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Transcript: Q&A chat with Bruce Pascoe on UA basketball

Bruce Pascoe chatted with readers in a live Q&A chat on UA basketball.

Mark Lyons has been the subject of tremendous criticism, some not deserved.

by John 3/4/2013 7:02:23 PM
Mark is really being picked on defensively. Has it been discussed to put Nick Johnson on the opposing point guard to shore up the defense by putting some pressure on the primary ball handler. A very average Larry Drew torched us.

by John 3/4/2013 7:02:31 PM
Thanks for joining. Posted UA's new ranking (18) on this blog thread.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:03:23 PM
John-- No that hasn't been discussed. It is worth asking but in general they are putting Johnson on the best perimeter threat and both Jordan Adams and Shabazz Muhammad are bigger threats than Drew, who is great at making defenses pay if they completely ignore him but otherwise is not as dangerous a scorer.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:04:57 PM
(1) How did this highly touted varsity squad fall apart so easily? They absolutely disappeared in Pac-12 play against good teams.

by An old grey alumnus 3/4/2013 7:05:12 PM
That's the question we are all trying to answer though I picked UCLA to win and probably would have expected UA to lose at least 6 games by now. So the big picture is not a surprise. But it's the manner in which they are losing, having lost so much momentum, that is a real puzzle. The answer is at least partly that the Pac-12 is better "in the middle" than everyone thought. UA has not beaten a (likely) tournament bound team since Jan. 3 and that was the controversial Colorado game. On the flip side there have been no really bad losses. USC is not a good loss but that is a team that has a lot of talent. Pat Haden did not fire KO because it was a bad team -- it was because he had a good team that was underachieving. As far as UA's problems, I think the big thing is that this has never been a truly good defensive team all season (though it has had moments for sure), offensively it is relying heavily on two combo guards to run the show (Lyons and Johnson), and I suspect the older players' presence has at times prompted the freshmen to defer.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:12:04 PM
(2) How does the physical education department continue to get away (yes, get away) with a separate budget, vulnerable to graft and under the table payments, maintaining a minor "D" league for the NBA; and, to whom is it accountable?

by An old grey alumnus 3/4/2013 7:12:35 PM
Not going to explain this fully for a third week in a row. UA's intercollegiate athletics has a separate budget and is self-sustaining except for tuition fee waivers and some utility/facilities costs. It is accountable to Greg Byrne, Ann Weaver Hart and ultimately the Board of Regents.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:14:43 PM
(1) How to explain the collapse of a highly touted, expensive, team and its theatrical multimillionaire coach that collapsed in Pac-12 play against talent.

by An Alumnus 3/4/2013 7:14:46 PM
Some of the problems have already been answered. UA was picked to finish first in the Pac-12 by one vote over UCLA. Hasn't beaten any of the three teams above it in the standings.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:16:13 PM
How does the physical education department get away (yes, get away) politically with a separate budget at tax-supported University of Arizona and to whom are its records and responsible managers directly accountable; and, what measures are in place to prevent fraud, under the table payments, and other corrupt behaviors from zealous alumni, coaches, and players. Thanks for addressing this issue in a time of widespread corruption and immense financial hardship for university students and faculty alike.

by Morty the Moose 3/4/2013 7:16:39 PM
Again, answered these questions already. But you may also want to consider asking those questions at a regents' meeting.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:18:38 PM
Defense, rebounding, passing, changing looks, hitting the open man and good shots is the key to being a great team. UA is not good at several of these. This is a Sean Miller issue and does not get enough attention.......he does not seem to change his approach much ............IE no Zones, predictable offense, and team starts out flat quite often.........that is coaching........he has the talent for the most part although he could use a Steve kerr type shooter

by chillman 3/4/2013 7:19:06 PM
Chillman -- No, Miller doesn't change much and he really doesn't believe in zones. He's not going to pull out a zone like Cal did because that isn't his system. IMO rebounding is often about simple effort, if size and athleticism are roughly equal. Offensive movement and efficiency are definitely something to watch. Sometimes UA is good in that area and sometimes not.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:22:21 PM
We were 15-0. Now 8-6 over the last 14. Trade Lyons for Larry Drew II and we might be 27-2?

by Mgjonesual 3/4/2013 7:22:31 PM
I think that may be what Miller was hinting at when he raved about Drew before and after the UCLA game. ... Truth be told, and Patrick Finley addressed this last week, but the bottom line is that Lute Olson accepted Brandon Jennings' commitment first and Drew was out. That's why recruiting can be so incredibly important -- if you make a mistake, it not only matters with that player you took but also the player you didn't take (also seen in UA's decision to take Josiah Turner before Jahii Carson). Sometimes it even affects the next class, too, because you might not recruit that position in the next class after you get that commitment.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:25:59 PM
dear Bruce help me find the positives because the team and coaching and not doing well at all. where is the mental coaching and player development and confidence? No one is playing well. Guard play weak. Everyone and everything is inconsistent. Cats don't believe they can win and it shows. Why so many 3 point attempts? So bad on fundamentals! HELP!

by charlie dumas 3/4/2013 7:26:42 PM
Those are questions we are all trying to answer every day. Kevin Parrom and Solomon Hill are playing well, though Hill struggled at UCLA. Mark Lyons isn't a PG as we've learned over and over and there are some goods and bads with that. MoMo Jones was the same way but Derrick Williams was around to gloss over all the deficiencies of 2010-11. I do suspect the development of the freshmen is sometimes because they are deferring and/or just aren't depended on enough. But Tarczewski and Jerrett have shown some good signs lately. It's possible that some of the slippage is just in that they are dealing with a very long season, having gone to the Bahamas and having been together for really over eight months now.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:30:43 PM
Miller is a good coach, but could you say his reluctance to change his in-game strategies can sometimes hinder our team development? Mainly, not pressing earlier in games, slow transition, and sticking with players who make repeated mistakes but yet leaves them in and the bench is stagnant because they made one error (granted, flying after head fakes is a pet peave of mine)? He seems to be getting out-schemed by coaches who've utilized their talent more efficiently.

by Mulligan59 3/4/2013 7:31:32 PM
Again, it's not really my job to rate his player development this season but I do sometimes wonder why he keeps shortening the bench. You have a point -- one mistake and you're out but there is a bigger picture here so you wonder if he stuck longer with some guys would they get better? I don't know. One reason I can't say is I'm not allowed to watch practice so I have no idea what Chol and York are doing there. Maybe they are really struggling. Maybe not. I don't know. I only see them the same few minutes you guys see them. I just hear rumors -- like when everybody said Daniel Bejarano couldn't guard anybody in practice. But i still don't know first hand if that was the case.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:34:26 PM
As far as pressing, IMO, this team does not have the skills or depth to pull it off in any more than a very limited fashion. ...

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:35:36 PM
Good morning, thanks for the ongoing chats. Must say that I found Lyons jawing in the game versus UCLA to be a bit embarassing. Also at the end of the USC game he was at the line missed one and was smiling. I guess I am really missing the competitive fire that I thought he possessed and provided this team. It just doesn't look like they hate to lose. Not to mention all the freshman who at times look like they are napping. Am I misreading the team or is there a lack of fire?

by EJ 3/4/2013 7:35:49 PM
there may be a lack of fire from everyone but the seniors and Nick Johnson. But as far as Lyons I think you are misreading that. He often smiles when things go badly -- it's a sarcastic thing; really he's angry. There are issues you can hammer him on but his competitiveness is not one of them.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:37:12 PM
Bruce, does Nick's slump remind you of another Arizona basketball player? If so who? Kyle Fogg comes to mind...our defensive stopper who had issues on offense at times.

by Andre 3/4/2013 7:37:22 PM
Yeah that's a good comparison. Most of the time it's when guys aren't hitting shots they just don't care quite as much about defense. It's human nature in basketball, it seems. I still suspect Nick has hit a physical wall too though he disagreed with that when I asked him about it Saturday.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:39:52 PM
18 is still generous

by fred 3/4/2013 7:40:00 PM
Yeah i thought they'd be 20-25 or out of the poll. They haven't had any big wins in two months, really

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:41:20 PM
From what you've heard or seen, how similar of a player will McConnel be to Larry Drew? Looking at stats, it seems like he is the better shooter. I hope he can run the offense as effectively as Drew can.

by Andre 3/4/2013 7:42:41 PM
Yes he is somewhat more of an offensive factor than Drew. he's a careful three-point shooter, a smart all around IQ type of player. The only game i"ve actually seen him play in was here against UA at the beginning of last season and he did stand out as a pretty solid playmaker. That said, Drew has really been an exceptional running that offense. It helps that he has really good talents to pass to but that has also been a fractured team chemistry wise.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:46:23 PM
Do you think we will see more playing time for Jordan Mayes, Chol and maybe York, since the team chemistry seems to have evaporated in the last month?

by Kevin O'Neil 3/4/2013 7:46:28 PM
I'm not sure any of us can tell, the way this season has gone with these guys in and out of the end of the rotation. Right now the hot man of the day is Mayes and Mayes always has an advantage at gaining floor time because he can sub out at PG for Lyons. York cannot. So that tells you how much Mayes was in the doghouse before he played well at UCLA.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:48:05 PM
I wnat your thoughts on the arizona fans. They are really down on Mark Lyons and some of it is justified but. #1 out team would not be 24-6 without him and #2 T J Mcconnell is not the next coming of CP3. There is a reason he was playing at Duquense and not a large program. Your thoughts please and people please get off of Mark Lyons Back If he turns it around and we go to the Final Four You will be wishing He was back for 1 more year

by JReed 3/4/2013 7:49:29 PM
There's always very high expectations here, and no more so than for the person who is playing PG. Remember how Mustafa Shakur was hammered for nearly all four years he was here. That said, the one thing I think people forget is that Lyons is not a PG. He's a guy who happened to be available on the "free agent" market in May -- and has added more than he's taken from this team. Without him, Johnson and Mayes would be the only PGs. You could argue that Mayes may have benefited from that in his development but that's a big leap of assumption.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:51:18 PM
It appears that Cal is playing the best ball right now, are they going to win the Pac-12 and do the best in the tournament?

by Tomcat 3/4/2013 7:51:57 PM
Cal is playing the best but they aren't terribly deep so it wouldn't surprise me if they lost Friday or Saturday. Bears' defense is unbelievable now - opponents are shooting only 28.4 percent in the past four games against Cal.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:53:20 PM
Do you sense any player discontent?

by Tomcat 3/4/2013 7:53:31 PM
Yes, a bit, though I have only limited access to the players so it's hard to tell sometimes. I think this team had really good chemistry until January but that seems to have gradually declined. Maybe that's because of the long season (which goes back to early July, really) or maybe it's because there are some players who would like to get the ball more. Then there are the players who aren't playing much -- i think you can always assume those guys aren't happy, especially at this point of the season if things aren't changing.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 7:58:26 PM
This is turning into a team that could be one and done in both the Pac 12 tourney and in the NCAA Tournament. It seems like there is no real on the floor leadership. There's no fire in the belly. We should be much farther along with the talent we have. This season has turned out to be a real disappointment. Look at Cal. They are a completely different team than they were at the begininng of the year. I don't entirely blame Miller for the Turner fiasco, but by his 4th year, you would think we would have a real point guard on the floor.

by Jeff 3/4/2013 7:58:34 PM
Don't think anyone's arguing with those points. But as far as the PG situation, In a way you could pin almost all of it on the recruitment of Turner -- Jahii Carson went to ASU as a result, no 2012 PG was recruited, then Lyons was added when he popped up last spring. But he's not a PG either as everyone now knows. So again, it just shows you how important recruiting really is.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 8:04:39 PM
Is it too late to right the ship?

by Tomcat 3/4/2013 8:04:44 PM
Not at all. They can beat ASU, do well in the Pac-12 Tourney and still maybe get a West Region seed. If they get some favorable matchups in their first two games, and fix a few things, they could be looking at a Sweet 16 game at Staples Center.

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 8:05:41 PM
Can we please talk basketball nobody wants to hear about the budgett during march

by JReed 3/4/2013 8:05:47 PM
I try to address every question i can until time runs out (which it is today!)

by Bruce Pascoe 3/4/2013 8:06:09 PM
Why won't we play any zone defense to mask some of our weaknesses ?

by Tomcat 3/4/2013 8:06:23 PM
I think this team was overrated from the star

by Rob 3/4/2013 8:06:26 PM

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