Miller once again does it again!

[TJ]

I think that's going to be a VERY interesting dynamic assuming he picks Arizona.

Jackson to me made sense, he's big enough and good enough to play quite a bit of 4 at the college level if he had to. he's also a great passer so you can play him with Alkins and Trier and not worry about chemistry. I don't see Ferguson as the same, he's smaller, not nearly as strong, his game is all 3 pointers or dunks on the break and he's not nearly as "tough" as Jackson is inside. I don't think you can play Ferguson at the 4 very much if at all.

So now you have 4 kids all 5 star, 1 a soph 3 freshman ostensibly competing for 3 spots. I really wonder if any of those 4 has the right mindset to come off the bench? The problem is the only one of the four who's even remotely a PG is Simmons so he would almost start by default unless you start PJC or Allen and then TWO of the 4 elite kids has to come off the bench. If you can make it work like calipari did awesome I just don't know how it's going to work for Miller with this group.

Smith seems like a real unselfish kid and is probably now the backup 4 if you get Ferguson. I just don't know if Ferguson will be content as a backup 3 and that's my guess what happens because I'd be very surprised if he's ahead of Alkins.

Will be fun to watch, first world problems for sure but chemistry could be a real challenge.

Jackson is not comparable to anyone as he's in a world of his own, but it's no use lamenting about not landing him, as UofA still has an excellent recruiting class and good roster looking ahead.

Assuming Ferg is in the picture:

Simmons/PJC/Allen
Trier/Alkins/Allen
Ferguson/Smith
Markk/Smith
Comanche/Ristic

A lot of youth and little experience (5 freshmen, which includes Smith), but tons of physical talent.Probably will add a front court grad transfer for depth and a regular transfer for '17.

 

[Russ Smith]

Interesting info! Maybe 97 and Ace have the same source??

I always wonder what these "sources" get from leaking info... How close to the actual coaching staff are they?

I seem to remember the Scout guys claiming Miller himself was annoyed with Ace specifically. Coaches must hate "leaks" but that's the way it will always be in any sport at any level. It will never go away as long as ppl pay.

There was that rumor that Craig Victor nearly picked LSU instead of UA because he was mad at Book because PGU had leaked his commitment to UA and allegedly their source was Book Richardson.

PGU denied it and of course Victor picked UA then left and is at LSU.

YOu just never know with kids. I actually believe that Jackson was in a position where he could not go wrong with any of his 3 choices.

 

[Russ Smith]

Jackson is not comparable to anyone as he's in a world of his own, but it's no use lamenting about not landing him, as UofA still has an excellent recruiting class and good roster looking ahead.

Assuming Ferg is in the picture:

Simmons/PJC/Allen
Trier/Alkins/Allen
Ferguson/Smith
Markk/Smith
Comanche/Ristic

A lot of youth and little experience (5 freshmen, which includes Smith), but tons of physical talent.Probably will add a front court grad transfer for depth and a regular transfer for '17.

Oh I agree lots of talent I'm just not sure how the chemistry works. I have to say if I were Miller I'd be desperately hoping PJC's defense improves because I think the key to the team would be PJC being able to start at the 1. If you start Simmons the defense will be better but I'm not sure the chemistry will work. The kids all like each other but I don't see the ball moving all of Simmons, Trier and Alkins are ball stoppers IMO.

BTW Osetowski picked Texas so that's one transfer(not a grad transfer) off the list for UA. The kid from Hawaii is apparently going pro so I'm not sure who else is on the list up front. I always assume Miller will get players.

 

[Russ Smith]

Congrats on Ferguson going to be very athletic next year still fascinating to see who Miller ends up playing at PG.

 

[GatorAZ]

The next two years should be a fun ride. I think next season alone the Pac will have three F4 caliber squads in AZ, Oregon and Team Lonzo.

 

[pinetopred]

Maybe I'm wrong but the things I've seen lately with AZ basketball no shooters we have one now

 

[Russ Smith]

The next two years should be a fun ride. I think next season alone the Pac will have three F4 caliber squads in AZ, Oregon and Team Lonzo.

We'll see on UCLA I don't think the defense is final 4 caliber but the offense sure could be. They're taking a summer trip to Australia so they get extra practices and some games which would be huge for developing chemistry.

If Jacobs stays at SC they could be really good too, he's declared but hasn't hired an agent. Also rumors Boatwright might leave.

Of the 3 listed I think Oregon is the favorite right now entirely because of chemistry most of that team has played together. UA has so many new kids and at key positions and UCLA has the whole how much does Alford play his son now question to answer.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

We'll see on UCLA I don't think the defense is final 4 caliber but the offense sure could be. They're taking a summer trip to Australia so they get extra practices and some games which would be huge for developing chemistry.

If Jacobs stays at SC they could be really good too, he's declared but hasn't hired an agent. Also rumors Boatwright might leave.

Of the 3 listed I think Oregon is the favorite right now entirely because of chemistry most of that team has played together. UA has so many new kids and at key positions and UCLA has the whole how much does Alford play his son now question to answer.

I totally forgot about the Alford son - ball conundrum! Wow that one is going to be interesting!

Nice get with Ferguson. Can't wait to see all that talent and athleticism together. Feels like a long time since that kind of collection of athletes were at Zona at one time.

 

[Russ Smith]

I totally forgot about the Alford son - ball conundrum! Wow that one is going to be interesting!

Nice get with Ferguson. Can't wait to see all that talent and athleticism together. Feels like a long time since that kind of collection of athletes were at Zona at one time.

Lonzo will start the question is how much PT does Aaron Holiday get. If it were me I'd bring Bryce off the bench.

For UA, more intrigue, day 3 of the signing period and Alkins still has not signed his NLI. No idea if it means anything but they even mentioned it at the Jordan Brand Classic.

I prefer Alkins to Ferguson.

 

[Lefty]

Rawle signs. This guy is a beast. Can't wait to watch this team next year.
http://www.azdesertswarm.com/recrui...s-national-letter-of-intent-with-the-wildcats

 

[GatorAZ]

MKG part II?

 

[Russ Smith]

Rawle signs. This guy is a beast. Can't wait to watch this team next year.
http://www.azdesertswarm.com/recrui...s-national-letter-of-intent-with-the-wildcats

I haven't seen Markkanen play except video, but of the 3 I've seen Simmons, Ferguson and Alkins, I think Rawle is the best player. Physically more ready for college, could lean out a bit but I'm sure he will and he's so strong and plays D.

Interesting to see how Miller works out the minutes but it's a good problem to have.

 

[overseascardfan]

Any buzz on possible grad transfers? I've read Ben Carter of UNLV is considering UA and 4 other schools including MICH ST.

There are a lot of interesting players out there: Spike Albrecht, Daniel Giddens and Derryck Thorton who has already been mentioned in this thread.

 

[DWKB]

Any buzz on possible grad transfers? I've read Ben Carter of UNLV is considering UA and 4 other schools including MICH ST.

There are a lot of interesting players out there: Spike Albrecht, Daniel Giddens and Derryck Thorton who has already been mentioned in this thread.

Thornton has already narrowed to 4 and Arizona isn't on the list.

 

[Russ Smith]

Any buzz on possible grad transfers? I've read Ben Carter of UNLV is considering UA and 4 other schools including MICH ST.

There are a lot of interesting players out there: Spike Albrecht, Daniel Giddens and Derryck Thorton who has already been mentioned in this thread.

Thornton is allegedly going to USC or UW and depending on who you listen to it's one or the other. Niel Nieves says USC, Basnight says UW so my guess is USC given Basnight's track record. He also has Kansas and Miami but I'd be surprised if he picked KU. Seems like he left Duke to avoid competition and seems likely he'd have more competition at Kansas than at USC or UW.

My guess is McLaughlin is gone by then. I loved the kid in HS he didn't look good at all at Duke but I do agree the way they used him was a poor fit for his style of play.

 

[DWKB]

Thornton is allegedly going to USC or UW and depending on who you listen to it's one or the other. Niel Nieves says USC, Basnight says UW so my guess is USC given Basnight's track record. He also has Kansas and Miami but I'd be surprised if he picked KU. Seems like he left Duke to avoid competition and seems likely he'd have more competition at Kansas than at USC or UW.

My guess is McLaughlin is gone by then. I loved the kid in HS he didn't look good at all at Duke but I do agree the way they used him was a poor fit for his style of play.

You Left Coast guys never think us flyover Univ have any chance.

 

[overseascardfan]

Thornton has already narrowed to 4 and Arizona isn't on the list.

I know, I said there were some interesting guys out there. The only guy I said UA was in on was Carter.

 

[Russ Smith]

You Left Coast guys never think us flyover Univ have any chance.

No I think Kansas is obviously better than USC or UW. The thing is Thornton left Duke because he knew he was going to be behind Frank Jackson and they're already recruiting over him again in the next class. Where do you think he gets more PT, Kansas, USC or UW? I would say the odds are KU will have more competition than either USC or UW would. He wants to play.

As to why USC seems to be the favorite, one of his former HS coaches posted on Twitter it's a done deal to USC that's where that is coming from.

I think he'd do great at KU but he appears to want to be closer to home and most importantly, he wants to play major minutes and my guess is it's easier for him to get that at USC than at Kansas.

Believe me if Deryck Thornton asked me what's the better choice for my career, USC, UW or Kansas I'd tell him to go to Kansas, Self is a great coach. I happen to think Enfield is' a poor X and O coach but he does teach shooting extremely well, all his players improve their shooting, and that's actually something Thornton needs. Romar would be an awful coach for him.

 

[GatorAZ]

Miller had an in-home with grad transfer Ben Carter. I get it from our end but it's hard to imagine him being ok with very limited minutes in his last eligible season.

 

[Russ Smith]

Miller had an in-home with grad transfer Ben Carter. I get it from our end but it's hard to imagine him being ok with very limited minutes in his last eligible season.

carter is intriguing because he might end up like Brendan Lane from UCLA to Pepperdine using the grad transfer rule but not playing the first year. People seem to have forgotten Carter tore his ACL in January, the 30th to be exact so he's less than 3 months removed from major knee surgery. He might be ready to go or he might not, you can clearly argue he should sit out a season.

But he's got Michigan State on him too so teams must be assuming he'll be healthy enough to play.

 

[Russ Smith]

Carter picked Michigan State. UA took a kid named Talbott something or other as a transfer but apparently mainly a practice body not going to play much at all.

The big news in the Pac 12 today is that USC's Julian Jacobs hired an agent and is staying in the draft. USC will probably drop a few notches now, McLaughlin is really good but him and Jacobs tag teaming the ball handling really worked for them last season. Now they're looking at asking McLaughlin to be the full time PG. They do have DeAnthony Melton and Jonah Matthews coming in but neither one is a PG even though they apparently intend to try Melton at the 1 some. They are still athletic and added Shaquan Aaron the transfer but Jacobs is a huge loss.

 

[TJ]

https://twitter.com/shift_smith10/status/730618255669334016

Nice transfer pickup.

 

[Russ Smith]

https://twitter.com/shift_smith10/status/730618255669334016

Nice transfer pickup.

I haven't seen him play but I'm surprised he picked UA. He apparently went to Asheville out of HS because his grades weren't quite good enough for SEC teams Bama and Auburn. He said a couple of days ago he wanted to play somewhere where his grandmother could see him play, he's from Alabama so Arizona seems pretty far away.

Very skinny, long, seems fairly athletic, shot poorly but as all the UA sites say his FT% is good so shot must not be broken.

Seems like a good fallback for the kid from Delaware who picked South Carolina but I haven't seen either of them play, no idea who's better.

UA still after the Aussie kid Keanu something or other.

 

[Lefty]

Keanu Pinder just committed to the UofA. 6'8" 200 pounds.

 

[Russ Smith]

Keanu Pinder just committed to the UofA. 6'8" 200 pounds.

UA took him when they found out they weren't getting Omer Yurtseven who verballed to NC STate this morning.

Interesting with both. Yurtseven is Turkish and being mentored by Enes Kanter. Just like Kanter he may never actually play college ball. Last week his coach in turkey came out and publicly stated that Yurtseven has been taking money from Fenerbache(sp?) for 3 years and just recently decided not to sign a big contract tellign them he wants to play in college instead. The coach said I don't know why he wants to play in college he's been paid for 3 seasons now, pretty clear the coach was mad he wants to go to college so he's trying to torpedo the kids NCAA amateur status.

Yurtseven also scored 91 points with 28 rebounds in a U-18 game in Turkey last week! 33 for 49 from the floor. Projected top 10 recruit late lottery pick next year but again, he may never actually clear. Utah and USC were also heavily involved Utah at one point was the favorite but they apparently were concerned he'd never clear.

UA took Pinder who was academically ineligible out of HS, committed to Nebraska because they had an Aussie assistant coach, then that coach was hired at New Mexico so he decommitted and committed to New Mexico. Then New Mexico told him he had to complete his soph year in Juco they weren't going to admit him academically at UNM so he decommitted from UNM. Then everyone else told him the same thing so he played his soph year while uncommitted and then finally committed to UA just now. He apparently will graduate with his AA in June so he should now be D1 eligible. There is apparently speculation UA intends to redshirt him but with the current roster they may have to not RS him this year just in case they need another big.


I should add "allegedly" on Yurtseven and Arizona because apparently the all knowing on PGU is claiming UA never recruited him even though they have been reported to have been involved with him for months now. No idea who's right.