Arizona Vs UConn 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 11/19 at 5pm FS1

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

Arizona legend, it started with fuzz,
A hairy face began the BDU buzz.
No lucky socks, no ritualistic rhyme,
Just growing beards by NCAA Tourney time.
From patchy fuzz to thick, untamed expanse,
Each bristly chin improves Wildcat scoring stance.
A furry fortress where the rivals fell,
The power of the beard, a tale to tell.
With every inch, a win beneath their belts,
BDU fan burn your razor, until it melts,
Forest on chin and cheek with nary a void,
The road to glory starts with a bearded t. lloyd!

I hope this was AI. But you're right. If Tom continues to shave, we have zero chance of a natty.

[Naterade]

So Ballo and Henri and Pelle and Keshad and Love developed on their own without Tommy's help? Got it.

None came from a real Mid Major like Tony Delly.

Pelle came from Utah.

Keshad came from a very successful SDSU program as a Grad Transfer I believe where he already elevated his game before coming in and doesn't qualify because it was only 1 season which is the main point of this comment.

If we had 2 years of Keshad then it would be closer to Apples to Apples. Tommy merely landed a Finished Product. Delly was not.

Henri and Ballo were both also International Prospects and were never true Mid Major level prospects hence getting an invitation to Top Tier Programs instantly. Gonzaga is not a real Mid Major and everyone knows that so don't try it. Delly as an International Prospect was able to land a job at Campbell. Campbell is Not Gonzaga. Again, don't try it.

If you want to argue about Pelle, that is fine, but Utah was still a higher level program than Campbell no matter what you say - The proof is in the pudding with Cedric Henderson Jr. of the Tommy Lloyd Campbell Pipeline. Henderson did not Elevate his game.

1 Year is not usually enough for a true Career Mid Major level talent to become a Himothy.

Keshad Johnson was Solid for us, but not Elite by any means. Fun to watch, got himself drafted on his athleticism alone with or without Tommy's help anyone could see that he could run up and down, dunk the ball, and play NBA style ball.

Caleb Love got arguably worse coming to Arizona and we are lucky for his addition by subtraction this year. He also was the Broker for the Henri transfer and that may doom this team. I am pretty much done with him and his 1-9 from 3 all the time + his getting rejected by the rim dunk attempts. He made the NBA like he would have regardless, but UNC is not a Mid Major.

PS - You forgot Jaden Bradley in your snide comment. Someone who actually Truly developed. But he came from Alabama as a 5* so get rekt again.

Tony Del Orso has improved his level more than expected at this point and I am getting more certain by the post that the pushback I get from people is going to lead to certain doom when he inevitably has a bad game. You are proving that there are now Expectations for Delly and that in and of itself is flawed.

I was just giving a standard Due Credit Shout Out. Not trying to say Delly is going to be "THE REASON" or the EXCEPTION to the RULE.

But if he is, good for him he will have earned it all and Tommy would be instrumental in finding a guy with more than 1 year to stay committed to his Program and tutelage for a change. That would be a big thing for this program and maybe more players would want to stay if they see Tony keep succeeding.

The longer it takes to defend your point the worse it looks.

[KansasCityCats]

Also, Love's FG%, rebounds and TO's all improved at Arizona, despite already being a Final Four contributor at UNC.

Let's not dive into the Miller transfers. Lloyd finds the right pieces to complement his team.

[WILD]

https://x.com/Zona_Briggs/status/1991265934326014292?t=RnwQw7FgcTbO1aJzNEpAFQ&s=19

[WILD]

It's gonna be an extra rowdy crowd for the Wildcats tonight.

https://x.com/UConnMBB/status/1990916739127730638?t=v0xwACairAy6cY3SSzcNbA&s=19

[WILD]

Reed is out for the Huskies. Big loss for them.

https://x.com/TheFieldOf68/status/1991273714835763374?t=X2SH7ZJRsl2adxy-O7VGkg&s=19

[arxpert]

Not much analysis needed.

Arizona doesn't close out shots defensively in the Tommy Lloyd Era.

UConn missed a lot of shots, but had them open.

Arizona built a lead.

Tommy botched the big lead with plenty of Timeouts to stop the bleeding.

Bradley showed up again inside 5 minutes down the stretch.

Tobe Awaka graduated to Tobias Awaka tonight with extremely pressure packed FT's with a No Nonsense Approach just stepping up to the line and letting them fly.

Helluva Victory when we were in an almost sure fire meltdown.

I believe this was as close to Rock Bottom as it can get without losing. The type of game that comes up in the Madness that the program seemingly cannot get past.

So with that said. We will lose a game inevitably playing with fire the way Tommy does, but....

ONWARD AND UP

BEARDOWN

[arxpert]

So Ballo and Henri and Pelle and Keshad and Love developed on their own without Tommy's help? Got it.

None came from a real Mid Major like Tony Delly.

Pelle came from Utah.

Keshad came from a very successful SDSU program as a Grad Transfer I believe where he already elevated his game before coming in and doesn't qualify because it was only 1 season which is the main point of this comment.

If we had 2 years of Keshad then it would be closer to Apples to Apples. Tommy merely landed a Finished Product. Delly was not.

Henri and Ballo were both also International Prospects and were never true Mid Major level prospects hence getting an invitation to Top Tier Programs instantly. Gonzaga is not a real Mid Major and everyone knows that so don't try it. Delly as an International Prospect was able to land a job at Campbell. Campbell is Not Gonzaga. Again, don't try it.

If you want to argue about Pelle, that is fine, but Utah was still a higher level program than Campbell no matter what you say - The proof is in the pudding with Cedric Henderson Jr. of the Tommy Lloyd Campbell Pipeline. Henderson did not Elevate his game.

1 Year is not usually enough for a true Career Mid Major level talent to become a Himothy.

Keshad Johnson was Solid for us, but not Elite by any means. Fun to watch, got himself drafted on his athleticism alone with or without Tommy's help anyone could see that he could run up and down, dunk the ball, and play NBA style ball.

Caleb Love got arguably worse coming to Arizona and we are lucky for his addition by subtraction this year. He also was the Broker for the Henri transfer and that may doom this team. I am pretty much done with him and his 1-9 from 3 all the time + his getting rejected by the rim dunk attempts. He made the NBA like he would have regardless, but UNC is not a Mid Major.

PS - You forgot Jaden Bradley in your snide comment. Someone who actually Truly developed. But he came from Alabama as a 5* so get rekt again.

Tony Del Orso has improved his level more than expected at this point and I am getting more certain by the post that the pushback I get from people is going to lead to certain doom when he inevitably has a bad game. You are proving that there are now Expectations for Delly and that in and of itself is flawed.

I was just giving a standard Due Credit Shout Out. Not trying to say Delly is going to be "THE REASON" or the EXCEPTION to the RULE.

But if he is, good for him he will have earned it all and Tommy would be instrumental in finding a guy with more than 1 year to stay committed to his Program and tutelage for a change. That would be a big thing for this program and maybe more players would want to stay if they see Tony keep succeeding.

The longer it takes to defend your point the worse it looks.

The shorter your replies, the smaller you look when speaking. Small people are often overlooked when it matters. You can speak softly, but I carry the big stick. Try harder.

[KansasCityCats]

Arizona purposely left UConn's bigs open. The Huskies constantly threw illegal screens and it opened up threes, which meant their forte.

Arizona outmuscled and outrebounded another Top-3 team by a LOT.

Solid win.

[arxpert]

Arizona purposely left UConn's bigs open. The Huskies constantly threw illegal screens and it opened up threes, which meant their forte.

Arizona outmuscled and outrebounded another Top-3 team by a LOT.

Solid win.

Everyone was playing undisciplined, fouling, moving screens. It was a game the refs let them play as much as they could. The Euro Ogre was welcome to shoot more 3s and probably would have hit more. He is a Freshman and didn't want to be the reason for going down 10+ early or 20+ in the 2nd, but he did make 2 big ones so don't act like it is a great strategy overall. Krivas is essentially Toast vs guys like Cenac, Dysbanta. I have no idea how Tommy will Deploy him. He isn't a strong finisher, can't regularly hit shots, hooks, nor power through for And1's. Awaka can't be expected to make FT's like tonight.

And mind you, UConn still got up like 25 3's on us, mostly wide open. Everyone will shoot on us. Alabama will probably try 50 and Tommy has no answer for it.