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New Year’s Resolutions: Arizona Wildcats

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Over the course of the holiday week, we at College Basketball Talk will be detailing what we believe will be the New Year’s Resolutions of some of the nation’s most talented, most disappointing, and thoroughly enigmatic teams. What can we say, we’re in a giving mood.

Who else made Resolutions? Click here to find out.

WHAT DOES ARIZONA PROMISE TO DO MORE OF?: Get more production from the bench.



    • Why it will happen:

Let’s start off by admitting that the Wildcats have a very good six-man rotation, with freshman wing Rondae Hollis-Jefferson being the sixth man. But if this team is to make a run at a national title another reserve needs to step up, preferably one who’s proficient when it comes to knocking down perimeter shots. Arizona’s shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc, which isn’t a bad percentage at all. But given the amount of talent in the front court and the fact that the Wildcats have scored just 21.5% of their points on three-pointers there’s a good chance that they’ll see more zone in conference play. Can a Gabe York be that seventh man? He’s averaging 8.0 ppg over the last two games.



    • Why it won’t happen:

In the six contests prior to that two-game stretch York averaged 3.7 points per game, shooting 6-for-31 from the field. On the season he’s averaging 7.4 points per game, but that could be a product of outings such as he 20-point night in a win over Fairleigh Dickinson as opposed to consistent production. As the best option to supplement what Hollis-Jefferson’s provided off the bench, can he consistently produce for the Wildcats?

WHAT DOES ARIZONA SWEAR THEY WILL DO LESS OF?: Miss free throws.



    • Why it will happen:

Thus far the Wildcats are shooting 67.2% from the foul line, a mark that ranks tenth in the Pac-12, and of the top five players in free throws attempted three are shooting at least 73.8%. The two who aren’t? Freshmen Aaron Gordon (45.2%) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (66.1%). The hope is that as the season wears on they’ll get better from the charity stripe, thus raising the team’s percentage in the process. And given how good this team is around the basket, they’ll have plenty of opportunities to score with the clock stopped in conference play.



    • Why it won’t happen:

Even some of the most talented basketball players turn out to be poor foul shooters; for whatever reason some players have a hard time translating practice repetitions/success to game action. Could that be the case for a player like Gordon? Even if you remove his numbers from the Texas Tech (4-for-12) and Southern (4-for-1) games he’s still shooting just 50% from the foul line. As for Hollis-Jefferson he made six of seven against Northern Arizona, so things may be looking up in that regard.

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