Bellarmine Exhibition

[justinhub2003]

I was disappointed in Troy as well. But it's just one game . JJ and Quad have a lot more to prove than Troy. Still I wish Troy had been slighted rather than picker to win.

But overall I'm happy with playing such a good team and I was even happier to see quad come out of his shell, show emotion and just hit shots. His defense looked much better even if he did get lost a few times

 

[NKY Bearcat]

Caupain - 2 for 5, 0-for from 3, 3 turnovers, 4 points 5 assists, poor defense

Jennifer - 2 for 3 from two, 2 for 3 from three, 0 turnovers, 12 points, 3 assists, good defense.

Who can't carry who's jockstrap?

Glad to see the JJ slurp is in full force. L-T doesn't disappoint.

 

[TrillCosby]

It's clear JJ and Quad are the most improved.
KJ just frustrates me, I don't know how to put it even though he played well in the 2nd half.
Other than that I will just kinda wait and see on Cumberland, Washington, and Scott once the games get going.

 

[justinhub2003]

L-T is writing JJ in for president

 

[L-T]

I watch this game every year and first I look at our shooters. Our starting shooting guard....his form certainly doesn't remind you of Buddy Hield or Luke Kinnard. It's not the prettiest shot. Then we move to our freshman phenom, who is supposed to be our next great shooter. His shot looked as ugly as it could possibly look. As a team, we shoot 25% from three. Some things never change. Then I look at a Div. 2 team and see players with absolutely perfect shooting form every year. They play fundamentally sound basketball. They pass the ball beautifully. And, they don't play bad defense. They hold the AAC preseason player of the year to 4 points, and another preseason AAC 1st team player to 8 points and 5 rebounds. They hold the whole team down to the low 60s. And I wonder, why can't we fill roster spots 11, 12, and 13 with guys like this? But, the truth is, some of these guys were much better than our 11, 12, and 13 roster spots and could probably push for some pretty significant playing time if they were on our roster.

We struggle to get even one shooter a year, who just looks like a real shooter, with beautiful form, where when he goes up to shoot, you know it's going in most of the time. Cronin just can't get that shooter. A Division 2 team regularly has a roster full of those shooters and I see "many" Div. 1 teams with multiple or more pure shooters every year. I just can't understand why Cronin can't get just one. It's amazing!

 

[L-T]

L-T is writing JJ in for president

You guys are going to have a hard time accepting the fact that I recognized his talent before the coach did. That's going to eat at you all year! Lol!

 

[L-T]

Glad to see the JJ slurp is in full force. L-T doesn't disappoint.

The head coach even has the JJ slurp now...doesn't he? It truly is in "full" force. I am ranking Cronin as our best defensive player now. He's the only guy who could have stopped JJ, and he locked him down completely last year. We'll see if he steps up his defense again this year. Again, he's the only man that will be able to shut him down.

 

[L-T]

Really!!!! A exhibition game!!!!! Lol!! Was at the game and really liked JJ and Quadri's effort. Thought the best the team looked was when both of them were in the game. Biggest difference was both didn't force things and let the game come to them. The work both put in this off season was very evident. Moore looked like a completely different person. JJ also lost weight. From lastnight's game I don't think it's far fetched to think JJ and TC will be on the floor together a bit more then people originally thought. Really hope both continue to improve.

Thought KJ flashed. . Cumberland will need time to grow. Lots of freshman mistakes. Clark blocked some shots but really wasn't a factor offensively. Will be interesting to see how Evans fits in. I thought Moore outplayed Washington in the middle.

It was an exhibition game for both players, and Troy just happened to play 39 minutes in the exhibition. Brooks, Tobler, etc. didn't even get in. Seems as though Mick was treating the exhibition pretty seriously.

 

[TNBearcat3]

The head coach even has the JJ slurp now...doesn't he? It truly is in "full" force. I am ranking Cronin as our best defensive player now. He's the only guy who could have stopped JJ, and he locked him down completely last year. We'll see if he steps up his defense again this year. Again, he's the only man that will be able to shut him down.

JJ looked much improved, but let's wait until it's a game that counts in the win loss column before we make any knee jerk reactions. I hope he can continue to play well and give quality minutes this season, we need it. But let's not pretend coach was the only reason he didn't play much last year. Turnovers, bad shots, poor defense were things that kept him on the bench last year. LT before you get defensive I'm agreeing that he looked MUCH BETTER, and he will play MUCh MORE.

 

[UCBearcats]

From reading the comments it sounds like more of the same from the Bearcats in store this season. Might as well just flash forward to March and get ready to pucker up your butthole during selection Sunday.

I'm projecting a next 4 in finish for the fighting Mick's and an 11 seed in March.

 

[#BearcatNation]

A lot of posts in this thread have a chance to be gems as the season rolls on. We shall see.

 

[L-T]

JJ looked much improved, but let's wait until it's a game that counts in the win loss column before we make any knee jerk reactions. I hope he can continue to play well and give quality minutes this season, we need it. But let's not pretend coach was the only reason he didn't play much last year. Turnovers, bad shots, poor defense were things that kept him on the bench last year. LT before you get defensive I'm agreeing that he looked MUCH BETTER, and he will play MUCh MORE.

You don't have to hear it from me. The head coach has already admitted that it was one of his biggest regrets/mistakes from last season. What I hope I don't see again is everyone in here rooting against him and embellishing every little thing he does wrong, like what happened all last season. Michael Jordan would have struggled playing here last year if he was getting pulled and benched after the first mistake, like JJ was. His confidence was destroyed.

Contrast that with last night. Cumberland looked horrendous for a pretty long stretch, but Mick left him in, he played thru his mistakes, and then he settled in, started making some plays, hitting some shots, gaining some confidence. I went from thinking I was right....Cumberland won't contribute that much this year, to actually seeing a bunch of bright spots that give me a lot of hope. He didn't move his feet on defense all that well, but I loved his hands. He got deflections and steals, and anticipated very well. If he gets his feet moving, he might be a pretty effective defensive player by the end of the season. I loved his last three. He looked comfortable, on balance, nad nothing but net. He finished pretty strong and won me over a little bit.

I'm highly disappointed that Brooks didn't play. I thought he was one of the most surprising players at the intrasquad scrimmage, and really played exceptionally well. I don't understand why you don't get him in for a scrimmage, especially since our rebounding was atrocious.

 

[2bearcatdad]

It was an exhibition game for both players, and Troy just happened to play 39 minutes in the exhibition. Brooks, Tobler, etc. didn't even get in. Seems as though Mick was treating the exhibition pretty seriously.

Yeah, he took it so seriously that he held out his best player as a precaution and made his team play man all game to give them more experience. With our length, playing zone would have neutralized their rebounding, eliminated a lot of the back cutting opportunities and made it tougher on their outside shooters. But hey, he was taking the game pretty seriously. Lol.

I am glad that JJ seems to have changed his approach-he looked pretty good last night. And yes, he is was more effective than Troy who, disappointingly, looked pretty disinterested. Gary also was just going through the motions a lot of the time.

Not a ton to learn from the game - I certainly hope we see a better approach and effort a week from tomorrow.

Go Cats!

 

[UCalum08]

From reading the comments it sounds like more of the same from the Bearcats in store this season. Might as well just flash forward to March and get ready to pucker up your butthole during the selection Sunday.

I'm projecting a next 4 in finish for the fighting Mick's and an 11 seed in March.

Pucker your butthole...damn that has me crying. Classic.

 

[L-T]

Yeah, he took it so seriously that he held out his best player as a precaution and made his team play man all game to give them more experience. With our length, playing zone would have neutralized their rebounding, eliminated a lot of the back cutting opportunities and made it tougher on their outside shooters. But hey, he was taking the game pretty seriously. Lol.

I am glad that JJ seems to have changed his approach-he looked pretty good last night. And yes, he is was more effective than Troy who, disappointingly, looked pretty disinterested. Gary also was just going through the motions a lot of the time.

Not a ton to learn from the game - I certainly hope we see a better approach and effort a week from tomorrow.

Go Cats!

You're kidding right? Everyone who knows anything about basketball knows that one of the major negatives about playing zone is that it negatively impacts rebounding because you don't have an assigned man to box out. Please explain how playing zone would have neutralized their rebounding.

You are completely making an assumption when you imply that Caupain and Clark were uninterested. If they were uninterested, then they should be riding the bench against Brown. Evidently, the coach didn't feel Troy was playing uninterested. He played him 39 minutes. This forum will make every excuse possible for Troy. Maybe he just played poorly. I don't think a player who has such lofty expectations and is a senior, whose team hasn't accomplished jack during his career, would ever allow himself to be disinterested. If he was, then he's not the player you all claim he is.

 

[CanadianBearcat]

JJ looked nice, good to see, because we'll need him to give us another dimension. Like the idea of him and the 1 and Troy off the ball if he can keep this up. If he can play like he did today our best lineup is prob him and Troy in the backcourt.

Quad can score the ball when he gets a chance, hes going to be the most frustrating player on this team all year. I bet he leads us in scoring a few games and the next game he will look totaly lost

Scott is athletic and will be nice in the press and as a rim protector this year but I dont expect much else from him, raw.

Cumberland was completely lost on D tonight, it was funny to watch. That being said hes got good instincts and is athletic and that led him to a couple steals. He has to learn to not get lost in rotations and he'll be fine. Im going to hate watching his shot, his form is awful, but if it goes in I dont care.

Sad Brooks didn't play. Thats on Mick, I get that its not a good matchup but who cares he needs some experience and its an exhibition.

KJ is still KJ. At this point just hit shots and play D as best as you can. I hope he starts to lose minutes to Cumberland, but he wont till Cumberland learns to play Better team D.

Washington looked awful. My big complaint was his D as well, poor rotations which needs to be cleaned up sooner rather than later. He's forcing it a bit so Ill judge him in 5 games when hes settled in a bit.

It was pretty obvious Troy and Gary were checked out for this game, annoying because youd like to see upperclassman setting the tone but again, whatever its a exhibition. If they dont turn it on for Brown then Ill start to worry.

As a side note, this board is getting harder and harder to read. The no one in their right mind would believe that JJ>Troy. Now this isnt saying that I dont think JJ is a good player and Im not saying I dont want him to succeed and become good, because as I said above hed be in my starting line up if he can play like that. But to deny that Troy (The preseason POY) is better than him or shouldnt be starting because of JJ is delusional. If that offends some people Im sorry for that but all youre doing is trolling, which takes away from people who come here to actually talk about the team.

Go Bearcats

 

[waterhead]

The same people each year get a little too excited over scrimmage and exhibition results...lol!

 

[justinhub2003]

You guys are going to have a hard time accepting the fact that I recognized his talent before the coach did. That's going to eat at you all year! Lol!

Honestly though, you may want to give Cronin some credit for how he has managed JJ.

He made him work hard and earn his spot on the team. He built him back up and he may end up being much much better for it.

Im just giving you shit, I doubted JJ last year, but I also never doubted him on what he could become. Im still a Troy fan.

If JJ turns out to be a star and it means you were right, ill take it

 

[#BearcatNation]

Here are my observations from watching the game without looking at the box score:

Caupain: Played very timid, which I expected. Like someone said earlier, playing to not get hurt. Certainly could've tried harder, but he avoided any injury, which is the real goal here.
KJ: Still has that pump-fake nobody falls for, hit a couple shots...we know who he is at this point.
Jenifer: Definitely looks most improved so far. You can tell he's a lot more comfortable.
Clark: Also played timid. Didn't get hurt. Yay.
Washington: Really needs to calm down. Felt like every time he had the ball, he thought there were 3 seconds left on the shot clock.
Quad: Like Jenifer, also looked very calm. Not sure I'm ready to throw him into a big game, but I'm glad to see he's buying in and improving.
Cumberland: Definitely nervous at first, but settled in. Not sure how much he'll be scoring this year, but he has the ability to contribute in rebounds and assists too. Seemed like he was everywhere.
Tre Scott: Looked athletic, but also got out-manned going for boards a few times. Need him to come in and rebound.

 

[waterhead]

You're kidding right? Everyone who knows anything about basketball knows that one of the major negatives about playing zone is that it negatively impacts rebounding because you don't have an assigned man to box out. Please explain how playing zone would have neutralized their rebounding.

You are completely making an assumption when you imply that Caupain and Clark were uninterested. If they were uninterested, then they should be riding the bench against Brown. Evidently, the coach didn't feel Troy was playing uninterested. He played him 39 minutes. This forum will make every excuse possible for Troy. Maybe he just played poorly. I don't think a player who has such lofty expectations and is a senior, whose team hasn't accomplished jack during his career, would ever allow himself to be disinterested. If he was, then he's not the player you all claim he is.

I think Troy played poorly. I don't expect that to be a sign of things to come...lol.

It's one exhibition. He's played 3 full years for us.

L-T comes in here and starts making JJ and TC comparisons after an exhibition game and has the audacity to ask that fans don't go overboard when JJ has a bad game...nice!