Arizona is loaded

[Husky1964]

Boeheim????

 

[upstater]

We'll see. Watching coaches do circles around Pastner makes me question whether he will get the "big one."

Watching UConn beat Memphis gives one the impression that Pastner is out of his depth, but Memphis beat Louisville twice, beat Oklahoma st. in a rematch, beat Larry Brown at SMU. Lost to a good Virginia team in the tourney.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Watching UConn beat Memphis gives one the impression that Pastner is out of his depth, but Memphis beat Louisville twice, beat Oklahoma st. in a rematch, beat Larry Brown at SMU. Lost to a good Virginia team in the tourney.

True. But last year is the only year in which Pastner has beaten a ranked team (or something like that, I am FAR too lazy to look that up). Let's see him do it a few years in a row.

 

[Rocktheworld]

He's still but a step up from Mark Few at this point. Granted he's done it in a third of the time, but he has had at least triple the talent; he's had 4 All-Americans in his 5 years, along with 10 5-star recruits since 2011. He also had a 1 seed last year, a 2 seed the year before that, NIT the year before that, 5 seed before that, and didn't make the tournament his first year. Riding Derrick Williams to the EE is pretty much his greatest on-court coaching achievement thus far.

Not that Mark Few is awful or anything.

 

[donyell34]

Sooner or later he will win one. Putting these classes together will pay off. Just a matter of time. If we didn't have KO I would want Miller. The guy can coach. Was also quite gracious in 2011 of U conn coming off of a tough loss.

 

[Pudge]

It used to be that Arizona ONLY had to contend with UCLA for kids in that neighborhood; and occasionally get a National kid. Now, I will be surprised if UCLA gets near them as they were in the late 90s.

It is correct ... To Early To Tell on Miller.

And Pastner? He can't win.

 

[Fishy]

UMMMM.. Zona lost to Wisky in the Elite 8 and Wisky lost to UK on a long 3 point shot!!!!

Ah, Wisconsin beat Arizona.

In overtime.

By one point.

In a Regional Final.

And Arizona was missing their starting power forward.

Otherwise, great point - Miller clearly failed miserably there.

 

[mcs333]

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/

Miller has recruited 10 five star players since 2011. Wow!

 

[B1GEast]

Meh it's like the reverse analogy that KO won with JC's guys. Miller is a good coach, but how many good coaches never won a title or even got to a final four? To say that he'll eventually win is an easy bet, for him to get there is another story.

 

[David 76]

I agree with a previous poster in that I see a near future with UCONN & AZ as the top powers. Unfortunately, I still see Coach Squid there with us.

 

[Tampahusky]

Give Coach Miller some credit. No way he's not going to win with the talent he's assembling. Looking forward to our matchups in the future. May the best team win.

 

[zls44]

Love how people already acting like last year's Wisconsin team was crap.

 

[Husky68]

He's saying that he thinks it's likely that Miller wins a title soon and then adds another one or two down the road - that's not an unreasonable prediction.

It's hard, but if you're looking forward and predicting which young coaches are poised to do such a thing, if you get past the top one or two without getting to Miller, you're doing it wrong.

In the history of MCBB there are very few who have won 3 (that's what you get when you add a "soon" title and "another one or two" down the road). Starting at age 45 with zero titles have to think only a couple of guys have done that starting there and they are named Wooden and Calhoun and only Jim did it since the 64 team format.

If I buy the "3 or so" over next 20 years for this guy, what is a reasonable prediction for Ollie who is a bit younger and has already won once? Also 3, maybe 4 which should be reasonable since he has already done it and is younger. So that's 30 to 35% of the available hardware for the next 20 years between 2 coaches; doesn't leave much room for Calamari, Izzo, UNCheat, ratface, Florida, Kansas, the Dribbler and the other 330 schools.

In about 75 years of NCAA tournament play only 5 coaches have won 3 or more times, and since the 64 team format in 1985, which is some 30 odd years, there have been only 4 SCHOOLS that have won 3 or more times and 2 coaches - K and JC.

As for likelihood of Pac10 teams winning it all, since 1985 a total of 2 times have a Pac10 team won it all, and both in the 90's. Not many coaches do like JC and win 3 of 4 appearances in final game. Guys like Izzo or K get to final 4 a lot of times to win a few. Izzo made 6 FF to win once and K made 11 FF to win 4; so Miller needs to get to 6 or 7 FF's in 20 years (really 12 if has 25% chance of winning once gets there).

So yeah, I think "soon" and "another one or two down the road" seems highly unreasonable for a 45 year old coach who has never won it all, even once.

 

[J-dog]

I think Miller can win multiple Championships but getting the first one can prove to be very elusive. Unless your name is Kevin Ollie...

 

[UofMemphis]

It used to be that Arizona ONLY had to contend with UCLA for kids in that neighborhood; and occasionally get a National kid. Now, I will be surprised if UCLA gets near them as they were in the late 90s.

It is correct ... To Early To Tell on Miller.

And Pastner? He can't win.

The last 2 seasons, Pastner is 55-15 (.786 winning percentage)...during that same time span, Pastner has beaten: #5 OK State, #7 Louisville, #12 Louisville, #18 SMU, #23 Gonzaga, and #25 St Mary's

He's also beaten: George Washington, LSU, Tennessee, and Harvard (who knocked Cincy out of the NCAAs)

He's 2-2 in the NCAA tournament during that time.

So to say Pastner "can't win" sounds kind of silly to me...he can do all that, and he's not even 37 yet.

 

[CTBasketball]

Remember the old series we played with Arizona?

I think it was 2000 we went out there and Edmund Saunders threw down a nasty dunk off a steal. Ah memories.

 

[Jerry1714]

He might be the best recruiter, but obviously can't win the big game. With a loaded lineup he lost to Wisconsin in Elite 8, Wisconsin.

He does that with a loaded lineup every year. Loses in a tight spot.

I will take what UCONN does every year. Recruit guys that will be here for a couple of years, and those high end guys that might only give us 1-2 years. Proved us well last 20 years. In KO I trust.

You must not follow the sport very much.

 

[mauconnfan]

He was known for not being able to win outside the C-USA against most big time opponents and I believe without looking the facts were in line. Now with in league wins over LVille his stat sheet filled up nicely to support improvement. Josh will need to win more in the tourney though as a 2-2 record doesn't mean much when you are set up to win the first win considering you are 55-15 in 2y years right. He will need to advance into the next weekend and beyond to begin his vault onto the scene. He's a proven recruiter just needs to be a better X's and O's guy down the stretch……….he will.

As far as Sean Miller, he's going to make people forget Lute Olsen if he stays, that's all I will say!

 

[TheChamps990411]

It's worse than simple minded - it reeks of denial and pettiness.

Guy has been a head coach for 10 seasons. 10. Five of those were at Xavier, which can hardly be considered top tier BB school from which to recruit. Notwithstanding that, he makes 1st round, 2nd round, Sweet 16, and Elite 8. Pretty damn good for a 2nd or 3rd tier BBall school.

Then he moves over to Arizona, so now he's at the top of the second tier. Good for recruiting and so on. Takes a year to get up and running. He then goes first round, Sweet 16, Elite 8, Elite 8. All but the bluebloods would consider that to be an outstanding 4 year run.

IIRC JC coached at Northeastern for 14 years and never made it out of the 1st weekend of the tourni.
Then he coached at UConn for another 11 years and never made the FF with 3 Elite 8s. A couple of those teams were "loaded."

So let's give credit where it's due. Especially because we're at the top of the mountain now. Nothing - I mean nothing - seems more petty and classless as bashing an up and coming talent when you're the established talent.

He's very, very good, and it is much more likely than not that he adds NC hardware to his case in the next few years, and once or twice more in the years that follow.

I find it rather sad when people here pull this nonsense and then are in an uproar when any criticism is thrown our way. We were Arizona at one point. Infact we were a joke of a program at one point. Lets not forget where this program came from. Lets be proud as our accomplishments as they stand with anyones and lets not try to drag down other programs trying to be where we`re at.

 

[Chris]

Live in arizona now. Tough talking smack when they are recruiting like this for the future. This is how we should be getting them, Tucson ain't that nice :/

 

[Rico444]

Does this hurt them in the Isaiah Briscoe sweepstakes?

 

[CAHUSKY]

Live in arizona now. Tough talking smack when they are recruiting like this for the future. This is how we should be getting them, Tucson ain't that nice :/

Tough talking smack??? We have 4 titles, they have 1. We win. One of my best friends is a diehard AZ fan and is one of the biggest smack talkers I know. However, the 4/1 argument always stops him in his tracks.

 

[Scot-e]

So was Kensucky. Just saying.

 

[superjohn]

Live in arizona now. Tough talking smack when they are recruiting like this for the future. This is how we should be getting them, Tucson ain't that nice :/

As a UConn fan you find it tough talking smack to Arizona fans? We have 4 titles they have 1 and we absolutely own them head to head. They have a nice program but are nowhere near our level, Memphis recruits really well too.

 

[superjohn]

They have to be out for Briscoe now with Justin Simon and Trier being in the fold. I've heard Briscoe wants to stay local, that leaves Seton Hall, SJU, Rutgers and us.