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"I was thinking about..."

When were you thinking about that? While you were opening gmail again or scrolling down Instagram? Or was it while you were drooling down your newsfeed and clicking “play next episode”?

If you need to think about something then allot time to think about it. Set aside time to think about that thing and only that thing. No music, no texts - no electronics. Your brain can’t compete with them. They’re more interesting. That is, until you think back to what you were just thinking about and realize that you weren’t thinking about anything. You were staring without absorbing. Hearing without listening. Enjoying without processing. You were hypnotized. And you were in that trance for a long time. An hour. Five hours. The past five years. Now you have to think about something and you’ve forgotten how to think. You’ve been asked to find an original thought so you quickly flip through your website rolodex. They always have interesting thoughts. But they’re not your thoughts. They’re the things you stare at. You close your screen because three hours have somehow passed and you have nothing to show. You just have the pull to reopen your laptop so you can feel the warmth of your glowing screen.

If only you knew that the idea is hiding. It’s in Laurelhurst Park. On that bench next to waterlogged horseshoe pit. In that exact area where you can’t get reception.

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To the Arizona basketball team: listen to Ricky. "Change this face. Be happy. Enjoy!"

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The Original White Out

The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung. That intangible malignity which has been from the beginning; to whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the worlds; which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue devil;—Ahab did not fall down and worship it like them; but deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred white whale, he pitted himself, all mutilated, against it. All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.

—Moby-Dick

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Top 10 plays of the year so far.

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Via mcjen82

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Someone should remind Sean Miller that he's in Hawaii. I know that college basketball coaches are supposed to be perpetually stressed out, looking like they're in constant need of a cigarette, but c'mon coach, it's Christmas. 

I'm not sure who James Whitford is talking to in the background but dang, it looks like the guy is ready to get out on the court now and lock someone down. Guess good coaching never stops.

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How the Wildcats Saved Christmas... In Hawaii!

Thoughts, musings, flickerings of clarity that escape into the depths of my mind like a fish from a hook.

In other words, some random crap I can pawn off as an Arizona basketball column.

You Guys Must Reeeeeally Love Ridin' the Bench SDSU's athleticism and length, combined with their crafty interior passing, killed the Wildcats all night long so sadly, there's not a lot of good to say about the Wildcats' bench tonight. Having said that, I will do my best. On the plus side, Arizona's second unit, outside of the unflappable Kevin Parrom, was able to enjoy some last minute Hawaiian leisure time (perhaps for a surfing lesson or scuba outing?) in the form of R&R on the bench. In particular Jordin Mayes, Angelo Chol, and Kaleb Tarczewski each had their share of ugly defensive burns at the hands of SDSU and quickly learned that Miller's 'All In' philosophy extends all the way to his doghouse.

No?

A win is a win and a loss is a loss, but sometimes a win is more than a win and a loss is more than a loss. With the Aztecs handily beating the Wildcats in each of the last two years, it seemed safe to say there was some increased desire on the part of Sean Miller and his coaching staff to get a win against a team that's had their number. Although Miller and staff denied this extra desire to avenge those losses, one doesn't have to look far for proof. In fact, a quick scan of the numbers reveals that Miller significantly tightened up his rotation, choosing to lean on his experienced guys more than any game since the matchup with Florida. Check the minutes: Solomon Hill, 37; Nick Johnson, 34; Mark Lyons, 30; Kevin Parrom, 26. It was telling that Miller essentially ditched Kaleb Tarczewski (zero points, zero rebounds, and two turnovers, in 18 minutes), Angelo Chol and Jordin Mayes (11 minutes combined) in favor of the guys who were getting it done. Expect to see more of this lineup solidification as the Pac 12 season rolls along and the tournament rears its head.

I could never love another team... But if I HAD to love another team Can I put aside my Arizona allegiance for a second and ask you, dear reader, to join me as an unofficial SDSU fan? Aside from the fact that we Arizona residents have a statewide oath to make regular pilgrimages to San Diego, why not extend our good will toward this particular Aztec basketball team? No, not just because their winning record will make the UA look better, but because sometimes, dammit, style has to win over substance. Sure, they may not be a final four contender, but SDSU deserves our cheering because Steve Fisher teaches basketball in a way that we should throw our arms around and hug. Why? The man still believes in fast breaks. It wasn't so long ago that running a squad built on a five streaking specimens of athleticism and their hot fits of passing lane chaos was an acceptable and celebrated formula for victory. Best I can tell, this form of basketball peaked in the 80s and 90s and the recipe for success went a little something like this:

Fast Breaks = Points. Points = Wins. Fast Breaks = Wins.

Good recipe, right? Lute Olson and Steve Fisher thought so. These two preeminent purveyors of the uptempo game believed in simple things. Blocked shots triggering transition. Defenders taking smart chances to create turnovers. Perfectly executed 2 on 1 breaks. These are good things! Now a fast break is considered a liability (I'm looking at you Butler Bulldogs, Wisconsin Badgers, Virginia Cavaliers, ASU, and until this season, Arizona Wildcats). 

But for SDSU it doesn't stop with the athleticism and transition game. No, no, no. That would be selling them short. Basketball purists will also notice the oh-so-nifty interior passing on display by SDSU. Jamaal Franklin had six assists on what seemed to be an endless loop of dunks and layups two feet from the basket. Chase Tapley with the pick and roll to Skylar Spencer that practically made me faint like a victorian beauty with a case of the vapors.

What I'm saying is this... Will you marry me SDSU? Cheer for the Aztecs with me.

Bonus Meditations During a Hawaiian Crisis As I watched Arizona go through it's now regular hot start, sloppy middle,and slightly more enjoyable finish, I came to realize that this pattern needs a nickname. I'm open to ideas and partial to obscure movie references. And GO!

Solomon Hill proves to your humble writer that Christmas is real and he is indeed a bad, bad man. Regular readers of this blog will know that I've been wishing for Solomon Hill to have the kind of game he had tonight. I have been wishing for a long time. So it's especially vindicating and poetic that my favorite Wildcat shed his passive streak and put on his new aggressive attitude on Christmas, the day when all hope is possible and we prepare the way for new, better beginnings. Not only did Mr. Hill earn Diamond Head Classic MVP honors with 21 points and three assists. But my main man shut down Jamaal Franklin to the tune of nine points. From the opening tip, Hill was aggressive, focused, barking orders, pounding his chest, and generally being the kind of badass that Arizona needs him to be every night. It was a thing of beauty.

Thank you, Solomon Hill. You have done us all proud.

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All in.

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For your viewing pleasure. 

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Sean Elliott Stayed Home

Via Tucson Weekly.

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What Dreams May Come

Late Friday night, Tucson got its first taste of winter. The rain and cold of a pacific storm settled into the valley and for the better part of 24 hours, Tucson looked and felt like those dreary, wet cities where winter is less a season and more a realization on the part of all citizens that it's time to head inside for awhile.

To those watching Arizona football and basketball, Saturday was an act of defiance and refusal to surrender to the clouds and crushing gray cold of those forces to which others must submit. We Wildcats took a stand.

If there were ever moments that can make you feel as if your football team might shed its reputation as the Pac-12's version of the Chicago Cubs and that your basketball team might have at last, for once and for all, restored the natural order, then Saturday will stand in your memory as a day when it was clear that God was in his heaven and all was right in the world.

I am not going to touch on Matt Scott's suddenly clear head, or Tyler Slavin's John Doe jersey, or Nick Johnson's steady hand. Nor will I comment on Kevin Parrom's resolution, the unsinkable Solomon Hill, or even the prodigal son that is Mark Lyons. I wouldn't be able to do justice to your memory.

Instead, I am sitting at my desk, and the sun is bright and clean. Tucson has kicked winter out.

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Steve Kerr in a fur coat. No questions.

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Studies & Further Studies in a Dying Culture

When football season swings comfortably into basketball and the leaves change color to Arizona, Syracuse, Georgetown, and Kansas from Alabama, Oregon, Notre Dame, and Georgia, I feel like reflecting on a game that hasn't even happened yet. Arizona vs. Clemson. Or as Clemson fans know it, "not football."

Although I have never been to Clemson, I am familiar with the legends of Running Down the Hill, Howard's Rock, and the like. And they remain just that, legends. Because I'm not in my 80s, I'm unfamiliar with Clemson's great teams. Yet Wikipedia points to just one undefeated season, 1981, and somehow Clemson still claims a reputation as a top flight program. How does this make sense? How long are we going to call Clemson a sleeping giant? If this giant is indeed sleeping, then I'd venture that this sleep is partly the result of a long night of partying and, quite possibly, some prescription strength assistance. But legends are sometimes like that. And so the Tigers will continue to pat the rock and run down the hill until they reach Olympian heights once again, and the Clemson faithful will continue nursing those legends like exotic plants that can only bloom in the moonlight of memory and sentiment.

Looking at Arizona, I am filled with fear that our basketball program will descend into the same dream state of wistful nostalgia and delusion. All signs indicate that the turbulence of the Olson saga has finally succumbed to the steady hand and guidance of Sean Miller. And it's this new sense of stability and forward motion that scares me most.

Barring a Kevin Ollie dream season, it's no secret that UConn is gonna come a callin' for Miller and his staff in March. This is one of the many suitors who has the hots for our fair coach, and like the protective fathers that we are, all front porch rocking chairs and shotguns, we believe that there's no one good enough for our princess coach but us. UConn, all pimply grease bag and Camaro, will come a courtin' until we can convince Miller and co. to join a convent. 

Weird analogy?

The point is this: Arizona will never reach Olson era heights again until we know for sure that Miller will be our coach for the long term. I'm talking 15 years plus.

So although Arizona basketball and Clemson football are far from mirror images of one another, they're linked in a way that we might not understand for a number of years. If Miller leaves in the next few years, Arizona fans can probably expect Josh Pastner to return to his favorite seat on the Arizona bench and begin a stretch of middling success equivalent to a never ending 9-3 or 8-4 football seasons and a share of the ACC title. Meanwhile the tall tales of Lute's glory days will grow by the day and the legends will begin to suffocate the present. This does not make me happy. In fact, it makes me want to watch that other sport, what is it? Not basketball.

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Southern Miss and the Decline of Western Civilization

I sit here, looking out my window, and I can't help but notice what appear to be raindrops falling ever so tenderly on the unforgiving caliche of the Tucson valley. Clouds surround our fair hamlet and for a night we are reminded that, yes, the sky just might be falling. Or maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me.

Some scattered thoughts and questions on 40 minutes of dry heaves disguised as basketball.

Can Kaleb Tarczewski develop the mean streak necessary to hit back and match the physicality of other teams? Following tonight, the big man can expect a steady diet of fronting and double teams in the post. Can his teammates figure out how to feed him the ball in a position to score or swing to the weak side? Expect to see teams playing this way against Arizona for the remainder of the season.

To almost everyone's surprise, Southern Miss. failed to be intimidated by jerseys that read 'Arizona.' An emerging pattern, perhaps?

One word to describe tonight's game? s;dlkfjaskkdf!!!ldKLs@s.

Arizona's turnover explosion. 27 cough ups. Blech. Nothing else to say about that.

Arizona's defense continues to get tougher. The Wildcats held Southern Miss. to 20 points in the second half and 0-8 from three point range.

Give credit to Southern Miss., whose game plan seemed to come straight out of a guerrilla warfare manual. They got under the UA's skin and exposed an impatient streak in the lumbering Goliath that had been dormant through the first five games of the season. It's worth noting that Southern Miss had three full days, without travel, to scout and implement their unconventional game plan. As Sean Miller noted in his post-game comments, Southern Miss. had pressed on every single possession of their season until Tuesday's tilt with Arizona. The Golden Eagles ditched their usual full court press in favor of dropping back into a match-up zone and forcing Arizona into a half court staring contest. Kudos to the Golden Eagles for daring the UA to out hustle, out grit, and out ugly them for a win. For 35 minutes it worked, and the UA was on the ropes. Had Southern Miss' leading scorer, Dwayne Davis, not been sidelined with the flu, we'd probably be talking about a UA loss right now. Looking ahead, I suspect Southern Miss. will be a tournament team, and a very tough out, come March.

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Shout Out Louds - Blue Ice

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Lingering Questions

Let's set aside the fact that this team has faced sub-standard competition through five games. We all know that.

What we've seen so far is a team with flashes of great -- not just good -- great basketball: pure unselfishness, patient yet creative scoring ability, a defense that creates opportunistic transition chances and wears opponents down over the course of 40 minutes. These well earned Olson era flashbacks have been dinged only by occasional, but regular, lapses in performance on offense and defense.

So heading into the meat of the non-conference schedule, it's time to raise the alarm and sound the flag for the following:

Mark Lyons a.k.a. Leroy Jenkins: We knew at the start of the year that Mark Lyons had a reputation for playing out of control, pressing, forcing shots, and a proclivity for poor decision making. After five games it's safe to say, yup. There's no denying the super senior's scoring and on-ball defensive abilities. Dude can lock you down and light you up. But as Bruce Pascoe and others have noted, Lyons' offensive game has grown consistently untidy in the past four games, with six assists to 12 turnovers. Against Texas Tech, Lyons had a particularly dreadful line of four turnovers and zero assists, which was only offset by his 14 points. This is disconcerting. It will be interesting to see how Miller adjusts his offense if turnovers continue to be an issue with Lyons, especially against the UA's non-cupcake opponents. Will he play Lyons off the ball more and put the offense into the spotless hands of Nick Johnson? We shall see.

Three point defense: Against Texas Tech, the UA had its best defensive performance of the year, holding the Red Raiders to just 34.9 percent shooting and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. All told, Texas Tech hit just 22 of 63 shots. Will this trend continue against Southern Miss., Florida, UCLA, and others? It seems that Arizona's defense is headed in the right direction after being on the wrong side of a hot hand against Charleston Southern, UTEP, and Long Beach State.

What happens when the lights go out? Points haven't been a problem for this team. And anyone who's watched Sean Miller's club struggle to put up 60 on certain nights has to be giddy at how easily this group of Wildcats lights it up. For the season, Arizona is shooting a screaming 52.3 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three point range. There is no way these numbers will hold up over the course of a season. So what happens on the nights when scoring is a problem? Will this team be able to lock down on defense on those nights when the threes aren't falling, the dunks aren't happening, and the Pac 12 refs are working their collective Joey Crawford mojo? 

Solomon Hill the alpha dog: Let me get this out of the way. I love Solomon Hill. I love his work ethic, I love his game, I love that he owns a poodle. More than anything though, I love that he's THE symbol of the new Arizona era under Sean Miller. In his four years at the UA, his on-court demeanor, his approach, his leadership, and his physical transformation embody the process of rebuilding a proud program from the floor up. So my questioning of Hill comes not from a place of an angry man with a blog but from a parent who wants to see their child take that final step into adulthood and put all the pieces together. More than anything else, I want Solomon Hill to be The Man. To this point in the season, Arizona hasn't been tested to the level that will require Solomon to put the team on his back and takeover a game. However, we've known that in the past Hill has demonstrated a tendency to be passive. My lingering question is this: in crunch time, will Solomon Hill be the guy who takes the final shot, or will he defer to someone else (probably Mark Lyons)? And subsequently, will he be the guy who refuses to let his team lose and carries them to a championship?  It's a mini-version of the LeBron saga, when we wondered if LBJ had the stones and wherewithal to become a champion. We may not have an answer for this question until Florida rolls into Tucson on Dec. 15, but like any proud parent, I think Hill will be ready. And, if I may say so, he's earned it.