Bear Down Wildcats

Beachcat97 wrote:

97cats wrote:PG - my only concern is the large advantage ASU has at PG.

time to attempt to stand tall, literally

Does ASU run a zone? Seems that would be the obvious strategy to throw at us. If they play us M2M, why wouldn't we feed Ayton all night long? We did this in the final few minutes of the Bama game, and the guy was unstoppable.

What's the bigger story here, their PG advantage or the fact that we have the nation's best player?

I think they could control Ayton man to man. You'd need to commit to running a double at him as soon as the ball is passed to him. It isn't a terrible strategy, though. We present a pick your posion offense.

Man, they try to bet they can frustrate Ayton and force bad decisions and turnovers. Zone, Ayton can BEAT THEIR ASS on the glass. If I was a coach, I'd be so far up Ayton's butt about dominating the offensive glass against ASU, they'd need a colonoscopy to find me. A small team in zone is a gaping opportunity to crush the glass and Dre can crush the glass.

Zone does have advantages against us, namely that we settle a lot. We have better shooting this year across the board than in the past though. I'd be most worried about youth and execution vs zone, but Rawle back is a big help.

I just don't know. There are tough parts of both strategies.

Captain Obvious wrote:

Beachcat97 wrote:

97cats wrote:PG - my only concern is the large advantage ASU has at PG.

time to attempt to stand tall, literally

Does ASU run a zone? Seems that would be the obvious strategy to throw at us. If they play us M2M, why wouldn't we feed Ayton all night long? We did this in the final few minutes of the Bama game, and the guy was unstoppable.

What's the bigger story here, their PG advantage or the fact that we have the nation's best player?

I think at this point of the season the bigger story is their PG advantage. They pass well and drive the ball well extending defensive players out of position. It's rare I think the Cats will lose a game (especially at home) but ASU is just a little better than we are at this point AS A TEAM. Ayton is by far the most talented and dominating player on either team but I don't believe it's enough to overcome ASU's offensive firepower. Our defense has improved but I think ASU is just too quick for us. That negates our size advantage. I'm debating whether Ristic should even play. I don't see him being effective at all in this game. I believe ASU will use a zone defense to see if we can handle it. If we can't it's going to be a very long game. If we can I believe we hang tough but fall a little short in the end. My prediction is ASU 95 Cats 87. What I think will happen is we develop more as a team and beat ASU in the rematch on their home court. We're still developing as a team; ASU has already figured it out. That's the biggest problem I see.

OMGawd....

They have an edge in ONE position, while we probably have the edge in every other position, and you guys are acting like the world is against us.

97cats wrote:PG - my only concern is the large advantage ASU has at PG.

time to attempt to stand tall, literally

PJC will guard Holder.

No tricks or gimmicks. We will ride or die with PJC and we will be just fine.

just play them straight up... mano y mano.

We will be fine.

Mano a mano

Longhorned wrote:Mano a mano

right... hand to hand lol

my bad.

hombre a hombre?

Their greatest strength is our weakest link (IMO). I'm going to lose my cool if I see Ayton camping out and settling for jumpers. He needs to have the mindset that he is going to get 30 points in the paint with ten dunks.

I'm worried about our defense because Ristic is such a liability against smaller teams. He's immobile and generally doesn't rebound well for a 7 footer. In fact, I'm becoming less and less a fan of the pack line defense. To me, it's a passive defense and it slows the game down significantly. I know it's been discussed ad nauseum on this board, but I prefer an aggressive defense that forces turnovers and creates transition buckets.

If we defend well, we should win handily. I'm sorry, but there is no way Kodi Justice should get more than a few points. He can't create his own shot. We just can't get caught chasing and helping on Holder and leaving other guys open on the perimeter. If Holder can go for 40 points, great, make him earn it. But under no circumstance should we be leaving guys open on the perimeter.

zonagrad wrote:
If we defend well, we should win handily. I'm sorry, but there is no way Kodi Justice should get more than a few points. He can't create his own shot. We just can't get caught chasing and helping on Holder and leaving other guys open on the perimeter. If Holder can go for 40 points, great, make him earn it. But under no circumstance should we be leaving guys open on the perimeter.

YES. All PJC has to do is slow him down. Hold him under 20. Trier can stay with Evans. Can Evans stop Trier? Justice is terrible. Ayton and Ristic should win their match-ups. Just guard your fucking man.

the Remy kid off the bench is a bit of a concern and should probably start ahead of Justice.

He is all energy tho, a poor man's Reggie Geary. He shouldn't be able to come in run us off the court like he did at KU. Not sure what the plan is but there should be a plan for him.

I'm thinking Barcello is my answer for Remy.

Who is gonna check Trier or Rawle or Ayton? They have more to worry about. We're bigger longer more athletic. Our problem will be effort related like defending their quick transition threes. Effort should be great with a week to practice and ASU being relevant at #3. I think we're gonna see our best game Sat night.

Bordercat wrote:the Remy kid off the bench is a bit of a concern and should probably start ahead of Justice.

He is all energy tho, a poor man's Reggie Geary. He shouldn't be able to come in run us off the court like he did at KU. Not sure what the plan is but there should be a plan for him.

A lot of the answers are simple. Play hard, aggressive, bring more energy and effort.

Matchups don't really freak me out vs ASU. We have plenty of perimeter dudes. How they play is what matters. ASU has played well, but no one on that roster is too good for us. We need to show it, though. They've played at a more consistently high level than we have.

We have tougher matchups for them. I don't see them thinking they have a really good individual matchup for Ayton, Zo or Rawle, and all 3 of them can give you 25-30 fairly easily.

CatHoops wrote:Who is gonna check Trier or Rawle or Ayton? They have more to worry about. We're bigger longer more athletic. Our problem will be effort related like defending their quick transition threes. Effort should be great with a week to practice and ASU being relevant at #3. I think we're gonna see our best game Sat night.

I'd be shocked if ASU didn't play various zones against us. That's their only answer defensively. And if we settle too quickly for perimeter shots that could be a problem. We need to pound the ball inside all night long. Ayton should get to the FT line at least a dozen times. And I think that will be Miller's game plan. Whether we execute it or not we'll see. Miller will want to get the bigs involved on every possession, get ASU in foul trouble and get into the bonus as quickly as possible. That will be our offensive strategy. Hopefully we won't be jacking up three's from the get go. The only time I want to see outside shots is if when we're in transition and in the flow for a great open look or if we can get a great open look after dumping the ball inside and ASU has to double or triple team our bigs.

Arizona is going to score the basketball, that’s for sure, zone or no zone.

can it contain the point of the attack both in transition and in the half court on both ends of the floor, that’s the question?

if it can, the CATS should win.

97cats wrote:Arizona is going to score the basketball, that’s for sure, zone or no zone.

can it contain the point of the attack both in transition and in the half court on both ends of the floor, that’s the question?

if it can, the CATS should win.

To me this game/series is UCLA 2016-2017 redux.

game thread is up

ASU is on the front page of espn NCAAM. will arizona have an answer for asu?

Espn has been sucking off asu so much. I don't get it.

We have to pray for front page billing.

We gotta curb these fucks. Take their ranking.

Kimani Lawrence will be able to play today for ASU, he's a wing that provides them some good size and the kid can play.

Who is this moron? Guess he doesn't know where to find point spreads.

UAEebs86 wrote:Who is this moron? Guess he doesn't know where to find point spreads.

I don't know anyone who would say that.

Moron

We better win tonight to get the universe back in order.

We're not an underdog in Vegas that's for sure.

ChooChooCat wrote:We're not an underdog in Vegas that's for sure.

tonight so do I

Villanova about to go down. If ASU wins, they are #1 in the country

Fuck that noise.

97cats wrote:

ChooChooCat wrote:We're not an underdog in Vegas that's for sure.

tonight so do I

A. We’re going to win tonight.

B. Duke or MSU will be #1 on Monday.

They have a lot of chuckers who didn’t make many shots. Justice hit one late but he didn’t do much outside a few assists.

No Pinder tonight.

What the hell is wrong with the Star? This was not an upset.

Caller into 1290 AM post-game show had it just right:

"That coach looks and acts like a little kid'

Does Sideshow Bob cut White and Martin’s hair? Also, props to Martin’s mom and Dad for going with Cognac. If you’re going to opt for the alcohol kid’s name thing, it’s best to keep it classy.

UAEebs86 wrote:What the hell is wrong with the Star? This was not an upset.

Well Hansen is probably upset about it

UAEebs86 wrote:What the hell is wrong with the Star? This was not an upset.

The rankings are the only thing they're basing it off of.

prh wrote: Well Hansen is probably upset about it

Damn near choked on my water just now

Fuck. I missed the whole damn game. Now I'll have to find a replay somewhere. (anybody know?)

I was commanded to finish building my BBQ bench so we could use it this week. I was going to take a break for the game, but got carried away. I only stopped just now because I screwed up the first facing board I put in place by putting the screw in 20mm from the edge - pity the stone table top it faces is 19mm deep - now I gotta cut that board again to give the screw enough room to bite into something. Fortunately I have enough extra boards that is doesn't matter.

Anyway... whoo hoo!!!!! Great win Cats! Bear Down.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

FUCK ASU

box score

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/boxscore ... ath=mbball" target="_blank

RichardCranium wrote:Fuck. I missed the whole damn game. Now I'll have to find a replay somewhere. (anybody know?)

I was commanded to finish building my BBQ bench so we could use it this week. I was going to take a break for the game, but got carried away. I only stopped just now because I screwed up the first facing board I put in place by putting the screw in 20mm from the edge - pity the stone table top it faces is 19mm deep - now I gotta cut that board again to give the screw enough room to bite into something. Fortunately I have enough extra boards that is doesn't matter.

Anyway... whoo hoo!!!!! Great win Cats! Bear Down.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

FUCK ASU

We don't have a bench either.

prh wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:What the hell is wrong with the Star? This was not an upset.



[tweet]

Well Hansen is probably upset about it

The funny thing is in his article he actually said it wasn't an upset.

Lmao!!! Gumby ftw!

PieceOfMeat wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:What the hell is wrong with the Star? This was not an upset.

The rankings are the only thing they're basing it off of.

I guess they haven't heard of KenPom or Sagarin rankings, or Vegas point spreads.

And they wonder why traditional sports sections are dying. Sorry gumby.

PieceOfMeat wrote:

prh wrote: Well Hansen is probably upset about it

Damn near choked on my water just now

I tried to read Hansen's article today from a purely "is he a good writer" perspective. He's not.

Missed this one. Now it's a non-upset? WTF

Not surprising but ASU fans are griping about the officiating. According to some of their fans they will win by 20 in the rematch at McKale North. And had their not been 'home cooking' they would have won by 20 last night. Annoying but I still love the comic relief they provide with their lame excuses.

Right. If Holder had only gotten to the line a dozen more times.....

They were in the bonus in the second half (when we made our run) quicker than we were. Bobby Hurley should have gotten a T. Personal fouls were dead even (20) even though they had to foul at the end due to being behind. Ayton got the first T. GTFO of here with that officiating BS.

I'm glad he didn't get tossed this time because when he does get tossed from his home court mid February it's gonna be on ESPN.

RichardCranium wrote:Fuck. I missed the whole damn game. Now I'll have to find a replay somewhere. (anybody know?)

I was commanded to finish building my BBQ bench so we could use it this week. I was going to take a break for the game, but got carried away. I only stopped just now because I screwed up the first facing board I put in place by putting the screw in 20mm from the edge - pity the stone table top it faces is 19mm deep - now I gotta cut that board again to give the screw enough room to bite into something. Fortunately I have enough extra boards that is doesn't matter.

Anyway... whoo hoo!!!!! Great win Cats! Bear Down.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

FUCK ASU

Replay on Fox Sports AZ at noon today

Postmaster wrote:No Pinder tonight.

nor Akot.
The rotation may be tightening.

Always going to be a few calls that both sides gripe about. Hurley was going nuts because he had a 6'5" guy guarding a 7'0" guy and bitches when the seven footer taps a rebound to himself. BTW, very first foul called in the game was offensive against Alkins. ASU player (Holder I think) had his heels in the restricted area. Should've been a block. Or a no call.

In the post game, Hurley made subtle whining about the refs because "they were in the paint a long time." Translation: I want a super quick 3-second call on Ayton because the guy is a monster and he's killing us.
Hurley also said his team had a bad offensive game, otherwise the outcome might've been different because Evans & Justice rarely shoot so poorly. Of course, that dismisses Arizona having a poor offensive night from Trier, who missed his first six shots and Alkins, who missed a bunch of close jumpers in the paint.

The fact is, Arizona dominated the second half and twice built a double digit lead and led by 12. Arizona stopped attacking and got conservative and basically gave away a few possessions, allowing ASU to cut the deficit. If Arizona cleans that up and stays aggressive until the final horn, it's a double-digit victory.

I have zero pity on ASU. That's a bunch of sour grapes BS. I could go through and recall several plays that shouldn't have gone in their favor but did.