Online Now 355

Hoops Notebook: X's & DazzO's

Kevin Parrom

Wildcat teammates need to borrow a page from Kevin Parrom's game and be more patient on the offensive end of the floor.

All you need to know about Arizona basketball. What's happening on the court and why.

Gary Randazzo
    • This post is for members of WildcatSportsReport or All Access VIP members only. Start Free Trial

      Gary Randazzo

    • Gary, this is a great article! Thank you.

      Did you mean to leave Ashley out of 'The Good' in the post above? He's 5-8 FG and 1-1 3pt in conference.

      So my first question to you (and I know Miller addressed this post game) - would you have played Ashley more in the Utah game? He seemed to have a hot hand when no one else did. I certainly don't think he is a liability on defense when compared to Jerret or Zues and he's at least as good as Chol on D.

      Second Question - Colorado shot 47% from 3pt range against us and 10% against ASU. I can see a 5% swing because of us getting the best shot from everyone and another 5% that ASU plays better perimeter D.. so if those numbers were 37 and 20... I'd be inclined to say thats what caused the difference. In both the Utah game and against Colorado, those teams blew their season shooting averages out of the water. There were lots of shots in both games where we had a hand in the shooters face or forced the shooter to change his shot and the damn ball still went in. Some of that is just pure luck on their part (if it were all just skill and preparation, they'd have done the same at ASU) - they both had a hot shooting night. Some of that is because of D, some because of them being up for the game, but sometimes thats just the way things go. Wouldn't you say, at least part of it is simply due to them being ridiculously hot from the field and 3 pt land?

      Also, in the last three Games arizona is 71-167 from the field, that's 42.5%. Percentages do not compound (i.e. you can't average percentages).

      This post was edited by wineknow on 1/8/2013 at 12:13 PM

      wineknow

    • One thing that I noticed on the 3 point side of things is related to what you mention Gary. With one of our big guys hedging trying to wait for the guard to fight through the top of the pick, both Colorado and Utah guards would move away from the basket from the screen. Our bigs would not close out because they were concerned with defending the roll to the basket by the picker, and they tended to drift back towards the basket. This left the shooter 5 feet behind the 3 point line with an open look now (before our guard can get back into coverage) and they simply move in 2 feet and take a wide open 3. Most guards can take that shot all day long - I know that ours do.

      RoundCat

    • And this is why I'm a subscriber to the site.

      Thanks Gary and your work is well appreciated.

      This post was edited by Cattyshack on 1/8/2013 at 12:33 PM

      Cattyshack ●

    • Ashley immediately got yanked after he took an incredibly ill-advised 20-footer one pass into the offense. I can't remember the time on the clock but Ashley crossed half court, caught a pass and walked into a deep jumper that slammed off the rim and backboard.

      Personally, I think Ashley should have returned to action after being taken out for a few minutes, but I think these are types of messages Miller may start to send in the next few games when he talks about changes in the player rotation. I'd rather have Miller go hard on the players now while we're in the first half of the Pac-12 season rather than trying to teach these lessons in February.

      Gary Randazzo

    • Regarding wineknow's second question, always tough to try and figure out why a team got hot against you. Sometimes it's as simple as that, they got hot. I've written over the years how shooter-friendly McKale Center is. The building was designed similar to the old Fabulous Forum and the Sports Arena in Los Angeles with the common theme of providing excellent sight lines for shooters.

      That said I'd lean more toward Arizona not smartly defending both CU and Utah. We can talking about managing the on-ball screen, hedging, and everything else discussed in the article already but when push comes to shove, the most important thing on defense is properly closing out on shooters. It's simply not enough to get a hand in the face of a college player. These guys, even the poor shooters, put in hundreds of shots a day throughout the year and they're all capable of knocking down an open shot. For the very good shooters, once their elbow is set and eyes are locked on the room you can ignite a M-80 at their feet and it wouldn't distract them.

      One thing the good coaches teach when closing out is getting into the hip of the shooter. What that means is if a shooter is right handed, the shooting pocket starts around the right hip. Hence, when closing out, you want your lead hand up and into that right hip (up so you don't get whistled for a foul slapping down). You close out to that point and it forces the earliest movements of the shot to be altered and that alone get make someone miss.

      Gary Randazzo

    • Gary Randazzo said...

      Regarding wineknow's second question, always tough to try and figure out why a team got hot against you. Sometimes it's as simple as that, they got hot. I've written over the years how shooter-friendly McKale Center is. The building was designed similar to the old Fabulous Forum and the Sports Arena in Los Angeles with the common theme of providing excellent sight lines for shooters.

      That said I'd lean more toward Arizona not smartly defending both CU and Utah. We can talking about managing the on-ball screen, hedging, and everything else discussed in the article already but when push comes to shove, the most important thing on defense is properly closing out on shooters. It's simply not enough to get a hand in the face of a college player. These guys, even the poor shooters, put in hundreds of shots a day throughout the year and they're all capable of knocking down an open shot. For the very good shooters, once their elbow is set and eyes are locked on the room you can ignite a M-80 at their feet and it wouldn't distract them.

      One thing the good coaches teach when closing out is getting into the hip of the shooter. What that means is if a shooter is right handed, the shooting pocket starts around the right hip. Hence, when closing out, you want your lead hand up and into that right hip (up so you don't get whistled for a foul slapping down). You close out to that point and it forces the earliest movements of the shot to be altered and that alone get make someone miss.

      This is why if you watch a good coach teach defense, he's telling his players to get into the shooter's hip, which means get into their hip pocket. It not only disrupts the actual start of a shot, but also makes it difficult for the ball handler to step through and cross you over without initiating contact and possibly getting called for a charge or an elbow glance above the shoulders.

      Gary Randazzo

    • Bottom line WINE...the Cold State teams gave us there damned best shot of the season and still fell short.
      So screw the naysayers about us BARLEY beating the lowly utes....
      GO CATS
      Beat Michele Obama's brother

      AND this : I’d trade York getting beat off the dribble for two points every now and again if he’s hitting 3-Pointers on the other end of the floor. I know my math isn’t a strong suit, but that’s +1 on the scoreboard last time I checked. AMEN TO THAT!!! Send this to CSM via emaIl, Twitter, snail mail...or anyway you can.

      This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by Mrzipityduda on 1/8/2013 at 4:43 PM

      Mrzipityduda

    • Great analysis on the X's and O's. I have to agree that the thinning of the bench is worrisome especially when one of the guys getting the minutes is Mayes. He's never been a good point guard or floor general and now he can't shoot either. I would be fine having York fill that role and let Parrom, Nick or Solo bring the ball up the court and start the offense. I'm also concerned about the slowed development of our freshmen bigs. There is absolutely no consistency out of them outside of Kaleb consistently playing with foul trouble. We need 2 out of 3 to play decently well each night.

      labeardown

    • I think we all remember how good Mayes was in our elite 8 run. If CSM can get him back to that level, we will be that much harder to beat.

      RoundCat

    • I'm with all the guys who never played competitive basketball. The guys I ran with in my younger days were football and baseball players. Those games I have a good feel for.

      Getting an article like this really gives me a perspective of how complex the game is and it must be doubly so for the high school stars that really didn't have to defend. Like a couple of others wrote, this type of an essay is the real reason I enjoy this forum.

      When I watch a football game, I pay much more attention to the defense than the offense. It is harder to teach and learn and where more mistakes are made.

      Sounds like the two or three of us who are neophytes have an opportunity to learn a little here about basketball. Thank you.

      rdotrbennett ●

    • labeardown said...

      I'm also concerned about the slowed development of our freshmen bigs.

      Don't these things generally sort of ebb and flow with freshmen?

      Seems to me that Jerret and Ashley are both ready to play and would likely start for most PAC-12 teams.

      I think that Zues has the tools and BB IQ and something no one else has - size (I mean over all, not just height). He just needs to develop more and I think he will.

      I totally agree about Mayes, he's extremely reliable and now has some maturity - we are getting good minutes from him, but he is just not the guy who's ever going to light up the scoreboard. I'd also love to know what happened to the Chol who played extremely well against the big lineup from NAU. He played almost the entire second 1/2 and seemed to get better as the game went on. What if we left him in for more than 30 seconds at a time?

      wineknow

Already have an account? Sign In

Add a comment
Want to be involved in the discussion? Start Free Trial
Arizona
247Sports
Features
Resources
Connect

247Sports In partnership with CBS Sports