Arizona Basketball 2017-18'

[SO91]

This GD state is cursed. I hate sports this year.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

WTF is going on with this team? With Trier coming back and all the Ayton hype, I was actually looking forward to watching reg season U of A b-ball for the first time in over a decade. They’ve been pathetic so far.

Very poorly constructed roster. No quality perimeter defenders, the twin tower thing was doomed from the beginning, and Trier doesn't move the ball. A lot of bad decisions over the offseason with the program.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Very poorly constructed roster. No quality perimeter defenders, the twin tower thing was doomed from the beginning, and Trier doesn't move the ball. A lot of bad decisions over the offseason with the program.

Meh I think that’s a weak explanation. You have arguably the most dominant inside-outside combo in the country. Depth with size. And a senior pg who has played a great many meaningful minutes. In addition the rest of the incoming class of freshmen were pretty highly rated. Something other than roster construction is the issue.

 

[GatorAZ]

Meh I think that’s a weak explanation. You have arguably the most dominant inside-outside combo in the country. Depth with size. And a senior pg who has played a great many meaningful minutes. In addition the rest of the incoming class of freshmen were pretty highly rated. Something other than roster construction is the issue.

Yeah it's more a coaching issue than roster construction. Recruit the best talent you can and coach them up. Miller refuses adjust his philosophies and it's infuriating. He will either win or lose doing it his way.

I disagree about PJC though. He's just not good. I don't think Miller ever invisioned him starting 1 year let alone 3. How many 5'9" unexplosive PG's are there starting in D1?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Yeah it's more a coaching issue than roster construction. Recruit the best talent you can and coach them up. Miller refuses adjust his philosophies and it's infuriating. He will either win or lose doing it his way.

I disagree about PJC though. He's just not good. I don't think Miller ever invisioned him starting 1 year let alone 3. How many 5'9" unexplosive PG's are there starting in D1?

I don’t disagree with you about PJC, but then shouldn’t recruiting a TRUE point be a priority to the point of being a MISSION? And I don’t mean a Kobi Simmons (who was the furthest thing from a point guard). Particularly in light of the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much of an offensive system, thereby necessitating a superior point guard to help on the offensive end of the court.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Meh I think that’s a weak explanation. You have arguably the most dominant inside-outside combo in the country. Depth with size. And a senior pg who has played a great many meaningful minutes. In addition the rest of the incoming class of freshmen were pretty highly rated. Something other than roster construction is the issue.

You can't play two strictly post players at the same time who can't defend ball screens in modern basketball, that's roster construction/scheme and on Miller.

PJC was a recruiting mistake that hasn't been fixed, he should've been recruited over a couple years ago. Kid's just not a good basketball player, some of it is size/strength and some of it is confidence either way it's on Miller.

Trier is a no defense ball stopper like I have never seen in the Miller era. That was evident last year and the year before (Gabe York who was a noted ballhog himself hated him) and Sean never reined him in or ran him. Again that's on Miller.

The freshmen are the freshmen. Ayton has been dominant as expected and the others have show flashes but Ayton was the only one expected to be a star from Day 1. Not on Miller that the others haven't been world beaters 6 games into their careers.

The most glaring issue with the program is Miller's failure to recruit a quality point guard out of high school over his entire tenure at Arizona. It's a real problem. Of course the FBI thing probably doesn't help but it's not the biggest reason they're struggling.

 

[AZCrazy]

You want a blue chip point guard, you gotta pay him. Apparently.

 

[overseascardfan]

You want a blue chip point guard, you gotta pay him. Apparently.

Or coach at Duke or Kentucky.

 

[Ronin]

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[gmabel830]

ASU is ranked and UA is not... what kind of world is this?!?!

 

[TJ]

Not sure what was more entertaining: Blowing out LBSU, or watching Miller rip the team during the press conference.

 

[GatorAZ]

Season saver. Ayton was unbelievable down the stretch of regulation and overtime.

 

[TJ]

Beat A&M and the ship will be righted. Seems like the team started playing as one in the 2nd quarter and OT

 

[Dback Jon]

Good game so far against #7 TAMU

Decent crowd here at Talking Stick

 

[Russ Smith]

Big win but how in the world was that game that close? A&M shot 5 FT's in the first 39 1/2 minutes of the game and still if that 3 didn't rim out on the stupid foul by Ayton you might have lost the game. Even with Trier playing poorly it's hard to see.

I still can't believe you guys lost 3 games and with the last 2 it could easily have been 5. There is still some chemistry issue, Miller has plenty of time to fix it and if Alkins is allowed to play he might be the missing piece, but right now the team just doesn't seem to click. Big games from Smith and Randolph tonight saved you.

 

[ajcardfan]

Big win but how in the world was that game that close? A&M shot 5 FT's in the first 39 1/2 minutes of the game and still if that 3 didn't rim out on the stupid foul by Ayton you might have lost the game. Even with Trier playing poorly it's hard to see.

I still can't believe you guys lost 3 games and with the last 2 it could easily have been 5. There is still some chemistry issue, Miller has plenty of time to fix it and if Alkins is allowed to play he might be the missing piece, but right now the team just doesn't seem to click. Big games from Smith and Randolph tonight saved you.

I'm probably the only one who follows Aggies basketball on the board. But, from their point of view, the G play on offense lost the game. Collectively, it was easily the worst shooting game for Starks, Wilson, Caldwell and Gilder this season. That allowed UofA to stay tight in the paint. And, the fouls were a bit lopsided I thought. Kentucky would have had more free throws than A&M, for sure.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm probably the only one who follows Aggies basketball on the board. But, from their point of view, the G play on offense lost the game. Collectively, it was easily the worst shooting game for Starks, Wilson, Caldwell and Gilder this season. That allowed UofA to stay tight in the paint. And, the fouls were a bit lopsided I thought. Kentucky would have had more free throws than A&M, for sure.

A&M only shot 14 3's in the whole game, out of 57 total shots. It wasn't like they were just hoisting long shots and that's why they didn't get to the line. Some of it was Williams was such a non factor on offense but some of it was just they didn't get any calls.

I will say this, Davis clearly walked prior to Ayton fouling him on that key late play where they correctly called the walk. The coach seemed to be arguing that call but it was clearly the right call, I guess he saw Ayton there and forgot to dribble the ball.

I'm just amazed the game was that close, it was largely defense A&M had 10 steals and 5 blocks. they shot a decent % from 2 and 3, and kept UA from having big runs.

Tough break for the kid at the end the shot nearly went down and then he misses the first FT and then trying to miss the last one he accidentally made it cementing the loss.

 

[ajcardfan]

It was clearly a walk by Davis. He seemed a bit surprised by the pass I thought. Like he already thought of rebound but Wilson dumped it off.

 

[GatorAZ]

The UNLV win saved the season. Had they lost that game in OT, after being swept in the Bahamas, could've mailed it in big time from there on out.

Trier is one of the most overrated players to come thru Tucson. Really looking forward to Rawle returning.

 

[Russ Smith]

The UNLV win saved the season. Had they lost that game in OT, after being swept in the Bahamas, could've mailed it in big time from there on out.

Trier is one of the most overrated players to come thru Tucson. Really looking forward to Rawle returning.

I'm guessing that after the 3 losses Miller took a step back and said we can't keep being this 2 dimensional just Trier and Ayton. It hasnt' seemed to bother Ayton, but Trier has only had 1 good(really good against UNLV) game and 1 mediocre and 1 bad game since. Trier's offense is so geared towards getting to the foul line, when the refs don't keep calling fouls he struggles.

I suspect UNLV is better than we realize, and I know A&M is good so 2 quality wins.

 

[Dback Jon]

Ayton was very impressive last night - the only Wildcat that really stood out consistently.

 

[TJ]

Aggies are one of few teams that can match the size and physicality of Arizona. It wasn't a great matchup for us, especially for a team who's seemingly looking for its identity. I'm impressed that despite missing a grip of open shots, the team never quit. Perhaps the UNLV was the pivot for the rest of the season and that the team can now start playing like the #2 team in the country.

Beat Alabama and we should be back in the Top-25.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Other than two awful passes I thought Dylan smith looked fairly good. So did Barcello. He’s got a nice feel for the game. I can see him staying for awhile and being a rock for Miller to lean upon.

 

[GatorAZ]

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So much for him possibly being held out due to the FBI stuff.

 

[Russ Smith]

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So much for him possibly being held out due to the FBI stuff.

Yeah I think it's clear Arizona is not going to voluntarily sit anybody like SC is doing with Melton. They're all in on we're playing everyone until the NCAA tells us we can't play them.

Assuming the Sexton suspension is the standard the NCAA is going with, the 2 kids who agreed to use the agent but didn't get any money, would get 1 game like Sexton did. Alkins presumably being the one who already got paid would have to sit more games but it would depend on how much he got, and it's not clear the NCAA knows that yet.