(https://i.ibb.co/VMgGDDw/20240104-230601.jpg)
Arizona Vs Utah 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 1/4/24 At 6pm PAC12N
The Utah Utes and the Arizona Wildcats meet Saturday in college basketball action from McKale Center. Utah snapped a lengthy win streak with a loss to Arizona State on Thursday, dropping the Utes to 11-3 overall. As for Arizona, they're 11-3 as well following a blowout win versus Colorado. Let's get into our Utah vs. Arizona prediction.
Utah Utes
The Utes kicked off the season on a nice 11-2 run with losses to only Houston and St. John's. Otherwise it was wins over Eastern Washington, UC Riverside, Wake Forest, Saint Mary's, Hawaii, Southern Utah, BYU, Utah Valley, Bellarmine, Washington State and Washington. Utah's third loss came Thursday versus Arizona State.
In the Sun Devils matchup this week, the Utes trailed 41-36 after one half. Utah fell even further behind in the second on a 41-34 run for an 82-70 defeat. Branden Carlon notched a team-high 19 points with eight boards in the losing effort, and Deivon Smith added 13 bench points with four rebounds.
Arizona Wildcats
Over on the Wildcats' side, they took out Morgan State, Duke, Southern, Belmont, TX-Arlington, Michigan State, Colgate and Wisconsin in their first eight outings. Since then it's been a 3-3 run with losses to Purdue, Florida Atlantic and Stanford alongside wins over Alabama, California and Colorado.
Matched up against Colorado on Thursday, the Wildcats surged in the first half on a 50-23 run. Arizona would finish strong with a 47-27 second half in a blowout win 97-50. Leading team scorer Pelle Larsson put up 18 points with seven rebounds. Caleb Love added 16 points and three boards as well.
BDU's Free Pick
I'll stay with Arizona. You could probably argue this one either way, though. The Wildcats demolished a good Colorado team in their last matchup, hitting 56.3 percent from the field and 55 percent (11-of-20) from outside along with a 45-25 rebounding advantage. Arizona has been cooking on the scoreboard all year long with 74 or more points in all 14 games.
As for Utah, they couldn't keep up with a tricky Arizona State team in their last outing. The Utes have scored 70 or more points in 10 straight games though, so they've got a good chance at putting up a nice total on Saturday. I like this one to be fairly competitive most of the way, with Arizona pulling out the late cover.
Arizona is favored at 13 and the Over/Under is 164.5
Let's talk about the Wildcats Vs Utes!
BEARDOWN!!!
Live stream link!
Click Here For Live Stream Link 1 (https://icelz.newsrade.com/tv/slingtvnews.php?ch=ZGNhN2JlMGM0OTBhNDRmMDgxMjRkODkyM2YxNWFhNTc=)
Get A FREE Premium BDU membership Register Here (https://beardownu.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=3a7ebe06d26b7b01c02defe9ebba44f1&action=register)
Pixar Boswell
https://twitter.com/BearDownU/status/1743692710522011740
Looking forward to seeing some continued momentum tonight. A JV warm up game may have been what the doctor ordered. I would hate to think that we are just going to be "that team" that can only win at home, but gets slapped around on in one way or another on the road. That wouldn't bode well.
Maybe the Zone Defense approach is here to stay. Tommy might have recognized that this year's team is not committed to man to man properly.
Utah is #2 in team 3pt % in the country, #17 in the nation.
Cats gonna need to fight through screens and quick switches on the perimeter along with good communication.
#BearDown and beat the Utes.
It is abundantly clear that Tommy has decided to remain stubborn and play this style until the grave. There's simply no adjustment.
He invites every team to play their style against us without any resistance. Either make your shots or most likely lose.
To me, that is a very elementary way to coach. It is cocky and there's no room for that in advanced basketball.
All we truly learned tonight is 2 things:
1. Utah missed their 3s
2. Bradley + Krivas need to be on the 1st Unit and Boswell + Ballo need to be on the 2nd Unit.
Boswell's minutes were lowered thankfully. I can see that Tommy is beginning to let Boswell down slowly into the inevitable role he will fill. I think it is a big mistake to go with Ballo on the first unit. Krivas has the most to gain playing with Bradley, Love, Pelle, and Keshad.
Boswell has the most to gain as a SG working with Bradley as PG, Pelle or KJ, Keshad, and Ballo.
I think Tommy is quietly doing this. He's a little bit of a coward in his approach, but I am all about the results and if we get to where I believe we should in terms of the lineups and rotations throughout the game I don't really care how it happens.
Quote from: arxpert on January 06, 2024, 09:34:39 PMIt is abundantly clear that Tommy has decided to remain stubborn and play this style until the grave. There's simply no adjustment.
That bold part is a summary of the classic John Wooden coaching philosophy. Other legendary coaches have a very similar stubbornness.
Quote from: LeftCoastCats on January 06, 2024, 10:25:12 PMQuote from: arxpert on January 06, 2024, 09:34:39 PMIt is abundantly clear that Tommy has decided to remain stubborn and play this style until the grave. There's simply no adjustment.
That bold part is a summary of the classic John Wooden coaching philosophy. Other legendary coaches have a very similar stubbornness.
Maybe, but Wooden had Bill Walton and Kareem... what do we have that enables such behavior?
Our Arena is practically a ghost town any time the opponent makes a shot. Sat down into their chairs like the stubborn what have you done for me this nanosecond brats they are.
Some people seem to think I'm the big bad wolf for calling out the truth (Ironically as many Cats fans are of the Walter Cronkite Era), but it really is the fans of McKale who are the most hyper critical humans in the Southwest.
Dribble incorrectly and you are no good to them yet they won't give up those prime seats no matter what even though they show up 20 minutes late to games constantly.
Make 1 good play and you get a 5 second roar while celebrating half way back on defense while the opponent is already laying the ball in.
Tommy just stands there, arms folded and now I am noticing he sits in his chair with his fingers pressing in the "migraine" area of the forehead. The man realizes we just don't have what it takes in terms of maturity.
Well, anyway - that was as far as I will go in feeling sorry for Tommy. He needs to take some Excedrin and get this team to play perimeter defense and get back in transition.
Caleb Love is bound to have a bad game sooner than later. Then what? Wouldn't it be ironic if it comes vs UCLA or someone you all think is atrocious? Someone that can make us look pitiful with a stalwart and desperate effort since we are everyone's only "out" in terms of building a resume.
ONWARD AND UP
BEARDOWN
Wait...you're a Miller fan and you're calling Lloyd stubborn on D? He occasionally mixes the zone in but primarily plays man to man. The Packline D was a dead giveaway for opponents for 12 years in Tucson.
We beat a ranked team by double digits. Our staff is doing something right. The assu fans can continue to perceive Arizona as a glass half empty team. The Cats are in the top-10. Next.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on January 07, 2024, 01:58:49 AMWait...you're a Miller fan and you're calling Lloyd stubborn on D? He occasionally mixes the zone in but primarily plays man to man. The Packline D was a dead giveaway for opponents for 12 years in Tucson.
We beat a ranked team by double digits. Our staff is doing something right. The assu fans can continue to perceive Arizona as a glass half empty team. The Cats are in the top-10. Next.
I didn't say that. That's called twisting things. I'm not out here manipulating the facts to suit me. I'm calling it how it is.
However, Miller had some top ranked Defense. He had some top ranked Offense. Clearly he could coach and recruit too. You aren't a Miller hater. You know this. But this isn't about Miller.
Tommy is stubborn in playing Mark Few's brand of basketball yet he really doesn't mix in enough of the principles which I find ironic. So realistically he is just not at the level Mark Few is.
Tommy really just watches teams do whatever they want against us and if they miss, great, if they make it, just squeeze the migraine spot and watch Caleb Love go back to work on offense.
It's not that we don't play Defense. It's that there's no dynamic adjustment. I don't think it's too wild to say if Utah hit 7 or 8 more 3's they would have won. They took 31? Not going to check the Box. The point is we allowed them the opportunity. There is a difference between jacking up wild 3s and just standing and watching them put up open attempts assuming they will miss.
I think last night was a mixture of a) forcing them to take bad perimeter shots and b) Utah being impatient and pulling the trigger too quickly (which they've done all season).
When you play at a high tempo offensively, you're going to concede points on defense. As long as the team isn't half-assing it on D and walking down the court, I'm happy with the system because it's fun to watch.
Yes I was a big Miller fan but unfortunately, we never had a highly ranked offense. Defense? Always. Miss his intensity.