2016-2017 Arizona Basketball

[UAEebs86]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

[azcat49]

The Merk. Enjoyed the clip to. Can't remember, did Chief put it in the basket?

[azcat49]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

Well hoping we go 17-1 and get to the conference final and thinking if Cal gets them this week but Oregon beats both UCLA and us in Vegas we sdsdtill might be out west

[SCCats]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

My guess is you're right. It's super important we maintain the #1 seed for the PAC tournament so Oregon has to match up the team that is a tough matchup for them (ucla) in the semis; then we just gotta hope ucla can get it done on that Friday night.

[Alieberman]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

If we win PAC regular season and conf tournament, we are a lock as a #1 seed

[EastCoastCat]

And if we win the regular season and get to the finals of the Tourney we should be a lock 2.

[UAEebs86]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

If we win PAC regular season and conf tournament, we are a lock as a #1 seed

Agree, but that probably sends us to another region, since the loss to Gonzaga (even if short handed) makes them the #1 in the West if they win out.

[SCCats]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

If we win PAC regular season and conf tournament, we are a lock as a #1 seed

I haven't really seen a bracket that looks good where we get shipped as basically the lowest ranked number one seed.

[azcat49]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

If we win PAC regular season and conf tournament, we are a lock as a #1 seed

I always like the way you think Ari! We would certainly have earned that #1 running that gauntlet

[gumby]

The Merk. Enjoyed the clip to. Can't remember, did Chief put it in the basket?

Yes, while chewing Juicy Fruit.

[Alieberman]

Big week of ball. We get the LA schools and UCLA will be ready, as will McKale.

Oregon has to go to the bay and Furd has really improve. Cal needs a marquee win bad and should play Oregon tough.

We might move up to 4 in the polls and if we beat the Bruins again and say Cal beats Oregon. I have to wonder if we might be moving west?

I think we have to win the PAC -12 tourney to stay as the 2 in the West, unless the Ducks drop a game or flame out early in Vegas.

If we win PAC regular season and conf tournament, we are a lock as a #1 seed

I always like the way you think Ari! We would certainly have earned that #1 running that gauntlet

The Pac has 3 legitimate top 10 teams right now. If 1 of those teams earns both the reg season and tourney titles... there is zero chance that that team gets anything other than a #1 seed.

That said, I'm guessing the regular season champ will be different than the tourney champ

[baconus66]

You would have told me Kadeem would miss both games and Ristic would miss most of both and I would have been at least a little worried, yet we got another road sweep. No matter how not good they Washington schools are I'm happy with this weekend. A lot of guys that need to be playing their best starting very soon have looked good.

I think Parker is maybe more important to our success than anyone and he looked the best he has since the injury.

Lauri is back, but maybe more importantly and more dangerously he has looked the best inside he has all season. The 3 pt shooting is great, but him being better inside is even more important to our March success.

Trier isn't perfect but he does appear to be getting more comfortable and better integrated.

Kobi and Rawle aren't offensively consistent, but either is capable of going off for 15+ and will play solid D.

Chance has looked the best he ever has the last 3-4 games and i think will be a important part of our run.


There upcoming 2 games are going to probably be the toughest 2 home games of the season and you know the crowd is going to be up the whole game. It will be interesting to see how the guys play, my hopes are high.

[gumby]

Can we get the SC that was blown out at Pauley? Doubt it. They're going to be hungry. They could use another quality W. The UCLA game is going to be nuts.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Can we get the SC that was blown out at Pauley? Doubt it. They're going to be hungry. They could use another quality W. The UCLA game is going to be nuts.

If we don't look ahead and have Kadeem and Dusan back, we should be fine. The focus is what worries me.

[baconus66]

If we win the conference regular season and the tournament outright that would likely mean we have another top 10 win with UCLA Sat and then either Oregon or UCLA in Vegas (plus 36 rpi usc, asu on the road and whoever else we play in vegas)

You would think that would make a pretty strong argument for a #1 BUT do we actually want a number one is the question.

I would rather have a #2 in the West with Zaga than a 1 in another region

[NYCat]

#1 seed? KU has the Midwest, Nova has the East, Gonzaga has the West. Which means a PAC 12 #1 seed would likely get sent to the South - arguably a worst spot. Honestly there isn't much difference between the two.

The committee loves setting up matchups made for TV, including separating conference foes into separate brackets. Which means Arizona is likely getting a #2 in the West (win reg season title, lose tournament), #3 in the Midwest (lose to UCLA/lose reg season title + tournament) or #1 in the South (win reg. season + tournament).

I'd take the #2 seed in the West - if that means losing a regular season title or tournament so be it.

Then it all comes down to matchups: not much difference vs a #15, #7/10, possible weakest #3 seed going west. We can beat gonzaga or they lose early, avoid UNC, Louisville, WVU etc.

This also means the committee will of course set up a matchup vs Wisconsin as a #3 seed.

[rgdeuce]

At the end of the day, it is pretty infuriating that Gonzaga will get to cruise into a one seed. When the regular season concludes, they will have had to play four teams in the RPI top 40 - Florida, Arizona, and Saint Marys (twice). Outside of St Marys, they will not have played anything close to a tournament team outside of Akron (rpi 48) on December 10, and us on December 3.

Speaking of Saint Mary's, their marquee wins are (get ready for it): at (27) Dayton, (44) Nevada and at Stanford. They lost to Tx Arlington, who is pparently an RPI 35. I have a hard time taking a team that starts five white boys serious already, but I wasnt expecting to have my mind blown like that.
-Florida 5-5 vs RPI top 50: Wins are Kentucky (home), 33 Arkansas (road), and three bubble teams (45 or higher). Losses are Duke, Zaga, FSU, South Carolina (33) and Vandy (49).
- And then of course, they get Arizona, neutral site and while we are on life support without Trier and PJC.

No wonder Few never wants to leave Gonzaga. He can waltz into a 1,2 or 3 seed every year as long as he has a decent team.

[jsbowl16]

Didn't see the game, but that's really ana amazing result on the road with two starters out. I was worried about this one. Way to go team.

Youre correct. Missing two starters, on the road, thats Washingtons super bowl, and despite their record they still have Fultz. That was a very good win.

Washington has an RPI of 201. I dont think a team the committee would consider a bad loss could also be a good win.

[PennZona20]

I think it is conceivable that we win out and lose in finals of PAC tourney and get A 2 somewhere other than west. It's unlikely though. But it could be KU/Nova/zags as the expected 1 seeds. Ville or unc as south #1 and Oregon as west #2 if they win out and beat us in PAC final. We'd probably be the 2 in Midwest in that scenario. Which I'd take because I think Gonzaga is better than Ku personally. Although the crowd will be better in West for us.

I realize zags might not know what to do in a one possession game as they haven't had one in forever aka not "battle tested". But they are legit. The 3 xfers have been a Godsend and u add them to the Mountain and growing kids in that system and they are as complete as any team not named Nova.

[NYCat]

http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll" target="_blank

#5 UCLA @ #4 Arizona

Saturday, primetime, ESPN. Bigly

[gumby]

I think it is conceivable that we win out and lose in finals of PAC tourney and get A 2 somewhere other than west. It's unlikely though. But it could be KU/Nova/zags as the expected 1 seeds. Ville or unc as south #1 and Oregon as west #2 if they win out and beat us in PAC final. We'd probably be the 2 in Midwest in that scenario. Which I'd take because I think Gonzaga is better than Ku personally. Although the crowd will be better in West for us.

I realize zags might not know what to do in a one possession game as they haven't had one in forever aka not "battle tested". But they are legit. The 3 xfers have been a Godsend and u add them to the Mountain and growing kids in that system and they are as complete as any team not named Nova.

Williams (Mizzou), Williams-Goss (UW) and Mathews (Cal - he torched us last year). All big-time athletes, not the usual scrappy Zags.

Add Karnowski and Collins -- legitimately talented bigs -- and Perkins and Melson.

I understand the frustration, but they are absolutely crushing their conferences foes. Teams like Santa Clara that we didn't blow out.

If they're undeserving, it will show up. If they don't know what to do in a big game, that will bite them, too.

[rgdeuce]

Didn't see the game, but that's really ana amazing result on the road with two starters out. I was worried about this one. Way to go team.

Youre correct. Missing two starters, on the road, thats Washingtons super bowl, and despite their record they still have Fultz. That was a very good win.

Washington has an RPI of 201. I dont think a team the committee would consider a bad loss could also be a good win.

We arent the committee and I wasnt making the statement in the context of the tournament. For Arizona fans and the team themselves, this game had all the makings for disaster and we pushed through and got the W. A lot of good teams lose that game with the exact circumstances we had.

[Olsondogg]

It's an easy thing to understand CBB at this time of the year and going forward: Just fucking win.

[Chicat]

It's an easy thing to understand CBB at this time of the year and going forward: Just fucking win.

Absolutely. Also, "don't fucking lose". The rest works itself out.

[rgdeuce]

I think it is conceivable that we win out and lose in finals of PAC tourney and get A 2 somewhere other than west. It's unlikely though. But it could be KU/Nova/zags as the expected 1 seeds. Ville or unc as south #1 and Oregon as west #2 if they win out and beat us in PAC final. We'd probably be the 2 in Midwest in that scenario. Which I'd take because I think Gonzaga is better than Ku personally. Although the crowd will be better in West for us.

I realize zags might not know what to do in a one possession game as they haven't had one in forever aka not "battle tested". But they are legit. The 3 xfers have been a Godsend and u add them to the Mountain and growing kids in that system and they are as complete as any team not named Nova.

Williams (Mizzou), Williams-Goss (UW) and Mathews (Cal - he torched us last year). All big-time athletes, not the usual scrappy Zags.

Add Karnowski and Collins -- legitimately talented bigs -- and Perkins and Melson.

I understand the frustration, but they are absolutely crushing their conferences foes. Teams like Santa Clara that we didn't blow out.

If they're undeserving, it will show up. If they don't know what to do in a big game, that will bite them, too.

The problem I have with, "If they're undeserving, it will show up," is they already have a huge advantage being the 1 seed close to home. They avoid potentially traveling across country, they avoid that 2 v 15 matchup; they get an 8 or 9 seed after, rather than the higher probability of a 7 or a dangerous 10. In Sweet 16, the odds are they are getting a 4 or 5, rather than a likely 3 (3s have been getting in 2 or 3 out of 4 times consistently). Right now, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, Louisville, North Carolina, Baylor, Duke, Kentucky, and West Virginia are the teams who will be fighting for the 2 and 3 seeds down the stretch (with one nabbing the last #1 seed). Whereas, the way things play today, the 4 and 5 seeds are Florida, Purdue, Cincy, Wisky, SMU, Virginia, FSU, Saint Marys, Notre Dame, Butler, Creighton, Maryland, and Wichita State. You can argue that maybe someone in there snags a 3 seed from the first list, and some of those are going to be 6 or 7 seeds, but there is a significant quality drop off between the two groups.

Gonzaga is a great team, nobody is denying that. You cited the Santa Clara games. For us, that was Rawle, Kobi and Lauri's fifth college game, early in the season for a team that has been carried by its freshmen, without Trier, and we weren't that far removed from losing Smith. Gonzaga has not had to deal with any of that. Their underclassmen have the luxury of being role players behind a bunch of guys in their 4th and 5th years in college. When we played Gonzaga head to head, neutral site, we had the aforementioned issues AND had just lost our starting point guard. Kadeem couldn't defend to his full capabilities - he was in foul trouble the whole night and the only scholarship backups we had were Pinder and Comanche. Lauri was 4 for 14 and Kobi was 1-9, we shot only 12% from 3. And remember, they started out that game red hot, especially from 3, I think they made 4 of their first 5. All that said, we lost by 7.

Yes, they have been crushing their conference opponents: St Mary's (15), USF (88), BYU (91), Santa Clara (150), LMU (159), USD (198), Pacific (219), Pepperdine (224), and Portland (229). The only halfway respectable teams in that bunch are St Mary's (three best wins: at 27 Dayton, 44 Nevada, and at 68 Stanford); USF (2 wins vs RPI top 100, Illinois St and Utah, both at home. Also a school where Tollefsen was a standout ); and BYU, who lost one of their best players for the season months ago (against RPI top 100: wins against Princeton and USF (twice) vs. six losses, plus four losses to RPI 150-250).

Here is who anyone in the Pac 12 has to play on a given night: Oregon (7), Arizona (8), UCLA (19), USC (32), Cal (41), Stanford (68), Utah (95), Colorado (104), ASU (135), Washington State 155, Oregon State, Washington (206), and Washington State (291). Pac 12 has six teams better than USF using RPI. I'm not so sure USF and BYU are even better than Utah, so that may be eight teams. St Marys is the only good team in that conference, and I have seen them play three times. They are not better than us, Oregon, UCLA, or USC. If you think I am crazy on the USC thing, USC has beaten 16 SMU and UCLA, four of their six losses come from elite teams (Arizona, Oregon twice, UCLA) and their other two are to Cal and Utah on the road. Not to mention the fact that the 2nd worst team in the conference, Washington, still has arguably the most dangerous player in the country playing for them. If you would rather play them over Santa Clara, LMU, or USD you are on crack. If you swapped Gonzaga with Oregon State or Washington State, I don't think they have a better conference record than we do.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Until Gonzaga makes a Final Four, they'll have doubters, and the doubters have a legit case. Every year, we hear that this year's team is different, and while they have been getting stronger, they get #1 seeds.

It is frustrating bc if they do well OOC, they're pretty much locked into a top three seed.

[rgdeuce]

It's an easy thing to understand CBB at this time of the year and going forward: Just fucking win.

Yes sir. Especially when you are holding on to a one-game lead for the conference title.

[dmjcat]

I think it is conceivable that we win out and lose in finals of PAC tourney and get A 2 somewhere other than west. It's unlikely though. But it could be KU/Nova/zags as the expected 1 seeds. Ville or unc as south #1 and Oregon as west #2 if they win out and beat us in PAC final. We'd probably be the 2 in Midwest in that scenario. Which I'd take because I think Gonzaga is better than Ku personally. Although the crowd will be better in West for us.

I realize zags might not know what to do in a one possession game as they haven't had one in forever aka not "battle tested". But they are legit. The 3 xfers have been a Godsend and u add them to the Mountain and growing kids in that system and they are as complete as any team not named Nova.

Disagree completely. Its quite possible that we win out, lose in the PAC12 finals and get shipped out of the west. If we lose in the Finals to Oregon, there is no way the Committee is going to keep us in the west and ship Oregon out (assuming both schools are 2 seeds) after defeating the UA twice.

[EVCat]

My view on the Gonzagas of the mid major world (a few years ago, it was Wichita St, I believe) is, yes, they do not play the schedule the rest of us do. And while Gonzaga does do a pretty fair job of seeking out good opponents OOC, there is no way they are as battle tested as us. So I hold them to a very tough line.

If they remain undefeated, there is no way for any of us to say they aren't the best team in college basketball history. They might be the overall #1 in the country. Them beating their entire schedule doesn't give critics any room to say "but, what about this game?" They are undefeated. There is no way for us to know if they wouldn't be the #1 team in the country playing the gauntlet schedule of a major conference. They might go undefeated in the PAC (heck, we almost have), or the ACC. They might beat the Golden State Warriors in a best of 7 (hyperbole to make a point).

As long as they are undefeated and did play some good teams, they deserve the #1 seed and ranking. They haven't showed us any reason to doubt they are #1. They can only play the teams that were scheduled to play them this year...them going undefeated against a mid level schedule doesn't disprove their #1. Their roster passes the eye test. They do have big wins.

But if they lose one...ONE...single game against a team that is not a top 5 team, drop them to 2 or 3. Because, now...at that point...you have some reasonable proof that they would not, in fact, have run the table or earned a #1 seed against top level competition. They have shown a reason.

Until they lose a game, though, you are projecting their worth based on their schedule, even though they have shown to be above their scheduling. If they go undefeated with some top 25 or 50 wins, they deserve the shot. They are 4-0 vs RPI top 25, and 3-0 vs 26-50. Based on that, if they go undefeated, they deserve their #1 seed. If they were 0-0 vs top 25 and 2-0 vs top 50, I would question hat.

[cpt]

At the end of the day, it is pretty infuriating that Gonzaga will get to cruise into a one seed. When the regular season concludes, they will have had to play four teams in the RPI top 40 - Florida, Arizona, and Saint Marys (twice). Outside of St Marys, they will not have played anything close to a tournament team outside of Akron (rpi 48) on December 10, and us on December 3.

Speaking of Saint Mary's, their marquee wins are (get ready for it): at (27) Dayton, (44) Nevada and at Stanford. They lost to Tx Arlington, who is pparently an RPI 35. I have a hard time taking a team that starts five white boys serious already, but I wasnt expecting to have my mind blown like that.
-Florida 5-5 vs RPI top 50: Wins are Kentucky (home), 33 Arkansas (road), and three bubble teams (45 or higher). Losses are Duke, Zaga, FSU, South Carolina (33) and Vandy (49).
- And then of course, they get Arizona, neutral site and while we are on life support without Trier and PJC.

No wonder Few never wants to leave Gonzaga. He can waltz into a 1,2 or 3 seed every year as long as he has a decent team.

What he said.

[gumby]

I think it is conceivable that we win out and lose in finals of PAC tourney and get A 2 somewhere other than west. It's unlikely though. But it could be KU/Nova/zags as the expected 1 seeds. Ville or unc as south #1 and Oregon as west #2 if they win out and beat us in PAC final. We'd probably be the 2 in Midwest in that scenario. Which I'd take because I think Gonzaga is better than Ku personally. Although the crowd will be better in West for us.

I realize zags might not know what to do in a one possession game as they haven't had one in forever aka not "battle tested". But they are legit. The 3 xfers have been a Godsend and u add them to the Mountain and growing kids in that system and they are as complete as any team not named Nova.

Williams (Mizzou), Williams-Goss (UW) and Mathews (Cal - he torched us last year). All big-time athletes, not the usual scrappy Zags.

Add Karnowski and Collins -- legitimately talented bigs -- and Perkins and Melson.

I understand the frustration, but they are absolutely crushing their conferences foes. Teams like Santa Clara that we didn't blow out.

If they're undeserving, it will show up. If they don't know what to do in a big game, that will bite them, too.

The problem I have with, "If they're undeserving, it will show up," is they already have a huge advantage being the 1 seed close to home. They avoid potentially traveling across country, they avoid that 2 v 15 matchup; they get an 8 or 9 seed after, rather than the higher probability of a 7 or a dangerous 10. In Sweet 16, the odds are they are getting a 4 or 5, rather than a likely 3 (3s have been getting in 2 or 3 out of 4 times consistently). Right now, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, Louisville, North Carolina, Baylor, Duke, Kentucky, and West Virginia are the teams who will be fighting for the 2 and 3 seeds down the stretch (with one nabbing the last #1 seed). Whereas, the way things play today, the 4 and 5 seeds are Florida, Purdue, Cincy, Wisky, SMU, Virginia, FSU, Saint Marys, Notre Dame, Butler, Creighton, Maryland, and Wichita State. You can argue that maybe someone in there snags a 3 seed from the first list, and some of those are going to be 6 or 7 seeds, but there is a significant quality drop off between the two groups.

Gonzaga is a great team, nobody is denying that. You cited the Santa Clara games. For us, that was Rawle, Kobi and Lauri's fifth college game, early in the season for a team that has been carried by its freshmen, without Trier, and we weren't that far removed from losing Smith. Gonzaga has not had to deal with any of that. Their underclassmen have the luxury of being role players behind a bunch of guys in their 4th and 5th years in college. When we played Gonzaga head to head, neutral site, we had the aforementioned issues AND had just lost our starting point guard. Kadeem couldn't defend to his full capabilities - he was in foul trouble the whole night and the only scholarship backups we had were Pinder and Comanche. Lauri was 4 for 14 and Kobi was 1-9, we shot only 12% from 3. And remember, they started out that game red hot, especially from 3, I think they made 4 of their first 5. All that said, we lost by 7.

Yes, they have been crushing their conference opponents: St Mary's (15), USF (88), BYU (91), Santa Clara (150), LMU (159), USD (198), Pacific (219), Pepperdine (224), and Portland (229). The only halfway respectable teams in that bunch are St Mary's (three best wins: at 27 Dayton, 44 Nevada, and at 68 Stanford); USF (2 wins vs RPI top 100, Illinois St and Utah, both at home. Also a school where Tollefsen was a standout ); and BYU, who lost one of their best players for the season months ago (against RPI top 100: wins against Princeton and USF (twice) vs. six losses, plus four losses to RPI 150-250).

Here is who anyone in the Pac 12 has to play on a given night: Oregon (7), Arizona (8), UCLA (19), USC (32), Cal (41), Stanford (68), Utah (95), Colorado (104), ASU (135), Washington State 155, Oregon State, Washington (206), and Washington State (291). Pac 12 has six teams better than USF using RPI. I'm not so sure USF and BYU are even better than Utah, so that may be eight teams. St Marys is the only good team in that conference, and I have seen them play three times. They are not better than us, Oregon, UCLA, or USC. If you think I am crazy on the USC thing, USC has beaten 16 SMU and UCLA, four of their six losses come from elite teams (Arizona, Oregon twice, UCLA) and their other two are to Cal and Utah on the road. Not to mention the fact that the 2nd worst team in the conference, Washington, still has arguably the most dangerous player in the country playing for them. If you would rather play them over Santa Clara, LMU, or USD you are on crack. If you swapped Gonzaga with Oregon State or Washington State, I don't think they have a better conference record than we do.

Holy moly. You just killed an ant with a howitzer.

I get all that, but they are staying West if they're undefeated. If they're shipped, it's because they lost. Or are you saying they should get shipped regardless? My post was predicated on them winning out.

[NYCat]

The PAC top teams are pretty weaker than their ranking, the committee will probably put UNC or 'Ville #1 in the South. And looking at some numbers the committee has looked at in the past, if Arizona loses to UCLA they'll get shafted and drop behind both teams.

Oregon:

W/L: 24-4 • #6 AP • vs top 25: 2-2 • Kenpom: #14 • Sargarin: #12 • BPI: #13 | RPI: #6 • Predictive rankings: #13 (18.3) SOS: #26

UCLA:

W/L: 24-3 • #5 AP • vs top 25 2-2 • Kenpom: #18 • Sargarin #15 • BPi: #12 • RPI: #18 • Predictive rankings: #12 (18.6) • SOS: #126

Arizona:

W/L: 25-3 • #4 AP • vs top 25: 1-3 • Kenpom #21 • Sargarin: #20 • BPI: #22 • RPi: #10 • Predictive rankings: #21 (15.6) • SOS: #40

The good thing is that Arizona controls its destination, just win like the rest of the season. I doubt the committee gives the team any wiggle room if they go 1-4 (or 1-5) vs top 25 teams.

The conference also doesn't do us any favors to fall back on. We're actually in a pretty similar position to Gonzaga, just win and don't give them any excuses or reasons.

[ASUHATER!]

Laughable to think the sec is better than the PAC 12

[Spaceman Spiff]

Laughable to think the sec is better than the PAC 12

Yeah, I don't get that. Top teams are not quite as good, than a ton of meh and some ugly at the bottom.

[NYCat]

I guess they have a better and bigger middle class plus better top of the class 2. Which averages out better than a top heavy 3 that are not actually top of class and smaller middle class. SEC has 12 teams in the top 100 while the PAC has 8, and the PAC has 3 worst teams at the bottom. It's Kenpom, so not gospel but pretty close to gospel.

SEC:
• Florida (5)
• Kentucky (7)
• South Carolina (29)
• Tennessee (42)
• Arkansas (50)
• Georgia (51)
• Vanderbilt (56)
• Alabama (61)
• Texas A&M (62)
• Ole Miss (74)
• Auburn (87)
• Mississippi State (94)


• Louisiana State (165)
• Missouri (166)

CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS:
• Oregon (14)
• UCLA (18)
• Arizona (21)
• California (47)
• Utah (53)
• USC (63)
• Colorado (75)
• Stanford (100)


• Arizona St (134)
• Washington (170)
• Washington State (201)
• Oregon State (272)

[Olsondogg]

I'd argue that the PAC has the strongest top 3 teams of any conference.

[EVCat]

I'd argue that the PAC has the strongest top 3 teams of any conference.

I think you would win the argument if facts matter.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I guess they have a better and bigger middle class plus better top of the class 2. Which averages out better than a top heavy 3 that are not actually top of class and smaller middle class. SEC has 12 teams in the top 100 while the PAC has 8, and the PAC has 3 worst teams at the bottom. It's Kenpom, so not gospel but pretty close to gospel.

SEC:
• Florida (5)
• Kentucky (7)
• South Carolina (29)
• Tennessee (42)
• Arkansas (50)
• Georgia (51)
• Vanderbilt (56)
• Alabama (61)
• Texas A&M (62)
• Ole Miss (74)
• Auburn (87)
• Mississippi State (94)


• Louisiana State (165)
• Missouri (166)

CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS:
• Oregon (14)
• UCLA (18)
• Arizona (21)
• California (47)
• Utah (53)
• USC (63)
• Colorado (75)
• Stanford (100)


• Arizona St (134)
• Washington (170)
• Washington State (201)
• Oregon State (272)

I don't know. Tennessee and Georgia are 15-12. UT built a rep off losing to good teams. Georgia Tech is their only good OOC win.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-basket ... m-schedule" target="_blank

Same exact thing with UGA, right down to the only OOC win of note being GT. I get SOS, but the best thing about both teams is that they've lost close games to good teams and they're (almost for UGA) top 50?

[Olsondogg]

I'd argue that the PAC has the strongest top 3 teams of any conference.

I think you would win the argument if facts matter.

Considering this fact, and that Arizona has not had any bad losses to bottom PAC feeders...does anyone care about the strength of the league as compared to others?

I mean last year the PAC had the highest RPI in forever and it resulted in a bunch of early losses for the conference. Who cares? The same fate will happen to the ACC this year. Duke, and UNC are strong. Perhaps Louisville... The others? Meh...

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'd argue that the PAC has the strongest top 3 teams of any conference.

I think you would win the argument if facts matter.

Considering this fact, and that Arizona has not had any bad losses to bottom PAC feeders...does anyone care about the strength of the league as compared to others?

I mean last year the PAC had the highest RPI in forever and it resulted in a bunch of early losses for the conference. Who cares? The same fate will happen to the ACC this year. Duke, and UNC are strong. Perhaps Louisville... The others? Meh...

You can get a high RPI by losing to good teams a lot. That's my analysis of the SEC, a lot of teams that have lost to a lot of top 40 teams because they are not good enough to be top 40 themselves, but they get that SOS bump.

Come tourney time, you actually have to beat those teams, though.

[baconus66]

Something else to consider, the committee can look at missing personal for losses. We didn't have Trier for Butler and Trier or PJC for Gonzaga.

But as has been eloquently stated, all that really matters is to win. If we win out I can't imagine a scenario we are worse than a #2 in the west (that's a lie, this is the NCAA we are talking about I can imagine plenty of worse scenarios)

[NYCat]

The kenpom rankings just mean they're more efficient teams on average, currently on avg the big 12, ACC have a better 3, SEC is a better conference. The SEC, ACC, big 12, b1g have better competition on average, thus they all help each other as a group but they'll lose to each other more (SEC is a cluster).

More efficient teams do better in the tournament, every national champion has been top 20 in both adj offense/defense (although this the final kenpom rankings not before tournament - a deep run will put you there). The average of every champion (since kenpoms first year in 2002) BEFORE the tournament has been top 13 in adjusted offense and top 19 in adjusted defense.. Every past national champ has been top 25 overall (adjusted efficiency margin) before the tournament.

For example UCLA is #18 overall, #1 adjusted efficient offense but #118 in adjusted efficent defense, Arizona #21 overall, #24 in adj-o, #28 in adj-d, Oregon is #14 overall, adj-o #25 and adj-d of #13. I'd bet on Oregon/Arizona making further runs than UCLA (obviously), terrible d. Arizona isn't currently there but any deep run will get them in the sweet spot. But Arizona's weakest spot is defense, especially since Trier's return.

Those efficient numbers are also why Oregon is a bad matchup for UA and UCLA isn't. Other possible bad matchups this year are teams like West Virginia, Louisville, Florida, Baylor, Wisconsin (yeah), Purdue, UK, UVA, Nova (some of these could lose early). Wichita State last year was bad matchup.

#1 priority is improving the defense.

[CalStateTempe]

We are so due for favorable seeding and a bracket to blow up in our favor on the way to a FF.

I know that sounds like taking the easy way out but that is my NCAA tourney Christmas miracle wish.

[Merkin]

[Bangkok Wildcat]

Yeah saw that, thanks for posting this....so proud! BTFD

[ASUHATER!]

Reads like a jinx for this weekend

[PennZona20]

I think it is conceivable that we win out and lose in finals of PAC tourney and get A 2 somewhere other than west. It's unlikely though. But it could be KU/Nova/zags as the expected 1 seeds. Ville or unc as south #1 and Oregon as west #2 if they win out and beat us in PAC final. We'd probably be the 2 in Midwest in that scenario. Which I'd take because I think Gonzaga is better than Ku personally. Although the crowd will be better in West for us.

I realize zags might not know what to do in a one possession game as they haven't had one in forever aka not "battle tested". But they are legit. The 3 xfers have been a Godsend and u add them to the Mountain and growing kids in that system and they are as complete as any team not named Nova.

Disagree completely. Its quite possible that we win out, lose in the PAC12 finals and get shipped out of the west. If we lose in the Finals to Oregon, there is no way the Committee is going to keep us in the west and ship Oregon out (assuming both schools are 2 seeds) after defeating the UA twice.

What do u disagree with? I agree. The whole point of my post was to dispute previous posts saying that if we win the conference and make finals of tourney we will be no worse than #2 in West. If we win out but lose to Ducks in conf tourney final and they win out , they will be seeded higher than us. And if unc or ville wins conf tourney and splits reg title they will get final 1 w Oregon west 2.

I do think that I may rather be #2 in Midwest w KU instead of #2 in West w zags because I think Zags are more complete team, with the crowd disadvantage being close to an equalizer.

As long as we aren't 2 in the East I don't care too much. And as long as we don't lose to any non ucla / Oregon teams we won't be.

[PHXCATS]

Reads like a jinx for this weekend

Stop with this loser talk

[dcZONAfan]

Other possible bad matchups this year are teams like West Virginia, Louisville, Florida, Baylor, Wisconsin (yeah), Purdue, UK, UVA, Nova (some of these could lose early). Wichita State last year was bad matchup.

#1 priority is improving the defense.

Why, again, is UVA a bad matchup? That's a shit offense. What does Wisconsin do that scares you, besides have the name Wisconsin on their chest? I'd certainly take a matchup with them this year if, say, it was to get to the elite 8 or FF.

[HiCat]

Not sure if posted here

Arizona 4
http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll" target="_blank