|
|
|
ARIZONA PRODUCTIVITY RATING
| Player | G | S | BP | COL | CMIN | PP | TMIN | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solomon Hill | 24 | 24 | – | 16 | 36 | 499 | 792 | .630 |
| Nick Johnson | 24 | 24 | – | 14 | 32 | 448 | 744 | .602 |
| Mark Lyons | 24 | 24 | – | 12 | 33 | 423 | 711 | .595 |
| Brandon Ashley | 24 | 21 | 8 | -1 | 14 | 297 | 509 | .583 |
| Kevin Parrom | 24 | 1 | 64 | 6 | 23 | 316 | 543 | .582 |
| Kaleb Tarczewski | 24 | 24 | – | 8 | 21 | 221 | 509 | .434 |
| Grant Jerrett | 23 | 2 | 60 | 7 | 13 | 181 | 417 | .434 |
| Jordin Mayes | 24 | 0 | 20 | -2 | 8 | 68 | 301 | .226 |
| PRIMARY ROTATION: | 24 | 120 | 152 | 60 | 180 | 2453 | 4526 | .542 |
| OTHERS: | ||||||||
| Gabe York | 11 | 0 | 5 | – | – | 38 | 66 | .576 |
| Angelo Chol | 21 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 20 | 69 | 190 | .363 |
| ARIZONA PAC-10/12 | ||||||||
| PLAYERS OF THE YEAR: | ||||||||
| Derrick Williams (2011) | 38 | 38 | – | – | – | 1190 | 1141 | 1.043 |
| Sean Elliott (1989) | 33 | 33 | – | – | – | 1128 | 1125 | 1.003 |
| Chris Mills (1993) | 28 | 28 | – | – | – | 838 | 870 | .963 |
| Sean Elliott (1988) | 38 | 38 | – | – | – | 1167 | 1249 | .934 |
| Damon Stoudamire (1995) | 30 | 30 | – | – | – | 964 | 1092 | .883 |
| Mike Bibby (1998) | 35 | 35 | – | – | – | 905 | 1124 | .805 |
| Jason Terry (1999) | 29 | 29 | – | – | – | 877 | 1107 | .792 |
GLOSSARY:
G: Games played. S: Number of starts.
BP: Bench points. A player gets three points if he is first off the bench, two if second and one if third. Shows Sean Miller’s rotation.
COL: Productivity points against Colorado
CMIN: Minutes played against Colorado
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
TMIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
NOTE: Player must average at least 10 minutes a game to be listed in primary rotation
|
 Colorado coach Tad Boyle said it would be a payback game only if the Buffaloes won, but after the victory over Arizona, he said it was not a revenge game Colorado coach Tad Boyle looked annoyed Thursday night as he saw fans rush the court at the Coors Events Center following the Buffaloes’ 71-58 convincing win over No. 9 Arizona. He motioned toward them to not pour on to the court before shaking UA coach Sean Miller’s hand. The fans stormed the court regardless despite Colorado being the defending Pac-12 tournament champion, beating the Wildcats in the process last March in Los Angeles. The Buffaloes also have a 3-2 record against the Wildcats since joining the conference last season. Colorado got its redemption against Arizona after a controversial 92-83 loss in overtime Jan. 3 at McKale Center. The Buffaloes did not need a prayer by Sabatino Chen off the backboard at the buzzer Thursday night. Boyle said during Colorado’s pre-game radio interview: “It is only a payback game if we win.” Is it a payback against Arizona, or the refs who ruled Chen’s shot a fraction of second too late in regulation after viewing a replay monitor for five minutes? Colorado blew a 10-point lead with less than two minutes remaining to put itself in that precarious position. “What makes this win sweet is it has nothing to do with revenge,” Boyle was quoted as saying by the Associated Press after Thursday’s game. |
“It has everything to do with the respect I have for Arizona and Sean Miller and their basketball program. We beat a top 10 team in the country that’s legitimate and they’re going to win a lot of games as this season unfolds. And I think if we play the way we did tonight we will, too.”
Arizona (20-4 overall, 8-4 in the Pac-12) continued its trend of struggling on the front end of a weekend road series with its 71-58 loss to Colorado. The Wildcats’ primary eight-man rotation posted a season-low 60 productivity points (see glossary for productivity points) against the Buffaloes. The previous lows included a Thursday loss at Oregon (65 productivity points) and Thursday win at Washington (66 productivity points).
In the following games — at Oregon State and Washington State — the Wildcats responded with victories posting a season-high 116 productivity points against the Beavers and 93 against the Cougars. Oregon State and Washington State are in the bottom rung of the conference, as is Sunday’s opponent Utah.
Angelo Chol had Arizona’s highest productivity rating against Colorado
One promising development was reserve forward Angelo Chol, the No. 9 player in the rotation this season, posting 14 productivity points in 20 minutes. Chol had the UA’s best productivity rating (.700). The only player who had more productivity points was Solomon Hill with 16, but Hill played 36 minutes to achieve that mark and finished with a .444 rating.
Chol, a sophomore, showed fundamental interior post moves reminiscent of Joseph Blair and Sean Rooks, one that resulted in an emphatic slam dunk in the first half. Chol was 4 of 6 from the field. Freshmen frontcourt starters Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley struggled to get into the offensive flow taking only seven shots overall.
Arizona made a concerted effort to get the ball to Tarczewski, but he occasionally got trapped, bringing the ball low against defenders before going up. Ashley, like the entire team, found it difficult matching against Colorado’s speed and athleticism. In the two games against the Buffaloes, Ashley played 33 minutes and finished with a productivity total of minus-1.
“They’re a very fast team,” Hill was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. “When those guys get going they are one of the fastest teams in Pac-12 play. When they’re making shots they are probably the most deadly team in the Pac 12
“They are the best defensive team in the Pac 12, so they are a very deadly team, especially at home and if we don’t match their intensity, it’s going to be a long night.”
*****
Miller, acknowledging the quality of the opponent, was quoted as saying by the AP: “It’s never as bad as it seems and the sky isn’t falling.”
Arizona’s four losses are against teams — Oregon, UCLA, Cal and Colorado — that have a combined overall record of 70-28. The Wildcats’ NCAA resume still includes wins over Miami, Florida, San Diego State, Colorado and Southern Miss. Every Pac-12 team, including league-leader Oregon, would desire Arizona’s RPI (No. 9 entering Thursday’s game) and strength of schedule (No. 10).
While the sky is not falling, the same can’t be said of the production from some of Miller’s key players.
After the victory over Colorado in the first matchup, senior reserve Kevin Parrom led the UA with a .712 productivity rating. He is now fifth on the team with a .582 mark. Nick Johnson led the Wildcats with a .651 rating after the victory over Washington State on Feb. 2. In the three games since against Stanford, Cal and Colorado, he has managed only 28 productivity points in 99 minutes (a rating of only .283). His overall rating is down to .602.
Nick Johnson’s productivity rating has dropped 49 points in the last three games
Flu-like symptoms affected Johnson during the Washington State game and the following week. Now it appears Johnson just needs to get back in sync and play with a bounce again.
The Wildcats have time to make the necessary improvements against league coaches, who know that Arizona’s production on offense comes primarily from the shooting of Mark Lyons, Hill and Johnson. They combine for 30.3 field-goal attempts a game compared to only 9.5 by Tarczewski and Ashley.
Arizona’s NCAA title team of 1996-97 relied heavily on the scoring of perimeter players Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson but the Wildcats needed the athleticism of Bennett Davison around the basket primarily for putbacks off offensive rebounds and the interior scoring potential of A.J. Bramlett.
Davison and Bramlett were also more developed and experienced than Ashley and Tarczewski. Davison was in his first season after transferring from a junior college and Bramlett was a sophomore. Bramlett never had a season in which he shot less than 51.1 percent from the field. Tarczewski is shooting 49.1 percent, but only 40.7 percent in Pac-12 games.
In due time, Tarczewski will develop, perhaps becoming more of dominant go-to kind of player toward the end of next season. His best days are ahead. The same goes for Arizona and Miller.
*****
The Wildcats were out-rebounded for the fourth time in the last seven games, another area of concern for Miller. Colorado’s Andre Roberson, the Pac-12′s leading rebounder, pulled down 13 — almost more than Arizona’s entire starting frontcourt of Hill, Ashley and Tarczewski (which combined had 15).
Defensive Rebounding Percentage (DRB%): Determined by dividing Arizona’s defensive rebounds (19 against Colorado) by the opposition’s offensive rebounds (Colorado had only nine — it shot 59 percent in the second half) added to Arizona’s defensive rebounds (19) — 19/(9 + 19) = 67.9 percent.
Offensive Rebounding Percentage (ORB%): Determined by taking Arizona’s offensive rebound total (11) divided by that total (11) and the defensive rebounds of the opponent (22 for Colorado) — 11/(11 + 22) = 33.3 percent.
Ideal marks are 72 percent DRB% and 38 percent ORB%.
|
DEFENSIVE/OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING%
|
Site publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner
|
|
I think Greg Hansen is smarter than the gutless column he wrote citing this: “I asked Sean Miller if any team in the country could have beaten the Buffaloes on Thursday.
“It would’ve been hard,” he said.”
It’s not so much that Arizona lost, it’s how they looked in that loss. No ball movement, matador defense. Assists almost as rare as a Bigfoot citing.
Those issues are nothing new so this BS that the Cats played the best team in the nation in Boulder last night is laughable.
The real story is, where is the Xavier Sean Miller who does more with less? You know, it’s the Sean Miller who now seems to be MIA. That Sean Miller took Xavier teams deep into the NCAA’s with journey men recruiting classes.
What we’re still finding out is just how special the Lute Olson era was. Olson’s teams stepped up in these type of adverse conditions. Ever hear that Lute lost to a team that was more motivated? Hmmm.. Chew on that for a while.
Hansen, specifically, paid the price in criticizing Olson and was basically excommunicated by Lute for years. Seems that he learned his lesson.
Bill Walton, like him or not, isn’t afraid to call as he see’s it.
Hansen’s, not to mention other Arizona beat writers puff pieces indicate that they have to balance reality with politics.
Is there a Bill Walton with a keyboard out there?
It appears we’re beating a dead horse here and who wants to do that? OK here I go — again. But please, don’t call it a horse…Miller could be questioned on many fronts:
8 man rotation while playing 40 minutes of man to man and not developing Chol or York sooner to spell players and provide a much-needed spark
not developing an adequate point guard after 6 years at the helm — and this from a pretty darn good PG himself (head scratcher)
Not recognizing the right combinations to get seniors Hill, Parrom and Lyons motivated to produce to their abilities
allowing Mayes’ game — and confidence — to drop so far down for so long that it might as well be a 7 man rotation that he’s gone to instead of 8
putting too much stock in high school player rating *s and so-called MIckey D brand players when maybe a battle-tested, game-ready, proven transfer big man might’ve been the way to go
We could go on and on but what’s the point? It is what it is and there’s no amount of wishing — tried — that’ll change that. You want bad? Try losing to the last place team in the conference…and you’re supposedly the 10th best team in the country…The Utes have got to be our focus now or it’s pretty much over before it really starts. And could someone please tell Lunardi to shut the frick up please?!
Mostly, you missed my point.
No, I think I get you, Vegas. This is, after all, a UA promoting and promoted (albeit not financially) website. So I’m not sure you’re going to get a whole lot of questioning of the coach here. Or in other places as it happens, but they have no such excuse. That Miller doesn’t allow media types into practice is quite telling. All these poor guys have to look at and critique are the games. So when Coach says players are rewarded with playing time by their work ethic in practice, we take it at face value. I just hope that for the sake of what’s left of February and into March and just the tip of April that the Cats didn’t peak in January or December and that how they’ve been playing vs. the likes of UCLA at home, Cal at home and Colorado on the road is no Indictation of how tney’ve been practicing. That would be sad. And can someone please give me one difference between Tree, K-Real and Tarc?
What do you guys want? Call in Miller’s radio show and ask him the questions you want if you feel like the media is not hitting Miller and Arizona hard over a 20-4 season. Have you guys read my posts here at all? Four new players comprise almost 50 percent of the production and three freshmen bigs are not an immediate element of success. I wrote that has never happened at Arizona. Guess you guys missed that. I don’t get paid by Arizona and I’m not here to be an apologist. You can go over the hundreds of paragraphs I’ve written. Show me any where I’m pandering to Miller and the program. All I have written is straight forward. Look, if you think Arizona should be 24-0 without any lulls in a season in which 50 percent of the production was at Xavier and high school last year and that three freshmen frontcourt players are realistic scoring options than more power to you.
Number one, I think that the writers that cover Arizona sports as a group are better than or equal to any in the nation. Living in Las Vegas, the quality and coverage of UNLV only makes me appreciate the people that cover Arizona that much more. Btw, that also extends to the “home” broadcast announcers. That said, Hansen has always been a lightning rod and my comments were in this instance, almost entirely directed at him. Indeed, I emailed him the post. (most likely he immediately hit the delete button
Bill Walton is taking a lot of flack for his on-air criticisms of on court execution. Right or wrong, I think that there’s a place for that and it’s refreshing as well as though provoking to hear his opinion.
Javier, don’t for a minute think that I don’t respect and appreciate your work. I was trying to point out that there isn’t a writer with a Bill Walton attitude. Certainly I don’t expect a Brent Musburger or any current broadcaster to become a Walton clone. Walton’s a one of a kind in broadcast and a print version of him would be very interesting.
Javier, you didn’t get recognized by the AP for your contributions to sports reporting via the Internet for nothing. You know your stuff and I know we get the total picture from your writing, your insight, your love of the sport. You’re as firm, fair and consistent as they come. Even more so. You take the time — make the time, make that (raising a kid, working for real, for pay, as many hours as you can get, with little or no time to yourself, really) — to get the story from every possible angle, going in-depth to the nth degree. I mean, look at this site and it’s content. My goodness! You are certainly not the issue…or the problem (the answer would be more like it). Not with me, not with many of us.
My gripe is that this team of ours could be, should be competing better — a lot better — than it has over key times of the season. That’s all. Miller as the team leader making important decisions, making 2 mil plus, must be taken to task by those of us who pay our state taxes, cable/satellite bill, buy our tickets, fill the arena, send our kids to UA, are matriculating at UA, pay the bills which help keep the athletic department afloat and his income paid in so many ways. But keep in mind: All I’m asking is for this team to COMPETE. That’s it. And if it’s not happening, for whatever reason, then it’s up to those who report the news to inform. That isn’t too much to ask.