Purdue

[jacobkdoyle]

How you're wrong JD. Hoping there is a little lingering anger over the UCONN game that gives them an extra edge.

However, I do believe that they will lose by at least 20-30 to UK.

I hope I'm wrong too. I just can't shake the feeling that we're kind of done with this season.

 

[waterhead]

I'm with you Jeff, but the analysts are all picking against the Cats. Frustrating how little respect they ever get.

It could be that they are picking that way because we don't have our head coach "on the floor".

I wouldn't mind seeing Cobb run the point a lot...especially if their best defender will be on TC. I would like to see us start the offense closer to the basket and Cobb seems to do that a little more than Troy. I like TC off the ball receiving on the wing anyway. Cobb is better creating and shooting off the dribble and TC is taller and better with entry passes and is a great set shooter. I think he creates a little better from the wing too.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

There is a podcast I listen to called "Behind the Bets" and this week they previewed the tournament. A guy named Stanford Steve was on to break down the games. They skipped Kentucky vs the 16 seed so the game they started with was us vs Purdue. The very first thing he said was "No one hates Cincinnati more than I do. I think anyone in this tournament can beat them."

Pretty harsh. Sheesh. I think this really speaks to our reputation nationally though, unfortunately. We're known as the "rock fight"/first to 50 team. I hope the UConn game was an outlier and we don't revert back to that type of game plan and style. The push the pace thing can't just be some gimmick to shake off a losing streak. It has to be our full time approach imo. I'm worried so much about the Purdue game though bc if we play zone, the game is all but guaranteed to stay below 60. Hearing someone who has no rooting interest talk about us like that drives me nuts. But unfortunately, I guess that's what scoring 62 ppg in the AAC will do. We have a chance to lead off the night session on CBS tomorrow night and show people we're more than that. Let's just hope we're up for it.

 

[bearcat jeff]

I understand it isn't pretty to watch but I just want to win. I really don't care how. Virginia gets applauded we get killed. Just win baby.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I understand it isn't pretty to watch but I just want to win. I really don't care how. Virginia gets applauded we get killed. Just win baby.

We are...

14-9 when neither team scores 70 (Virginia is 18-2)

8-1 when either team scores 70

We are also just 3-7 against Top 100 teams when we score under 70

 

[cincrulz11]

We are...

14-9 when neither team scores 70 (Virginia is 18-2)

8-1 when either team scores 70

We are also just 3-7 against Top 100 teams when we score under 70

Cause Virginia is better on offense than us.

Again this has been gone over tons of times. The reason we win when we score over 70 is because to get to that number with limited possessions you must be extremely efficient on offense. Teams that are extremely efficient on offense and have great defense win a ton of games.


We've gone over those 5 games where people claim we played at a higher tempo but none of the stats actually indicate that. Even the stats broken down into possessions by half. We in fact played at a slower pace than the rest of the season. The offense looked better because Cobb was hottish and made more shots.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Cause Virginia is better on offense than us.

Again this has been gone over tons of times. The reason we win when we score over 70 is because to get to that number with limited possessions you must be extremely efficient on offense. Teams that are extremely efficient on offense and have great defense win a ton of games.


We've gone over those 5 games where people claim we played at a higher tempo but none of the stats actually indicate that. Even the stats broken down into possessions by half. We in fact played at a slower pace than the rest of the season. The offense looked better because Cobb was hottish and made more shots.

We should ditch the zone. That's what slows things down the most. We don't force turnovers and it takes teams forever to shoot.

 

[cincrulz11]

We should ditch the zone. That's what slows things down the most. We don't force turnovers and it takes teams forever to shoot.

We should ditch the zone because it causes teams to take forever to find good shots and then they have to throw up crap the majority of the time? I do not follow.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

We should ditch the zone because it causes teams to take forever to find good shots and then they have to throw up crap the majority of the time? I do not follow.

Man defense + getting the ball up the floor instead of walking would undoubtedly = more 70+ point games. And the record in each style of game is a big enough sample size by now that it should tell us how we should want to play.

 

[cincrulz11]

Man defense + getting the ball up the floor instead of walking would undoubtedly = more 70+ point games. And the record in each style of game is a big enough sample size by now that it should tell us how we should want to play

Man, for goodness sakes, it isn't about the pace. The point thing is tied to efficiency NOT pace.


I can bring up efficiency stats.

We are 18-0 in our top 18 offensive efficiency games. 19-2 in all games where our efficiency was greater than 1 point per possession.


We are 7-2 against the top 100 when reaching that efficiency (kenpom numbers).



We are 14-6 in our top 20 highest pace games. We are 4-5 against top 100 teams in those games.

 

[cincrulz11]

It also should be noted that in our 3 highest tempo games of the season we failed to get to 70 points every time.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Man, for goodness sakes, it isn't about the pace. The point thing is tied to efficiency NOT pace.


I can bring up efficiency stats.

We are 18-0 in our top 18 offensive efficiency games. 19-2 in all games where our efficiency was greater than 1 point per possession.


We are 7-2 against the top 100 when reaching that efficiency (kenpom numbers).



We are 14-6 in our top 20 highest pace games. We are 4-5 against top 100 teams in those games.

We are 14-9 when neither team scores 70. That's a really bad record and it is the majority of our games...our goal should be to avoid this style. It clearly makes it harder for us to win. Our record on each side of the 70 point cutoff is hard to ignore.

 

[cincrulz11]

We are 14-9 when neither team scores 70. That's a really bad record and it is the majority of our games...our goal should be to avoid this style. It clearly makes it harder for us to win. Our record on each side of the 70 point cutoff is hard to ignore.

But you must understand why we get to 70 points and realize it doesn't have to do with pace.


I completely agree that when we get to 70 points we are nearly unstoppable. I completely disagree with you apparently on how we go about getting to 70.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Man, for goodness sakes, it isn't about the pace. The point thing is tied to efficiency NOT pace.


I can bring up efficiency stats.

We are 18-0 in our top 18 offensive efficiency games. 19-2 in all games where our efficiency was greater than 1 point per possession.


We are 7-2 against the top 100 when reaching that efficiency (kenpom numbers).



We are 14-6 in our top 20 highest pace games. We are 4-5 against top 100 teams in those games.

So we've been under 1 PPP 11 times and we are 3-8 in those games? That's really bad. We are not a very efficient team. That is crystal clear to all of us. So pinning all our hopes for winning on being efficient on a given night is a terrible recipe.

 

[cincrulz11]

So we've been under 1 PPP 11 times and we are 3-8 in those games? That's really bad. We are not a very efficient team. That is crystal clear to all of us. So pinning all our hopes for winning on being efficient on a given night is a terrible recipe.

We are not very efficient sometimes, but adding possessions to that game isn't exactly going to fix that problem. The problem is sometimes we just aren't very good on offense.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

The zone forces a slow game, which means we must be efficient on offense to win, since the possessions are so limited. It also makes scoring 70 an extremely rare occurrence (we have hit this 25% of the time). Scoring 70 should be our goal. If we are prone to giving up offensive rebounds, don't force turnovers, and aren't efficient offensively, I just believe the zone is the wrong defense for what our goal on the scoreboard should be.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

We are not very efficient sometimes, but adding possessions to that game isn't exactly going to fix that problem. The problem is sometimes we just aren't very good on offense.

Maybe I'm simplifying things too much, but if you score about 1.07 PPP and allow about 0.93 PPP, don't you want more possessions? Or do you think playing man defense full time would completely change those numbers?

 

[cincrulz11]

Maybe I'm simplifying things too much, but if you score about 1.07 PPP and allow about 0.93 PPP, don't you want more possessions? Or do you think playing man defense full time would completely change those numbers?

Teams take a super long time against our man defense as well. We make it hard on the offense no matter what defense we play.



Maybe we play zone too much, maybe we don't, I have no idea. Pay me 5 million a year and I'll try to figure it out. Our defense isn't always great. We've allowed over 1 PPP 7 times going 1-6. Memphis being the only win.


Our 2 losses this year when scoring over 1 PPP were xavier and the last uconn game. Look what it took for us to lose both of those, insane 3 point shooting. Sometimes it's just the other teams night.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Teams take a super long time against our man defense as well. We make it hard on the offense no matter what defense we play.



Maybe we play zone too much, maybe we don't, I have no idea. Pay me 5 million a year and I'll try to figure it out. Our defense isn't always great. We've allowed over 1 PPP 7 times going 1-6. Memphis being the only win.


Our 2 losses this year when scoring over 1 PPP were xavier and the last uconn game. Look what it took for us to lose both of those, insane 3 point shooting. Sometimes it's just the other teams night.

Yeah we can send numbers back and forth all day. I think it is now 63-2 in the last 5 years when we hit 70? We may just differ on the approach. I just think hitting 70 more often can mean more wins, and can also stop the people who are breaking down the tournament from trashing our program. Our reputation nationally is not a pretty one at this point.

 

[cincrulz11]

I just think hitting 70 more often can mean more wins, and can also stop the people who are breaking down the tournament from trashing our program. Our reputation nationally is not a pretty one at this point.

People are going to find things to hate about things they hate. People still think we are a bunch of thugs from those 90's teams. It's like the first thing that popped up when I peaked over at the Purdue boards.


I say F all of them. If people want to hate us without truly knowing us, who cares.