Not upset at all

[Bear Down Vegas]

I was there. Had '97 Cats style (well...as close as I can get to those) seats & have a lot of thoughts. It's days removed & I'm still not entirely sure where to start or how to sum up. I will say this though...

Living in Las Vegas, so many of my friends & family feel the same way about UNLV that I/we do about UofA. Some of them even think they are comparable as West Coast all time programs (that's a different topic altogether.)

My short response is this. UNLV recruits really good talent. REALLY good. They can also put 16k people in the building & it's not even sold out. Think about that for a second in comparison to McKale. It was LOUD. It was their WorldSeriesSuperBowlFinalFourChampionship all balled up into one. The place was electric. I have no problem saying, I had a BLAST. Just a ball. I was right next to the student section & they all loved & hated me the entire game. One even bought me a beer. It was just plain fun.

I didn't watch the game the way I normally do. I haven't re-watched the recording yet either. But Stanley is just an incredible talent. Doolin is like TJ-lite. He may be the most important player on their team even if he's the least talented. Watching my friends & family have a blast & make their season better was kinda nice? It was clear Arizona is better the entire night - obviously.

I was helping kids climb over chairs with .07 seconds left as they prepared to storm the court. As I helped each young male & female they would all to fan say, "Oh thank you!" (then see all of my gear & without missing a beat say), "Oh you're Arizona?!?! HA HA HA HA HA HA"

& I didn't even mind. I smiled & laughed the entire time. I called my dad the next morning & said, "maybe I need to go to every game always - because I didn't leave upset at that loss." Clearly that's ridiculous but the point remains the same.


We get two more of these. Next Dec in Tucson & then in two years back here. I hope some of you will join me because I'm not missing them. It's super fun.

Cheers,

BDV

[midnightx]

There is a bit of overreacting here. Yes, it was not a "good" loss (if such a thing even exists). AZ never built its leads, RHJ got into foul trouble mostly because of two horrendous phantom calls, SJ missed a layup at the end of the game, BA had a potential game winning 3 go in and out with the help of a possible goal-tend, and two players on the opposing team had career nights at the same time. And guess what, this sort of thing can happen again during Pac-12 play -- a superior AZ team goes to an inferior team's gym and has almost every conceivable obstacle occur in the course of one game. Just because other Pac-12 teams took care of business against UNLV doesn't mean that somehow there should be cause for concern -- the circumstances above did not all fall into place when UNLV was blitzed by a couple of other Pac-12 teams. It is all about circumstances. Does anyone think Temple is going to beat Kansas 9 out of 10 times if they play? Losses happen. And the reality is AZ is not going to dominate teams like it did last year -- it is going to likely be a grind-it-out sort of year which will keep a lot of games close and open the door to some upsets. Hopefully the defensive presence improves enough to keep AZ from giving up small leads as the season progresses.

I think the main thing I have taken away from the pre-conference schedule is that there is not a go-to offensive player. Last year was a balanced attack on offense due to the perfect combination of guys. AG really opened up the offense. The ball movement was tremendous and easy buckets were scored by many. For whatever reason, that same sort of approach has not worked this year. The offense is not creating easy and natural scoring. AZ's players seem to playing against a wall with no easy penetration -- and that is odd considering the size, speed and offensive ability available. I don't think last year's offensive approach can work. If only BA, SJ, or RHJ could take a D. Williams 2011-era sort of role and create offense for others by being a scoring focal point in the offense. Perhaps none of those guys can dominate in that fashion, but there should be concerns about this current offense philosophy generating consistent play this year. That said, there is still a lot of time to work things out as the season progresses. AZ is still going to be a bona fide top ten squad with a lot of wins.

[Longhorned]

Thank you, BDV. Way to represent.

[UAEebs86]

I think the main thing I have taken away from the pre-conference schedule is that there is not a go-to offensive player. Last year was a balanced attack on offense due to the perfect combination of guys. AG really opened up the offense. The ball movement was tremendous and easy buckets were scored by many. For whatever reason, that same sort of approach has not worked this year. The offense is not creating easy and natural scoring. AZ's players seem to playing against a wall with no easy penetration -- and that is odd considering the size, speed and offensive ability available. I don't think last year's offensive approach can work. If only BA, SJ, or RHJ could take a D. Williams 2011-era sort of role and create offense for others by being a scoring focal point in the offense. Perhaps none of those guys can dominate in that fashion, but there should be concerns about this current offense philosophy generating consistent play this year. That said, there is still a lot of time to work things out as the season progresses. AZ is still going to be a bona fide top ten squad with a lot of wins.

You lost me at "AG really opened up the offense". He had no outside game so teams just packed it in. He couldn't get his own shot. His free throws caused teams
to "hack a Gordon" at the end of games.

All the stats point to our offense being a little better this year, and defense being a little worse.
Don't think we had a go to guy last year on offense - Nick was probably the closest thing. I think Stanley will be that guy by March.

[whatisee]

Free throws, free throws, free throws...

Not mad at all, and this was a good loss for the team and their continued development. I hope it made them mad.

[azdoubledown]

If this team loses a MERE 5 times in conference and then of course we ALWAYS lose in the P12 tourney it will be a 7-loss 4-seed.

It is likely that out of the following 10 most difficult remaining games that 5 will be losses:

@ Oregon: we always lose to a crappy team on the road and we have shown little composure on the road
@ Oregon State: ditto. Split the Ore trip
Utah: this team actually took care of UNLV at the T&M just a few days before we lost to them. TJ and York will not be able to contain Wright and Lord knows we won't play a zone to hide our defensive weak spots. Best case we split the Utah series
@ Bay Area: We'll lose 1-2 of these. Cal and Stanford are both looking tough, and again, road games
@ASU: Not likely but again last year's loss wasn't likely. Is TJ or Rondae going to help shoot them out of their zone at 27% shooting?
@UW: guaranteed loss
UCLA: I think we pull this out but UCLA seems to always have UA's number
@Utah: guaranteed loss
Stanford: I can see them beating UA at McKale, they won @Texas and won @UCONN last year

None of you nostradamus's see 5 losses in the above, ok pass the swisher sweets

Split the Oregon trip as expected.

Without consistent shooting, given our baffling lineups at critical times, and stubborn unwillingness to give opponents a look at a zone D full of long 5* recruits like Bash Rondae and Stan, I can still see this team losing 4 more, and in the P12/MGM

Btw I watched the Santa Clara upset live in 1992, and while it was a bad loss seed-wise I don't view it as a bad loss considering the Stangs were led by future x-time NBA MVP and probable HoFer Steve Nash. It's like whoever lost to Davidson with Steph Curry in the tourney - were those bad losses? Sometimes 1 player is all it takes

[cats101]

As expected. Oregon State sucks.

[Bosy Billups]

Long ass road trip,

Hanging out in Corvallis growing beards.

Finally play on late Sunday night.

Come on Larry Scott. Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday

[Machina]

Long ass road trip,

Hanging out in Corvallis growing beards.

Finally play on late Sunday night.

Come on Larry Scott. Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday