Tucson Citizen.com

Steve Rivera Ventures

Did you expect anything different from the Cats?

by on Mar. 11, 2010, under Sports

To paraphrase the one-time Arizona Cardinals football coach Dennis Green: “They were what we thought they were.’’

Or something like that. But realistically, the Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team was at best the fourth best team in the Pac-10 Conference. That’s how it came down to in the preseason guesses by those at Tucsoncitizen.com. Truly though, I thought they’d end up something like 19-13 or 18-14, but not 16-15. OK, so it’s better than .500 but not exactly Arizonaesque.

How did it happen? Well, even though senior Nic Wise was superb in some games – saving the day like Mighty Mouse on no less than three occasions – he was absent in some others. I thought he’d average about 20-plus points a game. Instead, he averaged 14.4 points. And I thought – despite my better judgment – that Jamelle Horne would finally break out and have a good season. He didn’t. He averaged 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. And for a guy who as physically gifted as he is that’s not anywhere near where he needs to be.

Kyle Fogg played admirably but was hardly the elixir. And Sean Miller, in his first year, realized what he had inherited from recruiting mistakes past wasn’t going to cut it these days. Alex Jacobson became a hit-and-miss big man most of the season’s second half; Garland Judkins realized what he should have last year – he wasn’t cut out to play at Arizona.

Solomon Hill? He’s going to be a big factor down the road. However, the road will be a long one and it surely wasn’t going to be this year after coming in overweight to start the season.

As for Derrick Williams, well, what hasn’t been said? He was a stud all season, save for a game or two. But once teams realize he can be stopped with a double team what’s next?

This will be a season to remember because of all the last-second heroics by Wise. But it will also be remembered because this is the season the NCAA tournament streak came to a screeching halt. But what a ride it was.  On to the NIT. But isn’t that where you thought they would be?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Bruce Lerner

    The players were very inconsistent.  I think much blame falls on the coach because this team’s tradition and talent is far better than 16-15 record.  The coach did not make the proper adjustements based on the opponent the team was playing.  His offensive Xs & Os did not create many easy baskets.  It was all individual play.  The team was very vanilla.  It never even really implemented a true full court zone press.   

  • John Davis

    What have you been watching Bruce to be stating that this teams talent is better than 16-15?  Perhaps you need to talk to an NBA scout to finally realize that we did not have any NBA caliber talent on the roster but Derrick Williams down the road.  This team over-achieved and that is all that can be said about that.
    We need to get rid of some of the dead wood and recruit better players who want to win and give it their all – and that would mean Good bye to Jamelle.  Lack of effort should not be tolerated by this coaching staff.

  • alfie2utoo

    Deep down I want to really feel good about coach Miller. And, mostly I do. Obviously a good coach who has both played major college basketball and coached in it. But, timeouts after a Fogg three point shot? Not giving the big guy Alex Jacobsen more minutes than his “own” recruit Kryl? Not sitting Jamelle Horne down onto the bench for major under achieving? What gives? Even Nic Wise should have been seated down near the end of the season in favor of Momo. Nic was bouncing balls off his feet? Missing two (2) critical free throws with the game on the line? He ought to be buying Fogg lunch this semester for saving his butt. But, what gives? Miller is still out of synch with the Cats basketball history.

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