Midnight Madness

[Nati lite]

Do you think Coach Brannen will bring back Midnight Madness? I'm not sure if it was a coach decision or a University decision but I would very much like to see them bring this event back.

 

[jbreeds1]

Do you think Coach Brannen will bring back Midnight Madness? I'm not sure if it was a coach decision or a University decision but I would very much like to see them bring this event back.

I tweeted Chad Brendal asking him the same thing yesterday. He hasn't responded.
It was always one of my favorite events to attend. Especially if we landed a big time recruit.
I really do hope they bring it back.

 

[Nati lite]

I tweeted Chad Brendal asking him the same thing yesterday. He hasn't responded.
It was always one of my favorite events to attend. Especially if we landed a big time recruit.
I really do hope they bring it back.

I think it's a nice recruiting tool as well. Get some of the recruits to schedule their visits that night like Kentucky and Indiana do all the time.

 

[A_O]

Great to see that it's back after 15 years... October 4th!
If I didn't live in southeast Asia, I'd be there!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=87lc7qZ7AEE

 

[TheShoeFits]

Midnight Madness is the same night UCF comes to Nippert.

 

[Amberlycolonel]

I'll be there

 

[Nati lite]

We will be going to the football game before and then head over to the Shoe afterwards. Does anyone know if there will be any recruits in attendance?

 

[itsamemario]

We will be going to the football game before and then head over to the Shoe afterwards. Does anyone know if there will be any recruits in attendance?

Tari Eason

 

[mdchick]

Excited to see Zach Harvey he looks super athletic, he will be a star here

 

[Lawrugby]

They must have changed the timing of the UCF game which is a good thing for us since we mopped up on national TV prime time. That said I bet I am not the only one worried about Cumberland not practicing and Brannen apparently not knowing what is going on with him. That is ominous for our prospects next year.

 

[sirthought]

Yeah, his press meeting wasn't a good look as far as the information he provided. The Vogt new s was a positive overall, but not being able to explain more of the injuries is kind of lame. Especially when the best player is having such trouble.

I'm excited to see some of the younger players he's brought in, but without Cumberland playing well this team will be fighting an uphill battle all season. Really not happy to hear Moore and Prince have also not been practicing with the team. I guess we'll really see a new look Bearcats.

 

[sirthought]

They've put the Midnight Madness on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvh8ky9QRRc


LOL It was hardly madness. I know it's just supposed to be a scrimmage for fans but the quality of play has me a bit concerned. Luckily it's early and coach has time to work the players into shape. Mostly concerned with outside shooting, but the lack of effort from Vogt and Scarolla was alarming.

Big lack of movement on defense. Too much watching from everyone. Scott was a bright spot as far as effort, but he still struggled to dunk more than once. Can't understand that with his level of experience. We need finishers on the inside.

I try to balance negative and positive. This wasn't a real game and they've just started. I just expected to see guys looking a little more polished than this.

 

[skyblade]

They've put the Midnight Madness on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvh8ky9QRRc


LOL It was hardly madness. I know it's just supposed to be a scrimmage for fans but the quality of play has me a bit concerned. Luckily it's early and coach has time to work the players into shape. Mostly concerned with outside shooting, but the lack of effort from Vogt and Scarolla was alarming.

Big lack of movement on defense. Too much watching from everyone. Scott was a bright spot as far as effort, but he still struggled to dunk more than once. Can't understand that with his level of experience. We need finishers on the inside.

I try to balance negative and positive. This wasn't a real game and they've just started. I just expected to see guys looking a little more polished than this.

I've mostly been seeing positive takes on the scrimmage. I don't think we saw enough to really take anything from it.

The lack of D was likely more of a result of tired players and treating it as an exhibition. I will at least hope it was until we see them play in a real game.

The lack of outside shooting could be a real concern. McNeal is historically a bad 3 point shooter and Williams isn't much better. If those were two of the best we could send up for the 3-point contest, we may have issues from the 3 point line (outside of the Cumberlands who can drain it from anywhere). Diarra from 3 was a good sign and we know Tre can shoot if he's open. But again, tired players and exhibition.

I expect the lack of polish to be there early in the year. We have so many new players and a new system. Expect more defensive miscues and more turnovers on offense. Have to hope that the more aggressive style makes up for those by generating more points.

 

[TheLongHaul]

They've put the Midnight Madness on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvh8ky9QRRc


LOL It was hardly madness. I know it's just supposed to be a scrimmage for fans but the quality of play has me a bit concerned. Luckily it's early and coach has time to work the players into shape. Mostly concerned with outside shooting, but the lack of effort from Vogt and Scarolla was alarming.

Big lack of movement on defense. Too much watching from everyone. Scott was a bright spot as far as effort, but he still struggled to dunk more than once. Can't understand that with his level of experience. We need finishers on the inside.

I try to balance negative and positive. This wasn't a real game and they've just started. I just expected to see guys looking a little more polished than this.

Per Brannen, the team had a pretty tough practice earlier in the day and said the team would be sluggish. After a tough practice and a UCF game that they all attended, I doubt they were as excited about the scrimmage as us fans...Not only that the team already has a number of players injured, they really can't afford to lose anyone else so it's not worth it for a scrimmage like that.

 

[TheLongHaul]

I've mostly been seeing positive takes on the scrimmage. I don't think we saw enough to really take anything from it.

The lack of D was likely more of a result of tired players and treating it as an exhibition. I will at least hope it was until we see them play in a real game.

The lack of outside shooting could be a real concern. McNeal is historically a bad 3 point shooter and Williams isn't much better. If those were two of the best we could send up for the 3-point contest, we may have issues from the 3 point line (outside of the Cumberlands who can drain it from anywhere). Diarra from 3 was a good sign and we know Tre can shoot if he's open. But again, tired players and exhibition.

I expect the lack of polish to be there early in the year. We have so many new players and a new system. Expect more defensive miscues and more turnovers on offense. Have to hope that the more aggressive style makes up for those by generating more points.

lol, you crack me up Skyblade. McNeal is a historically bad 3 point shooter by shooting 28%, 32%, and 38% in his first three years, while "we know Tre can shoot if he is open". Not exactly sure who you are referring to as Tre, but Tre(vor) was 27% and 31% while Tre(von) shouldn't really even be in the discussion for 3 pointers considering last year was the only year he's ever shot the 3, and only attempted 39 all year.

 

[skyblade]

lol, you crack me up Skyblade. McNeal is a historically bad 3 point shooter by shooting 28%, 32%, and 38% in his first three years, while "we know Tre can shoot if he is open". Not exactly sure who you are referring to as Tre, but Tre(vor) was 27% and 31% while Tre(von) shouldn't really even be in the discussion for 3 pointers considering last year was the only year he's ever shot the 3, and only attempted 39 all year.

I like how you put the shooting percentages in non-temporal order to make it look like he's been improving. McNeal in D1 competition has shot 28% (2015-16) and 31.5% (2017-18), both on high-volume. At the community college level he shot 38% (in 2016-17), but I have a suspicion that he wasn't facing good defense. McNeal is historically a high-volume, low-percentage three point shooter, nothing about midnight madness made it look like that will change.

I was referring to Scott, and yes I think he has shown he can knock down open jumpers/threes at a reasonable rate. He shot only 31% from three, but he's shown enough to force defenses to stretch to guard him. He doesn't have to shoot at a high volume as a big, just has to be able to knock down open shots so the D can't leave him to collapse inside (same is true for Diarra).

 

[jbreeds1]

It might be a bit silly to extrapolate our future successes from a midnight madness scrimmage. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Alum2013]

It might be a bit silly to extrapolate our future successes from a midnight madness scrimmage. Just my 2 cents.

Skyblade has been waiting months to have something to complain about once his Brannen can't recruit and Mick is the best ever argument stalled out.

 

[waterhead]

I like how you put the shooting percentages in non-temporal order to make it look like he's been improving. McNeal in D1 competition has shot 28% (2015-16) and 31.5% (2017-18), both on high-volume. At the community college level he shot 38% (in 2016-17), but I have a suspicion that he wasn't facing good defense. McNeal is historically a high-volume, low-percentage three point shooter, nothing about midnight madness made it look like that will change.

I was referring to Scott, and yes I think he has shown he can knock down open jumpers/threes at a reasonable rate. He shot only 31% from three, but he's shown enough to force defenses to stretch to guard him. He doesn't have to shoot at a high volume as a big, just has to be able to knock down open shots so the D can't leave him to collapse inside (same is true for Diarra).

We have two legit verified shooters on the team with the same last name. If we can get one more medium/high volume guy in that 35% plus range (Harvey/ Moore/McNeal) it should help a lot...even if the rest are around 30%. We have to be able to drive the ball since we will have a lack of low block scoring. We are going to need two shooters on the floor which creates some lineup issues.

Obviously Jarron and Keith and Scott will be out there starting. It looks like McNeal has a good chance. It would be nice to get Jaevin out there as an extra shooter but we may have to put Sorolla or Vogt on the floor. In order to get our shooters on the floor we will have to either play small or possibly play without a true PG.

We are going to see a lot of variation in the early year. We could see one big or two bigs. We could see a PG or no true PG on the floor. The move to let Vogt play this year tells me Brannen may not use as much of the small ball scenario as I would like with where our talent lies...but who knows. If we play a lot of small ball I would think Sorolla, Scott, and Diara would have been enough to get by.

 

[Emperor Snapper]

We have two legit verified shooters on the team with the same last name. If we can get one more medium/high volume guy in that 35% plus range (Harvey/ Moore/McNeal) it should help a lot...even if the rest are around 30%. We have to be able to drive the ball since we will have a lack of low block scoring. We are going to need two shooters on the floor which creates some lineup issues.

Obviously Jarron and Keith and Scott will be out there starting. It looks like McNeal has a good chance. It would be nice to get Jaevin out there as an extra shooter but we may have to put Sorolla or Vogt on the floor. In order to get our shooters on the floor we will have to either play small or possibly play without a true PG.

We are going to see a lot of variation in the early year. We could see one big or two bigs. We could see a PG or no true PG on the floor. The move to let Vogt play this year tells me Brannen may not use as much of the small ball scenario as I would like with where our talent lies...but who knows. If we play a lot of small ball I would think Sorolla, Scott, and Diara would have been enough to get by.

Personally, I would like to see them try "no true point guard and no true center" lineups. I think Cumberland, Cumberland, Williams, Scott, Harvey would be the most talented lineup they could field. Nova won a title in 2016 starting 4 guards that were 6'3, 6'3, 6'5, and 6'6 along with a single big man. Swapping out one of the guards for a true PG would also be a quality lineup, but Scott should be a C more often than not.

There would be a problem with rim protection, but aside form Diarra I don't think this team has a rim protector whose flaws don't overwhelm the benefits. The 7-footers should be mostly watching if this team is going to be any good.