WSR Full Court Report

I will give you one thing Wine, regardless of how vehemently I disagree with you on the Miller topic, you sure do know get these boards firing when you are on them.

However you did call Parrom and Momo busts in your other thread. Seems to me they have been pretty good players when in the line up for AZ. Whether Momo truly wanted to be near family or he felt Miller didn't give him the love he needed as the starting point guard or a combination of the two, we will probably never know for sure. But I don't think you can blame Miller 100% on this nor do I think you can classify Momo as a bust.

And no way in hell can you call Parrom a bust. The guy has played very well for us when healthy. He would have been our go to guy for scoring this past year had some ass clown in NY decided not to shoot him. Probably not Parrom's fault and certainly not one bit Miller's fault and 100% not a bust. Not too mention injuries. Two broken bones in his feet in three years? That is not a bust, just really bad luck. I bet the guy comes back and has a pretty good year next year. He has certainly demonstrated he has the heart and talent to do so if healthy. But Bust absolutely not.

Nice work Dark. I really like the Bruce Bowen comparison.

I don't know how anyone could say Miller does not develop talent. Pointing to K-Nat's stats this year fails to take into consideration that development is a two-way street. The player must also be "all in." I saw noticeable improvement in K-Nat from his frosh to soph years that culminated in his play against Texas in the tourney. He was noticeably better at grabbing and holding on to rebounds and his defense was big time in the Texas game. Unfortunately, he went home and pigged out, so I guess you could blame Miller for not having an influence on someone's summer 6 time zones away.

As for Momo, watching the PAC tourney in Jones' soph season in Staples, I will never forget what happened right in front of my face when Momo was jacking up treys and I'm thinking to myself, "he won't run an offense or get it to D-Will, get his ass out of there," and lo and behold, coming out of the timeout I see Momo begging Sean Miller to leave him in. I'm sure Gary probably remembers that moment and it is what cemented me firmly in the Miller camp. He is exactly like the Michigan followers have said about RichRod, "not even the stars get a free pass." And what that means, long term, is that we will not ever have to read a Ben Howland type story in a national publication about inmates running the asylum in Tucson as they apparently were in Westwood.

I will agree with wine, Lute in his prime would have added 2-3 more wins to this team and had then in the tourney.

I agree, but the experienced Olson from about 1993-2003. I agree with Brad from the other post. Schedule anyone but Bryant University and Oakland and Arizona's in the NCAA's with 23 wins. To that point, that's one place where I agree with wineknow and others and hope Miller has learned a lesson that you have to make sure you're scheduling well. That doesn't mean games against Kansas and North Carolina every year, but you can't schedule DII clubs and you can't schedule teams perennially ranked 200+ in the RPI because you get nothing out of those wins whatsoever.

As for wineknow, he's way too intelligent to be an ASU graduate.

Correction ricky, Knat was 10 time zones away, not 6.

Wine is not leaning way over the crazy line when he attacks Miller. Anyone who has ever read Elia Kazan's novel, The Arrangement, will recall the scene where Eddie's (the main character--this is all from memory so bear with me) girlfriend that he is so infatuated with walks into the conference room where they work and during a big meeting lets out a loud and noxious fart, and then looks around, smiles and nods sagely. I think Wine is just having fun and probably should be paid for stirring up discussion.

Totally agree with this as well. Except for the paid part..

What's it like to live in a world devoid of alternative viewpoints?

You guys are right, you have all convinced me that there is only one reality and we all need to see the basketball program exactly the same way.

It's just fine if Arizona does not make the NCAA tournament after playing the easiest schedule it had in the past 30 years.

Losing a critical game and a shot at the tournament to RPI #251 is completely understandable, even though the worse loss previously in school history was to #160 or so.

It's no problem that 1/2 of our scholarship players, during a time of limited shcolarships, leave before their junior year. That after three years we have only a slightly better foundation and expectations of making the tournament next year rely solely on incoming true freshmen.

A 7' junior we desperately needed this past season onl scored 24 points in an entire season bcasue he ate too much when he was home last summer. Yea, that it. It's not that rebounds pass through his hands, bounce off his head and into the arms of opposing players or that he misses about 50% of the lay ups he attempts... yea, he is far more suited to the pro game in Europe because making lay ups and rebounding don't matter there. And the staff did not give up on him either...

It's just business as usual when two starting point guards in two years, leave. That happened all the time when Lute was here.

Man to man is by far the best defense for a team shorter than virtually everyone they played, with limited athleticism and so little depth they it had to add walk on players in March in order to be able to practice. If you've got 6 healthy scholarship players, why would you even consider a zone?

A video of our new guard doing nothing but dunking and chest thumping is great motivation - never mind that he won't be doing that much against D1 competition and that he needs to pass and shoot from the outside which apparently is not part of his game....we don't really need any guards anyway....

I am sorry I was so wrong to address these issues with our program, I can see now that we are in perfect shape, never been healthier and that if the same trends continue, we'll all be perfectly OK being a USC level program, making the tournament once every three or four years when we get lucky with one recruit...

Zones are for that's why.

Edit: With that said, I wouldn't mind seeing them mix it up a little with different full court presses or throwing in a trap here and there.

You know, I think we are on the right path too. I am re-stating the same points because people are so astounded that I could even suggest that Miller does not walk on water or that there are things we should not turn a blind eye to. And if you read carefully, everyone is so astounded and offended by my comments, except almost all of them are agreed on by someone. "Zones are for " is followed by "With that said, I wouldn't mind seeing them mix it up a little with different full court presses or throwing in a trap here and there"... of course Tewa, that's the whole point. When your m2m is getting shredded faster than Taco Bell lettuce during lunch hour, you throw a 2-3 or full court press or box and 1 or SOMETHING different at them. Maybe just for a few minutes to change the momentum and flow of the game. Brad (and Gary) and Rickyk agreed that Olson would have won more games last year with the same personnel. Most every point I make is agreed to/with by someone. Nogo posted a link supporting a theory of mine.

I also don;t think everyone should agree or subscribe to the same doctrine. My viewpoint is my own.

I was glad to see Miller not rest on the laurels of a highly touted recruiting class and take steps to add more players, even if they are not scholarship kids or superstar recruits, they are better than last minute walk-ons in March (for whom I am not ungrateful for). Walt Hazzard's Grandson? Awesome! If he just has a good work ethic and attitude, he's a valuable addition.

I don't think Miller is a bad coach, but he has to perform better and basically acknowledged that at the end of the season, for which I am also grateful.

I think many, many of the excuses from the past year are just that, excuses. And i am very circumspect about relying too much on freshmen a think that the tide has swept many of you out to sea on the greatest recruiting class of all time ocean. Time will tell.

Wine, where did I agree with Brad that Lute would have won more games with this group last year? If you are talking about anything I posted in this thread, I don't think that's what I said at all. I said two different styles etc. And I also said that Lute would come out of the chutes with all frosh in November and look like a final four team, but I would remind that many of those embarrassing first or early round tourney defeats that we all remember with so much pain came from Miami, Middle Tennessee and Santa Clara came while Lute was at the helm. I dared not attack him then either; after all this man was the coach of my old JC while I was there. I loved Lute and still do. He was the greatest. He was our school's Pat Summitt Head, Bob Knight, Dean Smith and Coach K., all wrapped into one. But to experience and appreciate Lute's greatness you have to look at a body of work; not just one season or one tournament. In time, we will look at Miller in much the same way people at UNC look at Roy Williams (until this year when he looked like a goof) following in the footsteps of Dean Smith.