Hoping for Cronin wake up call.

[BearcatMick]

Then you aren't watching objectively. This team misses more open looks than any team I can remember. I'm not saying they don't struggle on offense but they get open shots and shots around the basket.

Exactly. I've been saying this for weeks. All they had to do is focus and concentrate on hitting their open looks.

Also our bigs need to concentrate on catching the ball down low and going up strong

 

[bearcat jeff]

By any account the regular season has been a massive disappointment. Picked to finish 4th in the league and faced with a must win on Senior Day to go .500. I'm hoping the reset of the conference tournament helps this team relax mentally. They just appear so uptight unsure and as if they are mentally pressing through everything right now. It is the second season so to speak and a second chance. Here's hoping they make the most of it.

 

[BearcatMick]

By any account the regular season has been a massive disappointment. Picked to finish 4th in the league and faced with a must win on Senior Day to go .500. I'm hoping the reset of the conference tournament helps this team relax mentally. They just appear so uptight unsure and as if they are mentally pressing through everything right now. It is the second season so to speak and a second chance. Here's hoping they make the most of it.

They'll be fine as long as they don't play nd early. They seem to be on a roll.

Most projections have us playing nova first game which would help our confidence tremendously

 

[TheLongHaul]

Then you aren't watching objectively. This team misses more open looks than any team I can remember. I'm not saying they don't struggle on offense but they get open shots and shots around the basket.

Every team misses open looks. Yes, this team probably misses more than other teams but they also struggle more than any team to create open looks. UConn the other night missed open look after open look.

This team doesn't have any great shooters which isn't exactly a good thing considering they lead the league by far in 3 point attempts. Creating more easy baskets is the best thing to do and I don't think their half court offense is capable of that. That is why they need to speed up the game. Get some turnovers and create some easy baskets.

 

[bearcat jeff]

Every team misses open looks. Yes, this team probably misses more than other teams but they also struggle more than any team to create open looks. UConn the other night missed open look after open look.

This team doesn't have any great shooters which isn't exactly a good thing considering they lead the league by far in 3 point attempts. Creating more easy baskets is the best thing to do and I don't think their half court offense is capable of that. That is why they need to speed up the game. Get some turnovers and create some easy baskets.

I agree 100%

 

[L-T]

The last team on the planet that should look to run their offensive sets against the other team's defense is UC. Our offense is horrific. We play three guards, usually a fairly quick and athletic 4 man, and a 5 that can run as well. We are built to run, but we don't. I would take my chances everytime with pushing the ball in transition off of every rebound. When we do that, we generally are successful. It's when we pull it back and let the other team set their defense that we struggle. We were led to believe that we were going to run this year, but that lasted only a short time.

 

[mplebanon]

Put me in the camp that feels this team misses more open looks than most other teams. We don't have guys who can finish. Frankly, we don't have many guys who can hit jump shots.

And then we have a coaching squad that doesn't seem to change things up and try different things to help the offense.

You can have a great defense. But even the defense starts to break down when you're frustrated on offense. That's what happened against U of L. The players finally gave up because they couldn't score. And they were turning the ball over excessively.

 

[L-T]

Put me in the camp that feels this team misses more open looks than most other teams. We don't have guys who can finish. Frankly, we don't have many guys who can hit jump shots.

And then we have a coaching squad that doesn't seem to change things up and try different things to help the offense.

You can have a great defense. But even the defense starts to break down when you're frustrated on offense. That's what happened against U of L. The players finally gave up because they couldn't score. And they were turning the ball over excessively.

It's risky to ever bash the coach, especially this one for some reason. But, he certainly deserves his fair share this season. Where do we start? Our offense, our inside game, our inbounds plays, recruiting, player development, underachieving big time this season (preseason 18th ranked, 4th in BE)...and the list goes on. Props to him for pulling us from the black hole 7 years ago. Props to him for improving graduation rates. Props to him for getting us back to the dance. Props to him for being a good defensive coach. But, now it's time for this program to take the next step and I'm not convinced, based on what we've seen, that he can get us there. The next two weeks will tell us a lot. We weren't supposed to take a step back this year. We'll have to finish strong to keep that from happening.

 

[Bearcat22]

Every team misses open looks. Yes, this team probably misses more than other teams but they also struggle more than any team to create open looks. UConn the other night missed open look after open look.

This team doesn't have any great shooters which isn't exactly a good thing considering they lead the league by far in 3 point attempts. Creating more easy baskets is the best thing to do and I don't think their half court offense is capable of that. That is why they need to speed up the game. Get some turnovers and create some easy baskets.

I agree. The team's length and athleticism seems to get wasted in a slow half court game. It seems we don't always play to the strenghts that we have. The most important thing might be the players just saying F this, let's stop caring about what everyone thinks and just play.

The good and the bad of Cronin can be debated all day. I think he's a good coach. My criticism this year is that the team seems to have gotten mentally weaker/softer over the season. He's admitted that guys take criticism to heart, so he needs to figure out how to manage that better.

 

[Scheids21]

It's risky to ever bash the coach, especially this one for some reason. But, he certainly deserves his fair share this season. Where do we start? Our offense, our inside game, our inbounds plays, recruiting, player development, underachieving big time this season (preseason 18th ranked, 4th in BE)...and the list goes on. Props to him for pulling us from the black hole 7 years ago. Props to him for improving graduation rates. Props to him for getting us back to the dance. Props to him for being a good defensive coach. But, now it's time for this program to take the next step and I'm not convinced, based on what we've seen, that he can get us there. The next two weeks will tell us a lot. We weren't supposed to take a step back this year. We'll have to finish strong to keep that from happening.

Well put. Unfortunately for him, he was the one that got us excited this year. He was the one that said this was his best team yet, so of course we have expected...his best team yet.

 

[Bearcat04]

It's risky to ever bash the coach, especially this one for some reason. But, he certainly deserves his fair share this season. Where do we start? Our offense, our inside game, our inbounds plays, recruiting, player development, underachieving big time this season (preseason 18th ranked, 4th in BE)...and the list goes on. Props to him for pulling us from the black hole 7 years ago. Props to him for improving graduation rates. Props to him for getting us back to the dance. Props to him for being a good defensive coach. But, now it's time for this program to take the next step and I'm not convinced, based on what we've seen, that he can get us there. The next two weeks will tell us a lot. We weren't supposed to take a step back this year. We'll have to finish strong to keep that from happening.

I believe we were ranked 24th in both preseason polls. It's funny looking back at that now because most of us thought that we were way underrated. Lunardi had us as a 7 seed in his preseason bracket. Unfortunately, every year there are a bunch of teams that underachieve for various reasons. That absolutely falls on the coach. There's no reason this team should need to win on Saturday just to finish .500 in the conference. It has been a very disappointing year thus far.

Having said that, and maybe I'm just an optimist, but I believe the future is very bright for this program. Mick has had just 5 consensus top 100 players here and yet we've reached the Sweet 16 and a BE tournament final. We've finished in the top 4 of the toughest conference, beat the most ranked teams in the country in a season, and beat a higher seeded team in the tournament for the first time I can remember. Our two tournament losses have come to the eventual national champion and a Final 4 team. Sure, there are improvements that need to made to the offense to take the next step, but there's also plenty to be encouraged about. We've had a top 20 defense three years in a row and we are currently 7th nationally in both rebounding and blocked shots. The positives are there.

 

[CaptDale]

I agree. The team's length and athleticism seems to get wasted in a slow half court game. It seems we don't always play to the strenghts that we have. The most important thing might be the players just saying F this, let's stop caring about what everyone thinks and just play.

The good and the bad of Cronin can be debated all day. I think he's a good coach. My criticism this year is that the team seems to have gotten mentally weaker/softer over the season. He's admitted that guys take criticism to heart, so he needs to figure out how to manage that better.

Defense is his forte. Good job there. But it's the coach's job to inspire his team to action. That's part of why there's a 20 minute halftime break. That where the great coaches find way to motivate their teams to come out and finish strong - even if things look bleak. Berating is anti-motivational. In so many post game shows he's called out players for their failures. That's stuff for the locker room or one-on-one, not the press conference. That plus getting yanked as soon as you screw up. Watch the players. If they mess up and know it, they immediately start walking toward the bench because they know they're coming out. That's negative conditioning. He does give credit for good play in the interviews. That's what he needs to do. Keep the individual criticism private.

 

[CaptDale]

I believe we were ranked 24th in both preseason polls. It's funny looking back at that now because most of us thought that we were way underrated. Lunardi had us as a 7 seed in his preseason bracket. Unfortunately, every year there are a bunch of teams that underachieve for various reasons. That absolutely falls on the coach. There's no reason this team should need to win on Saturday just to finish .500 in the conference. It has been a very disappointing year thus far.

Having said that, and maybe I'm just an optimist, but I believe the future is very bright for this program. Mick has had just 5 consensus top 100 players here and yet we've reached the Sweet 16 and a BE tournament final. We've finished in the top 4 of the toughest conference, beat the most ranked teams in the country in a season, and beat a higher seeded team in the tournament for the first time I can remember. Our two tournament losses have come to the eventual national champion and a Final 4 team. Sure, there are improvements that need to made to the offense to take the next step, but there's also plenty to be encouraged about. We've had a top 20 defense three years in a row and we are currently 7th nationally in both rebounding and blocked shots. The positives are there.

You don't need Top 100 players to win. Look at the '61-'62 Ed Jucker teams. No stars, just a great cohesive team. Championship teams.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I believe we were ranked 24th in both preseason polls. It's funny looking back at that now because most of us thought that we were way underrated. Lunardi had us as a 7 seed in his preseason bracket. Unfortunately, every year there are a bunch of teams that underachieve for various reasons. That absolutely falls on the coach. There's no reason this team should need to win on Saturday just to finish .500 in the conference. It has been a very disappointing year thus far.

Having said that, and maybe I'm just an optimist, but I believe the future is very bright for this program. Mick has had just 5 consensus top 100 players here and yet we've reached the Sweet 16 and a BE tournament final. We've finished in the top 4 of the toughest conference, beat the most ranked teams in the country in a season, and beat a higher seeded team in the tournament for the first time I can remember. Our two tournament losses have come to the eventual national champion and a Final 4 team. Sure, there are improvements that need to made to the offense to take the next step, but there's also plenty to be encouraged about. We've had a top 20 defense three years in a row and we are currently 7th nationally in both rebounding and blocked shots. The positives are there.

The next step is to go from recruiting simply high major athletes to recruiting high major athletes with a high skill level. I think Mick has done this with the 2013 class. I am excited to see higher skill level guys like Lawrence, Strickland and Caupain along with the great athletes like Morman and Johnson.

 

[bearcat jeff]

The next step is to go from recruiting simply high major athletes to recruiting high major athletes with a high skill level. I think Mick has done this with the 2013 class. I am excited to see higher skill level guys like Lawrence, Strickland and Caupain along with the great athletes like Morman and Johnson.

I agree with you buddy. Very excited about that class!