Pretty Much Sums it Up

[Hicks' Guns]

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2013/03/25/putting-ucs-shooting-into-perspective/

Tough to go deep in the tournament with a shooting percentage like ours. The Cats really need to focus on taking good shots next year and getting open looks for our best players. Sean clearly didn't have as many open looks this year as last. Some of that naturally is due to defenses focusing on him and eliminating two scorers from last years team (Dixon / Yancy), which further allowed the focus on SK. That said, I'm a broken record but to me, we could have really set some off-ball screens to free up SK, Cash and Parker a bit better.

Other keys to the offense next year will be:
-Getting into the paint. Cash took a turn for the worse on this when he was dinged up. Rubles needs to learn how to do it without turning the ball over or spiking it off the backboard. Shaq showed some major promise against Creighton. And we're all hopeful for Lawrence, Caupain and/or Mormon contributing on offense.
-Getting SOMETHING from our 4 and 5 spots. I like that there will be more competition this year. Between Jackson, Rubles, Gaines, Nyarsuk, Strickland, Lawrence...we need an offensive threat in either the 4 or the 5 spot (and preferably both).
-I think Mick needs to revisit this past year's offense generally. I'm sure he'll consider a lot but I just don't think this year's formula worked out...although he was working with a limited hand (i.e. no scoring bigs).

 

[mdchick]

There's no doubt about it that are offense is bad and our point total needs to go up, but i'm not totally sold that we don't have the right guys to do it. We had very poor SHOT SELECTION this year, more so than everything else. I think that had to do a lot with our big men being so awful on the offensive end. Rubles in the Tourney had a couple of plays when he drove it to the rim and finished, but besides him we did not get anything out of our big men. JJ really needs to take the ball all the way to the basket, it's going to be his senior year and if he doesn't know by now he isn't a good shooter than he never will, but I really do believe he has some good post moves, it was hard for me to judge JJ because I'm not sure how much his injuries played into his performance. I really hope Strickland can be a force for us down low, I really think it's too much to ask of him to be a huge contributor his freshman year coming off of an knee injury, I really want him to be a consistant force all 4 years he is here so I hope he doesn't get pushed to hard. Next year if SK comes back thats great, but if he doesn't maybe our offense will be a lot less like the one this year where we are just jacking up 3's the whole time. Shaq thomas really has me excited, he's 15 lbs and arc on his shot away from being a GREAT player. Even though he doesn't have much arc on his shot you can tell he still has really good touch. Free throw shooting is definitely something every single player on that team can get better at. All in all I don't think next year will be bad, we will make the tourney again, it's to early to tell how we will be, but thats the life of a bearcat fan

 

[TheLongHaul]

Just saying they missed open shots or aren't good shooters is an easy excuse. The truth is the offense was not structured to create good open looks to the right shooters. Sure Rubles, Sanders, Mbodj, and others miss wide open looks but that's because teams knew they couldn't shoot. SK's shooting percentage was down because of the looks he got, not because he forgot how to shoot...Same with Cash. The offensive philosophy was to get the ball into the hands of the player with the mismatch and take them one on one. That philosophy especially doesn't work when you don't have players that are good at taking people off the dribble. This was obvious and the offense didn't adjust for it.

My other complaint about the offense and I really, really, hope this changes next year, and that is the lack of fundementals when running a break. I have never seen a team so far under Cronin effectively run a fast break. This team pissed away so many chances for easy baskets simply because they didn't effectively run the break. If Cash brought the ball up the court he never took it to the middle of the lane and never made the defender commit. And if he did, SK and Parker would set up outside the 3 point line instead of filling the lanes. Cash would do the same thing if he didn't bring the ball up the court....Creighton had 16 turnovers yet UC scored zero fast break points.

 

[mplebanon]

Well, of the guys who started most of the time this season, Cash and S K were known scorers in high school.

JJ wasn't a go-to-guy type scorer in high school and Mbodj really wasn't one in JUCO either.

Rubles was the one who disappointed. He had some hype about him that was way off the mark.

Now looking ahead, there's always a chance we could be sold a bill of goods on some of the incoming frosh, but I doubt it. We're able to see YouTube videos on most of the incomers, and I think they're the real deal.

Factor in what we saw from Shaq, especially against Creighton. And then Strickland posting impressive offensive numbers in prep school, and being included in some all-star teams and a foreign traveling team.

There's no way Caupain is averaging like 30 ppg in high school and going to come here and be a dud offensively. And we've seen Morman and KJ on YouTube and they are far from inadequate scorers.

I'd say this group coming in will be the best offensive group, as a whole, that Mick has recruited.

Also factor in JDIII returning and I really think the offense has a huge uptick. It will be inexperienced. But it will still be more competent.

JDIII
S K
Sanders
Lawrence
Thomas
Caupain
KJ
Morman
Strickland

 

[Btown Bearcat]

Just saying they missed open shots or aren't good shooters is an easy excuse. The truth is the offense was not structured to create good open looks to the right shooters. Sure Rubles, Sanders, Mbodj, and others miss wide open looks but that's because teams knew they couldn't shoot. SK's shooting percentage was down because of the looks he got, not because he forgot how to shoot...Same with Cash. The offensive philosophy was to get the ball into the hands of the player with the mismatch and take them one on one. That philosophy especially doesn't work when you don't have players that are good at taking people off the dribble. This was obvious and the offense didn't adjust for it.

My other complaint about the offense and I really, really, hope this changes next year, and that is the lack of fundementals when running a break. I have never seen a team so far under Cronin effectively run a fast break. This team pissed away so many chances for easy baskets simply because they didn't effectively run the break. If Cash brought the ball up the court he never took it to the middle of the lane and never made the defender commit. And if he did, SK and Parker would set up outside the 3 point line instead of filling the lanes. Cash would do the same thing if he didn't bring the ball up the court....Creighton had 16 turnovers yet UC scored zero fast break points.

uhh bro killpat has one best finishes on fast break in nation

 

[bearcat jeff]

Just saying they missed open shots or aren't good shooters is an easy excuse. The truth is the offense was not structured to create good open looks to the right shooters. SK's shooting percentage was down because of the looks he got, not because he forgot how to shoot...Same with Cash. The offensive philosophy was to get the ball into the hands of the player with the mismatch and take them one on one. That philosophy especially doesn't work when you don't have players that are good at taking people off the dribble.

My other complaint about the offense and I really, really, hope this changes next year, and that is the lack of fundementals when running a break. If Cash brought the ball up the court he never took it to the middle of the lane and never made the defender commit. Creighton had 16 turnovers yet UC scored zero fast break points.

Missing open shots may be oversimplifying it but it is a fact. This team could not shoot and SK missed many open looks, and shots close to the basket. Mick touched on the effect the injury had on Cash and his scoring and how it hurt others. I would say that it did hurt because Cash could no longer penetrate, but for all the things Cash did well, he was not a point guard who got people the ball in the right position to score.

Point guard play is something people have vastly overlooked. Everything touched on above is impactd by your pg. Your floor general. I love Cashmere Wright. He literally gave his body to this program and frankly I don't think people saw his best because of the injuries he sustained over 4 years. We simply haven't had a point guard under Mick that make's everyone around him better.

"If" Cash had some shooters around him and the offense flowed, which it can't because you have bigs that are fundamentally and bb iq bankrupt, who can't free scorers with screens or operate in a pick and roll, Cash is the type of pg you want. But in an offensively challenged team you need a pg that could facilitate and put guys in position for easy baskets. There was a difference in Cash's game post Depaul injury. The physical difference in him was too much for a poor shooting team to overcome.

I agree the scheme is very suspect, and adjustments simply weren't made. But there were so many execution and bb iq mistakes it is hard to know when one ends and the other begins.

 

[TheLongHaul]

So in back to bask posts I see SK is one of the best finishers in the country and misses a lot of open looks close to the basket.

Every team misses open looks. The key is getting open looks for your best shooters and getting the easiest shots possible. UC does not create many easy shots.

 

[ME80]

So in back to bask posts I see SK is one of the best finishers in the country and misses a lot of open looks close to the basket.

Every team misses open looks. The key is getting open looks for your best shooters and getting the easiest shots possible. UC does not create many easy shots.

Saw that also, but in my opinion when the Cats do get a fast break opportunity that results in a layup I feel more confident with SK than anyone else on the team to get the ball in the hoop. His short jumper this year did leave a little bit to be desired.

 

[TheLongHaul]

Saw that also, but in my opinion when the Cats do get a fast break opportunity that results in a layup I feel more confident with SK than anyone else on the team to get the ball in the hoop. His short jumper this year did leave a little bit to be desired.

I do think SK is pretty good at finishing around the basket. But too often on fast breaks, him, Cash, and Parker would set up shop outside the 3 instead of filling the lanes and getting the easy layup. That should be coachable.

 

[JumpinJack5]

I do think SK is pretty good at finishing around the basket. But too often on fast breaks, him, Cash, and Parker would set up shop outside the 3 instead of filling the lanes and getting the easy layup. That should be coachable.

In SK's redshirt Freshman year, I would've told you that he was one of the best slashers on the team. He fought his way down the lane and finished many and 1s. This past year, he looked like a deer in headlights when he drove down the lane. This is interesting, because one would think that after jacking up so many 3s, teams would be out on him, making it easier to drive. SK is a good shooter, but he isn't a good enough shooter to just be considered a shooter. For his and UCs purposes, he must become the scorer he used to be. He will find that teams will stay back on him if he continues to try to take it to the rim, and more 3s will be open, which allows him to have 2 reliable weapons on offense.

 

[TheLongHaul]

totally agree.

 

[bearcat jeff]

So in back to bask posts I see SK is one of the best finishers in the country and misses a lot of open looks close to the basket.

Every team misses open looks. The key is getting open looks for your best shooters and getting the easiest shots possible. UC does not create many easy shots.

Where did I say he was one of the best finishers? I agree with your second point but believe it is largely because the bigs are inept at screening.