Official 2006 Arizona Wildcats Basketball Thread

[Mrh182]

Getting swept by the LA schools is unacceptable. Getting swept on Senior weekend is unheard of. Changes need to happen and soon. Hopefully switching Shakur with Bayless will be the answer but I have my doubts.

I think Marcus leaving will be a good thing in the long run.... yea he's a player, but he has "Me first" tendencies as well, which isn't good

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I think Marcus leaving will be a good thing in the long run.... yea he's a player, but he has "Me first" tendencies as well, which isn't good

And I heard all this before about Igoudala, Salim, Hassan, and Chris Rodgers. Guess what? Those guys are gone and we continue to underachieve.

 

[Mrh182]

And I heard all this before about Igoudala, Salim, Hassan, and Chris Rodgers. Guess what? Those guys are gone and we continue to underachieve.

Weird you mention this, I'm actually reading a thread on the Rivals board titled:

"The Glorious Era: '87-'03 R.I.P."

 

[PHXSportsFan4]

Sorry if I sound stupid by asking this, but is Shakur related to Tupac?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Sorry if I sound stupid by asking this, but is Shakur related to Tupac?

No relation, although he does bear a casual resemblance to Jaleel White of "Family Matters" fame whose douchebaggery at every Bruins game makes me look fondly upon 30+ year old Tiger Woods' idiotic celebrations from the student section of the 2004 Stanford-Arizona game.

My biggest questions is whether Mustafa will continue the new Wildcat Senior Day tradition of getting outplayed by your counterpart during the day and getting popped for a DUI that night? Only time will tell...

 

[Russ Smith]

Sadly, the only player on UCLA's roster that has a realistic chance to be a contributor in the NBA is Darren Collison so Shakur is somewhat right. Unfortunately for the Cats there's more to winning college basketball games than NBA talent.

I think Afflalo will make the NBA but unlikely more than a bench player. If you listen to NBAdraft.net, Afflalo is the 15th pick this year, Collison is 8th next year and Shipp and Luc are both first rounders. That's why I think NBAdraft.net is a joke, they have Dragovic as a first rounder before the season started.

That was the weirdest thing I've seen in years, 38 minutes and UA was called for 3 fouls, they had to foul repeatedly just to get in teh bonus to make UCLA shoot. Even then Dillon is trying to foul Shipp in the backcourt and they called a jump ball. UCLA hit some really tough 3's late in the shot clock and the way the refs called the ballgame also helped UCLA as they were able to play physically.

I hope Shakur didn't ruin UCLA's season when he hit the back of Afflalo's knee diving for a loose ball. Early report is he's ok but the way this team gets injured you never believe the early report.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I hope Shakur didn't ruin UCLA's season when he hit the back of Afflalo's knee diving for a loose ball. Early report is he's ok but the way this team gets injured you never believe the early report.

Well, Shakur does have a knack for ruining seasons. See Arizona 2005 and 2006.

I really like Afflalo as a player, but all he can really do at a pro level offensively is shoot and right now he does not have enough height on his jumpshot or enough arc to get it off at the pro level nor is his ballhandling NBA ready. If he was more athletic I can see a team at #15 taking a shot at him but there's really not too much upside with him.

 

[Russ Smith]

Well, Shakur does have a knack for ruining seasons. See Arizona 2005 and 2006.

I really like Afflalo as a player, but all he can really do at a pro level offensively is shoot and right now he does not have enough height on his jumpshot or enough arc to get it off at the pro level nor is his ballhandling NBA ready. If he was more athletic I can see a team at #15 taking a shot at him but there's really not too much upside with him.

Agreed, he'll make someone's team and earn some minutes with his defense but his shot is too flat and there's no margin for error. when he gets tired you can see it immediately. Like in this game missed consecutive wide open 3's short because he had no legs at the time. I love the kid one of my favorite Bruins ever, but I'll be surprised if becomes more than a 10-15 MPG player in the NBA.

Apparently AA limped off the court but people say it's thought to be just a bruise. Completely accidental by the way, Shakur going after the ball.

I will say this for UA, jordan Hill is legit, he's going to be pretty good, plays tougher than most of the kids on that team. With him back, Budinger, Horne and Bayless coming back, they will have talent. I really feel bad for McClellan he's been through so much difficult stuff off the court and it sure looks like those knees are going to short circuit his career, he barely played today and Enberg said he looked really stiff in the practice yesterday. Would love to see him get healthy next year.

Gotta wonder what Lute does though, either change some assistants or something if he intends to keep coaching, or if he intends to retire, will Rosborough get the job?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

or if he intends to retire, will Rosborough get the job?

He had better not. If Lute retires after this year (I really doubt he will, at the minimum he'll stay through Bayless) then I'm hoping these last four years have put something in Livengood's head about keeping it in the family. There are simply too many yes-men within the program right now in my opinion and the last thing we need is one of those guys taking over.

We'll be fine, we still recruit well enough to win games, beat some good teams, and go to the Tourney. But as you UCLA fans know, that simply is not enough.

 

[Lefty]

He had better not. If Lute retires after this year (I really doubt he will, at the minimum he'll stay through Bayless) then I'm hoping these last four years have put something in Livengood's head about keeping it in the family. There are simply too many yes-men within the program right now in my opinion and the last thing we need is one of those guys taking over.

We'll be fine, we still recruit well enough to win games, beat some good teams, and go to the Tourney. But as you UCLA fans know, that simply is not enough.

Roz will not be the next coach when Lute retires. I hope it will be Gillespie or Few.

 

[Russ Smith]

Roz will not be the next coach when Lute retires. I hope it will be Gillespie or Few.

Gillespie would be a fabulous choice. When we played them early this year it was like playing a mirror image of UCLA, tough defense and lots of good sets. Very well coached team.

 

[Skkorpion]

I don't see Lute retiring, ever. He enjoys coaching too much. My guess is the UA athletic director will eventually have to force Lute out. The only question will be how far down does the program have to go before Lute's job becomes at risk.

UA has dominated hoops in this conference for so long, everbody just assumes Lute will continue fielding tournament level teams. IMO, the UA slide in hoops will continue and I don't buy mao's arguing that the problem is poor assistant coaches.

The problem is Lute. He's just getting old and other PAC coaches are out-working and out-coaching him.

 

[Lefty]

I don't see Lute retiring, ever. He enjoys coaching too much. My guess is the UA athletic director will eventually have to force Lute out. The only question will be how far down does the program have to go before Lute's job becomes at risk.

UA has dominated hoops in this conference for so long, everbody just assumes Lute will continue fielding tournament level teams. IMO, the UA slide in hoops will continue and I don't buy mao's arguing that the problem is poor assistant coaches.

The problem is Lute. He's just getting old and other PAC coaches are out-working and out-coaching him.

The UofA will never force Lute to retire. He built the program and he will say when he is done. The problem with this team is that there are a couple of guys who are not buying into Lute's system, they are only thinking of themselves. One particular player is Marcus Williams. I am not making this up, this came from a former Cat player.

I would not be surprised if Josh Pastner or Miles Simon don't return next year.

The Cats need to win at least two more games to get into the Big Dance. The ASU game is not going to be easy. They might not have won since December but the Devils have come close and eventually they will get a win.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

UA has dominated hoops in this conference for so long, everbody just assumes Lute will continue fielding tournament level teams. IMO, the UA slide in hoops will continue and I don't buy mao's arguing that the problem is poor assistant coaches.

The problem is Lute. He's just getting old and other PAC coaches are out-working and out-coaching him.

Of course it's on Lute, he runs the program. And like Bobby Bowden decided to surround himself with inexperienced guys who can't coach but are close to him in the twilight of his career. But you can't fire Lute though. Miles Simon, Jim Rosborouh, and Josh Pastner are a whole different story.

 

[Lefty]

Of course it's on Lute, he runs the program. And like Bobby Bowden decided to surround himself with inexperienced guys who can't coach but are close to him in the twilight of his career. But you can't fire Lute though. Miles Simon, Jim Rosborouh, and Josh Pastner are a whole different story.

Agree. The assistants are on one-year contracts so I would not be surprised to see Josh or Miles gone after this year. Maybe Jay John gets fired and Lute picks him up?

 

[Russ Smith]

The UofA will never force Lute to retire. He built the program and he will say when he is done. The problem with this team is that there are a couple of guys who are not buying into Lute's system, they are only thinking of themselves. One particular player is Marcus Williams. I am not making this up, this came from a former Cat player.

I would not be surprised if Josh Pastner or Miles Simon don't return next year.

The Cats need to win at least two more games to get into the Big Dance. The ASU game is not going to be easy. They might not have won since December but the Devils have come close and eventually they will get a win.

I would believe that except I live in the Bay area where Dick Davey was just forced to announce his "retirement" at Santa Clara because the AD and administration(Jesuit priests no les) decided they want to be like Gonzaga. Never mind they don't have the budget(paper says Santa Clara's hoops budget is 40% of Gonzaga's), they want to be like them. they hope they can hire Mike Montgomery, possibly Kurt Rambis, so they forced Davey to retire.

Santa Clara has tradition but nothing like UA, if UA feels the program is spiralling out of control they'll do the same thing, any school would. notice, Bob Knight's hystrionics didn't become too much for Indiana to ignore until IU started struggling on the court, then suddenly they didn't like Knight so much.

Lute's a much classier guy but if he struggles they'll push him out. I don't think UA is too that point yet though, they have a good recruiting class coming in. as Mao has pointed out before, part of the problem has been luck, kids leaving early they didn't expect to, kids who everyone wanted, that turned out to be massively overrated(like Tangara), and kids getting hurt(McClellan). some of it is bad judging of talent. We have all heard now that Collison wanted to play at UA, UA didn't think he was good enough, so he went to UCLA. Lucky for UCLA, bad judging by UA.

You get lucky, UCLA didn't target either Luc or Aboya, they wanted other guys and didn't get them. Roll was going to Santa Barbara until UCLA missed on a kid and offered Roll. Westbrook was looking at ASU or NC State (Sendek connection) until Farmar went pro, and UCLA took him.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

As Russ pointed out - the recruiting is going fine so the problem is obviously not a lack of effort by the coaching staff or budgetary constraints by the AD. I think Roz has gotta go, let Pastner and Simon continue their recruiting and player development and get a well-respected X's and O's guy under Lute. A former head coach if needs be.

 

[Lefty]

I would believe that except I live in the Bay area where Dick Davey was just forced to announce his "retirement" at Santa Clara because the AD and administration(Jesuit priests no les) decided they want to be like Gonzaga. Never mind they don't have the budget(paper says Santa Clara's hoops budget is 40% of Gonzaga's), they want to be like them. they hope they can hire Mike Montgomery, possibly Kurt Rambis, so they forced Davey to retire.

Santa Clara has tradition but nothing like UA, if UA feels the program is spiralling out of control they'll do the same thing, any school would. notice, Bob Knight's hystrionics didn't become too much for Indiana to ignore until IU started struggling on the court, then suddenly they didn't like Knight so much.

Lute's a much classier guy but if he struggles they'll push him out. I don't think UA is too that point yet though, they have a good recruiting class coming in. as Mao has pointed out before, part of the problem has been luck, kids leaving early they didn't expect to, kids who everyone wanted, that turned out to be massively overrated(like Tangara), and kids getting hurt(McClellan). some of it is bad judging of talent. We have all heard now that Collison wanted to play at UA, UA didn't think he was good enough, so he went to UCLA. Lucky for UCLA, bad judging by UA.

You get lucky, UCLA didn't target either Luc or Aboya, they wanted other guys and didn't get them. Roll was going to Santa Barbara until UCLA missed on a kid and offered Roll. Westbrook was looking at ASU or NC State (Sendek connection) until Farmar went pro, and UCLA took him.

This is the UofA, not a small-time program like Santa Clara. The games in McKale are played on Lute & Bobbi Olson Court. No way does the athletic department force him out. If they ever did the former players would boycott and not donate any money., as would many alumni & boosters. A brand new two-court practice center will go up this year and a lot of that money was donated by former players.

Lute is not the problem. I disagree with getting rid of Roz. Miles Simon has been there for two years and I have not seen any progress made by the guards. I really believe Lute made a mistake in hiring Miles. You need to replace a guy like Rodney Tention with a guy who has coaching experience. This is Simon's first coaching job.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I really believe Lute made a mistake in hiring Miles. You need to replace a guy like Rodney Tention with a guy who has coaching experience. This is Simon's first coaching job.

You're saying taking 10 years to graduate college and being a former promoter at Gentle Ben's doesn't qualify as experience?

 

[Lefty]

You're saying taking 10 years to graduate college and being a former promoter at Gentle Ben's doesn't qualify as experience?

I never understood the hiring of Miles. Maybe he has some damaging photos or something?

 

[Skkorpion]

You're saying taking 10 years to graduate college and being a former promoter at Gentle Ben's doesn't qualify as experience?

Zing! Did Simon flunk out at UA or did he just turn pro early? I don't remember.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Zing! Did Simon flunk out at UA or did he just turn pro early? I don't remember.

He left Tucson after his sports career ended without a diploma after going through some academic issues here and there. He came back after his professional career ended and spent a couple years working out with the team on his own as he finished his degree. Once he got it then he was given the assistant coach title which was a somewhat controversial decision at the time.

 

[Lefty]

Congrats to Jerryd Bayless for making the McDonald's All-American team. Let's see if he can be the second Cat(Chase) to win MVP of that game.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/preps/articles/0223bayless0224-ON.html

 

[Lefty]

Cats squeek out a three point win at McKale North. Props to ASU, they play very good defense but Herb needs to open up the offense a little more. That was one of the biggest complaints NC State fans had with him. If ASU can get a win in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, UCLA better not take them lightly.

As for the Cats, this was a big win. A loss would of been devastating. Nice to see Chase play big. Big props to Breilmaier. As for Marcus, what in the world were you thinking? Luckily ASU didn't practice missing their free throws in practice.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Counting down the days until Mustafa exhausts his eligibility.