Ąžuolas Tubelis

[Jefe]

34 games into his AZ career and no thread for one of the best players on the court on any given night?!

That crossover last night was unreal for a 6'11" 19 year old. Double digits in every game this season shooting 62%. Mock drafts are not paying attention and we will be lucky if he returns for a 3rd season

[Chicat]

Nice work with the accent marks on his name.

[Longhorned]

He's a thug.

[Olsondogg]

He needs to stop the post play stare down at the crowd. Other than that one thing, dude is a perfect PF

[Chicat]

He needs to stop the post play stare down at the crowd. Other than that one thing, dude is a perfect PF

Yeah, less flexing, more getting back on defense would be nice, but I won’t complain until he gets a tech or the other team goes 5-on-4 and scores easily.

[Olsondogg]

He needs to stop the post play stare down at the crowd. Other than that one thing, dude is a perfect PF

Yeah, less flexing, more getting back on defense would be nice, but I won’t complain until he gets a tech or the other team goes 5-on-4 and scores easily.

It happened one game, can’t remember which game but I wanna say Michigan.


Not the tech. Just not getting back

[Chicat]

He needs to stop the post play stare down at the crowd. Other than that one thing, dude is a perfect PF

Yeah, less flexing, more getting back on defense would be nice, but I won’t complain until he gets a tech or the other team goes 5-on-4 and scores easily.

It happened one game, can’t remember which game but I wanna say Michigan.

Yelp review is on the way.

[gronk4heisman]

It definitely happened in the Michigan game.

Last night he blocked a shot, got a rebound held the rebound and did his stare into the crowd then started moving it up court. His stares are the only thing slowing this team down.

[Longhorned]

You're all wrong. The stare is inextricable from everything else. He's a basketball player/movie villain. They're mutually dependent.

[dovecanyoncat]

He's Marco from Tropojë. Don't fuck with him.

He's Keyser Söze. Hide your family.

[Chicat]

After his basketball career is over he can become a silent staring Bond villain.

[azgreg]

If Tubelis staring shit down after a play is at the top of our problems I'm good.

[ghostwhitehorse]

You're all wrong. The stare is inextricable from everything else. He's a basketball player/movie villain. They're mutually dependent.

All he needs is a while/silver Persian cat.

[TheCat]

He was critical in our win at Ill.. Kept us in the game in the first half.

[Chicat]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

[IrishAzCat]

[1stNGrant Frys]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

I think the board would be interested in a visiting arena trip report Chicat

[Chicat]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

I think the board would be interested in a visiting arena trip report Chicat

The arena is generic and Tubelis kicked their asses up and down it.

Their coeds are not cute, and their fans are such dicks. Beyond the one who told me to fuck off after I said it was a good game, none of them were welcoming or nice in any way.

Arizona fans on the other hand are awesome. We showed up, were loud, and had a great time.

Champaign is kind of shitty outside of a four block area. No wonder their fans are so miserable.

[Andre Iguodunkya]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

I think the board would be interested in a visiting arena trip report Chicat

The arena is generic and Tubelis kicked their asses up and down it.

Their coeds are not cute, and their fans are such dicks. Beyond the one who told me to fuck off after I said it was a good game, none of them were welcoming or nice in any way.

Arizona fans on the other hand are awesome. We showed up, were loud, and had a great time.

Champaign is kind of shitty outside of a four block area. No wonder their fans are so miserable.

I spent a night there once. Longest week of my life.

[1stNGrant Frys]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

I think the board would be interested in a visiting arena trip report Chicat

The arena is generic and Tubelis kicked their asses up and down it.

Their coeds are not cute, and their fans are such dicks. Beyond the one who told me to fuck off after I said it was a good game, none of them were welcoming or nice in any way.

Arizona fans on the other hand are awesome. We showed up, were loud, and had a great time.

Champaign is kind of shitty outside of a four block area. No wonder their fans are so miserable.

how many of our fans would you estimate were there?
I've always felt fans at McKale are usually quite congenial to non-ASU visitors. Just to show I'm not a homer, thats not so much the case at Arizona Stadium.

[Chicat]

500 or so

[RichardCranium]

After his basketball career is over he can become a silent staring Bond villain.

"Silent Bond Villain" is an oxymoron. Bond Villains have to be talkative and explain their dastardly deeds.

I am not counting BV sidekicks as actual Bond Villains. Jaws and OddJob speak through their special talents - they don't need explanatory verbiage.

[97cats]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

i thought he was key today in many ways that dont show up in the stat sheet, pretty much always is...your point on the spacing is well made, hes always in the right spot and pretty much is always in position to be the most impactful in that flow, even without touching the ball.

early on he was a force, Lloyd kept running the offense through him and it was productive, keeping Arizona in the game. he also had great hands on the perimeter defensively, many disruptions and deflections.

i keep saying it but it cant be emphasized enough, Illinois hit 16 threes and had a 19-0 run and lost at home, unreal.

[Chicat]

The Illini fans had no idea who he was until he started kicking their asses and all of a sudden he was all they could talk about.

My eyes were glued to him the whole time. He just puts in so much effort on every play, with or without the ball, and he’s so damn smart. You could see him sizing them up coming down the floor and hitting the exact spot where his presence would cause the most drastic reaction from the defense. Such a cerebral player.

i thought he was key today in many ways that dont show up in the stat sheet, pretty much always is...your point on the spacing is well made, hes always in the right spot and pretty much is always in position to be the most impactful in that flow, even without touching the ball.

early on he was a force, Lloyd kept running the offense through him and it was productive, keeping Arizona in the game. he also had great hands on the perimeter defensively, many disruptions and deflections.

i keep saying it but it cant be emphasized enough, Illinois hit 16 threes and had a 19-0 run and lost at home, unreal.

Absolutely unreal.

I love the P&R play where Zu hands it off to Kriisa and then rolls diagonally through the lane where he seals his defender allowing either Koloko to slide in behind for an open slam or for Kerr to drive the lane for a floater or layup. He’s like a road-grading offensive lineman on a screen pass in football.

And the high-low works so well through him because he’s such a good passer. His post entry passes to Koloko are not only on target, but allow Koloko to keep his defender on his hip and catch the ball effortlessly in perfect position to score.

I think I’m in love…

[EastCoastCat]

And his defense has been impressive especially on ball rotations where he steps in front and creates breakaway steals punctuated with a big dunk.

Those are killer plays and demoralizes the opposition.

[Alieberman]

Chi and ‘97

Great insight… thanks

[97cats]

and...

great point on the seals inside the lane and even the rubs for Koloko creating space. hes 6'11 so he can see over the defense and is beyond his years positioning his feet first then his body. whether screening, passing, shooting, or rebounding hes a force at this level. very gifted in the high post and as mentioned a terrific passer.

consistency like an oak tree, shows up almost the same way every game.

All Conference player

[Beachcat97]

Tubelis is the main reason we only got down by 13 in the first half and not 20.

[RondaeShimmy]

Tubelis is the main reason we only got down by 13 in the first half and not 20.

And he's the reason Arizona cut the lead from like 10 to like 5 or something because the technical foul on Illinois was for pushing Tubelis lol after jawing at the Illinois player

Arizona had scored and got a tech off ball. Mathurin hit both freebies and Arizona kept possession and prevented lead from staying above 10 or ballooning

Kept Arizona in striking distance and killed their momentum

Illinois fans agree

https://www.illinoisloyalty.com/post/ar ... st-1686480

[Beachcat97]

Tubelis is the main reason we only got down by 13 in the first half and not 20.

And he's the reason Arizona cut the lead from like 10 to like 5 or something because the technical foul on Illinois was for pushing Tubelis lol

Arizona had scored and got a tech off ball. Mathurin hit both freebies and Arizona kept possession and the lead from staying above 10 at the half.

Kept Arizona in striking distance

Illinois fans agree

https://www.illinoisloyalty.com/post/ar ... st-1686480

Can't really overstate how vital Tubelis is to this team's success. He's a damn baller.

[Merkin]

Just needs to hit his FTs. Zu is making 60.7% of his FGs yet only 62% of his FTs.

Just must get the yips really bad when no one covering him and has a set shot.

[Spaceman Spiff]

and...

great point on the seals inside the lane and even the rubs for Koloko creating space. hes 6'11 so he can see over the defense and is beyond his years positioning his feet first then his body. whether screening, passing, shooting, or rebounding hes a force at this level. very gifted in the high post and as mentioned a terrific passer.

consistency like an oak tree, shows up almost the same way every game.

All Conference player

That's what's striking. 16 (could easily have been 18 or 20 with ft's) 8 reb, 3 ast and 3 steals on the road and it's just no biggie for him.

He just produces well in every facet every time out. I compared him with Zeke Nnaji prior to last year and I briefly thought I was wrong when he struggled early. Now you see it every night, the rare agility for a 6'11 guy combined with a skillset that works from anywhere.

[dovecanyoncat]

He plays best when he's a bit pissed off: makes him quicker IMO. And we need a Keyser Söze big. Ballo and Koloko aren't prone to flexing and fucking with the opposition.

[Jefe]

Arvydas Sabonis is still growing

[Chicat]

Great pic!!!

[Spaceman Spiff]

Arvydas Sabonis is still growing

There are heavy angles in that pic, but it gives a good sense of him vs Domanatas Sabonis, and I've compared Tubelis to Domanatas more than I can count.

[Jefe]

Yeah Tautvilas is 3-4" shorter than Ąžuolas.

Look at that little guy in the middle. Probably 6'3"

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yeah Tautvilas is 3-4" shorter than Ąžuolas.

Look at that little guy in the middle. Probably 6'3"

I've posted this before, but my uncle met Steve Kerr and was shocked at how tall he was. He looks small next to 6'9 NBA players, but you forget 6'3 is pretty tall among normal humans.

[EastCoastCat]

Yeah Tautvilas is 3-4" shorter than Ąžuolas.

Look at that little guy in the middle. Probably 6'3"

I've posted this before, but my uncle met Steve Kerr and was shocked at how tall he was. He looks small next to 6'9 NBA players, but you forget 6'3 is pretty tall among normal humans.

I have met him a few times myself (my Dad's best friend knew the family when he attended Pali High) and you are right he is tall. I'm a little under 6'1" but was certainly looking up at him during our conversations at a few parties I attended a while back.

Tall and lanky, like most basketball players you meet.

[Longhorned]

Ąžuolas won't suffer fools gladly.

In fact, he might just replace the Fargo movie character who wanted pancakes for dinner two nights in a row.

[UAEebs86]

Shut up Hansen

[azgreg]

[Merkin]

[TucsonClip]

Love Zu, but he isnt the passer that Luke was.

[97cats]

that was Tutelis for sure out there tonight - flush it

[YoDeFoe]

that was Tutelis for sure out there tonight - flush it

[Bordercat]

He is arguably our best player. The refs took him out of our first loss. Hampered by injury in second loss. He did look concerning to me in the Washington game. Will be curious to see how the rest of the season goes for him.

[UAEebs86]

[84Cat]

Well that's not good! Why have we been playing him? Does it really take 2 weeks to diagnose an ankle sprain correctly?

[Chicat]

I thought that was the original diagnosis.

If he can overcome the pain and won’t do any further damage to the leg, playing him might not be the worst thing in the world. But he wasn’t the quickest guy to begin with so his leg hurting can’t be helping his game.