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[LouieGTheThird]

Here's the thing with starting Love still. I see a lot of valid points on everyone's thoughts & opinions. But, with Love from an optics standpoint from a player's & recruit's pov is that you don't give up on your star player. Whether Love is playing like a star player or not, he is still our star player. From outside looking in, which is us, it makes sense to have Love come in and be a 6th man & do what he's best at & score with no regard. But then again these recruits come here to be a star especially a 5 star & some 4 stars they want a coach that will be there for them when they struggle. It's optics & trust that's in it for Lloyd. I really love this thread, I'm glad it was made.

I agree with you overall, but I also don't know how this then doesn't look horrible to a token Carter Bryant who chose to stay committed even when Tommy brought in multiple Bigs/Forwards that are currently ahead of him on the depth chart.

Why would Carter even stay here next season if he doesn't declare when Tommy has another year of Awaka, probably still Krivas, Henri, then also Emmanuel Stephen...

At some point a recruit needs to look at what Tommy's track record is and that is continuous onboarding of redundant older transfers. Also at the moment he has basically turned Townsend into something completely ineffective too --- probably was over-confident in Dell'Orso's ability. That likely turned away both young Guards we had in place too Phillips and Sanon. They knew they would get very little opportunity here with Love or without Love.

So while trying hard to stick with Love for optics, Tommy is also hurting the team too and not giving other players a chance.

Townsend currently is wasting his time at UofA. He will have to go to the Combine and just "show out" unless Tommy limits Love's role a bit. The NBA already knows what Love is and what Love isn't - he would have stayed in the draft if he were going to be drafted. Pelle Larsson and Keshad got great contracts overall.

If you recall, Tommy brought Keshad in and basically caused a litany of players to want to transfer out as they sat all season only to see Tommy recruit Awaka, Townsend as transfers on top of Carter Bryant..

So at this point Love might as well "Win" and try to improve his stock as a teammate.

I got you. I think the issue is with Love is he's holding back. I think they just need to let him play. There was a span in the game when we were down 10 plus & he started to let it fly. We are at our best when he's confident. His strongest part of his game(driving to the basket) is actually viewed as underrated because he limits himself. I would love sets for him as a catch & shoot & then him coming off a screen going downhill to the basket. Basically how Jaden Bradley plays. Bryant is still raw. He shows promise. A lot of promise. He hasn't filled out his body yet. I wouldn't bring KJ off the bench. We need his energy & defense in the starting lineup. If the time comes & Carter gains more confidence because all he is right now is a 3 & D player. I would bring Townsend off the bench as our 6th man & have him play like he did at Oakland. Run everything through him. I do agree on Delly. He just looks like he has no confidence. I think he will come along once he settles in & just shoots. I don't like him handling the ball. But, I like him shooting. HV has to be utilized more as a shooter, he can be dangerous. That will also open up everything. I would also look at a potential Krivas/HV lineup in stretches. Two 7'2 guys & one of them can shoot. Bradley/Love/KJ/HV/Krivas
Would pose mismatches & open the lane. We are short a guard that is true. I think Delly should have been Sanon but his attitude doesn't look like he was ready to be a team player & that's never good as a freshman. Love was always going to come back. I still think this team is on its way to blossoming. If CB doesn't blow up this year I think he does need another year because he doesn't look confident driving to the rim & he needs that to standout because he's not big enough to bang down low. I think our 4 out 1 in is fine with our starting lineup just need to switch people around in the sets. I think the guy at the top of the key needs to be KJ Lewis or Love to throw the lob while Krivas forces his man to front him. Have Townsend in the corner because he has displayed that's been his sweet spots before these last 2 games.

[arxpert]

1 thing going unmentioned about Carter is that Taller Players usually Pass Better to Taller Players. Court Vision is much better. Carter can't get involved if he isn't given a chance. But there were some "cross court" passes that only someone with Carter's height and vision would have been able to hit. Even if they didn't result in Assists, they still helped setup a good look. Whether it was to Delly tonight or inside to Krivas. The entry passes are always easier coming from a taller player. We are missing the "finesse" when it comes to passing.

We dominated a Mid Major team tonight, but they still came out swinging against us. Overpowering them was a cool thing to see. Townsend and Delly showed why they were 2 of the Top Mid Major players last year. They could prove to be an Asset in "March Madness" Round 1 and 2. I am just curious if there will be some carryover as we play the Power 5 type teams the rest of the way in this Tournament.

Awaka had his token 13-10 game. That's underrated. We need to be able to Bully. I know for a fact it was sorely missing in the Duke game.

[LouieGTheThird]

1 thing going unmentioned about Carter is that Taller Players usually Pass Better to Taller Players. Court Vision is much better. Carter can't get involved if he isn't given a chance. But there were some "cross court" passes that only someone with Carter's height and vision would have been able to hit. Even if they didn't result in Assists, they still helped setup a good look. Whether it was to Delly tonight or inside to Krivas. The entry passes are always easier coming from a taller player. We are missing the "finesse" when it comes to passing.

We dominated a Mid Major team tonight, but they still came out swinging against us. Overpowering them was a cool thing to see. Townsend and Delly showed why they were 2 of the Top Mid Major players last year. They could prove to be an Asset in "March Madness" Round 1 and 2. I am just curious if there will be some carryover as we play the Power 5 type teams the rest of the way in this Tournament.

Awaka had his token 13-10 game. That's underrated. We need to be able to Bully. I know for a fact it was sorely missing in the Duke game.

I get you on Carter. You're very high on him. I am too. But, we have to be realistic. We are speaking on if he has already reached his potential. We are pacing him. It's a marathon not a sprint & until he continues to build more confidence he's going to be where he's at. He's making progress for sure. Yeah, we dominated a mid major team. But, that was on a night that mostly all ranked teams lost. We bounced back pretty strong & that's what I was looking for. You seen Love last night. His strongest game is driving & I am glad he did. This was a great game to get back to what we are good at. Carter has been getting plenty of opportunity & he will get more as he continues to progress. We are normal size and can be pretty big in some lineups in today's league. The game has changed from 2 traditional bigs & your 3 being big as well. We are pretty versatile. I'm excited for our game tonight.

[arxpert]

WELL WELL WELL...

Bradley
Love
Bryant
Townsend
Awaka

Tommy decided to try it out vs West Virginia...

Well. Well. Well.

It's not about running these guys for 35 minutes together, but I like the energy they have brought to the beginning of the game. This is the ideal bunch with KJ, Krivas, and Henri subbing in throughout to matchup.

[arxpert]

Tommy takes Awaka out of the game with around 4:30 to go when he picks up his 4th foul. As I write this, we are under 1 minute left and Awaka isn't back in. Tony Del Orso is just being rag dolled. Tommy needs to be benched for a game. This is absurd how bad he is coaching.

[arxpert]

The worst thing to come of this is to know what was working and what wasn't, but ultimately WVU comes away knowing they Own us. Perhaps we learned some good lessons in these games in terms of what we need to work on, but I have no confidence that Tommy will coach this group to it's potential right now. It is still early in the year, but the habits forming will take weeks to undo.

If we miss the initial top of the key dribble handoff then this team is stuck like a deer in headlights. They have no 2nd nor 3rd move/plan. In the past, the NBA level talent knew how to play basketball. This group doesn't know how to play the game at all and are waiting for a Leader to teach them. It won't be Tommy.

Even Caleb Love doesn't look at Tommy's clipboard in the huddles. He just stares blankly knowing he needs to hit the shots or we lose. This is pretty bad. Maybe the worst I have seen.

Other teams with other coaches had some problems in the past, but this team has no excuse. They have no reason to be gassed out like this. No off court issues that we know of. This is something different and as fans I think it will be a while before the dust clears.

I am not seeing a Program Builder in Tommy anymore.

Side Note: Maybe it is the Arizona way, but the most unathletic guy on the court usually dominates us.

[WILD]

Arizona will have its chance for revenge against West Virginia in 39 days on 1/7/25

[WILD]

Box Score

[TucsonTruckStop]

Does not really matter the lineup. The frontcourt is too deficient, where any 2 of Krivas, Awaka and Tre create issues. If Krivas is not in, then we have zero size. If Awaka in not in, there is no rebounding. Basically, you have to play Krivas, Awaka and Tre together with Love and Bradley, but Lloyd won't do that.

[arxpert]

Arizona will have its chance for revenge against West Virginia in 39 days on 1/7/25

We don't have anything to prove to anyone except ourselves now. First time I can recall being under .500 since maybe around right before Miller arrived.