2017-2018 Arizona Basketball

[DiehardDave37]

He was gasping and grasping at straws in Colorado.

[Jefe]

http://www.woodenaward.com/john_r_woode ... son_top_25" target="_blank

MIDSEASON TOP 25

Ayton & Trier

[YoDeFoe]

http://www.woodenaward.com/john_r_woode ... son_top_25

MIDSEASON TOP 25

Ayton & Trier

Good company.

Fun exercise: pick ten players to cut, the rest are All Americans.

[YoDeFoe]

I'm cutting:

* Joel Berry (slump)
* Grayson Allen (slump)
* Trevon Blueitt (slump)
* Bonzie Colson (hurt)
* Marcus Foster (not quiet enough)
* Luke Maye (garbage time stat stuffer)
* Collin Sexton (not efficient enough)

I could not get to ten.

[U.P. Zona Fan]

Jordan Murphy
Devonte Graham
Aaron Holliday

[Longhorned]

I don't know if anyone here has enough basketball smarts to follow my basketball genius, but behold this heretofore unobserved law of 2017-2018 Arizona Basketball:

There is a direct correlation between opponents who predominantly play zone against Arizona, and the inability of the offense of those same opponents to withstand extended pressure defense (rather than pack-line defense) from Arizona. This correlation is anchored in a lack of talent and/or athletic ability, and the correlation holds regardless of whether the opponent predominantly plays zone against teams other than Arizona.

Therefore, the primary answer to breaking a zone isn't what Arizona does on offense. Rather, it's about switching its own defense to havoc-creating pressure defense, turning the opponent over, and getting out on the fast break and ripping all the air out of their tires with a jack knife and a saw, too.

[dmjcat]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

[qwertyus]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

We're at #17 now. By March, we'll be, what, #10-#12? How's that a 6 seed?

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

[dmjcat]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

We're at #17 now. By March, we'll be, what, #10-#12? How's that a 6 seed?

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank

[qwertyus]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

We're at #17 now. By March, we'll be, what, #10-#12? How's that a 6 seed?

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank

I'm not seeing many losses on the schedule. I guess we'll see.

[dmjcat]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

We're at #17 now. By March, we'll be, what, #10-#12? How's that a 6 seed?

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank

I'm not seeing many losses on the schedule. I guess we'll see.

Potential road losses: OSU, UO, asu, UW, and I would not be surpised to lose one at home to somebody we shouldn't......like UW

If we drop 3 road losses (say UO, UW, asu) and 1 home game that would give us 8 losses. Even staying perfect at home would give us 7 losses resulting in a likely 5/6 seed. I would also point out that the conference RPI's are TERRIBLE.....we are not going to get any help even if we do pull a few road sweeps.

[qwertyus]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

We're at #17 now. By March, we'll be, what, #10-#12? How's that a 6 seed?

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank

I'm not seeing many losses on the schedule. I guess we'll see.

Potential road losses: OSU, UO, asu, UW, and I would not be surpised to lose one at home to somebody we shouldn't......like UW

If we drop 3 road losses (say UO, UW, asu) and 1 home game that would give us 8 losses. Even staying perfect at home would give us 7 losses resulting in a likely 5/6 seed.

4 road losses? OK bud. Like I said, we'll see.

[dmjcat]

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.[/quote]

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank[/quote]
I'm not seeing many losses on the schedule. I guess we'll see.[/quote]

Potential road losses: OSU, UO, asu, UW, and I would not be surpised to lose one at home to somebody we shouldn't......like UW

If we drop 3 road losses (say UO, UW, asu) and 1 home game that would give us 8 losses. Even staying perfect at home would give us 7 losses resulting in a likely 5/6 seed.[/quote]
4 road losses? OK bud. Like I said, we'll see.[/quote]

We already have 1 road loss (Colorado). We likely won't be favored at asu. I can easily see two more out of roadies at OSU/UO/UW/Stanford

[RondaeShimmy]

RealTime RPI has us at #23..................a 6 seed likely bounced in the round of 32.

Miller has his work cut out for him if he is to right the ship and make a deep tourney run.

We're at #17 now. By March, we'll be, what, #10-#12? How's that a 6 seed?

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank

I'm not seeing many losses on the schedule. I guess we'll see.

Potential road losses: OSU, UO, asu, UW, and I would not be surpised to lose one at home to somebody we shouldn't......like UW

If we drop 3 road losses (say UO, UW, asu) and 1 home game that would give us 8 losses. Even staying perfect at home would give us 7 losses resulting in a likely 5/6 seed.

Pretty reasonable. Split the Oregon road series, lose at Washington because of their zone or something (maybe a let down game in the bay), ASU gets hot from 3 at home and maybe just maybe lose an inexplicable game at home to someone. But I can count the loses Miller has bad at home the last couple of years, Oregon and UCLA, so I'll say it won't happen to any of these sup par teams.

The conference won't do have any favors, there's probably 2 shoe ins to make the tournament (Arizona schools). Idk who else at this moment

With 7 loses, think it puts 4-6 seed territory

[qwertyus]

Ranked, I mean. Not RPI.

Our RPI is 23: Which is usually a good indicator of where we will be seeded.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_Men_basketball_rpi.html" target="_blank

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball ... etball-rpi" target="_blank[/quote]
I'm not seeing many losses on the schedule. I guess we'll see.[/quote]

Potential road losses: OSU, UO, asu, UW, and I would not be surpised to lose one at home to somebody we shouldn't......like UW

If we drop 3 road losses (say UO, UW, asu) and 1 home game that would give us 8 losses. Even staying perfect at home would give us 7 losses resulting in a likely 5/6 seed.[/quote]
4 road losses? OK bud. Like I said, we'll see.[/quote]

We already have 1 road loss (Colorado). We likely won't be favored at asu. I can easily see two more out of roadies at OSU/UO/UW/Stanford[/quote]
I'm well aware of our record, thanks. I just don't see it. Colorado was an exceptionally poor game. But I think we grind out mostly wins. Maybe 2 more losses.

We'll see.

[RondaeShimmy]

Doesn't help that our 3 best wins, Texas A&M, Alabama, ASU have all collapsed during conference play

Smh

[Olsondogg]

What if I told you that Arizona had the best defense in the PAC 12?

[RiseAndFire]

Per the usual with Millerball, we barely outscored some scrub team in the paint 26-24, cant shoot them out of a zone, but are saved with an above average 12 fast break points (the only signs of offensive life in the game outside of Ayton's usual stuff)

Good thing you're able to out-talent the #184 ranked beavs with 9-deep worth of 4 and 5 star recruits. that's not going to work in the tournament against an 11 seed though

[qwertyus]

Per the usual with Millerball, we barely outscored some scrub team in the paint 26-24, cant shoot them out of a zone, but are saved with an above average 12 fast break points (the only signs of offensive life in the game outside of Ayton's usual stuff)

Good thing you're able to out-talent the #184 ranked beavs with 9-deep worth of 4 and 5 star recruits. that's not going to work in the tournament against an 11 seed though

Oh boy, RiseandShart is back!

You still passing that kidney stone?

[zonagrad]

Per the usual with Millerball, we barely outscored some scrub team in the paint 26-24, cant shoot them out of a zone, but are saved with an above average 12 fast break points (the only signs of offensive life in the game outside of Ayton's usual stuff)

Good thing you're able to out-talent the #184 ranked beavs with 9-deep worth of 4 and 5 star recruits. that's not going to work in the tournament against an 11 seed though

Does this mean you'll shut the fuck up until March Madness? Or will you continue to belittle Miller and Arizona as they roll to another Pac 12 title and then pull the, "See, I told you so" when Arizona bows out somewhere in March.

Nobody gives a damn what you think. Your opinion isn't respected.

[Longhorned]

*whistle*

Quoting violation!

[dmjcat]

What if I told you that Arizona had the best defense in the PAC 12?

I'd say that you are full of shit.

AZ is currently ranked #5 in scoring defense and #7 in FG% defense in the PAC12

http://pac-12.com/content/mens-basketball-statistics" target="_blank

[Longhorned]

What if I told you that Arizona had the best defense in the PAC 12?

I'd say that you are full of shit.

AZ is currently ranked #5 in scoring defense and #7 in FG% defense in the PAC12

http://pac-12.com/content/mens-basketball-statistics" target="_blank

The operative word is “had.”

[Spaceman Spiff]

What if I told you that Arizona had the best defense in the PAC 12?

I'd say that you are full of shit.

AZ is currently ranked #5 in scoring defense and #7 in FG% defense in the PAC12

http://pac-12.com/content/mens-basketball-statistics" target="_blank

We're actually much better adjusted on KenPom. Not #1, Colorado nips us, but better.

[Olsondogg]

What if I told you that Arizona had the best defense in the PAC 12?

I'd say that you are full of shit.

AZ is currently ranked #5 in scoring defense and #7 in FG% defense in the PAC12

http://pac-12.com/content/mens-basketball-statistics" target="_blank

Our Adj was top in the PAC when I posted. It’s now 66, one behind Rado at 65.

[dcZONAfan]

*whistle*

Quoting violation!

[Spaceman Spiff]

It must be a sad existence as Rise and Fire.

[Beachcat97]

Think we're gonna have a hard time advancing in March shooting the 3-ball like we did yesterday. AT, RA, BR, DS...they gotta hit better than 40% of their 3-point tries.

[Longhorned]

Think we're gonna have a hard time advancing in March shooting the 3-ball like we did yesterday. AT, RA, BR, DS...they gotta hit better than 40% of their 3-point tries.

It was poor shot selection. They took too many shots. They were contested and too early in the shot clock. OSU's zone was able to adjust to wherever the ball moved on the perimeter, and without making the attempt to penetrate into the zone defense, nobody was open for a three-pointer. But they kept shooting them anyway.

With a team like OSU where their weakness is in the backcourt, Arizona needs to counter the zone by extending their own defense and pressuring the opposing guards. It forces turnovers, opens the court, and wears down the opponent. After Arizona made that adjustment and finally took that 29-26 lead after Rawle's show stopping reverse slam on the fast break, Arizona had success getting the ball to Ayton, which in turn got PJC, Trier, and Alkins open looks from 3. Those are the shots Arizona should be taken. And it starts with how they defend.

[Beachcat97]

With a team like OSU where their weakness is in the backcourt, Arizona needs to counter the zone by extending their own defense and pressuring the opposing guards. It forces turnovers, opens the court, and wears down the opponent. After Arizona made that adjustment and finally took that 29-26 lead after Rawle's show stopping reverse slam on the fast break, Arizona had success getting the ball to Ayton, which in turn got PJC, Trier, and Alkins open looks from 3. Those are the shots Arizona should be taken. And it starts with how they defend.

Excellent break-down, LH.

I'm a big believer in "defense heals all," so I hope that this team is starting to buy in. Miller's best teams have excelled on defense, and we haven't seen that consistently from this team yet.

[Longhorned]

With a team like OSU where their weakness is in the backcourt, Arizona needs to counter the zone by extending their own defense and pressuring the opposing guards. It forces turnovers, opens the court, and wears down the opponent. After Arizona made that adjustment and finally took that 29-26 lead after Rawle's show stopping reverse slam on the fast break, Arizona had success getting the ball to Ayton, which in turn got PJC, Trier, and Alkins open looks from 3. Those are the shots Arizona should be taken. And it starts with how they defend.

Excellent break-down, LH.

I'm a big believer in "defense heals all," so I hope that this team is starting to buy in. Miller's best teams have excelled on defense, and we haven't seen that consistently from this team yet.

To me, it's about varying up the defense, which is something Miller supposedly doesn't do, but actually has done the past two games. Unfortunately, Arizona was too deep in the hole against Colorado when they switched it up.

If Arizona is defending a team with really good guards, the pack-line will (hopefully) prevent guard penetration. Conversely, if Arizona tries to extend their defense and trap like they did last night, good guards will take the open path to the rim.

But Arizona is unlikely to face a combination of strong guard play and zone defense. That's because teams with strong guards tend toward man-to-man, and for good reason. Against zone-dominant opponents, or opponents who become zone-dominant only against Arizona (like Colorado, for example), Arizona is starting to press and force turnovers instead of hunkering down into its pack-line and then having to face a set zone on the make or miss.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Think we're gonna have a hard time advancing in March shooting the 3-ball like we did yesterday. AT, RA, BR, DS...they gotta hit better than 40% of their 3-point tries.

It was poor shot selection. They took too many shots. They were contested and too early in the shot clock. OSU's zone was able to adjust to wherever the ball moved on the perimeter, and without making the attempt to penetrate into the zone defense, nobody was open for a three-pointer. But they kept shooting them anyway.

With a team like OSU where their weakness is in the backcourt, Arizona needs to counter the zone by extending their own defense and pressuring the opposing guards. It forces turnovers, opens the court, and wears down the opponent. After Arizona made that adjustment and finally took that 29-26 lead after Rawle's show stopping reverse slam on the fast break, Arizona had success getting the ball to Ayton, which in turn got PJC, Trier, and Alkins open looks from 3. Those are the shots Arizona should be taken. And it starts with how they defend.

One thing this team does too much of is taking early shot clock shots that you can get at any point. You can shoot a semi-contested three at any point in the shot clock. There's no reason to fire it up with 25 seconds left on the shot clock.

I remember coaches screaming that at me. You can get that shot any time. Why now? See if you can get something better first, because YOU CAN GET THAT ****ING SHOT ANY TIME.

[Beachcat97]

But Arizona is unlikely to face a combination of strong guard play and zone defense. That's because teams with strong guards tend toward man-to-man, and for good reason. Against zone-dominant opponents, or opponents who become zone-dominant only against Arizona (like Colorado, for example), Arizona is starting to press and force turnovers instead of hunkering down into its pack-line and then having to face a set zone on the make or miss.

I haven't watched UW yet, but they're the first zone team that comes to mind. The Huskies are quietly having a solid season. 13-4, 3-1 in Pac. They won at KU. They're arguably right behind UCLA for the fourth tourney bid for the Pac. And if ASU continues to sputter, UW could sneak in to the top three in the league. Anyway, they play 40 minutes of zone, and they do have good guards (Nowell, Crisp). I expect that game will challenge us.

[84Cat]

I agree Spiff, maybe we need Lute's 3 pass rule.

[Longhorned]

But Arizona is unlikely to face a combination of strong guard play and zone defense. That's because teams with strong guards tend toward man-to-man, and for good reason. Against zone-dominant opponents, or opponents who become zone-dominant only against Arizona (like Colorado, for example), Arizona is starting to press and force turnovers instead of hunkering down into its pack-line and then having to face a set zone on the make or miss.

I haven't watched UW yet, but they're the first zone team that comes to mind. The Huskies are quietly having a solid season. 13-4, 3-1 in Pac. They won at KU. They're arguably right behind UCLA for the fourth tourney bid for the Pac. And if ASU continues to sputter, UW could sneak in to the top three in the league. Anyway, they play 40 minutes of zone, and they do have good guards (Nowell, Crisp). I expect that game will challenge us.

It's basically Syracuse, and therefore the great exception to everything, which is why Syracuse sometimes kills it in the tourney. But Washington plays a bunch of guards and they don't have size outside Timmins, who isn't an impact player for them. So Arizona will have a size advantage that they don't really have so much of against Oregon State.

Washington was too quick for KU, and KU isn't big enough to offset that Washington advantage.

[Beachcat97]

Feel like it's hard to say who the best team in the Pac is. UCLA is sitting at 4-1 and seem to have figured some things out, but I'm not sure I trust them to go into Oregon or AZ or even though the Mountain zone and get road wins. ASU now appears vulnerable, but everyone underestimates those guards at their peril. AZ has the best roster in the league, clearly, but the chemistry has been a challenge, and Sean has made no secret of this frustrations. Stanford is starting to click. I could see the top 5 ending up a few different ways. Strange season.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I agree Spiff, maybe we need Lute's 3 pass rule.

It's always better as a guideline instead of a rule, IMO. If Salim Stoudamire had it rolling, dribbled downcourt and was left wide open from 3, he needs to shoot it regardless of how many passes are made.

I use Salim because certain guys are so good they have perpetual green lights. Any shot that Steph Curry takes that is inside 40 feet and doesn't get blocked is a good shot. We don't have any perpetual green light guys.

We have guys who benefit from patience. Zo can get a stepback 3 at any point in time. If it's totally there, you're open and in rhythm, pull it. If it's the kind of shot we can get out of under 10 seconds on the clock offense, be patient and see if we can't get Ayton a dunk.

[rgdeuce]

Think we're gonna have a hard time advancing in March shooting the 3-ball like we did yesterday. AT, RA, BR, DS...they gotta hit better than 40% of their 3-point tries.

It was poor shot selection. They took too many shots. They were contested and too early in the shot clock. OSU's zone was able to adjust to wherever the ball moved on the perimeter, and without making the attempt to penetrate into the zone defense, nobody was open for a three-pointer. But they kept shooting them anyway.

With a team like OSU where their weakness is in the backcourt, Arizona needs to counter the zone by extending their own defense and pressuring the opposing guards. It forces turnovers, opens the court, and wears down the opponent. After Arizona made that adjustment and finally took that 29-26 lead after Rawle's show stopping reverse slam on the fast break, Arizona had success getting the ball to Ayton, which in turn got PJC, Trier, and Alkins open looks from 3. Those are the shots Arizona should be taken. And it starts with how they defend.

One thing this team does too much of is taking early shot clock shots that you can get at any point. You can shoot a semi-contested three at any point in the shot clock. There's no reason to fire it up with 25 seconds left on the shot clock.

I remember coaches screaming that at me. You can get that shot any time. Why now? See if you can get something better first, because YOU CAN GET THAT ****ING SHOT ANY TIME.

Too often we are either violating that rule, or going through the motions for 25 seconds and having to scramble to get a halfway decent look as the shot clock is expiring. The off ball movement last night was some of the worst we have seen this year, if not the worst.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Think we're gonna have a hard time advancing in March shooting the 3-ball like we did yesterday. AT, RA, BR, DS...they gotta hit better than 40% of their 3-point tries.

It was poor shot selection. They took too many shots. They were contested and too early in the shot clock. OSU's zone was able to adjust to wherever the ball moved on the perimeter, and without making the attempt to penetrate into the zone defense, nobody was open for a three-pointer. But they kept shooting them anyway.

With a team like OSU where their weakness is in the backcourt, Arizona needs to counter the zone by extending their own defense and pressuring the opposing guards. It forces turnovers, opens the court, and wears down the opponent. After Arizona made that adjustment and finally took that 29-26 lead after Rawle's show stopping reverse slam on the fast break, Arizona had success getting the ball to Ayton, which in turn got PJC, Trier, and Alkins open looks from 3. Those are the shots Arizona should be taken. And it starts with how they defend.

One thing this team does too much of is taking early shot clock shots that you can get at any point. You can shoot a semi-contested three at any point in the shot clock. There's no reason to fire it up with 25 seconds left on the shot clock.

I remember coaches screaming that at me. You can get that shot any time. Why now? See if you can get something better first, because YOU CAN GET THAT ****ING SHOT ANY TIME.

Too often we are either violating that rule, or going through the motions for 25 seconds and having to scramble to get a halfway decent look as the shot clock is expiring. The off ball movement last night was some of the worst we have seen this year, if not the worst.

Yeah, our secondary break action has been spotty. The secondary break is how you generate good shots midclock and we seem to have a bad balance of either quick ones or trying to create with a dwindling clock.

It's an area I think PJC's lack of creation hurts. Having a pg that could get a pass after the initial break fails and immediately get into the lane would be a huge balancing asset. He doesn't ever do that.

[CatHoops]

The guards have nowhere to go vs the zone when two bigs are in the paint. Our defense needs to keep improving cause that will be our best offense vs the Zone defense.

[Spaceman Spiff]

The guards have nowhere to go vs the zone when two bigs are in the paint. Our defense needs to keep improving cause that will be our best offense vs the Zone defense.

Our zone offense seems to be more stationary by utilizing Ayton's length in the high post. In past years, we created a lot of high post action with wings and kept posts either flatter or for ball screens on our pg.

Example of flatter action with wings at hp:

https://youtu.be/0gaMJxboBb0" target="_blank

Example of ball screen to create penetration with pass:

https://youtu.be/nUQ4Qj0s4B8" target="_blank

This year, Ayton is very good in the high post, but the tradeoff has been that he sits there a lot and we wind up with a post in high post and post in low post.

[CatHoops]

Last year lauri was more perimeter though and we had only ristic in the middle. This year ayton and ristic are both inside. I just think it's going to take time before we get any rhythm and figure out spacing vs the zone

[CatHoops]

The Xavier game we ran the same offense vs their zone with lauri doing what ayton is this year and it was lauris worse game easily.

[qwertyus]

Feel like it's hard to say who the best team in the Pac is. UCLA is sitting at 4-1 and seem to have figured some things out, but I'm not sure I trust them to go into Oregon or AZ or even though the Mountain zone and get road wins. ASU now appears vulnerable, but everyone underestimates those guards at their peril. AZ has the best roster in the league, clearly, but the chemistry has been a challenge, and Sean has made no secret of this frustrations. Stanford is starting to click. I could see the top 5 ending up a few different ways. Strange season.

I think we need to reexamine the conference a little bit. A terrible OOC performance has perhaps overshadowed what are mostly solid teams.

WSU and Cal are the doormats of the conference.

Arizona is at the top, with a lot of talent (doesn't mean we can't get knocked off, but we're on top at the moment).

But after that?

Utah and Oregon are really well-coached.
Stanford always seems to have smart, meaty guys on the inside (think Reid Travis now, Josh Heustis, Dwight Powell from a couple years ago) who pose problems.
ASU has very good slashing/shooting guards.
Colorado has altitude, I guess, and a pretty good PG.
OrSt. looks like they're at least decent, but probably bringing up the rear of this group.
UCLA has had a lot of problems, but are 4-1 despite depth issues.
Speaking of which, USC has some solid, experienced talent (MacLaughlin and Metu), yet they've already got 2 losses, and I think the grind of the season will wear them down.
UW has a good OOC win against Kansas, and if they're hitting 3's, they're a team full of athletic guards that can cause problems.

I think there's a whole lot of "solid" teams in the PAC, but thankfully, none as talented, so we'll win most of them, home or away.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Last year lauri was more perimeter though and we had only ristic in the middle. This year ayton and ristic are both inside. I just think it's going to take time before we get any rhythm and figure out spacing vs the zone

It doesn't necessarily make sense, but Ayton is better than Lauri vs zone. We've been fine vs zone until last night, and even then, the second half, we got cooking.

[CatHoops]

Ya I don't see us losing 7 or 8 like some in here.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Ya I don't see us losing 7 or 8 like some in here.

I'm not on the ledge yet. We've played one decent/good half and one bad half in each of our last three games. It's obviously less than ideal, but it's not emergency time either.

It's time to be consistent and not drop fat turds for half the game. Things like that can change.

[FreeSpiritCat]

I am beginning to believe the ceiling for the team is the sweet 16. I just don't see good flow on a consistent basis. A lot of it has to do with PG play. It just seems like the players don't understand the subtleties of the game, and a lack of skills they should have already learned. Trying to analyze this maybe there is just too many alpha players and a lack of role players to create balance. Maybe too many young players. Cohesiveness is really a problem. Hopefully this will change but right now my expectations are reduced.

[NYCat]

I am beginning to believe the ceiling for the team is the sweet 16. I just don't see good flow on a consistent basis. A lot of it has to do with PG play. It just seems like the players don't understand the subtleties of the game, and a lack of skills they should have already learned. Trying to analyze this maybe there is just too many alpha players and a lack of role players to create balance. Maybe too many young players. Cohesiveness is really a problem. Hopefully this will change but right now my expectations are reduced.

Couple of things.

• * This is a 3 man team.
  
  * No bench (freshman aren't ready or aren't as talented)
  
  * Low iq team

The last team I've seen that was a 3 man team was the Wise, Budinger, Hill team that lost in the S16 to 'Ville. Obviously now Arizona has a waaaaaaaaay better coach and more talent overall, thus will win more games. But it's still a 3 man team with no bench support. If 2/3 of Trier, Alkins, Ayton don't shown up or are ice cold or don't give any effort or Ayton gets in foul trouble they could lose to just about anyone. Of course if all 3 get hot they could go all way.

But this team makes so much dumb mistakes and commits bad turnovers, can't believe the low Iq of this team.

[Frybry02]

How good would this team be if everyone played as hard Pinder every time they stepped on the court?