!

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UNDERRATED!

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UNDERRATED!

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How fast can those UK freshmen and sophs gel as a group? Can they avoid injuries? I can't remember too many teams with as many future NBA players as this UK team.

We won't soon forget this slight.

If you ain't first your last

I give Kentucky a max of 6 games before we overtake them.

splitsecond wrote:I give Kentucky a max of 6 games before we overtake them.

Here's their schedule through December:

Nov 14 Grand Canyon
Nov 16 Buffalo
Nov 18 vs. Kansas
Nov 21 Boston U.
Nov 23 Montana St.
Nov 25 UT-Arlington
Nov 30 Providence
Dec 5 Texas
Dec 7 Eastern Ky.
Dec 10 Columbia
Dec 13 N. Carolina
Dec 20 vs. UCLA
Dec 27 @Louisville

No respect.

azcat49 wrote:If you ain't first your last

Coming in 2nd means you're the best loser.

Kentucky (probably) has more NBA talent on its roster. 10 on 10 we might be in trouble. Might. However, the one thing that I think separates a Miller coached team from a Calipari coached team is defense. Our first 7 or 8 guys will not and should not take a back seat to anyone. My very biased opinion is their defense puts them over the top.

Wouldn't that be a fantastic championship game, however? We can dream ...

Go Cats!! (Arizona, that is)

I'm not afraid of Kentucky. If they were collectively more experienced, perhaps with a senior PG, I'd be more impressed. But I really feel like our core upper classmen (KT, BA, TJM, GY, and KA) give us a competitive advantage over just about everyone, provided we're healthy. And then you mix in our young talent and depth, and it just looks like we're set up very well to make the FF this year.

Question: why are we better than Wisconsin this year? Kaminsky abused Tarc last year. Why wouldn't the same thing happen again?

azgreg wrote:Nov 14 Grand Canyon
Nov 16 Buffalo
Nov 21 Boston U.
Nov 23 Montana St.
Nov 25 UT-Arlington
Nov 30 Providence
Dec 7 Eastern Ky.
Dec 10 Columbia

I guess they learned their lesson last year

No Carrier games this year?

Interesting that Utah and ucla were both left out. Only Arizona in the top 25, but Stanford, Utah, ucla, Oregon and Washington all got votes.

ASUHATER! wrote:Interesting that Utah and ucla were both left out. Only Arizona in the top 25, but Stanford, Utah, ucla, Oregon and Washington all got votes.

Oregon??? Do they even have enough players left to put a team on the floor?

ASUHATER! wrote:Interesting that Utah and ucla were both left out. Only Arizona in the top 25, but Stanford, Utah, ucla, Oregon and Washington all got votes.

Trying to be as objective as possible, why should UCLA be ranked in the top 25?

Beachcat97 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Interesting that Utah and ucla were both left out. Only Arizona in the top 25, but Stanford, Utah, ucla, Oregon and Washington all got votes.

Trying to be as objective as possible, why should UCLA be ranked in the top 25?

Because Bryce Alford is a PG......that's what he does.

Arizona as the only top 25 team = not good. Every loss will hurt more with our conference SOS being down (and they might get better but you always start from this ranking). Run the table?

Beachcat97 wrote:Trying to be as objective as possible, why should UCLA be ranked in the top 25?

It would look ridiculous if you obsessed over an unranked team. You should be thankful.

Jefe wrote:

azgreg wrote:Nov 14 Grand Canyon
Nov 16 Buffalo
Nov 21 Boston U.
Nov 23 Montana St.
Nov 25 UT-Arlington
Nov 30 Providence
Dec 7 Eastern Ky.
Dec 10 Columbia

I guess they learned their lesson last year

Careful with the cupcake cracks. See: Football team

gumby wrote:

Jefe wrote:

azgreg wrote:Nov 14 Grand Canyon
Nov 16 Buffalo
Nov 21 Boston U.
Nov 23 Montana St.
Nov 25 UT-Arlington
Nov 30 Providence
Dec 7 Eastern Ky.
Dec 10 Columbia

I guess they learned their lesson last year

Careful with the cupcake cracks. See: Football team

Careful with the cupcake remarks, see arizona basketball schedule. They play four teams out of conference who are better than anyone we play all year.

gronk4heisman wrote:

gumby wrote:

Jefe wrote:

azgreg wrote:Nov 14 Grand Canyon
Nov 16 Buffalo
Nov 21 Boston U.
Nov 23 Montana St.
Nov 25 UT-Arlington
Nov 30 Providence
Dec 7 Eastern Ky.
Dec 10 Columbia

I guess they learned their lesson last year

Careful with the cupcake cracks. See: Football team

Careful with the cupcake remarks, see arizona basketball schedule. They play four teams out of conference who are better than anyone we play all year.

Lol funny. When's the next time Az football plays a non conference team from a Big 5 conference?

Gonzaga, Michigan, potentially KSU and San Diego State and a road game at UNLV. Solid.

I think the PAC well be better than most think.

Damn. I was hoping we'd fly along under the radar, surprising our opponents by giving 110%.

#2, behind Kentucky?

That makes us the highest rated amateur college basketball team in the country!!

Sonora919 wrote:Arizona as the only top 25 team = not good. Every loss will hurt more with our conference SOS being down (and they might get better but you always start from this ranking). Run the table?

We are running the table baby!

Jefe wrote:

azgreg wrote:Nov 14 Grand Canyon
Nov 16 Buffalo
Nov 21 Boston U.
Nov 23 Montana St.
Nov 25 UT-Arlington
Nov 30 Providence
Dec 7 Eastern Ky.
Dec 10 Columbia

I guess they learned their lesson last year

Personally I like Kentucky's OOC better than Arizona's at this point.

While I think the middle and bottom tier teams on the OOC schedules favor Arizona, the Kentucky Wildcats play four preseason top 10 teams while Arizona plays zero.

Machina wrote:
Personally I like Kentucky's OOC better than Arizona's at this point.

While I think the middle and bottom tier teams on the OOC schedules favor Arizona, the Kentucky Wildcats play four preseason top 10 teams while Arizona plays zero.

That's true, but Gonzaga (#13) will probably end up being a top ten team, and Texas who UK plays probably won't. Louisville (who they always play), Kansas, & UNC is tough.

And there's a few top 20/25 teams in there for uA as well. Michigan is #23 right now. San Diego St. (#17 currently) or Pitt in Maui (currently #29) most likely as well.

UAEebs86 wrote:

Machina wrote:
Personally I like Kentucky's OOC better than Arizona's at this point.

While I think the middle and bottom tier teams on the OOC schedules favor Arizona, the Kentucky Wildcats play four preseason top 10 teams while Arizona plays zero.

That's true, but Gonzaga (#13) will probably end up being a top ten team, and Texas who UK plays probably won't. Louisville (who they always play), Kansas, & UNC is tough.

And there's a few top 20/25 teams in there for uA as well. Michigan is #23 right now. San Diego St. (#17 currently) or Pitt in Maui (currently #29) most likely as well.

If you rank the top five games for each team, even if Texas falls like is expected, Kentucky's is much stronger.

I love the matchup vs Gonzaga and I hope that it continues for a long time. I know 97 has given reason for why certain teams won't schedule Arizona, but it is frustrating to see the Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State etc. always be able to play multiple games against top ten teams every year while Arizona is lucky to get one a year.

Why in the world do you guys think Texas will fall out of the top 10? Did something happen to them that I'm not aware of? That team is going to be very good this year.

dcZONAfan wrote:Why in the world do you guys think Texas will fall out of the top 10? Did something happen to them that I'm not aware of? That team is going to be very good this year.

Machina wrote:

dcZONAfan wrote:Why in the world do you guys think Texas will fall out of the top 10? Did something happen to them that I'm not aware of? That team is going to be very good this year.

Pretty much this.

Sonora919 wrote:Arizona as the only top 25 team = not good. Every loss will hurt more with our conference SOS being down (and they might get better but you always start from this ranking). Run the table?

Not trying to be over confident but with a loss or two in this conference which prob would come on the road up at Utah ucla? Stanford Oregon? something like that, not gonna hurt us.
Rip on the Pac all we want but this is a tough conference on the road at some of these places esp with the huge target we always carry as someone's Super Bowl game.

Not worried about a couple tough losses on our way to Indy...

No LA road trip this year. I see that the Pullman game is on a Sunday. Weather permitting, I'll be there.

gumby wrote:No LA road trip this year. I see that the Pullman game is on a Sunday. Weather permitting, I'll be there.

Blows no LA road trip. I mean, seriously? There are more U of A alums in So Cal than anywhere else in the world other than the entire state of Arizona.

This will be a deceptively easy run for this team until the Final Four IMO.

Zeus will be the big fish in the small pond of legit 5's in this conference and soar through until the end of March, where his limitations get exposed on a national stage.

Whether or not Ristic is ready by then--and Miller is ready to play him enough to win the championship--will be the difference between a truly memorable season and "just" a Final Four year.

Wrong thread, but what the hell--other predictions:

4. York rides a hot streak from three until April.

5. Victor gets as much time as his FT percentage earns him.

6. PJC needs help from Pitts/York/Allen/Hazzard at the point.

7. Rondae turns the Shimmy into a viral video phenomenon remixed to "Shake Your Groove Thing."

8. Book Richardson accepts an offer to coach at Iona.

9. Brandon Ashley stops hedging past the three-point line. Kaleb Tarczewski does not and gets burned far past the limit Miller should tolerate.

10. The final ESPN poll has Duke ranked higher than Arizona.

I like Ristic and what I saw from him but lets not get crazy from a red blue game. I remember being impressed by Sidiki a few years ago and he made 0 impact at UofA.

7. Durant sues. And isn't it "thang."

11. Zeus will never be good enough for you. Ditto every big man before him and after.

PG: TJ/PJC
SG: Stanley/Gabe/Allen
SF: Rondae/Elliot
PF: Brandon/Craig
C: Zeus/Ristic

Let Stanley and/or Rondae run with the second unit, so they have to cover each other, and we have what used to be the case under Lute: With the exception of a handful of teams, the Cats' toughest competition will be in practice.

Craig and Ristic are much better than I anticipated. Nice!!

Go Cats!!

catgrad97 wrote:
6. PJC needs help from Pitts/York/Allen/Hazzard at the point.

this is the second time you've brought hazzard up in legitimate "playing time" discussions.

Sorry man, but WHAT are you smoking? Can I get some of that?

Catstatic wrote:PG: TJ/PJC
SG: Stanley/Gabe/Allen
SF: Rondae/Elliot
PF: Brandon/Craig
C: Zeus/Ristic

Let Stanley and/or Rondae run with the second unit, so they have to cover each other, and we have what used to be the case under Lute: With the exception of a handful of teams, the Cats' toughest competition will be in practice.

Craig and Ristic are much better than I anticipated. Nice!!

Go Cats!!

This is the starting 5, and the immediate subs. However, you'll see more interchange with the parts (i.e. 3 guards, sliding in/out the center, etc.).

I laugh when I hear people say that a freshman Ristic will be more effective than a junior Zeus. Don't you people care about defense and rebounding out of your center? Sure he's got a nice hook, but as for the rest let's just wait a bit, eh?

Puerco wrote:I laugh when I hear people say that a freshman Ristic will be more effective than a junior Zeus. Don't you people care about defense and rebounding out of your center? Sure he's got a nice hook, but as for the rest let's just wait a bit, eh?

I would if you know....Tarc could defend and rebound.

ZONACAT wrote:

Puerco wrote:I laugh when I hear people say that a freshman Ristic will be more effective than a junior Zeus. Don't you people care about defense and rebounding out of your center? Sure he's got a nice hook, but as for the rest let's just wait a bit, eh?

I would if you know....Tarc could defend and rebound.

ouch

ZONACAT wrote:I would if you know....Tarc could defend and rebound.

Ha...so you basically think the team would be better w/o Tarc?

It's obviously frustrating when he has butterfingers or misses a point-blank shot but he's a great FT shooter that can go for 14&10 on any given night while altering countless shots from the opposition. A great deal of what Tarc provides won't show up on the stat sheet and Miller knows this and has Tarc's back accordingly.

ZonaCat has a hard on for slighting Zeus.

In my uneducated opinion I saw pretty good improvement in all parts of Zeus's game from year 1 to year 2 and expect the same level of improvement throughout this year. he may not get the blocks a guy his size should, but he sure as hell effects a lot of shots.