2024-25 Arizona Basketball

[Postmaster]

Looks like we camp directly under rim and the other team gets rebounds 3 feet out.

[Winger]

Frustrating game, but not really all that surprising beyond maybe just how putrid our offense looked for long stretches.

Hats off to TTech. They knew our weaknesses and made us try to play through them. I expect the games in Waco, Ames, & Lawrence to go much the same way.

Tech put a Houston on us today defensively.

[Winger]

Looks like we camp directly under rim and the other team gets rebounds 3 feet out.

The inability to box out on the defensive glass today was infuriating.

The Cats were super soft today on both ends.

[MrKyle]

Looks like we camp directly under rim and the other team gets rebounds 3 feet out.

The inability to box out on the defensive glass today was infuriating.

The Cats were super soft today on both ends.

No kidding - the amount of balls right through our hands and inability to hold onto ones we did get a piece of as well.

Townsend looks lost on defense and unable to create on offense outside of trying to bull rush down defenders. His game just isn’t translating to big boy basketball.

I’d rather see CB get the bulk of his minutes and give Stephen more run to see what we’ve got for next year

[Winger]

Looks like we camp directly under rim and the other team gets rebounds 3 feet out.

The inability to box out on the defensive glass today was infuriating.

The Cats were super soft today on both ends.

No kidding - the amount of balls right through our hands and inability to hold onto ones we did get a piece of as well.

Townsend looks lost on defense and unable to create on offense outside of trying to bull rush down defenders. His game just isn’t translating to big boy basketball.

I’d rather see CB get the bulk of his minutes and give Stephen more run to see what we’ve got for next year

Think a lot of people feel the way you do regarding TT vs Carter. Today Carter had a couple defensive screwups which appeared to get him yanked but I posted here like 5 games in to the season that it was clear TT and ADO couldnt play and it was time to ride Bryant the rest of the way. Still feel the same way. No clue what Lloyd was thinking taking these guys.

[MrKyle]

Looks like we camp directly under rim and the other team gets rebounds 3 feet out.

The inability to box out on the defensive glass today was infuriating.

The Cats were super soft today on both ends.

No kidding - the amount of balls right through our hands and inability to hold onto ones we did get a piece of as well.

Townsend looks lost on defense and unable to create on offense outside of trying to bull rush down defenders. His game just isn’t translating to big boy basketball.

I’d rather see CB get the bulk of his minutes and give Stephen more run to see what we’ve got for next year

Think a lot of people feel the way you do regarding TT vs Carter. Today Carter had a couple defensive screwups which appeared to get him yanked but I posted here like 5 games in to the season that it was clear TT and ADO couldnt play and it was time to ride Bryant the rest of the way. Still feel the same way. No clue what Lloyd was thinking taking these guys.

Yep… I agree Carter had some big lapses today but as we’ve seen over past few weeks there is big upside as well.

As you said I think we need to hitch the wagon to CB and see where he takes us, and deal with the lapses as that is part of freshman play!

I didn’t like ADO to start but he looked like he might be turning corner last week or two - that went right out window today and he looked as lost as he did in the OOC. Constantly trailing behind defender and getting put in bad spots. Taking some absolutely awful shots on offense and being unable to keep a handle on the ball when dribbling

[BBQ wildcat]

To my very untrained eye, CB just so many times seemed to get beat off the dribble, then tried to play catch-up and then fouls from behind. But the whole team today, just horrible rebounding and a lot of ppor shot selections. Then again, they didn't seem to be able to hit GOOD shot selections either.

[Merkin]

No clue what Lloyd was thinking taking these guys.

Much less starting them. What other B12 teams would they start on? Any smaller frontcourt? A 6'8" center with a 6'6" PF?

Although I can kind of see Lloyd doing a hockey style of line change, where you save some of your better players for the 2nd line.

But the chances of UA playing 5 good games in a row in the tourney is a near impossibility with Love. And Lloyd said again tonight the Cats are still riding on him.

So give Bryant and Stephen as many minutes as you can.

[LuteIsGod]

Whatever Lloyd is doing at the 8 minute mark in the 2nd half needs to change. UA falls completely apart then, pretty much every game. Let Murph take over then.

Almost willing to bet the house that Love's FG% and 3 PT% are 10 points higher at home than on the road.

I imagine Martinez and Stephen are already getting their paperwork ready to enter the portal.

Hey coach…….I can suck way less

-Martinez and Stephen

[Postmaster]

I'm not sure Stephen could have done much today. But, if he had been getting minutes for the last month, maybe he could have been ready today. When we have had the big leads lately would have been the time to let him get his feet wet.

CB is fouling too much but we need his scoring.

Maybe the team was hanging with Ballo last night.

Lots of shots were short. Usually that is a sign of tired legs.

[Winger]

No clue what Lloyd was thinking taking these guys.

Much less starting them. What other B12 teams would they start on? Any smaller frontcourt? A 6'8" center with a 6'6" PF?

Although I can kind of see Lloyd doing a hockey style of line change, where you save some of your better players for the 2nd line.

But the chances of UA playing 5 good games in a row in the tourney is a near impossibility with Love. And Lloyd said again tonight the Cats are still riding on him.

So give Bryant and Stephen as many minutes as you can.

I mean at this point I have to believe that this — stupidly taking Love back and signing a gaggle of bum transfers and Martinez — is the best we can afford.

Because the alternative — Lloyd has no fucking clue what he is doing — is too depressing.

His pressers are a hoot. Everything is grand, I am riding with him, we were right there, etc.

I get why he does that but giving everything else to him, his team fucking quit with like 3 minutes to go.

[Postmaster]

We seem to have had a lot of guys leave after last season.
This team would look a lot better with Ballo. We could probably use Anderson height.
I'm not saying all the guys that left would be difference makers but having to back fill with transfers isn't working.

[84Cat]

Anderson is averaging 4.4 pts and 2.1 rebs at Boise St. I don't think he would be helping much. We could use a backup point guard and Townsend is just too short for the Big 12

[Postmaster]

I think Anderson's size would help.

[azcat49]

Part of the issue seems to be that Tommy thought he had Krivas and Veesaar at the 5 and Awaka could play the 4 with Townsend and Bryant at the 3

Krivas goes down and he moves Awaka to the 5 and Bryant backs up TT at the 4.really messed things up I think

[Hank of sb]

Winger:

I mean at this point I have to believe that this — stupidly taking Love back and signing a gaggle of bum transfers and Martinez — is the best we can afford.

Because the alternative — Lloyd has no fucking clue what he is doing — is too depressing.

His pressers are a hoot. Everything is grand, I am riding with him, we were right there, etc.

I get why he does that but giving everything else to him, his team fucking quit with like 3 minutes to go.


This post ^^ says it all in the most compacted way. There is nothing else to believe or wonder about.

It's either one or worse........both.

Tommy has one more season to prove he has a clue.

He should start thinking 'now' about next year because if next year's team is bad as this year's, Arizona's bb legacy will fade away.

The fans will disappear.

[Fishclamps]

Tommy has one more season to prove he has a clue.

He should start thinking 'now' about next year because if next year's team is bad as this year's, Arizona's bb legacy will fade away.

The fans will disappear.

Lol excuse me? He has one more year? Yeah fuckin right like we're gonna get rid of Lloyd because of a down year, get real.

If you think Arizona fans are gonna abandon the basketball team because they lost some games you are either being delusional or overly dramatic.

[Hank of sb]

Tommy has one more season to prove he has a clue.

He should start thinking 'now' about next year because if next year's team is bad as this year's, Arizona's bb legacy will fade away.

The fans will disappear.

Lol excuse me? He has one more year? Yeah fuckin right like we're gonna get rid of Lloyd because of a down year, get real.

If you think Arizona fans are gonna abandon the basketball team because they lost some games you are either being delusional or overly dramatic.

That would be two down years.

There are knowledgeable fans here who don't make $5 mm that would have had the better sense to 1) Not allow Caleb Love to come back & 2) Recruit like Lute: That is, first to commit which means offer several players positions with the first to commit gets the play-- with zero promises of PT.

There is no reason to have Tommy's laissez faire attitude he seems to have. Not any that I can think of.

I believe the ticket prices are already too high for this year's product.

Suit yourself.

[Winger]

Part of the issue seems to be that Tommy thought he had Krivas and Veesaar at the 5 and Awaka could play the 4 with Townsend and Bryant at the 3

Krivas goes down and he moves Awaka to the 5 and Bryant backs up TT at the 4.really messed things up I think

Speaking for myself, this doesnt help me.

Me Clip and a couple others OTOS posted in the offseason that these were iffy evals.

I posted that Awaka lacked the positional height to play the 5 and the skills to play the 4; and that Townsend lacked the positional height/length to play the 4 and the skills to play the 3.

So WTF were we doing?

Clip could tell ADO couldnt play at this level (apologies if that is too simplified).

The best we could afford?

Even if Arizona stays the course and makes the Tournament I am going to forever wonder what the F was going on this offseason.

<shaking head and shrugging shoulders>

[Postmaster]

Maybe Fois would answer an email? Haha.

What other site do you visit?
This one is laid out so well and not full of ads and VIP posts.

[UAEebs86]

Maybe Fois would answer an email? Haha.

What other site do you visit?
This one is laid out so well and not full of ads and VIP posts.

He's talking about Scheer's site (Wildcat Authority).

[Postmaster]

Maybe Fois would answer an email? Haha.

What other site do you visit?
This one is laid out so well and not full of ads and VIP posts.

He's talking about Scheer's site (Wildcat Authority).

Ok, thanks
That's the one that seems all ads and VIP.

[UAEebs86]

Maybe Fois would answer an email? Haha.

What other site do you visit?
This one is laid out so well and not full of ads and VIP posts.

He's talking about Scheer's site (Wildcat Authority).

Ok, thanks
That's the one that seems all ads and VIP.

Yeah the free site offers nothing. I quit my subscription a few months back.

[Winger]

Maybe Fois would answer an email? Haha.

What other site do you visit?
This one is laid out so well and not full of ads and VIP posts.

He's talking about Scheer's site (Wildcat Authority).

Yes. That’s where I was for decades prior to moving here recently. The phrasing was meant to convey that folks over there including me were on record on TT and Awaka and ADO prior to this season/my move here.

[Postmaster]

I got your point. I was just wondering if there was another viable site.
Seems like you or someone posted those thought here also.

[Postmaster]

I wish all of the cool kids were on this site. I run out of stuff to read too quickly.

[MrKyle]

I wish all of the cool kids were on this site. I run out of stuff to read too quickly.

Same here! I only read here and Desert Swarm but there are only a handful of ppl posting on the articles there.
Never read TOS, came here after GoAZCats days

[TucsonClip]

Part of the issue seems to be that Tommy thought he had Krivas and Veesaar at the 5 and Awaka could play the 4 with Townsend and Bryant at the 3

Krivas goes down and he moves Awaka to the 5 and Bryant backs up TT at the 4.really messed things up I think

Speaking for myself, this doesnt help me.

Me Clip and a couple others OTOS posted in the offseason that these were iffy evals.

I posted that Awaka lacked the positional height to play the 5 and the skills to play the 4; and that Townsend lacked the positional height/length to play the 4 and the skills to play the 3.

So WTF were we doing?

Clip could tell ADO couldnt play at this level (apologies if that is too simplified).

The best we could afford?

Even if Arizona stays the course and makes the Tournament I am going to forever wonder what the F was going on this offseason.

<shaking head and shrugging shoulders>

You're spot on about all 3. Awaka was honestly the one I was ok with, but he is strictly a 5, and thought would help set our floor defensively and on the glass off the bench.

ADO, I was not in on and didn't think he could cut it at this level. I also wasn't sure if his shooting was his freshman or sophomore year levels. He's proves he can hit open jumpers, but he doesn't provide much else, and benefitted from being basically the 2nd biggest guy on his team, as a primary ball handler in a shit conference, and is a absolutely horrid on D.

TT was laughable, especially with all the "did you see what he didn't against Kentucky!" Posts. I didn't even bother to watch that game. His other games showed no skill, no athleticism, hiding in a zone, and playing bully ball against small front courts. That said, the other options werent great, which I acknowledged, and would have preferred Mitchell from Duke for his defense. Ultimately, the failure is on Lloyd for the eval, the lack of landing any sort of legit 4 man since getting here (unless you count keeping Zu around as a win - which it was, but... The point remains), despite it being a crucial role in our system, and Bryant still getting lost in the mix in Mid January.

I'm not impressed with many of Lloyd evals and this roster is unimpressive, which I tried to warn about, along with others like Winger, in the off-season.

[dmjcat]

Tommy has one more season to prove he has a clue.

He should start thinking 'now' about next year because if next year's team is bad as this year's, Arizona's bb legacy will fade away.

The fans will disappear.

Lol excuse me? He has one more year? Yeah fuckin right like we're gonna get rid of Lloyd because of a down year, get real.

If you think Arizona fans are gonna abandon the basketball team because they lost some games you are either being delusional or overly dramatic.

That would be two down years.

There are knowledgeable fans here who don't make $5 mm that would have had the better sense to 1) Not allow Caleb Love to come back & 2) Recruit like Lute: That is, first to commit which means offer several players positions with the first to commit gets the play-- with zero promises of PT.

There is no reason to have Tommy's laissez faire attitude he seems to have. Not any that I can think of.

I believe the ticket prices are already too high for this year's product.

Suit yourself.

"Recruit like Lute" is not particularly realistic. The world of recruiting has changed, and pretty drastically, with the inception of NIL.

I don't know if Townsend/Awaka were "All we could afford". Most coaches have kept their NIL compensation pretty quiet. We do know from a number of articles/sources that the UA is NOT in the top 20 when it comes to basketball NIL, and that there are 5-6 Big12 teams in front of us.
BYU, for example, coughed up at least $5M (some say $7M) for 1 player. To expect CTL to recruit like Miller/Lute is frankly, pretty delusional unless we suddenly get a mass infusion of NIL$, which I am skeptical is going to happen anytime soon.

[Postmaster]

ADO has started shooting a lot better but it seemed like they couldn't or weren't trying to get him catch and shoot opportunities.

[Winger]

TT was laughable, especially with all the "did you see what he didn't against Kentucky!" Posts.

Caleb Love had 28 vs Duke in the Final Four!

Island of Misfit Toys

Bradley, who is a very good player, isn’t really a PG, and for the most part needs scoring all around him.
Love is who he has always been: a lousy shooting chucker. Lloyd got Peak Love last season and that wasn’t good enough at the end. Which is why he should never have taken him back. It was never going to get any better and season 1 ultimately was a failure.
Lewis is purely an energy and defensive guy who needs scoring all around him.
Townsend can’t play the 4 nor the 3 and has no buisness at this level.
Awaka needs to be a 4 but can only play the 5 and needs scoring all around him.
ADO can score the ball, but is a turnstyle defender at this level, giving up more points than he scores. So, a net negative.
Veesaar plays/looks like a stretch-4 but lacks the shooting and can’t check most 4s. At best he remains TBD. 2 1/2 seasons in.
Bryant has it offensively but also needs scoring all around him and is plainly lost defensively 75% of the time.
Martinez is here for the hostel.

WTF is that ^^^^^ mess? What was going on this off season? Best we could afford vs Lloyd is clueless? Something else? I love watching my Cats but man this squad for many stretches is very hard on the eyeballs.

Shoot, I could make the argument that Lloyd has done a better job with his walkons [and one of those (Francois) was forced on him lol].

Need wins tonight and Saturday ‘cause it’s game on from there and I am not sure I can handle another CBI-Bucknell beatdown, in part because at this point Lloyd doesn’t have Ashley - Tarc - Jerrett waiting in the wings to reassure/distract me.

[azcat49]

Worried about this one tonight. Just not the team that seems to recognize the situation and then play with great urgency and effort from 1-8 on the team. Probably going to be another bumpy one

[Winger]

I don't know if Townsend/Awaka were "All we could afford". Most coaches have kept their NIL compensation pretty quiet. We do know from a number of articles/sources that the UA is NOT in the top 20 when it comes to basketball NIL, and that there are 5-6 Big12 teams in front of us.
BYU, for example, coughed up at least $5M (some say $7M) for 1 player. To expect CTL to recruit like Miller/Lute is frankly, pretty delusional unless we suddenly get a mass infusion of NIL$, which I am skeptical is going to happen anytime soon.

The only article I have seen ranking program NIL was the Norlander secret poll of coaches (“who do you believe has the best NIL”) which was ranked by % of ballots listing the school #1. That isn’t really a ranking and over 100 coaches participated.

Arizona was in a group of 5 or 6 behind the top 19 as a school who “appeared on more than 1 ballot”. I.e. could have been 20th.

Arky/Cal was #1. BYU was 3 which has been backed up but KSU at 6, TTech at 11, and Duke at 12 and UNC at 14 all seem like outliers. BYU and KSU haven’t played to their ranking; nor has Arky [not even close], Indy [#5], Baylor [#7], Louisville [#8], Memphis [16th], Texas [17th], nor St Johns and Ohios State [tie for 19th]. Also, for the non-blue bloods and quasi-blue bloods: who knows how long this will last and Arizona is a QBB in most everyone’s book.

FWIW what I have heard is that most all college coaches keep their NIL number closely held and, though I don’t put much if any stock in it, that Arizona’s NIL was $4 mil, of which Love was close to $1 mil (but as I heard it that was a donation from a single donor and marked only for Love).

I am concerned for Arizona’s ability to compete in the NIL era but Lloyd’s evals to date are at the same level.

[Merkin]

I was wondering if my eyeball test where Love plays much better at McKale than elsewhere was true or not.

[Winger]

I was wondering if my eyeball test where Love plays much better at McKale than elsewhere was true or not.

At this point that is probably going to be affected significantly by a relative lack of quality opponents at home.

Going by offensive rating …

… Love is 106.5 vs all opponents (6.3 points worse than last season), 99.5 vs conference opponents, 81.4 vs Tier A and B opponents (worst of his career and 27.5 points worse than last season), and 76.6 vs Tier A opponents (worst of his career and 29.5 points worse than last season).

By his own standard, to date: terrible.

Versus quality opponents, worse even than his freshman season. Without looking that up I’d speculate that that is uncommonly bad on a historic level. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that for players of his reputation (All Conference! Final Four!), excluding those playing who were injured, it hasn’t happened in the KP era.

In fact maybe I will ask him …

[TheCat]

No clue what Lloyd was thinking taking these guys.

Much less starting them. What other B12 teams would they start on? Any smaller frontcourt? A 6'8" center with a 6'6" PF?

Although I can kind of see Lloyd doing a hockey style of line change, where you save some of your better players for the 2nd line.

But the chances of UA playing 5 good games in a row in the tourney is a near impossibility with Love. And Lloyd said again tonight the Cats are still riding on him.

So give Bryant and Stephen as many minutes as you can.

I mean at this point I have to believe that this — stupidly taking Love back and signing a gaggle of bum transfers and Martinez — is the best we can afford.

Because the alternative — Lloyd has no fucking clue what he is doing — is too depressing.

His pressers are a hoot. Everything is grand, I am riding with him, we were right there, etc.

I get why he does that but giving everything else to him, his team fucking quit with like 3 minutes to go.

Clueless. How many teams in the B12 had a winning record on the road in conference last year? I'll wait. This is the typical over reaction to any loss the wildcats have. Cats played bad and Winger is throwing his normal bullshit out that the coach is incompetent. The transfers are bum until they play well then we will find something else to bitch about.
Follow Lute's philosophy of win at home and split on the road and you will win the B12. We will see but I agree that it could go either way in the B12 because there are no nights off. Ask ISU. By the way ASU is no gimme this year although their record says they are.

[LuteIsGod]

TT was laughable, especially with all the "did you see what he didn't against Kentucky!" Posts.

Caleb Love had 28 vs Duke in the Final Four!

Island of Misfit Toys

Bradley, who is a very good player, isn’t really a PG, and for the most part needs scoring all around him.
Love is who he has always been: a lousy shooting chucker. Lloyd got Peak Love last season and that wasn’t good enough at the end. Which is why he should never have taken him back. It was never going to get any better and season 1 ultimately was a failure.
Lewis is purely an energy and defensive guy who needs scoring all around him.
Townsend can’t play the 4 nor the 3 and has no buisness at this level.
Awaka needs to be a 4 but can only play the 5 and needs scoring all around him.
ADO can score the ball, but is a turnstyle defender at this level, giving up more points than he scores. So, a net negative.
Veesaar plays/looks like a stretch-4 but lacks the shooting and can’t check most 4s. At best he remains TBD. 2 1/2 seasons in.
Bryant has it offensively but also needs scoring all around him and is plainly lost defensively 75% of the time.
Martinez is here for the hostel.

WTF is that ^^^^^ mess? What was going on this off season? Best we could afford vs Lloyd is clueless? Something else? I love watching my Cats but man this squad for many stretches is very hard on the eyeballs.

Shoot, I could make the argument that Lloyd has done a better job with his walkons [and one of those (Francois) was forced on him lol].

Need wins tonight and Saturday ‘cause it’s game on from there and I am not sure I can handle another CBI-Bucknell beatdown, in part because at this point Lloyd doesn’t have Ashley - Tarc - Jerrett waiting in the wings to reassure/distract me.

Since Townsend is a net negative ( I really thought he would be solid, based on his tournament play last year), why hasn’t Tommy gotten Stephen into games for important stretches? We will need him for his size when Vessaar or Awaka are in foul trouble.

[AzCatFan2]

When I think of Townsend, I think of an old baseball term. A, "4-A Player". This guy tears up AAA, but struggles in the Majors. And just when you think you should send him back down to the minors, he shows flashes of brilliance and you think now he'll finally play up to his potential...only for him to start struggling again.

Townsend just isn't a high D1 player. He's a nice low to mid-major guy who occasionally shows flashes of what he do against top competition. But he just doesn't have the talent to sustain that high level against a Big12 schedule, where the competition is top notch almost every game.

[Winger]

This is the typical over reaction to any loss the wildcats have. Cats played bad and Winger is throwing his normal bullshit out that the coach is incompetent.

To be fair, I have been over-reacting on this roster pretty much all season, and if you read a bit closer; you'll see that I am doing my best to get behind this bizarro roster being the best we can afford as opposed to Tommy being incompetent.

Since Townsend is a net negative, why hasn’t Tommy gotten Stephen into games for important stretches?

I assume its because, as of today, he can't play at this level?

And fwiw, since the day he burned his "redshirt" Lloyd hasn't even put him in for unimportant stretches.

[MrKyle]

I assume its because, as of today, he can't play at this level?

And fwiw, since the day he burned his "redshirt" Lloyd hasn't even put him in for unimportant stretches.

That is one of the head scratchers to me... you burn his RS and then don't play him much at all. If he isn't going to get minutes even with Krivas down then why even bother to take the RS.

[Merkin]

If I was Stephen or a family member of his, that sure makes it seem like he isn't in the picture for the future.

On Townsend, his stats with about half the games he played last season and about 1/3 the minutes compared to today.

[Postmaster]

I assume its because, as of today, he can't play at this level?

And fwiw, since the day he burned his "redshirt" Lloyd hasn't even put him in for unimportant stretches.

That is one of the head scratchers to me... you burn his RS and then don't play him much at all. If he isn't going to get minutes even with Krivas down then why even bother to take the RS.

I recall O'Neil did that sto some kid and the family was pretty mad, felt they had been lied to.

[Hank of sb]

dmjcat wrote:

"Recruit like Lute" is not particularly realistic. The world of recruiting has changed, and pretty drastically, with the inception of NIL.

I don't know if Townsend/Awaka were "All we could afford". Most coaches have kept their NIL compensation pretty quiet. We do know from a number of articles/sources that the UA is NOT in the top 20 when it comes to basketball NIL, and that there are 5-6 Big12 teams in front of us.
BYU, for example, coughed up at least $5M (some say $7M) for 1 player. To expect CTL to recruit like Miller/Lute is frankly, pretty delusional unless we suddenly get a mass infusion of NIL$, which I am skeptical is going to happen anytime soon.

Reply:

CTL's salary ranks about 8/9 highest in the country. If his NIL is not commensurate it makes little sense to pay him all the money. Arizona's football program's sudden collapse is now in the position of eviscerating Arizona basketball. (Apparently we can't afford anything.)

To your point, I don't see any reason why Tommy shouldn't offer more players with whatever money he has. From the other site, where I was long before Schheer was there, Tommy was focused on TT from the getgo. Indeed it was implied 'there was a handshake from early on.' (And TT was Tommy's prime target)

Seeing what we got; that's pretty stunning.

[Fishclamps]

No game thread?

[VegasCatFan]

I assume its because, as of today, he can't play at this level?

And fwiw, since the day he burned his "redshirt" Lloyd hasn't even put him in for unimportant stretches.

That is one of the head scratchers to me... you burn his RS and then don't play him much at all. If he isn't going to get minutes even with Krivas down then why even bother to take the RS.

Makes me wonder if he gets any PT next year if Krivas, Veesaar, and Awaka are all back.

[AZCatGirl]

No game thread?

Just started one real quick.

[Alieberman]

It’s time we stop over reacting to every win or loss.

We are a good team… not a great team that’s going to win many games but will also drop some. We will fight for 4th place in the Big 12 and our ceiling is probably sweet 16

[AZCatGirl]

Glad we got this must win game. Now Colorado is another must win. Not just because they haven't won a Big 12 game yet (as of this post), but because with Iowa State coming in Monday we can't afford to drop games we should win.

[MrKyle]

Interesting post game quote from TL on Stephen... looks like Stephen was the one who asked to not RS when Krivas went down. Obviously puts a different spin on things if TL wasn't the driving force behind burning the RS.

“The staff has been on me to give E-Man a chance, and I love that E elected to play when )Motiejus) Krivas went out. I kind of penciled him in to redshirt, because I thought that was the best thing for him. But when Krivas went out, E-man can be pretty persuasive and persistent. He really wanted to play, and I just told him there might not be many opportunities. He didn’t care. He just wanted to help the team. So I think that shows the type of character and selflessness he has. The staff’s been on me to play him. But it’s tough, I still feel like we’re developing Tobe and we’re still developing Henri. I feel like I got to get a lot of reps and put a lot of time into those two guys. So it’s hard to find a third guy, but foul trouble dictated that today and E-Man was awesome, he really stepped up and helped.”

Was good to see him get some crunch time minutes - I think he showed that he could at least step in and not be a huge anchor, still had some lapses but that is true with all freshman and raw players.

[Fishclamps]

Doesn't get much more raw than Stephen, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how he develops