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Arizona Vs Alabama 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 12/13 at 730pm ESPN
Arizona comes into Saturday's matchup riding an undefeated 8‑0 record and holding the No. 1 national ranking. The Wildcats have been a powerhouse this season, averaging 87.3 points per game while allowing roughly 67.0, giving them a +20.3 scoring margin. On the boards, they dominate with about 42.6 rebounds per game compared to 29.7 for their opponents, and they move the ball efficiently, averaging around 19 assists per game. Freshman forward Koa Peat leads the team with approximately 15.6 points per game, while forward Tobe Awaka provides a strong presence in the paint with solid rebounding.
Alabama presents a significant challenge, bringing athleticism, defensive pressure, and rebounding ability. Arizona will need to sustain its offensive rhythm, crash the glass consistently, and limit turnovers to succeed. Controlling tempo, executing crisp ball movement, and protecting the paint will be key against Alabama's physical frontcourt. If Arizona can maintain its balance, energy, and execution, the Wildcats will be in a strong position to extend their perfect start, but the Crimson Tide will ensure it won't be an easy victory.
Let's talk about the Wildcats Vs Crimson Tide!
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Jon Sciambi (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) will be calling the game tonight.
Quote from: WILD on December 08, 2025, 10:37:04 PM(https://i.ibb.co/XZQnbZD8/20251207-134231.jpg)
Arizona Vs Alabama 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 12/13 at 730pm ESPN
Live stream links
Check back right before tip-off.
Where's the stream?
There was a stream of tears running down Nate Oats' face.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on December 13, 2025, 09:59:35 PMThere was a stream of tears running down Nate Oats' face.
I did not understand why he pressed so hard for those flagrant foul appeals.
That game was physical as hell, and it was not a problem until Arizona began to punch you back.
Oats did not seem like he did much to adjust/adapt to what Arizona was doing.
He seemed like he banked on the notion of their 3PT eventually falling.
I did not expect Arizona to blow Alabama out, but it is clear that they do enough to keep the game close, and they go on a nice run and strangle you to death (figuratively).
#BearDown
Quote from: mvpreed2 on December 13, 2025, 10:19:13 PMOats did not seem like he did much to adjust/adapt to what Arizona was doing.
He seemed like he banked on the notion of their 3PT eventually falling.
They were painfully outrebounded to the point we got over 80 shots from the field and 20 FT attempts... to their 50 some shots from the field and over 30 of those were from 3... so if they had shot like 90% from 3 I guess it would have worked, but that is new age analytics for you.
It worked for Oats vs us with Buffalo. It is a very hit or miss brand of basketball.
I think that The Cats did a good job to hang in there in the 1st half and not let go of the rope of momentum. Then in the 2nd half it seemed like Tommy identified their way of swinging it around the arc, got our guys to hop into those lanes, generate 10 steals and then it was all about the now coined term I came up with ---
"Flurries By Burries".
If we can finish out this OOC undefeated somehow... and I mean SOMEHOW no stumbles, then we can be afforded up to 5 Losses in the Big12 and we should still be a 1 Seed.
It is almost inevitable that we drop a game, but I really don't want it to be to San Diego State with a lack of focus or any of the other 3 teams like South Dakota St or KC Cat's very own BETHUNNNNNE COOK-HAMS...
We should be able to navigate those games, but can't afford to take our eye off the ball vs San Diego State especially.
ONWARD AND UP
BEARDOWN
Oats put himself in a tough position by creating an offense that solely relies on the three.
Arizona is a solid rebounding team, so standing along the perimeter doesn't put the Tide at an advantage when you're playing a physical opponent...and you only shoot 35% from deep.
Second chances are almost impossible with that tactic. It works against smaller opponents who attempt to slow down the game.
Lloyd adjusted his defense at the half and Burries finally escaped his shooting slump. The Cats won a solid "road" game (again).
SDSU doesn't scare me this season. They gave up triple digits to Troy (although they looked solid against an inconsistent Oregon team).
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Quote from: arxpert on December 13, 2025, 10:36:06 PMThey were painfully outrebounded to the point we got over 80 shots from the field and 20 FT attempts... to their 50 some shots from the field and over 30 of those were from 3... so if they had shot like 90% from 3 I guess it would have worked, but that is new age analytics for you.
It worked for Oats vs us with Buffalo. It is a very hit or miss brand of basketball.
I think that The Cats did a good job to hang in there in the 1st half and not let go of the rope of momentum. Then in the 2nd half it seemed like Tommy identified their way of swinging it around the arc, got our guys to hop into those lanes, generate 10 steals and then it was all about the now coined term I came up with ---
"Flurries By Burries".
If we can finish out this OOC undefeated somehow... and I mean SOMEHOW no stumbles, then we can be afforded up to 5 Losses in the Big12 and we should still be a 1 Seed.
It is almost inevitable that we drop a game, but I really don't want it to be to San Diego State with a lack of focus or any of the other 3 teams like South Dakota St or KC Cat's very own BETHUNNNNNE COOK-HAMS...
We should be able to navigate those games, but can't afford to take our eye off the ball vs San Diego State especially.
ONWARD AND UP
BEARDOWN
Yes, that theory is very successful until it isn't.
3pts are worth more than 2pts, and if you take more shots, the chances are that you are going make enough to win.
The simple solution is to run them off the 3PT line.
Now you are down 10-12pts, and you HAVE to shoot from deep in order to STAY in the game.
That logic never worked for me as I have been a defensive/attack the basket/make FTs guy at my core and I believe that is the foundation of what this team is built on.
I do believe that this team can finish the OOC undefeated.
They have taken too many punches from too many elite teams to let down on a game like some of the ones that are coming up.
I am not sure how many games they could afford to lose, but Arizona might have a top 5 SOS when all is said and done.
The amount of Q1 wins they could stack up should have them in contention for the top overall seed going into the tournament
ESPECIALLY if they run the Big 12 and Big 12 tourney.
#BearDown
Quote from: KansasCityCats on December 14, 2025, 05:46:42 AMOats put himself in a tough position by creating an offense that solely relies on the three.
Arizona is a solid rebounding team, so standing along the perimeter doesn't put the Tide at an advantage when you're playing a physical opponent...and you only shoot 35% from deep.
Second chances are almost impossible with that tactic. It works against smaller opponents who attempt to slow down the game.
Lloyd adjusted his defense at the half and Burries finally escaped his shooting slump. The Cats won a solid "road" game (again).
SDSU doesn't scare me this season. They gave up triple digits to Troy (although they looked solid against an inconsistent Oregon team).
The part about his offense that I do not understand is why not have a rim-runner that sets screens also?
All your bigs are stretch bigs that pop and shoot instead of roll to the basket.
There is no one on that Alabama team that could get into paint and score consistently.
That was what hurt them because they ended up preferring to shoot from deep, to being forced to shoot from deep.
The difference between the two will change how you approach the shot and affect how you shoot it.
#BearDown
Quote from: KansasCityCats on December 14, 2025, 05:46:42 AMOats put himself in a tough position by creating an offense that solely relies on the three.
Arizona is a solid rebounding team, so standing along the perimeter doesn't put the Tide at an advantage when you're playing a physical opponent...and you only shoot 35% from deep.
Second chances are almost impossible with that tactic. It works against smaller opponents who attempt to slow down the game.
Lloyd adjusted his defense at the half and Burries finally escaped his shooting slump. The Cats won a solid "road" game (again).
SDSU doesn't scare me this season. They gave up triple digits to Troy (although they looked solid against an inconsistent Oregon team).
Tell that to your favorite go-to argument when you say 2 7ft'ers predicated on Rebounding lost to Nate Oats in a 4 vs 13 Buffalo game. When the shots fall it is almost insurmountable.
Quote from: mvpreed2 on December 14, 2025, 09:57:31 AMThe part about his offense that I do not understand is why not have a rim-runner that sets screens also?
He used to have that guy Nelson I think who would shoot from deep, but also was like close to a 7fter and do what you said. That was back when we struggled with them in Phoenix I believe.
Alabama is basically flawed to that 1 Freshman Leberon Philon or whatever as a NBA player just cruising along getting his stats.
To be frank I would like to avoid Gimmick Teams in March Madness as much as possible and play the teams that are more "meta" and just matchup, straight up - so we can play OUR game and see who is tougher in the end...
But as we know, the Madness is built to make... MADNESS and styles will make fights. Hence why Tommy always has trouble with the likes of UCLA or Houston via overthinking it.
At least we showed that we can play up tempo and not just rely on bullying. We don't shoot many 3s, but we are decent enough to generate a couple of "makes" when we need them within the flow.
Quote from: arxpert on December 14, 2025, 09:16:21 PMQuote from: KansasCityCats on December 14, 2025, 05:46:42 AMOats put himself in a tough position by creating an offense that solely relies on the three.
Arizona is a solid rebounding team, so standing along the perimeter doesn't put the Tide at an advantage when you're playing a physical opponent...and you only shoot 35% from deep.
Second chances are almost impossible with that tactic. It works against smaller opponents who attempt to slow down the game.
Lloyd adjusted his defense at the half and Burries finally escaped his shooting slump. The Cats won a solid "road" game (again).
SDSU doesn't scare me this season. They gave up triple digits to Troy (although they looked solid against an inconsistent Oregon team).
Tell that to your favorite go-to argument when you say 2 7ft'ers predicated on Rebounding lost to Nate Oats in a 4 vs 13 Buffalo game. When the shots fall it is almost insurmountable.
I agree. Chucking up threes isn't an ideal season-long game plan but if your shooters are "on" for a night, teams like Alabama could beat anybody.
Yes, Buffalo shot 50% from beyond the arc against Ayton but they crapped the bed two days later, when they missed 24 threes against Kentucky (who barely defended the outside shot).
Quote from: mvpreed2 on December 14, 2025, 09:57:31 AMQuote from: KansasCityCats on December 14, 2025, 05:46:42 AMOats put himself in a tough position by creating an offense that solely relies on the three.
Arizona is a solid rebounding team, so standing along the perimeter doesn't put the Tide at an advantage when you're playing a physical opponent...and you only shoot 35% from deep.
Second chances are almost impossible with that tactic. It works against smaller opponents who attempt to slow down the game.
Lloyd adjusted his defense at the half and Burries finally escaped his shooting slump. The Cats won a solid "road" game (again).
SDSU doesn't scare me this season. They gave up triple digits to Troy (although they looked solid against an inconsistent Oregon team).
The part about his offense that I do not understand is why not have a rim-runner that sets screens also?
All your bigs are stretch bigs that pop and shoot instead of roll to the basket.
There is no one on that Alabama team that could get into paint and score consistently.
That was what hurt them because they ended up preferring to shoot from deep, to being forced to shoot from deep.
The difference between the two will change how you approach the shot and affect how you shoot it.
#BearDown
Good question for Nate Oats...
Bama shot 13 of 24 from inside the arc, so I wouldn't say that they weren't scoring consistently (the Tide just refused to attempt efficient field goal attempts). Shame on them for not attacking the basket and getting our bigs in foul trouble. Krivas, Awaka and Kharchenkov combined for TWO personal fouls in their 76 minutes of combined play. Peat was the only player that they attacked.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on December 15, 2025, 10:22:32 AMBama shot 13 of 24 from inside the arc, so I wouldn't say that they weren't scoring consistently (the Tide just refused to attempt efficient field goal attempts).
Tommy allowed that.
It was tactical. Let them have some 2's so they don't catch fire from 3 especially early on and creep any doubt into our minds and get the crowd going with them.