Arizona Basketball 2016-2017 Season

[Russ Smith]

Apparently his parents are comfortable financially so there's less risk if he goes overseas and flames out. Whatever.

Sounds like there's a 95% chance Arizona gets either Cam Johnson or Bowen if Alkins stays in. I'd prefer Rawle slightly over Cam and Cam over Bowen. I might even prefer Akot reclassifying over Bowen b/c he's well built and plays defense. Either way depth shouldn't be a problem on the wing.

We were discussing that on BRO today. Hypothetically if you get Bowen or Johnson, Miller will have a potentially terrific offense, Ristic, Ayton, Bowen/Johnson, Trier and PJC. But it would be the ultimate test of Millers ability to put a good defense out there because there's not a single kid in that group that is a good defender.

You'd still have Pinder and some guys off the bench to come in and guard someone but on paper it'd be possibly the best offensive and worst defensive team Miller has had at Arizona.

 

[GatorAZ]

We were discussing that on BRO today. Hypothetically if you get Bowen or Johnson, Miller will have a potentially terrific offense, Ristic, Ayton, Bowen/Johnson, Trier and PJC. But it would be the ultimate test of Millers ability to put a good defense out there because there's not a single kid in that group that is a good defender.

You'd still have Pinder and some guys off the bench to come in and guard someone but on paper it'd be possibly the best offensive and worst defensive team Miller has had at Arizona.

It can't be worse than his first year with Nic Wise and freshman D-Will/Momo/Hill/Parrom. It was that recruiting class after the Elite-8 that Miller could implement the pack line defense. Hard to believe McConnell, Johnson, Rondae, Gordon and Tarc all played on the same team together. #1 defense in the nation that year and #3 the next.

Rawle would need to come back and Ayton better than advertised to be a solid defensive team. I've heard Randolph and Lee play hard on defense while PJC & Trier are what they are.

Hopefully Ayton is the best thing that can happen to Ristic and he really puts it together as a Sr. They could give a lot of teams problems if everything gels.

 

[TJ]

Knox to Kentucky should make Cam's decision very easy at this point.


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[GatorAZ]

Kentucky's incoming class is insane even by Cal's standards. You could take away their three highest rated recruits and they'd still have the #1 class.

 

[TJ]

Kentucky's incoming class is insane even by Cal's standards. You could take away their three highest rated recruits and they'd still have the #1 class.

And they could possibly land Bamba, as well. That'd be nuts

 

[GatorAZ]

Rawle already worked out for the Thunder and has others planned. Cam Johnson had his visit and UCLA/Oregon are next. DePaul hired Bowen's HS coach.

Get Akot on line-2.

 

[TJ]

Rawle already worked out for the Thunder and has others planned. Cam Johnson had his visit and UCLA/Oregon are next. DePaul hired Bowen's HS coach.

Get Akot on line-2.

I don't think Oregon or UCLA are a threat to land Cam. Bowen is on an unofficial at Oregon, however. That recruitment is beyond ridiculous. He's delayed his decision at least four times now and a new favorite emerges, despite that he was all but committed to UofA earlier in the year.

 

[Russ Smith]

Rawle already worked out for the Thunder and has others planned. Cam Johnson had his visit and UCLA/Oregon are next. DePaul hired Bowen's HS coach.

Get Akot on line-2.

Interesting to see if Leitao can get DePaul good again. Hiring the coach got him a verbal from Tyger Campbell who's reclassing to 18, love that kid and not just for the hair, if he were 2-3 inches taller he'd be much higher rated but he's a winner.

There's no connection with Johnson and UCLA so I'd be surprised if we can get him. He seems to want to start right away and I don't see that at UCLA being a lock with Kris Wilkes unless one of them plays the 4.

It's amazing now how common reclassing is becoming but I guess it's a byproduct of redshirting kids when they're younger.

 

[Russ Smith]

Miles Norris supposed to announce tomorrow, Josh Gershon says he thinks it's Oregon.

 

[GatorAZ]

Miles Norris supposed to announce tomorrow, Josh Gershon says he thinks it's Oregon.

Good player but not a big loss unless Cherry wants to follow him there. Oregon is definitely starting to tap into Arizona and UCLA's recruiting grounds.

 

[Russ Smith]

Good player but not a big loss unless Cherry wants to follow him there. Oregon is definitely starting to tap into Arizona and UCLA's recruiting grounds.

I said it before I'm not sold on Norris but he might be one of those kids who is in a growth spurt and looks less athletic as a result? He always strikes me as running funny like he's in pain, very skinny. Skilled, long, but needs to get much stronger and he seems less athletic than he used to be which normally means bulking up but in his case that hasn't happened.

Agree on Oregon they're definitely making inroads.

And agree on Cherry I think he's going to UA and he's one kid I would love at UCLA, just keeps getting better.

 

[TJ]

Norris was Arizona bound until O'Neal committed. Romar couldn't convince him to coexist.

 

[Russ Smith]

Norris was Arizona bound until O'Neal committed. Romar couldn't convince him to coexist.

He picked Oregon as expected. Will be interesting to watch he IMO is a kid who's in a growth spurt or some sort of growing pains, shin splints, Osgood Schlatter or something similar. He's just not as athletic as he was a year ago he runs like he's in pain.

 

[Russ Smith]

Apparently Alkins is not measuring well at the combine so he may have to decide do I just go pro anyways or do I come back. I read he measured 6'2 1/2 without shoes, 11% body fat and over 220 pounds. Considering NBA teams were already saying they love him but he has no position, that can't be good to be that short and that heavy.

But he's getting invites for workouts from teams and the reality is at his age he's probably not growing much taller so if he really doesn't want to be in school he might just take his chances.

 

[TJ]

Apparently Alkins is not measuring well at the combine so he may have to decide do I just go pro anyways or do I come back. I read he measured 6'2 1/2 without shoes, 11% body fat and over 220 pounds. Considering NBA teams were already saying they love him but he has no position, that can't be good to be that short and that heavy.

But he's getting invites for workouts from teams and the reality is at his age he's probably not growing much taller so if he really doesn't want to be in school he might just take his chances.

Up to him, but he'd be foolish to stay in draft. Literally, every metric and executive are telling him to go back to Arizona. Next years draft class is much less talented, and with a year of development, he could sneak into the first round.

 

[GatorAZ]

Apparently Alkins is not measuring well at the combine so he may have to decide do I just go pro anyways or do I come back. I read he measured 6'2 1/2 without shoes, 11% body fat and over 220 pounds. Considering NBA teams were already saying they love him but he has no position, that can't be good to be that short and that heavy.

But he's getting invites for workouts from teams and the reality is at his age he's probably not growing much taller so if he really doesn't want to be in school he might just take his chances.

SF in a guard's body. Only way he's getting drafted is if he comes back and has impressive 3pt numbers.

Welsh is over 7ft he'd easily get drafted in the 2nd rd.

 

[Russ Smith]

Up to him, but he'd be foolish to stay in draft. Literally, every metric and executive are telling him to go back to Arizona. Next years draft class is much less talented, and with a year of development, he could sneak into the first round.

I agree but the counter of course is he'll be 20 in October, he's probably not getting much taller so the issue with him will be the same next year, is he tall enough to play the position he probably has to play.

If not the argument is then is he better off starting his pro career a year early and playing in the D League or overseas where his size is less problematic?

Aaron Holiday has the same issue, he's an undersized 2 that should come back to school and prove he can play the 1, but it sounds like he's figuring I'm not growing, I can prove myself after I turn pro.

If that height is true it makes Alkins play all the more impressive, some of those dunks and rebounds in traffic when he's not even 6'3" is pretty outstanding.

 

[Russ Smith]

SF in a guard's body. Only way he's getting drafted is if he comes back and has impressive 3pt numbers.

Welsh is over 7ft he'd easily get drafted in the 2nd rd.

reports are he played well in the scrimmages and got a couple more offers to workout.

He's fascinating to me he's clearly undersized and not a "normal" SG but when you put him out there he just plays well. If he were 2-3 inches taller I think he'd go mid 20's in this draft he can flat out play.

Surprised at the 11% body fat he was noticeably leaner this year at UA than in HS.

 

[GatorAZ]

reports are he played well in the scrimmages and got a couple more offers to workout.

He's fascinating to me he's clearly undersized and not a "normal" SG but when you put him out there he just plays well. If he were 2-3 inches taller I think he'd go mid 20's in this draft he can flat out play.

Surprised at the 11% body fat he was noticeably leaner this year at UA than in HS.

He's pretty much blowing away everything that's not measurement related.

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[Russ Smith]

He's pretty much blowing away everything that's not measurement related.

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Also he apparently said he's 50/50 on staying in the draft and "seriously considering coming back to school."

IMO he's the key to your season he's going to be a much better defender than Johnson or Bowen would be.

 

[GatorAZ]

Also he apparently said he's 50/50 on staying in the draft and "seriously considering coming back to school."

IMO he's the key to your season he's going to be a much better defender than Johnson or Bowen would be.

Rawle has a ways to go defensively, his hustle kind of masks his deficiencies. As seen by his agility times his footspeed is below average. Whether he comes back or it's Johnson defense will be an issue.

With Johnson it will be a starting lineup of two seniors, two juniors and Ayton. Trier won't miss half the season then come back and disrupt the offense. PJC, Barcello, Randolph and Johnson can shoot (Trier was 37% from 3) and Ayton can stretch it out a bit. Lee is healthy and Ristic is the wildcard.

Anything less than winning the P12 would be dissapointing. UCLA/Oregon lost too much production and I don't know much about SC other than they have everyone returning. They had a good home win vs UCLA but looked pedestrian otherwise.

 

[Russ Smith]

Rawle has a ways to go defensively, his hustle kind of masks his deficiencies. As seen by his agility times his footspeed is below average. Whether he comes back or it's Johnson defense will be an issue.

With Johnson it will be a starting lineup of two seniors, two juniors and Ayton. Trier won't miss half the season then come back and disrupt the offense. PJC, Barcello, Randolph and Johnson can shoot (Trier was 37% from 3) and Ayton can stretch it out a bit. Lee is healthy and Ristic is the wildcard.

Anything less than winning the P12 would be dissapointing. UCLA/Oregon lost too much production and I don't know much about SC other than they have everyone returning. They had a good home win vs UCLA but looked pedestrian otherwise.

SC added Deryk Thornton who was ok at Duke but has lots of talent. On paper they could be quite good especially if Melton has the typical freshman to soph improvement. the concern on them IMO is they have kids who came back because the NBA said they werent' good enough, that can be good, or it can be bad with a team full of kids auditioning for the NBA instead of playing to win.

 

[TJ]

Chase Jeter skipped his ucla visit. Down to UofA, Gonzaga and maybe Cal


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[GatorAZ]

You have to take him even though it doesn't help with Bol. Kids are so sensitive about having positions to themselves these days. Bowen taking it to a different level.

Jeter better be healthy and ready to prove ppl wrong by then or it could end up a miscalculation by Miller. By this time next year Bol will be top-3 in the country IMO.

 

[Russ Smith]

You have to take him even though it doesn't help with Bol. Kids are so sensitive about having positions to themselves these days. Bowen taking it to a different level.

Jeter better be healthy and ready to prove ppl wrong by then or it could end up a miscalculation by Miller. By this time next year Bol will be top-3 in the country IMO.

I don't think Bol is scared of Jeter the way Bol is playing now. I wasn't that high on him but he's been so much better this month I am now.

no idea what happened with jeter, earlier today Gershon said UCLA, Gonzaga and Arizona no idea who leads, later in the day he said Jeter not visiting and UCLA no longer involved, hes' not sure if UCLA pulled the plug or Jeter did or both.

I wasn't high on him but would have taken him because UCLA is going to need guys and he's experienced. Puts much more pressure on the staff now to get Bagley and Bol or something like that.

Of course the dream scenario for everyone in 18 right now is Bagley, Bol and Cassius Stanley who is widely expected to reclass to 18 since he's so old for his class. I doubt all 3 end up together but that seems to be the dream scenario for a few schools.