Arizona 1/4 2:30 ESPN2

[Rufus]

Yeah, good call. I was thinking the same thing. With these three losses, the box scores indicate that UC led in many of the scoring and rebounding categories. For instance, with today's game, UC took 11 more shots than UA and made two more than UA. Likewise, UC had 17 offensive rebounds and UA had 6. UC had more fast break points (10-3), more points in the paint (36-32), and more second chance points and points off of turnovers. Where UC may have lost the game was at the free throw line (UA went 21-27 and UC went 12-23).

All of UC's losses so far this year have been on national TV. Miller's teams have MAJOR PROBLEMS competing against power and high-major teams. One of the things that I find most disturbing is UC has NO real conference home court advantage under Miller. From what I saw today, I would say that UC's guards were out-played today. UA's guard group hit for 56 points, 4 assists, and 9 TOs. UC's guards hit for 43 points, 11 assists, and 10 TOs. What is the matter with Simas? He only took 6 shots today (exact amount he took in the K-State loss). UC CANNOT win if Simas does NOT shoot the ball. Even Betsey took more shots today than Simas.

Should Miller insert Thomas into the starting lineup and let James come off the bench? Thomas is a much better defender and he is the team's best 3 point shooter (based on average). Also, Thomas is better at getting the ball into the paint and gets to the foul line more than James.

Is it time for Miller to start playing other people more minutes (Reed for instance. So far, Hickman has NOT been much of a factor on the season to be honest).

UC is at a very dangerous point in the season already. They have now lost two very very winnable games back-to-back. UC MAY have one of the worst conference home records in the country stretching back to last season. Guess what; UC is on the road at # 25 Baylor on Tuesday. My guess is UC will NOT be ranked in the Top 25 once next week's rankings come out.

One of the strange things about college basketball is that teams sometimes change, for better or worse, over the Christmas Break. This is NOT the same UC team that went home for Christmas. If Miller does NOT get this team back on track, it is going to get killed in the BIG XII.

I think Miller is in JJ's head too much trying to coax him into a pg.

[leeraymond]

There is some disagreement concerning Simas getting open shots. I have been following UC basketball for a long time and I cannot remember another player with long range capability ever having this problem (not getting open). Think of S. Kilpatrick in his last year. Every coach in the country knew that if you stop Kilpatrick, then you will probably beat Cincinnati. In his last year, Kilpatrick was the offense. Justin Jackson gave him a lot of scoring help. Kilpatrick was a first team All American that year. I saw maybe one game that season where he struggled to get shots. That game, he drove the basketball and got to the foul line.

I said to say this, Simas has got to step his game up. Right now, he is SETTLING for being well defended and has made the choice to not to try to score. Even today, there were a number of moments in the game where he passed the ball when he had some wide-open looks. He did the same thing some in the K-State game. My question is, if Simas is NOT trying to hunt his shot, why play him? He does not do much of anything else.

Remember, David DeJulius and Landers Nolley? Those guys would NOT let the defense take them out of their offense. Simas has problems with getting his shot off when he is well defended. Because it takes him such a long time to get into his shooting motion, when defenders are really on him, he may feel as though his shot is going to get blocked. Great shooters figure out how to get their shots off when there is a hand in their face. Simas needs to stop playing afraid and just shoot the #$@% ball.

Miller needs to focus on bringing in more manly and competitive players.

[leo from jersey]

I'm confused as how it's Wes' fault that Simas can't get open and teams are taking him away. It's not really Simas' fault either to be honest. It's not like he's not trying. The defense is going to dictate whether he's able to get shots up and Arizona played very good defense for most of the game which is why we shot so poorly in the 1st Half. The memo is out. If you take away Lukosius , we're not a good offensive team from outside.

The question is why Wes and the team didn't adjust to that sooner. The offense was a mess in the 1st half. Lots of poor shot selection. I think for every mid range Jizzle took that was a good look, he also took a bad one that wasn't.

He isn't running any plays. As you said, one wonders about adjustment. There are things which will get him open if the rest of the team will run them and not just shoot when they have the ball and stand around or make weak cuts when they don't have the ball. Aziz did 2 nice screens one AZ played through and the other SL hit the shot off the screen. I saw JJ get him the ball when JJ was suffocated by the defender with the ball and hit SL away from the basket/flow of the play and not in a position to shoot as the def was on him. The passes also caused SL to reach and not catch and release. The mentality seems to be pass only when you are totally bottled up. A coach can also bench those who refuse to play team ball. I am not at practice, but years ago, I was at many of them. The coaches had a way of making their game intentions plain. I guess it is just a different day, but I do see some teams play as a unit. Perhaps we don't have high IQ passers, but most can set a screen and make cuts when that, and not shooting the ball is on their minds. There is so much media hyping a scorer as if that is the totality of the game. The color man Coach Fran pointed out much more today than shooting but his play-by-play man didn't. The question I ask, if Terry didn't think it was possible for CWM to plan to get SL open why did he bring it up twice in the most recent post game shows and it was the first thing he brought up. I know Terry speaks to Bearcat alums and I am sure this has come up. Heck Steve Logan has come out and said the play making was unacceptable. I don't know Lobot (Chuck).

[leo from jersey]

Maybe the thing with SL is we have seen him be very hot from the 3 and saw him win games with the last shot. I agree with Lee that Day Day needs more time. The question I ask is where would the Cats be without Mitchell. He took the team on his back and played great defense. I also wonder about the practices. The team especially SL seems to have changed personalities. I know they are playing better teams, but a shooter usually doesn't disappear especially an Euro player. Lots of questions and it can't be good for the team. Did any see the look on the face of Skillings while on the FT line when AZ was shooting at the end. Such an empty and fretful look. I am sure all the talk of his future next year is starting to fizzle some. I wish these guys the best.

[sedz]

Good preview. Arizona is full of efficient scorers, so limiting their success on the offensive glass will be key. My strategy would be to not help on Love and let him shoot. He's their least efficient shooter, and we need to secure the rebound when he misses.

We also need to be aware that Dell'Orso is one dimensional. He's only scored 10 points at the rim all season but made 21 threes at 44%. He's the only volume shooter who makes over 31% from deep. So we need to stay tight with Dell'Orso but play off everyone else and clog the paint.

We followed the defensive gameplan pretty well. Love put up a very inefficient 8 points from the field on 15 shots. We held Dell'Orso to 0 for 2 from three. And Arizona only rebounded 27% of their misses, well below their season average. Holding a good offense to 1.04 points per possession should be enough to win at home.

Unfortunately the half court offense was trash. We ended up scoring 30 at the rim, but I'm guessing more than half of those came in transition. We were 5 for 13 from midrange and 5 for 25 from three. Arizona was more than willing to foul Mitchell and Aziz, who combined to go 1 for 9 at the line, including a front end miss so basically 1 for 10. If those two could shoot even 50% this is a different game.

Dan was by far our best player, putting up 7.4 net points with 18 points and 6 offensive rebounds. Mitchell and Page were the only other players with positive net points. Page led us in defensive BPM.

Jizzle was our worst player, with his 3 for 11 from the field and 3 turnovers resulting in negative 5.7 net points, more then the final scoring margin. Betsey was second worst - his 0 for 5 performance from three really hurt. He also had a team worst negative 2.8 defensive BPM.

[sedz]

What I am talking about is number of shots taken NOT number of possessions.

Then pick a word other than tempo. You're talking about offensive rebounding and taking care of the ball, not tempo or pace.

[sedz]

The coach can run sets for a player like Simas to get him open looks. If you’re watching the game, hardly any sets that screen and set for him. Also spacing on the offense is terrible - which TV announcers commonly point out. Those two simple things are adjustments that a coach can make to get their best shooter more looks. I’m sure there are many other ways as well.

The problem with running Simas off Aziz screens is that they're both one dimensional players. Simas is not a drive threat and Aziz is not a shooter. It's too easy to defend. We need to run some down screens or flare screens off the ball. Use the guards as screeners. I've been asking for us to use a point forward for years. It opens up so many more possibilities on offense. Most NBA teams do that now. Wes is stuck using a traditional offense in a modern game.

[Jeff Burk]

The problem with running Simas off Aziz screens is that they're both one dimensional players. Simas is not a drive threat and Aziz is not a shooter. It's too easy to defend. We need to run some down screens or flare screens off the ball. Use the guards as screeners. I've been asking for us to use a point forward for years. It opens up so many more possibilities on offense. Most NBA teams do that now. Wes is stuck using a traditional offense in a modern game.

This sounds so logical. Wouldn't you think CWM and staff would be aware of these options, especially with all of their resources. Did they apply these changes in the second half or did they just play better at what they were coached to do. I certainly hope it is not coaching.

[sedz]

This sounds so logical. Wouldn't you think CWM and staff would be aware of these options, especially with all of their resources. Did they apply these changes in the second half or did they just play better at what they were coached to do. I certainly hope it is not coaching.

I don't think the half court offense was any better in the second half. We were able to get some easy baskets off turnovers and runouts (8 pts), Jizzle made a couple of his midrange jumpers (4 pts), and Dan basically carried us with second chance putbacks (8 pts). That's 20 of our 41 second half points that didn't come from running any kind of offense.

[JohnFrancis]

For a team to travel here and get up on the 'Cats by 19 shows UC was not ready to play and that's coaching...this UA team in no way is even close to a Lute Olson era team...can Jay Wright be coaxed out of retirement? The Dayton and Xavier wins have been completely offset - staring at a sub .500 season which could lead to attrition in the ranks.

[leeraymond]

Then pick a word other than tempo. You're talking about offensive rebounding and taking care of the ball, not tempo or pace.

What is the end result of an offensive possession? Usually a shot (maybe a second shot) is the end result of an offensive possession. Sometimes the possession may end in a turnover. Teams that play at a faster tempo usually will take more shots. I have seen teams run up and down the floor but struggle to get shots off when the defense is good. It seems to me that the number of shots taken and tempo are highly related. The analytics guys would probably say that the number of shots taken and tempo are positively correlated.

What I am saying is that you can use the number of shots taken a game as a way to measure how fast or slow a team plays. I UNDERSTAND what tempo is. I am just using the number of shots attempted as a way of measuring tempo. Does that make sense?

[leeraymond]

I don't think the half court offense was any better in the second half. We were able to get some easy baskets off turnovers and runouts (8 pts), Jizzle made a couple of his midrange jumpers (4 pts), and Dan basically carried us with second chance putbacks (8 pts). That's 20 of our 41 second half points that didn't come from running any kind of offense.

To me the offense was MUCH better in the second half. In the first half, UC shot 32% (9-28). In the second half, UC shot 44% (16-36). UC scored only 26 points in the first half but scored 41 points in the second half. In fact, UC outscored UA 41-33 in the second half. However, the major problem was the free throw shooting. During the second half comeback, UC shot just 46% (6-13) from the free throw line. UC missed 7 free throw shots in the second half alone. It is difficult to win close games when a team shoots 52% (12-23) for the game from the foul line.

[leo from jersey]

SO -- what has happened - better competition or something else. Last year SL was winning games with the last shot. This year he is a different player. The opposing coaches knew about him at the end of last year and he was defended. Didn't Vik disappear too - How is Vik doing this year? PS is the team missing the little things Newman did?

[leo from jersey]

SO -- what has happened - better competition or something else. Last year SL was winning games with the last shot. This year he is a different player. The opposing coaches knew about him at the end of last year and he was defended. Didn't Vik disappear too - How is Vik doing this year?

Never mind I saw his last game - 14 min. 2 rebounds 2 assists 0 points.

[Lobot]

I'm trying to verify this still but apparently at least part of the team was sick leading up to this game which might explain a few things. I noticed several instances of Aziz being completely gassed yesterday.

In any case these are the shooting percentages for the game. Mitchell and Aziz combined for 1-9 from the stripe. You just can't do that.

FG

39.1%

3PT 20.0%

FT 52.2%