Chad Brendel
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You are 1000% wrong on that one. But feel free to believe whatever it is you wish...
Ole Miss
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You are 1000% wrong on that one. But feel free to believe whatever it is you wish...
The offense is always playing poorly in February, January, December, and every other month. It has for 9 years. How many more Februarys will it take for you to figure out it ain't going to get any better. The defense will continue to improve because that's obviously all he has been able to figure out. He doesn't recruit shooters and he can't figure out a system that produces points out of mediocre offensive players. Therefore, we'll continue to put the emphasis on defense and take our meager results in March. At some point, he'll either change his approach or the lack of fans attending games will force the administration's hand in the matter. This can't go on forever. But, it definitely won't change anytime soon because next year's recruits are the same 'ol, same 'ol.
It'd be a nicer pill to swallow if in his postgame comments he'd mention it instead of stuffing "well our defense was off tonight" down our throats for the umpteenth time.
"n practice, we focus on defense almost the whole time..." Cobb at the North Carolina Central press conference (Go to 11:30 mark)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_ErKKxXIM&list=UU0y5liiwMlVZRPpHANy5ROA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_ErKKxXIM&list=UU0y5liiwMlVZRPpHANy5ROA[/ame]
TheLongHaul
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It's either they don't spend time practicing it or Cronin does not do a good job teaching it.
I really wish we were able to land that Romelo Trimble kid! He is currently lighting it up for Maryland this year as a Frosh. Kid can really score.
Jon Rothstein @JonRothstein 19m19 minutes ago
Maryland's Romelo Trimble is averaging 21.2 PPG over his last four games. Also shooting 21-33 from the field and 10-16 from 3-pt range.
Jon Rothstein @JonRothstein 19m19 minutes ago
Maryland's Romelo Trimble is averaging 21.2 PPG over his last four games. Also shooting 21-33 from the field and 10-16 from 3-pt range.
BearcatSpaniard513
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Remember after the Brawl when Mick changed his style and lineup to a quicker, fast break style team out of necessity? We started 3 or 4 guards and got over the century mark in back-to-back games and hit 90 in the third game. Now these were against a couple of cupcake schools (Radford, Arkansas-Pine Bluff & Chicago State), but how exciting was that? This team will be fine, but our offense definitely needs some work. Friday gave me some hope that they were figuring it out, then Saturday happened. I am sick and tired of watching the ball get passed around the arc. These guards need to take their man off the dribble, penetrate and open up space. Then kick it to a cutting guard or to the open big man off the help defense.
If you were the opposing coach and had our team on your schedule next, how would you defend us?
I would pack in the 1-3-1 or 2-3 zone, sit back and give Shaq a 5 foot cushion of space, only guard Sanders behind the arc, have 4 guys back to help beat the press, go at the steal on every entry pass attempt to the post and focus on quick passing and rebounding
If you were the opposing coach and had our team on your schedule next, how would you defend us?
I would pack in the 1-3-1 or 2-3 zone, sit back and give Shaq a 5 foot cushion of space, only guard Sanders behind the arc, have 4 guys back to help beat the press, go at the steal on every entry pass attempt to the post and focus on quick passing and rebounding
bearcat jeff
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I'm not at practice but the fact is something has to change. What they are and have been doing isn't working. It's ok to emphasize defense but you have to have a workable and efficient offense. It doesn't matter if you hold a team to 60 if you can only score 54.
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bearcat jeff
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That said I do think the team will get better a time goes on and I disagree with whoever said we are bringing in the same types of recruits. I think the staff is making an effort to bring in guys that can score especially the 14 and 15 classes.
BearcatSpaniard513
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I am stoked for Evans, but the guy I really want to see is Jenifer. A quick point that looks to set up guys first. When was the last time we had one of those, Downey? And they prioritized Tre Scott so there has to be something special there.
I would love to have more offense and I think Mick definitely needs help with that along with maybe helping big men develop post moves. However, I think many of us are jumping the gun on an EXTREMELY young and inexperienced team. Give it a rest for about 10 games please...let them get comfortable with the chemistry of the team and their roles.
We may not be a great shooting team but if our guards make a typical amount of shots we score another 20 points or so. Expecting horribly poor shooting nights to continue all season is...well...it's just unreasonably irrational. Don't be that guy that said last year KJ shouldn't shoot another 3 the rest of the year. We already know from last year that Caupain, KJ, and Sanders can shoot around a typical 1 of 3 or so from deep. Cobb looks like he is probably just as good if not better. Shaq not so much. Morman...the jury is out but he shot OK in high school.
We need to continue to get the ball to Ellis and Clark. We aren't going to be a final 4 team this year but who was realistically expecting that? We will be fine. We will get better all year. Cronin may open it up a little when he feels the young kids are getting more comfortable and he can trust their judgement. This is definitely a run and gun team. Even our bigs are geared to do that.
We may not be a great shooting team but if our guards make a typical amount of shots we score another 20 points or so. Expecting horribly poor shooting nights to continue all season is...well...it's just unreasonably irrational. Don't be that guy that said last year KJ shouldn't shoot another 3 the rest of the year. We already know from last year that Caupain, KJ, and Sanders can shoot around a typical 1 of 3 or so from deep. Cobb looks like he is probably just as good if not better. Shaq not so much. Morman...the jury is out but he shot OK in high school.
We need to continue to get the ball to Ellis and Clark. We aren't going to be a final 4 team this year but who was realistically expecting that? We will be fine. We will get better all year. Cronin may open it up a little when he feels the young kids are getting more comfortable and he can trust their judgement. This is definitely a run and gun team. Even our bigs are geared to do that.
We must have some players who can hit outside shots. The 3-pt. line has transformed the game and those who have no attack from the outside are behind the 8-ball. I don't care how many scorers you bring in, if nobody can shoot from the outside, you're screwed. An outside attack opens up the lanes for the post players and the slashers. If you can't keep the defense honest with the threat of being able to drain the three, your scorers will have a lot more difficulty scoring. We have no shooters right now. Next year's class contains no significant threat from three. If you're not going to push the pace and try to score in transition, then you better have some guys who can shoot or give the players an offense that creates high percentage shots. So, in that respect, there's no change in the recruits. We're still not signing shooters. To me, it would almost seem as though every recruiting class should contain at least one thrre point threat.
This year's class has Cobb, so I give credit to Mick for signing him. But, after watching him thus far, he doesn't appear to be a legit 3-pt. threat like most schools have. He's not consistent at all. Our 3-pt. shooters are of the streaky variety. We need more shooters who are consistent and who you can always count on.
What exactly is Mick going to open up? He's been here 9 years and his teams have averaged between 64 and 68 points per game. Some of his past teams have had a lot more offensive talent than this year's appears to have. In past years the points per game were padded by the early season cupcakes. This year's team is throwing up miserable numbers even against the cupcakes (less than 60 pts. / game), so I don't look for them to even get their points per game average up to Mick's worst teams (64.6 in his first two seasons). We may not even reach 40 against San Diego State.
With the defense looking more suspect this season, and the offense struggling, this could develop into a long season. Caupain must be a lot better and Shaq has to contribute like the experienced veteren that he is. Most importantly, KJ and Cobb....and Caupain must find their shot. It would also be a big help if Guyn gets back and provides a boost both offensively and defensively.
Since 1996 UC has averaged somewhere between 30%-36% from 3 pt in every year but two outliers. Let's say this team is going to end up toward the bottom part of the curve of 30%. A good shooting team of 36% will only hit one more 3 given 20 attempts in a game on average. Three points per game...I will take it...but it's not that critical to have one lights out shooter except maybe during crunch time. Several average shooters can get the job done.
We have shot 41%, 47% and 37% in three games this year. Three games we have been at 15% or less. Let's not over-react every time we shoot bad and then act like it's an anomaly every time we shoot good. Relax and let a decent portion of the season pass by first.
Our shooting will get more consistent as the season goes on.
What I meant by open it up was the tempo...and I said he MAY open it up ala post Xavier...but I'm not counting on it. I don't know about you but I was expecting a down year or "rebuilding" year this year. Complete with inconsistency. It would be a huge bonus for me if they even made the tourney this year because I wasn't expecting it to happen. That's because I am a realist...we have 7 new players and our veterans with more than 1 year under their belt are not world beaters.
I want to know who the heck was expecting them to be a well oiled machine in the first part of the year??????
We're Cincinnati. We never expect to not make the NCAA. A down year for us is making the tournament and getting bounced in the first round. Once again, let's not lower the bar and the expectations to the point where if we make the tournament we can claim another Mick miracle has occurred. The experts have been picking us to be fourth in the league and to make the NCAA tournament, so as fans, let's not set the bar lower than the experts. If your trend line is ever upward as most proclaim, you certainly can't have back to back first round flame outs followed by a year where you don't even make the tournament.
We currently rank 304th of 351 Div. 1 schools in scoring average. Our 3-pt. shooting percentage ranks 296th of 351 schools. We're playing mostly patsies at this point. When the real competition starts, do you think these stats will improve? Unlikely. When you have a program with the great tradition of Cincinnati, no part of your game should ever reach the level of the bottom feeders in college basketball.
bearcat jeff
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Did you proclaim this during the last nine years of the Hugs era? I may be wrong in this but I believe UC is one of 15-16 schools to have made the NCAA 4 straight years. That means the tournament is not a yearly given. You have to make the tournament to advance and then so much depends on match up and how a team plays on a given night. Goals and expectations are one thing, reality is another. That is what separates the good programs from the elite. A have a good program we all want to be elite. Simply don't understand your argument we as fans settle. The reality is since 1996 the Bearcats have two sweet 16'a and one was a Cronin coached team. That's not settling that's the facts.
There you go bringing Huggs into the argument again. Nobody mentioned Huggs here and you proclaimed the other day that you're tired of looking in the past and you closed the thread, that was actually a good thread about our fanbase. All I proclaimed is the fact that "We're Cincinnati. We never expect to not make the tournament." So, I will now answer your question. YES! I did proclaim that during Huggs' years. If Huggs had two first round flame-outs followed by a year where we didn't even make the tournament, all the fans would have come unglued....including me.
The history is well documented why there were not more great moments in those years and you know the story as well as I do. Equating these past 4 years to that period is just a joke, as evidensed by the lack of fan support we now have. The fan support is the best barometer of all. If the fans viewed the present as equal to or better than those 9 years, we wouldn't be averaging 4,000 to 5,000 less per game even with the bargain basement prices being thrown at fans to get them to attend. Your argument holds no water.
LOL...I could take your line of reasoning to an absurd level if you want! I have very big expectations for this program (general long term expectations) and for many of the younger players on this particular team. I also have high hopes which are entirely different than my expectations.
That doesn't require me to suspend reality when looking at short term circumstances. What happens this season will not change my long term expectations. I have not lowered my expectations for the program as a whole and at the same time it allows me to use rationality when assessing the current situation. I wish more people would try the rational approach.