Official 2006 Arizona Wildcats Basketball Thread

[Dback Jon]

16th ranked Arizona has started off the season 1-1, beating NAU, and losing at Virginia.

Next game, New Mexico State on the 19th.

 

[Dback Jon]

Arizona takes down NM State 102-87.


Next up: Samford, Wednesday.

 

[SO91]

They had a tough time putting the NMS away. Twice they came back from something like 20 points down.

Oh and I love the 1-3-1 they use!

 

[Arizona's Finest]

They had a tough time putting the NMS away. Twice they came back from something like 20 points down.

Oh and I love the 1-3-1 they use!

What game were you watching?

Budinger = Truth

 

[SO91]

That same game buddy. Arizona was beating them silly in the first half, and they eventually cut it to single digit! And you are 100% correct...Budinger is the Truth. Sorry Paul Pierce, you gotta give up the name

 

[Dback Jon]

Beat Samford 86-57 in front of 13,220.

Next up: UNLV

 

[Lefty]

Cats comeback from 16 down to beat Illinois by 12. Chase is awesome. He should win Freshman of the Year in the Pac-10.

 

[Dback Jon]

Arizona uses home state refering to steal game from noble, deserving Illini.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Arizona uses home state refering to steal game from noble, deserving Illini.

That's right, I forgot the Illini have not legitimately lost a game since the late 90s.

 

[Dback Jon]

That's right, I forgot the Illini have not legitimately lost a game since the late 90s.

Glad to see you are coming around

 

[Lefty]

Great article about Chase in USA Today. Looks like Chase could possibly play on the 2008 men's Olympic basketball team. Looks like two years at the UofA is the max for him. Chase is going to be one popular NBA player.

By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY
PHOENIX — His Arizona basketball teammates have nicknamed him "Noodles" because of his curly blond locks, a needling rite of passage for a freshman.
Chase Budinger smiles. "I have to take that stuff," he says. "I'm a freshman."

Make no mistake, though: The 6-7, 205-pound talent is not your typical freshman. He arrived on the Tucson campus from Encinitas, Calif., with not one, but two Olympic possibilities for the 2008 Beijing Games, basketball and volleyball.

In basketball, he has gotten off to such a stunning start for the Wildcats that hard-to-please coach Lute Olson has compared him to Sean Elliott, the program's best freshman and its signature player in the 24-year Olson era.

Among those watching him Saturday in Arizona's come-from-behind 84-72 victory against Illinois at US Airways Center was USA Basketball boss Jerry Colangelo. "If he continues to develop, he'll be in the mix," Colangelo says.
Budinger is in the mix for volleyball, too. The three-time San Diego County player of the year and 2006 Mizuno national player of the year, who has been compared to three-time Olympic gold medalist Karch Kiraly, says playing on the Olympic volleyball team is "something I want to do."

But he says it's a "slim, slim" possibility. "I'm focusing on basketball," he says. "That's my passion."

His precocious game of poise, basketball smarts, unselfishness and beyond-his-years offensive skills, including a 42-inch vertical leap, will be tested tonight in the highest-profile game of his burgeoning career. The No. 15 Wildcats (5-1) meet Louisville (2-1) in the nationally televised Jimmy V Classic at New York's Madison Square Garden.

After a struggling start on defense, Budinger responded big-time in his first high-intensity game Saturday in the Hall of Fame Challenge against Illinois.

Olson benched him early after he missed several defensive assignments, but Budinger returned and played a key role in the win.

"He needs to affect the game in every aspect," Olson says.

Late in the Illinois game, Budinger converted a four-point play after being intentionally fouled on a driving layup and hauled in several big rebounds in a 22-point, eight-rebound effort.

"It was a steppingstone for me, because I had to pick up the intensity," he says.

He enters the Louisville game averaging a team-leading 19.8 points and 7.7 rebounds on 59.2% shooting overall and 37% accuracy from the three-point line.

"I'm still catching on," says Budinger, the Pacific-10 Conference player of the week after tipping off his career with 17- and 32-point games. "I'm still learning. It's a tough transition."

Especially on defense. Budinger says he mainly "stood around" on defense in high school at La Costa Canyon, where he averaged 34 points and 11 rebounds his senior year and earned co-MVP honors at the McDonald's All-American game.

"He gets lost defensively, but that will come over time," Illinois coach Bruce Weber says. "He knows the game."

Arizona stint could be short

At 13, Budinger's jack-of-all-trades talents were so obvious Olson began recruiting him. Olson was not only impressed with Budinger's athletic ability but also his unselfishness at such a young age.

Budinger was heavily recruited, but began leaning toward Arizona his junior year when Olson, after the Wildcats' first loss to Washington State in 21 years, showed up the next day in San Diego to watch Budinger play. Olson's commitment, Budinger says, won him over.

Likewise, Budinger has won over his coach. "He's so coachable," Olson says. "And he wants to be so good."

How good? Olson left little doubt when he compared him to Elliott, who led the Wildcats in scoring as a freshman in 1985-86 (15.6 points) and is the school's all-time scoring leader. "That's a big label to put on him," Olson says.

But Budinger embraces it. "It was an honor when he said that. I think he told me that to get my confidence up. I have been a little timid with some opportunities I've had to be aggressive. It gave me more confidence to be one of the guys out there and not worry about being a freshman."

He is on track to surpass Elliott's scoring record, achieved in four years. But it's doubtful Budinger will stay in school more than two seasons. NBA scouts jammed US Airways Center on Saturday to watch him and Texas freshman Kevin Durant, a 6-9 perimeter player.

If both leave school after their freshman years, they could be top-five picks in the 2007 draft.

Budinger says he's playing it day-by-day, year-by-year: "It's not something now to think about."

Siblings got him into volleyball

He grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, but his game is more Larry Bird-like. He was too young to appreciate Bird, however. "I've only seen him on ESPN Classic."

But Budinger takes pride in being an all-around player, sometimes to a fault. He is so eager to fit in as a freshman he has passed up shots.

"Sometimes, the coaches tell me I'm too passive, I pass too much," he says.

That desire to play team ball is likely a product of his volleyball background. Volleyball was his first love; he was introduced to the sport at a young age by his brother, Duncan, who played at Long Beach State, and his sister, Brittanie, who played at San Francisco and professionally in Europe.

An outside hitter, Budinger says the sport helped him in basketball with his timing and anticipation. He uses the three-step volleyball approach to convert lob passes.

But he probably enjoys throwing lob passes more.

"He's so unselfish," Wildcats senior point guard Mustafa Shakur says. "He plays with a lot of confidence. He's a great teammate."

Budinger clearly is emerging as the Wildcats' go-to player, even with three upperclassmen (Shakur, senior forward Ivan Radenovic and junior guard Jawann McClellan) and sophomore forward Marcus Williams in the starting lineup.

At a critical juncture in Saturday's game, Olson sent Budinger to the line to shoot a technical foul. He coolly drained it.

He knows his place, however. He deferred credit to his older teammates after the Illinois victory. "Noodles," it turns out, not only knows how to play, but what to say.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Love watching the 'Cats this year play... they are fun again. Chase is just exciting. I would like to see him stay 3 years, and give 2 championships to the UofA - then he and Marcus Williams can go into the NBA draft together as top 5 picks.

 

[Lefty]

Another article on Chase and the Cats, this time from SI.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/basketball/ncaa/2006/12/weapon-in-waiting.html

NEW YORK -- Arizona's most dangerous weapon is almost always lurking in a corner on offense, a couple of steps away from where the baseline and sideline meet. He is 6-feet-7 of unlimited athletic ability in an extremely pale (white Nikes, white socks, fair skin, reddish-blonde hair) and precocious package, just 18 years old.

The fully realized version of Chase Budinger was on display in the first half of a 72-65 win over Louisville on Tuesday night. From the right corner -- the small forward's most frequent starting position in the Wildcats' offense -- he effortlessly streaked the baseline and leaped to finish an alley-oop from point guard Mustafa Shakur. ("I was thinking I overthrew it," said Shakur, "but he got way up, extended and grabbed it.") From that same comfort corner, Budinger swished two three-pointers on kick-outs, and he also took a loose ball coast-to-coast for a layup, finishing the half with 10 points, three blocks and zero turnovers.

The phalanx of NBA scouts in attendance -- gathered at Madison Square Garden to see Budinger, teammate Marcus Williams and Syracuse's Paul Harris all on one night in the Jimmy V Classic -- were abuzz over his solid play. Many believed that Budinger was the No. 1 prospect in the building; one pro scout told me during the break, "He's very smooth and is going to be a great scorer -- with NBA range -- and outstanding passer."

Budinger is a two-sport SoCal wunderkind from Encinitas, outside San Diego. As a high school senior he was the nation's top volleyball player -- called the next Karch Kiraly, even -- and also the co-MVP of the McDonald's All-America Game in basketball. Arizona coach Lute Olson proclaimed that Budinger was the '06-07 team's version of Sean Elliott, and he's delivered thus far, leading the nation's second-highest scoring team in points (19.8 ppg) and rebounds (7.7). In this early stage of his college career, though, he's also been prone to following up his hot starts with late-game fades.

It happened in the Wildcats' lone loss, at Virginia on Nov. 12, when he scored 15 points in the first half, yet finished with only 17. It happened again in the second half against the Cardinals, when Budinger picked up three quick fouls yet remained in the game -- and suffered through 13:16-long scoring drought. It was no coincidence that Louisville managed to erase Arizona's nine-point first-half lead during that stretch, at one point going ahead 50-49 while the Wildcats were ice-cold. (They shot just 5-of-27 from the fild in the second half.)

When Budinger re-emerged, scoring on a curl in the lane with 5:49 to go, Arizona started to click again, expanding its lead to as many as 11 with 2:28 left. Budinger's stat line shows relatively even halves (10/7 points) but his impact on the game was infinitely greater in the first. The same scout, after the game, said he thinks that Budinger "is being too deferential right now."

Arizona's post-game locker room scene was a de-facto alumni party. Pros Richard Jefferson and Hassan Adams were clowning with assistant coach Jim Rosborough, having stopped by after their Nets lost 92-75 to the Mavericks in East Rutherford, N.J. Jefferson, one of the greatest Wildcat athletes of all-time, and an admirer of Budinger, said, "He's one of the best young players in college basketball. Everyone knows that. But I don't know if he'll have to [take over games], with so many talented players around."

That sums it up well. It's not that Budinger's playmaking ability drops off in the second half, nor does he ever look tired -- it's mostly just a matter of him not getting the ball, or not demanding it in the first place. On a team with almost too many offensive options (Shakur, Williams, Ivan Radenovic, and Jawann McClellan), shots are sometimes hard to come by in crunch time. The reality, though, is that if Arizona is going to be an elite team, it would be wise to hand Budinger even more of its offensive load -- even if it's antithetical to his personality.

"The coaches tell me to be aggressive, but I'm not going to force shots," said Budinger, who had seven points and two steals in the second half. "I just try to let the game come to me, and when I have a good shot, I'll take a good shot. I won't try to demand the ball, ever, because I'm not that type of player."

If Arizona is only going to get Budinger for one season, though, why not force the ball upon him? Or in the least, make quick adjustments to get him involved inside when the kick-outs aren't available -- as was the case in the second half when Louisville cut off much of the penetration by the Wildcats' backcourt. "It's just a matter of him understanding, and getting more experience, taking what they'll give him late," said Rosborough. "I don't know if it's 'demand' the ball -- but we saw we could hurt them on the curl, and we did it, and he scored a big basket for us late."

There is no question that Arizona is one of the nation's best offensive machines. It plays fast (at 74.0 possessions per game, it ranks 32nd in the country) and scores like mad (posting the nation's second-best offensive efficiency rating at 1.285 points per possession). Seeing that the Wildcats don't play much defense, however -- they rank 114th in defensive efficiency, and without an aggressive presence in the post, aren't likely to fix that problem -- they need avoid late scoring lapses at all costs.

The threat of Budinger shooting 3s keeps defenses from helping on his teammates' dribble-drives, giving veterans like Radenovic (22 points) and McClellan (17 points) more scoring opportunities. But Olson had a message for Budinger back in November, after that Virginia game, that went like this: "You're our Sean Elliott, you can't worry about whether you're outscoring the sophomores, juniors or seniors."

That quote will remain applicable for the rest of the season. Arizona will only be at its best when Budinger is not an auxiliary in the corner.

 

[NEZCardsfan]

Buddinger is gonna be almost unstoppable, especially if he can put on some muscle, but not lose any of that fluidity to his game.

 

[Russ Smith]

It is weird how much the Cats play in spurts though, seems like almost every game they go on a stretch where they can't score. UCLA did that all year last year but they had nowhere near the offensive firepower the Cats do. They also need to really tighten up the defense they're very soft right now on that end.

But offensively this is one hell of a talented team, Budinger is amazing.I said on a UCLA board last night on a thread asking if he would start ahead of Josh Shipp at UCLA that I thought that was a crazy question. Put Chase on UCLA they win the NC this year IMHO, he was exactly what we needed a great scorer. He's so smooth and fluid and his release is a thing of beauty. He does have a lot of problems on defense but you can find ways to hide him, and on offense he's just such a weapon.

Shakur still can't shoot but seems really confident handling the offense this year. They're going to need someone on that bench to step up or the starters will wear out.

 

[abomb]

Buddinger is gonna be almost unstoppable, especially if he can put on some muscle, but not lose any of that fluidity to his game.

The thing is, he is awesome to his left AND right. That was a fun game to watch and by watch, I mean scream at the TV.

 

[Russ Smith]

The other thing I want to see Chase add to his moves, preferrably AFTER he leaves Arizona for the NBA, is the ability to take the ball off the dribble and finish off one leg. Right now he seems to much prefer to jump off 2 legs which slows you down a bit off the dribble. He's so athletic he can still finish most of the time but he's a good enough ballhandler if he gets used to going up off one leg on the move he'll find he can get to the rim a lot quicker.

The thing I love about watching him on tv is watching the announcers strain to come up with a way to NOT sound racist when they talk about his hops. They keep saying "surprisingly athletic" or things like that which we all know means "this kid does NOT have white mans disease."

 

[NEZCardsfan]

The thing is, he is awesome to his left AND right. That was a fun game to watch and by watch, I mean scream at the TV.

I think you are in for a maddening year. The couple games I've watched....U of A is crazy streaky.

I think they could be a Sweet 16 team this year.....they'll need a little defense to make that happen....unless Shakur ever could straighten out his jumper, give them a little consistent scoring...and level out those 15 minute periods where they only have 8 or 10 points.

 

[Russ Smith]

I was impressed with Wise last night too. Unlike Shakur, he seems to take
the simple way out when presented to him. THat's one thing I've never liked about Shakur he seems to think scoring is graded on degree of difficulty, why throw a left handed behind the back pass when a chest pass will work, save the flashy stuff for when you need it. I also think the new crackdown on palming is KILLING Shakur since he carries the ball so much trying to be flashy. Farmar would have had the same problem this year had he stayed in school he palms that ball over and over.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

It should be interesting going to SDSU this weekend (a game pretty much no other elite basketball programs in the country would play) against a raucous Aztec crowd. Was supposed to be there but had to back out earlier today, perhaps a good thing because security had to keep Arizona fans inside the stadium for 30 minutes after everybody left to prevent the Aztec faithful from rioting. Apparently they're bitter that every elite San Diegan basketball player smartly leaves for greener pastures. Kind of remind me of New Mexico and UNLV fans who still loathe Arizona for leaving their sorry asses behind a deade ago.

 

[TucsonDevil]

I believe the UofA has the talent this year to be in the Final Four. They don't perform that way right now, but conference play will get them ready for the tournament. PAC-10 is strong this year, relative to the last few years. The key is the steady hand of Shakur (IMO), if he keeps the team together, they will make a great run in the end. I believe Chase and Ivan will be there - but Shakur needs to help the others stay calm and score.

'Cats need to get back to the Final Four!

 

[Lefty]

Cats go into San Diego and beat the Aztecs by 21. Marcus had a huge night with 21 points and 16 rebounds. Now they have a week off before playing Houston a week from tomorrow at McKale.

 

[Mrh182]

Cats go into San Diego and beat the Aztecs by 21. Marcus had a huge night with 21 points and 16 rebounds. Now they have a week off before playing Houston a week from tomorrow at McKale.

Booo that.. its bad enough having to wait a few days between games... a week is brutal.

U of A will be a top 10 team again in no time

 

[Lefty]

Booo that.. its bad enough having to wait a few days between games... a week is brutal.

U of A will be a top 10 team again in no time

That one loss at Virginia put them out of the top-10. Tough games against Houston and Memphis before the Pac-10 season. The Cats will only be better for playing this non-conference schedule.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

That one loss at Virginia put them out of the top-10. Tough games against Houston and Memphis before the Pac-10 season. The Cats will only be better for playing this non-conference schedule.

Cats destroyed Houston last night setting up a big game against anothwer C-USA foe in Memphis on Wednesday, which if anyone cares I'll be at McKale for. Should be an interesting game as Memphis is one of the few teams in the country and the only opponent thus far this season that can match Arizona's athleticism.