This team was good, and probably capable of the Sweet 16 with a more reasonable draw. It is what it is this year.

Caupain never panned out as the team's spiritual or scoring leader, Johnson was a slight pleasant surprise on offense in some games, not so much in others, and I am not really convinced that he was the defensive maven he was made out to be. Kyle Washington showed flashed, but never figured it out completely. He's got a lot of thinking and growing to do in the offseason. On the other hand, Gary Clark showed signs of being an impact guy towards the end of the season and had icewater in his veins at the free throw line. I'm looking forward to his senior campaign. I kept expecting Evans to take over as the go-to guy at the end of the year, but it never happened. I hope this is something that he embraces next year. Cumberland showed signs of being a go-to guy for scoring, but also looked like a freshman at other times and needs to work on his decision-making. Our bench guys, Scott, Brooks, and Co., were surprisingly effective at the beginning of the year but disappeared towards the end as you would expect for freshman.

Overall, not what we wanted, but I am thankful for our seniors and wish them well. I will remember them fondly.

Caupain, Johnson, and to a lesser extent, Clark, represent the end of an era of recruiting for the Bearcats. Those classes didn't really feature any bonafide go-to playmakers, and these are the types of players we need to make deep runs in the tournament. The last one we had was Kilpatrick, and he took four years of molding to be realized.

In the next few years, we will see more of guys like Evans III and Cumberland. Cane Broome will be here next year, as will promising freshman-to-be Keith Williams.

Next year's lineup will be Broome, Evans, Cumberland, Washington, and Clark. There should be a lot of offense on that lineup compared to what we had this year.

Agree with all of that.

Mick has never been a top 4 seed or had a top 10 kenpom team. That needs to change next year. It's time to get uc back to a top flight program. X is in another sweet 16. Huggs had wvu they again as well. We have a great stadium coming. Time to up our expectations.

(03-19-2017 11:26 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Mick has never been a top 4 seed or had a top 10 kenpom team. That needs to change next year. It's time to get uc back to a top flight program. X is in another sweet 16. Huggs had wvu they again as well. We have a great stadium coming. Time to up our expectations.

I think the committee has capped the AAC with the 6 seed

It is always next year around here.

(03-19-2017 11:31 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-19-2017 11:26 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Mick has never been a top 4 seed or had a top 10 kenpom team. That needs to change next year. It's time to get uc back to a top flight program. X is in another sweet 16. Huggs had wvu they again as well. We have a great stadium coming. Time to up our expectations.

I think the committee has capped the AAC with the 6 seed

Which is why I'm fully on board with Cronin continuing to complain about the selection committee. It won't make a difference for us and will just make the selection committee look more out-of-touch.

(03-19-2017 11:33 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  It is always next year around here.

Bearcats, Bengals, Reds....lather, rinse, repeat.

It's not UC. The rest of the conference needs to step up next year.

Guard play wins in the tournament. Caupain and Johnson just aren't good enough to push a team deep in the tournament. As much as I love those guys and appreciate their toughness, professionalism, and leadership, Broome and Cumberland should be an improvement. I am also interested to see what role Jenifer plays. He was obviously brought in to take over at point guard this coming year, but with Broome in the picture, I'm not sure where he will fit.

(03-19-2017 11:31 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-19-2017 11:26 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Mick has never been a top 4 seed or had a top 10 kenpom team. That needs to change next year. It's time to get uc back to a top flight program. X is in another sweet 16. Huggs had wvu they again as well. We have a great stadium coming. Time to up our expectations.

I think the committee has capped the AAC with the 6 seed

This is what's so frustrating. We'll need to lose 1 or 2 games MAX next year to get a top 4 seed. Anything lower than that and we're susceptible to what happened this year which is getting matched up with the second coming of Magic Johnson in the round of 32.

(03-19-2017 11:37 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I am also interested to see what role Jenifer plays. He was obviously brought in to take over at point guard this coming year, but with Broome in the picture, I'm not sure where he will fit.

As a backup point guard. Same as he is now

(03-19-2017 11:37 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I am also interested to see what role Jenifer plays. He was obviously brought in to take over at point guard this coming year, but with Broome in the picture, I'm not sure where he will fit.

As a backup point guard. Same as he is now

At some point you have to beat somebody, no matter the draw. We have not. Period.

(03-19-2017 11:40 PM)Intimidate Dominate Celebrate Wrote:  

(03-19-2017 11:31 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-19-2017 11:26 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Mick has never been a top 4 seed or had a top 10 kenpom team. That needs to change next year. It's time to get uc back to a top flight program. X is in another sweet 16. Huggs had wvu they again as well. We have a great stadium coming. Time to up our expectations.

I think the committee has capped the AAC with the 6 seed

This is what's so frustrating. We'll need to lose 1 or 2 games MAX next year to get a top 4 seed. Anything lower than that and we're susceptible to what happened this year which is getting matched up with the second coming of Magic Johnson in the round of 32.

Hopefully the traditional powers in the AAC will return to their means next year. I would expect UConn to return, SMU should be good, and Memphis and Temple will hopefully progress a bit. Houston and UCF are encouraging, but the conference really needs to step up next year to result in a higher seed.

(03-19-2017 11:40 PM)Intimidate Dominate Celebrate Wrote:  

(03-19-2017 11:31 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-19-2017 11:26 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Mick has never been a top 4 seed or had a top 10 kenpom team. That needs to change next year. It's time to get uc back to a top flight program. X is in another sweet 16. Huggs had wvu they again as well. We have a great stadium coming. Time to up our expectations.

I think the committee has capped the AAC with the 6 seed

This is what's so frustrating. We'll need to lose 1 or 2 games MAX next year to get a top 4 seed. Anything lower than that and we're susceptible to what happened this year which is getting matched up with the second coming of Magic Johnson in the round of 32.

Unless the rest of the AAC miraculously gets better, 1 or 2 losses is all thy can afford if they want a top seed.

The committee has spoken about the AAC as it currently sits. They don't respect it (and really dont have a reason too) when they have only 4 top 100 teams and 2 hovering around 300. Add Wichita and pray UConn, Memphis, and Temple get back to what they once were.

Memphis and Temple have a coaching problem IMO... I am not sure they turn it around without a change. I think UCF, Tulsa and UH will be better next year.

(03-19-2017 11:17 PM)crex043 Wrote:  This team was good, and probably capable of the Sweet 16 with a more reasonable draw. It is what it is this year.

Caupain never panned out as the team's spiritual or scoring leader, Johnson was a slight pleasant surprise on offense in some games, not so much in others, and I am not really convinced that he was the defensive maven he was made out to be. Kyle Washington showed flashed, but never figured it out completely. He's got a lot of thinking and growing to do in the offseason. On the other hand, Gary Clark showed signs of being an impact guy towards the end of the season and had icewater in his veins at the free throw line. I'm looking forward to his senior campaign. I kept expecting Evans to take over as the go-to guy at the end of the year, but it never happened. I hope this is something that he embraces next year. Cumberland showed signs of being a go-to guy for scoring, but also looked like a freshman at other times and needs to work on his decision-making. Our bench guys, Scott, Brooks, and Co., were surprisingly effective at the beginning of the year but disappeared towards the end as you would expect for freshman.

Overall, not what we wanted, but I am thankful for our seniors and wish them well. I will remember them fondly.

Caupain, Johnson, and to a lesser extent, Clark, represent the end of an era of recruiting for the Bearcats. Those classes didn't really feature any bonafide go-to playmakers, and these are the types of players we need to make deep runs in the tournament. The last one we had was Kilpatrick, and he took four years of molding to be realized.

In the next few years, we will see more of guys like Evans III and Cumberland. Cane Broome will be here next year, as will promising freshman-to-be Keith Williams.

Next year's lineup will be Broome, Evans, Cumberland, Washington, and Clark. There should be a lot of offense on that lineup compared to what we had this year.

Good commentary. My only regret is that we could not win the AAC. To win at the top level we need a tougher schedule. We won't win 30 but would be better prepared for a game like last night. Ultimately it comes down to making shots. Friday we shot over 60% and won last night we didn't and didn't. It will be interesting to see how far UCLA goes.

I thought we played UCLA very tough until all their shots started falling.

It will be interesting to see how we recruit when the arena is upgraded.

I am proud of our guys. They played with hearts and when our shots we dropping really good things happened.

Bob

We will be back here again. Out in the round of 32 or first round loss. Nothing will change.

(03-19-2017 11:49 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  At some point you have to beat somebody, no matter the draw. We have not. Period.

This is my biggest issue. Duke got beat by a team that has similar talent as we do.

30 wins and great computer numbers and despite that we got the all-time biggest shaft in terms of seeeding pod and location.

I really like what we have for next year so long as we don't have a funky year away from the friendly confines of home. That being said, this conference does us no favors. No room for error.