Early Predictions and Player Analysis for next year

[Amberlycolonel]

Again a good thread hijacked and ruined.

What do you expect from Ralph. Back on subject, I think the program will continue to mature but am concerned with the outside shooting, along with low post presence. We will need both if we expect to earn a top 25 reputation.

 

[mdchick]

What do you expect from Ralph. Back on subject, I think the program will continue to mature but am concerned with the outside shooting, along with low post presence. We will need both if we expect to earn a top 25 reputation.

If anything about next year i feel like we are a good outside shooting team, as far as guards go we only had one guard that could make threes and that was Dion and now he is gone.

SK, Cash, J Davis all very very good shooters

 

[bearcat jeff]

If anything about next year i feel like we are a good outside shooting team, as far as guards go we only had one guard that could make threes and that was Dion and now he is gone.

SK, Cash, J Davis all very very good shooters

What?! Dion was horrible from the 3. He shot 26% from there buddy.

 

[UCBearcats]

What?! Dion was horrible from the 3. He shot 26% from there buddy.

If you read his post I think you'll find that he wrote could when he meant to write couldn't.

I said since mid-season that losing Dixon will be addition by subtraction. He was a great athlete and I appreciate what he did while he was here (especially in those early years) but these guards will be stronger as a unit next season without Dixon on the floor.

 

[Leisuretime]

If you read his post I think you'll find that he wrote could when he meant to write couldn't.

I said since mid-season that losing Dixon will be addition by subtraction. He was a great athlete and I appreciate what he did while he was here (especially in those early years) but these guards will be stronger as a unit next season without Dixon on the floor.

I think we'll miss his defensive presence more than his offensive contributions. I often wondered what our team 3pt % would have increased by if he hadn't played this past year (can't simply subtract out his shots, as they may have been replaced by a higher quality shot from another player, 2pt or 3pt).

Not trying to knock what he did for UC, which was great overall given the circumstances, but maybe now I won't lose my voice every other game when we jack up rushed/bad 3pt looks, usually from his hands.

 

[Scheids21]

I think we'll miss his defensive presence more than his offensive contributions. I often wondered what our team 3pt % would have increased by if he hadn't played this past year (can't simply subtract out his shots, as they may have been replaced by a higher quality shot from another player, 2pt or 3pt).

Not trying to knock what he did for UC, which was great overall given the circumstances, but maybe now I won't lose my voice every other game when we jack up rushed/bad 3pt looks, usually from his hands.

Exactly. Let me preface by saying that I love the guy. I think he was athletic as hell and it will be difficult to replace his leadership and energy.

However, I took a moment and looked up the stats for this past season. He took the 2nd most shots on our team (3 less than Kilpatrick) and had the worst field goal percentage on the entire roster (37%). Also, he took the 2nd most 3's on the team (again behind Kilpatrick) and again had the worst 3pt% on the roster (26%).

And when I say on the roster, yes, I was including all bench players. I said at the beginning of the tournament that he needed to temper his shots for this team to make a run. I don't at all think his shooting is the reason why we didn't go farther in the tournament, but I will say that when your statistical worst shooter is taking roughly 20% of your shots, it will probably be beneficial next year to erase that.

 

[mdchick]

What?! Dion was horrible from the 3. He shot 26% from there buddy.

My bad i mean't couldn't, and i didn't really think he was a top tear defensive player ether, I loved dion's explosiveness, but i'm definitely not crying that he is gone.

 

[User Name:]

I think losing Dixon will be a bigger loss than we anticipate especially on the defensive end. His on the ball defense was very good. His aggressiveness also led to drawing a ton of fouls on the opposing teams. He attempted 164 FT. He also had the ability to go in and get some offensive rebounds(taking some of the pressure off of Parker at times)

Yes his shot was not good this year and he took some really bad shots, but he scored in double figures 30 out of 37 games. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/41875/dion-dixon . In 14 of those games he scored 15 or more points.

That is much needed consistency for an offense that had to be completely revamped mid season. Up until the game after the Crosstown shootout, we had no consistency on this team other than Kilpatrick and Dixon. You never knew what you'd get out of Wright/Gates from game to game and Parker was just coming off that injury. Without Dixon, Kilpatrick/Parker/Wright don't get some of the open looks they get when things started to click.

Now I do think Shaq Thomas is a future star for this team and he will help tremendously next year(although I hate to expect big things from incoming freshmen). Losing Yancy will have to be replaced via committee. Rubles/Jackson/Mbodj/Ellis are going to have to all contribute. I don't have any doubt we'll be fine rebounding but I'm more worried about scoring from them.

 

[UCBearcats]

I think losing Dixon will be a bigger loss than we anticipate especially on the defensive end. His on the ball defense was very good. His aggressiveness also led to drawing a ton of fouls on the opposing teams. He attempted 164 FT. He also had the ability to go in and get some offensive rebounds(taking some of the pressure off of Parker at times)

Yes his shot was not good this year and he took some really bad shots, but he scored in double figures 30 out of 37 games. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/41875/dion-dixon . In 14 of those games he scored 15 or more points.

That is much needed consistency for an offense that had to be completely revamped mid season. Up until the game after the Crosstown shootout, we had no consistency on this team other than Kilpatrick and Dixon. You never knew what you'd get out of Wright/Gates from game to game and Parker was just coming off that injury. Without Dixon, Kilpatrick/Parker/Wright don't get some of the open looks they get when things started to click.

Now I do think Shaq Thomas is a future star for this team and he will help tremendously next year(although I hate to expect big things from incoming freshmen). Losing Yancy will have to be replaced via committee. Rubles/Jackson/Mbodj/Ellis are going to have to all contribute. I don't have any doubt we'll be fine rebounding but I'm more worried about scoring from them.

Losing his defense will hurt but I don't think it will hurt us a whole lot. It will hurt early on in the season, as guys struggle to fit into their roles but if Mick has proven anything it's that his team's are going to play great team D. Rashad Bishop was the best defender I've seen in a UC uniform and I don't really think losing him hurt us too much this season.

Without Dixon other guys are forced into bigger roles or their roles are allowed to expand. I think that will help improve the guard unit.

 

[TheLongHaul]

I think losing Dixon will be a bigger loss than we anticipate especially on the defensive end. His on the ball defense was very good. His aggressiveness also led to drawing a ton of fouls on the opposing teams. He attempted 164 FT. He also had the ability to go in and get some offensive rebounds(taking some of the pressure off of Parker at times)

Yes his shot was not good this year and he took some really bad shots, but he scored in double figures 30 out of 37 games. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/41875/dion-dixon . In 14 of those games he scored 15 or more points.

That is much needed consistency for an offense that had to be completely revamped mid season. Up until the game after the Crosstown shootout, we had no consistency on this team other than Kilpatrick and Dixon. You never knew what you'd get out of Wright/Gates from game to game and Parker was just coming off that injury. Without Dixon, Kilpatrick/Parker/Wright don't get some of the open looks they get when things started to click.

Now I do think Shaq Thomas is a future star for this team and he will help tremendously next year(although I hate to expect big things from incoming freshmen). Losing Yancy will have to be replaced via committee. Rubles/Jackson/Mbodj/Ellis are going to have to all contribute. I don't have any doubt we'll be fine rebounding but I'm more worried about scoring from them.

Dixon was anything but consistent. He may have scored double figures often but it was from taking a lot of shots. His FG% was awful.

 

[Eternal E]

Dixon improved as a defensive player, however I think Guyn will be able to replace that ability next year. He hit some clutch shots and made some bone headed plays in his 4 years. Definitely inconsistent.

 

[BearcatAlum1]

Dixon's offense is easily replaced. His defense was average to below average. Most of the time he let his man blow by him.

PG Cash
SG Kilpatrick
SG Parker
SG/SF Shaq Thomas
PF Justin Jackson or Mboji

 

[Thegreatone]

Dixon's offense is easily replaced. His defense was average to below average. Most of the time he let his man blow by him.

PG Cash
SG Kilpatrick
SG Parker
SG/SF Shaq Thomas
PF Justin Jackson or Mboji

You are counting heavily on Shaq Thomas. A 175 pound PF if the big east should not be starting. We would never get a rebound with this lineup.

 

[ME80]

You are counting heavily on Shaq Thomas. A 175 pound PF if the big east should not be starting. We would never get a rebound with this lineup.

Kind of like depending on Parker our 6-3 forward this year that got 5.6 rebounds per game.

 

[JasonS]

You are counting heavily on Shaq Thomas. A 175 pound PF if the big east should not be starting. We would never get a rebound with this lineup.

He would play the 4 on offense and probably the three on defense. OR UC would play 2-3 zone with that lineup.

 

[ralph1950]

Next year's team has the real possibility to finish the season on a Monday night in Atlanta, GA.

 

[bearcat jeff]

Next year's team has the real possibility to finish the season on a Monday night in Atlanta, GA.

That's a stretch at this point. They however should be very good.

 

[Leisuretime]

You are counting heavily on Shaq Thomas. A 175 pound PF if the big east should not be starting. We would never get a rebound with this lineup.

I agree that expectations are too high for Shaq. He will be fun to watch but any amount of dependable, quality starts from him during the course of the year would be gravy. I expect he will play the role of 6th man for the majority of the year

 

[User Name:]

Dixon's offense is easily replaced. His defense was average to below average. Most of the time he let his man blow by him.

PG Cash
SG Kilpatrick
SG Parker
SG/SF Shaq Thomas
PF Justin Jackson or Mboji

I disagree. Dixon averaged 12.76ppg during Big East play. In 21 games, he scored in single digits five times. Out of those 5 games in single digits, UC lost four of them. Of the 16 of his double digit Big East games, UC lost only 3. As Dixon went, so did the bearcats(Double digit scoring vs Texas and FSU, 8 pts vs OSU)

I don't think Guyn is quite ready to average approximately 13Ppg in conference play. Maybe a combination of him or Shaq can do it, but its going to be tough. I think Kilpatrick/Wright/Parker are up to the challenge and will take on more scoring offensively, but I'm worried it might result in more bad shots like we saw earlier this season in non conference pre shootout play

 

[Scheids21]

I disagree. Dixon averaged 12.76ppg during Big East play. In 21 games, he scored in single digits five times. Out of those 5 games in single digits, UC lost four of them. Of the 16 of his double digit Big East games, UC lost only 3. As Dixon went, so did the bearcats(Double digit scoring vs Texas and FSU, 8 pts vs OSU)

I don't think Guyn is quite ready to average approximately 13Ppg in conference play. Maybe a combination of him or Shaq can do it, but its going to be tough. I think Kilpatrick/Wright/Parker are up to the challenge and will take on more scoring offensively, but I'm worried it might result in more bad shots like we saw earlier this season in non conference pre shootout play

I don't think ppg is very showing considering his fg%. I don't care if you average 50 points per game; if you're shooting 37%, I'm not very impressed. I think the reason you saw the losses in games he did not score a lot of points in is because no one else was ready to pick up the slack. Also, I don't have time to look this up right now but I would bet you that in the games he didn't score double digits he was still shooting just as much and that hurts.

I wouldn't call him easy to replace. I think we will struggle a little at first (not as bad as last year) to find that guard that will step in and fill the void. But I do think those struggles will be short-lived.