Jason Scheer

Senior Editor/Publisher of on the On3/Rivals Network. Co-Host of the #WildcatScoop Podcast and Co-Host of the @Az12WildcatsPod

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

In this episode of the Wildcat Scoop Podcast, @MizShelbyK and I discuss

* Offensive play-calling
* Defensive execution
* Defending Noah Fifita

And a lot more!

https://t.co/hZTJsYLOph

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Breakdown: Arizona vs. UCLA

https://t.co/BxGCUqztwD

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

@___koby___ @ironmikeluke You definitely said this Koby

[Arizona Basketball @ArizonaWBB]

Locked In. 🎯

#EarnTheA

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

@SimonOgus Believe so

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Free RJ Godfrey

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

If you see a river, don’t go into it

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Pima County Sheriff's Department @PimaSheriff]

As of 3 pm today, we’ve responded to 16 river rescues in Pima County. Several roads remain closed. Too many to list. Check latest closures here: [phone].

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

The Scheer family has arrived

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Brielle has a credential for tomorrow!

[Brielle @ballinwithbreee]

Arizona vs Stanford

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

@ironmikeluke Shii. Shii. Shii.

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

That was so Cardinals

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Congrats to Mike Norvell for being paid $50.3 million to sit at home. Dream job.

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Arizona still ranked

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

🎧 immediately

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

In this episode of the Wildcat Scoop Podcast, @MizShelbyK and I discuss

* Offensive play-calling
* Defensive execution
* Defending Noah Fifita

And a lot more!

https://t.co/hZTJsYLOph

[scott taylor @gocub24]

@MizShelbyK And @jasonscheer absolutely nailed in the podcast why I’m feeling sad: ‘“It feels like a last run of sorts. This is the last run for Noah Fifita. He deserves the best season.” 100% why.

[Koby @___koby___]

Isaiah Mizell wasn’t getting the run he deserved until the second half of the Cincinnati game due to injuries ahead of him. Over the last 4 games he has:

25 receptions

566 yards

4 TDs

Mizell has shown he one of the best receivers in the country

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

❤️

[lesfifita @lesfifita]

Perspective changes as expectations grow.

There was a time when being 6–2 at Arizona would’ve been fine. Today, we’re 6–2 and frustrated because we believe we should be better. That belief says something about what Coach B and his staff are building. The standard has risen. Winning matters, and every loss hurts because of what we know this program is capable of.

And if we as fans are this upset, believe me when I say the coaches, players and staff inside that building feel it ten times more. So do the families waiting for them to come home.

Culture takes time. Sustaining it takes patience, accountability and people willing to carry the weight of expectations while continuing to build. That’s Coach B

Noah is at the forefront of it currently, but with Dash, our family has another four years invested in this journey. And I’ll take the pain of every loss over getting comfortable with being average.

It’s easy to demand more from the shore. There’s a different weight on the people responsible for steering the ship.

We’ve always been believers, that’s all we know. 🥤➡️🐻⬇️

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Good stuff

[Gavin @BuriedTreys]

UCLA / Arizona (Vegas)

One of my favorite games every season is the style clash between Mick Cronin & Tommy Lloyd where Arizona owns the H2H matchup 7-3 S/U and 5-4-1 ATS. In the last two years when this has been a noncon game, Arizona has won by 4 and 3 points which speaks to the type of muck that UCLA will drag the Wildcats into. Additionally, those games also ended a hefty 19 and 34 points under the closing total.

As a Mark Few disciple, you can basically copy and paste Gonzaga’s offensive style as Tommy Lloyd plays the same way. Push pace, hammer the rim, and be big underneath. Mo Krivas will roam the paint defensively as probably the single best drop defender in the entire country. The funny thing about comes in to play when you look at KenPom’s Average 2PA Distance metric that starts at the 2021-2022 season. UCLA’s HIGHEST ranking in the five seasons that metric has been around was……..350th. There will be teams who are rim reliant that will have their hands full scoring on Krivas at the cup (TCU, OKST, etc.), but UCLA is at the complete opposite end of the shot diet spectrum

Defensively, UCLA’s scheme is more or less built to (theoretically) slow down an up-tempo, rim-heavy attack. The Bruins are an all-out rim denial defense that will look to flatten out ball screens by hedging their bigs and pressuring what will be a fully reconstructed Arizona backcourt. Last year, Arizona was Top 75 nationally in not turning the ball over, but UCLA forced them into their 3rd worst TO% mark in a season where the Cats faced the turnover boogeymen in Houston & Iowa State a combined four times. Arizona’s ability to hold onto the ball benefits them twofold in that not only does it (obviously) result in more first shot opps, but it allows for second chance points against a UCLA defense who is never a strong rebounding unit the way they scramble. Probably the single biggest factor in determining who wins this game

Zona has probably three or four guys who can play in ball screens, so there is some optionality in how they attack UCLA’s defense. Without RJ Godfrey, Arizona is not quite the glass and paint juggernaut that they were last year, but they will be more than fine in those departments.

All that being said, UCLA’s other primary advantage lies at the 3P arc where they have two total flamethrowers in the backcourt with Trent Perry and Texas Tech transfer Jaley Petty, a Stretch 5 in Xavier Booker, and none of those guys are the potential #1 overall pick next year. On the other side, Caleb Holt and Ivan Kharchenkov are lottery guys themselves this year, but their perimeter shooting is probably the swing skill for both at the next level. I think we will see the Arizona pairing have their share of up and down shooting performance night to night, and UCLA will put them to the test from the perimeter as an annually high defensive 3PRate scheme.

You rarely have to twist my arm to get me to bet early season Tommy Lloyd, but this is a tough matchup for the Wildcats even though they will likely have a favorable crowd in Vegas. Inevitably, when Arizona runs out three elite positional defenders like Holt, Kharchenkov, and Krivas, they are going to be a total wipeout unit many times throughout the year. They certainly could do it here especially with some of the size advantages they have in the backcourt, but this is also a pretty tricky matchup for Krivas as he will have to travel plenty with Xavier Booker around the arc.

Kusturica vs Kharchenkov sounds more like a KSW fight than a college basketball matchup, but this may be my favorite individual battle of Opening Night. Both guys are absolute terrors defensively but both will be relied on offensively to move the needle on that side of the ball for their respective teams

Can UCLA generate enough possessions via turnovers to counteract the inevitable rebounding loss they will sustain? Or, can they snipe their way from the arc through this game? Slight lean towards the bankability of Zona's interior advantages, but I am too worried that Kusturica is not fully accounted for in computer rankings, which means UCLA is probably slightly under-projected to enter the year. Much rather take the under and hope Zona's perimeter defense could keep UCLA at bay if I had to bet something pre-flop

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

@_James_Gilliam Arizonas roster costs about 15 million.

https://t.co/9S3oJXrvgp

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

Tech's roster costs double than Arizona and there is significantly more talent.

When you're going on the road against a team this talented, you have to play a near perfect game and Arizona didn't come close to that.

Too many mistakes, too many miscues. Can't win that way.

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

@airzonaian For what?

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

If you have spent most of the post game criticizing Noah Fifita, you need to reassess your life.

[Jason Scheer @jasonscheer]

@LambertJordan40 Yes