@Houston

[justinhub2003]

After weeks of being on ESPN+ we finally get a National game on ESPN and we looked low major.

Brannen and staff have their work cut out for them because they are not helping sell themselves with recruits. They better open the check book and start cheating if we want people to come here.

 

[skyblade]

I think you have a poor grasp on the “majority of the fan base”....and how it “turns”. Jhub has similar disillusions.

Most fans are not fair weather like yourself. They are deeply ingrained in the program and won’t quit at the first sign of adversity.

I have been a Browns fan since the 70-s- 80s and I never quit. If we lose a couple of fair weather fans with no tolerance for taking steps back....good riddance!

The 247 forum and the csnbbs forum have threads calling for John to be fired. I think you overestimate the patience of fans. This is the same fan base that wanted Mick Cronin gone when he was averaging 30 wins because he wasn't winning in the NCAA tournament.

Brannen will get year 3, but if year 3 looks anything like this year, I doubt he gets a year 4.

If this spring is a disaster (say 2/3 guys transfer out right after the season ends), Brannen may not even get a year 3.

 

[justinhub2003]

I think you have a poor grasp on the “majority of the fan base”....and how it “turns”. Jhub has similar disillusions.

Most fans are not fair weather like yourself. They are deeply ingrained in the program and won’t quit at the first sign of adversity.

I have been a Browns fan since the 70-s- 80s and I never quit. If we lose a couple of fair weather fans with no tolerance for taking steps back....good riddance!

I will always be a fan of this program til the day I die. But Brannen has my Fan engagement at an all time low. I will always watch UC games, and in general be an engaged fan, but I’m drawing the line at financial investment. This program no longer gets my Money until I see it deserves it.

There are 2 different kinds of fan engagement:
1. Is getting people to spend 2 hours of their day to watch you play on TV, it’s still a time commitment and counts for something

2. Getting people to buy season tickets, donate money, go to fund raisers and travel for the occasional road game. That’s a much bigger ask. That’s getting people to literally buy in


I’m just no longer apart of Fan #2... no more season tickets, no more silly donations to basketball


I have a feeling season ticket holder numbers will drop next year. Performance plus Covid could truly run this program into the ground.

 

[waterhead]

The 247 forum and the csnbbs forum have threads calling for John to be fired. I think you overestimate the patience of fans. This is the same fan base that wanted Mick Cronin gone when he was averaging 30 wins because he wasn't winning in the NCAA tournament.

Brannen will get year 3, but if year 3 looks anything like this year, I doubt he gets a year 4.

If this spring is a disaster (say 2/3 guys transfer out right after the season ends), Brannen may not even get a year 3.

I don’t care what board you want to point to. I feel the same.

 

[cincyguy13]

The 247 forum and the csnbbs forum have threads calling for John to be fired. I think you overestimate the patience of fans. This is the same fan base that wanted Mick Cronin gone when he was averaging 30 wins because he wasn't winning in the NCAA tournament.

Brannen will get year 3, but if year 3 looks anything like this year, I doubt he gets a year 4.

If this spring is a disaster (say 2/3 guys transfer out right after the season ends), Brannen may not even get a year 3.

Fans are fans. The ones on the message boards are usually the worst. If fans had it their way, mick would have been fired around year 3-4.

Brannen will get a 3rd year. They owe him a lot of money, he won the league in one of the two years his been here, and the COVID thing is a problem. There is no doubt he will get next year. He could definitely be on the hot seat by the end of next year but I think he’ll probably get a fourth year also. Unless it’s a complete disaster. Which I wouldn’t rule out.

 

[sedziobs]

Mason as a freshman looks about as good as a lot of our guards over the years. Not like Cumberland obviously, but the other 4yr shooting/combo guards from the Cronin era would be Logan Johnson, Trevor Moore, Keith Williams, Kevin Johnson, GeLawn Guyn, Jeremiah Davis, Jaquon Parker, Dion Dixon, Larry Davis, and Alvin Mitchell. Parker is the only one of that group who had a good freshman year, and he followed up with a terrible sophomore year. Mason is a different type player - not as athletic or good defensively, but takes care of the ball and shoots it well.

For all the talk about transfers under Brannen, 5 of those 10 combo guards Cronin recruited ended up leaving the program before their senior year.

 

[waterhead]

I will always be a fan of this program til the day I die. But Brannen has my Fan engagement at an all time low. I will always watch UC games, and in general be an engaged fan, but I’m drawing the line at financial investment. This program no longer gets my Money until I see it deserves it.

There are 2 different kinds of fan engagement:
1. Is getting people to spend 2 hours of their day to watch you play on TV, it’s still a time commitment and counts for something

2. Getting people to buy season tickets, donate money, go to fund raisers and travel for the occasional road game. That’s a much bigger ask. That’s getting people to literally buy in


I’m just no longer apart of Fan #2... no more season tickets, no more silly donations to basketball


I have a feeling season ticket holder numbers will drop next year. Performance plus Covid could truly run this program into the ground.

I honestly don’t believe any of this drivel. You ain’t watching a mid level mid major and you have made that ABUNDANTLY clear. If our team takes a nose dive...jhub will abandon ship and take the gold.

 

[cincyguy13]

I will always be a fan of this program til the day I die. But Brannen has my Fan engagement at an all time low. I will always watch UC games, and in general be an engaged fan, but I’m drawing the line at financial investment. This program no longer gets my Money until I see it deserves it.

There are 2 different kinds of fan engagement:
1. Is getting people to spend 2 hours of their day to watch you play on TV, it’s still a time commitment and counts for something

2. Getting people to buy season tickets, donate money, go to fund raisers and travel for the occasional road game. That’s a much bigger ask. That’s getting people to literally buy in


I’m just no longer apart of Fan #2... no more season tickets, no more silly donations to basketball


I have a feeling season ticket holder numbers will drop next year. Performance plus Covid could truly run this program into the ground.

People don’t want to spend money if them team sucks. I don’t blame them or you. You watch sports to feel good and be entertained, if the team sucks don’t spend money to watch them. Call it fair weather or whatever but if your over the age of 12, being called a ban wagon fair shouldnt effect you.

 

[cincyguy13]

From what I can remember Mason did not score a point until UC was 40 points behind with 8 min to go.


When Houston was actually playing competitive in the first half, he didn’t score a point and got toasted multiple times on Defense. This team was awful when the game was on the line and mason was a part of that.

His stat line is absolutely deceiving.

You mean the Houston team that you said was unbelievable, shut down a freshmen in his 6-7 career game? I’m shocked.
I said he could be a good college player. Does that offend you? Is that an unbelievable statement? I didn’t say the guy is going pro, didn’t say he is going to be an all American. The guy has looked solid. Sorry that doesn’t fit you narrative

 

[cincyguy13]

Yeah, MAW had an ORtg of zero in 27 minutes! Keith had an ORtg below 40 in 28 minutes, which I think is even worse since he had a usage around 30. We have to get an upgrade at wing next year. MAW is not good enough to play more than 25 minutes (or even 15) on a good team. I like Mason better than MAW, but I don't think he should be starting or playing 25+ minutes either. And Keith is clearly not cut to be a #1 option.

DeJulius continues to show that he can't shoot unless it's a floater in the lane. That's ok if we can bring in a wing scorer. He can't continue to be a shoot first player next year though. Saunders looked surprisingly good, though he did foul out in only 22 minutes.

This game also made it abundantly clear that we have no viable 5 on the roster. Diarra can't be our starting 5 next year. We have to bring in someone else. I think Eason can be a pretty good 4 if we get a center who just handles typical 5 man duties like interior/pnr defense and rebounding.

Dou was terrible. He isn’t the answer.
Vogt can’t compete on that level.
Tari can’t stop fouling. I feel like brannen wants to play him but he can’t stay out of foul trouble.
Keith look checked out. Wasn’t any positives.
Maw was terrible.

Most alarming part was guys checking out. I feel like Davenport, dejulius, and a couple of the freshmen are the only ones that care. I don’t blame Keith. He’s probably over it.

 

[cincyguy13]

Mason as a freshman looks about as good as a lot of our guards over the years. Not like Cumberland obviously, but the other 4yr shooting/combo guards from the Cronin era would be Logan Johnson, Trevor Moore, Keith Williams, Kevin Johnson, GeLawn Guyn, Jeremiah Davis, Jaquon Parker, Dion Dixon, Larry Davis, and Alvin Mitchell. Parker is the only one of that group who had a good freshman year, and he followed up with a terrible sophomore year. Mason is a different type player - not as athletic or good defensively, but takes care of the ball and shoots it well.

For all the talk about transfers under Brannen, 5 of those 10 combo guards Cronin recruited ended up leaving the program before their senior year.

Forgot deshaun Mormon or whatever his name was. He left also. I think jaquon is a good comparison for for mason. Maybe not skill set, but a player that’s willing to do whatever it takes. Jaquon played the 4 for awhile just because it helped the team

 

[skyblade]

The most interesting post-game comment from Brannen was the "we need to get some things in place from a culture standpoint, that I truly believe in and that have to lead our program going forward and if I have to sacrifice some things right now I'll do that". This is right after he talked about building for next year.

Besides implying that some players aren't buying into the culture, the sacrifice part seems to imply at least one of those players is a major contributor. I'm guessing Keith (though honestly Vogt is usually one of our less enthusiastic guys on the bench).

If improving for next year means sacrificing the rest of the season, so be it. But it's a delicate balance, improve the culture while not alienating players. Can't afford to lose more guys to transfer (especially not Eason).

 

[cincyguy13]

The most interesting post-game comment from Brannen was the "we need to get some things in place from a culture standpoint, that I truly believe in and that have to lead our program going forward and if I have to sacrifice some things right now I'll do that". This is right after he talked about building for next year.

Besides implying that some players aren't buying into the culture, the sacrifice part seems to imply at least one of those players is a major contributor. I'm guessing Keith (though honestly Vogt is usually one of our less enthusiastic guys on the bench).

If improving for next year means sacrificing the rest of the season, so be it. But it's a delicate balance, improve the culture while not alienating players. Can't afford to lose more guys to transfer (especially not Eason).

Id love Eason to stay. I think he’ll be great but if a guy doesn’t want to be here, get someone that does. You can’t have a player undermining and questioning everything thing you do. You also can’t have a parent threatening to transfer after every game. I wouldn’t blame Eason for leaving, team sucks, but you have to have players that are all in and believe in what you are doing.

 

[skyblade]

Id love Eason to stay. I think he’ll be great but if a guy doesn’t want to be here, get someone that does. You can’t have a player undermining and questioning everything thing you do. You also can’t have a parent threatening to transfer after every game. I wouldn’t blame Eason for leaving, team sucks, but you have to have players that are all in and believe in what you are doing.

I don't disagree, but as I've said previously, I don't think Brannen can survive Eason leaving. Not only would it mean his two best recruits had transferred (assuming Harvey does) - which is bad for recruiting. It would also mean we lose depth at the 4/5 and we can't really afford that.

If Eason leaves, it's hard to see Brannen having success next year. And without success next year, it's hard to see Brannen remaining coach here.

 

[sedziobs]

Forgot deshaun Mormon or whatever his name was. He left also. I think jaquon is a good comparison for for mason. Maybe not skill set, but a player that’s willing to do whatever it takes. Jaquon played the 4 for awhile just because it helped the team

Yeah, I forgot about Morman. He doesn't even show up as a freshman for 2014 on Torvik. Maybe he didn't play enough. Or maybe 2015 was his freshman year where Torvik lists him as a sophomore, I can't remember. But yeah, that's more than half of Cronin's combo guards leaving even including Cumberland in the mix.

Anyway, the point is you can't really tell how good a guy is going to be based on his freshman season. Maybe Mason will turn out like Parker, or a bench cog like Larry Davis, or a dud who transfers out like Morman. I like what I see from him though. Based on what I'd read on him and Gabe before the season, I expected him to be not much better than Sam Martin. I now think he'll contribute decent minutes for 4 years in some role.

 

[Queens_NYC]

Prior to today, Houston won their other 6 AAC home games by an average margin of 20 points.

Best case scenario today was a 10-15 point loss. I think what we got in turn was the absolute worst case scenario.

The next 5 games are winnable and will tell us a lot more about this team and their future than today did.

Tulsa lost to UCF (by 7) and Tulane (by 10) at HOME over the past two weeks. If we can pull out a win there on Wednesday then we should be going into our 3-game home stand much more confident.

My eyes will be on DeJulius, MAW, Davenport, and Eason for our remaining games. Those 4 are the future of our program at the moment.

 

[cincyguy13]

I don't disagree, but as I've said previously, I don't think Brannen can survive Eason leaving. Not only would it mean his two best recruits had transferred (assuming Harvey does) - which is bad for recruiting. It would also mean we lose depth at the 4/5 and we can't really afford that.

If Eason leaves, it's hard to see Brannen having success next year. And without success next year, it's hard to see Brannen remaining coach here.

That’s why he’s in a tough spot. Mainly by his own doing, but still not an easy fix. I’m not sure how you keep someone here that doesn’t want to be here, especially when the team isn’t good. Brannen is going to need to do some serious work in the spring. He’ll need to recruit his own guys, along with getting new guys in. If nothing else, it will be interesting. Probably a lot will happen quickly. If we are even decent next year, top 50ish, it would mean he pulled off a miracle

 

[waterhead]

Yeah, I forgot about Morman. He doesn't even show up as a freshman for 2014 on Torvik. Maybe he didn't play enough. Or maybe 2015 was his freshman year where Torvik lists him as a sophomore, I can't remember. But yeah, that's more than half of Cronin's combo guards leaving even including Cumberland in the mix.

Anyway, the point is you can't really tell how good a guy is going to be based on his freshman season. Maybe Mason will turn out like Parker, or a bench cog like Larry Davis, or a dud who transfers out like Morman. I like what I see from him though. Based on what I'd read on him and Gabe before the season, I expected him to be not much better than Sam Martin. I now think he'll contribute decent minutes for 4 years in some role.

I remember Moorman being a lock down type defender but he wanted more. He left. It was a perfect fit for him in the Cronin system but he had other ideas. No big deal. But if you keep him 4 years he probably becomes a good rotational player.

 

[waterhead]

I don't disagree, but as I've said previously, I don't think Brannen can survive Eason leaving. Not only would it mean his two best recruits had transferred (assuming Harvey does) - which is bad for recruiting. It would also mean we lose depth at the 4/5 and we can't really afford that.

If Eason leaves, it's hard to see Brannen having success next year. And without success next year, it's hard to see Brannen remaining coach here.

I can’t disagree but I would argue that we should just wait to see. Stranger things happen but I don’t expect it to. But expecting something to happen is a a little different from making something happen so I will hold out hope for now. Long shot but that is what I am hoping for

 

[cincyguy13]

I remember Moorman being a lock down type defender but he wanted more. He left. It was a perfect fit for him in the Cronin system but he had other ideas. No big deal. But if you keep him 4 years he probably becomes a good rotational player.

I agree. I actually liked most of the guys on that list, only one I didn’t like was gelawn. I never understood cronin s fascination with him. Guy sucked.