Idaho St transfer C Evan Otten has signed with Arizona!

[KansasCityCats]

Aside from Krivas playing true Center, everybody else is interchangeable in the post. If Mo is on the bench, I assume we'll play two bigs and three guards.

We have enough depth at every position, although Peat's return would solidify a significantly stronger lineup:

PG: Dixon / Mandaquit
SG: Holt / James
SF: Kharchenkov / Holmes
PF: (Peat?) / Jarusevicius / Aiyamenkhue
C: Krivas / Otten / Mawut

Despite losing all but 2-3 contributors from last season, the staff did a wonderful job of recruiting a starting five. Even the backups could finish in the middle of the Big-12 next season...

[arxpert]

PF: Jarusevicius / Aiyamenkhue
C: Krivas / Otten / Mawut

This would be the weakest Front Court of all perceived Ranked Teams

[mvpreed2]

Aside from Krivas playing true Center, everybody else is interchangeable in the post. If Mo is on the bench, I assume we'll play two bigs and three guards.

We have enough depth at every position, although Peat's return would solidify a significantly stronger lineup:

PG: Dixon / Mandaquit
SG: Holt / James
SF: Kharchenkov / Holmes
PF: (Peat?) / Jarusevicius / Aiyamenkhue
C: Krivas / Otten / Mawut

Despite losing all but 2-3 contributors from last season, the staff did a wonderful job of recruiting a starting five. Even the backups could finish in the middle of the Big-12 next season...

The more I look at this roster, the more I believe Lloyd is not trying to get caught being smaller than his opponents anymore.
It starts with Krivas who is 7'2, but after him, Arizona did not have anyone that was taller than 6'10 to help inside.
Peat (6' and Awaka (6' were very good, but there were times when their lack of length was a problem once Krivas went to the bench.

Now, Lloyd had replaced the Gueye developmental prospect in Aiyumenkue.
I believe Otten is the Awaka replacement as the primary big off the bench.
Jaruscvicius is the wildcard to me as I believe he could be the Peat replacement, or he could be the backup PF while Otten is the backup C assuming Peat comes back and/or Lloyd gets another starting PF.
Either way, Lloyd now has FOUR 6'11 bigs to throw out BEHIND Krivas in any given game, even though I am certain two of them are going to be on ice for another season.
#BearDown

[KansasCityCats]

Since UJ is coming off injury, he's drastically undervalued as a player. "IF" he can stay healthy, Arizona fans will be happy with his abilities on offense.

Krivas is likely the best returning frontcourt senior in the nation.

Otten is just a big body. But unlike Gueye, his footwork allows him to be a competent defender and he'll fill in a nice backup role when Mo needs a rest.

[arxpert]

The more I look at this roster, the more I believe Lloyd is not trying to get caught being smaller than his opponents anymore.
It starts with Krivas who is 7'2, but after him, Arizona did not have anyone that was taller than 6'10 to help inside.

CUE All the Sean Miller haters when he ran Ayton and Deuce Ristic together and "We GoT ObLiTeRaTeD By BuFFaLo".

How is Tommy going to defend the perimeter? He didn't emphasize it last year with everyone we had, but we had a chosen team that was playing incredibly elite that won't be there anymore like Mr. Two Way Burries and Bradley hustling around in Man to Man defense.

It appears to be all on Ivan and now Holt to run everyone off the 3pt line. Good luck I guess. They will be running into a bunch of jobbers in the paint.

Then on the flipside, since Tommy only likes to bulldoze to the rim and operate on large FTA volume, the ASSUMED 3pt shooting that will have to become a "thing" going forward is absolutely NO Guarantee of success in his system as we will have to pull Krivas out for screens constantly or jack up transition 3's.

No one in that front court is even a competent Inside Out passer.

So acting like we will have 4 Nikola Jokic's out there with all 3pt raining shooters is "not it".

[arxpert]

Krivas is likely the best returning frontcourt senior in the nation.

Otten is just a big body. But unlike Gueye, his footwork allows him to be a competent defender and he'll fill in a nice backup role when Mo needs a rest.

Not likely.

And you are admitting here that we are going to be Krivas and Co. as in 1 Center with 4 Guards, Ivan being the "biggest" and our "PF" which will just be listed as "F" on Gameday, but he will really just be a SG playing the 4 in NBA terms, but fringe SF in College terms - which worked when he could funnel his man into guys like Koa and Tobe, but we don't have that available.

[KansasCityCats]

I just stated that Jarusevicius will be a huge contributor at PF.

Regardless, our top seven projected contributors all have NBA size for their positions:

Dixon (6'5")
Holt (6'5")
Kharchenkov (6'6")
Cameron Holmes (6'6")
Ugnius Jarusevicius (6'11")
Evan Otten (6'11")
Mo Krivas (7'2")

Not to mention the potential for Peat's return.

That's exactly how you defend the perimeter. The bigger question is whether Otten gets inflated minutes because of his defensive skills.

[mvpreed2]

The more I look at this roster, the more I believe Lloyd is not trying to get caught being smaller than his opponents anymore.
It starts with Krivas who is 7'2, but after him, Arizona did not have anyone that was taller than 6'10 to help inside.

CUE All the Sean Miller haters when he ran Ayton and Deuce Ristic together and "We GoT ObLiTeRaTeD By BuFFaLo".

How is Tommy going to defend the perimeter? He didn't emphasize it last year with everyone we had, but we had a chosen team that was playing incredibly elite that won't be there anymore like Mr. Two Way Burries and Bradley hustling around in Man to Man defense.

It appears to be all on Ivan and now Holt to run everyone off the 3pt line. Good luck I guess. They will be running into a bunch of jobbers in the paint.

Then on the flipside, since Tommy only likes to bulldoze to the rim and operate on large FTA volume, the ASSUMED 3pt shooting that will have to become a "thing" going forward is absolutely NO Guarantee of success in his system as we will have to pull Krivas out for screens constantly or jack up transition 3's.

No one in that front court is even a competent Inside Out passer.

So acting like we will have 4 Nikola Jokic's out there with all 3pt raining shooters is "not it".

This is a lot to try and respond to.
In short, I would say that Lloyd is over-compensating right now.
As far as perimeter defenders go, I believe Arizona is in a decent spot.
Kharchenkov will be the POA defender, but I do believe Dixon/Holt/Mandaquit would be competent defenders.

I guess the question is would Lloyd allow the perimeter defenders to funnel attackers into the paint, or does he still have them hold their own on the perimeter, and if they get beat to make sure they are forced to the middle into the big(s).
#BearDown