UA & Pac-12 Basketball Thread

[Russ Smith]

Happens all the time.

OK cite the last 3 examples where a top 10 national recruit had a school use marketing to suggest they were a finalist when they actually weren't.

 

[Russ Smith]

OK cite the last 3 examples where a top 10 national recruit had a school use marketing to suggest they were a finalist when they actually weren't.

Crickets.

 

[ozzfloyd]

Lol. Really Russ? I don't get right on your 'challenge' and you post crickets after a couple hours. When I get a chance I'll do the appropriate research to satisfy to resident Dbag UCLA fan who's on half a dozen bball sites I frequent.

 

[Russ Smith]

Lol. Really Russ? I don't get right on your 'challenge' and you post crickets after a couple hours. When I get a chance I'll do the appropriate research to satisfy to resident Dbag UCLA fan who's on half a dozen bball sites I frequent.

Research? You said it happens all the time, shouldn't be a problem to name 3 or 2 or even 1 off the top of your head.

it happens all the time with kids lying about who's recruiting them, but it doesn't happen the other way around. For one thing, it's against NCAA rules for schools to talk about kids that aren't signed commits, so a school openly marketing about a kid they're recruiting is breaking NCAA rules. And in a recruitment like this if a school did do that they'd absolutely be reported by the other schools involved. Remember Duke reported Bazz not all that long ago and his violation was taking a visit to Duke(and UNC).

I'm on exactly one Arizona site, 2 UCLA sites and this one so like the earlier made up comment that one isn't true either.

 

[ozzfloyd]

Research? You said it happens all the time, shouldn't be a problem to name 3 or 2 or even 1 off the top of your head.

it happens all the time with kids lying about who's recruiting them, but it doesn't happen the other way around. For one thing, it's against NCAA rules for schools to talk about kids that aren't signed commits, so a school openly marketing about a kid they're recruiting is breaking NCAA rules. And in a recruitment like this if a school did do that they'd absolutely be reported by the other schools involved. Remember Duke reported Bazz not all that long ago and his violation was taking a visit to Duke(and UNC).

I'm on exactly one Arizona site, 2 UCLA sites and this one so like the earlier made up comment that one isn't true either.

My apologies Russ. Last evening was a combination of a bad day at work and then PWI, which is not good.

What I meant in my ill advised PWI was not that UCLA was behind stirring up misinformation, but possibly some of the fan sites like Bruin Report, etc. Not saying they did in this case however. I've seen mention of this tactic regarding a number of recruitments over the past few years, but mostly conjecture. So you're right in that respect. I've got nothing. lol.

Re: UA sites. I could have sworn I've seen you trolling UA's Scout site and Goazcats.com on occasion. lol.

Anyway, again, my apologies Russ on getting carried away while PWI,

 

[Russ Smith]

My apologies Russ. Last evening was a combination of a bad day at work and then PWI, which is not good.

What I meant in my ill advised PWI was not that UCLA was behind stirring up misinformation, but possibly some of the fan sites like Bruin Report, etc. Not saying they did in this case however. I've seen mention of this tactic regarding a number of recruitments over the past few years, but mostly conjecture. So you're right in that respect. I've got nothing. lol.

Re: UA sites. I could have sworn I've seen you trolling UA's Scout site and Goazcats.com on occasion. lol.

Anyway, again, my apologies Russ on getting carried away while PWI,

Gotcha, and not a problem. For the most part BRO was highly skeptical of the Winslow and UCLA talk up until a couple of days ago when they started reporting sources close to Winslow saying UCLA was a serious player. Even Gershon said so.

I post on the free UA scout.com board quite a bit. I've never posted on Go AZcats that I'm aware of. I post on BRO and Bruinzone and here that's about it. I occasionally post on the KU board more this year because I'm fascinated with this years KU team, love Wiggins, Selden and Embiid.



Great kid, wish he'd picked UCLA.

Very disappointed in Jessie Wildcat's response to all this, I was expecting an epic meltdown but so far it's just more talk about Duke collusion and how Millers' staff needs to respond and report to the NCAA.

Jessie went so far hounding Duke recruiting sites with nonsense about the Winslow recruitment that one of jessies several Twitter accounts got banned for spam and harassment. Jessie then started contacting Twitter threatening to sue them. I know this because I have a buddy who works at Twitter and he's a huge Duke fan so a couple of the guys there told him the story wondering if he had any idea what this nutjob Jessie was talking about. he doesn't follow recruiting closely so he asked me and I explained to him who Jessie was.

Still amazes me the Scout sites let Jessie do that stuff, they have to think it generates posts and that's all they care about. To me it's like allowing graffiti and broken windows in a neighborhood, after awhile it just shows you don't particularly care what happens.

 

[ozzfloyd]

Gotcha, and not a problem. For the most part BRO was highly skeptical of the Winslow and UCLA talk up until a couple of days ago when they started reporting sources close to Winslow saying UCLA was a serious player. Even Gershon said so.

I post on the free UA scout.com board quite a bit. I've never posted on Go AZcats that I'm aware of. I post on BRO and Bruinzone and here that's about it. I occasionally post on the KU board more this year because I'm fascinated with this years KU team, love Wiggins, Selden and Embiid.



Great kid, wish he'd picked UCLA.

Very disappointed in Jessie Wildcat's response to all this, I was expecting an epic meltdown but so far it's just more talk about Duke collusion and how Millers' staff needs to respond and report to the NCAA.

Jessie went so far hounding Duke recruiting sites with nonsense about the Winslow recruitment that one of jessies several Twitter accounts got banned for spam and harassment. Jessie then started contacting Twitter threatening to sue them. I know this because I have a buddy who works at Twitter and he's a huge Duke fan so a couple of the guys there told him the story wondering if he had any idea what this nutjob Jessie was talking about. he doesn't follow recruiting closely so he asked me and I explained to him who Jessie was.

Still amazes me the Scout sites let Jessie do that stuff, they have to think it generates posts and that's all they care about. To me it's like allowing graffiti and broken windows in a neighborhood, after awhile it just shows you don't particularly care what happens.

Jessie is horrid. He's been kicked off Goazcats.com a dozen times. His/her posting style is so obvious all it takes is one post and everything is like "oh not again"... a troll (an a mentally deficient one at that) that is a bane on AZ sports.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

You never know I suppose, this is the definition of a trap game with Duke looming next Friday and DU kept it close vs UCLA plus more of a "home" game for you.

But yeah, Cats by double digits.

These crowds aren't usually huge - although I'd expect Drexel to have better numbers than anyone except Duke, which should have the bulk of the crowd

I know there are some alumni and student groups getting things organized for pre/post game parties and working on getting as much of a block as they can - tickets are reasonable given that there are a pair of top 6 teams playing a double header in the Garden

Probably a decent student turnout as class wont be in session and kids on co-op typically would have at least Thurs/Fri off and could probably hustle there for a Wednesday game if they are able to get out early

Even with that though, a strong turnout is probably only a couple thousand - so really not much of an advantage in that regard

Definitely easier travel so that's an advantage

Although, they typically play in smaller gyms and don't do a lot of these big arena tournaments so that may impact them a little bit as well

However, as Russ mentioned the matchups are really tough

Drexel is pretty good but they have no size, way too small to match up with UA inside. When UCLA played them they had one big named Ruffin who's about 6'8" with a Baron Davis beard, looks to be about 40 years old, and is tough as nails inside. Another big was ok and that's it. Their guards are pretty good. Massenat had 20 against us but that included 8 points in 2 minutes with Bryce Alford on him before dad figured it out and went zone when Bryce was in.

They like to spread the court and dribble drive but that won't work with UA's shot blockers. They have some guys who can get hot from 3 but against UCLA they weren't hot 5-23.

As long as Miller doesn't have a son in there trying to guard someone UA should win fairly easily.

Always interesting to hear another point of view

Dartaye Ruffin does have a bit of Greg Oden in him - mainly in that he looks like he's 40 .... the guy is tough though - during his freshman year he worked really well with their existing big playing limited minutes .... however, last year when he needed to be the guy it really showed how limited he was down low as both his ppg & rpg fell off a cliff .... hopefully this year he does better, although early it still looks like he's going to be more of a cleanup guy who will get some on the break as well - not a credible offensive threat inside

Massenet is a good player at the point and has good size - he gets into traffic a little bit better than expected as he's not particularly explosive

Chris Fouch is typically the best shooter on the team, but has been snakebit by injuries - he missed pretty much all of last year and has been inconsistent so far this year

Tavon Allen is in his 2nd year and looks to be more in control out there - what's interesting with him is that he shoots with either hand depending on where he is on the court

Damion Lee is another guard type player that is like a mor in control Tavon Allen

The other guy on the court is Kazembe Abif - he's fairly big and athletic, but really plays with more energy than purpose .... easy to get into foul trouble, out of position, etc

That's pretty much it

Team has no depth and will run 6 for the most part

The guards will interchange and if the bigs need a rest or get into foul trouble they'll go small

Against a team like AZ that has more size they'll probably look at their freshman bigs though - Rodney Williams and Mohammed Bah .... Williams has gotten a little bit more run this year and has spotted in to every game, but really only in limited minutes

Under Bruiser the team has played their best when he's had decent sized guards that can pressure & play defense, someone who can hit a 3 and a credible scoring threat inside ......... this team lacks that inside threat

They also lack more than 1 strong defender down low - they have had in the past a couple that could

Russ is pretty much right on with this one - Drexel lacks in size, depth and athleticism which tilts this one pretty heavy towards the 'Cats

Their best hope to keep it close is to pressure the ball once it hits half court, use their full shotclock on offense and then get hot from 3 to draw people out and open the court

Basically they need to have everyone play to their ability and a couple over their head to have any chance at all

They also need to make layups and free throws - something they've been notorious for not doing for a long time now and it's very, very frustrating

They take a lot of midrange shots, rely on guards for floaters for anything inside and have their best chance to score when they break .... except they don't have the depth or athleticism to play a break style, so what happens a lot is they'll get a couple stops/turnovers, break off of it and speed up the temp of the game - a tempo that continues to be fast after the stops/turnovers fade and it always spurs the other team onto a run

Even with all that I'm excited for them to just be there and am going to have fun watching the game with some UA fans

 

[splitsecond]

Gotcha, and not a problem. For the most part BRO was highly skeptical of the Winslow and UCLA talk up until a couple of days ago when they started reporting sources close to Winslow saying UCLA was a serious player. Even Gershon said so.

I post on the free UA scout.com board quite a bit. I've never posted on Go AZcats that I'm aware of. I post on BRO and Bruinzone and here that's about it. I occasionally post on the KU board more this year because I'm fascinated with this years KU team, love Wiggins, Selden and Embiid.



Great kid, wish he'd picked UCLA.

Very disappointed in Jessie Wildcat's response to all this, I was expecting an epic meltdown but so far it's just more talk about Duke collusion and how Millers' staff needs to respond and report to the NCAA.

Jessie went so far hounding Duke recruiting sites with nonsense about the Winslow recruitment that one of jessies several Twitter accounts got banned for spam and harassment. Jessie then started contacting Twitter threatening to sue them. I know this because I have a buddy who works at Twitter and he's a huge Duke fan so a couple of the guys there told him the story wondering if he had any idea what this nutjob Jessie was talking about. he doesn't follow recruiting closely so he asked me and I explained to him who Jessie was.

Still amazes me the Scout sites let Jessie do that stuff, they have to think it generates posts and that's all they care about. To me it's like allowing graffiti and broken windows in a neighborhood, after awhile it just shows you don't particularly care what happens.

hahahahaha that guy just never stops. surprised it hasn't shown up on goazcats yet. i dont think he has much of an audience there anymore though.

 

[ProdigalSun]

Nailbiter versus Drexel tonight

 

[Lefty]

Nailbiter versus Drexel tonight

This is exactly what they needed.

 

[ProdigalSun]

I agree...you learn more from these types of games than the constant blowouts. I hope Duke beats Alabama so that we can get to see this team vs the Parker and Hood Blue Devils

 

[jw7]

Drexel played really well. Only reason the 'cats won was because all their guys got hurt or fouled out.

Agree. Team did not play like a national #4. Although Tarczewski is starting to look pretty good.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

Unfortunately my petition to have a 20 minute game didn't quite make it through in time

I definitely didn't expect the Dragons to go up 19 points - unfortunately it really hurt to have Ruffin start the 2nd half on the bench .... while they had zero post offense, the post defense was pretty good and the foul was dumb

Definitely some missed opportunities with a bittersweet outcome .... the game was there for the taking and when they flashed it at least gave hope/confidence that they can come out of the CAA .... however, some of the same old issues continue to persist

I think AZ will round into shape just fine .... should be an interesting match up against Duke

 

[ProdigalSun]

exciting game. the 2 freshmen Parker and Gordon have been quiet thus far

 

[ProdigalSun]

Jabari Parker is the best player in college basketball right now

 

[ProdigalSun]

Fun game. I hate listening to Dickie V (the biggest Duke homer on the planet). Parker is a beast. Great game by Nick. Gordon came on in the 2nd half and made some key blocks and athletic dunks. Disappointed in how weak Tarc plays, I thought he'd be better by this point. McConnell PG skills and leadership are going to make a difference come tourney time. Overall, good early season win.

 

[jw7]

Good win. Arizona got lucky. Sean Miller needs to work on passing drills. So many bad passes in the 1st half. As bad as UofA played, Duke played worse.

 

[Lefty]

Good win. Arizona got lucky. Sean Miller needs to work on passing drills. So many bad passes in the 1st half. As bad as UofA played, Duke played worse.

You obviously don't watch college basketball.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Arizona got lucky.

Only reason the 'cats won was because all their guys got hurt or fouled out.

So we should take away those two wins, how about the San Diego game? Do the Cats get to at least keep that one?

Steve

 

[TJ]

Good win. Arizona got lucky. Sean Miller needs to work on passing drills. So many bad passes in the 1st half. As bad as UofA played, Duke played worse.

100% disagree. While we didn't give a flawless effort, we still did some tremendous things defensively. Duke had a very tough time getting open shots anywhere in the 2nd half, and Jabari Parker needed 21 shots to score 19 points (who had scored 20+ in his last 7 games). We held a team who was averaging 90 ppg to 66, even with them shooting 50% in the first half.

In addition, Miller (stop me if you've heard this) coached a hell of a game. Officials were calling fouls left and right to start the game. Johnson and Gordon picked up two very quickly. Instead of forcing the issue, he put them on the bench the last 7 or so minutes of the half in order to avoid foul trouble. Any other team would've kept its best players there and risked picking up the dreaded 3rd foul in the first half. And although Johnson was a liability to start the game, Miller continued to run set plays for Johnson and managed to score 13 in the second half.

Brandon Ashley continues to impress. This is what I expected from him last year. And Rondae is going to be a gem off the bench, especially when he discovers a consistent jump shot.

All-in-all, we beat Duke...and anytime you can beat Duke, it's a tremendous accomplishment, and it validates what this team is capable of come tourney time.

 

[Russ Smith]

Unfortunately my petition to have a 20 minute game didn't quite make it through in time

I definitely didn't expect the Dragons to go up 19 points - unfortunately it really hurt to have Ruffin start the 2nd half on the bench .... while they had zero post offense, the post defense was pretty good and the foul was dumb

Definitely some missed opportunities with a bittersweet outcome .... the game was there for the taking and when they flashed it at least gave hope/confidence that they can come out of the CAA .... however, some of the same old issues continue to persist

I think AZ will round into shape just fine .... should be an interesting match up against Duke

Too bad for Drexel the 2 injuries were about 90 seconds apart. Lee never played again and Massenat went 10 minutes without scoring after he got hurt.

UA overwhelmed them but playing the last 11 minutes with only one scorer clearly didn't help.

UA was MUCH more impressive against Duke, terrific defense. Parker is really good but that game exposed him some. Got worked again on defense and wouldn't pass the ball no matter what UA did to slow him down.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Good win. Arizona got lucky. Sean Miller needs to work on passing drills. So many bad passes in the 1st half. As bad as UofA played, Duke played worse.

Luck has nothing to do with it, Arizona is going to make a lot teams look like they are playing in mud this year. The Cats have so much length and size and combined with Miller's physical brand of defense they're going to wear teams down throughout the year.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Playing for #1 on Saturday

 

[Chaplin]

HUGE loss by Michigan State tonight. Win and we'll be the #1 team in the country next week.