1. It’s safe to say that Arizona is happy with its performance in non-conference play. Sean Miller gave the Wildcats a later practice at 2:00 PM yesterday to ring in the new year, but the players went about their holiday just like any other day in the season. Miller mentioned in his first press conference of 2013 that he believes his team is focused, but wonders if they can keep playing unselfishly and with so much chemistry in conference play. It’s hard to worry when you have the third ranked team in the country, but Miller stills wants Arizona to get the ball inside more and turn the ball over less in upcoming games.
2. The one thing that can be said about the Pac-12 this year is that it has certainly improved since last season, but the looming question is how vast has this improvement been? Washington and UCLA have been disappointments thus far, but some of the other strides at the top and the bottom of the conference are quite large. Arizona is a top three team in the nation according to the polls, and Oregon has surprised while Colorado has done more than hold its own in non-conference tests by picking up wins over Colorado State, Baylor, Murray State, and Dayton. The likes of Washington State, Arizona State and Utah, who were all disappointments last year to say the least, are much more competitive this time around, which will certainly help the conference’s overall resume come March.
3. Colorado standout forward Andre Roberson still hasn’t made his mind up about next summer’s NBA Draft. Roberson has been projected as high as a mid-first rounder and as low as a late second rounder in various mock drafts, but he plans to sit down and talk to Tad Boyle when the season ends and make a decision at that point. However, questions remain about Roberson’s offensive game, which is mostly made up of putbacks and open layups at this point. On the other hand, his strong defensive and rebounding abilities make scouts believe he could eventually become a very good NBA player. Whatever happens, the good news for Buffaloes fans is that Roberson is still at CU this year and has overcome his sluggish start where he only averaged 6.7 PPG his first three games but has averaged 13.7 points per game since.
4. Top recruit and possible Washington commitment Aaron Gordon keeps playing very well during his senior year. At times, Gordon can get bored with the game because he’s playing against so many inferior players, but when a team only guards him with one player approaching his 6’8″ size, he will take over a game with ease as he did at the Les Schwab Classic in Oregon by racking up a career high 43 points. Unlike some top recruits, Gordon is a humble player and believes he still needs to get better, most notably with his free-throw shooting where he went 3-0f-14 in one game of the tournament. Gordon still doesn’t know where he wants to play in college, but has narrowed it down to Arizona, Kentucky, and Washington as his final three options. Washington seems to be the favorite because of Lorenzo Romar’s connection with Gordon’s father, but Gordon says all three schools are still a distinct possibility.
5. After finishing up non-conference play with a win against Nevada, the Oregon Ducks are still undefeated at home and it will be tough for teams to come to Matthew Knight Arena this year and pick up a win during conference season. However, if the Ducks play as poorly as they did against Nevada, it might be easier than expected. Oregon turned the ball over 20 times and also had cause for concern as Arsalan Kazemi, who has been spectacular all season long, left the game in the first half after taking an elbow to the head (he did not return). Dana Altman said he looked fine after the game, though, and the Ducks will need him for their conference opener against rival Oregon State in Corvallis on January 6.

PBaruh (54 Posts)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 at 9:01 am by PBaruh and is filed under microsites, morning 5, pac 12. Tagged: Aaron Gordon, andre roberson, arizona, arsalan kazemi, colorado, oregon, pac-12, sean miller, washington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.