2014 Arizona Basketball

[Russ Smith]

I dont care about the last second losses on the road or any ranking. I have seen enough games now to know what we are and can be. This team has the capability to win it all, and unless Kentucky is in the same bracket, should get to the Final 4. And even then may still get there.

I know its crazy but we are 1 of 2 teams that could potentially beat Kentucky. The other being Duke. Maybe Wisky. I actually think we will beat Kentucky as Zeus can play down low and rebound with them and I think our wings and PG are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better. So is our Coach. Wisky is the team that scares me. Well coached, good perimeter players and I keep having nightmares of Kaminsky looking like Nowitzki again.

Stanley and TJ have to own the tourney but now they have shown they can and I think they will. Love having a Senior PG, love our size inside and I think Johnson York and Pitts provide the outside fire power others claim we dont have.

Should be a special tourney. Lets get started already!

UA is definitely final 4 caliber but the problem against UK is that their backups are better than Tarc. They have at least 4 bigs better than him, they are scary good up front. I think the Harrison twins are overrated but Ulis is good as is Booker.

UK is just so long.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Miller hates ucla more than any other team in the conference. He will have the boys ready. Added to the fact that they're bad and Game Day is in town, there's no reason UCLA should win.

If only "reason" played a role. There was no reason for the losses at Southern Reno, Oregon State or ASU either but stuff happens. Hope it doesn't happen tonight. Besides, we've been better than UCLA and lost to them more than a few times in recent years. I like our chances but we've gone brick city and soft on D before.

Steve

 

[GatorAZ]

This team is either making the FF or losing in the first round.

 

[AzStevenCal]

This team is either making the FF or losing in the first round.

Nah. This team will be vulnerable in each round but they could just as easily advance all the way to the final.

Steve

 

[GatorAZ]

Stanley's offense is cringeworthy. He literally can't dribble.

 

[Russ Smith]

I can't believe the game was even that close. IF you told me we'd have Parker, Looney and Welsh all foul out especially the way it happned I would have expected a 30 point loss.

 

[Russ Smith]

Stanley's offense is cringeworthy. He literally can't dribble.

Powell ate him up but not enough offense and pretty hard to play with so many guys in foul trouble that early.

I'm amazed it was that close.

 

[TJ]

Powell ate him up but not enough offense and pretty hard to play with so many guys in foul trouble that early.

I'm amazed it was that close.

I'm not. UCLA's hope for the NCAAs is (was) on life support, and they tried to play physical. The problem was the officials called virtually everything, so that physicality got them in trouble.

I'm glad the Wildcats were able to win an ugly one.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm not. UCLA's hope for the NCAAs is (was) on life support, and they tried to play physical. The problem was the officials called virtually everything, so that physicality got them in trouble.

I'm glad the Wildcats were able to win an ugly one.

Well the frustrating thing for me was all the moving screens. yes they were moving screens, but the next legal screen Tarc sets will be the first.

I can handle calls for playing physical on defense, but what killed us today was the moving screens getting all the bigs in foul trouble.

I thought Rondae did a fantastic job on Looney and that and Parker and I Ham being invisible ended it.

Should have been a much bigger blowout but UA had those 2 droughts at the beginning of halves.

UCLA is just tough to watch this year, I don't care how many points Bryce had tonight his shot selection tonight was atrocious, some shots were so selfish it was unreal, and he can't guard anybody.

The key run he allowed penetration in the zone leadign to York's 3, jacked up a 3 kicks his leg out flails his arms begging for a call( I didn't agree wtih Bilas at all that was a good no call), then he ole's Stanley right by for a 3 point play ballgame.

So frustrating, he had 22 but I get so tired of him taking a contested 24 footer with no passes literally holding the ball and not getting yanked.

Good to be the coaches kid I guess.

 

[jw7]

I can't believe the game was even that close.

Not me. Arizona played like CRAP for the first 5 mins of the game with zero points and four turnovers. It seemed like they were trying to hand the game to UCLA.

I do agree with you that the refs were not liking UCLAs offense and quick to whistle, and that's what kept AZ in it.

 

[Russ Smith]

Not me. Arizona played like CRAP for the first 5 mins of the game with zero points and four turnovers. It seemed like they were trying to hand the game to UCLA.

I do agree with you that the refs were not liking UCLAs offense and quick to whistle, and that's what kept AZ in it.

We've been talking about it on UCLA boards all year. So much of the offense is running Bryce off screens and tonight many of those screens were called fouls.

I Ham on the ball Bryce off has been working lately, tonight I Ham was awful and we ran virtually every set to get a shot for Bryce.

Parker has had some nice games against UA, not tonight.

 

[Russ Smith]

Side question, the difference in the first half was Ristic, why did he play so sparingly in the 2nd?

 

[TJ]

Side question, the difference in the first half was Ristic, why did he play so sparingly in the 2nd?

Defensive shuffle when Looney started hot in the 2nd half. Per Miller

 

[Russ Smith]

Defensive shuffle when Looney started hot in the 2nd half. Per Miller

Weird game. If you're a UCLA fan the whole game went south at 13;55 in the first half. Looney had just got his first foul, they go to TO, and coming out Ristic forces up a shot against a double team, puts the ball right into Looney and they call a foul. I hate that call, Parker does it all the time too but that call puts Ristic at the line making it 7-2, Looney goes out, and 3 minute later UA has the lead.

Obviously UA was going to play better eventually but the difference between Looney and Goloman is so huge, especially in this game, it literally cost UCLA the entire lead in short order.

I have to hand it to York, he was huge in this game.

 

[overseascardfan]

Well the frustrating thing for me was all the moving screens. yes they were moving screens, but the next legal screen Tarc sets will be the first.

I can handle calls for playing physical on defense, but what killed us today was the moving screens getting all the bigs in foul trouble.

I thought Rondae did a fantastic job on Looney and that and Parker and I Ham being invisible ended it.

Should have been a much bigger blowout but UA had those 2 droughts at the beginning of halves.

UCLA is just tough to watch this year, I don't care how many points Bryce had tonight his shot selection tonight was atrocious, some shots were so selfish it was unreal, and he can't guard anybody.

The key run he allowed penetration in the zone leadign to York's 3, jacked up a 3 kicks his leg out flails his arms begging for a call( I didn't agree wtih Bilas at all that was a good no call), then he ole's Stanley right by for a 3 point play ballgame.

So frustrating, he had 22 but I get so tired of him taking a contested 24 footer with no passes literally holding the ball and not getting yanked.

Good to be the coaches kid I guess.

I get what your saying, but Alford is the reason UCLA did not get blown out by 30, well that and UA having a bad shooting night. Five guys got into the scoring column and 2 only had 2 pts each, the bigs getting in foul trouble forced Alford into being more selfish.

 

[Russ Smith]

I get what your saying, but Alford is the reason UCLA did not get blown out by 30, well that and UA having a bad shooting night. Five guys got into the scoring column and 2 only had 2 pts each, the bigs getting in foul trouble forced Alford into being more selfish.

I guess we just disagree. He's the PG, he is supposed to involve the whole team. On the year he's shooting 39% and leads the team in FGA's. He has to run an offense.

 

[TJ]

I guess we just disagree. He's the PG, he is supposed to involve the whole team. On the year he's shooting 39% and leads the team in FGA's. He has to run an offense.

Agree. Looney is arguably one the best freshmen in hoops and Alford goes Iverson out there when he shouldn't

 

[overseascardfan]

I guess we just disagree. He's the PG, he is supposed to involve the whole team. On the year he's shooting 39% and leads the team in FGA's. He has to run an offense.

Agree. Looney is arguably one the best freshmen in hoops and Alford goes Iverson out there when he shouldn't

Wasn't Looney along with the other front court players in foul trouble for most of the game (I didn't get to watch)? I understand Alford on the season hasn't shot well but he was the "hot" hand (for a better lack of a word) for UCLA last night.

Alford reminds me of Momo Jones, he is the de facto PG but he is more of a scoring, combo guard instead of a pure PG. So his tendency to "go Iverson" shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

[TJ]

Utah just suffered a costly defeat @ Oregon. If Zona sweeps this week, no worse than co-PAC-12 champs.

 

[Russ Smith]

Wasn't Looney along with the other front court players in foul trouble for most of the game (I didn't get to watch)? I understand Alford on the season hasn't shot well but he was the "hot" hand (for a better lack of a word) for UCLA last night.

Alford reminds me of Momo Jones, he is the de facto PG but he is more of a scoring, combo guard instead of a pure PG. So his tendency to "go Iverson" shouldn't come as a surprise.

To me Bryce is the definition of Fools Gold, he takes some incredibly difficult shots, some go in and then he takes more and they don't go in. He shot well against UA but it's not sustainable. One of the keys in the game was UA did such a good job keeping Looney off the O glass, that has been one of the better parts of Bryce's games, he drives or shoots a jumper, misses, and Looney cleans it up and scores.

Seemed like Rondae did a terrific job on Looney.

 

[TJ]

Just like against UCLA, Arizona looked inept on offense, and yet finds a way to win the game, this time @Utah.

I'm amazed at how York has developed this season.

 

[TJ]

Ohh and Gonzaga lost. UofA now owns the longest consecutive home court win streak in the Nation.

 

[GatorAZ]

Is Stanley hurt? His offensive game has always been overrated but he looks bad out there... If this team could've shot FT's like this last year they'd have another banner.

 

[TJ]

Is Stanley hurt? His offensive game has always been overrated but he looks bad out there... If this team could've shot FT's like this last year they'd have another banner.

He might be, or he's hit the freshman wall. Or just in a funk.

Despite all of that, he still had 12 points 11 boards.

BTW--Stanley's offense is not overrated. When scorers come to Zona, naturally, their scoring numbers go down because of the amount of surrounding talent along with a true facilitator in McConnel. You're just not going to have a 20ppg guy on this team. Just isn't going to happen. I will say that Stanley does need to finish stronger when penetrating.

 

[GatorAZ]

He might be, or he's hit the freshman wall. Or just in a funk.

Despite all of that, he still had 12 points 11 boards.

BTW--Stanley's offense is not overrated. When scorers come to Zona, naturally, their scoring numbers go down because of the amount of surrounding talent along with a true facilitator in McConnel. You're just not going to have a 20ppg guy on this team. Just isn't going to happen. I will say that Stanley does need to finish stronger when penetrating.

Im not calling his offense overrated based on numbers. He really isn't skilled offensively but he's so strong it doesn't matter at this level. When he dribbles it's cringeworthy lately.