Re: The 2021-2022 Season Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 3:45 pm
Got my Red Blue tickets. Oct 2! A ton of tickets left
A co-op community for Arizona Fans
http://www.beardownwildcats.com/
At least he didn't end up in prison like Sidiki Johnson for armed robbery.84Cat wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 3:11 pm Josiah Turner has to be #1. Dude was a 5 star who did squat in college
Armed Robbery........no
Also in more trouble! Dude, just play basketball. You can make a good living in most places.dmjcat wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:24 pmArmed Robbery........no
DUI/Pimping on the other hand
https://www.publicpolicerecord.com/ariz ... ah/T620242
Hey, that's a little unfair to Lloyd. He's only had months to recruit. How about this?gronk4heisman wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:03 pm I will approach tickets like Tommy Lloyd approaches recruiting, complain about how hard it is to find the time to go and at the last minute if a ticket falls in my lap and I am free I will go.
I'm not understanding the USC love either. They're getting a little bump from how they finished last season, I think. Call me crazy, but maybe UCLA is too? I'm probably in the minority, but I think Oregon is the favorite. Best coach, best roster.U.P. Zona Fan wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:26 am Hmm, not seeing the reason for the love on usc, can see wazzu #5 but there is gonna be a cluster below Oregon and UCLA, as much as it pains me to say it. Like a 4 way tie for 3rd or 4th. I do think we are in that second tier cluster. Just my thoughts. Gonna need to separate from the group.
Tier 1- UCLA, OregonBeachcat97 wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 8:12 amI'm not understanding the USC love either. They're getting a little bump from how they finished last season, I think. Call me crazy, but maybe UCLA is too? I'm probably in the minority, but I think Oregon is the favorite. Best coach, best roster.U.P. Zona Fan wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:26 am Hmm, not seeing the reason for the love on usc, can see wazzu #5 but there is gonna be a cluster below Oregon and UCLA, as much as it pains me to say it. Like a 4 way tie for 3rd or 4th. I do think we are in that second tier cluster. Just my thoughts. Gonna need to separate from the group.
The wild card is coaching. Let's see how well CTL coaches them up. My biggest complaint with CSM is that the players didn't seem much better as the season progressed, or wound down. I don't know why. I have a hunch that it was too rigorous and the players stopped having fun and it became more of a chore. I don't know what I think of CTL yet. But I have a gut feeling the players will love him and want to play for him. If a person bets I would put a little money down for him to overachieve. I don't know how to phrase this correctly, but I find CTL just may have the "it" factor. He knows how to coach and knows how to get into a player's head to make the player better.IndianaZonaFan wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 10:14 amTier 1- UCLA, OregonBeachcat97 wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 8:12 amI'm not understanding the USC love either. They're getting a little bump from how they finished last season, I think. Call me crazy, but maybe UCLA is too? I'm probably in the minority, but I think Oregon is the favorite. Best coach, best roster.U.P. Zona Fan wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:26 am Hmm, not seeing the reason for the love on usc, can see wazzu #5 but there is gonna be a cluster below Oregon and UCLA, as much as it pains me to say it. Like a 4 way tie for 3rd or 4th. I do think we are in that second tier cluster. Just my thoughts. Gonna need to separate from the group.
Tier 2- Arizona, Colorado, USC
Tier 3- Wazzu, OSU
Tier 4- ASU, Stanford, Utah
Tier 5- Wash, Cal
I feel like this is where we should be this year. Finishing 3-5 in conference. Translating to a 5-9 seed in the tourney. Depending on health of course.
He broke his foot about 3 weeks ago and we've got about 11 weeks until the first non-exhibition game... a non-surgical recovery is 6-8 weeks if it's an easy break but a bad break could hold a player out for 12-16 weeks. It just depends on the location of the break and the individual's response. Hopefully its an easy one and he gets back on the floor and in rhythm in time for the Vegas event in mid-Nov (13 weeks from now, 16 weeks post-injury or so).IndianaZonaFan wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:18 am We are around 12 weeks away from season starting. Should be good by then right?
The bolded is true. Broken foot can be pretty finicky. It's just an area that receives so much pounding.YoDeFoe wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 11:44 amHe broke his foot about 3 weeks ago and we've got about 11 weeks until the first non-exhibition game... a non-surgical recovery is 6-8 weeks if it's an easy break but a bad break could hold a player out for 12-16 weeks. It just depends on the location of the break and the individual's response. Hopefully its an easy one and he gets back on the floor and in rhythm in time for the Vegas event in mid-Nov (13 weeks from now, 16 weeks post-injury or so).IndianaZonaFan wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:18 am We are around 12 weeks away from season starting. Should be good by then right?
I've never really agreed with this. It depends wholly on who you look at.Irish27 wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 10:47 am Under Lute, the players definitely got better. You did not really see that under Miller.
wholeheartedly agree on both of these takes - feels like they are getting a March Madness bump, which, fair enough I guess, but totally agree that Oregon should be the betting favorite in the conference, and I would be pretty surprised if USC finished #3 in the conference.Beachcat97 wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 8:12 amI'm not understanding the USC love either. They're getting a little bump from how they finished last season, I think. Call me crazy, but maybe UCLA is too? I'm probably in the minority, but I think Oregon is the favorite. Best coach, best roster.U.P. Zona Fan wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:26 am Hmm, not seeing the reason for the love on usc, can see wazzu #5 but there is gonna be a cluster below Oregon and UCLA, as much as it pains me to say it. Like a 4 way tie for 3rd or 4th. I do think we are in that second tier cluster. Just my thoughts. Gonna need to separate from the group.
The 10 seconds before a shot is 3 seconds slower than Mike D'Antoni and 5 seconds faster than Rick Pitino.YoDeFoe wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 5:28 pm Some really interesting breakdowns of the evolution of Gonzaga's offense, along with a review of where that evolution took them last season:
https://skarrgozags.substack.com/p/the- ... as-offense
https://skarrgozags.substack.com/p/gonz ... -breakdown
These are both deeeeeep dives but if you've got time on your hands and the appetite for it, they're pretty satisfying.
A fun insight from the second link is just how often the Zags score in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock, regardless of whether the opposing team missed or made their attempt. And its not just last season: Gonzaga has been top ten in the nation in possession length the last three seasons. Watch the "GU Throw Ahead" video to see the comedy of the Zags putting up easy buckets in seconds against even very good teams, just by consistently making outlet passes to their streaking wings. With our size and passing and athleticism we ought to see a lot of similar transition scoring. The "GU Rim Run" video follows - you can squint and see Tueblis and Aiken filling the Timme and Watson roles perfectly. Fun stuff.
I don't know if we have the chemistry and practice time to achieve this level of beautiful offensive basketball but we have the personnel.
AyyyyyyyySpaceman Spiff wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:32 pm The 10 seconds before a shot is 3 seconds slower than Mike D'Antoni and 5 seconds faster than Rick Pitino.
If you mention seconds to shoot, I'll bring up Rick Pitino.YoDeFoe wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:05 pmAyyyyyyyySpaceman Spiff wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:32 pm The 10 seconds before a shot is 3 seconds slower than Mike D'Antoni and 5 seconds faster than Rick Pitino.![]()
Interestingly, a lot of the half court sets were pretty similar to Miller's. The ball screen heavy offense was something Miller did a lot of.YoDeFoe wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 5:28 pm Some really interesting breakdowns of the evolution of Gonzaga's offense, along with a review of where that evolution took them last season:
https://skarrgozags.substack.com/p/the- ... as-offense
https://skarrgozags.substack.com/p/gonz ... -breakdown
These are both deeeeeep dives but if you've got time on your hands and the appetite for it, they're pretty satisfying.
A fun insight from the second link is just how often the Zags score in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock, regardless of whether the opposing team missed or made their attempt. And its not just last season: Gonzaga has been top ten in the nation in possession length the last three seasons. Watch the "GU Throw Ahead" video to see the comedy of the Zags putting up easy buckets in seconds against even very good teams, just by consistently making outlet passes to their streaking wings. With our size and passing and athleticism we ought to see a lot of similar transition scoring. The "GU Rim Run" video follows - you can squint and see Tueblis and Aiken filling the Timme and Watson roles perfectly. Fun stuff.
I don't know if we have the chemistry and practice time to achieve this level of beautiful offensive basketball but we have the personnel.
Interesting take, UP. I like it.U.P. Zona Fan wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 4:18 am The biggest advantage we have with coaching this year I think is that there is no tape of CTL coaching, the pac 12 teams had years of experience playing against miller coached teams, now they got nothing, just a few early season games, one to three will be against pac 12 caliber competition.
Won't have that advantage next year.
YoDeFoe wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 10:28 am https://twitter.com/chadfordinsider/sta ... 0543447046
Chad Ford lists Benn Mathurin as his number two returning player in terms of NBA draft potential. I can’t read the write up (it’s paywalled) but he’s ranked between Jaden Ivey of Purdue and Jabari Walker of Colorado.
Mathurin didn't have a ton of success last season in pick and roll derived offense (the only area he struggled in!), which is interesting given that he'll be tasked with making ball screen reads in the Lloyd offense. He'll still find success in this offense with his spot up shooting, cutting, and transition scoring. But man, if he can make a step up in his ball screen offense (either attacking the rim when single covered or making the right pass when the defense commits to him) - he'll be unstoppable.Beachcat97 wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 1:51 pm Everything is set up for Mathurin to have a big year. Getting really excited to see this team. A new era begins...
On paper, our roster is kind of sneaky loaded. Would've preferred to keep Akinjo and JB, but it's hard not to like a core of Mathurin, Tubelis, Terry, Koloko, Kriisa, Larsson, Aiken, Kier, and Nowell. And I probably left off a name who will end up contributing somehow. And maybe "loaded" is overstating it, but there's enough here to be competitive. Lloyd has a nice roster in his first season.Postmaster wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 10:52 am Kriisa was on radio yesterday. Said they’ve all been in town for a while. Seemed fond of the Utah guy. Said the Euro guys play the right way and the team will be really good this year.
Not a typical roster for a first year coach after the previous coach was fired.
If by "typical" you mean that this roster has much more talent, I'd agree. I'd need to look back, but I'm not sure whether Miller had a better roster in his first season.azgreg wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 12:05 pmNot a typical roster for a first year coach after the previous coach was fired.
Think Terry's going to have a big season.TheCat wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:59 pm He has 2 of the players on the 1st team all freshman squad. To me one of the keys will be Terry. Can he give us 8-10 points a game and stellar defense. If he can.......and if we hold our own at point guard we have a shot to be in the top 4 in the conference. Those are big ifs.
Seems like a social media team trying to drum up support and notice of a program that no one is talking about, even amongst us fans.
I wonder about this often. I can really only follow one team at a time, and starting in November, that's going to be our women's basketball team. That would have shocked the old me, but I suspect that shift is pretty common among our fan base.Chicat wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:38 amSeems like a social media team trying to drum up support and notice of a program that no one is talking about, even amongst us fans.
I don't think I can remember an Arizona team with less media coverage since the Snowden years. This year's team has almost no media presence. UA basketball is the polar opposite of UA footballChicat wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:38 amSeems like a social media team trying to drum up support and notice of a program that no one is talking about, even amongst us fans.
That’s been my fear ever since CSM was fired. That we’d slide head first into invisibility.84Cat wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:03 pmChicat wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:38 amSeems like a social media team trying to drum up support and notice of a program that no one is talking about, even amongst us fans.
I don't think I can remember an Arizona team with less media coverage since the Snowden years. This year's team has almost no media presence. UA basketball is the polar opposite of UA football