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The massive hole left by Caleb Love departing is going to be hard to fill next year. Who do you believe will pick up the slack?

I will just say addition by subtraction.
Not knocking Love, but he is just too up and down to be dependable.

Bradley has shown consistent improvement throughout his career and I think he'll run the show next year.  I'd love to land Burries, who would obviously complement Jaden in the backcourt.

KJ is a defensive monster and can get to the hole as well as anybody (Love excepted).  If he can work on taking care of the ball in the half-court offense and improve his outside shot, he'll get all the minutes that he can handle.

Using the metric system, measure the
diameter of the gaping hole created by
the looming departure of Caleb Love.

Tommy will deploy 4 7-Footers and try to get 45 Dunks/Layups per game like it is the Bill Russell/Wilt Era

I have been a Caleb Love supporter since day 1. Glad we have him. Who else will even attempt a 6o footer with 2 sec left? And who would make it? Who steps to the line and sinks 7 ft's in a row in the last 2 min of a tight game?

For those that scapegoat Caleb and think he is selfish and shoots us outta games, you'll see next yr he won't be easy to replace.

Quote from: Little George on February 25, 2025, 10:51:53 AMI will just say addition by subtraction.
Not knocking Love, but he is just too up and down to be dependable.

Let me add though, while Love has the ability to shoot us into a loss at 2 for 20 shooting, he could be the guy to get us to the FF or even further. He has the ability to carry a team at times. We have seen both sides of him!

Quote from: Deb on February 26, 2025, 03:39:00 PMI have been a Caleb Love supporter since day 1. Glad we have him. Who else will even attempt a 6o footer with 2 sec left? And who would make it? Who steps to the line and sinks 7 ft's in a row in the last 2 min of a tight game?

For those that scapegoat Caleb and think he is selfish and shoots us outta games, you'll see next yr he won't be easy to replace.

I respectfully disagree.  Although there are MANY things to appreciate about Love (his leadership, defense, ballhandling, etc.), I don't think we'd have to take 60' shots if Caleb weren't 5 of 18 from the floor, prior to the "prayer/heave".

Our team is shooting almost 50% FG as a whole.  Love has only shot 50% from the floor in FIVE games this season...and only once in 2025 (the others were against weak opponents). 

There's a chance that Caleb takes us to the promised land, similar to his ride with UNC.  Realistically, I fear that he'll shoot us out of another postseason run.  Hopefully the former occurs because I really appreciate his loyalty to Lloyd and Arizona.

KCC, Caleb is averaging 20ppg and 5apg the last four games, often while guarding the opponent's best player. He is doing this while being the focus of that opposing team also. He is avg over 16ppg and 3.5apg on the season. I know he doesn't always get those pts efficiently, but there haven't been many AZ guards in the last 10-15 yrs that have put up those numbers.

Absolutely. His defense compensates for the inefficiencies because he has been solid on that side of the ball, especially during conference play.

Nobody in recent Arizona memory had the green light to fire threes at will, which is a big contributor to his PPG. Perhaps Kriisa and Boswell but neither of those players could attack the basket.

Yes, Love is 6th in PPG within the conference...but he's dead last in FG% on our team. In theory, any other player could shoot Caleb's volume and easily exceed 20PPG.

Regardless, I want him to prove us wrong and bring Arizona to our first Final Four in 25 years

Quote from: Deb on February 27, 2025, 05:34:10 PMKCC, Caleb is averaging 20ppg and 5apg the last four games, often while guarding the opponent's best player. He is doing this while being the focus of that opposing team also. He is avg over 16ppg and 3.5apg on the season. I know he doesn't always get those pts efficiently, but there haven't been many AZ guards in the last 10-15 yrs that have put up those numbers.

First, Caleb is a very good player, he does almost everything very well. The one exception in 3 pt shooting. He's a career 32% shooter and he's worse this year. Yet he shoots 8 3's per game. If he averaged 3 per game, he wouldn't be very good, he'd be great. I believe that his scoring average would be higher if he took half as many 3's.  As it is, if he gets hot (put another way, if he gets lucky), we'll make a deep run. If he does not get lucky, the sweet 16 is our ceiling.

This team can play with almost anybody when they don't give away 10-15 possessions by taking shots they've proven they're highly unlikey to make.

Campbell College is not a Juggernaut to continue to recruit from like a pipeline.

Tommy needs to actually learn how to construct a roster for his 1 and only way of coaching OR he needs to learn how to coach more than 1 style.

I don't know what that has to do with Love...but it should be known that Delly is part of the third most efficient duo in the country AND has a better three point percentage (40%) than your savior, Sanon.

Quote from: KansasCityCats on March 02, 2025, 07:22:02 AMI don't know what that has to do with Love...but it should be known that Delly is part of the third most efficient duo in the country AND has a better three point percentage (40%) than your savior, Sanon.

So then that has a lot to do with Love because Love is taking valuable shots and minutes from said efficient Delly.

As for Sanon... I don't really think there is much to say about it. He is better than Caleb Love at his age.

From a scoring perspective, I agree. Sanon couldn't effectively shut down the guys that Love covered on defense this season. That's irrelevant in the NBA, so Sanon will obviously be a pro in the near future.

I was comparing Delly though, who continually improved throughout the season in every respect, while Sanon trailed off after Hurley's NIL money vanished.

Quote from: KansasCityCats on March 03, 2025, 08:30:59 PMFrom a scoring perspective, I agree. Sanon couldn't effectively shut down the guys that Love covered on defense this season. That's irrelevant in the NBA, so Sanon will obviously be a pro in the near future.

I was comparing Delly though, who continually improved throughout the season in every respect, while Sanon trailed off after Hurley's NIL money vanished.

Sanon's willingness to guard people is clearly affected by the almighty dollar. That's not really something anyone can take into consideration. Caleb Love got his Millions by now. He knows he has to play as hard as possible to audition to play abroad. When Sanon is Love's Age, it will be different for him. I think Sanon is better than Love was as a Freshman. It is all relative. UNC was a way better team, program and school at the time for Love than ASU I would assume most would think too.

Sanon made the conscious decision to play for a crappy basketball team. He could be at UNC if preferred but he wanted to be the focal point of a team, in order to showcase his game to scouts.

He would have earned more NIL money AND marketed himself better if he played for anybody not named Bobby Hurley.

Quote from: KansasCityCats on March 04, 2025, 08:58:10 PMSanon made the conscious decision to play for a crappy basketball team. He could be at UNC if preferred but he wanted to be the focal point of a team, in order to showcase his game to scouts.

He would have earned more NIL money AND marketed himself better if he played for anybody not named Bobby Hurley.

He outplayed Caleb Love tonight. It doesn't matter. Senseless debate. Sanon will be going to the NBA, Love won't. There is a level that Sanon possesses that Love doesn't. I hope he declares and goes undrafted then picks his landing spot. He doesn't belong in college. The Real World will slap 99% of these kids in the face when they blow through their NIL before Age 25.

They played the same amount of minutes and Sanon had fewer points and assists (rebounds were equal). He's known for his outside shot and couldn't make it.  How is that better?

Yes, their futures will look different but Caleb chose a school that allowed him to maximize his NIL and win Conference POY. Sanon's draft stock dropped since conference play started.

It's definitely a senseless debate. The point is: don't play for assu.

You give that Sanon kid another 4 years of college basketball like Love, he might be pretty good!
I'd welcome him next year @ Arizona in a heartbeat.

100%. His defense last night was better than I've seen all season. He obviously wanted to prove something to Arizona fans. He also made some amazing/acrobatic layups.

It's inevitable that he's going pro after this season. He clearly doesn't care about college ball. If he did, I'm sure Lloyd would reconnect.

Quote from: KansasCityCats on March 05, 2025, 11:01:27 AM100%. His defense last night was better than I've seen all season. He obviously wanted to prove something to Arizona fans. He also made some amazing/acrobatic layups.

It's inevitable that he's going pro after this season. He clearly doesn't care about college ball. If he did, I'm sure Lloyd would reconnect.

I was watching, thinking that Sanon was literally playing Love straight up thinking he would at least go tit for tat if he couldn't show him up. It looked like a very personal effort from Sanon and Love. Love thrives in those scenarios from my POV.

But when it is completely random opponents clowning him, he tends to get in his head if he is missing shots and then goes off the deep end going 1-9 from 3.