Jerryd Bayless Recommits to Arizona

[Chaplin]

Looks like Bayless has changed his mind yet again and will go to UA.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The right decision to make considering all the hoops Lute had to jump through for this kid. Just goes to show that Arizona's elite still know where to go if they want the NBA to be a part of their future.

Still unsure of how this kid is going to affect the program and the at most two teams he plays on, but his talent is undeniable.

 

[Renz]

Good news!

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Williams to Budinger to Bayless.....

Hopefully its the best three year run of freshman players for any program in a long time......

 

[AZBALLER]

It's good to see a local kid stay home, but what is 1 year in the prgram going to do to help the ua program?

A couple of extra wins, and then he bolts for the NBA?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

It's good to see a local kid stay home, but what is 1 year in the prgram going to do to help the ua program?

A couple of extra wins, and then he bolts for the NBA?

I suppose you could say the same thing for Eric Boateng and James Harden, both of which have first round NBA potential. Does that mean those guys won't help the ASU Basketball program should they leave after one year at ASU?

A couple extra wins on a 2007-2008 Arizona team which right now look young but absolutely loaded could mean the difference between a Sweet 16 and a Final Four or a #2 seed vs. a #4 seed. Fact remains that you simply can't say no to a talent like Jerryd Bayless regardless of how long he intends to stay in school unless he brings some baggage with him (i.e. OJ Mayo).

 

[Russ Smith]

I suppose you could say the same thing for Eric Boateng and James Harden, both of which have first round NBA potential. Does that mean those guys won't help the ASU Basketball program should they leave after one year at ASU?

A couple extra wins on a 2007-2008 Arizona team which right now look young but absolutely loaded could mean the difference between a Sweet 16 and a Final Four or a #2 seed vs. a #4 seed. Fact remains that you simply can't say no to a talent like Jerryd Bayless regardless of how long he intends to stay in school unless he brings some baggage with him (i.e. OJ Mayo).

That's the same argument UCLA fans are making for them suddenly being in the Derrick Rose recruiting battle. Rose is widely considered a one and done, his brother has even openly talked about signing a shoe contract after highschool, hiring a trainer and playing one year overseas before going to the NBA. But he and Kevin Love are friends and Rose's new list is now listing only Adidas schools(he completely dropped Illinois) prompting rumors his brother has a deal for a shoe contract for Derrick if he plays one year at an Adidas school.

But UCLA fans I know say that he's simply too good to ignore and that much of the stuff is just rumor and probably not true. Personally while Rose is scary good, the fact that UCLA is suddenly involved with him is just scary to me.

No such talk surrounding Bayless that I'm aware of, he's more comparable to Love a special player who you take a chance on because he's just that good.

Boy the Pac 10 is going to be loaded in the near future if all these kids actually play. Latest rumor is Mayo has told Tim Floyd he's not coming to USC, I am shocked I tell you. He's moved back to West Virginia and rumor is he's back to K State, possibly West Virginia with a longshot of Marshall on the off chance he actually plays in college.

 

[Chaplin]

Kind of quiet, but UofA went 5-0 in Canada over the past couple weeks. Apparently, our best players were Daniel Dillon, Nic Wise and walk-on extraordinaire Bret Brielmeier.

Jawann didn't play because he's still rehabilitating and Ivan didn't suit up either due to some visa issues.

 

[Russ Smith]

Kind of quiet, but UofA went 5-0 in Canada over the past couple weeks. Apparently, our best players were Daniel Dillon, Nic Wise and walk-on extraordinaire Bret Brielmeier.

Jawann didn't play because he's still rehabilitating and Ivan didn't suit up either due to some visa issues.

I read one review that said Lute got a bit ticked at Budinger and benched him nearly an entire half in one game because he didn't like his defensive effort. but otherwise Chase shot the ball well. That same report said Shakur was the clear leader at PG no contest over prince and Wise, it was from a UCLA fan who apparently watched it on Canadian tv. Said Marcus Williams was outstanding.

 

[Chaplin]

I read one review that said Lute got a bit ticked at Budinger and benched him nearly an entire half in one game because he didn't like his defensive effort. but otherwise Chase shot the ball well. That same report said Shakur was the clear leader at PG no contest over prince and Wise, it was from a UCLA fan who apparently watched it on Canadian tv. Said Marcus Williams was outstanding.

Hmm, I heard from some UofA people that Wise will really push Mustafa this season at the PG spot. Most believe next year's backcourt will be Wise at PG and Bayless at SG.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I read one review that said Lute got a bit ticked at Budinger and benched him nearly an entire half in one game because he didn't like his defensive effort. but otherwise Chase shot the ball well. That same report said Shakur was the clear leader at PG no contest over prince and Wise, it was from a UCLA fan who apparently watched it on Canadian tv. Said Marcus Williams was outstanding.

Budinger had a viral infection and didn't play much, I'm guessing said UCLA fan still has lingering bitterness over Budinger and fell back on UCLA fan theory/wishful thinking that Chase doesn't like playing defense which of course is the only reason anyone could possibly pick Arizona over UCLA.

JP Prince who was getting rave reviews for his practice effort supposedly got back into Lute's doghouse with inconsistent defensive effort and poor shot selection. I'm guessing he'll likely transfer sometime in the next year if not sooner.

Walters was supposedly terrible against 6'8 scrubs which isn't surprising to anyone who has seen this guy play. I just hope Lute doesn't start him as some senior loyalty nonsense as he doesn't belong on the court against good competition around 95% of the time. Prep school recruit Jordan Hill has been impressing people this summer and obviously Radenovic will be an All Pac-10 contender with Fendi Onobuun getting quality minutes as well. Wouldn't surprise me to see a starting lineup of Ivan/Budinger/Williams/McClellan/Shakur come November.

 

[Russ Smith]

Budinger had a viral infection and didn't play much, I'm guessing said UCLA fan still has lingering bitterness over Budinger and fell back on UCLA fan theory/wishful thinking that Chase doesn't like playing defense which of course is the only reason anyone could possibly pick Arizona over UCLA.

.

Actually a UA fan on the UCLA board pointed out that the real reason Budinger probably didn't play in the 2nd half is he was sick. The guy said he had like 8 points early in the first half but wasn't guarding his man and came out and never went back in.

But yes there's no question there's a lot of UCLA fans still mad that Chase didn't pick UCLA. You can tell when people are saying they would rather have Nikola Dragovic(a kid NONE of us have even seen beyond one grainy tape you can barely see), than Chase Budinger a Mickey D's AA who looks like he's going to be a major star.

So far all the national experts seem to be picking UA ahead of UCLA largely because UCLA lost Farmar and UA gained Chase and got McClellan back. I will say this, I think people are completely underestimating how good Josh Shipp is, people don't seem to realize the only reason Bozeman played more than 10 MPG last year is that Shipp was out hurt.

Think the conference is going to be really competitive this year I'm hearing that UW's recruiting class is even better than expected.

 

[Chaplin]

Arizona is constantly being predicted to be top 10, and I've seen them ranked as high as #6 so far. I also like the talent of the Pac this year, but you'll be hard pressed to find a Pac team that will be able to compete on paper with the UA.

 

[Russ Smith]

Arizona is constantly being predicted to be top 10, and I've seen them ranked as high as #6 so far. I also like the talent of the Pac this year, but you'll be hard pressed to find a Pac team that will be able to compete on paper with the UA.

Honestly on paper I think UA, UCLA and UW are all pretty close. They all have some issues. UCLA is replacing their leader in Farmar, UW lost the best player in the conference in Roy, UA reportedly got killed on the glass in Canada.

UCLA lacks size, tallest regular player is going to be Mata who's about 6'8", but they have a lot of guys who play big because they have long arms and can jump(Mboute, Aboya,Keefe, even Mata).

UW has the best bigman in the conference in Hawes but how good how quickly? I'm hearing Pondexter is going to be a major surprise, that he's going to make a much bigger impact right away than expected.

Hell even USC 2nd semester could be really good. Taj Gibson was remarkably cleared by the NCAA even though he went to 2 prepschools who had academic fraud issues and will be a 21 year old true freshman this year! Foxsports is reporting that Davon Jefferson might be playing 2nd semester this year. If true and if he's in shape and not rusty look out, because assuming Pruitt becomes eligible at the same time they'd suddenly have quite a bit of talent although no talented C.

I'm biased I still expect UCLA to repeat because I think Howland has more talent this year than he had last year particularly on offense with the return of Shipp and the reputed improvement in Darren Collison. But it should be a very good year I think UA will be highly improved.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

If we are going on paper UCLA and UA are without a doubt equally talented. Both teams need stellar PG play to win the Pac-10. Can Mustafa step up and lead UA for an entire season? Shipp and Afflalo will carry UCLA, but Collison can put them back in the final 4.