Next 4 Games

[arxpert]

I think this thread is cohesive. We all want the same thing overall.

I also think the key is when you are #1, you are the hunted. Everyone is going to try to give their best shot and play UP to our level. We need to have some patience within our swagger so as to not buy into our hype too much and play within ourselves. It will be important to show poise. This is a bit uncharted territory although we have been basically the winningest program over the last few years, for whatever reason there has always been someone ranked ahead of us and/or we blew a game that basically never got us to #1.

Let's see how we handle ourselves and our composure while we have the crown of sorts.

"They can try to come at the Kings of College Basketball, but they better not miss" [or they will be obliterated] should be part of the mentality. I don't really just want to see us win by 2-5pts needing clutch FT's at the end of games.

We should take their best punches and hit back harder. Run away with games with 4-5min left in the 2nd if it's close.

All in.

Onward and Up

Beardown.

[arxpert]

Purdue will be a Road Game chalk full of Midwest scum buckets, but I argue that it is a decent matchup for us. Hard to say that we would be the favorite and that has nothing to do with venue and more to do with style of play. We may out-athlete them playing fast, but Purdue is better in chemistry. Coaching will matter. I suspect Purdue will slow things down whenever they want and attempt to play through Yao Edey at first, but lull us into thinking that is the plan when in reality it will be their Guards that are the issue. They are experienced and fluid. We are still looking for a steady hand. I have yet to see someone take over a game, get 12 assists, get to the Line often. Our guards will need to be better. They have a bad reputation for poor 3pt shooting, but are quietly changing that narrative. Guard Play will be tested heavily as well as Keshod having to deal with Gillis being pesky, can't sag off worrying about Edey. If he gets a 2 so be it. Don't foul him, he isn't Ballo, he can make a FT.

This will be "the game" if the media gets their way. We will only know how big Krivas really is once he is next to Edey. Ballo will be useless in this matchup other than trying to barrel into Edey. Hopefully Tommy is working on some plays that feature Ballo passing the ball. It would open up a ton of action if he can acquire that skill.

Alabama is suspect. I think Phoenix is a suspect place to play as well. We won't just be the Home Team automatically. It is up to Wildcat Nation to get up and give a damn. Not to assume the tickets will be bought and the Zoo will be rocking. Fanbases like Bama's have a reputation for buying tickets from Tuscaloosa just to make sure their opponent doesn't get fans in the house. Athletes vs Athletes. We will have to ball to beat them.

FAU in Vegas. I think they are an extremely deep team. Shut down Johnell Davis, shut down FAU. Another team with nothing to lose and would love to show the world they can mix it up with the best the country has to offer. I feel pretty good about this matchup. Goldin will have a handful to deal with. They aren't overrated, but they also aren't the big bad wolf either.

If these predictions weren't the truth... sheeeesh. I didn't really hear any UofA Chants in Phoenix. Felt like the crowd was happy to see Bama taking it to us until they went flat. We looked tired/sick/slow vs Bama. Maybe we were, maybe they are just better athletes. Not sure.

Just as I suspected. Purdue game went according to my concerns. Glad we stomped out Wisconsin. I was weary that the time off would affect us, but it didn't.

FAU has now officially been upgraded to a Must-Win as Pac12 play is going to be underwhelming. Any losses in Pac12 play will be detrimental. I don't presume we go undefeated, but we can't lose more than 1 or 2 games and expect to be respected as a 1 seed if there won't be that good strength of competition in the Pac12.

[KansasCityCats]

Purdue didn't slow things down and the game wasn't full of buckets.

Bama fans didn't buy any tickets. They were saving their money for the CFP. Everybody I knew within the arena said it was louder than any other matchup in Phoenix's history (World Series and NBA Finals excepted).

Again, why is this a "must win"?  Arizona has an OOC schedule that was packed with Top-25 matchups and the worst case scenario is two losses. We aren't one of the SoCal schools where our season is on the line. Arizona now has experience against top tier competition, was humbled in one game and knows that they can beat anybody.

The Cats are in a good place.

[LeftCoastCats]

The way I was raised, must wins don't happen this early in the season. This is a "should win" "opportunity win" "resume solidifying win" buy if we lose, nothing bad happens directly.

Still holding to this being our toughest matchup of the 4, but Arizona in Vegas should win the day.

[2012Cat]

I was at the Alabama game and am a season ticket holder and outside of the Wisconsin game it was louder than any other game at Mckale by far , and was packed

[arxpert]

I was at the Alabama game and am a season ticket holder and outside of the Wisconsin game it was louder than any other game at Mckale by far , and was packed

As a TV viewer it was a rowdy Bama crowd until the shot stopped, then the sound was flat. Being at a venue vs at home are 2 different experiences. That was not a Home atmosphere for Arizona.

[arxpert]

The way I was raised, must wins don't happen this early in the season. This is a "should win" "opportunity win" "resume solidifying win" buy if we lose, nothing bad happens directly.

Still holding to this being our toughest matchup of the 4, but Arizona in Vegas should win the day.

Fans of Arizona are as fake as it gets unfortunately. Rowdy for Arizona early, then when FAU took the lead all I could hear was FAU chants. Sadly Tommy does nothing about it. He is a young guy. He's not a dinosaur. He doesn't seem to take any opponent seriously. Today he was dominated in every way a young coach can be. Another Chemistry Laden team took him to the woodshed.

[arxpert]

Purdue didn't slow things down and the game wasn't full of buckets.

Bama fans didn't buy any tickets. They were saving their money for the CFP. Everybody I knew within the arena said it was louder than any other matchup in Phoenix's history (World Series and NBA Finals excepted).

Again, why is this a "must win"?  Arizona has an OOC schedule that was packed with Top-25 matchups and the worst case scenario is two losses. We aren't one of the SoCal schools where our season is on the line. Arizona now has experience against top tier competition, was humbled in one game and knows that they can beat anybody.

The Cats are in a good place.

I think you will come up with any excuse to protect Tommy's feelings at this point.

This is not the team everyone thinks it is at the moment. The way I see it doesn't have to be everyone's reality, but I'm still going to say it.

This team looks like a team that Peaked already and has mentally checked out. We will find out who we are in Conference play when we are the Hunted Every Single Game by teams that have no choice, but to beat us if they want to even make the Big Dance because the Pac12 is horrible.

If we can't have a mentality of smashing everyone with a serious approach every game then we won't win the Pac12.

The loss today was just evidence that we are not who we thought we were and we are no where near the team we believe we can be.

Last season Tommy lost the locker room completely by the middle of the Pac12 Tournament and we barely squeaked by there. It carried over into the Princeton Loss. If he does this again and gets slapped around like the soft coach he is, then I think he won't last much longer as our HC heading into the Big12 where Arizona is no where near the Big Bad Wolf.

Let's see if Tommy can turn things around and get the Team to start playing correctly again after these thorough ass whoopings.

[KansasCityCats]

I'm just realistic. 2OT losses are far from "ass whoopings". If you don't think FAU is a quality opponent, then you didn't watch the tournament last year. They returned every key player and made shots tonight with hands in their faces.

Kriisa checking out last season doesn't mean Lloyd lost the team. Our quality players didn't transfer because they like playing for our staff. They embrace the unique culture/roster and it pays off because they won more games than any other staff over the span of their first two seasons.

[arxpert]

I'm just realistic. 2OT losses are far from "ass whoopings". If you don't think FAU is a quality opponent, then you didn't watch the tournament last year. They returned every key player and made shots tonight with hands in their faces.

Kriisa checking out last season doesn't mean Lloyd lost the team. Our quality players didn't transfer because they like playing for our staff. They embrace the unique culture/roster and it pays off because they won more games than any other staff over the span of their first two seasons.

Ass whoopings can come in all different ways. This team in mentally softer after the last 3 games. Caleb Love is the new Alpha of the team which is toxic enough as it is. Keshad has been out for himself since Purdue thinking he could posterize Edey all game.

The fact of the matter is this team needs a total reset. If Henri isn't returning then we have no realistic chance of making a run. We are 7 players deep and only 1 big. Krivas has become unplayable lately. Tommy ruined him. Might as well let Borovician play if Henri isn't. I have no idea why he doesn't currently. Total identity crisis going on.

He lost the locker room for now.

Currently he has lost Boswell. The leadership there is gone. Boswell is looking to Caleb Love for permission to play his game and it has gotten to the point that Boswell is no longer effective as a starter in this capacity. Either Boswell or Love need to come off the bench or play on separate units for a little while until they can trust each other again. Bradley could handle starting until they can figure it out. It would be rude to bring Love off the bench after he has single handedly carried this team to 3 straight terrible performances, but was the only reason we even had anything going for us.

KJ could stand to play more minutes although today, FAU's athletes made KJ gassed out big time.

Again, Tommy needs to utilize Borovician if Henri isn't returning. Just another waste of talent that Tommy doesn't know how to coach. He made the wrong call with Anderson. We are stuck without any answers at the moment for Ballo being a massive liability to this team. The blueprint is out on us. Ballo can't be out there on offense if it's not an instant alley-oop style play. As soon as the ball hits his hands, if he tries to dribble, he is hacked.

Tommy doesn't teach Bigs how to pass out of the post so there's literally no hope there.

Boswell and Love cannot coexist. They need to be separated until further notice.

Double OT was not indicative of the poor coaching display today. It just means that we got so many more chances that we were difficult to put away. I said many times across many posts that Tommy is unable to defeat Chemistry laden teams. It is just not in his DNA.