Miller Time

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I should hope not.

He's not in danger of getting fired but boosters and the new AD won't accept that kind of performance and empty seats come 2010-2011. The individual and team regression has been very disturbing.

 

[green machine]

He's not in danger of getting fired but boosters and the new AD won't accept that kind of performance and empty seats come 2010-2011. The individual and team regression has been very disturbing.

May be disturbing but it shouldn't be totally unexpected. You know, but team lost two NBA players and has basically nothing to show from recruiting except some average-at-best players from the last couple years and then a solid but very young class from this year. I expect the team to improve as the season goes on, but I also am not surprised at the early struggles.

 

[AsUdUdE]

yeah.. got to agree with Mao on this one... I don't believe he is in any danger of getting fired or anything of that nature..

But it is safe to assume that this UofA team is their worst team in 3 decades, and needing a last second 3 in overtime to beat Lipscomb at home is CRAZY...

UofA knew they were going to take a step back, but I don't believe ANYONE believed they would be THIS bad..

Miller will have to answer to this... If they struggle in the PAC-10 and finish the year with a losing record, IMO, he wil have 2 more years MAX to correct to ship before getting canned.... Welcome to the hot seat Miller...

Crazy... who would have guessed...

 

[green machine]

yeah.. got to agree with Mao on this one... I don't believe he is in any danger of getting fired or anything of that nature..

But it is safe to assume that this UofA team is their worst team in 3 decades, and needing a last second 3 in overtime to beat Lipscomb at home is CRAZY...

UofA knew they were going to take a step back, but I don't believe ANYONE believed they would be THIS bad..

Miller will have to answer to this... If they struggle in the PAC-10 and finish the year with a losing record, IMO, he wil have 2 more years MAX to correct to ship before getting canned.... Welcome to the hot seat Miller...

Crazy... who would have guessed...

Maybe Mao can answer this for me, but how much was expected of Parrom? From what I remember he was pretty solid before getting hurt?

That, and I'm sure Horne's injury doesn't help things.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Parrom was expected to contribute but not be a star right off the bat. It's not that the team is playing poorly right now that's the problem, it's the team's regression. They're a much worse team now than they were in Hawaii with alleged griping in the locker room regarding the system. There's still a chance to turn things around this season due to the weakness of the Pac-10 but it ain't looking good.

Does ASU still want Kyryl?

 

[Gaddabout]

C'mon man, y'all need to bite the bullet and let the transition happen. Give him at least three years. Is there any doubt Miller can coach? He walked into a difficult situation and immediately turned recruiting around.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

C'mon man, y'all need to bite the bullet and let the transition happen. Give him at least three years. Is there any doubt Miller can coach? He walked into a difficult situation and immediately turned recruiting around.

Have to agree, c'mon Mao, of anyone on the board I'm a little surprised that you're so vociferous this early.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I'm not saying fire the guy and I think he deserves three years.

The points I'm making are:
- the team is not improving
- there's a huge hole at PG in 2010 due to recruiting failures
- there has been individual regression (Wise most notably)

Now I realize Sean Miller came here with the idea that he wanted to tear everything down so he can rebuild it in his own way but what he doesn't realize is that the tournament streak is a point of great civic pride for Tucson and the UofA. This isn't Sendek's first year at ASU or even the post-Lavin UCLA. He should be trying to win now with this roster and this garbage conference.

The season's still not over, if they can find a way to beat NC State and BYU then they go into the Pac-10 in just as good of shape as anyone else in the Pac-10 not named Washington and Cal. I'd just like to see some more out of this roster because thus far it's been underachieving.

 

[Dback Jon]

Last night definately was a new low for Arizona Basketball since Lute turned the program around.


But what is more important, Mao - the Streak, or rebuilding the program?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

But what is more important, Mao - the Streak, or rebuilding the program?

That's the Million Dollar question right there. Miller much like Ben Howland in year 1 at UCLA or Herb Sendek in Year 1 at ASU obviously thinks it's the latter. Personally I don't think it's a one or the other scenario.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

The tourney streak is impressive as hell, but unless there is a massive turnaround, I think it's in real jeopardy. (I know, sage analysis) Needing a buzzer beater to beat Lipscomb, a school I didn't even know existed, is certainly not encouraging. It certainly makes a win against BYU and NC State seem less likely. Perhaps the climb back to relevancy will be a little more difficult than many of you had predicted.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Making it 26 is an extreme longshot at this point.

 

[green machine]

Last night definately was a new low for Arizona Basketball since Lute turned the program around.


But what is more important, Mao - the Streak, or rebuilding the program?

That's the Million Dollar question right there. Miller much like Ben Howland in year 1 at UCLA or Herb Sendek in Year 1 at ASU obviously thinks it's the latter. Personally I don't think it's a one or the other scenario.

It shouldn't be a question. The streak is nice and all, but I want a team that contends for national championships. If that means taking a year or two to rebuild, I'm for it.

 

[Tyler]

It will be interesting to see what Miller can do against better competition in games, recruiting, slandering and so forth. I dont know that he can be a major conference coach, time will tell.

 

[Renz]

Miller got Xavier to the Elite Eight, he can obviously coach. He was left with Wise, Horne, Fogg and Lavender, not exactly a full cupboard.

Mike Krzyzewski was 38-47 in his first three years. I'm sure a lot of Duke fans wanted him fired then. The people freaking out after 10 games need to chill.

 

[Tyler]

Yea but he isnt playing the A-10 as his conference.........

 

[Chaplin]

It shouldn't be a question. The streak is nice and all, but I want a team that contends for national championships. If that means taking a year or two to rebuild, I'm for it.

 

[overseascardfan]

Yea but he isnt playing the A-10 as his conference.........

Yeah but the Pac-10 is looking like the A-10 this year. As Mao eluded to, Miller isn't going anywhere, I say he has at least 2 years, hopefully he doesn't turn into Billy Gillespie. If Miller doesn't pan out maybe Cal will be investigated by then and we can get him to come here after UK forfeits some wins.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Yea but he isnt playing the A-10 as his conference.........

You're right - he's playing in the much weaker Pac-10. And Miller went something like 25-11 against the power conferences during his time at Xavier so he's proven he can coach and win at any level.

The problem is what he's currently doing at Arizona. Any decent coach can get marginally talented players to buy into his system (see Herb Sendek or Miller with XU's players). Getting a group of top 100 kids with NBA aspirations and countless people in their ears to buy in and win championships is the next step for Miller as a coach. Miller has a mandate to do that due to the size of his paycheck and he's failed thus far.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

You know I really dont have a problem with what Miller is doing right now.

1. Wise is a good PG, but nearly all of his weaknesses have been covered up by playing with Bayless, Budinger, and Hill. Now that he doesnt have anyone to help take the pressure off (especially from the perimeter) he is going to find it much more difficult to score.

2. Derrick Williams is the 2nd best player on the team and hes playing out of position. He has to play center, which is fine, however the problem is UA has nobody who can attack on offense or rebound the basketball to keep defenses honest.

3. Besides Fogg, nobody is hitting outside shots, which is huge.

4. Going off #2, Hill and Wise are the only two players who can attack on offense. Wise is too small to finish in traffic and Hill cant drive and kick (his best asset), because nobody moves on offense or can hit a jumper.

5. We are a terrible defensive rebounding team. If we could limit offensive rebounds we would have won against UNLV and Vandy.

6. Our best bet since the opening week of the season was to win at Staples and that remains true. We have enough talent to go on a run, but we need to correct some major problems first.

7. Our future is going to depend on recruiting. If we dont land a PG for 2010 we are in bad shape. The problem is going to be Pastner's success in the next few years. We already know he can recruit at his own program (#1 or #2 class for next year). If he keeps winning at Memphis there are going to be some people pushing for him if Miller doesnt do well.

 

[Wildcat05]

While I don't disagree with what anyone is saying, my opinion is that the only reason we're talking about it is because the streak is under threat. Is Miller doing a horrible job? I don't think so. As far as the rebuilding process goes, he might be a little behind schedule. By the way we're playing, it looks like the streak is over. But I think we were all just a little bit unrealistic to realistically think that we'd make the tournament in the first place after losing so much talent and filling the gaps with true freshmen.

 

[overseascardfan]

You know I really dont have a problem with what Miller is doing right now.

1. Wise is a good PG, but nearly all of his weaknesses have been covered up by playing with Bayless, Budinger, and Hill. Now that he doesnt have anyone to help take the pressure off (especially from the perimeter) he is going to find it much more difficult to score.

2. Derrick Williams is the 2nd best player on the team and hes playing out of position. He has to play center, which is fine, however the problem is UA has nobody who can attack on offense or rebound the basketball to keep defenses honest.

3. Besides Fogg, nobody is hitting outside shots, which is huge.

4. Going off #2, Hill and Wise are the only two players who can attack on offense. Wise is too small to finish in traffic and Hill cant drive and kick (his best asset), because nobody moves on offense or can hit a jumper.

5. We are a terrible defensive rebounding team. If we could limit offensive rebounds we would have won against UNLV and Vandy.

6. Our best bet since the opening week of the season was to win at Staples and that remains true. We have enough talent to go on a run, but we need to correct some major problems first.

7. Our future is going to depend on recruiting. If we dont land a PG for 2010 we are in bad shape. The problem is going to be Pastner's success in the next few years. We already know he can recruit at his own program (#1 or #2 class for next year). If he keeps winning at Memphis there are going to be some people pushing for him if Miller doesnt do well.

Interesting point about Pastner, if Miller doesn't restore this program in 3 years, the boosters will be pushing for Pastner if he has any kind of success at Memphis. I think the knock on him is that while he can bring in talent he hasn't proven he can coach them, we'll see. Miller is doing a great job with what he's got, which is a roster of players who are not NBA ready to include Wise. He scored with DB and will get Sidiki in 2011 barring a decommit, Josh Selby will determine the success of the 2010 team, he is a must get if Miller wants to win next year. IMO, the streak ends this year, our below .500 OOC schedule and the fact that the Pac-10 is looking at 2 teams at the most getting in this year, winning 18 games (which would be a miracle at this point) will not impress the committee.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

All the guys in the NBA wanted Pastner to replace Lute so money would never be an issue.

 

[overseascardfan]

I think Josh will use the Memphis job to prove himself, ala Jeff Capel and VCU, hopefully he holds no grudge against UA for the way he was let go.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I think Josh will use the Memphis job to prove himself, ala Jeff Capel and VCU, hopefully he holds no grudge against UA for the way he was let go.

He wasn't let go, he realized the writing was on the wall with Lute and left to join up with Calipari. Josh is a Lute guy so there's probably some beef between him and Livengood but Sunny Jim and his people are toast so that's a moot issue.