OPENING NIGHT! - Western Carolina

[david aka the TYZ]

Jenifer I believe had one turnover that Shaq should've had. The other two was trying make something happen. I'll take everybody performance last night. Just need better rebounding and concentration on defense

Yeah he has to learn and adjust to college ball and some of the things he can't do. I have confidence he will. Hopefully he gets plenty of minutes early on where we are up big so we can allow those mistakes to happen and he can stay in games. Best way for him to learn is to make the mistakes in games to see why it doesn't work and let him make the mental adjustments. He threw that one pass down court where Shaq had no chance and you could see Cronin look at him and tell him, but you know he already knew when it happened it was a dumb pass. Next time that comes up in a game, hopefully he adjusts and doesn't try to force a pass that isn't there.

I was most impressed with Scott last night. Shaq is going to see his minutes disappearing yet again. He, like Clark last year, didn't look like a freshman out there, seemed so much more polished. Yeah he's got some learning and growing to do, but he's way ahead of the curve with only one game under his belt. The future is definitely bright.

 

[ervins84]

Up to 12 in kpom.

Things I know:
1. The defense will be better than what the 2nd half showed, but some of that was them just draining deep 3s.

2. Evans is smooth. Really impressed with him.

3. Ellis/Clark are really good rim protectors


Things I think I know:
1. Jenifer is going to lead the team in OMG moments for great and bad plays.

2. Shaq will play less than 20 mpg come tournament time

3. Our crunch time 5 in March will be Troy,Cobb,Evans, Clark, Ellis.

4. Prob use 9 man rotation in March and will be those 5 + Shaq, Deberry, KJ and Jenifer.

Things I think but hope are wrong:
1. Mick will end up slowing the pace down by mid season

2. Qadri just isn't good enough. Turnover machine

3. Shaq still a turnover machine

4. Turnovers! Not a hottake but they we're really sloppy in the second half.


Final takeaway:
Really optimistic about the year. Lots of talent and the program feels like it's on the upswing.

Just don't get too caught up in the fluky nature of tournament success. That will take care of itself as long as we're consistently getting 1-4 seeds year in and out and always in the top 25 throughout the year ( which I'm sure they will be in a couple weeks).

 

[TrillCosby]

Yeah he has to learn and adjust to college ball and some of the things he can't do. I have confidence he will. Hopefully he gets plenty of minutes early on where we are up big so we can allow those mistakes to happen and he can stay in games. Best way for him to learn is to make the mistakes in games to see why it doesn't work and let him make the mental adjustments. He threw that one pass down court where Shaq had no chance and you could see Cronin look at him and tell him, but you know he already knew when it happened it was a dumb pass. Next time that comes up in a game, hopefully he adjusts and doesn't try to force a pass that isn't there.

I was most impressed with Scott last night. Shaq is going to see his minutes disappearing yet again. He, like Clark last year, didn't look like a freshman out there, seemed so much more polished. Yeah he's got some learning and growing to do, but he's way ahead of the curve with only one game under his belt. The future is definitely bright.

I assume you mean Evans, and not Scott. Scott will likely redshirt. Evans looks like a future NBA player.

 

[waterhead]

The 3 bigs were 21-26 for 50 points.

80% from the field, 80% from the line, 22 boards, 4 assists, and 50 pts

I would call that a pretty good night!

 

[IDC]

Great to see freshman impacting games, our talent level is no question superior to past years.
Our bread and butter this year is going to be getting the ball to the block. We have 3 post guys that can dominate, how many years did we have none?
Mick is going to hate giving up 50 in a half, which is why i never bought the up tempo pace he talked about.
Quadri looks leaner, made a nice play, though he struggled some i see improvement from last year.
Jenifer tried to do way too much, a lot of wtf moment, which is why it was ridiculous to say he should start over troy. But he'll get better. Shaq was back to normal, hopefully it was 1st game jitters

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Great to see freshman impacting games, our talent level is no question superior to past years.
Our bread and butter this year is going to be getting the ball to the block. We have 3 post guys that can dominate, how many years did we have none?
Mick is going to hate giving up 50 in a half, which is why i never bought the up tempo pace he talked about.
Quadri looks leaner, made a nice play, though he struggled some i see improvement from last year.
Jenifer tried to do way too much, a lot of wtf moment, which is why it was ridiculous to say he should start over troy. But he'll get better. Shaq was back to normal, hopefully it was 1st game jitters

He didn't seem all that concerned in post game. This is our new style of play, just need to clean some things up is all. I personally would rather outscore a team 55-50 in a half than 23-20, like the 2nd half last year in the opener vs St. Francis. And keep in mind, we had 17 TO in that game too. It's much easier to cover for mistakes and get guys experience when you score 97 points. Including our exhibition games, we haven't scored less than 39 in any half. Mick seems committed to it, and I think it's fun to watch. Imagine how much longer that game would've had to go without us scoring for Western Carolina to get 98 points.

 

[waterhead]

He didn't seem all that concerned in post game. This is our new style of play, just need to clean some things up is all. I personally would rather outscore a team 55-50 in a half than 23-20, like the 2nd half last year in the opener vs St. Francis. And keep in mind, we had 17 TO in that game too. It's much easier to cover for mistakes and get guys experience when you score 97 points. Including our exhibition games, we haven't scored less than 39 in any half. Mick seems committed to it, and I think it's fun to watch. Imagine how much longer that game would've had to go without us scoring for Western Carolina to get 98 points.

My guess is its part of the plan to let them play against cupcakes because they can afford mistakes. He can use video to show what they won't be able to get away with later. Let them have fun and build confidence and so Mick can see what each player is capable of and perhaps even more importantly. ..what they aren't capable of. Especially the frosh.

 

[IDC]

He didn't seem all that concerned in post game. This is our new style of play, just need to clean some things up is all. I personally would rather outscore a team 55-50 in a half than 23-20, like the 2nd half last year in the opener vs St. Francis. And keep in mind, we had 17 TO in that game too. It's much easier to cover for mistakes and get guys experience when you score 97 points. Including our exhibition games, we haven't scored less than 39 in any half. Mick seems committed to it, and I think it's fun to watch. Imagine how much longer that game would've had to go without us scoring for Western Carolina to get 98 points.

I just grew to like that when a team played the Bearcats, they were going to remember it the next day. I dont think micks goal is to win halves 55-50, im sure he wants more 40-35 type games. It will change come conference games, it always does

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Taking notice...

Fran Fraschilla ‏@franfraschilla 38m38 minutes ago
Cincy Bearcats coaches told me this might be their best offensive team but it doesn't seem right seeing them scoring 97. A trend?

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I assume you mean Evans, and not Scott. Scott will likely redshirt. Evans looks like a future NBA player.

Yeah, wow, brain fart.

 

[Bulldog01]

My guess is its part of the plan to let them play against cupcakes because they can afford mistakes. He can use video to show what they won't be able to get away with later. Let them have fun and build confidence and so Mick can see what each player is capable of and perhaps even more importantly. ..what they aren't capable of. Especially the frosh.

Thing is the vets committed the boneheaded TO's.

 

[TheLongHaul]

I just grew to like that when a team played the Bearcats, they were going to remember it the next day. I dont think micks goal is to win halves 55-50, im sure he wants more 40-35 type games. It will change come conference games, it always does

yep, they always slow it down come conference time. Hopefully this year when they slow it down it will be slowing it down from a faster pace, meaning it still ends up being faster than years before. I'd also be curious to see after 10 games or so, how much of the pace is due to actually playing faster vs. a shorter shot clock.

 

[bearcat8290]

Jenifer I believe had one turnover that Shaq should've had. The other two was trying make something happen. I'll take everybody performance last night. Just need better rebounding and concentration on defense

I agree with your comments on Jenifer. I do think he was trying to make something happen,

 

[waterhead]

yep, they always slow it down come conference time. Hopefully this year when they slow it down it will be slowing it down from a faster pace, meaning it still ends up being faster than years before. I'd also be curious to see after 10 games or so, how much of the pace is due to actually playing faster vs. a shorter shot clock.

Historically this would be a safe bet. Safe to say conference won't be quite as easy. However I would not bet that the pace will change much other than the caliber of D we play will not allow as many open shots requiring us to set up or reset the offense.

I think Cronin is going to be yelling at troy to push the ball all year or until it becomes Natural. We want the pace to be fast as deep as our bench can go. We want to take advantage of our depth to wear teams down.

 

[waterhead]

Historically this would be a safe bet. Safe to say conference won't be quite as easy. However I would not bet that the pace will change much other than the caliber of D we play will not allow as many open shots requiring us to set up or reset the offense.

I think Cronin is going to be yelling at troy to push the ball all year or until it becomes Natural. We want the pace to be fast as deep as our bench can go. We want to take advantage of our depth to wear teams down.

In other words. ..i think we will continue to push to get a shot before the D sets up. That would also be a great strategy against us since our half court D is like getting a root canal for the opposition.