Bear Down Wildcats

Missed Free Throws (11 tonight)
Turnovers (15, which is way too many for the pace UA plays at)

That's Living Dangerously. That's how you lose close games, and that's how you play closer games than you should against inferior teams.

Let's face it, UNLV is an inferior team. They have limited point guard play, and rely too much on blocked shots defensively. UA should have won that game going away, but didn't win the hustle plays, didn't take care of the ball, missed too many FTs and layups, and ultimately deserved to lose.

Miller should now have their attention in practice, and be able to hit the reset button on a few things before some bad habits get worse. No game for another 11 days, the boys will be able to stew on this one for a while, and channel that to refocus. Might be good in the long run.

But as fans we might have to get used to the idea of this team Living Dangerously the rest of the season.

Best Case Scenario: UA lost because they had their mind on Christmas and didn't play with energy, discipline, or focus.

Worst Case Scenario: UA lost because UNLV showed a gigantic flaw in Arizona's defense- Gabe York and Brandon Ashley cannot defend so run every play at them.

The reality is probably somewhere in between. The team has a real problem on defense, but Rondae also fouled out, and him playing with Stanley should go a long way in shoring up the defense. Of course, we still need the team to play with energy, discipline, and focus if we want to beat good teams.

As far as FT's, at this point I'm not sure that it's going to get better. We might have a couple of good games, but for the most part I just don't see the entire team turning it on from the line consistently.

Reydituto wrote: Miller should now have their attention in practice, and be able to hit the reset button on a few things before some bad habits get worse.

I don't understand this.

Did Miller not have their attention before? Was this a team full of buffoons or people who were disrespecting the process, who will now reverse course and finally buy-in and listen to Miller?

Reydituto wrote:Missed Free Throws (11 tonight)
Turnovers (15, which is way too many for the pace UA plays at)

That's Living Dangerously. That's how you lose close games, and that's how you play closer games than you should against inferior teams.

Let's face it, UNLV is an inferior team. They have limited point guard play, and rely too much on blocked shots defensively. UA should have won that game going away, but didn't win the hustle plays, didn't take care of the ball, missed too many FTs and layups, and ultimately deserved to lose.

Miller should now have their attention in practice, and be able to hit the reset button on a few things before some bad habits get worse. No game for another 11 days, the boys will be able to stew on this one for a while, and channel that to refocus. Might be good in the long run.

But as fans we might have to get used to the idea of this team Living Dangerously the rest of the season.

Pretty much what I've been saying. Judging from Miller's half-time rant, the team is going to get an earful and I hope they listen.

Living dangerously has been the norm for the past few seasons. We had no business winning that Gonzaga game, but did. SDSU could have beaten us a few times the past few years, but we did enough to get the wins. It's just how Miller ball is. But speaking of practice...

AZCatGirl wrote:Living dangerously has been the norm for the past few seasons. We had no business winning that Gonzaga game, but did. SDSU could have beaten us a few times the past few years, but we did enough to get the wins. It's just how Miller ball is. But speaking of practice...

After their lousy performance tonight, they earned it.

LV had 46 rebounds to Arizona's 33. Vaughn got 21 pts, and Wood had 24, Cats had no answer for these guys. Again, free throws slipped... 59% FT shooting (15 -27) ain't gonna cut it. Not to mention, Rondae getting strange calls that took him out of the game. (only played 18 minutes, should have been on the court for 38 mins) The loss of RHJ's 20 minutes in the game was critical. In spite of how badly things went, Arizona still had a chance to win in the final seconds. Credit the Rebs for taking it to the Cats. Huge win for them.

In the end, Arizona will learn from this. Whaaattt?? After all it's all about March anyhow.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/unl ... 224aaa.pdf

http://tucson.com/sports/blogs/pascoe/u ... c1134.html

Why is it ok for starters to suck on defense but our bench doesn't get in the game second half when everyone is sucking. I don't understand why you wouldn't let Dusan back in and slow it down run some O thru him. Let PJC drive to the basket if TJ isn't gonna do it the second half. I'm just saying do it for a few minutes. Put Victor in for a few minutes. Let the starters sit for a few minutes. So what if the bench screws up a few times. Like the starters incl Stanley didn't??? I hate that we are once again NOT using our bench players. NOT GOOD for their confidence moving forward. Guess we are running with seven players again this season.

I agree with CBCat. Miller's philosophy seems to be "If the starters suck, leave them out there until they drop," which runs counter to his vow to develop more of a bench this season.

Miller is a bit too loyal to his starters as a rule. Even Lute knew when to give guys like Terry, Iggy and Hassan run (most of the time).

I know it's a process, but if the first team can't run it, shake things up and see what at least Ristic and PJC can do for extended minutes. Victor has his own problems to work out...

CBCat wrote:Why is it ok for starters to suck on defense but our bench doesn't get in the game second half when everyone is sucking. I don't understand why you wouldn't let Dusan back in and slow it down run some O thru him. Let PJC drive to the basket if TJ isn't gonna do it the second half. I'm just saying do it for a few minutes. Put Victor in for a few minutes. Let the starters sit for a few minutes. So what if the bench screws up a few times. Like the starters incl Stanley didn't??? I hate that we are once again NOT using our bench players. NOT GOOD for their confidence moving forward. Guess we are running with seven players again this season.

Maybe the bench just isn't that good?

A bit to early to say but this felt like return old "pre-holiday turd drop" tradition that plagued the Lute Olson years. Hopefully it's just an anomaly.

az91 wrote:

CBCat wrote:Why is it ok for starters to suck on defense but our bench doesn't get in the game second half when everyone is sucking. I don't understand why you wouldn't let Dusan back in and slow it down run some O thru him. Let PJC drive to the basket if TJ isn't gonna do it the second half. I'm just saying do it for a few minutes. Put Victor in for a few minutes. Let the starters sit for a few minutes. So what if the bench screws up a few times. Like the starters incl Stanley didn't??? I hate that we are once again NOT using our bench players. NOT GOOD for their confidence moving forward. Guess we are running with seven players again this season.

Maybe the bench just isn't that good?

Platooning in the second string at the first TV timeout all at once showed how bad they are.

CBCat wrote:Why is it ok for starters to suck on defense but our bench doesn't get in the game second half when everyone is sucking. I don't understand why you wouldn't let Dusan back in and slow it down run some O thru him. Let PJC drive to the basket if TJ isn't gonna do it the second half. I'm just saying do it for a few minutes. Put Victor in for a few minutes. Let the starters sit for a few minutes. So what if the bench screws up a few times. Like the starters incl Stanley didn't??? I hate that we are once again NOT using our bench players. NOT GOOD for their confidence moving forward. Guess we are running with seven players again this season.

Exactly right. This is a very bad loss. Not developing the bench will be worse.

Go Cats!!

Will it last a whole year?

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