Although the Wildcats lost Williams, they add a solid recruiting class of four featuring point guard Josiah Turner (ESPNU No. 15 in his class), shooting guard Nick Johnson (No. 22), and power forwards Angelo Chol (No. 61), and Sidiki Johnson (No. 94).
Miller will need the freshmen to contribute immediately, especially Turner and Johnson. While Arizona returns several main contributors like Kyle Fog and Solomon Hill, Williams was the difference between NIT first round and NCAA Elite Eight last year, and someone is going to have to be the new star.
Arizona has one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the country lined up with trips to Florida, Madison Square Garden to face St. John’s, and Seattle to play Gonzaga. They also draw a road trip to California and Stanford as part of the Pac-12′s new unbalanced schedule.
vs Washington. Started out running and drilling shots to build early double digit lead at home only to see Washington tighten the screws on defense. Lead pac 10 in 3 point shooting. Average 7 /game but they fired it up often in this game 8-10 first half alone. They foul hard on breaks and do not give away any easy buckets making you hit your free throws. Their speed and desire to push sometimes causes bad passes, mental lapses, and stupid turnovers. They average 14 turnovers per game in pac 10 play and had 20 some in this game. I see this team getting slowed down or even struggling against a tough man to man defense that contests the perimeter. Derek Williams single handedly kept them in game hitting 63% from 3 point range and blocking a shot with .2 left. They could have EASILY lost this game. Not super impressed with likely league champion.
As we look at where the Pac-10 has been over the past couple decades, it’s clear that it goes through times of prosperity and times of drought. From the 2006-2007 through 2008-2009 seasons, the conference saw its greatest collective success with six teams being selected to the NCAA tournament in each of those three years. But then things dropped off drastically last season when only two teams — Washington and California — made it to the Big Dance. Even mighty Arizona fell upon lean times when it missed the tournament for the first time in more than two decades.
This season doesn’t look like it will shape up to be much better. Currently, only one team is ranked in the AP top 25 (Washington at No. 20), and Arizona squeaks into the Coaches Poll at No. 25. Other than that, nobody else is really getting much attention nationally.
There were shades of brilliance in the non-conference part of the schedule, though: Washington’s win over Texas A&M, Washington State roasting Gonzaga and Baylor, and USC beating Texas. But since the conference schedule began, those who once looked like pleasant surprises have turned out to be mediocre and the top teams are still not on par with the elite of the nation. Three weeks into the games that matter and both Arizona and Washington have lost to lesser teams, Washington State is 3-3 after going 10-2 in non-league, and even lowly Oregon has won a Pac-10 game. If the conference gets more than two teams into March Madness this year, it will be a miracle.
2011 Outlook: This team returns 8 of the 9 players they used in a rotation last year. They lose PG Wise who was clearly a steadying factor but they return star athlete and future NBA F Derrick Williams. As one magazine put it, AZ has a high gap between their ceiling and basement in terms of performance. They have two big men (Natyazhko and Jacobson) who.. if they emerge.. this team looks like a standard starting rotation. If not, they will play small ball.
My notes: Sean Miller is a winner. Look for this team to make the tournament. No idea what they do there, but they will make it. One major thing to note, is that the PAC 10 is void a lot of girth, so their could be a hidden failure here once the get into PCA 10 play. I would watch their big men in conference play with a watchful eye to see if they REALLLY are good or are Pac 10 good. Last comment is from a magazine “There’s still work to be done. The Wildcats shot just 44.3 percent, their lowest figure in 27 seasons, and they were out-rebounded for the first time in 25 years. The defensive effort that Miller took for granted at Xavier is still a work in progress at Arizona.” Watch all of these for predicted success or failure come March.
Vs N State: Team is coming togther nicely. Guard play is solid, williams is a pro playing college.. a good pro.. and they have decent bigs. Sean Miller made the point that they do not box out well at all.
Vs UCLA: Arizona is a good team. Sean Miller has this team moving in the right direction. Offensively, they surround All American stud Derrick Williams with a solid supporting cast of 6 players averaging between 6 and 10 points. Guard play is good but not outstanding. Bigs are also good. They play solid defense (typical Miller) and they rebound well. The problem they have is turnovers… and they give up a ton of them. Williams is a one man wrecking crew. He is right handed, but dunks 50% of the time left handed going to his left. He is a match-up nightmare and could single handidly carry this team to the second round. He has the most FT attempts in America and he had the entire UCLA front line fouled out by the fourth quarter. I want to say I love this team, I am close, but I need to see more stable “other” scorers and a reduction in turnovers. Watch them again and look for this. If they address these, I really like this team that will be undervalued come march due to PAC 10 bias.
