Awaka

#4
#4
Last year I would have totally agreed. This year we are loaded with solid bigs to the point where Awaka might not even get on the floor if we're at full strength. Happy for him that he found a home in a great spot with a legit shot at a national title. That's the best and toughest Arizona team I've seen in a long time, they just beat UConn up last night in Storrs.
 
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#5
#5
I wish him the best but on this years team he would not provide anything we don’t have. He played 14 minutes and had 3 fouls. He did put up 7 points and get 7 rebounds in that time which is impressive in that amount of time. I just think this year’s team has better options down low.
 
#6
#6
OrangeVolMan said:
I wish him the best but on this years team he would not provide anything we don’t have. He played 14 minutes and had 3 fouls. He did put up 7 points and get 7 rebounds in that time which is impressive in that amount of time. I just think this year’s team has better options down low.
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That's pretty much been the way he has been there. He never got into the full time starting rotation, he continues to have foul problems, but he's very productive as a reserve.
 
#8
#8
olemtnboy said:
Both are big strong I/s players who can score.....they will be huge help this season....I like Awaka he's not starter with Arizona 2nd season.....
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Too short to be a back to basket type player.

Really a short guy to play center.

Miss his rebounding

But, I will take our shot blocker in middle over Tobe
 
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#11
#11
OrangeVolMan said:
I wish him the best but on this years team he would not provide anything we don’t have. He played 14 minutes and had 3 fouls. He did put up 7 points and get 7 rebounds in that time which is impressive in that amount of time. I just think this year’s team has better options down low.
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I don't know about calling them "better options", but they are similar options.

Carey and Phillips both could give you what Awaka could on any given night. In 30 mpg (combined), they, together, average 12 pts and 10.5 rebs.

Awaka is averaging 13.6 pts and 15 rebs if he played 30 mpg. Of course, he'd also average 4.3 fouls across that time, too, so he wouldn't be able to stay on the floor for that long. Carey and Phillips combined only average 3 fouls.

I do often wonder what Tobe would look like as a senior in Barnes's system. He was always one of my favorite players because he took it seriously, rebounded the ball like his life depended on it, and was really developing some post moves. We have done a good job of replacing him with talented players who collectively are as good, though.

In the end, I think it's more than fair to prefer our situation with 2 guys with perhaps 80% of his ability that are more disciplined defenders over 1 Tobe Awaka who has trouble staying on the floor.
 
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#13
#13
sami said:
Last year I would have totally agreed. This year we are loaded with solid bigs to the point where Awaka might not even get on the floor if we're at full strength. Happy for him that he found a home in a great spot with a legit shot at a national title. That's the best and toughest Arizona team I've seen in a long time, they just beat UConn up last night in Storrs.
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Last year's team may have won the natty had Estrella been healthy
 
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#18
#18
TheMookieMonster said:
I don’t think Tobe has had the impact at Arizona I expected him to have so given our front court depth, I really don’t miss him.
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He's kind of an odd fit out there, to me. I've never really thought of Arizona basketball as hard-nosed, necessarily. They've always seemed more finesse. Maybe I'm projecting a bit. But to me, he just never seemed like a natural fit for that team. Seems more like a Michigan State kinda guy.
 
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#19
#19
Like Carr, he got great advice and improved while he was here. Where he differs is he fouled way too much and couldn’t consistently stay on the floor. real that simple. Imo
Where the 2 differentiate for me is Carr will get better, for the next level, at what he’s good at somewhere else. I think Awaka would have gotten better at what he’s good at here.
 
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#20
#20
cncchris33 said:
He's kind of an odd fit out there, to me. I've never really thought of Arizona basketball as hard-nosed, necessarily. They've always seemed more finesse. Maybe I'm projecting a bit. But to me, he just never seemed like a natural fit for that team. Seems more like a Michigan State kinda guy.
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Agreed. I just thought he’d get more consistent playing time and develop into more of a true go-to post threat and he’s mostly been a role player. Just 14 minutes against UCONN and 16 minutes against Florida this year.
 
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#21
#21
I was a huge fan of Tobe at UT. He brought toughness and grit to our post and was a high character high achieving student. I think if Jonas had of left first Tobe would have stayed. I think it grated on Tobe to be behind a guy who didn’t bring 100% all the time - he expected everyone to bring his and Mashack’s level of intensity. I really enjoyed watching him compete and can’t imagine he wouldn’t have improved on playing without fouling as much if he had stayed. Of everyone who’s transferred, I wish him the best of all.
 
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#22
#22
walkenvol said:
I was a huge fan of Tobe at UT. He brought toughness and grit to our post and was a high character high achieving student. I think if Jonas had of left first Tobe would have stayed. I think it grated on Tobe to be behind a guy who didn’t bring 100% all the time - he expected everyone to bring his and Mashack’s level of intensity. I really enjoyed watching him compete and can’t imagine he wouldn’t have improved on playing without fouling as much if he had stayed. Of everyone who’s transferred, I wish him the best of all.
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Agree with all of this. I like watching Arizona and cheering for him. He seems like a good kid.
 
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