Arizona’s DEPTH Will Be A SUPERPOWER For Wildcats In March Madness

Chat, I'm not going to lie to you.

If I am extra sweaty during this podcast, it's because I just went through many who basketball

warfare.

Welcome on in to the AZ Wild Gats podcast coming to you live from Studio K presented by our

friends over at Circle K. It is I your host Damon Farrell aka Damon dog and I'm with my

guy Kevin Thomas aka Kevopos here at pH next HQ three from downtown Phoenix and guys

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check out that Arizona Wild Gats headwear the best in the game completely taken over

the University of Arizona athletic scene here when it comes to headwear in particular Kevin

see me rocking brand of bills every single day and you see me rocking with my wild cats every

single day as well because we are yet another day closer to another Arizona basketball game.

Arizona's opponent is currently playing right now. You can consider this a Cincinnati versus

UCF watch along if you must. I'm watching the right. The AZ Wild Gats podcast doing a nice little

watch along for UCF Cincinnati figure now the next opponent is going to be can I get a score update

in that game Kevin Thomas waiting for the shot attempt and it's good 51 to 39 Cincinnati leads UCF

826 to go UCF ball and West Miller who has returned from the dead undertaker style in the way

only a Tim Burton character could looks like he might be on the docket for the Arizona Wild Gats

in the quarter final round of the big 12 tournament of which Kevin and I are going to be talking

about our potential matchup given updates on the big 12 tournament so far but Kevin I did want

to start off here kind of a crazy day yesterday. No I mean not only did Caleb whole commit I felt

like there was like it was like an active war zone on on social media as well. You know obviously

there's a little bit of back and forth with some BYU fans with Arizona fans and I got a couple

tweets off myself you know I just had to squirm my way in the middle there and just kind of just

you know make my make my voice heard on the matter and guess what we talked about it BYU fans

they found out they figured it out they found the tweets shockingly no one could have possibly seen

this coming and you know the the battle continues on any thoughts on just kind of the you know

online discourse going on with BYU right now Adrian DeBonster going off for 40 points last night

albeit in a game Kevin that I would argue BYU has no business playing in so I almost I'm like

cool here's your gold star for extra credit for beating Kansas State the worst team in the

conference in the first round of the big 12 tournament because your team was so bad you had to play

in it. Honestly I didn't have too many thoughts on all of this outside of like it being funny

that you paid X amount of millions of dollars to make a 10 to 100 million Kevin 200 million

dollar roster I'm just going to continue to I'm playing this game with BYU fans where I keep

saying it's higher and higher and higher so by the end of the show will be the first ever 1 billion

dollars. This is a $2 trillion dollar roster we're talking about here they got the GDP of England

that they're paying their whole team. Well they will probably be making their Brexit from the

tournament here pretty soon but I will say this much like I didn't have too many thoughts on it

outside of them paying so much money to not have a successful team this year I just kind of feel

like Damon when these things like when these things happen when Jaden Bradley wins conference player

of the year right in a year where we talked about on that show like there's so many talented high

performing players in the conference you're going to have people on social media like what

this is kind of unacceptable and like as I told you on that podcast like Jaden Bradley probably

wouldn't have ended up being my pick for conference player of the year but that doesn't mean that I

don't see the logic behind it now that we've had some time to like think about it we've heard from

the coaches we've heard from you know that's who decides it the coaches and all we've heard is

Arizona won a lot of games and Jaden Bradley was the engine of that winning it's pretty simple

and I do think that BYU like kind of coming out and being like well we had the best player

is like and where did that get you BYU like is that really the flex that you want to be put it like

and that's what that's where I was that I put out a tweet myself last night because the BYU official

account I got them 10th Kevin I had to count real quick sorry no 100% like the BYU official account

last night and a picture of AJ DeBonza dunking that was captioned player of the year and they

striked through it and then said best player and I'm like okay you guys can have the best player

but it's a weird flex to be like we have the best player and look at us playing on a Tuesday

against a coachless team and almost and almost losing like that was a great game that Kansas

State played one of the performances of the season for Kansas State and it took an AJ DeBonza

master class to get over the hump against that team to me like like I don't understand what BYU

fans want they want their they want I understand they want AJ DeBonza to be rewarded and

regarded as one of the best players in college basketball of which he is he's a AP first team

all American is he not he won the big 12 freshman of the year and perhaps the deepest freshman class

conference we've ever seen in college basketball history and yet I'm not I don't think that a guy

necessarily an in listen you know you said that you know you wouldn't have voted for Jayden Bradley

I've said this before Gundam I had I probably would have voted for AJ DeBonza I probably next up

would have been voting for Braden Burries and then probably Jayden Bradley would have been my

third choice for the award so I'm not saying that I am just incomplete agreement with the big 12

coaches but what I am saying is I've never seen head loss from a fan base that finished 10th place

after being preseason top 10 think about the expectations BYU Kevin Young AJ DeBonza and this

squad had going into the season you bring in Rob Wright you return Richie Saunders you get a guy

from the G league I mean you had expectations you were picked higher to finish in the conference

than Arizona was you had the same amount of big 12 first place preseason pole votes as the wild

cats did who the team that ran away with the conference full stop and you want to sit there and

tell me we're not getting enough respect from the big 12 coaches at the end of season awards

okay what kind of respected you guys deserve because if I were in your shoes I would be thinking

about the utter embarrassment of a season that my program just went out there and displayed and

yeah you you had a big injury in Richie Saunders but I counter with Texas Tech had a big injury

in JT top and and yeah they lost their final two games of the regular season but they also won

some big games in between now they beat Iowa State in between there they they didn't have a losing

record with losing Richie Saunders like BYU did Coa Pete went out Arizona won against BYU with

Coa Pete out and Richie Saunders playing right and then went and beat Houston on the road to win

the conference without Coa Pete and doing Aristotle but you know without Coa Pete Darren Peterson has

been in and out of the lineup all gosh dang year Kevin for Kansas and I like how you're speaking

their language by saying gosh dang yeah I have to I got to get through to them somehow

Darren Peterson played 20 games in the regular season this year is did Kansas fall off of a cliff

when he didn't play or did they go beat Arizona when he didn't play for handing the cats their

first loss this season only BYU apparently deserves the excuse of we lost one of our best players not

our best player one of our best players and our team fell off of a cliff and that's why we finished

in 10th place no you guys finished in 10th place because your team stunk your coach had a disaster

performance and I'm sorry but that doesn't deserve like going in and just like sweeping awards

left and right I would have voted for AJ I would have voted for Braden if you were giving it to an

Arizona player for rewarding the best team but I've never seen cries like people cry like this over

a team that was so disappointing in my life this would be like in 2024 like and you I think you

saw a little bit of like you know like man like team act should have won the blintnikoff over Travis

Hunter what a joke right but like at the same time we admitted that we were like this is all we have

we we suck this year we only have team act give us this please whereas BYU fans are like hiding

around this facade of like we're an up and coming on the rise basketball program that has never

made a final four in our entire history and please respect us more and it's like no no I will not

respect the team that is scraping by Kansas State in the first round of the big 12 tournament

embarrassing season pathetic social posts from the BYU main account the BYU athletics main

account is taking shots at college kids crazy behavior man do I love hating these guys but yeah

it's just great stuff all the way around locked on big 12 I'm sorry locked on BYU getting involved

in it only ever tweets when BYU is involved but somehow this is not about BYU let's make

that's very clear just an all in all fireworks display on on on socials yesterday Kevin I will

add a little bit of of not context but just to round out with the type of interactions we're seeing

are I posted in response to that graphic that BYU put out pretty crazy to take a shot at a

player that be you twice do you though BYU some people not only that he's done it on him too

two games were he went for what 25 and then 12 and 10 for a double double at the double check

but he definitely had some pretty good games against BYU I think it was 25 in the first game

and then 12 and 10 in the second game I had a guy in the in the replies say show me the lie

also I didn't interpret this as a shot at Bradley this is propping up AJ who many thought should

be player of the year AJ is absolutely the best player in the league I said for what it's worth

I don't think it was intended as like a direct shot across the bow at Jayden Bradley but I do

think it's incredibly disrespectful to the awards and then by a proxy who won the awards because

you're saying well yeah we've had these long standing conference awards but we're just going to

take our toy and our ball and go home because we think we have the best player even though we

didn't win the awards that actually are bestowed we're going to bestow our own award and it's

supposed to mean more because we're giving it out I think that's pretty disrespectful especially

considering it's voted on by the big 12 coaches yeah it's not a fan vote like Kevin Young it's not

Kevin do you know who Kevin Young voted for for the big time Bradley not AJ DeBonza and I get

that BYU fans understand that it's player of the year and not best player of the of the year award

but I think that there's something like this is what I'm going to follow up that comment with

I just literally when we started the show eight minutes ago somebody responded to me and said

AJ was the best player in the big 12 plain and simple they've turned it into a participation trophy

I replied and said participating in winning the big 12 by multiple games or participating in the

Tuesday game is a 10 seat participation award what are we talking about so yeah it's pretty like

even for those that might not have had Jayden Bradley is number one on their ballot it's pretty crazy

the disrespect that's been going on not just to him but like to the awards as a whole what was BYU

back up your point against against winning teams in the conference this year I mean double check

it real quick but I was going to back up your point even further about Arizona fans not necessarily

doing all the winding and moaning and complaining when we don't win the award yeah where's the outrage

about mo crevice not getting depoey I think everyone kind of looked at it and said oh I would have

picked mo crevice but Florey had a really good year I'm not going to cry over spilled milk now

Yvonne Karchenkoff not making the defensive team that's a different conversation because you

feel like on merit he did more than the guys on that list it's not like necessarily like a head-to-head

like Florey and crevice right yeah but even then it's not like outrage the Arizona athletics

account is not putting up the the all defensive first team and crossing it out and just putting

Yvonne Karchenkoff's headshot on it which kind of would be hilarious but like you know what I'm

saying like there's a level of the quorum that I think you got to have when these kind of awards

come out and BYU not only their fans but BYU the account not not having it Damon but I just

think that's crazy from the from the BYU athletics account to be tweeting stuff like that I thought

a while they went three and five against the winning big 12 teams and that includes their two the

two final games of the season that they played were against Iowa State and Texas Tech in that

regard and they won both of those so that there was a point where they were one in five against

top tier big 12 competition and it actually wasn't until Richie Saunders went down Kevin that they

that they won those games against top tier big 12 competition so it almost like negates their argument

entirely of like man would it just been better if if Richie played so so let me get this straight

you guys can be Iowa State and and Texas Tech without Richie but you can't be UCF West Virginia

and Cincinnati without Richie again like what I feel like the best player in the conference or

at least the player of the year in the conference doesn't lose those games right like in what world

Kevin in any other sport are they handing out MVP to a guy whose team is like 500 we should have

pulled the clip AJ DeBonza said it himself our guy chancellor Johnson shout out the chance he was

I don't know if I can call him that shout out the chancellor but you know what I'm saying shout out

the chancellor Johnson doing his good work over there but he did sit down with AJ DeBonza and he

was pretty much saying like AJ look this award just got delved out a lot of people would have picked

you what's your reaction when this award gets given out and he's in his best boss and accent saying

like hey man like I thought that I should have won it like I think I was the best player I think I

was the player of the year but you're not going to do that on a he said this be why you fans hold

your soda pops brace for it you can't win that on a losing team first of all I have two thoughts

on this set first of all honest mature answer from AJ DeBonza saying that honestly I thought I was

the best player I thought I was good enough to win player the year but no disrespect to the

Jayden Bradley who won it you can't win it on the team that I would the results that we put up second

interpretation of that was I and listen I agree with that statement completely like I agree he

should have won player of the year and also when you are play on a team as crappy as BYU was relative

to expectations I'm not sure that that deserves to get rewarded so shout out to AJ for being like

the one adult in the room here when it comes to BYU fandom and just their entire cougar nation

I also thought and Damon maybe you'll sympathize with this because I think you're of a similar

mind of this kind of thinking of me is like is it not wild I know the big 12 tournament is you know

whatever and AJ is mentally onto the NBA probably soon but like to call your your program your team

your teammates a losing team at the beginning of the big 12 tournament before you even get to March

I think that kind of does go to show that like like when Richie Saunders went down and Kevin

Young had that quote that is sucked the life out of the gym and the heart and soul the team was gone

I think that that's kind of like what he was speaking to of like Dan without Richie if we're losing

games we truly are a losing team and that mentality is really weird to me to come out and say that

like right before the March Madness tournament I don't think it's a huge deal in fact I quote

tweeted chancers tweet initially saying AJ DeBonso calls BYU a quote losing team I just felt that

that was I was going to keep it up because it's true but I felt it was unfair because that's not

really what he meant I just thought it was crazy optically did you kind of get any inclination of

that when you watch the watch the clip I mean listen like I don't think that I don't think that it

was meant in like maybe the necessarily like truest of of words right like I don't know if he I don't

know if that's truly what he meant to say but at the end of the day I I think that it's telling

no yeah no it's a mentality tells yeah and also just very mature response from him that's that

all in all like that's I I thought it was I thought it was pretty classy and it's it's funny coming

from yeah you know a guy that plays for a team whose fan base is just like I mean they're deranged

they BYU fans are deranged I love them I love them to death I love fighting with them it's one of

my favorite pastimes but these people are crazy people like they they live in a different world

than the rest of us they're like yeah guys we know we've we know we have the record for most

tournament appearances without a final four and we know Tommy Lloyd has finished top 15 all five

of his years that he's been ahead coach at Arizona and three of those after this year will be

in the top 10 but Kevin Young's program is ascending and you guys haven't seen nothing yet

legitimate people telling me like like we're embarking on an era of back and forth in basketball

and I'm having to respond to them Kevin and going what back and forth are you guys talking about

we went belt to ask this year to wire to wire victories against you guys last year were a phantom

Richie Saunders foul you know free throw attempts from going being for a no against you in conference

and what about this season makes you think man we really have something special that we're cooking

here in the works I know AJ Devons is not going to be on the team next year and neither is Richie

Saunders but man are we going to be even better next season because Bruce branches walking through

the door a guy who's not as good as AJ Devons to full stop so it's like I just that's where I get

lost it's like they they act like they belong in these discussions and it's like no you guys had

the perfect team this year and look how it culminated it was a disaster 500 so don't don't chat

to Arizona fans about what elite basketball looks like but yeah that's enough BYU talk for the day

I just wanted to get into it a little bit because I just thought it was so fun you know me Kevin

I got to talk I got to talk about BYU and if we're going to talk about BYU and AJ

advance as 40 point performance we got to talk about Arizona State barely getting 40 points in

two halves today against Iowa State and we're going to laugh at our friends in Tempe after our

first break here on the AZ Wildcats pod leave a like drink your water and definitely stick around do

not go anywhere Deborah Owens in the chat asking if Richie will play anymore is he done Deborah

that Tater Tite is burnt it is over unfortunately I think his college career is officially done

too bad too I mean it would have been cool to see what Richie Saunders could do in the NGW

tournament and I think you know I keep getting that response as well of like how do you call this

season an embarrassment when it hasn't even finished yet they could go off in the tournament

okay please do so I'd love to see it I'll be rooting for big 12 teams in the tournament I will

it's better for the conference that being said I don't think BYU is going to go on a big tournament

run this year Kevin in fact if there's an 11 if they get the 6 seed like everybody keeps talking

about which seems crazy to me that they would get a 6 seed with a 500 conference record and you

know a season as disappointing as they had but if they get a 6 7 seed and and they you know get a 10

or 11 seed that I think is pretty solid I might be picking an upset there because Kansas State

just gave those boys a run for their money speaking of another school Kevin that we can make fun of

and laugh at yes our our real rivals I guess not really when you're talking basketball but

it's their rivalry Arizona State season ended today

I'm borrowing a crown appearance in the form of a loss by about twice as many points as they scored

to Iowa State got absolutely Molly walk by Iowa State Bobby Hurley's career at Arizona State is

over it is finally done Kevin your thoughts on the the Bobby Hurley era in general at ASU

what better way for Bobby Hurley to go out as the coach that I think that he actually is for his

team to put up maybe the worst performance I've ever set two eyes on genuinely the worst basketball

I've ever seen played credit credit to Iowa State out of high major hoops like right like I mean

that's it's got to be the qualifier I mean I was watching it's it was pretty much watching

Chastifer and his boys at the wreck that's what it was shot to those that know who Chastifer is

on Berners-Verse but like it's what he post clips of him and his boys playing basketball at the wreck

it was like watching Moana Mimisama job out there like dude let me pull up the stats

they mean because I this me just you know shitting on Arizona State and for the sake of doing it

is not really you know gonna nail the point home in the first half so just so you know first

halves are 20 minutes Arizona State 16 points 15 turnovers 0 for 10 from 3 7 to 22 from the field

three technical files more technical files than three pointers made a flagra file on top of that

the largest half-time deficit in big 12 tournament history one of the worst halves of all time absolute

masterclass they ended the game with the largest margin of defeat in big 12 tournament history

no better way to go out for Bobby Hurley than doing what he does best absolutely melting down

with Arizona State yeah I mean I listen I I'm sad I'm saddened on the on a day like this Kevin

I feel like I lost a family member in one Bobby Hurley he was a guy that I could always count on

to you know display levels of ridiculousness on the sideline that were never seen before

to get a technical every time that he played against Arizona to throw his tie into the crowd I mean

these are the things that we will miss and cherish forever the memories that we have and I think

as time passes as with all things like that will heal you know like right now it hurts but

and we're emotional but I think you know we'll remember the good times that we shared together

with Bob in in the long run here Kevin just sad to see it sad to see it I've always been an

extend Bobby guy I mean especially after he won that first round game it's like I don't understand

how you don't extend Bobby at that point he's clearly got something cooking but yeah really

embarrassing performance from an ASU perspective probably the most embarrassing performance that I

can remember but I also my mind went to the Washington State game where they scored I believe

what did Shane tell me it was like 12 first half points or something like that I think

he said was like 19 or something something like that but yeah it was a very tiny it relevant

amount of points to be honest with yeah well big total tournament is in full swing some teams have

now been eliminated some of the lesser teams here on the docket and as we keep talking about

Arizona has a match up with one of Cincinnati or UCF here and that game is currently live with

one minute left and Cincinnati's only up to now Kevin correct UCF has UCF has closed this gap

Cincinnati with the ball we'll be finding out very shortly and reacting to live the opponent

that Arizona will be playing off against in the quarter final round of the big total tournament

their first matchup but out of those two teams Kevin I guess who do you want to play what would be

that what would be your ideal matchup I was talking to Gil about this earlier I was I think I said

UCF mostly because I feel like Cincinnati's defense is just more real I also added that I don't

I'm not really necessarily concerned about either of these teams like as long as if I what I told

Gil was that respectfully to what Cincinnati and UCF have accomplished this season there are levels

to big 12 basketball and I think if Arizona comes out and plays as hard as they can or not even as

hard as they can but if they if they played their game right they're going to be both those teams

pretty handedly and you know anything can happen it's a big 12 tournament seating already pretty

much locked up for Arizona you never Cincinnati turnover UCF Google lay up we're tied folks

but um yeah no I'd rather face UCF I guess the guards might scare some people because I guess

Cincinnati really they really can't put it in the back bucket at all maybe I'd rather face Cincinnati

because they have a less high chance of just going nuclear on you yeah and a guy like team is

folks like he went crazy against Arizona last time out like kept UCF in the game for a lot of

that one whereas it felt like Cincinnati was just kind of a I think Cincinnati's a better team

than UCF as currently constituted on you know March 11th 2026 but I also you know think that when

you're talking from just like a matchup perspective potentially is there any chance Cincinnati can

hang offensively with Arizona I mean like I I'm I'm not sure that they can they can defensively

and they can make things tough but Arizona has so much depth as you know the thumbnail talks about

and I feel like and as we'll get into here it just it feels like you can't shut down an entire

Arizona team and the points are gonna flow through somehow whereas UCF has some shop makers guys

they can maybe make things a little bit interesting what happened I was I was watching the clock go

down and it's down down five four and missam Mustafa fiam as the ball big centerman at the top of

the key UCF guy former UCF player and I'm thinking is he about to pull it I know I said he made

a couple of threes earlier but I'm thinking with the game on the line is it is the what we drew

up Mustafa the on top of the key three but I think they called a timeout so I'll give you an

update on that we'll figure out timeout Westman they're called time out with what looks like two

seconds to go in the game it doesn't look like we're getting OT just yet 18 and 14 out of the

arm right now he's playing really well he's a good player yeah he's playing really well

but yeah I mean that was one of the worst positions it's nothing's more frustrating as like a

like a general college basketball fan or general basketball fan is that when you like when you

watch an end of game scenario and it's the worst drawn up basketball play you've ever seen in your

life and you're just like no way that's what like I think back to sorry Gil awake for his game

earlier this year where they needed like two points and it was just like dribbling the ball at

the hash for 10 seconds of the 13 that you had yeah and I'm like was that the plan did he go rogue

like what was that uh but yeah hopefully whole honestly hopefully Cincinnati wins this game

to be honest with you yeah and pulls it out but yeah I tell either way either way Arizona should

be fine against either one of these opponents and you know I I think you know we're we're more

concerned about I think that semi final matchup as as someone that could be circled and marked as

like a potential upset bid from a team that maybe isn't as good as Arizona is but yeah I'm not

entirely concerned about either one of Cincinnati or UCF here but yeah big 12 tournament rolls on Kevin

any other thoughts on on the big 12 tournament so far that I agree with what the chat saying about

Tony Patia but I like I don't I don't know the big 12 tournaments an interesting thing right because

I know that the the message I believe that this message I'm not saying I don't believe it but

Jayden Bradley saying like big 12 tournament championship national championship that's the goal

but like we're we're all kind of human right and I feel like that or at least we should all be

fully human not kind of human but we're all human right and the idea that like you know that this

is not the thing this is anything the big 12 tournament championship is anything yeah you already

won one of like the regular season version of that so like I'm interested to see like the levels of

I don't want to say effort because I don't want to come off as if I'm saying like Arizona is going

to come take the game off but the other team you know Cincinnati UCF if it's UCF that's like

this could this could be the pinnacle of the season in many ways if you win the big 12 tournament so

I am interested to see like the level of fire Arizona's opponent comes out with that's the way I'm

trying to word it the level of fire Arizona has to contend with in the next game I'm interested to

see because we know Arizona's better than both these teams and Arizona knows they're better than both

these teams and I think we've seen that Arizona not to a crazy degree but they play up to their

competition but they also play down to their competition at times and I'm interested to see how

this goes tomorrow name yeah same here same here we got our friends at BYU playing West Virginia at

4 p.m. today Kevin I was that might be a good game sneaky good game I think so I mean can't

to stay was a sneaky good game yesterday they ended up not covering true to my sugar in but

it was I thought you know a really close game for 80% of it until BYU kind of pulled away at the

end West Virginia is better than Kansas State so I absolutely could be a really fun one later that

spreads only three and a half as well yeah and they just lost to West Virginia and they had the

best player in the conference they just lost to West Virginia they do have the best player in the

conference that's a fact that's best coach best coach in the conference best home court environment

in the conference best fan base in the conference best for best chiro like snack in the conference

like dude BYU is a wagon so watch out West Virginia watch out definitely best lemonade in the

conference apparently apparently best ice cream in the conference too that's actually a fact yeah

oh we have a nope air ball we're going to OT we're going to OT in the second round of the big 12

tournament Cincinnati over time with UCF as uh yeah we don't we don't get a good shot attempt

off there it's an air ball but yeah so interesting to see how this big 12 tournament shakes out for

Arizona but dammit but we do have bigger fish to fry than the big 12 tournament and we will keep

you guys updated with what goes on and over time throughout the remainder of this podcast but we're

gonna break down Arizona's depth Evan Mia whether you like his stuff feeling different toward his

stuff views his stuff as the holy Bible I don't give it damn he put out some pretty cool stuff

that we're gonna break down in relation to Arizona's depth and more after this first or second

break here on the AZ Wildcats podcast leave a like drink your water don't go anywhere welcome

on back to the AZ Wildcats podcast where now we break we broke down what's going on in the big 12

tournament for you we've laughed at Arizona State together and I wish honestly that that Bobby

Hurley was still around I know that's crazy coming out of me but now that I've been officially lost

the man it's gonna be it's gonna be sad not seeing a complete embarrassment on the other side line

but we do have some some real teams to discuss and one of those teams is the Arizona Wildcats who

I don't know how you want to view this right but we often talk about depth on this podcast and

like what is depth and like what is functional depth right because you can be 12 guys deep

but if you got one through six that's pretty good and then seven through twelve that's like

pretty mediocre to not good are you really that deep you know what I mean or is it just kind of

superficial depth this Arizona Wildcats team they might only have eight guys but the eight guys

would start pretty much for any other team pretty much you know stretching it that that out a little

bit for Dwayne Aristotle namping Delorzo which which kind of role dependent roster dependent but

Pete Krivas Awaka Karchenkoff Burries Bradley all start all start in every program across the

country so we know that we know Arizona has not only the best six man in the country but that six

man is probably the best rebound during the country as well okay that's your six man what about your

seventh man okay that's allegedly according to Dwayne or not according to Evan Mia it's Dwayne

Aristotle right so your eighth best player would be Anthony Delorzo this is a very interesting thing

to balance because you have teams across the country like Michigan Duke for example that honestly

have pretty similar depth right in terms of being like one through eight or nine having pretty

strong recruits all the way throughout but one thing that those teams are going through that that

Arizona is not in the same boat as is they are they are deep on paper when you look at all the guys

that's on the roster but when you look at all the guys that are currently medically available it

starts to shrink a little bit now this is kind of more recent news right but case in for Michigan with

the torn ACL Caleb Foster for Duke with I believe a broken foot I think something like that but

you're missing guys in these top teams across the country so I think that this chart that we're

about to break down I don't think it takes I knew an account so do with that what you will I wanted

to preface that before because there are some people missing from these teams and I think Arizona

might actually be the deepest if you take that into account but before we get into the chart Damon

where do you stand on Arizona's depth do you think that they are the deepest team functionally

in the country yeah I mean I think that you know Arizona is certainly their depth has been tested

at points this season and they've shown you know a lot of you know ability in that regard of like

we have guys that not only you know are we're not not only are we an eight man deep rotation but we

also have guys that can step up when they're tasked with maybe taking on a little bit more volume

right like an Anthony or so who when he needed to take more shots played his best basketball of the

season which is great to see so I think Arizona's the deepest team I've thought that all season long

when you've a guy who's your eighth man and he's a top 50 recruit in the country I mean I feel like

that is that's that's telling in it of itself I think you look at a team even you know like Houston

in a similar regard we talked about with Isaiah Hartwell where you know they have a five star who's

you know a guy who who comes off their bench as their eighth man as well they're not quite to

the same level but like they come to mind as maybe a team that could be a little bit under the radar

when it comes to depth but yeah it seems like the teams that have been at the top all season long

have been the deepest rosters that's in large part why they are the best teams and yeah Michigan and

Duke have lost a couple of those guys that are in that rotation as of recently now are they guys

that are going to and their seasons probably not right it's probably not the the you know type of

needle mover that's going to literally be maker break for teams as good as Michigan and Duke but

it does however affect the you know just I guess the how elite your depth is and if you get in a

battle with Arizona I think it's advantage Arizona in that regard so yeah I mean I there's a

there's a reason that these three teams have been the best three teams all season long and it's

it's in large part because they they go seven eight deep now let's talk about that depth chart

so to speak that I was talking about with Evan Mia he put this out now this is a lot of information

don't got to consume it all we can break it down but you have these bars associated to each team

the top bar is the most impactful player on the team so for Arizona's case that will be

Braden Burries and then the bottom of the bar you have the quote unquote least impactful player on

the team this one would be Anthony Delor so but it says all four like the number one seats have

really good rotational depth you have can Booser who's the clear runaway national player the year

other notable high impact players right Louisville stuff like that but we're talking about Arizona

let's go a little bit deeper maybe a little bit clearer on the display and here's a nice chart

so like I said with Evan Mia do what you want with his information obviously like

is is Louisville's eighth man truly the best in the country I'm not sure is Will Shetter and

Nicholas Hemenia more impactful than Han logged in like probably but you know what I mean like

it's one of those things where do take it with a green assault Anthony Delor so is the eighth

best player based on their efficiency rating here and he is the fifth best eighth man in the country

and I think that if you're talking about Arizona that instantly puts them in just a conversation with

Florida Duke Michigan and I'm going to exclude Louisville for the purposes of the AP poll and the

seating and stuff like that in my opinion we talk about Arizona being a team that puts you in a

battle of attrition right they're skilled they're sized they're physical and they want to beat you

down over the course of 40 minutes and then get their way at the end with the nice result of a W I

think that this depth we talk about in March how guards can you know carry you it's a guard

tournament right bigs can give you the floor guards can give you the ceiling in the tournament

but what about death right I feel like depth could be Arizona superpower this year I really do

I think it has been yes true but I think this year like in the tournament specifically it will be

like wow they're bringing off Tobaya walkoff like if you're a national viewer national analyst

you're like man that Tobaya walk is crazy wow it's way in Arizona just hit a couple big

threes and played really good defense that's their eighth guy whoa right like deli just dropped

10 threes against whoever you know what I mean like that's kind of crazy but you get my point like

I think Arizona's depth can be their superpower even when you take into consideration how good their

guards are and how good their front court is yeah I certainly agree with you I mean I think

it has been the superpower most of this season and I think that that's the way in which you go

about beating whatever opponent you get in the tournament because tournament teams are good teams

even the ones that are you know on on the lower end like when you play your second round match up

you're going to play against a squad that is like a borderline ranked caliber team right four

times eight is 32 and you know that's right outside the top 25 rankings like you're you're playing

against a team that's solid and so you know it's not exactly like you know you're playing up against

like I guess I don't want to say like I was going to say like West Virginia but they have a chance

of making the tournament but it's not quite it's there it's a caliber of team above that caliber

of team right and so Arizona should be able to handle business for sure but I do think that like

when especially when you're a team that doesn't have the three point shooting chops that maybe you

know you would prefer a team to have going into the tournament and that's not to say that you

know they should switch up their style of play at its work for Arizona but like that's when the

depth really comes into play in my opinion because you want to have a fresh rotation you want to have

guys that are getting to the free throw line constantly which Arizona does in large part because they

can rest their guys so co-op he can get fresh legs and then come in and then immediately start

bulldozing towards the basket same with Kree boss in a walka same with Braden Burries when he gets

downhill I think that's in large part like the depth helps you take shots almost of like

like you know you can you can be ultra physical and be like we're going to just hammer it in the

paint because we know that that guy can get some good rest later on he doesn't have to be on the

court for 38 out of the 48 minute 40 minutes of a basketball game and to your point it's like a

they you know this is a very much a cliche because all the announcers anytime you get a top 10 team

for the top 10 team they're like oh it's a heavyweight boxing match in Tucson but it kind of is

how Arizona wants to attack you right like shots of the body take out your gas tank and then over

the course the fight they're going to TKO finish you that's just what it is drink 10 pose down

but it really is that way right bringing in to be a walka is a big punch to the body of the other

team because you're like okay Kree bosses out the game the paint is open we can take lay ups again

what oh they just brought in the best rebounder so second chance points is out the window

offensive rebounds out the window we're barely getting defensive rebounds what do we do we have our

bench unit in there we don't have a top five rebounder in the country off the bench nobody has a

top five rebounder the country out the bench except for Arizona so I do feel like this could be like a

you know Arizona gets in the tournament we I feel like we always have these moments in these

games where it's like oh is this the run that the other team makes where it's like damn Arizona

didn't score for five minutes and now they're down against whoever this team feels like they have

the depth to overcome that and it's like it's almost like conditioning you know and I mean like

individual conditioning stamina whatever but as a team having the stamina to compete

for that much over that level of time at that high level you need guys that are of similar skill sets

and I think Arizona has enough of those guys Damon my question to you is do you think that I mean

obviously it's a mixture of the three and we're just doing this for the sake of conversation

but what will decide Arizona's tournament success this year if you had to pick a variable

I'm going to give you four options multiple choice yes seating guards big depth

man chat you as well as a as a as a scarred Arizona fan I almost want to say seating

just off the top because I just I last time we had a team that I thought could win it all we got

four lost Houston in the sweet 16 let's go point and so that's that's an uncontrollable

whereas like I almost feel like this team can can control everything that that they can control

and you know obviously that's not saying a whole lot but like I feel like this team is is so good

they're they're the best team in the country in my opinion so they're going to handle what they

can on the basketball court but if you get a horrible matchup for you because the tournament

committee just unluckily sees you in a spot like that's that does scare me a lot I think that's

the scariest one but I I do think that the maybe we roll with depth like I just think that that's

that is this team superpower as you say I think so too I think that you know you can make the argument

for and obviously I brought the the topic to the table so of course I think it's depth right but

in terms of like what will decide their success I almost think it's and this is weird again

considering I brought the conversation but I almost think like superpower and what will define

their success are almost like different in a way you know what I mean like Superman has all his

superpowers but what decides whether or not he wins the battle is if there's a presence of

kryptonite you know what I mean so what is the kryptonite here in my seating I do think it might be

seating because Arizona while they do play the same pretty much irregardless of opponent and they

do have that lunchpale briefcase tie on kind of mentality where you just show up to your job clock

out go home I do think it could be seating if it's not seating I could see it being big because I

think we've gotten to a point with our guards jaden Bradley yeah jaden Bradley Brayden Burries to

where it's like I'm not worried about them producing they're gonna produce right it's about to what

degree right but they're gonna produce I know crevasses gonna produce I know a walk is gonna produce

but I think they have a a more variance to their production it's more about how are we feeding

crevasses how are we feeding a walk and where for them to succeed I think Burries has the capability

to just get hot same thing with jaden Bradley when you get down the stretch you know what kind of

player he can be but I do think it comes down to like is crevasses bringing it in the paint six

games in a row is he the most dominant big in America six games in a row because he can do it we've

seen it over the course of the year he can do it you're not rattling off 23 in a row with

crevasses playing like a softy not happening he has gotten a lot better this year and I want to

see it six straight times in the tournament I think same thing with a walka to a different extent

like we've seen recently let me pull up his game log I don't want to speak wrong about the new

Freddy's Freddy's spokesperson here Tobay Awaka shout to Mickey Perdue as well a lot of

a lot of PR on the Tobay side but Mickey also got her her Freddy's deals so shout to that that

tandem but Tobay Awaka seven rebounds against Colorado 15 against Iowa State six against KU 13

against Baylor six against Houston okay that kind of is what I thought in my opinion Tobay Awaka

I'm not saying he has to come out and get 15 15 15 15 15 15 and 15 in the tournament but I do

want I don't want to see like a six rebound Tobay Awaka performance in the turn you know what I mean

like I think that the bigs their consistency over the course of six games will decide Arizona's

fate if that makes sense am I tripping here Damon no I I I hear you there yeah because I just

feel like the guards we know Brad and buries at this point can put up huge numbers we know he can

rebound the ball we know he's getting better defensively and I just think there's more variance

the way teams defend Kree boss the way teams defend Awaka and I don't want to be the guy I hate

being the ref guy but the bigs the way they're officiated has a lot more variance than the way

that buries and Bradley are Bradley gets to the rim pretty much gets the calls that he deserves

pretty much obviously you have your Tony Padilla's whatever but Kree boss they they commit they

commit crimes against Kree boss in the paint and no judge no jury no executioner no nothing they

just let it they let it go it's Wild West when Kree boss is in the paint stab him beat him

Knights of the Seven Kingdom style kick him while he's down hit him with a what do they call

a mace right like just get wacky get violent get cartoonish when Kree boss is in the paint because

they're not going to call nothing but I do think if they're calling fouls in the tournament against

Arizona's bigs or four Arizona's bigs but everyone call it I do think that that and not only does

it have the variance but it has the impact on the game so I think my answer might be the bigs

that multiple choice question 3d mk in the chat says bigs then seating if we get put in against

teams with no inside presence we could be feasting on some teams and that's a good point I think

to an extent like seating and depth kind of overlap with the guards and the bigs right like

if one guard or two guards is not performing are you really that deep right in the tournament so

that kind of eats at your depth and then seating if you get seated against a bunch of teams like

Miami or I don't know some of these I don't know what the seating could look like in that way

but teams that have inside presences it could be it could be tough for you if you're Arizona

3d mk also adds having a team that can be flexible this tournament feels awesome and that's

so true yeah that's that was the point I was going to make is that you know I think ultimately

the beauty of this question is that it really could go almost in any direction because you you

have so much depth you're you really are you know well built at almost every single position group

right and then you know it's it if the say the say the freshman or one of the freshmen look

you know are having you know a freshman moment in the in the tournament right or two of them

well you lean on your experience you lean on jade and Bradley Tobel walk a mo crevas right

anthida or so say that the bigs aren't playing well well then it's jade and Bradley and you know

Bradenburys versus the world and they've shown that they can win games in all of these different

ways right all throughout the season and I think that's what gives us confidence as Arizona fans

that this team is going to be the team or could really you know has the best chance in a long time

of being the team that breaks the strut is because they are so flexible in the way that they

can attack you and they have so much balance that you don't need everybody to be playing their A game

for Arizona to win how many games did co-opete really like not play very well for co-opete standards

and Arizona still won the game easily quite a few so yeah I think that the all in all like the depth

of this team is is you know the it's it's what you almost go back to it's you know and and hang

your hat on when it's all when it's all said done here yes it is officially official we be facing

UCF tomorrow Damon they have gotten the job done and over time over Cincinnati and before we get out

of here let's give out some thoughts on that match up Arizona versus UCF now last time these two

teams played it was Arizona coming out on top 84 to 77 and in that match up theme is folks put up

30 on pretty good efficiency 11 of 1866 from the free throw line JB smooth put up 23 and it was

Arizona's leading score crevaz 8 with 12 rebounds now Arizona did shoot three of 13 from three in

this one and I do think that it's interesting um UCF was able to almost rebound Arizona in that

game 36 to 37 so Arizona got the one rebound edge I wonder what that number looks like tomorrow night

like when we're doing our post game show I wonder what the by the numbers will look like for the

rebounding because I have a feeling that Arizona will clean that up tomorrow and and maybe they won't

maybe they'll be close again on the rebounding side things because you have had some time off

and UCF is coming in warmed up on this one plan the day before I wonder how that plays into it

as well but what are your thoughts on this match up I you know I think that UCF in Cincinnati almost

provide different ways in which uh you know that they will try to attack you I guess like Cincinnati

was going to try to muck the game up make it nasty um you know rebound right like Cincinnati is a

team with Bob Miller and Mustafa Theom that can actually grab a lot of rebounds you know for a

team of their caliber and you know most teams that are nine and nine in their conference that play

Arizona are going to get dominated on the boards but I think Cincinnati presents a unique challenge

in that way UCF has shot makers in in the different sense right so it's going to take a lot of you

know elite level shot making it's going to take uh some you know perimeter prowess in particular I

would say and I expect uh you know UCF to go out there and try to kind of win the way that they

did the first time around and that was with you know team is folks and um I'm forgetting the other

dude on the team who actually had a really bad game against Arizona first time out but is a good

player in general uh a Google Riley Google yeah yeah yeah I mean he has I mean he averaged 15 points

for game almost this year but against Arizona the first time out uh he really was uh quite quite

not good he was five for 18 from the field Kevin for 12 points so they're going to need I think like

almost a perfect combination of events and that's going to take still well Google uh you know

folks all to score like 20 plus and I don't really see that happening but that's the recipe for

UCF in my opinion I like that I like that you the way you laid that out there Damon and I'll add this

much in terms of the UCF side of things um honestly right I feel like I said this earlier

the only thing that worries me about UCF is the nuclear nature of their guards like we've

already outlined like them is folks dropping 30 in the last one um but I do think that he can drop

30 again in this one in Arizona will be okay last note before we get out of here because we do

have pre game show post game show tomorrow so for full UCF preview we got you covered with that

tomorrow afternoon but last thought Damon we take the glass court we take to the LED court for the

first time tomorrow we've got a little bit of I don't want to call it controversy but a little

bit of arguments on the social media realm the social media scope about how they didn't use it

to its full potential for the women's tournament and now they're breaking out all the graphics for

the men's tournament um are you excited to see Arizona hoop on the LED court I know I saw some people

saying please don't even take the court I don't even want to I don't even want to see them on the court

I want to see them on wood I want to see them on whatever the hell do you care couldn't care

any less about this court like very valid like from the from the jump when I heard about this

couldn't care any less about it but Damon it's going to change the big 12 my my original take on

the matter was like I it's kind of shocking that this is not already a thing in my opinion

like it seems like we're well beyond the technology that it takes to to like make the courts

interactive right and it's crazy that that hasn't even been thought about before but

similarly it's like as you as you mentioned that I think it was just that the way that it was

presented by the big 12 for me in particular where I'm like oh this is gonna be game changing for

basketball and then come to find out it's we make the court light up when a free throw gets made

okay yeah sounds good sounds good so I I just this court they've turned me off with the marketing

of this court from the beginning and yeah I I really don't care at all additionally I'll

complain for a little bit further about the marketing Damon I for one was not like you I was

pumped about the court as you know I thought the first the possibilities were seemingly endless

and then they came in and did about just the least creative stuff you could do with it it was

the same court as last year in fact the Philip 66 logos were larger they were a lot the the

brands got larger the least you could do is put a circle K logo that big on the court you know

what I mean at least put a respectable gas station on the court but no they got these big albatross

logos on the court and I was watching right the Google kind of bring the ball of the court when

the guy stands on the on the logo the lighting under it's like he's standing on like a a spotlight

you know what I mean it's it's pretty weird I'm not gonna lie I was I was hyped about it

but their usage of it stinks so that's my thoughts that's all we can wrap up that's all I got yeah

I mean it'll be interesting to see I guess tomorrow what they got for us and if there's anything

cool with this interactive court but I'm not going to be hanging my hat on it Kevin it's

nothing that that I'm going to you know necessarily going to come to expect but Arizona takes on

UCF tomorrow and I think underrated aspect of this that we haven't mentioned UCF played an overtime

game the day before playing against Arizona that sounds like a recipe for absolute disaster when it

comes to the depth that this roster displays so I I think Arizona gets the job done tomorrow I

think they get it done easily and Kevin and Damon are going to be bringing you pregame and postgame

coverage from now until the end of the season including and starting with tomorrow's game versus

UCF so be here on this very same channel for that as we do 30 minutes prior to opening tip which I

believe is at noon Kevin is that correct that is with the rumor on the street yes so we got 1130

pregame show tomorrow and then postgame directly after that final buzzer sounds be here right here

on phnx sports and of course follow me at Damon dog in the meantime that's DAWG follow him at

kevo post that's k e v o p o s c s and follow us at phnx underscore wild cats on all socials except

for tiktok where we are at a z wild cats pod appreciate everybody for joining in on this show we will

see you on tomorrow's pregame and postgame coverage of Arizona versus UCF as the big 12 tournament kicks

off for the wild cats but in the meantime peace out bear down and go cats the ASU boys are live on

their emergency pod go more and bobby hurley with them or or not