I think it has to do with a lot of things.
1) MC has an apparent problem with motivation/control. The Bishop/Mitchell problems may not be his doing, but he's the guy in charge. Leadership from him and the other players are either absent, or severely lacking. This isn't a football team with 80 guys on the roster who he barely knows or sees. They need to buy into him, and follow his program to a 'T'. Easier said than done, I guess.
2) Related to the above, I think the offensive movement on the floor has gotten much better in the past month. UC is shooting horribly, but at least there is actual movement from the players (although, using LS as an example, it needs to improve).
3) Confidence. This stems from several things. Lance came out with fire, bremming with confidence. His passing was electrifying in the beginning, and kind of waned during midseason. His tentativeness was obvious, as he was unsure what to do, shoot, pass, drive? Cash was the same way. He started some games, did horribly, and then got some of his mojo back toward the end.
4) Substitution patterns. See Cash above. He was starting, then he wasn't. Cronin used about as many lineups as the Reds do in a year. MC trying to use different match-ups for different opponents may be a great idea, but it didn't work so well. I don't get the reasoning behind using Biggie and Toyloy so much at times. At some points, UC had maybe two guys on the floor who could actually score. I honestly believe having 8 or 9 guys instead of 10 or 11 would have been far beneficial. They know their roles, and the guys on the court develop quicker, instead of the uncertainty that was far too common.
Wilks, their most athletic player, hardly played in many games. From what I've seen, he's their most consistent 3 point shooter (not looking at stats, mind you). He should be getting 20 min a game, minimum. I will never understand that, but I guess this is why I don't coach.
5) Tourney set-up. I think UC benefitted from the way it's organized. Playing Rutgers first was nice. Close game, mind you, but it was a game that was obviously very winnable. Advantage UC. Coming off that game, they played Louisville, who struggled on the boards, shooting from distance, and probably felt they could take Cincy from the get-go. I'll give MC some credit, it looked like he had his guys motivated for the tournament, as it was us against them. Maybe the Bishop thing worked in their favor. WV was a game UC could have won, but 2 fg's in 13 min or so is just awful. Still, they played hard and sometimes, that's what was missing midseason.
All I got, at this point.
