2021-22 Roster

[TheLivingLegend]

We need to get this resolved quickly so we can get some recruiting done.

 

[justinhub2003]

im through calling for his head. Because unless we have cause, we can't afford it.


So lets just try to turn Lemons into lemonade and get some high level transfers before they are all gone.


I can be won over with elite recruiting. Lets do it

 

[Lefty]

We need to get this resolved quickly so we can get some recruiting done.

Ok, a couple of things.
In response to possibility Mickey was upset with
return of DDJ, I noticed Easons’ mom tweeted
the team had another “gun” back for the Houston
game. Sounds like she liked his return ? And
Eason/Mickey were roomies so maybe this was
not what Mikey was upset about ??
Plus, didn’t his consternation with things go back
a couple weeks ?

Also, checked out BearCat Journal & there is a
link to Transfer Portal. However, it was for
Football. From what I could see, we have 10
Transferring out and 2 in. I know the roster is @
6 times greater for football but don’t see people
freaking out over that.

 

[Lefty]

Ok, a couple of things.
In response to possibility Mickey was upset with
return of DDJ, I noticed Easons’ mom tweeted
the team had another “gun” back for the Houston
game. Sounds like she liked his return ? And
Eason/Mickey were roomies so maybe this was
not what Mikey was upset about ??
Plus, didn’t his consternation with things go back
a couple weeks ?

Also, checked out BearCat Journal & there is a
link to Transfer Portal. However, it was for
Football. From what I could see, we have 10
Transferring out and 2 in. I know the roster is @
6 times greater for football but don’t see people
freaking out over that.

Sorry, Mikey not Mickey.

 

[cincyguy13]

im through calling for his head. Because unless we have cause, we can't afford it.


So lets just try to turn Lemons into lemonade and get some high level transfers before they are all gone.


I can be won over with elite recruiting. Lets do it

Yeah, if they aren’t getting rid of him, all we can do is hope he can pull off a miracle in the next month and put a competitive team out there next year.

 

[Queens_NYC]

I'm trying to find the silver lining in all of this as well. Each of the players leaving had enough individual flaws that no single departure will cripple this program for the long term.

Collectively, 6 transfers and having to fill 9 scholarships is not an ideal position to be in, but with the players available to us now, we have the opportunity to upgrade our talent and add pieces to a solid core of 3 players who alone can provide the foundation for a much improved team next season.

We may not land another guard with the speed of Saunders, or the shooting confidence of Mason, or players with the raw talent of Harvey & Eason, but we can find players with numerous other attributes that help us win.

If Brannen and co. stay, their future success will come down to how well they learn from their prior mistakes regarding roster construction, personality management, and building a winning culture - three areas where they have performed subpar through 2 seasons.

 

[skyblade]

I am absolutely still onboard the fire Brannen train and I will remain there until he pulls what I would consider a miracle in recruiting and even then I'd have trouble getting off the train.

You say the leaving players had flaws, I'll grant you that. You know who else has flaws, the guys still here. Davenport was great in the support role, but between his - at times - poor on-ball defense and poor ball handling, I don't think he's ready to step into the starring role. DDJ is a fairly average PG who can't hit threes, MAW is a three-and-D guy. Almost every college player has flaws and the guys still here are no exception. With very few exceptions, teams win because they have continuity, not because they have 5 flawless players.

I don't know what Brannen's recruiting pitch will be, but I can sure tell you what the recruits will be hearing about us from other coaches.

That Brannen had a grad transfer who mid-year, got in his car, drove to Chicago, sold his car and got on a plane to Spain. Without saying a word to the guys he was leaving. He had another one leave mid-year.

That Brannen had multiple guys he recruited leave saying that Brannen lies to recruits, that he acts one way on the recruiting trail and another in the locker room, that he does not connect with the players.

That over half of Brannen's grad transfers have either left mid-season on been benched for the majority of the year. That every player ranked higher than 196 has transferred out within 2 years.

That Brannen has never had a team with a top 50 kenpom offense and has only twice had a top 100 kenpom offense. That his offense this season was ranked 151.

In year one, Brannen could sell his program on hopes and dreams and get recruits who were excited to see what he would build. Well now it's not hopes and dreams, data points exist to show how Brannen has coached at UC and almost every single one of those data points is a negative. Brannen better have Tre Scott and JD doing the recruiting, because those two are the only to positives Brannen can point to. Except - if rumors are to believe - JD didn't stay because he likes Brannen, he stayed for love of Cincinnati.

Even if Brannen somehow builds a quality team, he has shown he has struggled to pull the team together in the early season and that he struggles to work with the personalities of recruits. Can he change his ways and actually keep a team together? If Brannen can somehow get us to the NCAA tournament next year, a movie should be made about it.

 

[cincyguy13]

I am absolutely still onboard the fire Brannen train and I will remain there until he pulls what I would consider a miracle in recruiting and even then I'd have trouble getting off the train.

You say the leaving players had flaws, I'll grant you that. You know who else has flaws, the guys still here. Davenport was great in the support role, but between his - at times - poor on-ball defense and poor ball handling, I don't think he's ready to step into the starring role. DDJ is a fairly average PG who can't hit threes, MAW is a three-and-D guy. Almost every college player has flaws and the guys still here are no exception. With very few exceptions, teams win because they have continuity, not because they have 5 flawless players.

I don't know what Brannen's recruiting pitch will be, but I can sure tell you what the recruits will be hearing about us from other coaches.

That Brannen had a grad transfer who mid-year, got in his car, drove to Chicago, sold his car and got on a plane to Spain. Without saying a word to the guys he was leaving. He had another one leave mid-year.

That Brannen had multiple guys he recruited leave saying that Brannen lies to recruits, that he acts one way on the recruiting trail and another in the locker room, that he does not connect with the players.

That over half of Brannen's grad transfers have either left mid-season on been benched for the majority of the year. That every player ranked higher than 196 has transferred out within 2 years.

That Brannen has never had a team with a top 50 kenpom offense and has only twice had a top 100 kenpom offense. That his offense this season was ranked 151.

In year one, Brannen could sell his program on hopes and dreams and get recruits who were excited to see what he would build. Well now it's not hopes and dreams, data points exist to show how Brannen has coached at UC and almost every single one of those data points is a negative. Brannen better have Tre Scott and JD doing the recruiting, because those two are the only to positives Brannen can point to. Except - if rumors are to believe - JD didn't stay because he likes Brannen, he stayed for love of Cincinnati.

Even if Brannen somehow builds a quality team, he has shown he has struggled to pull the team together in the early season and that he struggles to work with the personalities of recruits. Can he change his ways and actually keep a team together? If Brannen can someone get us to the NCAA tournament next year, a movie should be made about it.

I think everyone is still on the fire brannen train but we don’t make the decisions. We are just thinking about the possibilities if he doesn’t get fired.

If he’s going to get fired it is going to be in the next couple days. If not, we have to move on.

Also, this post is too long

 

[cincrulz11]

I think everyone is still on the fire brannen train but we don’t make the decisions. We are just thinking about the possibilities if he doesn’t get fired.

If he’s going to get fired it is going to be in the next couple days. If not, we have to move on.

Also, this post is too long

I don't think he's getting fired, so people can stop holding their breath for that. It seems all former players support him staying. The school is going to blame it on a covid year (and that might be that far from the truth) and hope brannen brings in a bunch of guys.

it doesn't seem like anybody else is leaving. So you have your starting PG, SG, and SF, who were going to be the starters anyway. Still need a 5, and now you need another big.


JD might have saved brannen his job. JD might have saved the program.



Also I've gotten everything wrong about the entire post-season.

 

[Btown Bearcat]

I keep seeing people say guys like Saunders etc will be at lower p5 or mid majors sorry but these aren’t your typical transfers especially Eason and Saunders. We’re talking 2 guys who were recruited hard just a year ago and showed they can play and bolstered their worth imo. The rest who knows but as far as specifically Saunders and Eason the idea that they won’t be highly recruited by big time programs seems a bit ridiculous. That doesn’t mean that’s where they will go but I’ll honestly be shocked if all either one gets is low p5/mid majors. Maybe it’s fans trying to downplay just how big a blow losing those 2 actually is but it’s huge. Both would of went down as great Bearcats

 

[Btown Bearcat]

On a more positive note what are the chances the 4 scholarship players we have left stay and coach is able to bring in some legit transfers himself? There are so many players in the portal that he would almost have to try to not get a few legit prospects or even upper class man. We’re not the only school going through this I suppose we’ll see still trying to hold out hope that Brannen hits the unlikely buzzer beater and puts together a decent list of transfers

 

[cincrulz11]

I think everybody agrees Eason can go a lot of places.

Saunders is different. Look at the list of teams going after him "BYU, Utah State, ETSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, Xavier, Tulane, Marquette, UNLV, Penn State, Ohio, Toledo, South Carolina"

Thats the list everybody expected.

 

[Queens_NYC]

I think everyone is still on the fire brannen train but we don’t make the decisions. We are just thinking about the possibilities if he doesn’t get fired.

If he’s going to get fired it is going to be in the next couple days. If not, we have to move on.

Also, this post is too long

Exactly.

I've not been a fan of Brannen for the better part of his short tenure but more importantly, I want to see our program win. I will remain a fan regardless of whether he stays or goes.

I am by no means excusing his shortcomings through 2 seasons and I am not too confident he figures it all out next season - with an improved roster or not.

There is still enough reason for me to be optimistic so I'm holding out for better news right now.

 

[skyblade]

I keep seeing people say guys like Saunders etc will be at lower p5 or mid majors sorry but these aren’t your typical transfers especially Eason and Saunders. We’re talking 2 guys who were recruited hard just a year ago and showed they can play and bolstered their worth imo. The rest who knows but as far as specifically Saunders and Eason the idea that they won’t be highly recruited by big time programs seems a bit ridiculous. That doesn’t mean that’s where they will go but I’ll honestly be shocked if all either one gets is low p5/mid majors. Maybe it’s fans trying to downplay just how big a blow losing those 2 actually is but it’s huge. Both would of went down as great Bearcats

This seems to be common among fans, they will tell you how great a guy looks and is going to be. Then when he transfers they will tell you he's basically a nobody who is going nowhere.

 

[cincrulz11]

This seems to be common among fans, they will tell you how great a guy looks and is going to be. Then when he transfers they will tell you he's basically a nobody who is going nowhere.

i think everybody could see the potential of who mike saunders could be.


the high major teams want players that are already at that potential.


his options are going to be go to a lower school and start and play a ton, or be a back up for at least a year somewhere. that's just the reality.


tari can go start a bunch of places.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

I keep seeing people say guys like Saunders etc will be at lower p5 or mid majors sorry but these aren’t your typical transfers especially Eason and Saunders. We’re talking 2 guys who were recruited hard just a year ago and showed they can play and bolstered their worth imo. The rest who knows but as far as specifically Saunders and Eason the idea that they won’t be highly recruited by big time programs seems a bit ridiculous. That doesn’t mean that’s where they will go but I’ll honestly be shocked if all either one gets is low p5/mid majors. Maybe it’s fans trying to downplay just how big a blow losing those 2 actually is but it’s huge. Both would of went down as great Bearcats

Saunders was not recruited hard... And his stat line this yr likely means he won't be.

Obviously Tari will be fine.

 

[Bcatfollower]

Saunders was not recruited hard... And his stat line this yr likely means he won't be.

Obviously Tari will be fine.

What about Mason? Will he end up in a better situation?

 

[cincrulz11]

What about Mason? Will he end up in a better situation?

no

 

[sedziobs]

How many "high p5" programs are there? Maybe 40? Even if each one has 5 roster spots to fill, that's 200 players. Give them 100 of the top high school players and we're down to 100 roster spots available (being pretty generous I think). If there really are 1,000 players in the portal, fewer than 10% will go to a high major program, and probably fewer than 5% will play starter minutes.

 

[Bcatfollower]

no

Agree. Ohwell