JasonS
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Win and advance. That's all that matters from here on out. Win. And. Advance.
Memphis
- Thread starter jacobkdoyle
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2bearcatdad
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I'm a big fan. Like most freshmen post players he's too indecisive and not strong enough with the ball. However, I really like his overall effort and defense. Cronin can't say enough good things about him - he's very coachable.
He'll help us this year and next. We'll need him to really start to contribute his JR year.
I'm anxious to watch him develop.
jacobkdoyle
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jacobkdoyle
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We do have the #2 current home winning streak. New Mexico State is #3 and they're about to lose at home right now anyway.
Agreed!! It would be nice to see some shooting confidence and ball movement on the road but I will take any win from here on out.
We have done a fantastic job "protecting this house"! We have some pretty good streaks to be proud of at home and making the dance. One more home game for an undefeated season would be a huge accomplishment!
One game at a time. Hopefully we can take care of some of the other issues critics have like conference championships, high end of season ranking, and getting past the first week in the dance. But those don't happen if we look beyond the next opponent.
The only thing we can control right now is how hard we play in the next game! I would imagine we are at that point where we know each game has huge implications. I don't think any player thinks we can put on cruise control in any game from here on out. I hear it in the press conferences almost after every game. The players understand and I think they have fully bought in to what coach is telling them.
Bearcat513
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Loved hearing the team is treating the last two weeks as practice for the NCAA Tourney playing Thursday night and Sunday this week and next. Get used to playing on that sort of turn around, especially with two not-so-easy road games, so when we do it on the national stage we are ready.
AZ BEARCAT
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Three senior games in a row. Last game for Matt Willams at home, he should be pumped.
In the last three games the 5 starters have scored in double figures 13 out of 15 chances. We are a 2 pointer from Troy and a 3 pointer from KJ away from making it 15 of 15. They are starting to play like a well oiled machine. They trust each other and make the extra pass most of the time.
We will need some solid bench minute of course and we will need to execute better on the road...but that first unit is looking really damn good right now.
On a side note I thought Cumberland played a pretty solid game. He can make some passes that KJ either can't or doesn't try. Sometimes I cringe at the cross court passes but he had 4 assists. At least two from drive and dish (including the late 3 from Troy and the almost dunk from Brooks) and maybe a couple from cross court passes skipping the defensive rotations. He has looked good on entry passes all year as well. He finally made a couple of drives which has been absent. The put back dunk was awesome to see as well. That might be his first as a Bearcat...not sure.
We will need some solid bench minute of course and we will need to execute better on the road...but that first unit is looking really damn good right now.
On a side note I thought Cumberland played a pretty solid game. He can make some passes that KJ either can't or doesn't try. Sometimes I cringe at the cross court passes but he had 4 assists. At least two from drive and dish (including the late 3 from Troy and the almost dunk from Brooks) and maybe a couple from cross court passes skipping the defensive rotations. He has looked good on entry passes all year as well. He finally made a couple of drives which has been absent. The put back dunk was awesome to see as well. That might be his first as a Bearcat...not sure.
WAITE HOYT 2
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Cumberland and Evans will be a very nice set of wings next year. Add in the recruits and we should all be just as happy next year at this time.
Not too long after Gary made his high flying dunk...I received a message notification during the game from ESPN app with the #SCtop10play or something to that effect. It was probably about 10 minutes after Gary did it in the game.
That's pretty cool! It was an instant Bearcat Classic dunk IMO. Good to see we are getting some run from ESPN and I hope some poll voters were watching and they see the talent and potential in this team.
It's time to take this home show on the road!!
That's pretty cool! It was an instant Bearcat Classic dunk IMO. Good to see we are getting some run from ESPN and I hope some poll voters were watching and they see the talent and potential in this team.
It's time to take this home show on the road!!
I didn't watch SportsCenter but I guess it ended up #1 on top plays! I am happy for Gary. Gotta hand it to Troy as well...that was a really tough pass to make...it's not like the defenders weren't there. It had to be perfect...and it was.
Queens_NYC
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Among other things, I was happy with the bench scoring last night- 24 points. I think it's important for those players to be confident in their playmaking abilities and not just go out there with the mentality of going through the motions on offense.
I think that will go a long ways towards our success as we finish out our season away from home.
I think that will go a long ways towards our success as we finish out our season away from home.
UCBearcats
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Tale of two games last night. The first half was incredible and we played with great pace. Mick was steaming about the defense at halftime even though we went in with a 17 point lead. We came out and slowed it down in the second half and let Memphis back into it.
It's that type of thinking that scares me come March. Memphis is not a very good team, if we play like we played for that 10 minute stretch in the second half we're going to lose to a good team.
Time and time again this team has shown it can excel when it plays with pace but for some reason Mick hates that style of play. When you play with a fast pace you're most likely going to trade off some easy buckets for the other team but if you're outscoring them by 17 points then who cares?? Pace, Pace, Pace, Pace.....our half court offense if miserable and every time we slow it down and run our sets the scoring disappears, especially if we're not making 3's because that's all we get out of those sets.
This team can lock down on D when it has to, the mentality should be score, score, score, score. Every game set the goal to score 80 points and go after it aggressively. Do that and you'll be a dangerous team come March. Mick HAS to take the handcuffs of this team if we want success in March.
That said a W is a W and another win to add to our impressive home streak. These Cats can be dangerous come March.
It's that type of thinking that scares me come March. Memphis is not a very good team, if we play like we played for that 10 minute stretch in the second half we're going to lose to a good team.
Time and time again this team has shown it can excel when it plays with pace but for some reason Mick hates that style of play. When you play with a fast pace you're most likely going to trade off some easy buckets for the other team but if you're outscoring them by 17 points then who cares?? Pace, Pace, Pace, Pace.....our half court offense if miserable and every time we slow it down and run our sets the scoring disappears, especially if we're not making 3's because that's all we get out of those sets.
This team can lock down on D when it has to, the mentality should be score, score, score, score. Every game set the goal to score 80 points and go after it aggressively. Do that and you'll be a dangerous team come March. Mick HAS to take the handcuffs of this team if we want success in March.
That said a W is a W and another win to add to our impressive home streak. These Cats can be dangerous come March.
We made FT's and only had 6 turnovers and I think three of those were late in the second half in what seemed to be succession. Three deflected passes which a couple seemed careless. Before and after that stretch we really took care of the ball extremely well. A couple of Cumberland's cross court passes were saved by good catches from the receiver.
At one point Troy had a pass deflected (and stolen) and the announcers were saying that it was uncharacteristic. Well, Troy did end up 7:1 assist to turnover, and I would take that ratio in any game. He's about 10:1 in his last 10 games...which is out of this world good.
It's hard to believe Memphis ended up shooting close to 55% on the night and we won by 13...but we did. We out rebounded them by 7 and won the turnover battle by 6. Our effective possession ratio is 7th in the country according to teamrankings...and I'm not really sure what all the factors in that metric are.
At one point Troy had a pass deflected (and stolen) and the announcers were saying that it was uncharacteristic. Well, Troy did end up 7:1 assist to turnover, and I would take that ratio in any game. He's about 10:1 in his last 10 games...which is out of this world good.
It's hard to believe Memphis ended up shooting close to 55% on the night and we won by 13...but we did. We out rebounded them by 7 and won the turnover battle by 6. Our effective possession ratio is 7th in the country according to teamrankings...and I'm not really sure what all the factors in that metric are.
We are also #10 in extra scoring chances in the NCAA. I assume these stats have a lot to do with turnover margin and rebounding (especially offensive).
Troy may not be shooting well on the year but it's still nice to know he can make a bucket (or two) in crunch time. This season is probably the best assist to turnover ratio by any UC point guard in the last 25 years....maybe 50....maybe ever IDK. Maybe I'm wrong who knows...but it's damn good.
If he can just get that shooting going just a little the sky is the limit for this team.
If he can just get that shooting going just a little the sky is the limit for this team.
I know a lot of people tend to look at Troy and say he's not breaking down defenses off the dribble like other guards. But if you watch closely (and Cronin has pointed this out) Troy get's into creases where the defense has to make a decision. That can be right at the shoulder of the FT line where Troy will get two guys on him and make the pass over the top back to a guy like Clark who has been left open causing the D to scramble a bit to recover. This creates the option of starting extra passes. Some will say it's boring but it's actually a beautiful thing to have a taller guard be able to pass OVER the defender like that. We used to run the give and go with Ellis where Troy would dribble to the point where two defenders had to be on him and then Ellis would break towards the bucket and Troy would pass over the top.
Other guards will have to break defenders down off the dribble...but I'm not sure either is better than the other really. Having a tall guard just dribble to the soft spot creates a lot of opportunity as well.
2bearcatdad
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Mick didn't slow down the pace until the 6 minute mark or so to try to limit the number of remaining possessions. The majority of the comeback was a result of our complacency on defense and we stopped making shots at our end of the court.
UCBearcats
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I'm going to disagree with you, was at the game and listened to Mick's post game comments. Mick addressed the lack of defense with his team at the half (despite being up 17) and we came out in the second half playing the same way we did in the first. Gary's huge dunk and one put us up 21 points with with 18 minutes left. We gave up a few easy buckets shortly after and Mick was steamed on the sidelines and made some lineup changes. Shortly after that we stopped running and went into turtle mode.
We wound up winning the game and clearly Mick knows what he's doing when it comes to teaching defense and toughness. My concern is Mick's mentality that giving up buckets is unacceptable regardless of how much we're pouring it on on the other end. When the team plays fast Mick craves slow, and that concerns me. IMO we'd be better off if Mick would allow the team to play fast and free and reel them in only when necessary. No reason to meddle with success when you're stomping a team in the second half. If Mick does that against good competition in March we'll lose, it's simple as that.