2015-2016 Season

BearcatTalk

Help Support BearcatTalk:

Definitely looking forward to an even more explosive Gary Clark. I think he will have way more dunks this year.
 
jacobkdoyle said:
Definitely looking forward to an even more explosive Gary Clark. I think he will have way more dunks this year.
Click to expand...

@JonRothstein: Mick Cronin told @CBSSports he's expecting Gary Clark to average a double-double as a sophomore. Averaged 7.8 PPG and 7.2 RPG as a freshman.
 
#BearcatNation said:
Strength & Conditioning coach Mike Rehfeldt posted some vertical leap photos this morning. Looks like Ellis, Clark, Thomas, Deberry and Scott all reached 12 feet. Talk about rim protectors. Link below.

https://twitter.com/mrstrengthuc
Click to expand...


One of our strengths last year was our front court. With added weight, strength, athleticism, and fitness from the 5 to the 3 I don't see that changing a whole lot. They are going to be a real BEAST to deal with! Hope to see a lot of blocked shots, dunks, rebounds, and strong moves to the hole.
 
waterhead said:
One of our strengths last year was our front court. With added weight, strength, athleticism, and fitness from the 5 to the 3 I don't see that changing a whole lot. They are going to be a real BEAST to deal with! Hope to see a lot of blocked shots, dunks, rebounds, and strong moves to the hole.
Click to expand...

We could very well have one of the best frontcourts in the country.
 
#BearcatNation said:
Strength & Conditioning coach Mike Rehfeldt posted some vertical leap photos this morning. Looks like Ellis, Clark, Thomas, Deberry and Scott all reached 12 feet. Talk about rim protectors. Link below.

https://twitter.com/mrstrengthuc
Click to expand...

I hope that this impacts rebounding more. It takes more than jumping out of they gym to block shots, definitely don't see Thomas blocking 8 shots per game.
 
jacobkdoyle said:
We could very well have one of the best frontcourts in the country.
Click to expand...

It will definitely be upper echelon!!

The big question I have is who is first option off the bench for Clark? I haven't heard much about Quadri in the off season...nor pics or stories of him working out etc. My guess is the effort Scott is showing is going to pay off for him.

I think Quad might be relegated to spot emergency minutes...but I hope I am wrong about that.
 
Patrick Bateman said:
I hope that this impacts rebounding more. It takes more than jumping out of they gym to block shots, definitely don't see Thomas blocking 8 shots per game.
Click to expand...

Rebounding is more about positioning and boxing out than vertical leap. Jumping ability might help you secure the rebound better if you can grab it at a higher point but that's about it, you still need to be in position. Might can help in tip outs or getting hands on a ball on long rebounds, but you'll get called for over the back if you're not in position and try to grab a rebound over a guy more times than not. Honestly, our gameplanning to go after blocks as much as we do takes our players off their feet and out of position to rebound and that's why we aren't a better defensive rebounding team. That and we've had guys in the past and present that don't box out.
 
I think this may be the most excited I've been about a Bearcat hoops team in quite some time. The biggest thing for us is that we have Quality Depth. Anytime you can bring a guy like Deberry off the bench and really not skip a beat (see NCAA tourney) it's a luxury. Same thing with KJ/Cobb I think between the two of them you're going to see solid production out of that wing spot. We are going to be great defensively as always, we are long, and athletic and should be able to reck havoc on the defensive end. Offensively I think this has a chance to be the best offensive team under Cronin. When I think good quality offense it involves 3 things. 1. A floor general, and we have that in TC, expect him to take a leap and be a great player for us. 2. Someone who can get to the basket at will, I think we have that in Shaq if he plays to his strengths and makes it a point to drive and draw contact. With his athletic ability he can get off a shot over most big men. 3. Someone you can throw the ball in the post. Luckily we have 3 guys who I feel pretty good about throwing the ball at any time Ellis, Deberry, Clark.

This could be a special season, I have high expectations and I think the players do as well. Looking forward to a deep tourney run, and a great season! Go Cats!
 
TNBearcat3 said:
I think this may be the most excited I've been about a Bearcat hoops team in quite some time. The biggest thing for us is that we have Quality Depth. Anytime you can bring a guy like Deberry off the bench and really not skip a beat (see NCAA tourney) it's a luxury. Same thing with KJ/Cobb I think between the two of them you're going to see solid production out of that wing spot. We are going to be great defensively as always, we are long, and athletic and should be able to reck havoc on the defensive end. Offensively I think this has a chance to be the best offensive team under Cronin. When I think good quality offense it involves 3 things. 1. A floor general, and we have that in TC, expect him to take a leap and be a great player for us. 2. Someone who can get to the basket at will, I think we have that in Shaq if he plays to his strengths and makes it a point to drive and draw contact. With his athletic ability he can get off a shot over most big men. 3. Someone you can throw the ball in the post. Luckily we have 3 guys who I feel pretty good about throwing the ball at any time Ellis, Deberry, Clark.

This could be a special season, I have high expectations and I think the players do as well. Looking forward to a deep tourney run, and a great season! Go Cats!
Click to expand...

Well said and I agree. I'm not 100% that I would say Shaq can get to the basket at will, especially when we play in half court sets. But I think Clark might can develop into that guy to get the ball 15 feet out and be able to get to the rim. Shaq I think can beat anybody one-on-one, but when you get into the half court offense there is no one-on-one for the most part. If we ever see more transition offense then Shaq can be a serious weapon. For that to happen we need to play full court defense and pressure and go after balls and we need to run when we get the ball after missed shots and rebounds.
 
david aka the TYZ said:
Rebounding is more about positioning and boxing out than vertical leap. Jumping ability might help you secure the rebound better if you can grab it at a higher point but that's about it, you still need to be in position. Might can help in tip outs or getting hands on a ball on long rebounds, but you'll get called for over the back if you're not in position and try to grab a rebound over a guy more times than not. Honestly, our gameplanning to go after blocks as much as we do takes our players off their feet and out of position to rebound and that's why we aren't a better defensive rebounding team. That and we've had guys in the past and present that don't box out.
Click to expand...

I think UC did a decent job of rebounding last year. I mean this is a team that outrebounded UK and they have great rebounders on there team.

UC will never look great in terms of DRPG because they allow far fewer shows and force teams to milk the clock and play a slower pace.

Also, I love UC Offensive rebounding and i think will get even better this year. I mean if you gonna miss a bunch of shots, at least be great at grabbing Off reb.
 
I'm for sure the most excited about this season than I have been about most others.

Even the Sean Kilpatrick senior year team, which was very good but literally depended on one guy to do most of the scoring. Where as this year this team shot a higher FG%, played just as good of D and had 7 different leading scorers through out the season.

I think its great to have a team that can get scoring from a few different options. Usually when Sean didn't score UC lost, but if any one player has a bad night from this years team, it wont make or break them because they have depth. They dont need a single prolific scorer but they do need a player that you can trust with the ball in the last 30 seconds of a game and that player is Caupain who know has a proven track record of getting it done at the end.

That Said, Im interested in seeing what Justin Jenifer can do. He will be a complete change of pace from Caupain, who may end up being a better shooting guard than point just because his pace is not very uptempo. Also, been seeing videos of Deberry working out and committing himself to being better. I mean, I know he's 6'9 but I never expected him to be able to jump 12 feet and he proved he had some serious skill in the tourney and now just needed to work on keeping up his stamina which Im betting will improve.

A few predictions:
Leading scorer: Gary Clark 13ppg
Leading Rebounder: Octavios Ellis 9rpb
Leading scorer off the bench: torn between Cobb or Evans with deberry not far behind
Biggest Improvement: Deberry
 
A lot like last year, this team should be more scoring by committee. We could have 9 different players lead us in single game scoring throughout the season...

Leading scorer: Caupain
Leading Rebounder: Clark
Leading scorer off the bench: Cobb/KJ (whichever one comes off the bench)
Biggest Improvement: Cobb
 

Similar threads

Q
Howard
Replies
12
Views
49K
sedziobs
S
Q
Merrimack
Replies
7
Views
31K
sedziobs
S
S
23-24 Schedule
Replies
7
Views
18K
sedziobs
S
Q
Dayton
2
Replies
21
Views
66K
sedziobs
S
Q
Stetson
Replies
13
Views
40K
sirthought
S

Latest posts

Back
Top