Arizona Basketball 2016-2017 Season

[Russ Smith]

Wouldn't have mattered. On Ristic's last post up I saw I needed to see from him. He didn't work hard to back down his man. He gave up too far from the hoop. He wasn't deep enough to cause a doubleteam to open up someone else, and he put up a short range airball. Ive said it for two years, for a big man he's tissue soft and proves it again with that play and an inability to get position down the stretch. For all their "size" they played small ball around the perimeter with bad shots most of the game. That's Miller's fault. Awful.

He kept them in it earlier though. Trier had an amazing stretch there I think 15 straight, but he froze out the rest of the team, Ristic stopped getting it and Markkanen barely touched it.

One thing on Ristic as I pointed out in the St Mary's game, he's constantly hitting guys in the head and face, they called him out for doing it to Macura but on that missed shot you're talking about he shot a righty hook, hit the defender in the face with his left hand and then basically threw the guys head back, when they were replaying the out of bounds call you could see the guys head snapping back from Ristic' left hand.

 

[TJ]

Miller got worked by Mack. Not featuring Lauri for the past several games caught up to him. Trier swallowed the rock and tried to earn himself more NBA money.

Terrible game. Wasted season.

 

[Cheesebeef]

So, gonzaga will FINALLY get over the hump and into the Final Four by beating... an 11 seeded Xavier? Blegh.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I hate Arizona sports. ******* do I hate them.

I know totally expect the Suns not only to lose the lottery, but probably end up with the 6th pick with three teams leaping over them.

 

[Russ Smith]

So, gonzaga will FINALLY get over the hump and into the Final Four by beating... an 11 seeded Xavier? Blegh.

I'm pulling for Xavier. Kills me to see how good Blueitt is, he decommitted from UCLA because we took I Ham. Would much rather have Blueitt but he apparently figured Daniel Hamilton would follow his brother to UCLA so he decommited. That kid is good.

 

[GatorAZ]

Three west coast teams probably going to the E8 and Arizona not one of them.

Miller needs to shake up his staff or bring in someone that knows anything about offense but he's too stubborn.

 

[Chaplin]

Here's the story: Trier goes off -- great, we're up by 8, I'm feeling pretty good...

Xavier does the smart thing and calls a timeout. We return, and guess what? Trier can't hit anymore. Fine, but meanwhile our freaking STAR player literally only gets ONE SINGLE TOUCH the last 2 minutes. One! Instead we're subject to Alkins, PJC and Trier playing keepaway at the top of the key over and over and over for the entire shot clock. And then missing an off balance terrible jumper and Ristic and Lauri getting outmuscled for an offensive rebound. I don't know, was Miller EXPECTING us to keep getting offensive rebounds with under 90 seconds remaining? That's pretty stupid if true.

Terrible, terrible coaching.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Here's the story: Trier goes off -- great, we're up by 8, I'm feeling pretty good...

Xavier does the smart thing and calls a timeout. We return, and guess what? Trier can't hit anymore. Fine, but meanwhile our freaking STAR player literally only gets ONE SINGLE TOUCH the last 2 minutes. One! Instead we're subject to Alkins, PJC and Trier playing keepaway at the top of the key over and over and over for the entire shot clock. And then missing an off balance terrible jumper and Ristic and Lauri getting outmuscled for an offensive rebound. I don't know, was Miller EXPECTING us to keep getting offensive rebounds with under 90 seconds remaining? That's pretty stupid if true.

Terrible, terrible coaching.

Yeah... I thought it was OVER when they went up 8. Apparently the team thought so also.

That was freaking terrible.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Here's the story: Trier goes off -- great, we're up by 8, I'm feeling pretty good...

Xavier does the smart thing and calls a timeout. We return, and guess what? Trier can't hit anymore. Fine, but meanwhile our freaking STAR player literally only gets ONE SINGLE TOUCH the last 2 minutes. One! Instead we're subject to Alkins, PJC and Trier playing keepaway at the top of the key over and over and over for the entire shot clock. And then missing an off balance terrible jumper and Ristic and Lauri getting outmuscled for an offensive rebound. I don't know, was Miller EXPECTING us to keep getting offensive rebounds with under 90 seconds remaining? That's pretty stupid if true.

Terrible, terrible coaching.

And the IDIOTIC fouls in the last two minutes handing them four points while they were still down.

Man, that sucked.

 

[TJ]

At least Miller is owning it. Now, figure out how to make this not happen again

 

[Phrazbit]

Quick take... we lose another game where we blew our final timeout before the final minute even started, I feel like that has happened an inordinate amount of times. Blowing a 7 point lead with... what was it, 3 1/2 minutes to go, and being out of timeouts... just terrible clock management.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Quick take... we lose another game where we blew our final timeout before the final minute even started, I feel like that has happened an inordinate amount of times. Blowing a 7 point lead with... what was it, 3 1/2 minutes to go, and being out of timeouts... just terrible clock management.

it was 8 with 3 1/2 left, 7 with 2:30.

 

[ajcardfan]

Quick take... we lose another game where we blew our final timeout before the final minute even started, I feel like that has happened an inordinate amount of times. Blowing a 7 point lead with... what was it, 3 1/2 minutes to go, and being out of timeouts... just terrible clock management.

Yes.

Normally I'm a total ass to you guys, but I'm going to pass tonight. Other than to say I agree with this and have had this insight myself. Miller does not value time outs as much as a lot of coaches in the NCAA. You can get away with it some times, but other times a lack of a time out is killer. Miller is an A+ recruiter but ingame strategy I would say he is a B.

 

[Chaplin]

Yes.

Normally I'm a total ass to you guys, but I'm going to pass tonight. Other than to say I agree with this and have had this insight myself. Miller does not value time outs as much as a lot of coaches in the NCAA. You can get away with it some times, but other times a lack of a time out is killer. Miller is an A+ recruiter but ingame strategy I would say he is a B.

A B is generous.

 

[GatorAZ]

Im not stressing out over Trier going pro even though it leaves the backcourt in shambles having to rely on two incoming freshman who aren't 5* talents. I just want a change from the hero ball.

Obviously Duval would be huge but that seems like a long shot at this point. I mean who wouldn't want to play in such an exciting offense!

 

[Russ Smith]

Yes.

Normally I'm a total ass to you guys, but I'm going to pass tonight. Other than to say I agree with this and have had this insight myself. Miller does not value time outs as much as a lot of coaches in the NCAA. You can get away with it some times, but other times a lack of a time out is killer. Miller is an A+ recruiter but ingame strategy I would say he is a B.

UCLA board full of people pointing otu the irony of Miller needing the Timeout he called with .9 against us to get back at Alford. That's a control thing Howland was the same way and it hurt UCLA several times too. Miller uses timeouts to organize the team, often times it works, that big run by Trier to get the lead came out of one IIRC, but it burned him at the end

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

It really boils down to this: Will Miller figure out that getting great ball players and hoping they can manufacture something one on five doesn't work. Lauri should've touched the ball every possession down the stretch. A structured offense would lead to that. Instead we saw them all passed around the three guys at the top of the zone with little-to-no movement. And the passes weren't even crisp. A good deal of time they lagged and were lazy looping passes. That's not going to catch a zone out of position. It's just going to waste clock. The issues offensively have existed since he got here but he had a D Williams who could take over games on his own. Without that transcendent player (and williams was that, or close to that, at the collegiate level) Miller has no offense other than hoping his size and/or athletes will dominate. It's the reason they lose to really well-coached but underwhelming talent teams or to teams where the talent matches them. They can beat the teams where the talent is inferior and the coaching is just okay or a tad bit above average or the really good teams (like ucla or Oregon) but in the latter situations they only win when their talent is just a tad bit better.

Even their defense stunk down the stretch last night against a well-coached organized team. Xavier was either getting layups, dunks, free throws, or open 3's consistently to close the game.

Even morning after I'm disgusted.

I wouldn't entertain getting rid of Miller. He gets recruits and keeps Zona relevant in the regular season and wins some tourney games. But unless he ends up with the most dominant player in the nation and that guy just takes over games in the tournament I am never going to expect much from Miller teams, much less final fours and/or championships. The whimper in this tourney even makes me less prone to want to get excited next season if they start the season well.

 

[overseascardfan]

Announcers were constantly saying get the ball to Markkanen in the high post to where he could shoot over smaller defenders or pass to a cutter going to the basket.

No way UA should have lost that game, more size and more talent XAV just wanted it more and kept battling.

 

[GatorAZ]

This is a humbling loss for Miller to his old team. Changes are coming... Hire Romar as an assistant.

 

[Russ Smith]

To what Ouchie said about the iso offense.

“They got a lot of great one-on-one type, iso players,” Xavier guard Quentin Goodin said. “But for them to do it so much, I guess that kind of threw me off. It made it easier on us — playing one versus three, one versus five at some points. It really made it easy on us to just focus on one guy and rebound the ball.”

Exactly what people were saying, yes Zo got hot and shot you back into the lead but he froze out the whole team.

 

[Russ Smith]

This is a humbling loss for Miller to his old team. Changes are coming... Hire Romar as an assistant.

Would be interesting, if Cal were to hire Pasternack(ex Braun assistant) who would UA hire to replace him. Seems like Miller needs an offensive minded assistant not another recruiter.

 

[slinslin]

As much as Markkanen should have gotten more touches, if he was even just a half-way decent defender at least there is no way Arizona could have lost this game.

 

[Dback Jon]

Miller clearly is a master recruiter.

And he won many games at Xavier and Arizona merely by having a lot more talent than most other teams.

But it astounded me how poorly they played as a team.

There is was what, one player on Xavier that would be starting for U of A?

3 that would get playing time?

they wasted Markkanen.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Gotta love the reactionary nonsense not just on this thread but everywhere this AM.

1. Miller is going to get to a Final Four if not win a National title. You don't recruit and win like he does and eventually not get over the hump. Dude wins 30 games a season, it's lunacy to get caught up in the small sample size of the NCAA Tournament (which his record is 19-10 by the way). He's like 8 points away from being a HOF coach, but since a few shots rimmed out he's a choke artist. Makes a lot of sense.

2. Last night was certainly not one of his best efforts for sure but also came against one if his long-time assistants. At the same time I put the loss more on Miller's inability to secure a quality PG over the last two years than his in-game coaching. All year the Cats had trouble closing out games. PJC is a WCC/MWC/WAC level player and Kadeem for all his positives isn't a big time PG either. A better point guard doesn't let Trier go into hero ball mode the last four minutes. A better point guard can get through screens on defense. A better point guard breaks down a zone. We didn't have it last night, still should've won though but that like everything with the program is on Miller and the players he handpicks.

3. I'm hoping Miller continues to blend the recruiting approach from his first few teams which were all defense and rebounding and continues to bring in shooters and offensive playmakers. The McConnell teams probably win a National Championship if they have good shooter or two. This years team gets to Final Four if they have a better point guard. Eventually there will be the right mix.

4. I really hope Trier was sick. The last four minutes and his first half defense were absolutely pathetic.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Miller clearly is a master recruiter.

And he won many games at Xavier and Arizona merely by having a lot more talent than most other teams.

But it astounded me how poorly they played as a team.

There is was what, one player on Xavier that would be starting for U of A?

3 that would get playing time?

they wasted Markkanen.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright isn't good and Kadeem Allen isn't really a point guard. Steady point guard play is absolutely crucial in the inevitably tight tournament games. Cats were terrible at closing out games all season, last night was no exception. Miller's coaching wasn't great but the crux of the issue is his point guard recruiting. Got fortunate with McConnell (who was an elite college defender and game manager but couldn't shoot) and the rest has been headcases or subpar.