A couple of postgame thoughts

[Thegreatone]

- Very happy that Mick was able to make some adjustment and calm the guys down at the break.

- Do you guys notice how often we score after a timeout. I have a lot of confidence in Micks ability to draw up an inbounds play.

- I like that we are starting to cut down the list of who plays. When Parker is back we are going to be an 8 man rotation IMO.

- We are going to struggle offensively all year. We are going to slow games down and pound it out. We are going to be a lot like Miami OH IMO. Rarely getting blown out. Rarely blowing others out.

- Have to have Dion and Cash play well.

- I was really really pleased to see Dion step up in crunch time.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

This team is so much better when the pace is fast....

I simply cannot stand a rebound, cover up and walking it up the court. We are an athletic team. Someone please tell this to Mick, otherwise section 205 at the shoe will continue to get louder.

Was super pumped Mick lit into them last night, according to his post game. Forget X's and O's... sometimes a coach needs to go off. Should probably incorporate a chair throw, that be cool. Snap a clip board? Seen that. Was motivating.

As for last night:
- SK showed he can score. Is he the go to guy?
- Dion showed he just needs to make one to get going.
- Glad Sanders stepped up and made some free throws. 33% didnt sound good!
- Jackson needs to learn to play smarter
- Cash played a terrible game imo
- Yancy didnt insert himself, waiting till next week ill assume
- Chek is slowly showing himself to being solid

 

[rallie25]

This team is so much better when the pace is fast....

I simply cannot stand a rebound, cover up and walking it up the court. We are an athletic team. Someone please tell this to Mick, otherwise section 205 at the shoe will continue to get louder.

Was super pumped Mick lit into them last night, according to his post game. Forget X's and O's... sometimes a coach needs to go off. Should probably incorporate a chair throw, that be cool. Snap a clip board? Seen that. Was motivating.

As for last night:
- SK showed he can score. Is he the go to guy?
- Dion showed he just needs to make one to get going.
- Glad Sanders stepped up and made some free throws. 33% didnt sound good!
- Jackson needs to learn to play smarter
- Cash played a terrible game imo
- Yancy didnt insert himself, waiting till next week ill assume
- Chek is slowly showing himself to being solid

Good points! Cash needs to push the ball and use his speed! He seems to play scared! This team plays much better up tempo! Yancy seems like he doesnt want to play basketball imo!

 

[Butterfly]

I find it funny because of one off game, Yancy suddenly doesn't want to assert himself. I guess all those games he had double doubles, and near double doubles, he had amnesia and forgot who he was? He can't pry the ball out of SK or Dixon's hands. They have to give it to him and not settle for throwing it around the arc. SK's one hand flip passes to defenders make me want to strangle somebody. You want to talk not being serious about basketball? That shit is embarrassing.

 

[TheLongHaul]

Good points! Cash needs to push the ball and use his speed! He seems to play scared! This team plays much better up tempo! Yancy seems like he doesnt want to play basketball imo!

It has very little to do with Cash. In order to run a break you have to have players ahead of the guy bringing up the ball. That never happens with UC. Cash is always the first guy crossing half court. The wing players just trot up and down the court. Shaq Thomas is the opposite and should help next year, as soon as his team gets the rebound he is already at the other 3 point line.

 

[clo]

There were some positives and negatives that I saw.
Negatives:
Way too sloppy with the ball. lazy soft passes, and dribbling around too much and into double teams.
Seem slow on defense at times, although defense won them the game. I don't know if they just sometimes get out of position, or just are not quick enough yet, but they seem a step behind occasionally.
They did not feed the post nearly enough, and when they did, they were lazy passes.

Positives:
The way Dixon crashed the boards. He made some terribly frustrating plays in the first half, but I liked that he hustled the whole time and rebounded hard.
They did not get down when they got behind.
Kilpatrick's confidence. This team need to be confident, and I think he has just the right amount of swagger.
They won on the road, even when they got down.

 

[BearcatMick]

Mick Cronin made the necessary adjustments at half time. The difference was our coaching. We are very lucky to have him

 

[dp3113]

I find it funny because of one off game, Yancy suddenly doesn't want to assert himself. I guess all those games he had double doubles, and near double doubles, he had amnesia and forgot who he was? He can't pry the ball out of SK or Dixon's hands. They have to give it to him and not settle for throwing it around the arc. SK's one hand flip passes to defenders make me want to strangle somebody. You want to talk not being serious about basketball? That shit is embarrassing.

dude he wasnt even jumping for rebounds. im not exaggerating. re-watch the game if you dont believe me.

 

[TheLongHaul]

dude he wasnt even jumping for rebounds. im not exaggerating. re-watch the game if you dont believe me.

I was actually surprised how well Gates attacked some of the rebounds. He did it like I've never seen before from him. Usually if it's in his area he'll get it but never moves out of his way to go for a board. Last night he did on quite a few. I noticed when him and the team got in foul trouble he basically stopped doing everything.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Also was really impressed with how many times Dixon attacked the glass offensively.

 

[ready2go]

It has very little to do with Cash. In order to run a break you have to have players ahead of the guy bringing up the ball. That never happens with UC. Cash is always the first guy crossing half court. The wing players just trot up and down the court. Shaq Thomas is the opposite and should help next year, as soon as his team gets the rebound he is already at the other 3 point line.

So with Jackson, Killa, Cash, Dixon, Parker and Sanders this year, they can't run the floor? I disagree

That is a lot of athleticism. The issue is Micks focus is D. If you remember last year when the team started to click you saw a transition game. Between Wilks, Cash, Dixon, Davis and Killa, the team looked to run the floor.

 

[ralph1950]

Defense wins championships.

 

[ready2go]

Defense wins championships.

That was not a knock on Mick, Ralph. Just suggesting that they spend so much time focusing on defense, they don't realize what they can do offensively

 

[mplebanon]

Mick Cronin made the necessary adjustments at half time. The difference was our coaching. We are very lucky to have him

I think I speak for all of us when I say.....

HUH?​

 

[TheLongHaul]

So with Jackson, Killa, Cash, Dixon, Parker and Sanders this year, they can't run the floor? I disagree

That is a lot of athleticism. The issue is Micks focus is D. If you remember last year when the team started to click you saw a transition game. Between Wilks, Cash, Dixon, Davis and Killa, the team looked to run the floor.

Can they? Good question. Do they? No. Watch the games, this team simply does not run and is absolutely brutal on fast breaks. The point guard should not be the first one to cross half court but that is how it is with UC.

And I don't know how you say that is a lot of athleticism when you talk about Kilpatrick, Parker (who hasn't played a game yet btw), and Sanders. Those three are not very athletic at all. I keep reading Jackson is athletic but if the guy is so athletic don't you think you would see him dunk every once in a while. I can't remember the last time the guy dunked.

 

[ready2go]

Can they? Good question. Do they? No. Watch the games, this team simply does not run and is absolutely brutal on fast breaks. The point guard should not be the first one to cross half court but that is how it is with UC.

And I don't know how you say that is a lot of athleticism when you talk about Kilpatrick, Parker (who hasn't played a game yet btw), and Sanders. Those three are not very athletic at all. I keep reading Jackson is athletic but if the guy is so athletic don't you think you would see him dunk every once in a while. I can't remember the last time the guy dunked.

You're right, we've never seen Parker play......PLEASE SON

Last season up until mid way through they never had a fast break either. If Davis and Wilks can create a fast break, why can't Parker, Sanders, and Jackson? Also by athleticism in basketball, I mean being able to run the floor.


I dont know if you watch the games, because the PG is always the last one up the floor. He is usually dribbling the ball looking over at Mick for a set.

That is Mick's style. Offensively I find it hard to argue that the tranisition game wont help this team score. They have no shooters and the offensive sets are terrible.

As for you last comment. Just unreal. First off being able to dunk doesnt make you athletic. 2nd, we've seen him dunk, so he is capable. And lastly, you made my point. Don't you think he would have a lot more dunks in a transition game????? I think so. Watching guards do the 3 player weave at the top of the key limits your ability to get high percentage shots

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I think there are several reasons we don't see an uptempo style even though I believe Mick recruits guys with the intent to try to be more uptempo. First and foremost we completely forget how to play defense and rebound when we aren't in a halfcourt game. Secondly most of our quick scoring last year came off of pressing and creating turnovers. We haven't done that this year.

What worked well last year was bringing in Wilks/Davis/Jackson off the bench around the 11-12 minute mark and use their energy to suffocate the opponent. This led to very quick points. We don't have that option this year as our bench is still very inexperienced. Once Mbodj gets his rust off and Parker returns and Sanders and Guyn continue to learn, I think Jackson comes off the bench with Parker, Guyn and Sanders and Mick might try that approach again.

I get that the early season struggles are frustrating, but we began this season with five players with any playing experience. That makes it tough when any one or two of those guys struggle (and we all know those five can tend to disappear at any given time). Some will say that's no excuse, but it is reality. Mick is smart enough to know this team isn't good enough to win shootouts. So for now we have to stay slow and try to keep scores low. I do think by Big East play our bench will become more useful so Mick can implant some of that same strategy that worked so well for us last year. With that said I'm not sure why we don't press some with the starters. My guess is he doesn't want starters getting in foul trouble, especially with no bench and early season refs that might have quick whistles.

 

[bearcat jeff]

Nice post David and I agree with a lot of it. I "thought" UC could lose 2 OOC games but figured only 1. Marshall has shown themselves to be a good team but still if UC had shown mental toughness they win both games they lost.

The new guys taking time to develop doesn't surprise me. I didn't figure on 2 key injuries and the lack of mental toughness by Cash, Gates and Dixon or their absence of leadership. This team as a whole falls short in that area and it shows in rebouding, defense and at the line. I also believe it affects them at the offensive end as well.

It may not have been pretty but had this team shown that trait they would be undefeated right now. Mental toughness also involves respecting your opponent and working to get better and execute with big leads. The 4 year guys have to hold the team accountable and set an example. That is where they miss Bishop. Somebody has to fill that void.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

Nice post David and I agree with a lot of it. I "thought" UC could lose 2 OOC games but figured only 1. Marshall has shown themselves to be a good team but still if UC had shown mental toughness they win both games they lost.

The new guys taking time to develop doesn't surprise me. I didn't figure on 2 key injuries and the lack of mental toughness by Cash, Gates and Dixon or their absence of leadership. This team as a whole falls short in that area and it shows in rebouding, defense and at the line. I also believe it affects them at the offensive end as well.

It may not have been pretty but had this team shown that trait they would be undefeated right now. Mental toughness also involves respecting your opponent and working to get better and execute with big leads. The 4 year guys have to hold the team accountable and set an example. That is where they miss Bishop. Somebody has to fill that void.

I agree about mental toughnessand accountability. Someone needs to step up and ideally it needs to be Gates. Coaches can only reach players so far without the help of a veteran to put a player in their place. And yeah they haven't done the little things well. Too many turnovers and not getting in position to rebound and not getting back on defense. Unfortunately we have to endure a little bit of rebuilding time with this team. The bench is young and its expected of, the starters shouldn't need it. Our basketball IQ is too low. Kilpatrick dribbled into four defenders the other night. Someone has to be open. And when he does pass the ball he just seems to hand it off to defenders at times. I think we need to use him solely as a shooter. He does not need to have the ball in is hands. Let him go out and set the screen at the top and keep the big guy down low. Maybe just maybe this will allow a pass to the inside and if not then Kilpatrick can roll out if he loses his defender for an open shot somewhere. I hate that we take our big guy 20 feet from the basket to start our offense and then wonder why he's not open down low.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Keep wishing if you want Yancy to lead this team... He has never been vocal, not his personality. That has not changed since High School.