5 Questions About Arizona Basketball With Zona Zealots

With UCLA heading to Tucson to face the #7 Arizona Wildcats, Go Joe Bruin reached out to our Fansided neighbors Zona Zealots for some in-depth information. We ask ZZ’z Editor Shereen Rayan five questions about Arizona basketball and try to get into the mind of the Wildcats. We also answered some questions from Zona Zealots about UCLA, which you can read HERE.

5 Questions About Arizona Basketball

1. Aside from being in the Top 10 all season long, what is the most impressive thing about Arizona basketball this season?

UCLA Bruins /

UCLA Bruins

Their resiliency, they don’t give up and they don’t let anything bring them down. You would have thought three losses would have been the end of the world according to some fans and writers. Even though the losses were heart breakers, there were never more than 7 points, and two losses were by 4 points, the issue was that there were all losses no one was prepared for including the players.

I think there was a definite issue with having 7 days off from competition, another was that the losses were all on the road, and finally they lost to their rivals who are out of NCAA tourney running unless there is a miracle. But the team grew from each experience, players matured, and now they are firing on all cylinders! This team does not give up, they work through their issues, they seem to have finally jelled and are working as a team, and the coach has also chilled out a bit, if he goes overboard in being upset, there goes these fine young men who follow his lead.

2. Considering Arizona has a 35-game home win streak and the Bruins are atrocious on the road, how much of a factor will the Wildcats fans at McKale Center be?

Feb 19, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats cheerleaders perform before the first half against the Southern California Trojans at McKale Center. Arizona won 87-57. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Well the Bruins have something in common with the Wildcats, they don’t play well on the road, and the Bruins are coming off a heartbreaking loss to ASU, It seemed from pre-game interviews with Coach Steve Alford, he was focused on Arizona State more than Arizona, he had not much to say about Arizona. So I thought that was good for Arizona, maybe he just assumed they would win one out of two and it would be to Arizona State. It depends if UCLA has something to fight for in this game, if they find a reason to win, they may be dangerous for Arizona, they have the all-time winning record after all.

I think McKale will be rockin’ tomorrow night!!!! I mean it is loud as it is with any team that comes to Tucson, playing the Bruins, who we lost to for the Pac-12 championship game last year, it will be loudest that you will hear all season. I mean ESPNU’s Gameday is coming, the students will be all pumped up in the morning, and it will continue to a sold out crowd (can’t find too many tickets right now to go) in the evening. No empty seats, no losses at home for quite some time, it will be hard for the Bruins to come into that situation, but hey its college basketball.

3. Aside from the few Bruin fans that think UCLA could pull off a miracle and upset Arizona, what would the Bruins need to do for that to happen? What weaknesses does Arizona have that UCLA could exploit?

More from UCLA Bruins Basketball

With Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Dusan Ristic back, the Arizona bench will be deep again as it was last night when they first came back after recovering for different reasons. Zues (Kaleb Tarczweski) has regained his confidence and is dunking again. T.J. McConnell, Stanley Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and Brandon Ashley are all contributing almost equally in different ways, so there are so many weapons its hard to know who to guard. Arizona seems to have issues when there are too many fouls called, and Pac-12 referee’s have called each game so differently, you never know how the game will be called. Trash talking has been an issue for Johnson in the past, and I have witnessed teams exploit that. Also I have noticed, there are certain zone defenses that the Wildcats have had issues with, so there are three things I could think of.

4. It was unfortunate that F Brandon Ashley went down last season. What has his role been this year and has he been able to bounce back?

Feb 19, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Brandon Ashley (21) prepares to pass during the second half against the Southern California Trojans at McKale Center. Arizona won 57-87. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon was completely a part of the team last year even though he was hurt, I credit the coaching staff. He is great at second chance points, he seems to never lose his cool under the worst of circumstances, if no one else is scoring, he won’t give up and he is great on defense. So he is bouncing back because he never felt like he was off the team, this is is just a step in the process of getting better, and his teammates and coaches have a lot of confidence in him, so that helps him as well. He has a great supporting cast as well, so its not all on his shoulders. Finally the fans just love him, now if he could just get his FT % up, it could help us in the late stretches of the game because he does get fouled.

5. What is going on with freshman Stanley Johnson? That kid is a baller!

Feb 15, 2015; Pullman, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Stanley Johnson (5) goes up for a basket against Washington State Cougars forward Josh Hawkinson (24) during the first half at Wallis Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Stanley has this air about him, he is humble yet he has a lot of swagger and confidence. Emotionally I have watched him mature on the court. We went from him getting upset at opposing teams when they trash talked him to hugging and calming down Sean Miller when a ref made a horrible call, that was the turning point for me to see he had grown emotionally in a short amount of time. Also there were times I was concerned that he wanted the ball in his hands all the time, and even if he didn’t have the hot hand, he wouldn’t pass, kind of like the star on the rec team that has been coached to always carry the team.

Once he got passed that, the team started playing team ball and now he shares the spotlight. Case in point, last week the Pac-12 player of the week was his teammate Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, although Johnson wasn’t far behind, Rondae had the spot light. Last night Zues had the spotlight, again, Johnson had a great night as well. He doesn’t seem bothered by it. Its hard I think because he is a young man who is a freshman in college, and so much is expected of him. He is still on the short list for the Wooden award, so that has to be on his mind, I am thinking though the coaches have been drilling in that this is a team sport, awards will come if the team does well and he is a major factor in playing fantastic team ball.

Thank you to Shereen Rayan for chatting with us about Arizona basketball. Check out Zona Zealots for al things Wildcat sports.