The 2021-2022 Season Thread

[ASUHATER!]

Who cares. We are better than all of them.

Colorado would like to disagree with that statement.

[RondaeShimmy]

Who cares. We are better than all of them.

Colorado would like to disagree with that statement.

What happened when they played at home? Las Vegas is basically only Arizona fans.

[Alieberman]

If we play Colorado again we will kill them

[dovecanyoncat]

If we play Colorado again we will kill them

Skullfuck them

[azgreg]

[Fishclamps]

Hoping they show it on pac 12 too, I left my stream up just in case

[Postmaster]

AT started cutting the whole net off

[azgreg]

[RondaeShimmy]

[azgreg]

[dovecanyoncat]

If my wife throws away my lucky tee shirt this year I'm gonna be real hard to live with.

[RondaeShimmy]

Is this from before the season started

[azgreg]

Is this from before the season started

Yep.

[97cats]

28-3

[ZagCatFan]

You only get one first….Enjoy it Lloyd and Cat Nation.

Great guy great program!

1 seed ……New Orleans here we come.

[Bangkok Wildcat]

Is this from before the season started

Proof positive once again that ESPiN is FULL OF FECAL MATTER! BTFD and let’s have a nice run in the P12 & NCAA Tournaments.

[Postmaster]

It’s funny, Medcalf fails to mention T Brown as a significant loss.
Those guys seem like they base their stuff off of highlights and stats.

[Bangkok Wildcat]

It’s funny, Medcalf fails to mention T Brown as a significant loss.
Those guys seem like they base their stuff off of highlights and stats.

Agreed Postmaster! I wonder though, if T Brown hadn’t left, who (if any) would have not been on this team as a result?

[Olsondogg]

I could post so many articles/tweets about this year and how funny the experts are.

We were tied for fourth in preseason projectors for the pac along with Oregon st. Lmao

[ChooChooCat]

Is this from before the season started

This isn't just ESPN, this was the entire media consensus, and there's still stupid media morons making the claim that Steve Forbes or Ed Cooley or some other dipshit is the real COY and not Lloyd. It's so stupid it hurts.

[97cats]

yes!!

[Alieberman]

Counterpoint:

Did all the national pre-season .....AZ a mediocre team talk... have the effect of lowering your expectations for this year a little bit and made this year that much more enjoyable?

It always feels good to prove people wrong!

I can't remember a more enjoyable season in a very long time

[ASUHATER!]

It has for me. I went into this year with the expectations to just make it to the tournament and be in the conversation for the conference title. Not even expecting being in the rankings or going to the sweet 16 or anything. Just a first rebuilding year with low expectations.

[ChooChooCat]

Counterpoint:

Did all the national pre-season .....AZ a mediocre team talk... have the effect of lowering your expectations for this year a little bit and made this year that much more enjoyable?

It always feels good to prove people wrong!

I can't remember a more enjoyable season in a very long time

All the bubble talk was bullshit. I didn't think there was any way we were a bubble team. With that being said I didn't expect us to be as good as we are so quick.

[Postmaster]

My preseason expectations were
Top 3 in regular season PAC 12
Championship game appearance in PAC
One win on the second weekend of NCAA.

You thought last year’s team could have done that and I thought this team should be better.

[Chicat]

I always thought the pundits were full of shit. It was obvious they didn’t know shit about our players, and it exposed the fact that many of them don’t pay attention to the PAC-12 until late in the season and in the tourney.

[Alieberman]

We didn’t know what Tommy was capable in year 1
We didn’t know if Kerr could be an effective starting pg
We had no idea how much Terry and Koloko would improve
Ballo was a complete project
We didn’t know what to expect from Kier and Larson

Everything exceeded expectations

[Olsondogg]

Counterpoint:

Did all the national pre-season .....AZ a mediocre team talk... have the effect of lowering your expectations for this year a little bit and made this year that much more enjoyable?

It always feels good to prove people wrong!

I can't remember a more enjoyable season in a very long time

All the bubble talk was bullshit. I didn't think there was any way we were a bubble team. With that being said I didn't expect us to be as good as we are so quick.

This is pretty spot on.

I always think Arizona (should) will be good.

The offensive flow coupled with the still good defense was what made this season special. So fun to watch.

[Chicat]

We didn’t know what Tommy was capable in year 1
We didn’t know if Kerr could be an effective starting pg
We had no idea how much Terry and Koloko would improve
Ballo was a complete project
We didn’t know what to expect from Kier and Larson

Everything exceeded expectations

Tommy - I think most people just wondered if he was going to fuck it up. He had the pieces, but could he coach them up and motivate them.

Kerr - Sean Miller thought highly enough of him. I’ll give you though that going from combo guard to starting point was a question.

Terry & Koloko - The narrative last season was that the weird offseason w/Covid probably affected those two the most and most people were saying “give ____ a normal offseason with the S&C program and look out.”

Ballo - Yes. And he still has areas he can improve.

Kier & Larsson - Kier had five years experience and was really good at Georgia on both sides of the ball. Larsson was great at Utah and he was the newcomer I was most excited about.


I said from last year this was a top-2 conference team and had Sweet Sixteen potential. None of the offseason movement changed those expectations. In my mind it was just up to Tommy Boy not to fuck it up being inexperienced running his own show. He has far exceeded my expectations.

[97cats]

Tommy - I think most people just wondered if he was going to fuck it up. He had the pieces, but could he coach them up and motivate them.

Kerr - Sean Miller thought highly enough of him. I’ll give you though that going from combo guard to starting point was a question.

Terry & Koloko - The narrative last season was that the weird offseason w/Covid probably affected those two the most and most people were saying “give ____ a normal offseason with the S&C program and look out.”

Ballo - Yes. And he still has areas he can improve.

Kier & Larsson - Kier had five years experience and was really good at Georgia on both sides of the ball. Larsson was great at Utah and he was the newcomer I was most excited about.


I said from last year this was a top-2 conference team and had Sweet Sixteen potential. None of the offseason movement changed those expectations. In my mind it was just up to Tommy Boy not to fuck it up being inexperienced running his own show. He has far exceeded my expectations.

this is a good overall take in my opinion. there were tons of good parts including Lloyd being assured no further post season bans, at least in the administrations eyes and he bought it. however, Arizona is Arizona and its not something the NCAA wants - banning a marquee program who goes squeaky clean. couple in the COVID times, delays, and new portal rules and you have a perfect storm, including what you outlined well in the players returning. the hiring of Steve Robinson is something he deserves credit for. a career assistant at the top of college basketball he has seen and been through a ton at the highest level just like Lloyd. plus he brings the culture and class of North Carolina and Kansas before him in the lineage of Roy Williams and Dean Smith which has connections to Olson and the likes. the crossovers and timing of it all have been serendipitous to say the least but the development of the pieces deserves attention. Lloyd and his staff have done a remarkable job of pulling all the right strings and pressing all the right buttons. at 28-3 and winning the conf by three full games they have exceeded even what they thought possible i'd have to believe. either way, AZ is a #1 seed regardless of what happens in Vegas and might have the best player in the nation on a neutral floor, so i like their chances. Lloyd will be tested tho, the tournament is a different animal. hes been there so he understands the process, and so much of what got him there came before him and he knows that, he embraces it. smart.

[RondaeShimmy]

[dirtbags]

i saw a blurb that there was a fire at mckale after last night's game and folks lingering in the arena had to be evacuated. is everyone / everything ok? any details?

[BBQ wildcat]

I heard it was just Bill Walton toking up in the rafters.

[UAEebs86]

i saw a blurb that there was a fire at mckale after last night's game and folks lingering in the arena had to be evacuated. is everyone / everything ok? any details?

It was an electrical fire in an HVAC unit. Everyone evacuated (mostly only press remained) as a precaution and everything is fine now.

[Longhorned]

i saw a blurb that there was a fire at mckale after last night's game and folks lingering in the arena had to be evacuated. is everyone / everything ok? any details?

That fire is one of the very few University of Arizona stories covered by ESPN this season. No piece all season long about this dominant team in college basketball. But smoke coming out of a vent in McKale and some sparks getting extinguished by the fire department: Let's cover that!!!

[Alieberman]

i saw a blurb that there was a fire at mckale after last night's game and folks lingering in the arena had to be evacuated. is everyone / everything ok? any details?

It was an air conditioning unit that blew... smoke started coming in... no damage

[Carcassdragger]

I'm not all a basketball guy, but sure enjoying this magical season. From my very non-educated viewpoint it seems that we are very well balanced and when we're on, can beat anybody. I think Kerr's cockiness can be a very good thing for us in the tournament if he mixes in a bit of maturity and doesn't implode or cost us at the wrong moment.

To prepare for the dance, I'd like an honest assessment from one of you guys that know, what are our weaknesses? What team or teams match up well with us. Thanks.

I know anything can happen, but it seems like this season could finish up in an epic way.

[dirtbags]

I heard it was just Bill Walton toking up in the rafters.

haha, not just plausible, but likely!

glad to hear that it wasn't a serious incident.

[IndianaZonaFan]

We want to avoid tough physical defensive teams (Colorado and Tennessee losses). We want to avoid big dynamic point guards (Kerr is a liability with them). Otherwise I say fuck em all. We got the damn juice. Let’s go!!

[RawleArenas]

Is this from before the season started

This isn't just ESPN, this was the entire media consensus, and there's still stupid media morons making the claim that Steve Forbes or Ed Cooley or some other dipshit is the real COY and not Lloyd. It's so stupid it hurts.

I've heard all the arguments for Cooley and maybe even Scott Drew, but here are the reasons that Lloyd is the runaway COY, and its not even close.

Scott Drew brought in a five star, a first team All Pac 12 guard and a solid returning core and is playing well. Slightly better than expectations, but not in such a way that the world has to take notice.

While Cooley has done a great job this year with his team, his squad has tons of experience and Cooley is having one of those magical years that good coaches have every once in a while. Exciting, but they're not a dominant team and certainly not deserving of a 1 seed. Cooley's done an excellent job this year but we will see how well his team is put together come tournament time. In any event, his year is by far eclipsed by Lloyd's success with the Cats.

Lloyd was the biggest question mark for all of us, and while I was rightly skeptical of the hire, he has proven to be a solid leader and a more than competent X's and O's guy. But here is the reason that Lloyd deserves the award hands down: it's much harder going from 0 to 1 than from good to great.

Let me explain. If you're a talented coach with a talented squad it's a great accomplishment when you lose a lot great players the year before and come back nearly as good or better than the previous year's team. But here's the thing, you know how to bake a cake and put together rosters. You know how to navigate the waters of the non conference and conference slates and how to develop players. And if a team comes together better than expected or performs to a higher standard, the coach should share in the credit for that. But if you're Lloyd, this is all new to you. There's a reason that most assistants don't turn out to be home run hires. You have to learn on the job, which can be exceptionally difficult. Not only has he done well, he's dominating coaches with better talent levels and experience in his first year. UofA has no five stars and two of our best players (Koloko and Mathurin) were either three stars or very close to three stars (Mathurin clocks in at a very tepid 129 with 247 sports). With our talent level on paper, we were expected to be a middling Pac 12 team with tourney aspirations, most likely a bubble team. This team has gone from that to being the dominant force in the Pac 12, and in the process sweeping every major award in the conference from COY to POY to DPOY to sixth man to most improved. I can't remember a new coach that has done that ever in a power five conference, in addition to securing a one seed for the tournament. It's remarkable, even Roy who Lloyd is often compared to, didn't make the tournament his first year and a FF until his third.

The icing on the cake is the improvement with Ballo. I've said numerous times that he was a bust the moment he stepped on campus (and some Zag fans felt the same). But Lloyd has proved us wrong again, likely winning sixth man of the year while getting the fan base excited about his next three years (if he's not drafted first). Not to mention all of the historical records that Lloyd is making (or breaking). If they don't give him the award it will be one of the biggest snubs ever.

[Postmaster]

I'm not all a basketball guy, but sure enjoying this magical season. From my very non-educated viewpoint it seems that we are very well balanced and when we're on, can beat anybody. I think Kerr's cockiness can be a very good thing for us in the tournament if he mixes in a bit of maturity and doesn't implode or cost us at the wrong moment.

To prepare for the dance, I'd like an honest assessment from one of you guys that know, what are our weaknesses? What team or teams match up well with us. Thanks.

I know anything can happen, but it seems like this season could finish up in an epic way.

Defensive rebounding has been an issue for a few weeks. It looks, to me, that guys aren’t boxing out. They turn to rebound but the opposition is just going around our guys.
As they say , “put a body on someone “.

[Merkin]

Defensive rebounding has been an issue for a few weeks. It looks, to me, that guys aren’t boxing out. They turn to rebound but the opposition is just going around our guys.
As they say , “put a body on someone “.

Haven't wanted to say anything, since all the pundits rave about C-Lo's ability to alter and block shots, but for boxing out he is often out of position and stronger guys take the ball away from him on rebounds.

Lloyd has great plans for Kolokis in the off season, bulk up, and be able use both hands.

[RichardCranium]

My preseason expectations were
Top 3 in regular season PAC 12
Championship game appearance in PAC
One win on the second weekend of NCAA.

You thought last year’s team could have done that and I thought this team should be better.

That is me. I thought good but not a contender.

Really glad to be wrong. Now it gets fun.

[EVCat]

Defensive rebounding has been an issue for a few weeks. It looks, to me, that guys aren’t boxing out. They turn to rebound but the opposition is just going around our guys.
As they say , “put a body on someone “.

Haven't wanted to say anything, since all the pundits rave about C-Lo's ability to alter and block shots, but for boxing out he is often out of position and stronger guys take the ball away from him on rebounds.

Lloyd has great plans for Kolokis in the off season, bulk up, and be able use both hands.

It's also a give up to get scenario...the reason Miller's teams didn't have blocked shots is he preached defensive positioning turned into defensive rebounding. When you stay in position and do not go for the block, you are in better position to box out, as the shooter is in the air and you are able to find a body and box out. But what you give up is the erasing power of the blocked shot, as well as the shots that are altered by fear of the blocked shot.

So Lloyd's philosophy is to go for the block when it is there. And because of that, you will lose some defensive boards. If you are tracking a block, then jump to attempt, you are going to be out of position for a rebound. Koloko is sometimes "often out of position (where) stronger guys take the ball from him" on rebounds because he just tried to block a shot and contorted his body to do so, and is now not in a strong trunk rebounding/boxing out position.

So do you want a defense with few to no shot blocks that emphasizes post defenders almost exclusively play position defense that is much easier to convert to boxing out and defensive rebounding?

Or do you want a defense that emphasizes blocked shots that erase all opportunity, spur breaks similar to a steal, and cause shooters to tighten up around the basket and miss due to both physically and mentally altered shots, but gives up some offensive rebounds when the defender takes themselves out of the rebound with the block attempt, and leaves other post players with uneven numbers to secure rebounds?

You can't really get both...clean D board numbers and lots of blocked and altered shots. The act of blocking often takes the defender out of good box out position. I, for one, prefer the blocked shot, knowing we will give up some O boards and a couple easy putbacks, but we will also see tight shooters afraid of the block, and momentum-changing blocks that spur fast breaks.

[EastCoastCat]

We do rim protection and go for steals so that will lead to giving up more offensive boards.

That’s the reason.

[RondaeShimmy]

[EVCat]

We do rim protection and go for steals so that will lead to giving up more offensive boards.

That’s the reason.

so, in one sentence, you said what it took me a novel-length post right before you to say

[RondaeShimmy]

This isn't a surprise, our games turn into AAU games when we have a huge lead

Hate to say it but there's a chance of 2005 Illinois happening to us again

[Postmaster]

I see guys who aren’t out of position, they just don’t put a body on their man.

[Beachcat97]

My preseason expectations were
Top 3 in regular season PAC 12
Championship game appearance in PAC
One win on the second weekend of NCAA.

You thought last year’s team could have done that and I thought this team should be better.

I was expecting top 4 in the Pac.
Pac tourney...who knows? Does anyone even care?
I thought we'd get into the tourney, but as a more middling seed.

This is all to say: this team's huge success has been one of the more surprising things to happen with AZ hoops since I've been fan.