Haha… oh, is it hard to beat the other team when they’re in the bonus the whole game and you’re not Tommy…? 
College teams in these pre season trips don’t usually have their stuff together
We lost a game a few years ago to Australia when we went over there…
But those early games are CRUCIAL to building your team chemistry… wish we were playing them this season.
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full game:
1st look at arizona vs Lithuania national B team
the 5th year power forward didnt play… neither did backup PG… their top 30 wing started at the 4
- krivas looked dominant, and was bulling everyone
- ivan looked great, lots of slick points and great defense
- holt dominant defense, couldn’t buy a shot on offense, im talking layups/free throws it was brick city, did hit some late game shots… but it was his first college game 4 mothms before the season
- new pg (who was a SG at UNC) great playmaking and handles… his defense does need work, if he wasnt 6’5 it might even be bad
- top 30 recruit is built… d1 body, physical defense tho, has to learn tofight through picks
- the backup euro bigs have great touch on offense, likely not major stoppers
- bryce james played alot of minutes, nothing notable
as long as krivas is healthy they are probably going to be dominant… if he is hurt at somepoint, there will be questions about this teams ability to shoot
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I need a little more info on Krivas and why some think he is going to make this huge jump in production.
5 points and 2 points vs BYU.
He scored 4 points and fouled out game 1 vs us. And scored 6 points in the second game and Jojo put up a career high 20 points.
So can we expect Jojo numbers to increase too?
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Iowa state isn’t listed yet.
Iowa came in at 28th not Iowa State
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You can’t use select games to define a players, especially in games that they won… super teams will have the stats of all playes reduced… if texas tech roster is completed all their stats will go down… a forward scoring more than darrion williams on techs super team (only scored 6) in a game texas tech won would mean nothing
- krivas was splitting minutes last year (Arizona had 2 starter level centers last year), he still did 10rb 8pts… he is the sole star this year… watch the game above, krivas was bully and throwing around grown men from the Lithuanian national B team
But i think jojo stats increase that the reason he didjnt declare was to show more offense… it wont be krivas…but itll increae
This year we have a bunch of grown men in the paint… can’t wait to see him try to bully us!
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I kinda feel the same way about many on this board when it comes to season stats.
All that dont matter. Its really about what you do vs ranked teams. All that other stuff does
Not matter until you get to sweet 16. Its only a good regular season if you cant do it vs ranked opponents.
All those fun 3s at home dont matter come March. Defense travels though, we just need buckets and get to the line.
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disagree… we are in the big 12…
there is a fair argument for this if you played in a weak confernce… that why whenever we get a mid major that plays bully ball i overindex any high major games… “were you bullying playes your size”
in the big 12, even that bad team are talented
this is the projected WORST team in the big 12 (utah)
- Noam Yaacov- mvp of the highest Belguim pro league
- Jackson Holcombe - 16pts 7rbs from NIT utah valley
- Trey Campbell - 14pt 4ast from NCAA tourney team UNI
- Babacar Faye - 15pts 8rbs from WKU (sat out last year from injury recovery)
- Alec Anigbata - rotation player in the highest level Euroleague
Bench
- Taison Chatman- top 30 recruit that was bench at ohio state
- Zati Loubaki juco all american
i dont get using only top 25 to as a metric… high major full season stats matter, especially in the big 12/sec
using this example, krivas… his 5pts vs byu and 4pts vs us… didnt stop him from putting 14pt on arkansas in the elite 8 in just 20 minutes. it mattered then
I picked 4 games vs big 12 teams. 2 vs us. 2 vs BYU.
Then you use Arkansas…probably the worst defense out there. And that was a blowout.
Didnt we whip Arkansas. I think RW had a career high or something like 12 points
Krivas over/under vs us…10 points. Im taking the under…
games that arizona won…
there is actually a video on social media about julian newman - not sure if you are familair with him -
he says he is better than lamelo ball cause when they played in high schoool… he had 20 and lamelo only had 13… lamelo’s spire team won that game by like 40…
not needing to score in your wins is not an indictment of your capability … him scoring 6 in a game they comfortably beat us in, means nothing bad on krivas (before anyone notes, mercy/uzan hitting back to back 3, with under a minute left to make the final score closer didnt mean it was a close game)
as far as over/under of 10 points – i “want” the over as it means we likely won…we are 100% going to double krivas, he has 30lbs and 5inches over alll ours bigs except arafan, who is only a freshmen … he wont force shots if others are making it … why he only attempted 3 last game … if krivas again feel he only needs to take 3 shots weve lost…
we dont want a 2/3 fg gamne (6pts)… we want a 3/12 gam, where he gets to 12 with fts
I agree with Pesik on this one… season stats tell the true story in the B12…
And to be 1st, or 2nd, in the B12 you’re going to have to beat some ranked teams… it’s inherent to finishing at the top of the B12… Therefore season stats matter and are relevant to how the team performed against top ranked teams that season…
Top of the big 12 are ranked teams that will be in the tourney though…so its how you do vs the top big 12 teams. Not some inflated season stats. Esp when there is a huge difference in home vs road.
We’ll agree to disagree…
You like anecdotal stats and I like long term stats spread across a range of competition…
One person keeps mentioning Krivas as if he is a dominant center. Maybe he gets there but he will need to prove he can step up with added responsibilities.
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I like Krivas but most of his impact won’t show in the box score similar to jojo. He is a game wrecker defensively. Theres this podcast/group i like called the 3 man weave they have him as the fifth best player in the country, probably a bit high for my liking but he is very highly thought of nationally.
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Arizona played 22 tier A games last year. You’d expect a drop off in those games but his stats are incredibly consistent
Why are we acting` like its my opinion???
Candid Coaches: Who will be the best college basketball player in 2026-27?
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/candid-coaches-survey-best-player-2026-27-thomas-haugh-florida-jeremy-fears-michigan-state/
Others receiving votes: Elliot Cadeau (Michigan), Silas Demary Jr. (UConn), Juke Harris (Tennessee), Caleb Holt (Arizona), Motiejus Krivas (Arizona), Milan Momcilovic (Kentucky), Braylon Mullins (UConn), Dame Sarr (Duke).
Top 50 returning college basketball players in 2026-27 ranked by Field of 68
https://www.on3.com/news/top-50-returning-college-basketball-players-in-2026-27-ranked-by-field-of-68/
- Motiejus Krivas, C, Arizona
3MW Top 100 Players 2026-2027: 25-1
- Motiejus Krivas, Arizona
krivas is almost unanimoulsy seen as the best returning center in college basketball
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