Arizona loses a tough one to Texas A&M on the road tonight that spoiled what was turning into a very solid Friday night for me.  I had just finished the best Bear Down Friday of the year, headed home, ate some Stouffers frozen lasagna aka God's gift to frozen dinners, and settled in to watch what I thought was an undermanned Arizona team struggle against  the Aggies.

Instead, Arizona was not just controlling this game but dominating it for much of the first and second half.  Arizona ultimately went on to lose 66-65 after another questionable final possession.  Here were some of my thoughts from the game:

•  It was actually refreshing to have this game announced by the anonymous ESPNU announcers, who were actually very solid, but moreso than that did not dwell on Arizona's coaching situation too much.  Instead they used the following phrases, amongst others, to describe Arizona: "loaded with talent" and "supremely talented".  You can tell neither one has probably had the time or need to follow Arizona that closely and instead were just winging most of it but it was still refreshing to hear.  It was like taking a girl you are dating but unsure about to a friends get together and afterwards your friends have nothing but positive things to say about her.  It may not make those things disappear that you were initally worried about but at the time it made you forget about them.  That's how I felt about Arizona during this game, I almost forgot about the lack of a bench, etc., etc

• Jordan Hill's free throws this season remind me of the old NBA Live video games I used to play and maybe the new ones are the same but I havent played a basketball video game in years.  In the old video games, when you were shooting a free throw, you would have to stop a meter that bounced up and down  and a meter that bounced left to right and the quickness of the meter bouncing was determined by how bad the free throw shooter was.  For the best free throw, you would want to stop both meters in the middle, with some margin for error to still make them.  Jordan Hill's free throw meters this year would be extremely fast and almost always landing either to the extreme left or right and always at the highest point.  That was an incredibly long explanation to basically say Jordan has been terrible from the free throw line.

• I was really impressed with the way Zane Johnson was able to build off his performance against LMU against the Aggies.  Its not like he played lights out but he make some shots and didn't look like he was in the middle of a nightmare hoping to wake up like last year.  The only time he became a liability on the floor is when A&M pressed and Zane was forced into handling the ball.

• I was also impressed with Alex Jacobson's performance in the first half.  He gave some solid minutes and apparently has now even been programmed to shoot outside shots and dunk putbacks. 

• The story of the game is how Arizona controlled this game until Nic Wise fouled out with 7 minutes to go.  7 minutes!  Even Jordan Hill couldn't believe Wise fouled out that quick.  The Aggies seized the momentum and never relinquished it.

• Not long after Wise fouled out, Jordan picked up his 4th foul.  Of course, this nearly provided Arizona fans with the answer to a question they have no interest in discovering, "What happens when both Nic Wise and Jordan Hill foul out in the same game?".  The answer is pretty predictable.  Its like finding out the answer to a question like, "What happens when I kick this person in the groin?" or "What happens when I speed up when a police car is trying to pull me over?"  Not every question needs to be answered to know what the answer is.

• Shockingly, Texas A&M didn't go right after Hill after he picked up his 4th foul, settling instead on a barrage of what turned out to be highly effective jump shots.  Granted they still won but it was questionable strategy. 

• I'm fascinated by the interaction of the Arizona coaches on the bench with both the players and each other.  I also believe Dewey Pennell deserves his own cheering section at McKale.

• Finally, the last possession.  Clearly, Russ Pennell was affected by the UAB game where Nic Wise dribbled around before putting up an errant shot only this time it was Chase Budinger who did the honors.  They ran Chase off some screens and such but with exactly zero other actual threats from the perimeter on the floor for Arizona, it would have been better to run a play through Jordan Hill.  Also, can someone explain to me why Chase Budinger was inbounding the basketball with .3 second to go in the game.  Sure, its highly unlikely that with any lineup on the floor you are actually going to convert a tip in with that time left and the opponent knowing exactly what you are going to do but wouldn't you at least want the all world volleyball player with a 44 inch vertical leap on the floor?