"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Track record at Xavier suggests emphasis on defense

STREAK FACT: When the UA’s streak began on March 15, 1985, UNLV won its first-round game the night before against San Diego State. UNLV’s leading scorer was Armon Gilliam with 21 points. It was the Rebels’ third straight appearance. Their streak would last only nine years overall until 1991 when UNLV lost its first game that season to Duke in the Final Four.

By Javier Morales

Even after tonight’s game against UNLV — the most anticipated so far in the young Sean Miller era — the Wildcats will still have 80 percent of their season to play.

A lot can still happen between now and March, including a very important aspect of the Wildcats that Miller wants to improve the most: Defense. The best defense gets stronger over time when the game — or in this case, season — is on the line.

The Wildcats’ 84 fouls in the Maui Invitational shows the Wildcats are reaching in with their hands more than moving their feet to gain proper position. The refs called them like they saw them.

“Our fouling was a function of our defense and it’s something that we have to address,” Miller said in a press conference this week. “Fouling negates a lot of good things. There were times on defense where we were in good position and we competed at a high level and an individual player reached, gambled or didn’t show the official his hands.

“The single biggest factor we have to get better on is guarding all five positions. When the offense has the ball, then it’s difficult for him to beat you.”

Miller’s defensive track at Xavier record provides a glimmer of hope for Arizona. The young coach had a video produced about man-to-man defense when he coached the Musketeers called, “Sean Miller: Dominating Man-to-Man Defense.”

Perhaps each of the Wildcats should watch the video as they fall asleep at night. But something tells me the continual focus on defense in practice will be strong enough to pay dividends by February.

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UA’s bench goes deeper than recent years

STREAK FACT: When the UA’s streak began on March 15, 1985, USC coach Pete Carroll, whose team plays the Cats on Saturday, was only 33 and not yet a head coach. He was about to enter his second season as an NFL assistant coach as the defensive backs coach with Minnesota after spending one year in the same capacity with Buffalo. His first head coaching job would not come until nine years later in 1994 with the Jets.

By Javier Morales

Five games into the season and the UA is 3-2, including two losses in the Maui Invitational, so who in the heck should be thinking about the NCAA tournament?

As it is, the Wildcats will have their hands full Wednesday with UNLV, which improved to 5-0 Saturday after a 76-71 victory over Louisville at Thomas and Mack. In the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee, a win over the Rebels will certainly be in the “Quality Win” category.

While I agree that the Wildcats should not be thinking about the NCAA tournament right now, I believe they should concentrate on the ingredients necessary to be a team worthy of March Madness. This countdown takes on a new meaning with that in mind. If the Wildcats want to continue The Streak, they must follow through on the topics that we present here until we reach No. 1 on the list.

Our next topic: The Arizona bench.

Although the Wildcats are young in this area, they certainly do have promise and more minutes to provide than in recent years. The growing trend indicates UA coach Sean Miller will start Nic Wise and Brendon Lavender on the perimeter, Solomon Hill on the wing, and Derrick Williams and Jamelle Horne on the frontcourt with their athleticism making up for their lack of size.

Expect quality minutes throughout the season from reserves such as Kyle Fogg, Lamont “MoMo” Jones, Kyryl Natyazhko and Kevin Parrom.

Coaches generally want their seven-man rotation set by midway through the conference season. In Miller’s case, it will likely be a nine-player rotation with seven getting the bulk of the minutes.

How often has Arizona’s coaching staff been afforded such options?

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Cats can be motivated and loose at the same time

STREAK FACT: When the UA’s streak began on March 15, 1985, former heavyweight champ Larry Holmes won by TKO over David Bey. Mike Tyson, by the way, was only 18 and he fought in his first professional bout nine days before Holmes’ victory. He defeated Hector Mercedes via — you guessed it — a first-round knockout.

By Javier Morales

Fox Sports.com college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, a UA alum who is as good as it gets, avoided being a homer by keeping Arizona out of his projected 2010 NCAA tournament field.

A blog Web site called “Bracketville” actually lists Oregon State as a participant, and not Arizona. CollegeHoopsnet.com had ASU in and Arizona out before the season began.

Joe Lunardi, of ESPN Bracketology fame, has the Sun Devils as one of the last four into March Madness and Arizona on the outside looking in.

I could go on and on, but I believe you get the point.

Because of its youth and lack of tested returners other than Nic Wise, Jamelle Horne and Kyle Fogg, Arizona is not on the nation’s mind when it comes to returning to March Madness.

To a player, the Wildcats talked about the snub before the season began, and looked at it as a motivational tool. The true test of the 2009-10 Wildcats will be if they do not allow that motivation to turn into doubt if they happen to lose a couple of games in a row.

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STREAK FACT: When Arizona’s consecutive NCAA tournament appearances started March 15, 1985, President Ronald Reagan issued this statement about the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day that day: “We applaud the increased political interchange in the last year regarding the Irish situation and hope that it leads to forward movement so that soon all Irishmen, whether on the green island or abroad, can share equally in the joy brought by a day like today in the United States, where it is marked by peace, friendship, and harmony.”

By Javier Morales

The Pac-10 Schedule Gods have looked down on Arizona with an assist worthy of a Nic Wise no-look pass to Jamelle Horne for a slam as the Cats try to get their fix on 26.

First the formula for qualifying for the NCAA tournament:

• Achieve an RPI of at least 65 (shoot for better than 50 to play it safe). The Cats barely got in last year at No. 62. Anything worse than that and a team is flirting with disaster: Ask UNLV, which beat the UA in the regular season, but went to the NIT by virtue of its No. 67 standing in the RPI.
• Achieve a winning conference record, especially this year in a weaker Pac-10. It’s arguable that not even a 10-8 conference record will cut it. We might see only three conference teams in the Big Dance.
• Achieve quality wins. The Cats will get their chance starting in the three-game Maui Invitational next week (Wisconsin and then perhaps Gonzaga and Maryland). They also play Oklahoma, San Diego State, UNLV, N.C. State and BYU in the non-conference slate. So out of these eight games, if the UA goes at least 4-4 or 5-3, it would be in good shape come March.
• Achieve more success away from McKale Center. I know the UA got in last year with only two true road victories (on the Oregon trail), but it’s best not to tempt fate again with another poor record away from McKale.
• Achieve a strong finish, namely the last 10 to 12 games. Dick Vitale made a big deal about the Cats losing five out of their last six games last season, but before that, they won seven straight, including wins over Washington, USC and UCLA. So in their last 12 games, the UA was 7-5 — not bad for a bubble team.

That brings us to the premise of this blog: How does the end of the schedule look? About as beautiful as the Catalinas at sunset.

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Freshman knows importance of UA’s stature

STREAK FACT: When Arizona’s consecutive NCAA tournament appearances started March 15, 1985, a U.S. postal stamp cost 22 cents, half of what it is today. That means stamps are increasing at a rate of about .85 of a cent each year. At this rate, a stamp will cost $1 in about 65 years.

TONIGHT’S AUGUSTANA (S.D.) VS. ARIZONA EXHIBITION: View the live Webcast at ArizonaWildcats.com by clicking on this link

STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE EXHIBITION: Follow Steve Rivera’s blog at TucsonCitizen.com. Submit your questions to Anthony Gimino here concerning the exhibition and what you might want to ask Sean Miller or the Wildcats.

By Javier Morales

Growing up in Los Angeles, reminded almost daily about UCLA’s program from his friends and media reports there, Solomon Hill has a better appreciation of what it means to be a Wildcat than his freshmen brethren.

Every time Hill practiced and played games at Fairfax High School he was reminded about Arizona’s storied program by glancing at the jersey of former Fairfax standout Chris Mills on the gymnasium wall.

He knows about the program’s past more than fellow L.A.-area product Derrick Williams, who has acknowledged that he never had stepped into McKale Center (or watched a game there) before his official visit five months ago.

Hill, a 6-6, 230-pound wing player, knows what it will be like going home next summer if Arizona’s NCAA tournament streak is snapped.

“It would be nice to go home and tell kids that Arizona is still that big-time program,” Hill told me during the UA’s media day. “(The streak) is on everybody’s shoulders and everybody knows that’s the biggest thing going around our team. We have to come together as a team first before we go after that.”

The burning question: How will the UA’s young players, including Hill, respond to the challenge in general of having a productive season, NCAA tournament or not? Combining the can-do personality of veterans like Nic Wise and Jamelle Horne with the raw skills of a player like Hill gives Arizona a fighting chance.

It is well-documented now that Hill showed up to the UA overweight in July when the second session of summer school started and the Wildcats started playing pickup games. Hill was about 250 pounds and that drew the concern of coach Sean Miller immediately.

“I didn’t work out like I was supposed to,” Hill said. “I started to work out in summer school and lost a lot of body fat. If I would have had to do it over again, I would have come here in better shape but it’s been kind of fun to see my body change with the loss of weight and added muscle.

“I can feel it now when I step on to the court. It’s been fun, believe it or not.”

Fun losing weight? If Hill believes it was pleasurable waking up at 5 a.m. for those early-morning mile runs, to shave about 20 pounds, imagine what he will think about the challenge of helping Arizona continue its NCAA tournament streak to 26 years. He will think of it as a blast.

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UA’s McKale Center non-conference slate manageable

STREAK FACT: When Arizona’s consecutive NCAA tournament appearances started March 15, 1985, Tom Billeter, who brings Augustana into McKale Center on Wednesday night for an exhibition, became interested in joining Olson’s program as a graduate assistant only two years removed from earning his degree at Illinois. After two years at the UA, he followed former assistant Scott Thompson to Rice and later coached at North Dakota State, St. John’s and Texas A&M before moving to Sioux Falls, S.D., to coach Augustana in 2003.

By Javier Morales

This is not to say Arizona coach Sean Miller has a Sendek-like non-conference schedule to begin his career in Tucson but it is manageable similar to what Lute Olson experienced his first season 26 years ago.

Taking over a 4-24 program, Olson confronted a confidence-building non-conference home schedule that included NAU with the tipoff, a future Olympian (ex-Cat guard Leon Wood) with Cal State-Fullerton, an NCAA tournament team the previous season in Tennessee and throw-in games against Pan American (coached by Lon Kruger at the time) and Fort Hays State. None of these teams were ranked at the time Arizona played them.

The Wildcats, learning how to win at the time with a new coach, system and influx of players, only won two of the five, beating NAU and Fort Hays State. But they were a possession or two away from beating Fullerton and Pan American. Miller’s Cats, with half the team returning from another NCAA tournament appearance last season, are more grounded with a winning mindset as they start to tackle their non-conference schedule Nov. 15 against NAU.

For the purpose of this reason why Arizona’s NCAA tournament streak will continue, we will examine the Wildcats’ winnable non-conference home slate. The UA has seven non-conference games at McKale Center, only two true road games against tough foes (Oklahoma and San Diego State) and three neutral games in Maui.

The UA arguably can be at worst 8-4 as it enters the Pac-10 season with this type of schedule by taking care of its seven home games. The preferable mark would be 9-3 because if the UA goes at least 11-7 in the Pac-10, the Cats can reach that magical 20-win plateau.

Similar to Olson’s first year, none of the non-conference home opponents are ranked in either Top 25 poll (Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN poll). The most difficult opponents figure to be UNLV, North Carolina State and BYU.

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Weaker conference better or worse for UA?

• CLICK ON THIS TO READ ANTHONY GIMINO’S ANALYSIS OF WHAT SEAN MILLER SAID AT THE PAC-10 PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY IN LOS ANGELES
• CLICK ON THIS TO READ ABOUT POTENTIAL RECRUITS OTHER THAN McCALLUM AT McKALE CENTER THIS WEEKEND
  
  STREAK FACT: On the very day the UA’s run of 25 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances started on March 15, 1985, the Internet’s first domain was registered (symbolics.com). As of the last 24 hours, there are 112.7 million active domains on the World Wide Web.

  By Javier Morales

  On the eve of Halloween and one day removed from Pac-10 media day, the timing is appropriate to discuss how scary the Pac-10 will be this year in relation to Arizona’s NCAA tournament aspirations.

  It’s about as scary as a trick-or-treater dressed as Tinkerbell, which my daughter will be tomorrow evening. OK, I realize the conference will not be that light in competition (just wanted to let everyone know Mackenzie’s costume).

  Judging from the AP Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today Top 25 polls released yesterday, the conference is not getting much respect from national media and coaches (as part of the ESPN poll).

  Of course, these polls are subjective — no games have been played yet and March is when the pecking order really matters — but the Pac-10 looks like it has a lot of ground to make up with the five other power conferences. I combined the two polls and applied a point system whereas a conference received points for a corresponding ranking (i.e. the Big 12 got 25 points each from the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls with Kansas No. 1), and this is what I determined is the perceived totem pole of college hoops today:

  1. Big Ten (139 points): Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State and Minnesota are consensus selections in both rankings, with each ranking the Spartans and Boilermakers in the top 10.
  2. Big East (124): Arguably the best conference last year has Villanova, West Virginia and UConn among the top 15 teams in each poll.
  3. Big 12 (115): Kansas and Texas are viewed as Top 5 teams but then the conference drops to Oklahoma in the middle of the rankings and no team after that.
  4. ACC (91): Another top-heavy conference with defending champion North Carolina in the top 10 along with Duke, but it drops significantly to Georgia Tech (with heralded freshman Derrick Favors, who can be in the NBA now) and Clemson.
  5. SEC (89): Kentucky’s John Calipari is a significant reason why the Wildcats are a top 5 team and the league has adequate teams in Tennessee and Mississippi State. Not much else.
  6. Pac-10 (52): Cal, with four senior starters and a veteran coach in Mike Montgomery, should feel slighted as the conference’s top-rated team at No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Washington is also in the middle of the rankings. No UCLA. No Arizona.
  7. Horizon (31): All points coming from Butler, which is rated higher than Cal in both polls (No. 11 AP and No. 10 ESPN/USA Today).
  8. Atlantic 10 (9): All points from Dayton. Where is Xavier? The Musketeers, if Sean Miller was still there, would certainly be rated in at least the top 15 because they return a strong nucleus, albeit without players like Derrick Brown (NBA) and B.J. Raymond (exhausted eligibility).

  With the Pac-10 perceived to be down, couldn’t it be argued that it will adversely affect the Wildcats come March?
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