Florida doubled post every touch and our guards just stood still. Not one lay up or dunk off basically playing 4vs3 in halfcourt entire game. If Mick doesnt fix this issue so season can get real ugly when team figure out no need to even double our post players.

I still haven't seen us play a better roster of players YET this year. We beat X and UF with broome or JJ calling plays on their on. Speed game back up and go 4 guard line ups. Make BOTH clark and washington earn touches in paint by cleaning up glass and setting screens all over court.

(12-10-2017 05:23 PM)Bearcat01 Wrote:  I still haven't seen us play a better roster of players YET this year. We beat X and UF with broome or JJ calling plays on their on. Speed game back up and go 4 guard line ups. Make BOTH clark and washington earn touches in paint by cleaning up glass and setting screens all over court.

No one was beating X that day. They shot lights out. Now the Florida game you might be right.

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(12-10-2017 06:08 PM)Spinal070508 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 05:23 PM)Bearcat01 Wrote:  I still haven't seen us play a better roster of players YET this year. We beat X and UF with broome or JJ calling plays on their on. Speed game back up and go 4 guard line ups. Make BOTH clark and washington earn touches in paint by cleaning up glass and setting screens all over court.

No one was beating X that day. They shot lights out. Now the Florida game you might be right.

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I beat X by attacking them down hill with my guards on offense. double team bluiett every touch and use gary as my enforcer on defense instead of offense. No excuse as a coach that they had enough respect to double team washington or clark but we left their best player open multiple occasions. We had enough depth and fouls to made it hard as hell for bluiett to score 5pts let alone over 20pts.

Obviously I'm not thrilled with the team's execution the past two games. But the season is far from over.

Anyone wanna bet the Bearcats end up a 6 seed or higher in March?

The story is setting up perfect so far. Hell, as a Bearcat fan, I'd have been worried if they would have beat both X and Florida. The letdown later in the season would have been a sure thing.

(12-10-2017 04:21 PM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)Not Duane Wrote:  Remember..as long as the program is clean, and doesn't make headlines...for any reason...a lot of people on this board and in the local media are fine with the state of UC MBB.

Remember that we invested in FB over MBB when we jumped into the BE, and then fell into the AAC. That philosophy still holds, and the results speak for themselves.

List for me the DI schools that dominate in MBB and FB consistently compared to the 347 that currently dot the landscape...precious few. You make a choice in revenue sports, whether you are aware of it or not. UC has put it's heart and soul into FB, and this is where we are.....forever....unless we decide to do otherwise.

So you're suggesting UC isn't invested in basketball with a top 25 paid coach and an $87 million arena renovation?

Did you notice that they threw all the $$ at FB 1st? I did.

Cronin is a top 25 paid coach...who is overpayed...who can't recruit NBA lottery picks. In CBB, it's ALL about the coach...get a good coach, and wins will follow---someone young, and hungry...who can manage a game and kick a$$. Cronin does none of this. If UC were invested in MBB, they would have shown Mick the door several seasons ago and done a search for an up and comer.

UC is paying him his outrageous salary because he runs a "clean" program...which wins a little...not too much...and just gets in to the tourney. Cronin has even stated that all he wants to do is "make the tournament". He has no fire.

The winner of the Patriot League can do that.

Show me the deep runs. Show me the lottery picks.

They ain't there.

Did bulldog23 clean up his language?

I feel a little dirty that I’ve generally agreed with most of his posts since his return. Mick needs to stop force feeding Gary and for the love of god make his guys set actual screens or just don’t bother with them at all.

(12-10-2017 06:08 PM)Spinal070508 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 05:23 PM)Bearcat01 Wrote:  I still haven't seen us play a better roster of players YET this year. We beat X and UF with broome or JJ calling plays on their on. Speed game back up and go 4 guard line ups. Make BOTH clark and washington earn touches in paint by cleaning up glass and setting screens all over court.

No one was beating X that day. They shot lights out. Now the Florida game you might be right.

Sent from my SM-N920V using CSNbbs mobile app

I'm sorry, but this just isn't true. X finished around the rim and hit some outside shots early, that put UC in a hole (especially because UC missed some easy looks), but ultimately X's shooting largely came back to earth. Had UC worked harder on defense and defensive rebounded they could have won that game. The problem is they let X rebound 42% of X's misses. Had UC hit the glass like the prior season we may have seen a similar result. X was really good that day, but they were beatable. This wasn't some game where every single thing they threw up went in.

(12-10-2017 06:25 PM)Bearcat01 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 06:08 PM)Spinal070508 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 05:23 PM)Bearcat01 Wrote:  I still haven't seen us play a better roster of players YET this year. We beat X and UF with broome or JJ calling plays on their on. Speed game back up and go 4 guard line ups. Make BOTH clark and washington earn touches in paint by cleaning up glass and setting screens all over court.

No one was beating X that day. They shot lights out. Now the Florida game you might be right.

Sent from my SM-N920V using CSNbbs mobile app

I beat X by attacking them down hill with my guards on offense. double team bluiett every touch and use gary as my enforcer on defense instead of offense. No excuse as a coach that they had enough respect to double team washington or clark but we left their best player open multiple occasions. We had enough depth and fouls to made it hard as hell for bluiett to score 5pts let alone over 20pts.

My only problem with how they played Blueitt was how often they fouled him. That guy is going to score and because X moves the ball so well you can't over help on him. If you double Blueitt every time X will absolutely destroy you. The key to the game was Mack went out and got his big guys touches by the rim early and they finished in traffic. Skilled bigs can do that when they catch the ball deep and Mack ran some great sets to get his guys the ball close to the rim. X finished, UC didn't finish around the rim.

Double teaming a big man is different than double teaming a win on the perimeter, especially with the way X runs offense. X is second in the nation in effective field goal percentage and 3rd in kenpom adjusted offense. They are a great offensive team. For UC tow in they needed to defensive rebound (they didn't) and they needed to make the other Xavier players take difficult shots (Blueitt is really good, he was going to get his...he makes tough shots). UC's problem was they let the other guys get the ball to deep and Xavier turned those into buckets and foul shots.

Better guard play, yes better guard play and cut down on the turn over. Stop yanking the pg out so often and get into a rythm.

(12-11-2017 08:39 AM)BeerCat Wrote:  Did bulldog23 clean up his language?

I feel a little dirty that I’ve generally agreed with most of his posts since his return. Mick needs to stop force feeding Gary and for the love of god make his guys set actual screens or just don’t bother with them at all.

Playing inside out is not the issue, we have an execution issue. Gary takes way too long to set up his shot and doesn't feel the double even though he should know it's on the way. His passing in the first half was horrible. it got a lot better in the second half. The truth is, we didn't make shots. Cumberland had a wide open trey that dented the rim. Evans had a wide open trey that chipped the back board. Both Jenifer and Broome passed up wide open treys for no good reason. Gary took way too long trying to get his and ended up being grossly ineffective. Kyle looked like he was trying to get up as many shots in the post as he could before Mick pulled him again.

Kyle needs to get back to basics. Offensive rebounds and putbacks. Take Js if they are wide open. His post game is poor and only adds to the clutter in the lane.

Gary needs to be more decisive, shoot or pass. He simply does not have the time to pound the rock, pump fake twice and then throw out a lousy pass or get his shot stuffed. He needs to be aggressive.

Everyone else needs to get better at shooting and shoot more not less. if Jenifer is going to pass up open treys, he doesn't need to be out there because he's a liability on defense and adds nothing on offense. He needs to give the other team a reason to guard him.

i'm Team Cane. i like the fact that he gets to the rim. He needs to get better on defense. That said, i think he'll get better.

As far as Mick goes, he needs to trust his team. Coach them up in practice, guide them when they aren't in the game, but when they are on the floor, let them run

(12-10-2017 03:25 PM)jarr Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 02:57 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  I mean seriously. What did folks think was going to happen?

Lose a 4 year starter at PG who simply did not turn the ball over and the other senior starter at guard who was a defensive ace and we replace them with what? A career backup and a skinny transfer from a Sacred Heart who struggles as a PG and who passes the ball like he has 2x4's tied to his palms and a mixture of Cumberland and Evans who are too slow to defend or create at the 2?

We suffer from same guy syndrome (as last year) except we are replacing two seniors at the most important positions with guys who are not equals let alone improvements or who are out of position. That is the fault of the staff.

Might as well get used to it against opponents with decent guard play.

Kevin Johnson was a stiff that played decent to above decent defense. Troy didnt turn the ball over, but rarwly did anything other than chuck it around the perimiter. Losing 2 mediocre seniors shouldn't be the deathnail to the following season. Most programs are able to bring in new players (Broome, Moore, Williams, etc.) and improve the players (Jennifer, Cumberland, Evans) that were here the year before.

Player development has been an issue with Mick over the years.

Also, why does Mick always leave an extra scholarship or 2 open every year? Why wouldn't he try to fill that spot with someone who could run the point?

I think it's sad when we run down players on the board. KJ & Troy are Bearcats.

The PG rotation has absolutely sucked. Play Broome and let him learn. Jenifer doesn't have any skills. The bigs have been horrible this year. How many freaking times does Clark get swatted at point blank range? He just doesn't play with any sense or urgency or physical enough. He always looks like he's playing with some kind of a chronic leg injury.

(12-10-2017 06:08 PM)Spinal070508 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 05:23 PM)Bearcat01 Wrote:  I still haven't seen us play a better roster of players YET this year. We beat X and UF with broome or JJ calling plays on their on. Speed game back up and go 4 guard line ups. Make BOTH clark and washington earn touches in paint by cleaning up glass and setting screens all over court.

No one was beating X that day. They shot lights out. Now the Florida game you might be right.

Sent from my SM-N920V using CSNbbs mobile app

If Mick had a decent game plan and cared about the eggs game, who knows.

So the surrogates came out before the season to tell us this was the strongest UC team since Ed Jucker led the program. Now they tell us we should not be surprised because the team is not that good?

Dropped to 25 in the AP and out in the Coaches

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(12-11-2017 01:57 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  So the surrogates came out before the season to tell us this was the strongest UC team since Ed Jucker led the program. Now they tell us we should not be surprised because the team is not that good?

LOL... nobody said this was the best team since Ed Jucker. Best team since 2001-2002 and I stand by it.

Additionally, 2 losses doesn't mean a team is not that good. A couple missed opportunities in a long season. There is still plenty of reason to believe this will be a top 15 basketball team.

(12-11-2017 01:57 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  So the surrogates came out before the season to tell us this was the strongest UC team since Ed Jucker led the program. Now they tell us we should not be surprised because the team is not that good?

I still think the team is really, really good. They've played terribly the last two games, which were huge, and fans are rightfully pissed. But it's a long year, and they have the talent to turn things around. Plus, for the anti-Cronin contingent, the regular season doesn't really matter anyway.

Losing to two ranked teams in December doesn't put anyone's season on the brink.

We lost to Presby-freakin-terian in December and ended up in the Sweet Sixteen.

The team's not playing well in a lot of different facets right now. Plenty of time to change that.

I do worry about seeding, however.

(12-11-2017 11:32 AM)Crewdogz Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:25 PM)jarr Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 02:57 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  I mean seriously. What did folks think was going to happen?

Lose a 4 year starter at PG who simply did not turn the ball over and the other senior starter at guard who was a defensive ace and we replace them with what? A career backup and a skinny transfer from a Sacred Heart who struggles as a PG and who passes the ball like he has 2x4's tied to his palms and a mixture of Cumberland and Evans who are too slow to defend or create at the 2?

We suffer from same guy syndrome (as last year) except we are replacing two seniors at the most important positions with guys who are not equals let alone improvements or who are out of position. That is the fault of the staff.

Might as well get used to it against opponents with decent guard play.

Kevin Johnson was a stiff that played decent to above decent defense. Troy didnt turn the ball over, but rarwly did anything other than chuck it around the perimiter. Losing 2 mediocre seniors shouldn't be the deathnail to the following season. Most programs are able to bring in new players (Broome, Moore, Williams, etc.) and improve the players (Jennifer, Cumberland, Evans) that were here the year before.

Player development has been an issue with Mick over the years.

Also, why does Mick always leave an extra scholarship or 2 open every year? Why wouldn't he try to fill that spot with someone who could run the point?

I think it's sad when we run down players on the board. KJ & Troy are Bearcats.

I don't think it's a knock on the players...it's a knock on what coach does with them. With few exceptions, you can turn someone with athleticism into a serviceable basketball player, provided you work on defense and fundamentals....as well as a few smarts around the rim.

To develop someone into a lottery pick working with raw talent takes some special coaching and discipline. The kid has to bring something to the table however...he has to have handles, or the ability to shoot, or provide a physical obstacle under the basket and fight for rebounds. Those are diamonds in the rough, and it takes a good eye to spot them.

Blue chippers are blue chippers...you get them by having a program with a history of winning--it's tough to get those kids with all the competition...which is why they are sought after. (This of course assumes that recruiters play fair...which they don't).

Win first...then recruits will follow.