Bear Down Wildcats

That was a massively important game and we put together a good one. Hats off to Texas A&M for a great game. It feels really good to look like we have the potential to be the team we should be.

WOOOOOOOO!!!!

Surviving Rawle's absence.

Fantastic win. Great defense except for the big man backing down Ristic every time. Trier played awful and we were still able to play well. Love the improvement from Dylan Smith, Randolph, and Barcello. Randolph played well down the stretch. Ive ragged on PJC but that was a huge 3. But man Trier falling over turning it over all night he looked as bad as ever. Bear down huge win.

They eeked it out so a win is a win. Keep it going

Why is PJC inbounding tho..

I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Is this real life? Texas A&M is a legit team, the sort of team you face in the Elite Eight, we've been struggling and a neutral floor win isn't good enough bc we fought for it?

Damn. I'm too excited for bed right now. I want to run around the block.

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

We just beat the #7 team. It wasn't pretty but the defense was improved and our freshmen are getting better. Id be more inspired by this win than us beating up on crummy schools.

You see how pumped Miller and Romar were walking off the court? Big win for the players and the coaches. Would be a hell of a momentum swing and confidence boost to pick up this one and Bama with Rawle hopefully coming back soon.

Still a lot to work on, but things looked a lot better on the defensive end against a good offensive team (kenpom adjusted O 19). The little stupid things here and there (in bounds defense!) something we have to reduce each game. Another game where team shows some toughness. The refs were letting them play tonight and A&M was physical

RondaeShimmy wrote:Why is PJC inbounding tho..

He is a senior who won't make a bad mistake throwing the ball in. When Walton suggested Dusan I lost a lot of respect for him. Dusan would be the last guy you want throwing the ball in. TO city

Very encouraging that Hogg got held to 9 points.

I don't know what to say about Trier.

But I feel like the bleeding has stopped.

Again, cancel the funeral shits gonna be okay.

What was I saying about PJC in the closing minutes of games a while back? PJC has had plenty of big plays in plenty of big games these past few seasons. Sean Miller does need to find someone else to inbound the ball though.

Impossible not to be pumped about this win. Yes, the offense was jaw-droppingly bad for a long stretch in the 2nd half, but a win is a win is a win. Against the #7 team in the nation, no less.

The #2 team in the nation is back in the building.

Get Rawle back, and we're golden.

BTFD!

84Cat wrote:

RondaeShimmy wrote:Why is PJC inbounding tho..

He is a senior who won't make a bad mistake throwing the ball in. When Walton suggested Dusan I lost a lot of respect for him. Dusan would be the last guy you want throwing the ball in. TO city

It's more of a height issue, a&m put a big guy on him and couldn't see over him, almost had 3 5 second violations

At least he could run in the baseline

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Is this real life? Texas A&M is a legit team, the sort of team you face in the Elite Eight, we've been struggling and a neutral floor win isn't good enough bc we fought for it?

Damn. I'm too excited for bed right now. I want to run around the block.

Exactly.

I have to wake up for work in 3 hours and there's no way I'm falling asleep anytime soon

Couldn’t see the game but re Trier and those bagging on him, the BD network announcers were praising him for his locking down their best player DJ Hogg. Thoughts? Thanks .

Yeah, it was a big win without Rawle. Would not have been as close with him starting. Kudos to the team and staff for putting the work in this week. Smith was very good tonight and the young guys also played with poise, sans Akot. Miller will turn Barcello into a great PG. Lots of one-on-one coaching on the bench. We have fundamental weaknesses (PJC, Trier, and Ristic) but still proud of the effort and win. Go Cats!

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Is this real life? Texas A&M is a legit team, the sort of team you face in the Elite Eight, we've been struggling and a neutral floor win isn't good enough bc we fought for it?

Damn. I'm too excited for bed right now. I want to run around the block.

Me too dude. You hit the nail on the head, believe they are Kenpom 6, adjusted O 19 and adjusted D 4. Offense found a way to get enuff buckets against an elite defense, and our trainwreck defense showed signs of hope and got enough stops against a good offense.

Last thought for the night. Lee was the defensive half of Miller's offense/defense subbing with Ristic. I think we found something there. He and Ayton are our best defensive lineup.

Randolph got sone big minutes too. That's the future.

Still pumped up!

Bangkok Wildcat wrote:Couldn’t see the game but re Trier and those bagging on him, the BD network announcers were praising him for his locking down their best player DJ Hogg. Thoughts? Thanks .

I thought his defense was better than we've seen all year. Not great, but he did his job by forcing bad shots and drawing fouls.

His shot was not falling and he lost the ball a couple times on really sloppy plays. Hard to trust him with the ball in the half court. Maybe he'll turn it on with Rawle back during conference play.

TatetheGreat wrote:

Bangkok Wildcat wrote:Couldn’t see the game but re Trier and those bagging on him, the BD network announcers were praising him for his locking down their best player DJ Hogg. Thoughts? Thanks .

I thought his defense was better than we've seen all year. Not great, but he did his job by forcing bad shots and drawing fouls.

His shot was not falling and he lost the ball a couple times on really sloppy plays. Hard to trust him with the ball in the half court. Maybe he'll turn it on with Rawle back during conference play.

Yeah, the stats are telling on his poor offense and TOs...Thanks much TatetheGreat! Great win over my dbag (sad recent development) Big Bros Alma Mater ...Karma is a bitch.

They had a game plan for Trier and Ayton and they executed it well. Forced other guys to step up and they did.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Is this real life? Texas A&M is a legit team, the sort of team you face in the Elite Eight, we've been struggling and a neutral floor win isn't good enough bc we fought for it?

Damn. I'm too excited for bed right now. I want to run around the block.

Haha, when exactly did I say that?

I’m glad we won, and it’s an important win, but with how A&M played I feel like other UA teams would have blown their doors off and I see a lot of improvement being necessary before we get into February or March.

Chicat wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Is this real life? Texas A&M is a legit team, the sort of team you face in the Elite Eight, we've been struggling and a neutral floor win isn't good enough bc we fought for it?

Damn. I'm too excited for bed right now. I want to run around the block.

Haha, when exactly did I say that?

I’m glad we won, and it’s an important win, but with how A&M played I feel like other UA teams would have blown their doors off and I see a lot of improvement being necessary before we get into February or March.

Definitely

Trier played great defense on the 6'9" Hogg and held their leading scorer to 9 points. Did he play well on the other end? He shot poorly and turned the ball over early. After that he mostly let the Aggies focus on him to the benefit of the our other wings.

Loved what he did and he deserves a ton of credit for the win.

YoDeFoe wrote:Trier played great defense on the 6'9" Hogg and held their leading scorer to 9 points. Did he play well on the other end? He shot poorly and turned the ball over early. After that he mostly let the Aggies focus on him to the benefit of the our other wings.

Loved what he did and he deserves a ton of credit for the win.

Great points. Credit to Trier for turning it around. I was focusing too much on his first half.

Longhorned wrote:

YoDeFoe wrote:Trier played great defense on the 6'9" Hogg and held their leading scorer to 9 points. Did he play well on the other end? He shot poorly and turned the ball over early. After that he mostly let the Aggies focus on him to the benefit of the our other wings.

Loved what he did and he deserves a ton of credit for the win.

Great points. Credit to Trier for turning it around. I was focusing too much on his first half.

Striking to see him not really get involved on the offensive end but really appreciated him getting out of his own way and letting other guys get buckets.

A&M scored like 45+pts in the paint so definitely things to work at

RondaeShimmy wrote:Why is PJC inbounding tho..

I thought the same thing.

We're gonna a drop a tight game or two in conference play because we can't handle pressure in the final minutes. I really think Barcello, with confidence, could be the answer in those situations. But he needs to understand that he needs to assert himself.

RondaeShimmy wrote:A&M scored like 45+pts in the paint so definitely things to work at

Their in-bound plays on us and ours against them... WOOF.

YoDeFoe wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

YoDeFoe wrote:Trier played great defense on the 6'9" Hogg and held their leading scorer to 9 points. Did he play well on the other end? He shot poorly and turned the ball over early. After that he mostly let the Aggies focus on him to the benefit of the our other wings.

Loved what he did and he deserves a ton of credit for the win.

Great points. Credit to Trier for turning it around. I was focusing too much on his first half.

Striking to see him not really get involved on the offensive end but really appreciated him getting out of his own way and letting other guys get buckets.

Seems to me that when Offensively gifted players like Trier put in a good Defensive performance / effort like he did tonight (speculation on my part from feedback) they usually have a poor Offensive game....Am I wrong here? Strange.

zonagrad wrote:We're gonna a drop a tight game or two in conference play because we can't handle pressure in the final minutes. I really think Barcello, with confidence, could be the answer in those situations. But he needs to understand that he needs to assert himself.

I'm not worried about Barcello. The talent is there. He just needs the maturity and poise; they'll come. Amazing that we likely get him for four years! That bodes very well.

By the way, Texas A&M could literally be the best team we face all season.

It's not like we can say that ol' "we won but we better get it together or we'll lose by 20 points to _______."

A&M is really good. Loved them on TV and then seeing them live tonight they are a complete team. They play really good defense, especially in the perimeter. Those bits are tough. They will be a high seed in the tourney.

Great win for us. Oh, Ristic is a huge defensive liability. Lee, Smith, Truer, Ayton and PJC or Barcelo was by far our best line up tonight

YoDeFoe wrote:Trier played great defense on the 6'9" Hogg and held their leading scorer to 9 points. Did he play well on the other end? He shot poorly and turned the ball over early. After that he mostly let the Aggies focus on him to the benefit of the our other wings.

Loved what he did and he deserves a ton of credit for the win.

Hogg only played 23 minutes because of foul trouble. He usually plays 35 or so which is likely why he only had 9 points.

azcat49 wrote:A&M is really good. Loved them on TV and then seeing them live tonight they are a complete team. They play really good defense, especially in the perimeter. Those bits are tough. They will be a high seed in the tourney.

Great win for us. Oh, Ristic is a huge defensive liability. Lee, Smith, Truer, Ayton and PJC or Barcelo was by far our best line up tonight

Ristic is not good defensively. Fine.

But discounting his contribution offensively is a mistake.

Olsondogg wrote:

azcat49 wrote:A&M is really good. Loved them on TV and then seeing them live tonight they are a complete team. They play really good defense, especially in the perimeter. Those bits are tough. They will be a high seed in the tourney.

Great win for us. Oh, Ristic is a huge defensive liability. Lee, Smith, Truer, Ayton and PJC or Barcelo was by far our best line up tonight

Ristic is not good defensively. Fine.

But discounting his contribution offensively is a mistake.

Not sure I did ODogg. No question he is a back to the basket scorer but A&M went repeatedly at him with great efficiency. I don't know the answer but we seemed to have a better plus/minus with the above line up tonight

Longhorned wrote:By the way, Texas A&M could literally be the best team we face all season.

It's not like we can say that ol' "we won but we better get it together or we'll lose by 20 points to _______."

Yep. Could be the best test for Arizona. Great effort. Young guns getting better each week. I needed to see that collective fighting spirit again. Well done guys.

azcat49 wrote:

Olsondogg wrote:

azcat49 wrote:A&M is really good. Loved them on TV and then seeing them live tonight they are a complete team. They play really good defense, especially in the perimeter. Those bits are tough. They will be a high seed in the tourney.

Great win for us. Oh, Ristic is a huge defensive liability. Lee, Smith, Truer, Ayton and PJC or Barcelo was by far our best line up tonight

Ristic is not good defensively. Fine.

But discounting his contribution offensively is a mistake.

Not sure I did ODogg. No question he is a back to the basket scorer but A&M went repeatedly at him with great efficiency. I don't know the answer but we seemed to have a better plus/minus with the above line up tonight

They did the same against ayton with success sans the traveling play

RondaeShimmy wrote:A&M scored like 45+pts in the paint so definitely things to work at

Davis was killing Ristic. That said, I saw the most defensive positives I've seen from this team. I've been tough on our perimeter guys, but we got a lot of effort from them. There's still some sharpening of skills, but last night players seemed to clearly take on the individual challenges.

We had mistakes, but they came with a consistently good effort level and some of the better execution we've had. As I said above, I'm starting to believe Lee is far and away our best big defender at the pick and roll. He jumps it hard, drives the ballhandler back and recovers with a purpose. He's still getting timing, but you can see the ability there. When he fully falls into the rhythym of D, he's going to be a really good defender here.

In unrelated stuff, Ayton is a tremendous post passer. Texas A&M ran multiple guys at him and he made them pay. The post to post passes to Dusan were slick, and not many guys can pull that off.

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Almost exactly what I was going to say. That was not a high level game. It was enormously important for us, but neither team played stellar ball. Probably a combination of A&M being really good on defense and having a bad night on offense. Hogg and Trier, top scorers respectively, stunk it up. Williams did, too. Have a hard time saying A&M is better than Purdue. Reminded me of the SMU game, which was there for the taking.

We played better defense, but the offense was disjointed. As I said before, most teams will double Ayton, so guys have to make shots. For the most part, they didn't. Many open looks for Barcello and Trier (first half). Smith was the guy who made them pay for double teams. Ristic's buckets were courtesy of Ayton's passes. Still haven't established a consistent way of getting Ayton the ball.

We held our own on the boards. Didn't surrender many blow-bys. Made free throws (this was the difference). Still, simple tasks elude the players. Like defending inbounds under the hoop or deliberately fouling near the halfcourt line. (If that shot goes in, Ayton erases the image of Jamelle Horne).

An ugly game. Happy to have the win. But miles to go before we sleep.

gumby wrote:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Almost exactly what I was going to say. That was not a high level game. It was enormously important for us, but neither team played stellar ball. Probably a combination of A&M being really good on defense and having a bad night on offense. Hogg and Trier, top scorers respectively, stunk it up. Williams did, too. Have a hard time saying A&M is better than Purdue. Reminded me of the SMU game, which was there for the taking.

We played better defense, but the offense was disjointed. As I said before, most teams will double Ayton, so guys have to make shots. For the most part, they didn't. Many open looks for Barcello and Trier (first half). Smith was the guy who made them pay for double teams. Ristic's buckets were courtesy of Ayton's passes. Still haven't established a consistent way of getting Ayton the ball.

We held our own on the boards. Didn't surrender many blow-bys. Made free throws (this was the difference). Still, simple tasks elude the players. Like defending inbounds under the hoop or deliberately fouling near the halfcourt line. (If that shot goes in, Ayton erases the image of Jamelle Horne).

An ugly game. Happy to have the win. But miles to go before we sleep.

I seriously don't get this. As RG posted above, Texas A&M is a top 20 offensive and defensive team on KenPom. That is typically a marker of national championship level teams.

Add in that the narrative before this on here was this team was soft. Well, the soft team won a slugfest against a big experienced Final Four level team. Now we're uninspired?

I agree there are areas to work on, but I see that as a testament to this team's potential. Texas A&M has arguably been the best team in on court results this year. Winning that with room to improve...we still have a high ceiling.

Part of me feels that if A&M had 4 guards and wings in their lineup they would torch the defense even further. They were a good matchup for us

Bama should be a good test for this,

Yeah. I’m not getting the “We won, but...” posts. Given the setbacks this program has had recently, how are you not inspired by a freaking neutral court win over a top 10 team?!

I do have a question, though. Are most of you seeing last night as confirmation of our high preseason ranking? Or did we overachieve last night? Do you now see us again as a legit top 5 team, or are we nowhere near that level?

Beachcat97 wrote:Yeah. I’m not getting the “We won, but...” posts. Given the setbacks this program has had recently, how are you not inspired by a freaking neutral court win over a top 10 team?!

I do have a question, though. Are most of you seeing last night as confirmation of our high preseason ranking? Or did we overachieve last night? Do you now see us again as a legit top 5 team, or are we nowhere near that level?

I see last night as a confirmation of our potential. Where we deserve to be depends on how regularly we start approaching that potential. We did something really good last night. We could undo all the positive by farting one out against Alabama. Until we start showing what we need to show on a consistent basis, I'm waiting to see.

I see a lot of potential to be a great team. But some things still need a lot of work:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

1. The Trier ISO on Hogg when Hogg had 4 fouls. Dribble for 25 seconds then make a terrible pass? Bet the NBA scouts just shook their collective heads. Reminded me so much of Miller letting Gabe York do that, then York ends up dribbling it off his foot.
2. Fouling the aTm 3 point shooter in the act of shooting? That ball almost went in. Would have been game over the way the UA offense stagnated. If you are going to foul, foul before the ball handler crosses half court. 2 shots at best. Why didn't Miller put PJC downcourt then to slow the ball handler down anyway like he did end of game?
3. PJC throwing the ball in, when he has had trouble all game. Don't you think you would want your best ball handler ON THE COURT when a press is on? Besides PJC being way to short to throw it over big guys. Walton made a good point about Ristic throwing it in being quite a bit tall with much longer arms.

Cats were bailed out by a couple of marginal calls too. That travel on the aTm player getting ready to dunk. Yes it was, but at the point you just want to let them play. Same with the holding foul against Randolph when PJC was about to get whistled for a 5 second call.

Trier was mind-blowingly bad at times last night. He seems to have this mindset where he thinks the only way he can impact the game is by taking shots. It’s hard to watch when he’s got the ball late in the shot clock and the other team just swarms him. He either launches a contested 3 or dribbles into traffic.

He can do better. That’ll be his challenge going forward. We need him to study Kobe’s defense as much as his offense. Smart defense, avoid forcing shots on offense.

Merkin wrote:I see a lot of potential to be a great team. But some things still need a lot of work:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

1. The Trier ISO on Hogg when Hogg had 4 fouls. Dribble for 25 seconds then make a terrible pass? Bet the NBA scouts just shook their collective heads. Reminded me so much of Miller letting Gabe York do that, then York ends up dribbling it off his foot.
2. Fouling the aTm 3 point shooter in the act of shooting? That ball almost went in. Would have been game over the way the UA offense stagnated. If you are going to foul, foul before the ball handler crosses half court. 2 shots at best. Why didn't Miller put PJC downcourt then to slow the ball handler down anyway like he did end of game?
3. PJC throwing the ball in, when he has had trouble all game. Don't you think you would want your best ball handler ON THE COURT when a press is on? Besides PJC being way to short to throw it over big guys. Walton made a good point about Ristic throwing it in being quite a bit tall with much longer arms.

Cats were bailed out by a couple of marginal calls too. That travel on the aTm player getting ready to dunk. Yes it was, but at the point you just want to let them play. Same with the holding foul against Randolph when PJC was about to get whistled for a 5 second call.

Ok Merkin, I'll bite.

1. You want Trier to ISO on their best player with 4 fouls. Yeah it wasn't a great play, but let's not compare Trier to York again, ok?

2. On the final foul play, the intention was to foul sooner, but PJC got screened out of the play to foul and yes Ayton made a bad foul. As Miller stated in the press conference this is the first time that the strategy *almost* backfired. Rather live and learn with the win in hand.

3. Miller obviously trusts PJC in the inbounds.

As far as the walk at the end. Definite walk...the "just let them play" argument? Really? WTF are you talking about? It's not a bang bang play, its a fucking walk...something the dude was doing majority of the game.

The calls were awful both ways, and I could detail about a half dozen others that affected the game earlier that were in the favor of Texas A&M.

Chicat wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

Chicat wrote:I can’t remember the last time I was this uninspired by a win.

It was probably going 11 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half and then some real crappy play in the final minutes which has me so meh right now. Feels like we have a long way to go.

Is this real life? Texas A&M is a legit team, the sort of team you face in the Elite Eight, we've been struggling and a neutral floor win isn't good enough bc we fought for it?

Damn. I'm too excited for bed right now. I want to run around the block.

Haha, when exactly did I say that?

I’m glad we won, and it’s an important win, but with how A&M played I feel like other UA teams would have blown their doors off and I see a lot of improvement being necessary before we get into February or March.

So you are saying you are glad it's early December?

I sometimes don't get this fan base at all. Texas A&M was ranked 7 and blew USC out when they played. Arizona didn't play great but slugged out a victory away from McKale for the second time this week and fans want it to look and feel better.

Yeah, there is a looooong way to go with this team...but to not feel good about winning is such an odd place to be.

SMH