Three Things I'd Like to See the Wildcats Try
Along with notes from home wins versus Utah Tech and NAU
Utah Tech and NAU Notebook
Coach Lloyd seems to be trying to get the offense for Motiejus Krivas going. He called for a post-up for Motiejus Krivas as an after-free-throw play early in the game vs Utah Tech and then came back with the same action to start the second half. Krivas looked better against NAU on that end of the court and continues to play well defensively.
Arizona showed two different versions of press. A three-quarter court trap and a full-court man press where the on-ball defender trapped the inbounds pass. Both versions saw Koa Peat as the top of the press most times
The Cats also were on the opposite side of three-quarter court pressure as well and had no problem breaking it.
Arizona saw only a small amount of zone defense from each team (1-3-1 and 1-2-2 respectively).
Against man, the Wildcats sprinkled in some Flex action with slice cuts. Also a great extra dribble again by Anthony Dell’Orso in the first clip to occupy the defender.
A note on this: if you want to be a great shooter/scorer, learn to be a great off-ball screener. When you ghost the baseline shuffle screen, you’re going to be less open coming up off the flex screen.
For the first time in college basketball, I saw the infamous “challenge that” finger twirl from Utah Tech’s Ethan Potter.
On a serious note though, I am watching how coaches adapt to the new challenge rule. Coaches will no longer be able to rely on stoppages late in the game for free timeouts so it will be interesting to see if they are more likely to keep one.
Coach Lloyd has rarely used Krivas and Awaka together but did give that “big” lineup a look in the second half against NAU when Krivas had it going offensively. He also gave a “small” lineup with Peat at center a chance late in the first half.
Overall Thoughts
As far as rotation, I feel much better about Dwayne Aristode’s ability to contribute. However, it took until under eight minutes left and a 35-point lead for Coach Lloyd to feel comfortable subbing Evan Nelson in. So we are looking at an 8-man rotation from here forward I believe.
Utah Tech played quite well but neither they nor NAU give a lot of opportunity to evaluate. That being said, I still have a couple of ideas that might be worth a look somewhere in the future.
Inverted P&R
Arizona did not emphasize the Bradley/Peat middle pick-and-roll in these games the way they did against Florida, only running it once. Perhaps, that’s something they will keep in their pocket for stronger opponents.
However, a further evolution they may want to consider would be to flip the roles of that action. The Phoenix Mercury recently made a run to the WNBA finals after having a lot of success with Alyssa Thomas as the ball handler in an Inverted P&R.
With Koa Peat happy to operate in the middle of the floor, the Wildcats could look at running a 4-1 pick and roll using Bradley as the screener. An upside of this action is that defenders are not accustom to covering in this manner, neither power forwards navigating ball-screens nor point guards covering screeners.
Switching this action is usually a non-starter for most defenses as Peat would be able to overpower a much smaller defender to get to the basket. Meanwhile blitzing or hedging this action leaves a pass to the popping point guard, who could attack the paint or go into zoom action with the center and wing on the opposite side.
Bradley and Peat accidentally ended up in a step-up screen once versus NAU.
It might even be more beneficial to use Anthony Dell’Orso as the screener with his ability to shoot the three on the pop or possibly even ghost that screen if he feels his man leaning heavily.
Adaptive BLOB Defense
The Wildcats have had a little trouble defending baseline out-of-bounds (BLOB) when Krivas is the defender on the ball as far of getting him switched back onto a big. Tobe Awaka is more adept at finding a spot to switch back and is more capable of covering on the perimeter if the need arises.
In lineups where they share the floor, I would strongly prefer that Awaka cover the inbounder. But with their minutes being strongly staggered, there are two other options:
1) Let Koa Peat cover the inbounder when he and Krivas are sharing the floor or 2) Look at zoning up on the BLOB with Krivas on the ball similar how Florida played it. The Wildcats could still switch back to man-to-man after the inbounds with Krivas able to step into the paint and find a post to cover.
Full Court Pickup
After the Indiana Pacers run to the finals last year, partially thanks to playing a style emphasizing pace on both sides of the ball, NBA teams are pressing more than ever to start the season, as detailed by Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor.
The extra wear on the point guard to bring the ball up against pressure can lead to benefits later in the game. However, with Jaden Bradley playing big minutes, it would likely be disadvantageous for Arizona to ask him to pick up full court.
But with the Wildcats willing to be switchy on the perimeter, there would be little harm in having someone else pick up the primary ball handler, specifically after free throws or on dead balls. This could be a great way to get more out of the minutes Dwayne Aristode is playing.
The freshmen wing certainly has the tools to be a 94 foot defender and could add value to his stints by throwing off the rhythm of opposing point guards, who would have to worry about being covered by a 6’8” 220 pound defender while they try to advance the ball and initiate offense.
Next up: vs UCLA (in LA - Intuit Dome) on Friday November 14th, 8:00PM MST.