Miller trying Wise ways to handle psyche of his senior guard and others
by Javier Morales on Feb. 26, 2010, under SportsRELATED LINK AT WILDABOUTAZCATS.com: Check out a poll that asks what you would do if you were Sean Miller … how do you recharge this team?
Brendon Lavender snapped out of his funk to score 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting against Cal. Will his more experienced teammates follow suit? (Brad Allis photo)
Nic Wise should be thinking ahead to a potential NBA future. Jamelle Horne should have double-digit double-doubles. Arizona coach Sean Miller, whose team was tied with Cal for first place at the turn of the Pac-10 season, should be carrying the torch to a 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Unless Arizona somehow finds its way out of the forest where it is lost, and wins the Pac-10 tournament, the Wildcats will be shut out from all of those scenarios.
“We don’t have a lot of confidence,’’ Miller told play-by-play man Brian Jeffries after Arizona’s 95-71 loss at Cal on Thursday night. “Really, for the last couple of days in practice, you could sense that our guys are a little bit beaten down.’’
The most ironic aspect of the lopsided loss to the Golden Bears is that Arizona’s least confident player going in — Brendon Lavender — was one of its most effective players. Wise and Horne should take note about how Lavender conducted himself when he apparently is down and out enough to potentially consider a transfer by season’s end.
Arizona’s coaches told Lavender to not think so much and just play. That should go especially for Wise, Horne and the shell-shocked Kyle Fogg, although it’s usually the established players who are more difficult to change.
“You can see some guys kind of going away,” Miller said in the post-game press conference. “You can see some guys continuing to fight and some young players that are playing their butts off and trying to become the best that they can be.”
The storyline of the game can be broken down to three parts:
- The Returners: Wise, Horne and Fogg combined to shoot 6 of 21 from the field for only 19 points.
- The Bench: Arizona’s reserves were 12 of 15 from the field for 30 points, led by Lavender’s 5-of-6 performance, including 4 of 5 from three-point range.
- The Freshmen: Derrick Willliams had another decent showing with a team-high 17 points, although he committed five turnovers and pulled down only six rebounds. Solomon Hill replaced the injured Kevin Parrom in the lineup and scored only five points in 31 minutes but he had four assists with only one turnover. Kyryl Natyazhko and Lamont “MoMo” Jones combined shot 6 of 8 from the field for 14 points, producing better as an inside-outside twosome than Wise and Horne (3 of 12 from the field for 10 points).
It is safe to surmise that the bench (little-used Alex Jacobson also made the only shot he attempted) and the freshmen overall are playing with a lot more confidence than Wise, Horne and Fogg — the guys Miller should depend on the most to ease his transition from Xavier to Arizona.
“I’m at a point here at Year One under my direction to really find out a lot about individual players,” Miller said.
Nobody knew what to expect from Horne and Fogg heading into this season. Horne, who has only two double-doubles this season, made those ill-advised plays last year (including that intentional foul on a Alabama-Birmingham player when the game was tied with four seconds left). He was the Wildcats’ fourth option on offense — far behind Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Wise. Fogg disappeared after the turn of the conference schedule last year, similar to how he has faded this year after the midway point.
How could Miller — or any coach for that matter — plan his success around the play of unproven players like Horne and Fogg? Only three games remain in the regular season and Miller knows considering the weakened mental state of Wise, Horne and Fogg, that he is as much of a psychologist now as he is a coach.
An NBA future will be difficult for Wise to achieve inasmuch as he has not emerged as a top player in the talent-strapped Pac-10. Heading into the season, Wise was thought of as a potential player of the year in the conference. He played all of his life with the dream of playing at the next level. As it becomes more clear that his goal is increasingly out of reach, Wise at times seems defeated rather than charged.
It does not help any that the program that he committed to when he was in the eighth grade is not what it was when he was a youngster in Houston.
Lute Olson and Josh Pastner — the two most significant reasons why Wise attended Arizona in the first place — have not been around for a couple of years. Wise does not have teammates like Richard Jefferson, Andre Iguodala, Channing Frye, Luke Walton and Gilbert Arenas to pass the ball. His most consistent option in a halfcourt set is Williams, who is playing out of position on the blocks.
It’s no wonder why Wise has only 90 assists after recording a career-high 160 last year with Budinger and Hill around.
“We need to take a look at trying to be real smart with (Wise) in practice so he can regain that form he used to have,” Miller said.
A possible idea: Remove Wise from being the primary ball-handler. Allow him to roam as a shooting guard in place of Fogg and start Jones at the point guard spot. Wise registered only one assist with three turnovers in 31 minutes against Cal while Jones had four assists and only one turnover in 24 minutes.
Jones needs the experience at that spot anyway if things don’t work out with top-flight recruits Josh Selby, Doron Lamb and Ray McCallum.
Wise arguably played his best basketball toward the end of last season, including the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. His renewed confidence after the Wildcats almost failed to make the NCAA field had a positive impact on his teammates. When Wise plays with that kind of determination, Arizona has a chance against most teams, especially those the Pac-10 has to offer this season.
Where does Wise find the motivation now with the NCAA tournament and NBA out of view?
Lavender might have the answer to that question.
