Sean Miller

[Captain Obvious]

I would trade everything Miller has done for one title. That is the only thing that matters. Miller has not even gotten to a final four. That is on him. Every other good coach has been able to reach one by now

This. 100%. FF's and titles are all that's worth discussing. Everything else is quickly forgotten and meaningless. Conference titles? Nobody Cares. Conference tourney titles? Nobody Cares. Regular season wins against cupcakes? Nobody cares. It's time, actually past time, for Miller to get results commensurate with his salary. The patience of the fanbase is growing more and more impatient. They don't want excuses; they want results.

[zonagrad]

Sean Miller nearly made a Final Four in his 2nd year at Arizona after inheriting what amounted to Nic Wise and a bunch of dudes. Chris Beard made it to the Final Four at Texas Tech in 3 years and he inherited JACK SHIT. Ben Howland made a Final Four at UCLA after inheriting a 10-19 team in his third year at UCLA.

Sure though, there's no way Arizona could hire an up and coming head coach who could lead us to a final four in his first 5 years on the job.

I swear some of you have your heads so far up your asses it's hilarious.

This is disappointing Choo. You've had some really good takes and usually are pretty balanced. On this take, you're way off the mark. In watching basketball for many years, it is very very difficult to be better than good through replacing coach ( as UCLA and Texas have learned) it is nearly impossible to be better than great. The only comparable scenario I can think of is the Bill Self/Roy Williams situation where you switch one HOF coach for another. That's an extreme outlier.

It's been five years since Duke and Kentucky have made a FF and they do not look poised to get back there anytime soon. Mainly because the old recipe does not work anymore. You can't focus exclusively on high level talent acquisition, you must have balance.

The only thing Miller hasn't achieved is collecting the hardware. However, at one time Jay Wright and Roy were in the same boat. There's too much RIcky Bobby-ish thinking in Arizona, you're either first or last. If you define the culture of Arizona only by getting FF's that culture is going to be toxic. And make no mistake, Miller has benefited from the Arizona name in his tenure, but he has also supersized and BUILT the program to where it is now.

FFS I'm not saying any hire Arizona would make will 100% achieve great achievements, but people here are acting as if it's a foregone conclusion that any guy we hire could never dream of being as good as Sean Miller within 5 years when there are countless examples of coaches who inherited far worse and were able to achieve great things within 5 years. That's my point, nothing more, nothing less.

Replacing Miller is a huge gamble. And where he’s taken us and his recruiting success and where we are now, it’s a gamble I’m not close to thinking we should consider. If Miller struggles for a couple years and is barely making the tournament, then maybe the issue can be raised. This talk is reminiscent of 1993 where some thought the ‘88 final four was an anomaly and Lute had “peaked.”

[Spaceman Spiff]

I would trade everything Miller has done for one title. That is the only thing that matters. Miller has not even gotten to a final four. That is on him. Every other good coach has been able to reach one by now

This. 100%. FF's and titles are all that's worth discussing. Everything else is quickly forgotten and meaningless. Conference titles? Nobody Cares. Conference tourney titles? Nobody Cares. Regular season wins against cupcakes? Nobody cares. It's time, actually past time, for Miller to get results commensurate with his salary. The patience of the fanbase is growing more and more impatient. They don't want excuses; they want results.

When y'all crack the UConn code about how to make Final Four's and titles without program building, let me know.

[TatetheGreat]

Sure, go right ahead. I'm not interested in championships at all. I just want mediocrity and Pac-12 tourney titles.

Just for humor, please define what gaslighting means, I'm curious.

And its always a good idea to compare any coach at Arizona to first ballot HOF coaches.

This isn't mediocrity. I posted it earlier, but Miller's winning percentage is basically the same as Lute. Miller has won a higher % of Pac regular season titles than Lute.

That's what I worry about. We'll forget what mediocrity looks like, get rid of Miller and bring in a new coach who shows us what mediocrity really looks like. Real mediocrity doesn't have top five recruiting classes and complaining about a coach's "Elite Eight Ceiling."

Perfect illustration of DWWD ethos.

[Captain Obvious]

Sure, go right ahead. I'm not interested in championships at all. I just want mediocrity and Pac-12 tourney titles.

Just for humor, please define what gaslighting means, I'm curious.

And its always a good idea to compare any coach at Arizona to first ballot HOF coaches.

This isn't mediocrity. I posted it earlier, but Miller's winning percentage is basically the same as Lute. Miller has won a higher % of Pac regular season titles than Lute.

That's what I worry about. We'll forget what mediocrity looks like, get rid of Miller and bring in a new coach who shows us what mediocrity really looks like. Real mediocrity doesn't have top five recruiting classes and complaining about a coach's "Elite Eight Ceiling."

Perfect illustration of DWWD ethos.

Round peg in the square hole strategy. Ignorance is behind a great deal of imcompetence; classic Dunning Kruger Effect.

[prh]

I'm curious 2 things:

Who here would have dumped Jay Wright and Tony Bennett at their respective schools before they won a title?

Who here would brush multiple rapes under the rug in order to get a FF? (Altman)

I'm not saying we shouldn't be concerned and/or critical of Miller. Just that while we're on this subject of repeating what's not working (Wright/Bennett) or this whole concept of trading things for achievements, I'm curious.

(To save anyone the trouble of wikipedia, Bennett's title was his 10th season at UVA and Wright's was his 15th at Nova)

Based on what rosters make the final four and win national championships predominantly in this era I'd argue that Jay Wright and Tony Bennett's strategy in regards to roster management is infinitely superior to Sean Miller's strategy, which goes down deep into what every one's issue is with Sean Miller, which is that he doesn't evolve his strategy ever. He does what he does. There's an obvious ceiling to what Miller does in all facets quite frankly.

Really Choo bringing rational arguments in here? smh haha. Would you think that Nova and UVA are at an advantage for the current climate, considering that the Arizona machine is designed for that top level talent, regardless of who the coach is? While they are not that way, and have been historically forced to build their rosters with lesser recruited (compared to top 20 talent, not like they're pulling diamonds in the rough). Would we be able to pivot into that, or are we stuck being UK/Duke lite, and trying to pull multi year guys as our 3rd/4th/5th recruits each year?

[CalStateTempe]

I think Miller would be better off chasing recruits in the 20-100 category for his system FWIW.

[CalStateTempe]

Or least recruit ballers and let them play their game and man to man defense, pack line be damned.

But to get ballers and the hamstring them with a mid-major system...smdh...

[TatetheGreat]

Sean Miller nearly made a Final Four in his 2nd year at Arizona after inheriting what amounted to Nic Wise and a bunch of dudes. Chris Beard made it to the Final Four at Texas Tech in 3 years and he inherited JACK SHIT. Ben Howland made a Final Four at UCLA after inheriting a 10-19 team in his third year at UCLA.

Sure though, there's no way Arizona could hire an up and coming head coach who could lead us to a final four in his first 5 years on the job.

I swear some of you have your heads so far up your asses it's hilarious.

This is disappointing Choo. You've had some really good takes and usually are pretty balanced. On this take, you're way off the mark. In watching basketball for many years, it is very very difficult to be better than good through replacing coach ( as UCLA and Texas have learned) it is nearly impossible to be better than great. The only comparable scenario I can think of is the Bill Self/Roy Williams situation where you switch one HOF coach for another. That's an extreme outlier.

It's been five years since Duke and Kentucky have made a FF and they do not look poised to get back there anytime soon. Mainly because the old recipe does not work anymore. You can't focus exclusively on high level talent acquisition, you must have balance.

The only thing Miller hasn't achieved is collecting the hardware. However, at one time Jay Wright and Roy were in the same boat. There's too much RIcky Bobby-ish thinking in Arizona, you're either first or last. If you define the culture of Arizona only by getting FF's that culture is going to be toxic. And make no mistake, Miller has benefited from the Arizona name in his tenure, but he has also supersized and BUILT the program to where it is now.

FFS I'm not saying any hire Arizona would make will 100% achieve great achievements, but people here are acting as if it's a foregone conclusion that any guy we hire could never dream of being as good as Sean Miller within 5 years when there are countless examples of coaches who inherited far worse and were able to achieve great things within 5 years. That's my point, nothing more, nothing less.

Replacing Miller is a huge gamble. And where he’s taken us and his recruiting success and where we are now, it’s a gamble I’m not close to thinking we should consider. If Miller struggles for a couple years and is barely making the tournament, then maybe the issue can be raised. This talk is reminiscent of 1993 where some thought the ‘88 final four was an anomaly and Lute had “peaked.”

Where's the risk? The future is murky at best. And how are you measuring recruiting success? Too many guys transfer, wash out, or fail to meet/exceed expectations.

[mofo]

This isn't mediocrity. I posted it earlier, but Miller's winning percentage is basically the same as Lute. Miller has won a higher % of Pac regular season titles than Lute.

That's what I worry about. We'll forget what mediocrity looks like, get rid of Miller and bring in a new coach who shows us what mediocrity really looks like. Real mediocrity doesn't have top five recruiting classes and complaining about a coach's "Elite Eight Ceiling."

Agree with your 2nd paragraph, but Miller’s SOS vs Lute’s is night and day. Lute’s OOC was generally much more difficult and the PAC was a much better conference in Lute’s day than it has been since Miller’s been around, at least since I started watching closely in 95.

[Chicat]

I would trade everything Miller has done for one title. That is the only thing that matters. Miller has not even gotten to a final four. That is on him. Every other good coach has been able to reach one by now

This. 100%. FF's and titles are all that's worth discussing. Everything else is quickly forgotten and meaningless. Conference titles? Nobody Cares. Conference tourney titles? Nobody Cares. Regular season wins against cupcakes? Nobody cares. It's time, actually past time, for Miller to get results commensurate with his salary. The patience of the fanbase is growing more and more impatient. They don't want excuses; they want results.

I care about conference titles and tourney titles and winning regular season non-conference games. Do you really think you’re speaking for the entire fan base? Hell of an ego you got there.

Or least recruit ballers and let them play their game and man to man defense, pack line be damned.

Packline is man-to-man. It sure as shit ain’t zone.

[Spaceman Spiff]

This isn't mediocrity. I posted it earlier, but Miller's winning percentage is basically the same as Lute. Miller has won a higher % of Pac regular season titles than Lute.

That's what I worry about. We'll forget what mediocrity looks like, get rid of Miller and bring in a new coach who shows us what mediocrity really looks like. Real mediocrity doesn't have top five recruiting classes and complaining about a coach's "Elite Eight Ceiling."

Agree with your 2nd paragraph, but Miller’s SOS vs Lute’s is night and day. Lute’s OOC was generally much more difficult and the PAC was a much better conference in Lute’s day than it has been since Miller’s been around, at least since I started watching closely in 95.

It's sort of a mixed bag. I agree from 95 on, although I think some of Miller's teams have had a decent Pac.

In the 80's, Lute got a Pac that was down. During his building Arizona, UCLA was a .500 team 3 times and only won 25 games once. In our first FF year, Oregon State was #2 in the Pac.

[Dave]

The PAC was better in Lute's day. Just look at the tournament success.

I agree our program is stuck in Kentucky/Duke lite mode. You have to recruit the OAD's. You would be crazy to not recruit guys like Nico, Josh and Zeke. You land these OAD's and then your current players start worrying about playing time. Here comes the transfers. Then you start trying to fill in the holes with grad transfers and you are officially stuck in roster turnover mode. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I would trade everything Miller has done for one title. That is the only thing that matters. Miller has not even gotten to a final four. That is on him. Every other good coach has been able to reach one by now

This. 100%. FF's and titles are all that's worth discussing. Everything else is quickly forgotten and meaningless. Conference titles? Nobody Cares. Conference tourney titles? Nobody Cares. Regular season wins against cupcakes? Nobody cares. It's time, actually past time, for Miller to get results commensurate with his salary. The patience of the fanbase is growing more and more impatient. They don't want excuses; they want results.

I care about conference titles and tourney titles and winning regular season non-conference games. Do you really think you’re speaking for the entire fan base? Hell of an ego you got there.

Or least recruit ballers and let them play their game and man to man defense, pack line be damned.

Packline is man-to-man. It sure as shit ain’t zone.

I've asked this to people who dislike packline before. What principles do you actually dislike and want change in?

I know a lot of people hate on packline here, but not a ton of people really articulate what they dislike about packline. Packline is basically just man to man with layered principles about helpside and rotations. When you really break it down, it's not hugely different from a lot of other approaches, but it gets treated like an outlier.

[loomer]

This isn't mediocrity. I posted it earlier, but Miller's winning percentage is basically the same as Lute. Miller has won a higher % of Pac regular season titles than Lute.

That's what I worry about. We'll forget what mediocrity looks like, get rid of Miller and bring in a new coach who shows us what mediocrity really looks like. Real mediocrity doesn't have top five recruiting classes and complaining about a coach's "Elite Eight Ceiling."

Agree with your 2nd paragraph, but Miller’s SOS vs Lute’s is night and day. Lute’s OOC was generally much more difficult and the PAC was a much better conference in Lute’s day than it has been since Miller’s been around, at least since I started watching closely in 95.

It's sort of a mixed bag. I agree from 95 on, although I think some of Miller's teams have had a decent Pac.

In the 80's, Lute got a Pac that was down. During his building Arizona, UCLA was a .500 team 3 times and only won 25 games once. In our first FF year, Oregon State was #2 in the Pac.

*Using KenPom's Conference Rankings*

1997-2007 Pac-10 Conference Rankings under Lute
2007 - 4th
2006 - 5th
2005 - 6th
2004 - 9th
2003 - 6th
2002 - 2nd
2001 - 4th
2000 - 4th
1999 - 3rd
1998 - 5th
1997 - 2nd
Avg. Ranking - 4.5

2010 - 2019 Pac-10/12 Conference Ranking Under Miller
2019 - 7th
2018 - 6th
2017 - 6th
2016 - 4th
2015 - 6th
2014 - 4th
2013 - 5th
2012 - 6th
2011 - 5th
2010 - 6th
Avg. Ranking - 5.5

The Pac-12 now is consistently ranked the 6th best conference. When Lute was here there was a higher variance with some great years like 1997 and 2002 but also some brutally bad years like 2004. Statsheet shows that In the mid/late 80's and early 90's the Pac was even worse than it is now. In 84', 85', 86', 88', 92',93', and 94' the conference ranked 7th or worse in the country.

[CalStateTempe]

Good point spiff and chi.

Being upfront I don’t know much about basketball strategy from a players or coaches perspective, just as a spectator.

My impression is pack line is “next level” man to man in that there are layers to sag back an jam up the middle, to take away the easy bucket, and force your opener into taking lower percentage shots. It’s fails when you have a hot shooting team (is wisky 15).

To be successful it requires the player to be committed to man to man principles but also to k so when to back off, sag back, and trust their teammates to be committed to their roles as well. That is a high level of team coordination required and commitment to a system for many players for whom this is the first one being held to this defense system.

I look at it similar to tech in consumer goods (cars, refrigerators, ski gear, etc) the more “stuff” you add, while cool, introduces more potential points of failure. In pack line you are reliant on five players staying committed to both their individual and team roles simultaneously, and that’s a big ask IMO, when you have the roster turnover year to year that Arizona does.

We have the athletes, I’d rather see a true man to man with continuous press. Sure it might not be “statistically” the lowest risk, but with the level of talent Arizona gets, that should mitigate some of the points that would be given up in that system. Otherwise change your recruiting style to get four stars that will stay at least 2-3 years to commit to teaching them pack line and reducing the need to start from scratch every damn year with 5 star freshmen who bail and don’t have the “time in experience” with pack line to truly learn in, iron out the inefficiencies, and to benefit Arizona.

I guess it’s about time horizon and I sense a mismatch in the players we have, how long they stay, and how much time in the system is needed to master pack line.

This is all from a spectators POV of course.

[Spaceman Spiff]

This isn't mediocrity. I posted it earlier, but Miller's winning percentage is basically the same as Lute. Miller has won a higher % of Pac regular season titles than Lute.

That's what I worry about. We'll forget what mediocrity looks like, get rid of Miller and bring in a new coach who shows us what mediocrity really looks like. Real mediocrity doesn't have top five recruiting classes and complaining about a coach's "Elite Eight Ceiling."

Agree with your 2nd paragraph, but Miller’s SOS vs Lute’s is night and day. Lute’s OOC was generally much more difficult and the PAC was a much better conference in Lute’s day than it has been since Miller’s been around, at least since I started watching closely in 95.

It's sort of a mixed bag. I agree from 95 on, although I think some of Miller's teams have had a decent Pac.

In the 80's, Lute got a Pac that was down. During his building Arizona, UCLA was a .500 team 3 times and only won 25 games once. In our first FF year, Oregon State was #2 in the Pac.

*Using KenPom's Conference Rankings*

1997-2007 Pac-10 Conference Rankings under Lute
2007 - 4th
2006 - 5th
2005 - 6th
2004 - 9th
2003 - 6th
2002 - 2nd
2001 - 4th
2000 - 4th
1999 - 3rd
1998 - 5th
1997 - 2nd
Avg. Ranking - 4.5

2010 - 2019 Pac-10/12 Conference Ranking Under Miller
2019 - 7th
2018 - 6th
2017 - 6th
2016 - 4th
2015 - 6th
2014 - 4th
2013 - 5th
2012 - 6th
2011 - 5th
2010 - 6th
Avg. Ranking - 5.5

The Pac-12 now is consistently ranked the 6th best conference. When Lute was here there was a higher variance with some great years like 1997 and 2002 but also some brutally bad years like 2004. Statsheet shows that In the mid/late 80's and early 90's the Pac was even worse than it is now. In 84', 85', 86', 88', 92',93', and 94' the conference ranked 7th or worse in the country.

Thank you for this post. Well researched, factual posts are always awesome. Great work.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Good point spiff and chi.

Being upfront I don’t know much about basketball strategy from a players or coaches perspective, just as a spectator.

My impression is pack line is “next level” man to man in that there are layers to sag back an jam up the middle, to take away the easy bucket, and force your opener into taking lower percentage shots. It’s fails when you have a hot shooting team (is wisky 15).

To be successful it requires the player to be committed to man to man principles but also to k so when to back off, sag back, and trust their teammates to be committed to their roles as well. That is a high level of team coordination required and commitment to a system for many players for whom this is the first one being held to this defense system.

I look at it similar to tech in consumer goods (cars, refrigerators, ski gear, etc) the more “stuff” you add, while cool, introduces more potential points of failure. In pack line you are reliant on five players staying committed to both their individual and team roles simultaneously, and that’s a big ask IMO, when you have the roster turnover year to year that Arizona does.

We have the athletes, I’d rather see a true man to man with continuous press. Sure it might not be “statistically” the lowest risk, but with the level of talent Arizona gets, that should mitigate some of the points that would be given up in that system. Otherwise change your recruiting style to get four stars that will stay at least 2-3 years to commit to teaching them pack line and reducing the need to start from scratch every damn year with 5 star freshmen who bail and don’t have the “time in experience” with pack line to truly learn in, iron out the inefficiencies, and to benefit Arizona.

I guess it’s about time horizon and I sense a mismatch in the players we have, how long they stay, and how much time in the system is needed to master pack line.

This is all from a spectators POV of course.

On the overall goals thing, I'd say packline is generally pretty good vs the 3 by design. It isn't fully packing it in, but emphasizing the contest, not attempting denial. The idea isn't to run people off the 3 point line, but to force contested shots.

The upside/downside is that when a team gets super hot like Wisky, they nail contested shots. That's not unique to packline, in that the offense can always overperform in what your D is designed to give them.

For example, man to man with a lot of ball pressure and denial, when you get a team that doesn't turn it over and hits you with backdoors, you'll get smoked. Every defense has upsides and downsides.

I can't share your admiration for pressing. For me, a press is most vulnerable to a smart team with good guards. That tends to be the type of team that you see deep in the tourney. There's a reason no team that consistently presses has won a natty since Arkansas in 93-94.

One reason I like packline is that when it's correctly executed, I think it does what you want to do against top level teams. Top teams will generally handle pressure and usually have skilled guys who can get to the basket. Packline is designed to minimize looks at the rim and make sure perimeter looks are contested. Especially in a one and done era, I think you do well against top teams by making them hit contested J's. High level shooting isn't commonplace with the one and done players.

[zonagrad]

The odd thing is that in our three losses, it’s been our poor shot selection and offensive execution that’s been the culprit, not defense.

You can make an argument that changing defensive strategy to force turnovers can help the offense with more transition opportunities and easy shots.

[Spaceman Spiff]

The odd thing is that in our three losses, it’s been our poor shot selection and offensive execution that’s been the culprit, not defense.

You can make an argument that changing defensive strategy to force turnovers can help the offense with more transition opportunities and easy shots.

That's definitely an argument for higher pressure D. There are upsides and downsides, of course, but IMO, this would be an odd year to implement it.

We've been around the top ten in AdjO efficiency all year, even with a couple of awful shooting nights vs Zaga and Baylor. Trying to get easier shots on O...well, that hasn't been our issue. We've generally gotten makeable shots, hence the high efficiency.

[Beachcat97]

Getting caught up...this is an excellent conversation. Several good posts, especially from Spiff, zg, CST, and Choo.

Look, guys: if you'd told me in '01 that it would be our last FF for more or less two decades, I'd have smugly said you were full of shit. Now that it's here, my expectations as an AZ fan have certainly changed. I came of age during what now appear to be the "glory years," the late 90s through the early 00s. So I got spoiled.

20 years later, I'm just wanting to see AZ among the elites again, which means getting to the FF. Name a program you consider "elite" who hasn't been to a FF in two decades. It's not easy, right?

I like Miller and want to see him break through with AZ, not with some other program. So I'm eager to see this season play out and watch this team chase its goals.

Here's to this program reaching new heights in 2020! Happy New Year's, guys!

[TheCat]

People hate the packline and think it is "not for ballers". Remind me what Tony Bennett runs?

[prh]

The odd thing is that in our three losses, it’s been our poor shot selection and offensive execution that’s been the culprit, not defense.

You can make an argument that changing defensive strategy to force turnovers can help the offense with more transition opportunities and easy shots.

That's definitely an argument for higher pressure D. There are upsides and downsides, of course, but IMO, this would be an odd year to implement it.

We've been around the top ten in AdjO efficiency all year, even with a couple of awful shooting nights vs Zaga and Baylor. Trying to get easier shots on O...well, that hasn't been our issue. We've generally gotten makeable shots, hence the high efficiency.

Our shot selection is actually tremendously worse than last year, but we were operating at a higher efficiency. It shouldn't surprise us that as we faced better opponents, that poor shot selection caused poor offensive nights.

[Dave]

After listening to the press conference it sounds like the offense is going to be initiated through the painted area. It also sounds like the green light for Josh Green bombing three's is gone. When you look at the 3pt % stats for Manion and Hazzard they are really not good.

[PennZona20]

Since we're all Wildcat brothers and sisters here (and I'm sure you're all master grillers and assets to your communities), I'll just add that sometimes I want to treat you like brothers and insult you to your faces for your horrible basketball opinions, and then we tussle on the lawn and I don't actually rip your shirt, but I do irreparably stretch your collar, and then lie to you that it will fix itself in the wash to avoid having to buy you a new shirt.

Lmao wtf? I chuckled. Well done.

[Chicat]

His halftime interview was a thing of beauty. Almost Shakespearean.

[ByJoveByJingle]

His halftime interview was a thing of beauty. Almost Shakespearean.

Can you imagine the wooing soliloquies he spontaneously crafted for his future wife?

[HiCat]

His halftime interview was a thing of beauty. Almost Shakespearean.

Yep, pretty cool.

[EVCat]

His halftime interview was a thing of beauty. Almost Shakespearean.

lots of focus on his "finger roll/come to Arizona to dunk the ball" comment, but the exaggerated "they have 17 blocks" comment slayed me.

[Spaceman Spiff]

To be fair, "DUNK THE BALL" flashed through my mind several times. Jeter, in particular, would benefit from that.

[EVCat]

To be fair, "DUNK THE BALL" flashed through my mind several times. Jeter, in particular, would benefit from that.

I hear that a lot, especially at the games, and I think "if he could still just do that, he'd probably still be at Duke".

Kid offers a lot, and while I get the Koloko love, I also know we have fallen apart at times when Chase has been on the bench in foul trouble. He plays good positional defense, eats up space in rebounding (kind of like how Zeus didn't always need to get the stat but definitely helped teammates rebound without interference), and is pretty good scoring in the post one on one and passing out of a double team. He draws charges like a Dukie, and every one of those hurt that back. But he does it.

He can't explode. He needs an hour to dunk. And he does need a kick in the ass to be more aggressive. But the jump and dunk the fuck out of the ball in a crowd thing? I don't know if that is in his toolbox anymore, as much as it ever was.

I want to see more Koloko, for sure. And I think a perfect load for Chase is 25 minutes. But I think we need him, and are in a bad situation when we can't go back to him (fouls or injuries) during a Koloko run.

This isn't so much aimed at your comments as the general "arrrgh" I hear when he goes up and misses a jump hook badly.

[Jefe]

At Union Sunday afternoon

[Spaceman Spiff]

At Union Sunday afternoon

Look, we may disagree on Miller's X's and O's, but I feel like we can all agree that's one clean neckline.

[Spaceman Spiff]

To be fair, "DUNK THE BALL" flashed through my mind several times. Jeter, in particular, would benefit from that.

I hear that a lot, especially at the games, and I think "if he could still just do that, he'd probably still be at Duke".

Kid offers a lot, and while I get the Koloko love, I also know we have fallen apart at times when Chase has been on the bench in foul trouble. He plays good positional defense, eats up space in rebounding (kind of like how Zeus didn't always need to get the stat but definitely helped teammates rebound without interference), and is pretty good scoring in the post one on one and passing out of a double team. He draws charges like a Dukie, and every one of those hurt that back. But he does it.

He can't explode. He needs an hour to dunk. And he does need a kick in the ass to be more aggressive. But the jump and dunk the fuck out of the ball in a crowd thing? I don't know if that is in his toolbox anymore, as much as it ever was.

I want to see more Koloko, for sure. And I think a perfect load for Chase is 25 minutes. But I think we need him, and are in a bad situation when we can't go back to him (fouls or injuries) during a Koloko run.

This isn't so much aimed at your comments as the general "arrrgh" I hear when he goes up and misses a jump hook badly.

I sort of look at it like this with Koloko. If you think Jeter is limited in finishing strong, Koloko still has a ways to go in that area too. He seems to be visibly trying to adjust to powering through people. The play against ASU where he banked one in from an almost seated position was an example of how Koloko isn't an upgrade there.

Defensively, Koloko protects the rim better than Chase, and probably better than anyone we've had in the Miller era. The flip side is he's still getting stronger, gets pushed around and isn't the positional defender or rebounder Jeter is. So you get a great rim protector, but the tradeoff is the run of the mill plays are worse.

I will say this, I'm encouraged by watching Koloko cover guards on switches. He has a good innate understanding on how to use his length. I'm really, really excited to watch him grow.

[EVCat]

yes. Koloko's footwork is ages beyond where I would expect it for his age and baby giraffe-like body.

[Spaceman Spiff]

yes. Koloko's footwork is ages beyond where I would expect it for his age and baby giraffe-like body.

Yeah. He also finds a distance where he's just close enough to use his length to contest, but far enough away to block a drive without reaching. You don't see that in all bigs. A lot get trapped too close to the dribbler when they don't need to be.

[zonagrad]

At Union Sunday afternoon

Look, we may disagree on Miller's X's and O's, but I feel like we can all agree that's one clean neckline.

That’s Goodman. Miller telling ESPN to go fuck themselves.

[PHXCATS]

So weird

[CatFanOneMil]

At Union Sunday afternoon

Look, we may disagree on Miller's X's and O's, but I feel like we can all agree that's one clean neckline.

That’s Goodman. Miller telling ESPN to go fuck themselves.

Is Goodman still with e-SPIN? Like I give a fuck.

Goodman always disses on the cats...

"“To be honest, I was told by one higher-up at ESPN to stand down on the FBI stuff, basically not to cover it. I pitched numerous ideas, tried to do it, and was basically told not to. And I said to the person, ‘How can that be the case, with all the relationships, with all the information I’m privy to in college basketball, wouldn’t you want me leading the charge on this?’ And instead it was almost like ‘Well, don’t ruffle any feathers with the relationships you have.'”

It's like eSPN KNEW at the time the way they were covering the FBI fiasco was a trainwreck but they were to invested in it to change course...Goodman would have torched ANY relationships with UofA and EastShitanddiePN knew in the long run they were going to get called out on it...

But I never have trusted him and still don't.

[PHXCATS]

Goodman left espn years ago

[Chicat]

Look, we may disagree on Miller's X's and O's, but I feel like we can all agree that's one clean neckline.

Oh, you thought Sean Miller fucked around?

Now if only someone could introduce him to the concept of the sweat-catcher undershirt.

[zonagrad]

Goodman left espn years ago

Well, more like 18 months ago.

I’m not sure if Miller has done a sideline interview with ESPN, or ever will.

[Jefe]

Goodman was at the ASU game, wearing blue to a red out

but then this

[CatFanOneMil]

Goodman was at the ASU game, wearing blue to a red out

but then this

I think we can safely assume Jeff Goodman is NOT a fan of his alma mater...I think he secretly thinks they should have offered him a job or something, but looking at his top 25 it is clear to me he doesn't know what the fuck he's doing.

[Merkin]

I think we can safely assume Jeff Goodman is NOT a fan of his alma mater...I think he secretly thinks they should have offered him a job or something, but looking at his top 25 it is clear to me he doesn't know what the fuck he's doing.

When Goodman worked for CBS Sports(?) his self penned bio lists all the Lute first round exits when he was a student, but not the Final 4 the Cats played in.

UA hater for sure.

[SCCats]

“Could be a second weekend team” could mean we get good matchups and we stumble into a S16 game where we get throttled.

It doesn’t mean much.

[97cats]

Arizona and Sean Miller have more pressing things on their hands then Jeff Goodman at Union (thx for the snap Jefe) over the next two weeks.

huge early January - bigger than in years past in a larger sense for the staff, IMO.

Go Cats!!

[mofo]

So, 2 of our 3 losses are to his #1 & #2 teams, while Oregon shares a loss with his #1 team, and has 2 losses to unranked teams (don't give me that UNC was really the 6th best team when Oregon played them). Yet Oregon is #7 and UA is unranked. Similar logic with the other polls as well. Oregon does have quality wins however which we really don't. Still, 2 of 3 losses against pretty much consensus Top 5 teams now sure seems to be being held against us heavily.

I know, who cares right now - just take care of business. This weekend is the perfect opportunity for a correction.

[EVCat]

what is with this playing ASU twice in the first 6 conference games?

@ Oregon
@ Oregon St.
Utah
Colorado
@ ASU (????)
@ Washington

Then, finally, a chance to take a breath, maybe, vs the Cougs, but that is at Pullman so don't get too loose.

Gauntlet time. I see getting out of that 6 game run at 4-2 as being a positive result.

[dmjcat]

what is with this playing ASU twice in the first 6 conference games?

@ Oregon
@ Oregon St.
Utah
Colorado
@ ASU (????)
@ Washington

Then, finally, a chance to take a breath, maybe, vs the Cougs, but that is at Pullman so don't get too loose.

Gauntlet time. I see getting out of that 6 game run at 4-2 as being a positive result.

I agree and the key game for me is the OSU game. We haven't played well on the road and OSU is playing very well at the moment. I will not be surprised if we are swept this week.