Rutgers @ home, Saturday 1/11

[Bearcat Rob]

Jon Rothstein‏@JonRothstein1h
Rutgers may have equal or even more talent than Cincinnati. The biggest differences in these two programs? Culture and toughness.

I love this team, and it's awesome how excited they get for big Dave. This team can do some work. Also good game from shaq. Now they gotta rank us

 

[Bearcat22]

Good minutes for Big Dave. It's impossible not to cheer for that guy. Caupain is our best player leading the break. He had a freshman moment or two but his points were huge win the game was still tight. He (and the other freshman) will only get better. Shaq is a few pounds and JJ like offseason away from being a match-up nightmare. 20 points combined between Shaq and Sanders goes a long way to helping win this game. Rubles to me has been an unsung hero. He does a little bit of everything

 

[bearcat jeff]

Sorry, but that was as ugly a W as we've had - in spite of the final score. There were occasional moments of good team play, but too much slop in the overall synopsis.
I like the fact that Cronin went to the zone when Nyarsuk was in. He's long and is able to keep his arms up perpetually. That's not easy to do. Try it sometime. He's still an offensive liability with his greased hands, but let him stand in the paint and take swats at the ball. He got one bad call against him on a pure block, but there were suspect calls vs each team.
TC is a step slow on D, but he's a step ahead on O. How is that? I like the way he runs the fast break.
Guyn is still a mystery. He's a great defender, a good ball handler, but doesn't seem to know what to do otherwise. Thus his stats are all 0's.
Good thing Shag and SK can shoot FT's. That was where the 20 pt differential came from especially with SK continuing to be cold as ice from 3 and a sloppy ball handler.
I like the team's hustle, but other than TC, who's going to pick up the scoring load?
For the first time, late in the game, Cronin had both TC and GG on the floor together. I thought that was good for D, but it didn't stimulate the O.
And, turns out, TC s not the FT shooter everyone lauded him as being. Only KJ has been consistent at the line (of the freshmen).

TC is a very good ft shooter, but like everyone has hit a bit of a tough streak. He made a living at the line in high school and I believe hit 21 in one game. He'll be fine at the line I promise you.

Shaq I think has really picked his game up the past 4-5 games and I say that in spite of the Houstone game. The production from the 3 spot has been really good between him and Sanders.

Rubles is the teams glue guy. He does all the dirty stuff nobody talks about but without it you don't win. Twenty seven rebounds the last 3 games.

Isn't it great to say it was an ugly win and yet win by 20? I sure think it is.

 

[Robert]

Sorry, but that was as ugly a W as we've had - in spite of the final score. There were occasional moments of good team play, but too much slop in the overall synopsis.
I like the fact that Cronin went to the zone when Nyarsuk was in. He's long and is able to keep his arms up perpetually. That's not easy to do. Try it sometime. He's still an offensive liability with his greased hands, but let him stand in the paint and take swats at the ball. He got one bad call against him on a pure block, but there were suspect calls vs each team.
TC is a step slow on D, but he's a step ahead on O. How is that? I like the way he runs the fast break.
Guyn is still a mystery. He's a great defender, a good ball handler, but doesn't seem to know what to do otherwise. Thus his stats are all 0's.
Good thing Shag and SK can shoot FT's. That was where the 20 pt differential came from especially with SK continuing to be cold as ice from 3 and a sloppy ball handler.
I like the team's hustle, but other than TC, who's going to pick up the scoring load?
For the first time, late in the game, Cronin had both TC and GG on the floor together. I thought that was good for D, but it didn't stimulate the O.
And, turns out, TC s not the FT shooter everyone lauded him as being. Only KJ has been consistent at the line (of the freshmen).

He's very quick with the ball, and I would say he has above-average straight-line speed. But he appears to be below average in leaping ability and lateral quickness, which hurts him on defense. I think he just needs more time in the strength and conditioning program. His lateral and vertical abilities will improve -- he just turned 18 a little over a month ago.

I don't think he's a bad defender by any means. He's not much worse than Kilpatrick on defense, in my opinion. And Kilpatrick isn't a bad defender at all. As long as he can be an average defender for us, he will be fine because guys like Kevin Johnson and Deshaun Morman will be on the floor with him the next 3 seasons.

 

[Bcatfollower]

Crowd seemed good tonight. Ten thousand and something.

 

[Robert]

And I should add that I think Caupain will be more than an average defender for us in the future. He's too heady of a player to be an average defender in the long term.

 

[IDC]

Love what I saw from rubles. Sk is in a major funk, hopefully that last 3 can snap him out of it. Big Dave is giving quality minutes. Dave rubs and Shaq on the back line of that 2-3, doesn't get much better than that length wise.
Troy on the break is a thing of beauty

 

[bearcat jeff]

Love what I saw from rubles. Sk is in a major funk, hopefully that last 3 can snap him out of it. Big Dave is giving quality minutes. Dave rubs and Shaq on the back line of that 2-3, doesn't get much better than that length wise.
Troy on the break is a thing of beauty

SK is in a funk. I wonder if his legs are tired. He's played a lot of basketball in the past year.

 

[CaptDale]

TC is a very good ft shooter, but like everyone has hit a bit of a tough streak. He made a liing at the line in high school and I believe hit 21 in one game. He'll be fine at the line I promise you.

Shaq I think has really picked his game up the past 4-5 games and I say that in spite of the Houstone game. The production from the 3 spot has been really good between him and Sanders.

Rubles is the teams glue guy. He does all the dirty stuff nobody talks about but without it you don't win. Twenty seven rebounds the last 3 games.

Isn't it great to say it was an ugly win and yet win by 20? I sure think it is.

I just watched the best part of this game - the post game interview with TC and SK. What a great duo to have at the mike! Two great representatives of the team.

 

[waterhead]

TC runs the fast break better than anyone I have seen since Satterfield. He finishes around the rim when he has any bit of space with almost 100% proficiency. He knocks down shots pretty well and makes FT's pretty well (maybe not recently). He needs 30 minutes period. What a player!

I don't know why we had JJ and TR on the bench with 4 fouls. It should not happen...either the coach or the players have to control themselves. When JJ went out Rubles needed to be smart...but he kept playing agressive. That was a move that COULD have hurt us but didn't. If we are going to put JJ back in with 3 fouls and 15 minutes left he has to know he CANT foul period.

First half was lackadaisical...second half was tough ball. I am very happy with this game overall. We extended a lead when we had JJ, TR, and SK on the bench at one point. We closed out the game without TR or JJ.

 

[Bearcat22]

SK is in a funk. I wonder if his legs are tired. He's played a lot of basketball in the past year.

very well could be, the slump might be getting in his head a bit too. When his shot starts falling he's going to go off for 30. He's been living at the FT line this year...which is great to see and sign of his maturity.

 

[Bearcat22]

TC is a very good ft shooter, but like everyone has hit a bit of a tough streak. He made a living at the line in high school and I believe hit 21 in one game. He'll be fine at the line I promise you.

Shaq I think has really picked his game up the past 4-5 games and I say that in spite of the Houstone game. The production from the 3 spot has been really good between him and Sanders.

Rubles is the teams glue guy. He does all the dirty stuff nobody talks about but without it you don't win. Twenty seven rebounds the last 3 games.

Isn't it great to say it was an ugly win and yet win by 20? I sure think it is.

totally agree. 20 points between Shaq and Sanders tonight. The Cats will win a lot if games if those two produce like that.

 

[waterhead]

SK is in a funk. I wonder if his legs are tired. He's played a lot of basketball in the past year.

I am ready for the SK who drives to the bucket. No better way to get out of a funk than to get layups or fouls.

My favorite moments. Shaq Thomas with an absolute BRUTAL dunk late in the game. Caupain...awesome fast breaks and some nice three pointers. JJ (when he was in the game) was instrumental. Rubles played hard. Sanders made some nice FT's.

I am not dissapointed at all.

 

[waterhead]

Sure it was an "ugly" game...but I think we UC fans are expecting a bit too much right now. All we should expcect is wins. We beat Rutgers by 9 more points than any other team they have played so far...and one of them was UL.

9 points more than any other team in 16 games!!!!


We can make any excuses as to why that happened or how lucky we got...but the bottom line is we have been getting lucky for about 8 games straight. This is a good team.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I love this team, and it's awesome how excited they get for big Dave. This team can do some work. Also good game from shaq. Now they gotta rank us

I've been as hard on Shaq as anyone. So I'll give him his credit when credit is due. He played aggressive today. He attacked the rim and got to the line. He obviously needs to get stronger but I like that he didn't try to do too much shake and bake and just lunged towards the basket. It worked and he got to the line. I liked his dunk at the end of the game. I've been waiting to see him dunk on somebody!!! He also was aggressive in rebounding and I saw him diving for some balls. Good effort today and good game all around. Big step in the right direction.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Sk I think is 4 for 32 from deep in last five games..... glad to see we can win with him in a major shooting slump. At start of year I honestly didn't think we could.

 

[JasonS]

SK is in a funk. I wonder if his legs are tired. He's played a lot of basketball in the past year.

I believe this is a mental thing with him. He puts so much pressure on himself. I truly believe he will be fine once he doesn't think and just shoots.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

TC is a very good ft shooter, but like everyone has hit a bit of a tough streak. He made a living at the line in high school and I believe hit 21 in one game. He'll be fine at the line I promise you.

Shaq I think has really picked his game up the past 4-5 games and I say that in spite of the Houstone game. The production from the 3 spot has been really good between him and Sanders.

Rubles is the teams glue guy. He does all the dirty stuff nobody talks about but without it you don't win. Twenty seven rebounds the last 3 games.

Isn't it great to say it was an ugly win and yet win by 20? I sure think it is.

I saw him breathing heavy while shooting a couple of his free throws. I'm wondering if he is suffering from some fatigue. Alot of times with freshman the added workload compared to high school is hard to absorb and he is playing alot of minutes.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

SK is in a funk. I wonder if his legs are tired. He's played a lot of basketball in the past year.

I said the same thing a couple games ago. He really moves and works hard off the ball. He's got to be wearing his legs out.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

A win is win. I was glad we built a little lead when JJ went down with his fourth foul. I expected Rutgers to go on a run. Apparently they were done scoring. I'll credit our D. Maybe they were tired by the end of the game. We had JJ, Rubles and SK on the bench and we still managed to slowly extend the lead. I thought the refs were horrible. I saw one of the worst moving screens ever when someone for Rutgers sprinted across the court to cut off SK while guarding the ball. They called just about everything else though. Three players for Rutgers fouled out. We shot over 30 free throws. That was the difference in the game. I really like the way we have gotten to the line this year. One last note, SK has to quit shooting threes. He was 1-10 making only his last attempt, I counted 1-11. They might not have counted his heave at the end of the shot-clock. Most of his misses resulted in long rebounds and fast breaks for Rutgers. He was benched twice by Mick for taking bad threes. He needs to attack the rim more until his shot falls again. If Rutgers weren't inept to close out the game we might have lost that game and one could only point to his shooting as to why. I understand shooters get hot and cold, but he has been cold for a while and when you're 0 for a game you can't keep chucking them up.