Wildcats Basketball Roundtable: 2015 Season Wrap-up

Mar 7, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (23) , guard Gabe York (1) , guard T.J. McConnell (4) , center Kaleb Tarczewski (35) and forward Brandon Ashley (21) watch from the bench during the second half against the Stanford Cardinal at McKale Center. Arizona won 91-69 to win the regular season Pac-12 championship. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

1. With the majority of the Wildcats starting five leaving for the draft, what expectations do you have about next season with these new high school additions?

Shereen: 

These incoming freshman; Chance, Justin, Ray, and Allonzo are stars in their own right. They can do it all, and they can dunk! It’s going to be interesting seeing them come together as a team and putting their ego’s at the door. They all seem to know each other, played against or with each other at some point. They have a common goal, and they all are coming to Arizona to learn from Coach Miller and win a championship.

I feel Chance was under-utilized sometimes in High School as he towered over most of his team and was available for the ball most of the time. Any time he got the ball, it was an easy basket or a monster dunk. They will be competing against Kadeem and Ryan who have been chomping at the bit to get into a game and show us their skills as well. The question is who will rise to become the leader of this team? Right now I am seeing Gabe York as a possibility, he will be a senior and you saw glimpses of T.J. in him in the tournament.

Miguel: 

I think we have a great incoming class of freshman. It is a toss-up really in most rankings between us and Kentucky, but I think that we have the group of kids that want to learn how to improve their game as a whole. They want to improve both as individuals and team players. Just looking at Stanley from this year imagine 4-5 other guys of his caliber spending at least one whole year together? Now that is a scary thought, especially when you add in the guys from this year that played and the couple that red-shirted.

Listened to a lot of the guys when they were preparing for the Ohio State game. They couldn’t stop raving about how good Kadeem and how a lot of them thought he was as good as anybody they had faced this year. I’m so excited to see what he can do on the court. Then you put Ryan Anderson on the court finally after a year learning behind 2 great players, on both sides of the ball in practice and that’s another huge advantage.

Finally adding the experience of Miller as their coach and Gabe learning from arguably the best point guard to touch an Arizona jersey, that’s going to be fun to see. Might be a big learning curve but think we turn some heads.

Ryan: 

With four top 100 high school prospects, according to ESPN, plan on moving out to Wildcat Country. I think next season should be a good one. The Wildcats are ranked up there with Kentucky when it comes to recruiting for this upcoming season. Freshmen: Chance, Justin, Ray, and Allonzo as Shereen and Miguel already stated are individual stars on their own. But it will be interesting to see how Coach Miller will bring his troops together and try to make another run in the NCAA Tournament.

My expectations for next season will be optimistic. I truly believe that Coach Miller will get our boys into shape and ready for opening tip. There might be some growing pains since they are freshmen but I could see Allonzo stepping up to become our leader with some veterans to lead our youngsters to grind through tough games ahead. Should be another exciting season to remember!

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