Memphis 1/15

[jacobkdoyle]

Does tonight officially end the "we're better with Larry Davis" debate?

 

[Notorius C.A.T.]

Davis seemed to be a good decision maker in those games, but the last few....wow! What a reversal. The combinations tonight were very strange....and he stayed with some of them far too long.

 

[rbearcat1]

we may not be better with Davis but we certainly aren't any worse.

 

[jds513]

Yet, someone didn't agree with my "bad recruiting" assessment.

Let me rephrase myself, your "bad recruiting" standpoint is one that you are obviously not alone on. Would this coaching staff like to bring in better players, more top 100 players (if that even matters)? Yes. Probably. We would all like to see that. That's obvious. My point was that saying this loss is a DIRECT result from recruiting is outlandish in my opinion. This coaching staff has led UC to four straight NCAA tournaments after one of the worst basketball patches in the history of the program. That's no coincidence. Maybe after a disappointing season should we complain about recruiting, but not necessarily after one bad loss. But with that being said, recruiting is ultimately what drives any program so I understand people's skepticisms over it as well.

 

[GuyfromNKY]

we may not be better with Davis but we certainly aren't any worse.

You think we would have played the same with Cronin as coach?

 

[jds513]

Does tonight officially end the "we're better with Larry Davis" debate?

Never should have been a debate. But absolutely it does.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Morman has to start. Just maybe over Shaq instead of KJ. He is the only one who kept us going in this game and the Ole Miss game. I'd rather have a guy out there making mistakes by doing too much than making mistakes by not doing enough. And what's it going to take for Caupain to channel his inner Damian Lillard? He had to know pretty early that we were flat, so he HAS to look for his own offense. He should've had 25 tonight. It seems at this point, when Cobb and Ellis both have bad games we lose. Other guys have to be up to the task. KJ had a mini 5 point spurt but then we never saw him do anything else. Just stands there with it for 3 seconds everytime he catches it. How is that still happening? Are we really gonna have to watch him do thar all the way through his career here? Or will a coach step in at some point?

 

[UCalum08]

Larry Davis wasn't committing 20 turnovers tonight. A big question for the coaching staff is however, how do they not see all those travels in practice?! What are they doing to correct it?! I haven't seen any improvement in our turnover issues. That is a big concern I have.

 

[rbearcat1]

Davis is a decent coach. The team is offensively challenged. Cronin wouldn't have made a difference.

 

[UCalum08]

Davis is a decent coach. The team is offensively challenged. Cronin wouldn't have made a difference.

Offensively challenged, yes. But Cronin would have had them playing with Cincinnati pride. That game was a disgrace to us fans. Period.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Clark has to take the next step over the offseason. We see he can score between 2-8 just by being a good athlete and having a nose for the ball. But he really needs to develop a stronger all around game. If he could hit from 14' in on a face up J, he could be unstoppable. Then slowly expand his range. I've seen him shoot more 3s than short jumpers this year I think. But maybe it is just the offense bc Rubles did that too.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

John Gasaway ‏@JohnGasaway · 3m3 minutes ago
In conference play Cincinnati's giving the ball away on 26 percent of its possessions. With a normal TO rate this is a very good team.

 

[LeftyRose]

Well the 2011 recruiting class may be worse than Micks initial recruiting class so any one that doesn't think recruiting has been an issue has their head in the sand. I'm still not sold on the last two recruiting classes but it's definitely an improvement.

Besides 2011, 2010 produced Jackson and Gaines. Jack had one good year. Not a good class.

2012 only produced Rubles. Rubles played hard. But, not a good class.

2013 is very sketchy. No Lawrence or Strickland. Morman and Johnson are sub-10 PER (although Morman played well tonight and might raise this figure). I do like Caupain a lot more than some people on this board and think he would be even better playing off-the-ball with a true point guard.

2014 might be Mick's best class based on results to-date. Rough night for those guys tonight.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Davis is a decent coach. The team is offensively challenged. Cronin wouldn't have made a difference.

We gave up easy baskets the last 2 games that Mick Cronin teams just don't give up.

 

[UCalum08]

John Gasaway ‏@JohnGasaway · 3m3 minutes ago
In conference play Cincinnati's giving the ball away on 26 percent of its possessions. With a normal TO rate this is a very good team.

Its painful to hear the truth.

 

[rbearcat1]

Cronin recruited and has coached the players. The game should be a disgrace to him, not us.

 

[Eternal E]

Its painful to hear the truth.

Tonight they turned it over on 33.4% of possessions and most of it is coming from the front court guys (Ellis, DeBerry and Moore had 3 TO's each).

 

[UCalum08]

Tonight they turned it over on 33.4% of possessions and most of it is coming from the front court guys.

Uggggghhh. Just stop lol. So bad.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

4 boards in 37 minutes for Ellis and DeBerry.

 

[Doogle]

I was really curious in the days leading up to this game what exactly about this particular iteration of the Bearcats led folks to believe they would win by double digits tonight. Not saying they can't, because they did have a nice road win at NC State, but this team doesn't SCORE. Every game they play is generally a thrash. Not going to blow out a rival with a team that can't score.

Frustrated with the big men. Blown layups, 5 pump fakes before a shot, bringing the ball down where it can be swiped and stolen. That was horrific.

Shaq Thomas needs to be benched. Period. Sanders is worthless. I'd love for them to prove me wrong, but I'd also like to open the door and find a naked Jennifer Aniston holding a sackful of $100 bills. Neither are happening.

Len Elmore (astute as always) brought up a point that's worth debating: do the Bearcats do themselves a disservice with their lack of shot volume? Are they wasting too much time trying to get the perfect shot, passing up good shots in the process? Does this approach make our players more tentative, and consequently more turnover prone?

All I know is that it would be nice to see the team play loose and let the shots fly on the offensive end. 20 turnovers, 18 field goals. Wow.