Bear Down Wildcats

Its now or never Miller. Time to go in with no lube.

NAU game thread is up

97cats wrote:16. Arizona Wildcats

Nico Mannion, Josh Green and the star-studded freshman class will get most of the attention. A potential wild card among the newcomers: Max Hazzard, who led UC Irvine in scoring last season en route to an NCAA tournament upset over Kansas State. Arizona struggled last season due to a lack of talent. That won't be the case this season.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... -preseason

IMO Hazzard is the other guard we needed for the past 5 years. Dude ain't afraid of the big shot and can knock them down, and knows his role.

Apparently Illinois plays @ Grand Canyon in Phoenix Friday night before coming to Tucson. They also had to go to OT to beat Nicholls State for their season opener

ASUHATER! wrote:Apparently Illinois plays @ Grand Canyon in Phoenix Friday night before coming to Tucson. They also had to go to OT to beat Nicholls State for their season opener

I don't take Illinois lightly, but they aren't a juggernaut. They are a test, but we should win.

Josh Green is an impressive basketball player. He literally does everything a coach wants.

Olsondogg wrote:Josh Green is an impressive basketball player. He literally does everything a coach wants.

He and Baker are two solid, high motor guys. If Green can figure out his J, he's going to be really good here.

So many weapons, such a short season.

enfuego wrote:Seen Baker play. He won't get off the bench.

Good call

Nico shifts direction so smoothly. A friend's wife was watching and commented "he is going fast, but he looks like he is gliding on ice skates". That hesi plus a ridiculously quick shift of the hips to change direction make defenses have to stop ball early or double, and his body control allows him to wait that extra half step to deliver a pass if he is doubled. He looked tight shooting at times...that teardrop in the lane will be money in a couple of games...but that will pass.

Impressed by the unselfishness of the team, especially the freshmen. Zeke certainly had the matchup edge tonight, but he exploited it in a number of ways. So many freshmen have that manic energy when they see something like that, and charge or force. He just looked calm as can be. Josh? He didn't force much, and let the matchups take over, and still looked good when needed. If we get minutes from Koloko and he has any impact, and it looks like he could, we become such a different team than with Chase.

Then Hazzard drops 5 dimes and Dylan Smith looks like he just needed a PG and some confidence (still don't want him handling the ball for more than a catch and shoot), and DD picked a bad time to get suspended. Obviously, this was NAU, but it isn't the score as much as the way we played...fast, disruptive, unselfish...that has me most impressed.

EVCat wrote:...but it isn't the score as much as the way we played...fast, disruptive, unselfish...that has me most impressed.

Exactly my thoughts. That along with the distribution of talent gives me a lot of confidence.

Some quick numbers from KenPom...

Top 20 in the country in height

Top 20 in the country in offensive pace (!)

Top 10 in the country in bench minutes

Some of that is the result of playing NAU (so we keep the long bench and the pace against better opponents? TBD). But KenPom’s headline rank adjusts for opponent - and we jumped from 25th to 20th. Good start.

Commentators noted that despite criticism of Miller’s offense we have been a Top 20 offense 7 of the last 9 years. Not sure by which metric.

Guys, it's only one game, but...man do I like this team. Miller has all the elements he could want offensively -- smart guards, decent perimeter shooting, versatile bigs, bench depth. As usual, gonna come down to defense. Can Miller convince these guys that defensive dominance is often the difference between a good team and a great one? Just queue up the video of UVA in last year's tourney.

Here's hoping for DD's swift return, no injuries and no drama for at least the next five months.

ByJoveByJingle wrote:Commentators noted that despite criticism of Miller’s offense we have been a Top 20 offense 7 of the last 9 years. Not sure by which metric.

We're not super fast, but we are generally pretty efficient. That gets lost in the complaints here. A slower, efficent offense may be less pretty than a faster, sloppier offense, but it has its upsides.

I feel like this year we can be efficient at any speed.

ByJoveByJingle wrote:Commentators noted that despite criticism of Miller’s offense we have been a Top 20 offense 7 of the last 9 years. Not sure by which metric.

KenPom is the metric, and it's true. We've been a very efficient offense every season besides the ones that you can guess (last year and the post-DWill season).

its amazing what a pg will do for a program - everything starts at that spot, and as ive said many times the TEAM will take on that form, good or bad, sad or happy.

we saw it in years past and didnt like it, the form.

so far, i like the form and havent watched one minute of game action - its that easy to see

the parts are deep and plentiful, Mannion staying healthy and true to his fitness is my main focus this season

the surprise addition of Baker should help that process too

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

ByJoveByJingle wrote:Commentators noted that despite criticism of Miller’s offense we have been a Top 20 offense 7 of the last 9 years. Not sure by which metric.

We're not super fast, but we are generally pretty efficient. That gets lost in the complaints here. A slower, efficent offense may be less pretty than a faster, sloppier offense, but it has its upsides.

I feel like this year we can be efficient at any speed.

So this is something that gave me a jolt of excitement while watching the game - we've got a lot of gears that we can operate at with the depth and variety in this roster.

Play the freshmen big three and you'll see a very aggressive up-tempo style. Play the Gettings / Hazzard / Baker grouping and you'll see a more methodical style. Mix those groups up and you get something in between.

I was worried after Chico St that this team would struggle to establish an offensive identity... and what I saw last night was that it has a variety of identities based on who is on the floor. If the team (and Miller) can be okay with that... letting these guys score in the ways that they like to score, at the pace they like to play... I think that's a very distinct advantage for this team.

My concern, as always, is that when the game tightens, Miller tightens.

Very excited to see this team develop and to see how the roles expand and contract. Certainly looks like a team that we will very happy with all season.

As an aside, Utah got a nice win on the road at Nevada. The conference looks much improved and this should help with the seeding way down the line

Team showed a lot of cohesion and toughness last night. Since the beginning of 2018, they've only had six games with 7 turnovers or less and scored more than 1 point per possession:

- December 18, 2017 v. North Dakota State (W, 83-53)
- January 25, 2018 v. Colorado (W, 80-71)
- November 11, 2018 v. Cal Poly (W, 82-61)
- November 14, 2018 v. UTEP (W, 79-46)
- November 29, 2018 v. Georgia Southern (W, 100-70)
- February 14, 2019 @ Utah (L, 83-76)

Really impressive to do that with a three true freshman in the starting lineup.

I’m curious how Doutrive fits in when he gets back. Does he start over Smith? Does he take minutes from Baker and/or Hazzard? Does he play alongside Mannion?

Chicat wrote:I’m curious how Doutrive fits in when he gets back. Does he start over Smith? Does he take minutes from Baker and/or Hazzard? Does he play alongside Mannion?

I think he definitely takes them from Hazzard. I hope he takes them from Smith, but I've learned Miller is a Smith fan and that may trump my feelings.

If Dylan Smith and do half as good as he did last night the entire season, things will be very good.

Unfortunately Smith is like PJC, caves during the big games.

Miller obviously knows more than we do, but if he can turn Smith around with his decision making it could be a magical season.

No more 3 point shots 3 feet from the line though. I am sure he heard about that made or not.

Merkin wrote:Unfortunately Smith is like PJC, caves during the big games.

Miller obviously knows more than we do, but if he can turn Smith around with his decision making it could be a magical season.

No more 3 point shots 3 feet from the line though. I am sure he heard about that made or not.

Yeah, Smith is fine against inferior talent, but he is not reliable in games against other marquee programs. Hopefully Doutrive takes his starting role and/or minutes.

Cannot freaking wait to see Doutrive with this group. We're sort of low-key loaded, guys.

I'll be more optimistic when we beat some quality opponents or at least play competitively against them. Everybody NAU plays this year will look good. Let's not get ahead of ourselves with lofty expectations after a cupcake win. The team is definitely deeper and that's a cause for optimism. I'm not overly pleased with the schedule but it's good we have Gonzaga in there. I'd like to see more early season games against top tier programs. It seems we've gone away from that and I find it most displeasing. As Coach Olson used to say, you gain nothing by playing cupcakes. One game at a time and lets see what happens. Let's temper our expectations for now and remind ourselves to expect is to be disappointed. Unfortunately disappointment has become the expectation if you're a U of A basketball fan.

Lengthy highlights from the NAU game here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O0FaQQAyMo" target="_blank

Captain Obvious wrote:I'll be more optimistic when we beat some quality opponents or at least play competitively against them. Everybody NAU plays this year will look good. Let's not get ahead of ourselves with lofty expectations after a cupcake win. The team is definitely deeper and that's a cause for optimism. I'm not overly pleased with the schedule but it's good we have Gonzaga in there. I'd like to see more early season games against top tier programs. It seems we've gone away from that and I find it most displeasing. As Coach Olson used to say, you gain nothing by playing cupcakes. One game at a time and lets see what happens. Let's temper our expectations for now and remind ourselves to expect is to be disappointed. Unfortunately disappointment has become the expectation if you're a U of A basketball fan.

It’s not optimism if you get on board after the team has proven itself. There are other words for that.

97 is correct. Starts with PG...and also trusting him.

If miller let’s Nico play how he plays...

Captain Obvious wrote:I'll be more optimistic when we beat some quality opponents or at least play competitively against them. Everybody NAU plays this year will look good. Let's not get ahead of ourselves with lofty expectations after a cupcake win. The team is definitely deeper and that's a cause for optimism. I'm not overly pleased with the schedule but it's good we have Gonzaga in there. I'd like to see more early season games against top tier programs. It seems we've gone away from that and I find it most displeasing. As Coach Olson used to say, you gain nothing by playing cupcakes. One game at a time and lets see what happens. Let's temper our expectations for now and remind ourselves to expect is to be disappointed. Unfortunately disappointment has become the expectation if you're a U of A basketball fan.

Boring

I miss the Captain Obvious from TOS.

UAEebs86 wrote:I miss the Captain Obvious from TOS.

Was that this guys’s brother, Captain Charmingly Obvious?

We see you, Illinois.

GCU playing small and taking it right at Illinois. Just fouled out their big guy. 5 point game and the crowd is into it

Cockburn still in tho.

Cockburn is gonna be a load for our bigs but we're much better equipped than the Lopes. Wonder how many minutes he had to put in defeating GCU.

Do you think the Freshman understand that to their fan base it’s important that they don’t just beat the Illini? That it would be preferable to instead humiliate them.

RaisingArizona wrote:Do you think the Freshman understand that to their fan base it’s important that they don’t just beat the Illini? That it would be preferable to instead humiliate them.

No, I don't think they understand that. Hopefully that won't limit them.

McDaniels and Stewart for UW are ballers.

Fun game between them and #16 Baylor

I didn't know you could be called for flopping. That's kinda cool.

UW takes the lead. 30 seconds left.
And UW pulls it out.

SunnyAZ wrote:UW takes the lead. 30 seconds left.
And UW pulls it out.

Good for them and good for the Pac.

Maybe it's just me, but neither team looked particularly decent.

Longhorned wrote:

RaisingArizona wrote:Do you think the Freshman understand that to their fan base it’s important that they don’t just beat the Illini? That it would be preferable to instead humiliate them.

No, I don't think they understand that. Hopefully that won't limit them.

100-0 still wouldn't make up for it.

Merkin wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

RaisingArizona wrote:Do you think the Freshman understand that to their fan base it’s important that they don’t just beat the Illini? That it would be preferable to instead humiliate them.

No, I don't think they understand that. Hopefully that won't limit them.

100-0 still wouldn't make up for it.

We're 3-0 against them since. Does that count for anything?

Although even that last time we played them, a freshman today would have been fresh out of kindergarten.

Took me over 30 years to get over the 1972 Olympic gold medal game between the USA and USSR so I imagine it will take me about the same amount of time.

Btw the student section will most likely be half empty tomorrow for Illinois. It's a 3 day weekend so tons of students have left town to go back to Phoenix or California or Chicago or wherever. Even more impactful though is that today and tomorrow is the Dusk music festival in Tucson which is a big EDM/techno/hipster music festival billed as Tucson's own mini Coachella. Thousands of UA students will be there this weekend as well.

Merkin wrote:Took me over 30 years to get over the 1972 Olympic gold medal game between the USA and USSR so I imagine it will take me about the same amount of time.

So you were finally cured when Krzyzewski jumped up and down on the court as Lute signaled no shot to Jason Gardner.

Merkin wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

RaisingArizona wrote:Do you think the Freshman understand that to their fan base it’s important that they don’t just beat the Illini? That it would be preferable to instead humiliate them.

No, I don't think they understand that. Hopefully that won't limit them.

100-0 still wouldn't make up for it.

Unless Bill Murray is in the stands and suffers an emotional breakdown I won't have the catharsis necessary to move on.