Our Offense

[Bearcat04]

It's not all about effort. There are numerous teams that give great effort but aren't great offensive rebounding teams....It's not a good thing to rely on. Mick needs to focus more on offensive efficiency. Pitt is second in the conference in defensive rebounding. Relying on offensive rebounding against them is a bad, bad strategy.

It was a one possession game with under 2 minutes left because they didn't score a single field goal for almost the last 10 minutes of the game. Rebounding is not the issue.

They got 40% of their misses in the first game against Pitt, so it was not a bad, bad strategy. You have to play to your strengths. If you can't even produce at something you are great at then the coach should be pissed.

Offensive rebounding is not a good thing to rely on? The last 5 national champions have all been in the top 25 of OR%. I believe Kansas was the lowest at #22. You are right. Who cares about extra possessions?

 

[TheLongHaul]

They got 40% of their misses in the first game against Pitt, so it was not a bad, bad strategy. You have to play to your strengths. If you can't even produce at something you are great at then the coach should be pissed.

Offensive rebounding is not a good thing to rely on? The last 5 national champions have all been in the top 25 of OR%. I believe Kansas was the lowest at #22. You are right. Who cares about extra possessions?

UC got four more offensive rebounds in the first game. That isn't a substantially higher number. The reason they won and scored in the 70's the first game is they attacked the basket and made somewhere around 25 ft's. It wasn't because they got four more offensive rebounds.

There is a difference between being good at it and relying on it. UC relies on it. UK didn't rely on it last year.....And if UC can't score in a half court those extra possessions don't mean as much.

But no, the offense if fine, just need to improve the offensive rebounding a little.

 

[Bearcat04]

UC got four more offensive rebounds in the first game. That isn't a substantially higher number. The reason they won and scored in the 70's the first game is they attacked the basket and made somewhere around 25 ft's. It wasn't because they got four more offensive rebounds.

There is a difference between being good at it and relying on it. UC relies on it. UK didn't rely on it last year.....And if UC can't score in a half court those extra possessions don't mean as much.

But no, the offense if fine, just need to improve the offensive rebounding a little.

You must have watched a completely different game than I did. Four offensive rebounds (3 by Nyarsuk) in final 8 minutes were a huge reason why we won that game. We took nearly another 2 minutes off of the clock and we scored after each of those offensive rebounds to keep Pitt from cutting the lead to 3 or 4.

The OR% is more indicative to offensive rebounding success than simply the total number. Right now we are at 40.1%, which is 6th best in the country. Grabbing 22% in an important home game is unacceptable when it's one of the best things you do on the court.

 

[JumpinJack5]

UC got four more offensive rebounds in the first game. That isn't a substantially higher number. The reason they won and scored in the 70's the first game is they attacked the basket and made somewhere around 25 ft's. It wasn't because they got four more offensive rebounds.

There is a difference between being good at it and relying on it. UC relies on it. UK didn't rely on it last year.....And if UC can't score in a half court those extra possessions don't mean as much.

But no, the offense if fine, just need to improve the offensive rebounding a little.

Got to focus less on defense. Defense is very important, but you can't teach players to have great offensive skills-you can improve them, but part of it is God-given. Defense, while some people are naturally good defenders, can be taught. To turn this team around, Mick must focus at least 90% of his efforts on offense, because I don't see very many Sweet 16 teams that only score 50-55 points per game (I know we average more than this, but if our offense continues to be as bad as its been recently, this is a possibility).

 

[TheLongHaul]

You must have watched a completely different game than I did. Four offensive rebounds (3 by Nyarsuk) in final 8 minutes were a huge reason why we won that game. We took nearly another 2 minutes off of the clock and we scored after each of those offensive rebounds to keep Pitt from cutting the lead to 3 or 4.

The OR% is more indicative to offensive rebounding success than simply the total number. Right now we are at 40.1%, which is 6th best in the country. Grabbing 22% in an important home game is unacceptable when it's one of the best things you do on the court.

So they are 6th in the nation in OR% but 100th in the nation in scoring offense. Where is the correlation?

 

[Bearcat04]

So they are 6th in the nation in OR% but 100th in the nation in scoring offense. Where is the correlation?

If they were an average offensive rebounding team it would be a lot closer to 200 in scoring offense. It's not a good shooting team at all. Open shots, layups, it doesn't seem to matter. Good thing they do a good job of going after their own misses. When it's one of the few things you do right offensively you can't afford to let that effort level slip. Your strengths better show up in the box score. That's why Mick referenced it after the game.

 

[TheLongHaul]

If they were an average offensive rebounding team it would be a lot closer to 200 in scoring offense. It's not a good shooting team at all. Open shots, layups, it doesn't seem to matter. Good thing they do a good job of going after their own misses. When it's one of the few things you do right offensively you can't afford to let that effort level slip. Your strengths better show up in the box score. That's why Mick referenced it after the game.

What are their stats for second chance points? An offensive rebound doesn't do any good (in most circumstances) if it doesn't lead to points.

I have no problem addressing when they don't play to their strengths but I wish they would focus a little more on improving their weaknesses.

 

[Bearcat04]

What are their stats for second chance points? An offensive rebound doesn't do any good (in most circumstances) if it doesn't lead to points.

I have no problem addressing when they don't play to their strengths but I wish they would focus a little more on improving their weaknesses.

Not sure. That would be a great stat to look at though. Yes, not every offensive rebound leads to points, but collectively it does give them a lot more chances to put points on the board, which they desperately need.

I wish they improved their weakness too. No argument there.

 

[bearcat jeff]

5 straight games with under 60 points scored. Something has to change and quick.

 

[cincycpaw]

5 straight games with under 60 points scored. Something has to change and quick.

Short and sweet....and 100% correct. This season is in a tailspin.

 

[bearcat jeff]

Good article by Paul Dehner:

http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2013/02/discussing-cashmere-wright-with-mick-cronin.html

 

[cincycpaw]

Good article by Paul Dehner:

http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2013/02/discussing-cashmere-wright-with-mick-cronin.html

The bottom line is there is no one else anyhow.

 

[kg5]

They had good looks, they just need to go down. would love to see more ball movement and cuts
but all in all..... shots are just not falling.

 

[westsidecat]

disagree with the part of earning the right to "break out of his funk".

is that fair to the other 12 guys? if anything cash has earned a spot on the bench. his play is killing uc right now. anybody can see that...but cronin keeps running him out to shoot 35 foot jumpers.

 

[Gotcha23]

We would have beat them by 10 if we ran the whole game.

 

[Scheids21]

Is Mick drunk right now on 700? "With all do respect, offense and shooting the ball is not our problem. Our defense needs to get better."

 

[TheLongHaul]

Is Mick drunk right now on 700? "With all do respect, offense and shooting the ball is not our problem. Our defense needs to get better."

I'm not going to say too much because I haven't listened to what he has said but I really don't think he believes this. I just don't think he has the answers for the offense. The offense has struggled his entire tenure here. It was god awful last year until the brawl forced a change. And even then it struggled after they moved away from some of the easy games. Now what is he going to do, change the scheme again? No way. His one option is to run more but if he doesn't do that he has no other options. So just focus on the defense.

 

[westsidecat]

Is Mick drunk right now on 700? "With all do respect, offense and shooting the ball is not our problem. Our defense needs to get better."

my favorite was we work for layups and free throws...

 

[CaptDale]

They had good looks, they just need to go down. would love to see more ball movement and cuts
but all in all..... shots are just not falling.

The problem last game was no movement. Had the players moved constantly, cutting through the zone without the ball, they would have eventually come open. They need to be coached in ways to penetrate a zone defense because if any of the coaches of our next opponents watch their tapes of us vs. the zone, they'll ALL throw up a zone against us. Passing around the perimeter is not the answer. Mick needs to coach to the strengths of his team, not some theoretical offense that they might not be able to execute (assuming he's even doing that).

 

[Scheids21]

The problem last game was no movement. Had the players moved constantly, cutting through the zone without the ball, they would have eventually come open. They need to be coached in ways to penetrate a zone defense because if any of the coaches of our next opponents watch their tapes of us vs. the zone, they'll ALL throw up a zone against us. Passing around the perimeter is not the answer. Mick needs to coach to the strengths of his team, not some theoretical offense that they might not be able to execute (assuming he's even doing that).

I was actually happy when Pitt switched to a zone. I thought, "well that's a mistake. We can beat the zone just like the Syracuse 2nd half." But it never happened. Pitt seemed more compact while Syracuse is more extended so maybe that's it? I guess it doesn't matter now.