@Houston

[waterhead]

These next 2 games will give the true measure of this team. The last 2 don't count much - stomping UCF without Tacko or SMU without half their team means little. Houston there & Wichita anywhere will tell us if the Cats are ready for a March run.

I understand what you are saying here...but I don't think it's the only "true measure". I think we have witnessed a lot already but I get it. I think we gotta take a least one of them to keep us where we want to be (top 3 seed). 20 turnovers against FLA killed us but other than that we are looking at losing to a projected 1 seed on the road in a very hostile situation.

What I have seen over the long haul is if we hustle and take care of the ball we can make a run. We have enough juice on offense to combat off nights from a couple of guys. We can score in enough ways to combat most matchups or defensive styles.

 

[Helicopter]

As far as I can tell, Fabian White at #274 on 247 is the highest rated player they have.

I think that cat is legit.

 

[justinhub2003]

I am not saying they didn't get a good look at the basket. I am saying it's hard to rely on step back jumpers or jumpers on the move when there is someone close enough to get a hand in your face. They are capable of hitting some but in contrast we usually are shooting set shots or higher % looks. If we can keep them from getting wide open set shots I like our chances. Shooting mid range and long range stuff on the move is what we want them to do.

That’s the thing though, only maybe 2 were stepback.

They had their feet set, clear looks at the basket and received perfect passes into their shooting pocket for quick release.

Brooks I think had the only step back and kids practice that shot a ton:

We did a bad job of losing there shooters, even if it was for 2 seconds.


Hopefully we do a better job. But it worries me bc they make open and contested jumpers.

 

[waterhead]

That’s the thing though, only maybe 2 were stepback.

They had their feet set, clear looks at the basket and received perfect passes into their shooting pocket for quick release.

Brooks I think had the only step back and kids practice that shot a ton:

We did a bad job of losing there shooters, even if it was for 2 seconds.


Hopefully we do a better job. But it worries me bc they make open and contested jumpers.

Fair enough. Needless to say we need to keep a hand in their face. That is usually enough to make teams uncomfortable against us and throw them off even on open looks when we are closing. A lot of teams will try to get off a shot a little faster than they need to against us and they will miss a lot because of that. Houston has some players who can knock it down...no doubt.

 

[GarradJ21]

What are you guys thinking spread wise, -4.5 to -6?

 

[cincrulz11]

What are you guys thinking spread wise, -4.5 to -6?

kenpom says -4

 

[cincyguy13]

Fair enough. Needless to say we need to keep a hand in their face. That is usually enough to make teams uncomfortable against us and throw them off even on open looks when we are closing. A lot of teams will try to get off a shot a little faster than they need to against us and they will miss a lot because of that. Houston has some players who can knock it down...no doubt.

Good teams make contested shots. That’s why offense is so important in the tourney. Can’t count on teams to miss.

 

[justinhub2003]

Yea and when you shoot 43% at home from 3, you have to be making both contested and non contested 3's.


I know it seems crazy, but a grind it out kinda of game would not be the worst game plan for tomorrow night

UCF grinded them out and houston barely won with Zero offensive firepower
SMU grinded them out and would have won with fresh legs.


Our best approach maybe to slow the game down and grind this team up.

 

[Jon Rycek]

Good teams make contested shots. That’s why offense is so important in the tourney. Can’t count on teams to miss.

But it's harder to make contested shots, that why you play defense in the first place. The more we get in the shooters face the more uncomfortable they become.

 

[Jon Rycek]

Yea and when you shoot 43% at home from 3, you have to be making both contested and non contested 3's.


I know it seems crazy, but a grind it out kinda of game would not be the worst game plan for tomorrow night

UCF grinded them out and houston barely won with Zero offensive firepower
SMU grinded them out and would have won with fresh legs.


Our best approach maybe to slow the game down and grind this team up.

If that's what we have to do, we certainly can. We need to stay playing our own game though, force the tempo on them, not the other way around. I think we can play with Houston at any speed

 

[waterhead]

Good teams make contested shots. That’s why offense is so important in the tourney. Can’t count on teams to miss.

They went on a run in the first half. My hat goes off to them. They were making shots and scoring on turnovers. At some point they cooled off and we stopped turning it over. We beat them by around 30 after that point.

We are #1 in D in conference by almost 9 full points and almost 12 over the #3 team. Any team can go on a run of hot shooting for a stretch but at some point it's going to catch up to you against this team.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Yea and when you shoot 43% at home from 3, you have to be making both contested and non contested 3's.


I know it seems crazy, but a grind it out kinda of game would not be the worst game plan for tomorrow night

UCF grinded them out and houston barely won with Zero offensive firepower
SMU grinded them out and would have won with fresh legs.


Our best approach maybe to slow the game down and grind this team up.

Haha you always do this when you're nervous.

We need to play our game period. We must put the ball through the basket by any means necessary. Our defense revolves around that.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

But it's harder to make contested shots, that why you play defense in the first place. The more we get in the shooters face the more uncomfortable they become.

The more we stop dribble penetration, the less they get assisted looks. That's the key imo.

 

[UCalum08]

The more we stop dribble penetration, the less they get assisted looks. That's the key imo.

I agree. I think it was Caupain's junior year when we lost at Houston and Houston just feasted on attacking the basket.

Our defensive rotation needs to be on its "A" game for this match up. If we are a little behind on rotating they could capitalize with the 3 point shot.

 

[justinhub2003]

Haha you always do this when you're nervous.

We need to play our game period. We must put the ball through the basket by any means necessary. Our defense revolves around that.

I do say that, but I truly feel it’s a good philosophy for this game. Houston hates grinders. Sampson mentioned that they don’t prefer those type of games and it disrupts their flow.

But I don’t think we should start with this game plan but if things aren’t going our way, it has to be an option.

Cronin is all about making teams uncomfortable.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I do say that, but I truly feel it’s a good philosophy for this game. Houston hates grinders. Sampson mentioned that they don’t prefer those type of games and it disrupts their flow.

But I don’t think we should start with this game plan but if things aren’t going our way, it has to be an option.

Cronin is all about making teams uncomfortable.

They scored 70 in our gym. You've pointed out their home defensive stats. And their home 3 pt shooting stats. The rockfight plan lends the highest chance to us getting blown out imo. Not ever interested in playing that way with this team.

 

[juckerrules]

I am not saying they didn't get a good look at the basket. I am saying it's hard to rely on step back jumpers or jumpers on the move when there is someone close enough to get a hand in your face. They are capable of hitting some but in contrast we usually are shooting set shots or higher % looks. If we can keep them from getting wide open set shots I like our chances. Shooting mid range and long range stuff on the move is what we want them to do.

Bottom line is, contested or not, the combined average success rate of all their 3’s from their top 4 most prolific shooters is better than 40%. So, if they get a shot off, there’s a decent chance it’s going in - I don’t know stats on home vs away, but I’m guessing they’re even better at home

 

[juckerrules]

Weird that our 2 highest % 3pt shooters are our bigs

 

[jacobkdoyle]

@Dan_Hoard
Have a minute for @CoachCroninUC? In today's #BearcatsVoice report, we discuss a homecoming game for UC freshman and Houston native Trevor Moore https://t.co/6Q57BHjfMd

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Any updates on the name of Xavier McTrolly Douche? I'm not letting this go.