2016-2017 Season

[WAITE HOYT 2]

To be fair, an 80 foot heave (with a travel not called and poor clock starting) plus all the injuries are bad luck. Losing by 2 by having a dunk waived off by 0.1 seconds is bad luck. Could things have been done differently to not have had those games come down to those situations, sure. But you can say that about nearly every game. Injuries are always about luck and we were on the wrong side of that last year. I don't fault him for feeling that way. That's exactly how I felt at the end of last year too. I think the team could have made a run if even Gary Clark was healthy last year so I think there is a lot of reason for optimism this year. Key is to stay healthy.

Im optimistic! I like this squad. They will be competitive in our league and tournament. They will be in the field of 64 and with a break here or there can make a bit of a run. There is a chance they will be ranked all year. They will play hard and most will graduate. If that happens my expectations will be met.

 

[#BearcatNation]

What about the last 5 seasons leads you to believe anything is getting learned? I know it is easy to "assume" that obviously he just had to learn from these events. Are you really sure film was dissected? Are you really sure they have gone over everything they need to? Are you even sure this isn't a rec league mentality? I mean....in many of the rec leagues I've seen, a coach will stand there and the point guard will look over until the coach calls a play. Sound familiar? Again, you would think that all this stuff that you are saying is going on, but are you seeing improvements on the floor and in the season results. Not really!

Teams cannot improve every year. Is that what you're expecting? That is not at all realistic. I understand wanting the program to make the "jump". I'd like to see that too. Making the tournament every year is great. Should be 7 straight this year. Make the tourney 7 more consecutive times, and I bet you start to see some noise made. No teams make the tourney every single year and crap the bed every time.

 

[L-T]

Teams cannot improve every year. Is that what you're expecting? That is not at all realistic. I understand wanting the program to make the "jump". I'd like to see that too. Making the tournament every year is great. Should be 7 straight this year. Make the tourney 7 more consecutive times, and I bet you start to see some noise made. No teams make the tourney every single year and crap the bed every time.

I don't expect improvement every single year. When I talk about improvement, I'm speaking from a "Macro" perspective. Mick had a nice little trend going for about 6 years, starting with his first year which was a disaster...as expected, working up to eventually making the NCAA, and then a Sweet 16. I think we were all on-board at that point and excited about the years to come.

Those years to come....never came. All four have been underwhelming. Three of the four have been 1st round losses in the NCAA, to such juggernauts as Harvard, Creighton, and St. Josephs. They've mostly gotten low NCAA seeds. We've haven't spent much time ranked. We're not winning championships. Our recruiting classes are never highly ranked, which by the way, translates pretty accurately into how we've performed on the court. We perform like a program that is not recruiting all that well. Also, don't assume 7 more NCAAs will insure some noise being made. Huggs last 7 of his 14 consecutive NCAAs had very little noise being made....and that was with recruits far superior to what we're getting from Cronin.....and those were teams winning regular season championships and conference tourney championships and being highly ranked for all of the season. It's very possible that Cronin can sit here and continue to squeak by with at large bids and never make any noise, especially when he is not getting near a top 25 recruiting ranking ever.

 

[#BearcatNation]

I don't expect improvement every single year. When I talk about improvement, I'm speaking from a "Macro" perspective. Mick had a nice little trend going for about 6 years, starting with his first year which was a disaster...as expected, working up to eventually making the NCAA, and then a Sweet 16. I think we were all on-board at that point and excited about the years to come.

Those years to come....never came. All four have been underwhelming. Three of the four have been 1st round losses in the NCAA, to such juggernauts as Harvard, Creighton, and St. Josephs. They've mostly gotten low NCAA seeds. We've haven't spent much time ranked. We're not winning championships. Our recruiting classes are never highly ranked, which by the way, translates pretty accurately into how we've performed on the court. We perform like a program that is not recruiting all that well. Also, don't assume 7 more NCAAs will insure some noise being made. Huggs last 7 of his 14 consecutive NCAAs had very little noise being made....and that was with recruits far superior to what we're getting from Cronin.....and those were teams winning regular season championships and conference tourney championships and being highly ranked for all of the season. It's very possible that Cronin can sit here and continue to squeak by with at large bids and never make any noise, especially when he is not getting near a top 25 recruiting ranking ever.

Not going to lie, I skipped the majority of your post that went over the last 4 years, because I've heard you say it all before.

I stand by my point that if we keep making the NCAA Tournament, we WILL make some noise. No, not every year, and maybe not as much as you'd prefer, but we will get hot and make a run. Make the NCAA Tournament every year, and you will get better recruits. Better team chemistry. More experienced coaching staff.

Some will probably not be on board with this comparison, but I'm sure my fellow Bengals fans have been frustrated the last 5 years. Even with those 1st round exits, you have to agree this franchise is in a great spot for the future. They still have a great shot at making a run and putting something together.

You can't let past postseason results dictate how the future will go. The goal in sports to win a championship, right? Well, the first goal is to make the postseason. The more you do that, the more your odds increase in winning one of those championships, or at least making a run.

You can be dissatisfied with prior postseason results while thinking that it won't last forever.

 

[L-T]

Not going to lie, I skipped the majority of your post that went over the last 4 years, because I've heard you say it all before.

I stand by my point that if we keep making the NCAA Tournament, we WILL make some noise. No, not every year, and maybe not as much as you'd prefer, but we will get hot and make a run. Make the NCAA Tournament every year, and you will get better recruits. Better team chemistry. More experienced coaching staff.

Some will probably not be on board with this comparison, but I'm sure my fellow Bengals fans have been frustrated the last 5 years. Even with those 1st round exits, you have to agree this franchise is in a great spot for the future. They still have a great shot at making a run and putting something together.

You can't let past postseason results dictate how the future will go. The goal in sports to win a championship, right? Well, the first goal is to make the postseason. The more you do that, the more your odds increase in winning one of those championships, or at least making a run.

You can be dissatisfied with prior postseason results while thinking that it won't last forever.

You are completely misinterpreting why I am disappointed with Cronin. It has very little to do with the postseason performance, which oh-by-the-way, is abysmal. I am waaaaaay more upset with his performance during the regular seasons and conference tournament and his lack of recruiting, than I am with how the season ends. You're right, you can't go anywhere unless you make the tourney, but if you aren't doing much in the regular seasons, your chances of making noise in the tournament are pretty remote. I know...UCONN did it, but UCONN still had some great players even though they underachieved all season. We have a combination of average players, average regular seasons, etc. That is not a formula for March success. Until he changes something, 7 more appearances won't change much. The Bengals, in case you didn't notice, are having some pretty good regular seasons that keep people happy all season long. Then they disappoint us at the end. But, the journey is waaaay more fun. Our journey with Cronin's teams isn't all that fun, it gets worse in the conference tourneys, and it culminates with nothing at the end. That is a big difference when comparing them to the Bengals.

 

[Madman81]

No teams make the tourney every single year and crap the bed every time.

Just Huggins' teams after 1996

 

[justinhub2003]

Cronins first Press conference from todays media day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ryycMR0Iw4

 

[UCalum08]

Why do we allow certain posters to hijack every thread with their "disappointment in Mick" agenda. Jesus it gets old. This thread is about 2016-2017 season...not previous years.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Why do we allow certain posters to hijack every thread with their "disappointment in Mick" agenda. Jesus it gets old. This thread is about 2016-2017 season...not previous years.

Use your Ignore Feature and/or Report the post in question.

 

[justinhub2003]

Jarron Cumberland is a Big big man.

Makes Gary clark look pre puberty and just dwarfs every other guard. Holy crap

 

[JasonS]

Cumberland looks like a player. Imagine what one offseason in the program will do. Look at how Evans body has changed. Cumberland is going to be a monster (in a good way)!

 

[justinhub2003]

Cumberland looks like a player. Imagine what one offseason in the program will do. Look at how Evans body has changed. Cumberland is going to be a monster (in a good way)!

Im thinking we suit him up for the football team too.

 

[BearcatSpaniard513]

Cronins first Press conference from todays media day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ryycMR0Iw4

Some quick takeaways-

- Justin Jenifer is a totally different player. Will be a factor for our team. Learned what it's going to take to be a good college player. Wants to play.

- Tre Scott will be a spark off the bench

- "Quadri Moore is a different person" In great shape.

- "Cane Broome is the poster child for why we all miss in recruiting and rankings don't matter." All you have to do is watch him play and you'll see quick. He beats his man constantly in practice. Bball instincts of a 35 year old.

- Cumberland- will be a factor for our team. Same path as Jacob. Better 3 point shooter than Jacob was as a freshman, but not the defender. Great bball upbringing. He doesn't take bad shots and he doesn't turn the ball over.

- Brooks: Size, attitude and conditioning are all great. Defensively and rebounding he's way ahead of his offense. Best thing he does now is rebound the ball.

- "Evans was the best defensive freshman I've ever had."

- Style of offense having big guys with more range will help Kevin Johnson because he's such a good cutter and good in the motion offense. Cronin is much more concerned with defense than offense with this team.

 

[justinhub2003]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGk1_yD8rbw&feature=youtu.be


And then troy interviews players

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Top 6 should be good. Other 4 are huge question marks. I learned a long time ago not to listen to a word Mick says in the preseason. I am glad that basketball season is around the corner even though I think we all know what the outcome will be.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Top 6 should be good. Other 4 are huge question marks. I learned a long time ago not to listen to a word Mick says in the preseason. I am glad that basketball season is around the corner even though I think we all know what the outcome will be.

my brother is back!!!

 

[justinhub2003]

Top 6 should be good. Other 4 are huge question marks. I learned a long time ago not to listen to a word Mick says in the preseason. I am glad that basketball season is around the corner even though I think we all know what the outcome will be.

Seriously man, last year must have really bummed you out because before the end of last year I could look for your posts with mostly optimism and a lot of statistical analysis but lately its nothing but Debbie downers

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Seriously man, last year must have really bummed you out because before the end of last year I could look for your posts with mostly optimism and a lot of statistical analysis but lately its nothing but Debbie downers

I'm not going to derail this thread, but Mick's UNLV stuff followed with an underwhelming recruiting class has put me back where I was in 2009-10. I'm still planning on doing a lot of analysis but I certainly do not feel the same about this program's direction...

 

[Bearcat513]

Top 6 should be good. Other 4 are huge question marks. I learned a long time ago not to listen to a word Mick says in the preseason. I am glad that basketball season is around the corner even though I think we all know what the outcome will be.

I agree on what Mick says in the preseason. The offense was great against the lesser competition but as soon as we played decent teams, the pace went back to a crawl. One of those see-it-to-believe-it situations.

LOL at coach not naming a starting 5 but then states Troy and Gary were all-conference players, Jacob will be in there and Johnson is a senior. Hate that Johnson is the presumed started because of seniority. I am sure Cumberland can't defense at the college level yet, but if he gets to that point and is scoring, he should start.

 

[Bearcat513]

Also, is Cronin talking about Brooks playing with Duval around 13:30?