Arizona Wildcats Productivity Report: “You’re-fricking-killing-them” Johnson surfacing

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Stanley Johnson put together his fourth consecutive solid performance last night (Pac-12 Networks screen shot, click on picture to access video)

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WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)

ARIZONA 73, CAL 50
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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PAC-12 RPI RATING
Present RPI ranking of the Pac-12.
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ARIZONA 73, CAL 50

The other day on a Las Vegas sports radio station the hosts of the afternoon show commented about how struggling UNLV has wasted the opportunity to build on its biggest win against Arizona Dec. 23 at Thomas & Mack Arena.

“What did Stanley Johnson have in that game, like seven or eight turnovers?” one of the hosts said.

“You mean ‘You’re-fricking-killing-us’ Stanley Johnson?” the co-host said with a chuckle. “That’s what Sean Miller was saying to him on the bench. He had seven turnovers.”

If he said that, Miller was not the only one with that opinion. That was at a point in the season when Johnson was still adapting to the college level, and most importantly, to Miller’s system.

He has become “You’re-fricking-killing-them” Stanley Johnson.

In Arizona’s four-game winning streak since losing at Oregon State — an even worse outing in that game for Johnson than at UNLV — the freshman wing player has conjured images of Sean Elliott and Derrick Williams with his dominance.

The numbers show Johnson has produced in the last four games at the same phenomenal rate as Elliott and Williams during their most productive seasons. Among Arizona’s Pac-10/12 players of the year, Williams has the highest productivity rating of 1.043 in 2010-11, followed by Elliott’s 1.003 mark in 1988-89.

That means the productivity of Williams and Elliott exceeded every minute. They were that consequential in each minute of an Arizona game.

Johnson’s productivity rating in the last four games against Colorado, Utah, Stanford and Cal was 1.085 (128 productivity points in 118 minutes). His season productivity rating has improved from .720 after the Oregon State game to a team-leading .795 now.

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HOW ARE THEY DOING?
Present RPI ranking of Arizona’s non-conference opponents.
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The Pac-12 Networks’ Ashley Adamson asked Johnson after last night’s game if he is trying to establish himself as Arizona’s “go-to guy”. Johnson did not respond that he is Arizona’s answer to a return trip to the Final Four.

The maturity he is showing on the court was apparent in the interview of the 19-year-old.

“No, I just try to be aggressive,” Johnson told Adamson. “We’re a very team-oriented team. I just play my role on the team and try to help my team win games.

“It all starts on the defensive end for all of us, especially me, and I’m doing that really well.”

Team-oriented. Helping the team win. Defense comes first.

TJ McConnell is the MVP of #Arizona – runs the team,plays great D,scores when needed- irreplaceable unlike any other 'Cat #P12POY

— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) January 25, 2015

Arizona’s ties with Golden State coach Steve Kerr, the Wildcat legend who attended the game last night, enabled Miller to stage practice at the Warriors’ facility on Friday. That privilege to workout at an NBA training site, especially with the kind of aura Golden State has this year, sends a message to Johnson and other prospective five-star players on the way:

“If you come here, and you work hard within the team concept, you get the perks others dream about.”

Miller’s message to Johnson of leaving all of the accolades behind from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei High School is coming through loud and clear with how Johnson responded to Adamson’s question.

The “You’re-fricking-killing-us” Stanley Johnson has left the program.

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SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.