EDIT:Let's try this again.....

Doc: You can see growth in these Bearcats
Paul Daugherty , pdaugherty@enquirer.com Published 10:20 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2017 | Updated 6 minutes ago


Temple makes you work. Temple makes you look ugly. You might beat the Owls. You might also resemble an elephant in high heels doing it. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s how the Bearcats have operated on occasion during the last decade, usually when they struggled to score.

That was then. Now, UC has weapons and options and can shake off a whole half of offensive ineptitude to produce another half of offensive beauty. “Unprecedented execution,’’ Mick Cronin called it.

The Bearcats beat Temple 81-74, and this is how it happened:

In the first half, Temple took 15 fewer shots than UC, and had the same number of baskets. UC took 33 shots and made 11 of them. Temple was 11-for-18. The Owls also nine turnovers, zero offensive rebounds and looked like a four-wheeler in the mud. . . and led 28-26 at halftime.

In the second half, the Bearcats took 23 shots and made 17. When Jacob Evans (11 points in the first half) went silent, Kevin Johnson made the noise. Johnson was scoreless in the first 20 minutes. He had 16 points in the second 20.

Kyle Washington scored at will in the lane. Washington has nice feet and an effective baby-hook. Temple had no one who could guard him.

Above it all was Troy Caupain, the senior point guard and band leader. Caupain took over the game for a key stretch in the second half. You could see it. When UC was dozing and down five with about 15 minutes to go, Caupain scored twice in a row on drives to the hoop.

Then, with 8 minutes left and UC up five, Caupain again drove the lane, made the layup and drew the foul. His free throw made it 59-53. Finally, with 7:16 left, Caupain applied the kill shot. He drove hard left, stopped and somehow found Johnson all the way in the right corner. Perfect pass, wide-open look, three-pointer, ballgame.

Johnson’s basket made it 62-53. With all due respect to the try-hard Owls, they weren’t coming back from that.

This is what special point guards do. Especially special point guards who are also seniors. They see the hourglass. They know the rearview mirror gets more crowded every day. Time passing quickly is no longer a concept to them. Caupain wants to win a lot before he leaves.

“That’s been Troy since I’ve been here. Very unselfish,’’ Johnson said. “That was a typical Troy play. My end of the bargain is making the shot.’’

Very few players influence games more than talented senior point guards. We won’t say that Caupain won the game Wednesday, but his will to win it had a big say in things.

(That, and the fact that Caupain has a surreal 85 assists and just 25 turnovers this year.)

So what does it all mean, Mick?

“Our players in the second half met the challenge,’’ Cronin said. “The deeper you get into a season, the seniors become more important.’’ Cronin added, “If you’re going to win a lot of games in a row, you’ve got to win in different ways. Be able to adjust.’’

UC’s streak is nine games. Between now and March, the only team seriously capable of ending it is Xavier, who the Bearcats host next Thursday. Any other loss at this point would be some degree of an upset. That’s good and bad.

The Bearcats play in a league where it’s hard to pad a March resume. That puts a burden on them to make very few false steps. There is no real benefit to beating South Florida, East Carolina or Tulane, each of which has an RPI currently in the 200s.

(Note to non-hoops majors: Any ranking in the 200s is unfortunate.)

There isn’t a lot more to say for beating UConn (No. 159 at the moment) or even Tulsa (110) or Memphis (109). UC plays those six teams eight times between now and March.

This sort of competition asks the Bearcats to do something else, too: To play against their own standards and expectations as much as they play the opponent. A win over South Florida won’t help them. A loss would be calamitous.

Can they do that? Wednesday was a nice affirmation. Temple is a fly at the picnic. The Bearcats messed around for a half, then applied a major swat. You don’t want to be the same team in March that you were in November. This team is evolving, in a good direction.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../96753158/

Great article!

agree...great article

We're due for more of these from the national media.

we're due for an elite 8 run....LONG OVER due!

For sure