Bear Down Wildcats

I fully expect Kentucky to roll this team by 10-15 points. And that will make this loss all the more painful.

Gladiator Cat wrote:I fully expect Kentucky to roll this team by 10-15 points. And that will make this loss all the more painful.

Better team lost tonight.

Wisky just got hot. That's all it was.

BibbysTowelDude wrote:Why do some of you keep saying most of these threes were contested? 99 percent of them were open by 3 feet or more.

I'm not gonna blame Miller for a ton, I am however going to shit on him for completely giving up at the end. Down 5 with 50 seconds and he... quit.

Id say about half were contested. A few were extremely well defended.

Even then, if you asked them to hit 10-12 from 3 in practice with no one guarding them....they probably couldn't.

Pitts was the key to the loss. His defense sparked the run.

If before the game you told me that Wisky would shoot 10/12 3s in 2nd half I would have said holy shit we lost by 20+

Salty wrote:

Gladiator Cat wrote:I fully expect Kentucky to roll this team by 10-15 points. And that will make this loss all the more painful.

Better team lost tonight.

Wisky just got hot. That's all it was.

Like I said.........roll them by 10-15 points.

BibbysTowelDude wrote:Why do some of you keep saying most of these threes were contested? 99 percent of them were open by 3 feet or more.

I'm not gonna blame Miller for a ton, I am however going to shit on him for completely giving up at the end. Down 5 with 50 seconds and he... quit.

He didn't quit he told them to man the fuck and get a stop and score, Dekker banged a crazy three. Obviously it was the wrong call in retrospect but he didn't quit.

But I agree we should've got in their face more around the three point line. They were too comfortable on some of those. Foul trouble didn't help though.

Salty wrote:

azcat49 wrote:12 threes in the second half, most of them contested. Just not our night

That's 30 points...

If those are twos, we win.

If they go 7/12, which is ungodly good on its own, we win.

36, which is 6 more than they scored in the first half. It's insane.

gumby wrote:

Salty wrote:

azcat49 wrote:12 threes in the second half, most of them contested. Just not our night

That's 30 points...

If those are twos, we win.

If they go 7/12, which is ungodly good on its own, we win.

36, which is 6 more than they scored in the first half. It's insane.

I thought they went 10/12 in the second half?

12 for the game??

Salty wrote:Pitts was the key to the loss. His defense sparked the run.

BS, you can't single out one kid. That shit ain't right.

Salty wrote:

Gladiator Cat wrote:I fully expect Kentucky to roll this team by 10-15 points. And that will make this loss all the more painful.

Better team lost tonight.

Wisky just got hot. That's all it was.

This, like I said 7 game series I think we would win in 5 or 6 games. The infinitesimal small chance of them hitting 10/12 3s in the second half happened...they won the lottery. If they even shot 6/12 for a damn good 50% they don't win. It fuckin' sucks but it is what it is.

The Butcher wrote:how is this on anyone? They were ungodly from 3. UNFUCKINGGODLY. Nobody shoots that. Do you realize if they shot 55 percent from the 3 they would've lost? That's how unreal that performance was. This is on no one. It's just one of those things.

It's painful as hell, but it happened. Nobody shoots like that.

No, it's not on anyone. Everyone knows it, some just need to vent and find someone to blame.

This one is simply on Wisconsin just being a damn good team, specifically Dekker.

SCCats wrote:10/11 threes in the second half is on miller?

I guess I'm just going to disagree and leave it at that. They went wild and absolutely shoot the roof off the Staples Center. Kudos to them.

Exactly. Neither Wooden nor Coach K could have overcome 10/11 threes in the second. This one is on Wisconsin; throwing up an excessive amount of 3's (many difficult or contested) and sinking them. The fact that AZ remained in striking distance is a testament to this AZ squad. If Wisconsin doesn't bury so many 3's, AZ likely advances.

They were in the double bonus and really don't miss from FT. I mean, they weren't missing 3s with hands in their face...what are the odds they were going to miss FTs? You try to get the stop (which they would have if it was;t for a prayed made by Dekker with his eyes closed. If they got the stop they could've come down and hit the 3 and then gone for the steal.

Who knows. But at that point odds of winning were real low anyway.

WildHolcs wrote:

Salty wrote:

Gladiator Cat wrote:I fully expect Kentucky to roll this team by 10-15 points. And that will make this loss all the more painful.

Better team lost tonight.

Wisky just got hot. That's all it was.

This, like I said 7 game series I think we would win in 5 or 6 games. The infinitesimal small chance of them hitting 10/12 3s in the second half happened...they won the lottery. If they even shot 6/12 for a damn good 50% they don't win. It fuckin' sucks but it is what it is.

No doubt

midnightx wrote:

SCCats wrote:10/11 threes in the second half is on miller?

I guess I'm just going to disagree and leave it at that. They went wild and absolutely shoot the roof off the Staples Center. Kudos to them.

Exactly. Neither Wooden nor Coach K could have overcome 10/11 threes in the second. This one is on Wisconsin; throwing up an excessive amount of 3's (many difficult or contested) and sinking them. The fact that AZ remained in striking distance is a testament to this AZ squad. If Wisconsin doesn't bury so many 3's, AZ likely advances.

agree

Every loss is on the coach, to an extent. So yeah, this one is on Miller...and Stanley laying an egg, and Zeus' 2 boards, and Pitts' D...

Not on Miller at all, they were on fire, especially Dekker (though they did have numerous open 3s, on the defense) which is hard to stop when he turned on Kobe mode.

Though would've helped if Arizona had firepower it could fight back with. They're not explosive, they don't have the home run power, punchers chance (etc). They're slow & deliberate and when you don't have perimeter shooting to add to that, its hard to win these games or make a comeback. Scorer's, shooters, guards wins these games, at the very least as important role players.

Gladiator Cat wrote:No way around it, but Miller is going to have to rethink his offensive mindset going forward.

It may have not mattered in this game but its clear shooters and scores win the games at the end of the day.

And Wisconsin has them.

Cats shot 56%. If anyone told you they'd shoot that percentage and 28/30 from the line, you'd have said you'd take that any day and the Cats would win. Wisconsin couldn't shoot that well in practice with no one guarding them. Nothing AZ could do.

Not on Miller, their bigs made 3's, that's unstoppable. The end.

Listened to the pressor.

bad thread on my part, will take a walk next time.

This just really hurts. Like Suns 93, Cardinals 07, Arizona 01/05 level hurt.

Gladiator Cat wrote:

Salty wrote:Pitts was the key to the loss. His defense sparked the run.

BS, you can't single out one kid. That shit ain't right.

It's true.

His lazy defense sparked the first teo three by Wisconsin.

It was over after that. Miller even layer into Pitts for his first lazy three point defense attempt.

NYCat wrote:Not on Miller at all, they were on fire, especially Dekker (though they did have numerous open 3s, on the defense) which is hard to stop when he turned on Kobe mode.

Though would've helped if Arizona had firepower it could fight back with. They're not explosive, they don't have the home run power, punchers chance (etc). They're slow & deliberate and when you don't have perimeter shooting to add to that, its hard to win these games or make a comeback. Scorer's, shooters, guards wins these games, at the very least as important role players.

Which is why York, Allen, Pitts, Trier, Simon and Smith excite me.

pokinmik wrote:

BibbysTowelDude wrote:Why do some of you keep saying most of these threes were contested? 99 percent of them were open by 3 feet or more.

I'm not gonna blame Miller for a ton, I am however going to shit on him for completely giving up at the end. Down 5 with 50 seconds and he... quit.

He didn't quit he told them to man the fuck and get a stop and score, Dekker banged a crazy three. Obviously it was the wrong call in retrospect but he didn't quit.

But I agree we should've got in their face more around the three point line. They were too comfortable on some of those. Foul trouble didn't help though.

There was absolutely zero attempt to foul after the ball got across half court, there was absolutely zero attempt to foul even after a few shitty attempts to get a steal.

The players had to be instructed to just let it run out and that is pathetic. Even if we end up down 7 with 46 seconds left, still plenty of time to get down and at least chuck a three..

The odds, sucked... The game still had juice though if they would have been aggressive, they weren't ever going to foul.

PieceOfMeat wrote:Sean Elite Eight Miller

Thing I disliked the most was letting wisconsin run their offense, la-dee-fucking-dah with under 2 minutes to play and us not fouling.

sure, let them run clock and then we foul, or let them run clock and make a three. sounds like an excellent strategy.

SEEM coached small at the end of the game.

I agree with this although it didn't necessarily change the outcome. I preferred Arizona to foul and try to pick up points at the other end. Wisconsin were missing 1 out of 2 at the foul line and fouling Arizona on the other side which allowed us to get within 5.

CalStateTempe wrote:Listened to the pressor.

bad thread on my part, will take a walk next time.

This just really hurts. Like Suns 93, Cardinals 07, Arizona 01/05 level hurt.

Delete the thread.

If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Not such a bad loss. They were out of their minds and that is unstoppable, really. The only thing that would have saved us, was to hit a lot of 3's ourself. Which has lately, been an AZ weakness. Team needs a lights out shooter in such situations. Salim, where art thou.

ZONACAT wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:Listened to the pressor.

bad thread on my part, will take a walk next time.

This just really hurts. Like Suns 93, Cardinals 07, Arizona 01/05 level hurt.

Delete the thread.

I will if a majority would like me too, but there is some good discussion going despite the shitty OP.

Some of the blame does need to be laid on Miller for allowed Kaminsky to thrash is again.

He's has two career games against us... Make an adjustment coach?

Otherwise, nothing Miller could really do to prevent their 3 pt shooting

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Pitts will be a very good player for probably the next two years. Remember he had lots of injury issues last year. He needs to get stronger.

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Pitts will never be a star, or even a starter most likely. But guys with his ability have a place on the roster. He'll win us some games going forward.

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Um.......what? Where does this even come from?

loomer wrote:

The Goat wrote:Miller really needs to get out there and guard 3 point shooters better. When he learns how to do that maybe we will get to a final 4.

Product of the packline. With such an efficient offensive team like Wisky it's a risky game to play

This.

The packline is intended to turn teams into jump shooters and limit offensive rebounds. It does give up a lot of wide open 3's.

dmjcat wrote:

loomer wrote:

The Goat wrote:Miller really needs to get out there and guard 3 point shooters better. When he learns how to do that maybe we will get to a final 4.

Product of the packline. With such an efficient offensive team like Wisky it's a risky game to play

This.

The packline is intended to turn teams into jump shooters and limit offensive rebounds. It does give up a lot of wide open 3's.

And normally that is something you can live with until everyone on the opposing team turns into a Kobe/Bird hybrid for 15 minutes. Just was Wisconsin's night.

psiclist23 wrote:Not such a bad loss. They were out of their minds and that is unstoppable, really. The only thing that would have saved us, was to hit a lot of 3's ourself. Which has lately, been an AZ weakness. Team needs a lights out shooter in such situations. Salim, where art thou.

You should meet Allonzo Trier.

Seriously, the ragging on Pitts is weak. On one of Dekkers 3s Pitts sagged because otherwise Koenig (I think) had a wide open layup...kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place on that one. Another one he played good D, Dekker just drained a shot.

He may have been a little overwhelmed given that Dekker couldn't miss, but he's been a solid defender all year and he'll be important for us.

The propensity of some to act like one break down on D means he cost us the game/sucks/should transfer is pathetic.

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Wait, I thought he was supposed to start? Didn't you mean York? Remember,... #YorkCity #SpitFreely

Do we want BOTH of them to transfer? Isn't that why Kadeem Allen was recruited?

#confused

Harvey Specter wrote:

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Wait, I thought he was supposed to start? Didn't you mean York? Remember,... #YorkCity #SpitFreely

Do we want BOTH of them to transfer? Isn't that why Kadeem Allen was recruited?

#confused

The ragging on Pitts is completely unwarranted. And if Kadeem Allen was really that good then why did he redshirt instead of Pitts???

Harvey Specter wrote:

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Wait, I thought he was supposed to start? Didn't you mean York? Remember,... #YorkCity #SpitFreely

Do we want BOTH of them to transfer? Isn't that why Kadeem Allen was recruited?

#confused

Huh? I've never asked for York to transfer, he can actually knock down an open shot. Pitts just isn't good but I guess I'll just agree to disagree with anyone who thinks he's gonna be good in the future.

I'm not sure how this loss was worse than the previous Elite 8s. It isn't like we lost another heartbreaker. The Illinois and Utah losses were the worst. In one of those games, we had an epic collapse and the other one was pure annihilation of a defending champion.

BibbysTowelDude wrote:

Harvey Specter wrote:

BibbysTowelDude wrote:If Pitts transferred to New Mexico State, I'd jump for joy. He's not good. He's almost headed toward Kyryl levels of bad.

Wait, I thought he was supposed to start? Didn't you mean York? Remember,... #YorkCity #SpitFreely

Do we want BOTH of them to transfer? Isn't that why Kadeem Allen was recruited?

#confused

Huh? I've never asked for York to transfer, he can actually knock down an open shot. Pitts just isn't good but I guess I'll just agree to disagree with anyone who thinks he's gonna be good in the future.

No, not you BTD. But it did seem like much of the board did,

az91 wrote:I'm not sure how this loss was worse than the previous Elite 8s. It isn't like we lost another heartbreaker. The Illinois and Utah losses were the worst. In one of those games, we had an epic collapse and the other one was pure annihilation of a defending champion.

This one sucks, but I agree with this sentiment. Just gonna miss this core

With Trier coming in Pitts has to know he is going to be the 3rd 2G in the game. Like Zane Johnson said, he doesn't want to be a senior on the bench and finished up nicely at Hawaii.

Merkin wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:I'm just pissed and physically hurt.

Worst loss since 2001

Illinois was 100 times worse than this.

You really don't want to pop over to Grantland right now.

BTW: Changed the title because I agree with what Miller stated in his pressor. Can't win when Wisky is light out from 3.

Last time that happened, was when we were Jimmered.

Main Event wrote:Dekker hit a stepback fade away to ice the game, there's nothing you can do about that.

actually you should've fouled right away, down 5 with under 45 sec to go and Wiscy with a FULL shot clock to milk. UW scored 52 pts up to that point in the 2H, what defense was going to stop them? they got to milk a bunch of time and then hit the coup de grace. bad strategy.

some big headwinds in this game
who hired those awful ref$? That is not on Miller
Stan scratched eye? That is not on Miller

however,
who is responsible for putting Pitts in an impossible position of guarding6-7 Dekker? result was 2 threes back to back

who is responsible for putting Tarc in the impossible position of challenging threes? Pack line doesn't help you there

who leaves Bash on an island in the post with bigger/stronger Kaminsky to begin the game and pick up 2 in the first 90 sec? Did Bash all of the sudden morph into an Aaron Gordon lever defender capable of doing what Gordon couldn't do last year?

2014 Kaminsky - 28 pts
2015 Kaminsky - 29 pts

Is this "do what we do", or is it the definition of insanity?

Though this was a FF4 quality team, this is less of a heartbreaker than previous 7 years.

Why?

2014 - 1 pt loss in OT, last second
2013 - Jerrett not switching off and losing last second
2012 - Losing in the last 30 seconds during the P12 tourney, which we needed for the NCAA tourney. To fucking CU.
2011 - Losing to UConn at the last 30 seconds
2010 - The NCAA Tourney Streak is over. 2 more seasons and we would have overtaken UNC. There are champions every year, this one took 25 years to make.
2009 - Losing by a humiliating 39 pts in the S16
2008 - The sinking realization of a KO led team is all we will ever have.


In short, we didn't lose suddenly, get blown out, have a record abolished, and we have a bright future.

RiseAndFire wrote:some big headwinds in this game
who hired those awful ref$? That is not on Miller
Stan scratched eye? That is not on Miller

however,
who is responsible for putting Pitts in an impossible position of guarding6-7 Dekker? result was 2 threes back to back

who is responsible for putting Tarc in the impossible position of challenging threes? Pack line doesn't help you there

who leaves Bash on an island in the post with bigger/stronger Kaminsky to begin the game and pick up 2 in the first 90 sec? Did Bash all of the sudden morph into an Aaron Gordon lever defender capable of doing what Gordon couldn't do last year?

2014 Kaminsky - 28 pts
2015 Kaminsky - 29 pts

Is this "do what we do", or is it the definition of insanity?

The bolded go exactly hand in hand. The reason Pitts was on Dekker was cause of Stan's eye. Unless of course you think Pitts should've been on Hayes instead?

In regards to Kaminsky, he was always going to get his. Our roster legitimately has zero answer for him and truthfully outside of Kentucky there isn't a roster that does in this country. Dekker and everybody else on the team being incapable of missing 3s in the second half is what did us in. Kaminsky was just a bleed that you play through.

Nothing worse than a sour ass after a loss when it's clear as day exactly why we lost. 10/12 from 3. END OF STORY.