Bear Down Wildcats

Frybry02 wrote:Anyone watching men of March Sean miller currently on CBS? Good stuff

azcat34 wrote:Kevin Ollie has more potential, wasn't impressed.

Harvey Specter wrote:

azcat34 wrote:Kevin Ollie has more potential, wasn't impressed.

Haven't seen Ollie's, but did see both Miller's and Pastner's.

I think we did all right.

azcat34 wrote:

Harvey Specter wrote:

azcat34 wrote:Kevin Ollie has more potential, wasn't impressed.

Haven't seen Ollie's, but did see both Miller's and Pastner's.

I think we did all right.

I was joking about RR's obsession for Ollie over Miller.

Miller's episode was great.

azcat34 wrote:Kevin Ollie has more potential, wasn't impressed.

azcat34 wrote:

Harvey Specter wrote:

azcat34 wrote:Kevin Ollie has more potential, wasn't impressed.

Haven't seen Ollie's, but did see both Miller's and Pastner's.

I think we did all right.

I was joking about RR's obsession for Ollie over Miller.

Miller's episode was great.

84Cat wrote:

Beachcat97 wrote:So here's how I expect the rest of the season to go:

@UW L
@WSU W
USC W
UCLA W
@Col W
@Utah L
Cal W
Stan W

Pac 12 tourney: semifinalist

NCAA tourney: Sweet Sixteen

Katzenfreund wrote:Shaka Smart recently gave an interesting interview about what is important to winning. He specifically responded to a Billy Donovan quote regarding commitment and good decision making from the players' side.

We talk to our guys all the time about the difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in something, you do it when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you do it all the time, even when you lost that feeling that you originally had when you you made the original commitment.

But the problem with today’s society, and especially in our basketball culture, is kids grow up learning to be conditionally bought in. In other words, ‘if things are going well for me then I will listen and I will follow the plan and I will do what you ask me to do coach. If things are going well for me then I’m going to have a good attitude; I’m going to be coachable. But if they’re not, I’m going to get off the page and I’m going to do what I want. It’s okay for me to violate team rules; it’s okay for me to not be coachable; it’s okay for me to take a bad attitude; it’s okay for me not to be a good teammate.’

And the reality is that it’s a disease that impacts the vast majority of teams. What most fans don’t realize is this is the number one thing that we fight as coaches every day. It’s a daily battle. People think it’s about pick and roll and dunking the ball and making jumpers. If our guys have a clear head for being committed to what goes into winning, then we’re going to win most of the time, unless we play a team that’s just that much better than us.

But when you see us struggle it’s not because we didn’t work on free throw shooting or work on our three point shot. It’s because maybe a guy got off the page, or maybe a couple guys did, and I try to tell our staff all the time it’s not about the scouting report. It’s not about how we’re going to guard pick and roll. It’s about ‘does this guy have a clear mind?’ If he has a clear mind like Mike Gilmore did last game, then he can score 10 points in 14 minutes. If he doesn’t have a clear mind then he shoots the ball off the side of the backboard. Its’ the same guy.

It’s a systemic problem in our entire culture. You know me; I’m a really positive person…when you get to the higher levels of basketball the reality is it’s a question of supply and demand. There’s a small supply of great players out there, great in quotes, whatever that means. There’s a huge demand for great players.

Is Treveon Graham a great player? Well, it’s all relative, right? For us, he sure is. At that level? No. So if he goes to that level, he has to do every single thing perfect. From an attitude, from an approach standpoint, from a coachability standpoint. Guess what? He’s done that for the most part here. That’s why I’d recommend him to anyone at that level.

But if a guy can have success at this level but not do things necessarily the right way all the time, or not be a great teammate, eventually that’s going to catch you. No one has the level of talent, except for the top 1% in the NBA, that they can be an absolute jerk, do things the wrong way, and still get away with it. Even Josh Smith got waived from the Detroit Pistons. He’s uber-talented and they just waived him, they cut him, they said we’re going cut our losses with this guy. And what happened when they did it? They won a bunch of games and they are a better team.

…we can work on it and talk about it ad nauseam, but the reality is as an individual you have to make that choice to push certain things out of your mind…especially as a male, it’s a difficult thing sometimes to push the opinions of others outside of your mind.

I’ll give you an example. Jonathan Williams. Jonathan Williams really, really cares what people think. He really, really is concerned about perception. I’m trying to get him to understand ‘forget what they think. focus on what I think. I’m the coach!’ If you do what I want you to do, you’re going to be successful. Well, easier said than done. As he’s made progress with that, guess what?, he’s played better.

Social media is a bear. I’ll use Mel as an example, too. We hit a stretch in the season where Mel was very upset with the media, with certain fans. Unfortunately this guy reads message boards sometimes. And people are being critical of Melvin because he’s missing shots. Mel’s like, ‘well I’m not missing on purpose.’ Mel don’t be so sensitive. Clear that stuff out of your mind. Focus on the next thing we need to do. But again, Melvin Johnson is a young man. He has feelings.

Kornheiser said it…it’s a really, really good point that he made. A lot of us are really, really good at staying focused when people say good things about us…but as soon as someone says one negative critical thing we flip out. We can’t handle it. Especially at that age, that’s a challenge. As coaches thats a big part of what we need to be doing.

…take our team. Take any team. Down the stretch. Let’s be honest. All our fans…let’s win every game…let’s be the best team we can be…let’s win out. It comes down to this: does our team have a commitment to having a championship spirit? Are we committed to one another over our individual agendas? If we are then we’ve got a good chance. It’s not guaranteed. If we’re not, we have no chance. It doesn’t matter. We have zero chance if we’re not committed to having a championship spirit and honor the things that go into winning every day. If that doesn’t happen, forget about it.

Smart's statements complement Miller's line when he talked about team chemistry earlier this season. Especially at elite programs like ours, with constant comprehensive roster turnovers, due to one-and-done athletes and early NBA departures, each season's integrating of a bunch of new star recruits and their personalities is probably as big a challenge as the coaching itself.

Getting every team member on the same page, as a recurring challenge, contains uncertainties that often are beyond the control of a coach. Furthermore, elite recruits with NBA ambitions, who have been told by their families as well as their hanger-ons that they'll be the next LeBron, sometimes refuse to buy in and can ruin a team's chemistry, e.g. Josiah Turner.

Miller's success will go as far as he'll be able to keep his players' egos in check. In 2013 Calipari lost in the first round of the NIT with an elite roster, one year after winning a championship with a different set of superstars. Since Miller already got that NIT part out of his system, there should be no reason why he can't reach the opposite end of the success scale.

Machina wrote:As much as I do not like Miller, I feel he deserves a ton of praise for three things right now.

1-Team seems to be playing their best ball as a whole right now. Which is great to see right before the tournament.

2-How he handled Stanley Johnson on Saturday

3-How well the team was prepared at the end of the game in a very stressful game in a hostile environment.

Machina wrote:As much as I have no reason to not like Miller

Spaceman Spiff wrote:Other than leading our program out of a dark period, going to the Elite Eight twice, putting several players in the pros, recruiting at an unprecedented rate, providing a respectful link to Lute and Arizona's past and having this year's team primed for a deep tourney run, what has Miller really accomplished here? I hear Tim Floyd is still available.

Alieberman wrote:Did CSM bad mouth the Arcade Tavern?

Alieberman wrote:Did CSM bad mouth the Arcade Tavern?

Chicat wrote:

Alieberman wrote:Did CSM bad mouth the Arcade Tavern?

I think the story is that Miller didn't give the Phoenix alumni (aka - Machina) the butthole tongue bath he believes they deserve..

scumdevils86 wrote:Machina is as I've said before...the worst troll on this site. Not even close.

Chicat wrote:

Alieberman wrote:Did CSM bad mouth the Arcade Tavern?

I think the story is that Miller didn't give the Phoenix alumni (aka - Machina) the butthole tongue bath he believes they deserve. Which has led to things like Machina making up bullshit stories about Miller blaming the fans for a loss. It's all very high school drama, not that I expect anything more.

Machina wrote:Trolling equals giving Miller praise, got it.

97cats wrote:Sean Miller does not pander to the masses -- other coaches like Bruce Pearl and even RIch Rodriguez do and thats fine, it works for them to a certain extent.

its a style thing, nothing more and nothing less, but thats just not Sean Miller and it never will be.

Machina wrote:Trolling equals giving Miller praise, got it.

azcat34 wrote:Are Machina's reasons for not like Miller posted yet, or are they still super, top-secret?

Machina wrote:Trolling equals giving Miller praise, got it.

azcat34 wrote:Are Machina's reasons for not like Miller posted yet, or are they still super, top-secret?

Bear Down Vegas wrote:There's a very big part of me that has always dug Machina. He's a big UofA guy - albeit a guy who goes about it in a different way sometimes.

I remember saying to '97 Cats years ago when we first got to watch a game together, "Hey what's with Machina - I can' get a great read on him?"

"Machina is cool with me."

Granted this was a few years back now. But that said, this thread kinda wraps up all of it to me. Mach doesn't like Coach. That's established. Mach digs UofA & does his best to promote things to show that. They can be mutually exclusive.

Machina wrote a post a few posts up about the positives this weekend & especially Sat. In a similar way - it mirrors texts & thoughts I have had. We're all in this together. This weekend was about as good as gets frankly...so not to go all Bill Walton/hippy/Rodney King on the board - but now is the easiest time there is to all get along.

All that said - Sean Miller's ceiling? It's pretty f'n high.




ps - my fav part of the broadcast is when they announced that the last 9 times Arizona has lost on the road - there has been a court storming. 9 times. (Ferris reference)

Add that with our home record the last few years & I say to you...Coach's ceiling? It's pretty motherfucking high.