Bear Down Wildcats

I know it won't last but I really like playing 9-10 guys.

Besides the big 6- PJC, Pitts and Ristic all are making solid contributions in limited minutes.

And Victor just made a great move and bucket!

Miller said before his substitution pattern going forward would be pretty much what we've been seeing. Loving how deep we are so hopefully it sticks.

Victor would be great for some first halves this year where Zeus/Ashley are in early foul trouble. Dude just knows how to make a difference on the blocks.

Ristic still is getting outmuscled in loose ball situations more than he should. PJC is ahead of the game early, though.

Pitts and York just seem to be two sides of one coin, unfortunately--a and b.

Not kind of me to notice, but our scrubs these past two seasons are the worst garbage time players we've had in decades.

AZCatGirl wrote:Miller said before his substitution pattern going forward would be pretty much what we've been seeing. Loving how deep we are so hopefully it sticks.

I will only believe that when I actually see it in a close game.

Miller really happy with Pitts, could expand his role on the team. PJC too.

Yeah, Miller was practically beaming when talking about PJC. We'll definitely be seeing a lot more of him.

Longhorned wrote:Not kind of me to notice, but our scrubs these past two seasons are the worst garbage time players we've had in decades.

Yeah, they are dreadful. The end of the game tonight was pure ugly.

I really hope Miller plays 10 every game. The last 8-12 minutes he can tighten it up and go with 7 or so. These guys are all very, very good and deserve to know they will get some floor time each game.

This would be a change from what we have seen from Coach in prior years. I see nothing but positives if he does, and more than a few negatives if he doesn't.

Here's hopin'!

Go Cats!!

I'm guessing that Coach M is tinkering with player combinations along with distributing playing minutes. Great for development of 7-9 or 10. As Cats get further into the season, I'd expect to see a shorten line up, 7-8 maybe? Sounds like practices are pretty damn competitive so playing time up for grabs.

Longhorned wrote:Not kind of me to notice, but our scrubs these past two seasons are the worst garbage time players we've had in decades.

There's a stat for this. TIRD. We're last in the nation.

TJ 26 / PJC 14
SJ 20 / York 15 / Pitts 5
RHJ 12 / Pitts 20 / SJ 8
Ashley 24 / RHJ 16
Tarc 28 / Ristic 8 / Ashley 4

TJ 26
PJC 14
SJ 28
York 15
RHJ 28
Pitts 25
Ashley 28
Tarc 28
Ristic 8

I think we only played 6 guys in the 2nd half. In close games Miller is not going to be using his bench

Alieberman wrote:I think we only played 6 guys in the 2nd half. In close games Miller is not going to be using his bench

York with a lot of second half minutes although he was not playing well.

Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

I think tonight gave a much truer representation of how Miller views his players.

UAEebs86 wrote:Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

Why does he trust York?

Longhorned wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

Why does he trust York?

He must play better defense in practice. That's the only thing that would make sense.

Longhorned wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

Why does he trust York?

Agree, Pitts over York.

Bosy Billups wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

Why does he trust York?

Agree, Pitts over York.

This

Olsondogg wrote:

Bosy Billups wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

Why does he trust York?

Agree, Pitts over York.

This

Only because Jordin Mayes graduated...

Tighten Up. Miller's theme song.

UAEebs86 wrote:Hasn't seen enough of PJC to trust him late I guess.

Same style from every year....the B-squad always takes the last 5-6 minutes of the first half and only plays spotty minutes in the 2nd. Ristic, PJC and Pitts = Kyryl, Lavendar and Horne

This team will face more zones than any Arizona team, perhaps in history. This means Pitts needs more minutes. It was precisely what the announcers said last night. UCI started packing in the zone realizing Arizona was not much of a threat beyond the 3. Pitts is our best shooter. Here's hoping he gets more minutes in situations like last night.

Go Cats!!

Catstatic wrote:This team will face more zones than any Arizona team, perhaps in history. This means Pitts needs more minutes. It was precisely what the announcers said last night. UCI started packing in the zone realizing Arizona was not much of a threat beyond the 3. Pitts is our best shooter. Here's hoping he gets more minutes in situations like last night.

Go Cats!!

Forget about the shooting, which is indeed "wet" in the hands of Pitts in contrast to York's consistently dry clanker. Pitts is the better defender. Normally that matters to Miller. There's something else we haven't put our finger on yet.

What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

He will play PJC plenty enough to instill confidence later in the year. Miller went with experience when game was tight.

Olsondogg wrote:

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

He will play PJC plenty enough to instill confidence later in the year. Miller went with experience when game was tight.

Yeah, but you can't get that tight game experience if you don't play when the game is tight.

I mean, I get it. We were down in the 2nd half and a loss would have been a confidence crusher this early in the season, so as Coach's sphincter contracted so did the rotation. But for as much talk as there was after the game about this being a learning experience, you'd think you'd want it to be a learning experience for your freshman backup point guard as well.

Chicat wrote:

Olsondogg wrote:

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

He will play PJC plenty enough to instill confidence later in the year. Miller went with experience when game was tight.

Yeah, but you can't get that tight game experience if you don't play when the game is tight.

I mean, I get it. We were down in the 2nd half and a loss would have been a confidence crusher this early in the season, so as Coach's sphincter contracted so did the rotation. But for as much talk as there was after the game about this being a learning experience, you'd think you'd want it to be a learning experience for your freshman backup point guard as well.

Hey Chi, I hear ya. You gotta remember though, this game last night is the equivalent of the game at SDSU that we played last year. Alot can, and will change as the year goes along. Miller isn't completely comfortable playing unproven players in clutch situations...but I do believe last year opened his eyes on getting players meaningful minutes, and I think that will happen as we move on throughout the year.

Olsondogg wrote:

Chicat wrote:

Olsondogg wrote:

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

He will play PJC plenty enough to instill confidence later in the year. Miller went with experience when game was tight.

Yeah, but you can't get that tight game experience if you don't play when the game is tight.

I mean, I get it. We were down in the 2nd half and a loss would have been a confidence crusher this early in the season, so as Coach's sphincter contracted so did the rotation. But for as much talk as there was after the game about this being a learning experience, you'd think you'd want it to be a learning experience for your freshman backup point guard as well.

Hey Chi, I hear ya. You gotta remember though, this game last night is the equivalent of the game at SDSU that we played last year. Alot can, and will change as the year goes along. Miller isn't completely comfortable playing unproven players in clutch situations...but I do believe last year opened his eyes on getting players meaningful minutes, and I think that will happen as we move on throughout the year.

From your keyboard to Coach Miller's ears my friend. I just want the team to be as deep as possible by the time we get to conference play. If he wants to shorten the rotation then, by all means do so. But against the UC Irvine's of the world, I say play everyone. Even if the game is tight. But then again, I am not paid to coach any basketball team, so In Miller I Trust.

I think anytime you hear "This is gonna be a tough game" in a pregame interview, we can expect the shortened rotations...

You get some new jammies. Look good. But in times of sorrow and stress, you need comfort. So you haul out the old ones. The ones you're used to.

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

I mean I hear ya Chi, but I'm pretty sure Sean knows that if TJ gets seriously hurt we are not gonig to win a championship. There is no scenario where we can recover from that, so I think it's the wrong reason to be calling for PJC.

I certainly want him to be able to come in during a tight spot late in the year and provide meaningful minutes, too. But if he ever ended up being our starting PG this season we are screwed.

It was York over PJC for the defensive assignment.

Catstatic wrote:This team will face more zones than any Arizona team, perhaps in history. This means Pitts needs more minutes. It was precisely what the announcers said last night. UCI started packing in the zone realizing Arizona was not much of a threat beyond the 3. Pitts is our best shooter. Here's hoping he gets more minutes in situations like last night.

Go Cats!!

Heard this last year, too. But Miller is not the only "do what we do" coach. If zone is a team's base defense, Ok. And it is for Irvine. To play it well, you play it a lot. Plus, Irvine had a rare size advantage. But to bring it out for a particular game? Doesn't happen all that often. Still, teams can sag without zone, so we need to sharpen the shooting.

dcZONAfan wrote:

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

I mean I hear ya Chi, but I'm pretty sure Sean knows that if TJ gets seriously hurt we are not gonig to win a championship. There is no scenario where we can recover from that, so I think it's the wrong reason to be calling for PJC.

I certainly want him to be able to come in during a tight spot late in the year and provide meaningful minutes, too. But if he ever ended up being our starting PG this season we are screwed.

I honestly don't think we would be screwed if TJ was to go down like Ashley did last year. For one, PJC seems to have a lot of confidence and is most definitely skilled. We'd lose a lot on the defensive end, but I don't think there would be a drop off offensively. I would look for the team to press more and trap in the backcourt, not just in rare spurts like we do now, but in 4-5 minute stretches.

Is this a Final Four caliber team without TJ? Maybe not. But I could still see them getting to the second weekend and from there who knows what could happen. I guess my overall point is that let's find out now how good PJC can be in tight games down the stretch instead of having to guess later in the year because something catastrophic happened.

Chicat wrote:

dcZONAfan wrote:

Chicat wrote:What puzzled me was not seeing PJC in the second half. When TJ needed a rest, York played the point.

If God forbid TJ gets hurt, Miller is going to wish he had played PJC more in tight games earlier in the season.

I mean I hear ya Chi, but I'm pretty sure Sean knows that if TJ gets seriously hurt we are not gonig to win a championship. There is no scenario where we can recover from that, so I think it's the wrong reason to be calling for PJC.

I certainly want him to be able to come in during a tight spot late in the year and provide meaningful minutes, too. But if he ever ended up being our starting PG this season we are screwed.

I honestly don't think we would be screwed if TJ was to go down like Ashley did last year. For one, PJC seems to have a lot of confidence and is most definitely skilled. We'd lose a lot on the defensive end, but I don't think there would be a drop off offensively. I would look for the team to press more and trap in the backcourt, not just in rare spurts like we do now, but in 4-5 minute stretches.

Is this a Final Four caliber team without TJ? Maybe not. But I could still see them getting to the second weekend and from there who knows what could happen. I guess my overall point is that let's find out now how good PJC can be in tight games down the stretch instead of having to guess later in the year because something catastrophic happened.

Fair enough, I definitely love what we have seen from PJC thus far and honestly didn't expect him to be able to contribute very much this year until he had a full season of Rounds's weight training.

He seems like a better shooter than TJ but for this team nothing is more important than the expert facilitating that TJ is able to achieve, and that's what I don't think PJC could make up for.

Chicat wrote:...so as Coach's sphincter contracted so did the rotation.

I'll take freaking hilarious things I didn't think I'd read today, for $200, Alex.

Awesome, Chi.

That's new thread worthy. "Another ****** Sphincter Contraction"

gumby wrote:Tighten Up. Miller's theme song.

Should be Josh Pastner's, for those that get that reference.

PJC was pulled when he in-bounded the ball to Rondae as Rondae was stepping out of bounds to in-bound it. PGs dont inbound the ball.

I basically said the following on another board, but I'll say it here in condensed & edited fashion:

I find it interesting that, at least with public comments, there is a disconnect between how deep the fans here think UA is, and how deep Miller says UA is. I think some of what Miller has said so far is coachspeak, getting players to buy in to his defensive philosophy, but I don't expect UA to roll a true 9-10 deep by conference season like some of you want to see. Last night's 2nd half bore that out, as others have already suggested.

Miller has historically gone 7-8 deep, and the best I can see Miller doing this year is going "8+" deep, having 6 players he trusts pay every game, and then rotating the 7th/8th players between 3 others from game to game, based on need due to potential matchups, foul trouble and injuries. So that a 9th player is getting time here and there, but not as much time as if he were the undisputed 8th man/3rd guy off the bench or in a true 9-man rotation. In conference play, and otherwise in tight games, Miller likely plays no more than 8 while it is in doubt (even less right now if the UCI 2nd half is an indication), even if it's not the same 8 players every game.

After the "starting 6", I'm guessing Pitts gets first crack at that 7th man, interchanging with York and Stan on the wing, and then PJC/Ristic being that rotating 8th for sure as warranted/needed. I think Ristic gets more burn as the season (and his defense) progresses, as I could see York giving TJMC the rest at PG (even though that's not my preferred option), as happened against CSN and UCI for short stretches due to having 2 more years in this defense.

I appreciate all the arguments for a deeper bench, and share belief in many of them to various extents; While I think a case can be made for "9 deep" with Pitts, PJC and Ristic getting appreciable minutes, history tells me otherwise. I could see the potential for a full-court press here and there, which to me is the only real argument for going 9-10 deep on any team, but only a handful of teams do that any more, and that's never been Miller's strategy either.