2018-2019 Arizona Basketball

[cats101]

I haven't seen anything from Doutrive that is a glaring issue on defense

I can't say I agree. Every time he has been in it is all I watch for and it is pretty obvious to me why he doesn't play.

That's hilarious because I do the same with Barcello and I cant understand why he plays.

Me as well. 3's aren't falling, then what's the point?

[MC1983]

Iowa St win looking good already. They are destroying Illinois.

[dovecanyoncat]

I haven't seen anything from Doutrive that is a glaring issue on defense

I can't say I agree. Every time he has been in it is all I watch for and it is pretty obvious to me why he doesn't play.

That's hilarious because I do the same with Barcello and I cant understand why he plays.

Me as well. 3's aren't falling, then what's the point?

It's blasphemous, but if he wants PT Barcello should transfer to ASU and play Hurley's game.

[ByJoveByJingle]

It’s hard for me to understand how people who haven’t watched the team play all year could have had opinions about the team . . . and those opinions changed now that you saw the team play for the first time against a power conference team? This seems like overreaction in both directions. Is the team a step down from recent Arizona teams? Obviously! We aren’t ranked and are predicted by many to not even make the tournament. I’m not sure if that could be said about any Miller team since year one.

On the other hand . . .

1) Do you believe Miller is a good coach? If he is, the team will improve as the season progresses. Unlike say an Alford led UCLA team.

2) 60% of the starting lineup just competitively stepped on McKale’s floor for the first time ever 3 weeks ago. Another 20% has been in cold storage for a year. Common sense would say team cohesion and execution will improve drastically over the course of the year. Unless you believe the opposite of 1).

3) As has been pointed out before, the team does have serious talent as rated by recruiting services. Maybe half a step down from recent dominant Arizona teams, but talent the rest of the conference would kill for outside of UCLA and Oregon and maybe USC. Again if you believe 1) and 2) then this talent will manifest itself in results over the course of the season.

I don’t know how it’s going to play out, anything could happen. But the materials are there for a team to make it to at least the round of 32 in the ncaa tournament. And god does the PAC 12 suck this year . . . so I wouldn’t be shocked to see either a regular season or tourney championship. But the margin for error is razor thin. The team will not excel if Randolph does not develop consistency and if Williams doesn’t improve against better competition. Because we can not expect Coleman to repeat that performance on a regular basis.

[azgreg]

[UAEebs86]

ASU also has no regular season or PAC-10/PAC-12 tournament championships in basketball.

And they give us shit for no Rose Bowl. At least we have a co-championship in football.

[Longhorned]

It’s hard for me to understand how people who haven’t watched the team play all year could have had opinions about the team . . . and those opinions changed now that you saw the team play for the first time against a power conference team? This seems like overreaction in both directions. Is the team a step down from recent Arizona teams? Obviously! We aren’t ranked and are predicted by many to not even make the tournament. I’m not sure if that could be said about any Miller team since year one.

On the other hand . . .

1) Do you believe Miller is a good coach? If he is, the team will improve as the season progresses. Unlike say an Alford led UCLA team.

2) 60% of the starting lineup just competitively stepped on McKale’s floor for the first time ever 3 weeks ago. Another 20% has been in cold storage for a year. Common sense would say team cohesion and execution will improve drastically over the course of the year. Unless you believe the opposite of 1).

3) As has been pointed out before, the team does have serious talent as rated by recruiting services. Maybe half a step down from recent dominant Arizona teams, but talent the rest of the conference would kill for outside of UCLA and Oregon and maybe USC. Again if you believe 1) and 2) then this talent will manifest itself in results over the course of the season.

I don’t know how it’s going to play out, anything could happen. But the materials are there for a team to make it to at least the round of 32 in the ncaa tournament. And god does the PAC 12 suck this year . . . so I wouldn’t be shocked to see either a regular season or tourney championship. But the margin for error is razor thin. The team will not excel if Randolph does not develop consistency and if Williams doesn’t improve against better competition. Because we can not expect Coleman to repeat that performance on a regular basis.

This is where I've been and where I am, with the additional hope that Doutrive will earn minutes and contribute. And with the exception that I indeed expect Coleman to repeat that performance every game, but with two to three shovel scoop shots instead of just one. Omaha!

[PieceOfMeat]

I'm getting a bad feeling about the zags game

[Merkin]

ASU also has no regular season or PAC-10/PAC-12 tournament championships in basketball.

And they give us shit for no Rose Bowl. At least we have a co-championship in football.

No Final Fours, EVER!

The gap is closing! (if anyone remembers that reference)

[cats101]

ASU also has no regular season or PAC-10/PAC-12 tournament championships in basketball.

And they give us shit for no Rose Bowl. At least we have a co-championship in football.

No Final Fours, EVER!

The gap is closing! (if anyone remembers that reference)

Anyone who was a fan around the Rob Evans era will get that reference! as fans we've witnessed this from up North with each new coach (who can forget their #3 ranking from last year). The asu fans I got into an argument with back in the day claimed it was easier to make a Rose bowl vs a final four

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm getting a bad feeling about the zags game

We're almost definitely gonna lose. Good teams force growth.

[Postmaster]

Doutrive must be horrible on defense is he couldn’t get in tonight

[PieceOfMeat]

Doutrive must be horrible on defense is he couldn’t get in tonight

Doutrive must have ran over miller's foot with a golfcart and spat on him as he drove off if he couldn't get in tonight.

[Beachcat97]

We have no size off the bench. In games when our threes aren't falling, we're gonna struggle.

I'm proud of how they played tonight. I really thought we were gonna extend that lead and steal this one. Randolph and Williams need to attack the rim more, and launch 30 footers less. Luther was invisible out there tonight.

Still an opportunity for a big win vs. Auburn tomorrow.

[cats101]

We have no size off the bench. In games when our threes aren't falling, we're gonna struggle.

I'm proud of how they played tonight. I really thought we were gonna extend that lead and steal this one. Randolph and Williams need to attack the rim more, and launch 30 footers less. Luther was invisible out there tonight.

Still an opportunity for a big win vs. Auburn tomorrow.

I thought the Jeter 3 second call was going to be the turning point and it was. This team just doesn't have the size or talent inside to compete with big teams. This is why matchups in March matters, because it's true.

[CalStateTempe]

Doutrive must be horrible on defense is he couldn’t get in tonight

Doutrive must have ran over miller's foot with a golfcart and spat on him as he drove off if he couldn't get in tonight.

He’s gonna transfer and then kill it wherever he goes

[SunnyAZ]

If Smith and Akot were even as good as they were last year that would really help. Hopefully Doutrive gets minutes tomorrow and he eventually cleans up his defensive mishaps because we need him to be good this year.

[UAEebs86]

Doutrive must be horrible on defense is he couldn’t get in tonight

Doutrive must have ran over miller's foot with a golfcart and spat on him as he drove off if he couldn't get in tonight.

He’s gonna transfer and then kill it wherever he goes

Randolph didn't play much last year and stayed. I think it will be the same with DD.

[azcat49]

Our big need to score. Not sure of the totsls but the 3 of them couldn't of had 5 buckets between them. Lee was active and had a bunch of FT'S but just didn't have a paint presence scoring wise tonight

[CalStateTempe]

Doutrive must be horrible on defense is he couldn’t get in tonight

Doutrive must have ran over miller's foot with a golfcart and spat on him as he drove off if he couldn't get in tonight.

He’s gonna transfer and then kill it wherever he goes

Randolph didn't play much last year and stayed. I think it will be the same with DD.

I hope so, I really like what he brings on offense.

[ChooChooCat]

Doutrive must be horrible on defense is he couldn’t get in tonight

Doutrive must have ran over miller's foot with a golfcart and spat on him as he drove off if he couldn't get in tonight.

He’s gonna transfer and then kill it wherever he goes

Randolph didn't play much last year and stayed. I think it will be the same with DD.

Randolph didn't have to worry about the incoming guards taking his minutes like Doutrive does. With that said play Doutrive now. You have zero excuse not to.

[prh]

At this moment, Dylan has more turnovers (6) than FGM (5) so far this year

[Beachcat97]

Smith and Akot are virtually useless on offense. Like, anytime either of them gets the ball, I've pretty much conceded possession to the other team.

[RawleArenas]

I hate to say this being a diehard, but I think Miller whiffed on Smith. He doesn't seem to have that dog in him or the iq to give the boost that we need. He's nothing like TJ or Kadeem. Just being a body on the court doesn't work for Arizona basketball. Miller can't hide you, everybody expects greatness and effort out of our teams. If you put Trier or Coleman's heart into Akot's body, they would be talking about him being a first rounder minimum, maybe even lottery. Hopefully Miller will be able to get these guys to step up.

[AZCatGirl]

If we played like we did in the first half tonight we can win this shitty ass conference. Will we consistently? Hard to say, but I'm feeling a lot better about this team after tonight.

[Alieberman]

Our starting 5 are good enough.

But right now Ira Lee is the only person on our bench who is positively contributing.

We NEED Akot and Smith to really pick up their games if we want any chance to really compete at a high level. Especially Akot... he needs a lightswitch to go off and figure it out before we start conference play.

[dcZONAfan]

At this moment, Dylan has more turnovers (6) than FGM (5) so far this year

If I was Sean, this is what I would say to Dylan:
"If you are open at the three point line when you catch it, shoot it. If you aren't, and you dribble, even once, you will not play again this game, and maybe the next one too."

What's hilariously sad is that even this approach will lead to a ton of turnovers because I don't think I've seen the kid make a single pass to a teammate's chest. EVERY one forces the catcher to move to catch it.

I would hate to see Dylan pitch or play quarterback

[PieceOfMeat]

auburn game thread is up.
late start time

[Spaceman Spiff]

If we played like we did in the first half tonight we can win this shitty ass conference. Will we consistently? Hard to say, but I'm feeling a lot better about this team after tonight.

We gassed. Foul trouble had something to do with it, because the worst was when Jeter sat.

I hope last night was a good learning experience and we come out strong vs Auburn. We're still banking on a lot of young guys to get it done and the continuing growth of people like Williams, Lee, Randolph and Akot is going to define how this seasom goes.

[DrWildcat]

Right now I don't think any bench player should be singled out for not contributing because for the most part they have all been bad. Doutrive has to be terrible in practice if he can't get on the floor over the other guys.

[dmjcat]

If we learned anything last night its that we absolutely have to keep Chase Jeter on the floor and out of foul trouble. We have ZERO size and no post defensive presence without him. As many fouls as were called last night, that will pale in comparison to how many fouls will get called once PAC12 play begins. I think that Miller needs to cease the hard hedges on ball screens.....at least in the case of Jeter. We can't afford to lose Chase because of some cheap brush foul 30 feet from the basket.

I also agree with the numerous observations regarding our bench. I think its imperative Miller give Doutrive a shot at the floor before PAC12 play starts. We have ZERO margin for error this year if we hope to sniff the NCAA tournament. We need some sort of production off the bench and we need it now.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Right now I don't think any bench player should be singled out for not contributing because for the most part they have all been bad. Doutrive has to be terrible in practice if he can't get on the floor over the other guys.

My thoughts on the guys.

Smith can contribute on the boards and D, but he can't throw a rock in the ocean right now. He won't really be a contributor until that changes.

I like Akot and think he's been a good defensive weapon for us. Offensively, I don't think he's figured it out.

Barcello still is just out there. His taking a charge last night was one of the first times I've seen him make a play.

Lee has been solid. He still makes some dumb plays, like getting cheap fouls when the refs are calling it tight. I'd like to see him rebound at a higher rate, but he's our best two way bench player.

[Beachcat97]

I can’t remember the last time we didn’t really have a big time dunker on the roster. I know BR can get up and maybe BW. But I’m talking about guys like Rawle, AG, Ayton, sometimes Trier. Or going further back, Iggy, Hassan, and RJ. These guys are major threats in the open court, and we can also run back screen oop plays for them. Missing this element doesn’t mean we can’t win games, but I’ve gotten so used to highlight reel dunks over the years. I hope it comes back next season.

[Merkin]

Lee has been solid. He still makes some dumb plays, like getting cheap fouls when the refs are calling it tight. I'd like to see him rebound at a higher rate, but he's our best two way bench player.

Lee had 7 points, which is more than Jeter (3) and Luther(0) which is really unacceptable for the starting bigs.

With such an awful bench outside of Lee, I wouldn't mind if Lee started over Luther, and have Luther come in with the 2nd team to help calm them down.

And seriously, if he is our best 3 point shooter (outside of practice) call some plays for Luther.

I do realize the Cats were gassed yesterday, but when you have 2-3 fouls on pretty much every Gonzaga player, you keep attacking the basket and stop chucking up 3s. Yes, the 3 UA guards has no legs 2nd half, and it's just easier to get to the 3 point line and chuck.

[DrWildcat]

Lee has been solid. He still makes some dumb plays, like getting cheap fouls when the refs are calling it tight. I'd like to see him rebound at a higher rate, but he's our best two way bench player.

Lee had 7 points, which is more than Jeter (3) and Luther(0) which is really unacceptable for the starting bigs.

With such an awful bench outside of Lee, I wouldn't mind if Lee started over Luther, and have Luther come in with the 2nd team to help calm them down.

And seriously, if he is our best 3 point shooter (outside of practice) call some plays for Luther.

I do realize the Cats were gassed yesterday, but when you have 2-3 fouls on pretty much every Gonzaga player, you keep attacking the basket and stop chucking up 3s. Yes, the 3 UA guards has no legs 2nd half, and it's just easier to get to the 3 point line and chuck.

If Lee started, I think he would foul out of every game.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Lee has been solid. He still makes some dumb plays, like getting cheap fouls when the refs are calling it tight. I'd like to see him rebound at a higher rate, but he's our best two way bench player.

Lee had 7 points, which is more than Jeter (3) and Luther(0) which is really unacceptable for the starting bigs.

With such an awful bench outside of Lee, I wouldn't mind if Lee started over Luther, and have Luther come in with the 2nd team to help calm them down.

And seriously, if he is our best 3 point shooter (outside of practice) call some plays for Luther.

I do realize the Cats were gassed yesterday, but when you have 2-3 fouls on pretty much every Gonzaga player, you keep attacking the basket and stop chucking up 3s. Yes, the 3 UA guards has no legs 2nd half, and it's just easier to get to the 3 point line and chuck.

Luther may be our best shooter, but I don't think you can run plays for him to get 3's. He doesn't shoot off the dribble or off screens. He gets his looks through pick and pop and ball rotation.

The guys who can dribble into a 3 or run off a screen, you can create looks for them. The pick and pop guys, the D can always just modify their rotation to take them away.

Edit: and yeah, our offense flatlined when we stopped attacking the rim. We settled a lot and they weren't going down. Coleman, Williams and Randolph created off the bounce in that first half. They stopped doing that, our 3's didn't fall and Zaga's 3's started to fall. That triggered the 30 point swing in 17 minutes.

[Beachcat97]

I do realize the Cats were gassed yesterday, but when you have 2-3 fouls on pretty much every Gonzaga player, you keep attacking the basket and stop chucking up 3s. Yes, the 3 UA guards has no legs 2nd half, and it's just easier to get to the 3 point line and chuck.

Agree completely. I didn’t understand why our guys stopped attacking. It’s what got us a 13 point lead.

[ByJoveByJingle]

How about a reshuffle on the best/most important players on the team:

1) Coleman
2)
3)
4)
5)
6) Jeter (on account of defense and rebounding)
7) Randolph (should be one, but is too capricious in his play)
8) Williams
9)
10)
11) Luther
12) Lee
13)
14)
.
.
.
.
52) Barcello/Smith/Akot


Love the heart and effort of the team. Really disappointed in the lack of development of certain players.

[phxcat23]

I do realize the Cats were gassed yesterday, but when you have 2-3 fouls on pretty much every Gonzaga player, you keep attacking the basket and stop chucking up 3s. Yes, the 3 UA guards has no legs 2nd half, and it's just easier to get to the 3 point line and chuck.

Agree completely. I didn’t understand why our guys stopped attacking. It’s what got us a 13 point lead.

First thing I thought of afterward. They were in foul trouble, and we should have kept attacking them so they had to play conservative. Unfortunately without a bench that's contributing and Jeter fouling out, it wore us down.

[EVCat]

If we learned anything last night its that we absolutely have to keep Chase Jeter on the floor and out of foul trouble. We have ZERO size and no post defensive presence without him. As many fouls as were called last night, that will pale in comparison to how many fouls will get called once PAC12 play begins. I think that Miller needs to cease the hard hedges on ball screens.....at least in the case of Jeter. We can't afford to lose Chase because of some cheap brush foul 30 feet from the basket.

Agree on needing Jeter on the floor badly. Though the air was leaking out of the balloon before the quick foul out of Jeter, it got stomped on shortly thereafter.

Seemed Luther had a big issue with the ball screens...none of the calls against him in Maui for this (3 or 4 now) were really "Point of Emphasis" calls, either. They were all pretty clear.

We have to hedge...we can't let guards turn the corner. It can be done without committing fouls.

Dylan Smith scares me every time I see the ball go to him. I want him to succeed. The moment a couple of games ago when he was mobbed by teammates was awesome to see. But the ball in his hands is causing me to wince...like, I have a facial tic now every time he catches the ball.

Brandon Randolph has to figure out how to be more consistent. He has an amazing drive to finish, or hits a long three, then disappears. We need him to take the ball to the basket more...attacking, then 3's off penetration. Far too many pull up 3's, including from Coleman (but he made them, so, what can anyone say?)

Luther looked lost last night. Tired after missing last season with a back-to-back and long travel?

[YoDeFoe]

I can’t remember the last time we didn’t really have a big time dunker on the roster. I know BR can get up and maybe BW. But I’m talking about guys like Rawle, AG, Ayton, sometimes Trier. Or going further back, Iggy, Hassan, and RJ. These guys are major threats in the open court, and we can also run back screen oop plays for them. Missing this element doesn’t mean we can’t win games, but I’ve gotten so used to highlight reel dunks over the years. I hope it comes back next season.

It's shocking how "below the rim" we play. There's not a player on the team that I expect to dunk it rather than lay it in.

I'd like to see us work on the lob a lot more - especially to Lee. He can get up and finish through contact, and its a good way to keep him involved on offense.

[rgdeuce]

This team is going to have to ride most of their starters for 30+ mpg. Really thought we would be getting more from this bench.

[RiseAndFire]

Few did that thing good coaches do - he prepared his team to play more than one single defense, and adjusted the defense based on his actual personnel. On the filpside Miller plays one defense only suitable for a mythical team of 5 Aaron Gordons and 5 Rondaes, and if that doesn't work then well you're just not trying hard enough or executing hard enough.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Few did that thing good coaches do - he prepared his team to play more than one single defense, and adjusted the defense based on his actual personnel. On the filpside Miller plays one defense only suitable for a mythical team of 5 Aaron Gordons and 5 Rondaes, and if that doesn't work then well you're just not trying hard enough or executing hard enough.

Hey, our first loss and look who shows up.for the first time this year.

Few had a good gameplan. He emphasized off ball pressure, which had a lot to do with wearing us down. Ripping Miller for his plan, though...how do you scheme around less size, talent and depth?

[Beachcat97]

Gonzaga will be very tough when they get Tillie back. He's a baller.

I do think Duke wins by double-digits tonight, though. Zags aren't athletic enough to hang with that team. They'd have to shoot the lights out to stay in the game.

[TucsonClip]

Well, I will say I had a ton of possessions logged, on both ends of the floor, but im going to scrap that breakdown. The issues were readily apparent all night, so ill simplify things a bit.

First of all, our offense is lacking. The motion, while I had seen a few new wrinkles, looked like the same old Miller offense. The same old sets, the unimaginative ball screen actions, ect. I know that sounds negative, but I don’t think Miller was willing to open up much outside of the regular, vanilla box.

Why?

Again, our offense is lacking. Luther really hasn’t brought much to the table on offense, IMO. At least the last two days. That needs to change. Jeter is our only post threat, and his threat level to the defense isn’t very high.

The bench… Well there is no scoring at all there.

That leaves a second year slasher/shooter who has a long way to go offensively unless he has some space. A highly talented freshman guard still learning how to play on the ball against pressure defense (but that NBA-level split on the ball screen trap at 15:47 2H was beautiful and why I want to see him with the ball more), switching defenses, and multiple ball screen coverages, let alone attacing in regular high ball screens sets. Finally, a tiny, but fiery, transfer PG who apparently can light up the soft rims of Maui, and is more than comfortable finding his own shot on a team who actually really needs him to do so.

So what happened?

The obvious. While things looked great for us nearly the entire first half, you could see the red lights flashing if you were looking in the right places.

Our transition and half-court defense was hit or miss early in the first half. Williams, Lee, Williams again, Smith, Luther, Jeter, all had mental breakdowns. A few miscommunications in transition are expected, and BWill definitely was confused a few times. However, guys like Lee and even Smith (he was the worst player on the floor, and we had a few of them) are still making silly mistakes in transition. This has been a problem for Lee since he arrived, and it actually got worse in the half court, IMO. He routinely gets beat back in transition, but also has a hard time picking up the switches in a scrambling half court defense. Not trying to bring the guy down, because its really hard to do (x-outs; when Luther picks up an open shooter and Lee must recover off the PNR back to Luther’s man to balance the rotation), but when he is a key figure in our rotation, especially tonight, he needs to get up to speed here.

The paragraph above was highlighted and exposed by Gonzaga in the second half, especially the last eight minutes or so. Granted, the guys were shell shocked, and Gonzaga was on fire. However, Few adjusted his own ball screen coverage, began switching instead of showing, and it completely screwed up our only semblance of offense.

The switches kept Coleman, Williams and Randolph from turning the corner and finding space driving into the lane. This is where Randolph, especially, needs development. We can all see him settling for those iso attacks, but he isn’t Trier. Randolph is at his best catching kick outs, attacking on the move, flying down the floor in transition, and thus… playing in space. He struggles driving into congested lanes, against physical contact, and squaring up against a close out.
Because of this change in coverages, Gonzaga got stops. The stops led to pushes ahead and fast breaks, and all those led to some terrible defensive breakdowns and open threes.

All that said, nobody should be dejected by this result. We played about as well as I thought we could have this early in the season against a very good team. Coleman was a monster, which is something I love to see, but really hope we don’t continue to be forced to rely on.

The defense was pretty darn good in the first half, even with some of those silly breakdowns, as we were able to recover to patch them up, and Gonzaga simply was unable to take advantage of a few of those mishaps.

Miller has these guys playing hard, they can go through periods where the ball is whipping around and the offense creates the shots we need it to, and the defense has looked far better than I could have imagined, considering the makeup of the roster. But… This is going to be a frustrating season; but for some reason feels like a breath of fresh air.

[Merkin]

^ great stuff Clip.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Good post, Clip.

I wonder if the offense isn't also influenced by new players. It's hard to get too adventurous with guys who are learning to play together.

You're right about Coleman, Williams and Randolph being our only creators. When things got shaky, Miller just put them into common situations they're comfortable with. We're just limited because Coleman and Williams burned a shitload of energy in the first and they're the only ones who can create for both themselves and others. Randolph can create, but only for himself.

I'm not sure what offense you can run to compensate for a bunch of one dimensional guys, or zero dimensional in the case of Smith, Akot and Barcello.

Defensively, yes. Lee plays hard and is athletic, but he regularly gets himself out of position. Again, this is just a developmental thing. A bunch of new guys are probably gonna screw up packline execution less than a month in. Jeter is a linchpin on D and he was limited by fouls.

[ChooChooCat]

This team should've had Bol Bol, Nassir Little, and probably Simi Shittu out there last night fwiw. We would've won by 20 regardless of Mark Few's stupid 2-3 zone BS if that was the case.

[RawleArenas]

I'm in the minority on Gonzaga. Way too many Cats fans were too willingly to concede that they were the immovable object when all evidence has pointed to the contrary. Mark Few is a great coach, and has his teams are always well prepared. But...we're Arizona, not Long Beach State. Even in our down years we have talent to do some damage. We're better than the Fighting Illini and they played a much closer game. If we overlook our deficiencies, we're still going to have problems when we get the talent that we have recruited for next year.

I think Miller is one of the finest coaches in the country, but if John Beilein coached this game, he would have had a field day with the Zags. Michigan lost three of their key players and have a lot of new faces that are not highly ranked and they have the number one defense in the country, beating Villanova by double digits at home. We showed that we can stick with the best (barring Duke), and that was without any meaningful contribution from our bench.

Akot has the size and skills to be the best player on our team, instead he is just a guy off the bench with timidity and confidence issues. If Miller has to encourage Akot to be aggressive in film sessions, then he's in big trouble. Akot has had the opportunity to play against some great NBA talent and should show a much better output than what he is giving. He has elite guard speed, length and mobility and should be able to create matchup problems.

To be honest, I am not sold on Smith. Everything about him screams low basketball IQ. I don't think he's Arizona good, but while he is here he needs to limit his offense and focus exclusively on the defensive side.

Gonzaga's decent, but they have a shaky backcourt, and will be exposed rather quickly when they run into a team that has depth and maturity. They are not Final Four material, their guard play is not good enough.