Endless Possibilities

Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2010 18:38 Written by Gary Randazzo Thursday, 02 July 2009 18:09

Basketball Articles - Basketball General

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I’m surprised to see little talk of this, but if you haven’t noticed lately the Arizona Wildcats now have a 12-man roster for hoops.

 

This is very big news.  A full roster provides head coach Sean Miller with a litany of options while also ensuring that the Wildcats have a full compliment of athletes to really get after it in practice sessions, you know, those times and places when teams actually improve.

 

Like a typical Miller roster, you can basically mix and mash Arizona’s athletes into a variety of defined positions.  By my count, Arizona’s players fall into these four basic categories:

 

Point Guards

Nic Wise (senior)

Garland Judkins (sophomore)

Lamont ‘Mo Mo’ Jones (freshman)

 

Shooting Guards

Kyle Fogg (sophomore)

Brendon Lavender (sophomore)

 

Small Forward

D.J. Shumpert (sophomore)

Kevin Parrom (freshman)

Solomon Hill (freshman)

 

Power Forward

Jamelle Horne (junior)

Derrick Williams (freshman)

 

Center

Alex Jacobson (sophomore)

Kyryl Natyazhko (freshman)

 

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s get to the real fun.

 

The categories above are meaningless in the Miller Way.  This fall you’re as likely to see a line up that includes all three point guards on the court at once, as you are to see a line up that features Nic Wise surrounded by Kevin Parrom, Jamelle Horne, Derrick Williams and Kyryl Natyazhko.

 

You might see Arizona get defensive with Kyle Fogg at the point alongside Parrom, Hill, Horne and Williams.  You might even encounter a stretch where Hill is entering the offense while true point guard Nic Wise is flying off of screens at the shooting guard position.  And perhaps you’ll even see Arizona go lightning quick with Wise, Jones, Lavender, Horne and Williams applying full court pressure and looking for easy transition buckets.

 

The point is Arizona will be like the famous “box of chocolates” in the movie Forrest Gump in that night in and night out, minute to minute, fans won’t ever know what they’re going to get coming out of a timeout.

 

This is a big change for Arizona fans accustomed to Lute Olson’s time-tested eight-man rotation, or Kevin O’Neill’s “my team is on the floor” approach.

 

Up until a few weeks ago, Arizona didn’t have enough bodies to flag a scrimmage game in practice.  Wise was pondering a professional career, and the official roster stood at nine athletes.  However, in the weeks since, Wise announced his decision to return for his senior season and the Wildcats benefited from the Tim Floyd scandal at USC to land two former Trojans commitments, Jones and Williams.

 

These additions were critical, not just for practice, and game-time depth, but for the Miller System.

 

At Xavier, Miller employed a Rick Pitino-type approach to going deep into his bench.  For one, Miller recruited versatile athletes who could play multiple positions.  Two, Miller wanted fresh bodies in the game at all times to dictate tempo, play pressure defense, and go hard to the boards.

 

Three weeks ago, the Miller Way might have been on hold in Tucson for a season.  Now, the Miller Way will be the way.

 

The additions of Jones and Williams will help out, tremendously.

 

Jones gives Arizona three very capable point guards with Wise and Judkins.  Williams adds much-needed depth and size to the Arizona frontline.  Further, Williams affords Hill, an outstanding ball-handler and initiator on offense, the opportunity to play more on the wing where he can more easily create for his teammates rather than being forced into a power forward role.  Still, as mentioned, Hill can and will fill the bigger-sized shoes at times this season and that’s what makes Arizona extremely dynamic.

 

ESPN’s Andy Katz recently blogged about the rise of Arizona.  If you recall, it was not even a month ago when Arizona was not predicted to finish in the upper half of the Pac-10, and not make its first Big Dance in a quarter century.  Suddenly, Katz has Arizona contending for the conference crown with experienced squads like Cal and Washington, and talented schools like UCLA and Wazzou.

 

I understand some fans are concerned about the amount of scholarships available for the 2010 and 2011 classes, but one thing remains certain in the world of college basketball:  There are no guarantees.

 

Fans can hope for that additional schollie ‘next year’ to land that Top 25 recruit, but there’s no promise said recruit will ever step foot on campus, or even pan out if they do commit.  Further, there are player transfers, injuries and a host of other factors that continually impact a team.

 

Personally, I’m of the opinion that you get the athletes when you can because life expectancy in college hoops is no longer a four-year proposition.  Apparently, Miller feels the same way.