SMU

[#BearcatNation]

I love all the "die-hards" saying an ESPN nationally televised 9pm game against a future NCAA team and conference opponent is TOO LATE. Hysterical. The irony of this board continues to impress me.

UC- 69
SMU- 61

9pm games simply equates to better pregame for everyone. The Shoe should be en fuego Thursday. Our last tune up against a quality opponent before the Fighting Pizza ATM's come to campus on the 26th

Dude, all we're doing is providing possible reasons as to why it won't sell out. I have my reasons for not going on Thursday. Am I not a "die-hard" for wanting to stay home, even though I attend 5-7 games/year and watch every single game?

I certainly agree that our attendance could be better at the beginning of the year, but here on out, I don't think we'll have much whining to do about attendance. We'll get 10k+ every game to close out the year, guaranteed. That's good enough for me.

We're all die-hards here. Just because people prioritize things differently doesn't make anyone less of a fan.

 

[justinhub2003]

Does Ojeleye step out and shoot as well as the stats suggest? Or is he like Clark where he only shoots wide open 3s where he can set up? I don't watch much SMU. I may change my mind on this.

He has taken 70 3's and made like 44% of them. A bunch better than Gary from 3. He is the real deal.

 

[JasonS]

Some notes on SMU:

--Our 3 point defense will once again be tested as SMU shoots the 3 39% as a team which is good for 28th in the country.

--4 out of their 5 starters can shoot the 3. Their 6th man/only bench guy will shoot it, but not at a high clip.

--This team has essentially is a 6 man rotation. Harry Froling and Tom Wilson both transferred mid year.


--they are a team with great size but not a great sized player. Tallest guy is 6'8. Shortest guy in the rotation is 6'5. In the starting lineup, its 2 6'6 guards, a 6'8 big man, a 6'6 wing, and a 6'7 PF/F.

--Gary should guard Semi. BUT that leaves Kyle to Ben Moore who is an all effort guy and put up 15 points in SMU's win over us last year with 5 blocks and then 12 points the next game. We need Kyle to defend and rebound other wise, we might need to call on Tre.

--Compared to last year, SMU defends better this year but also doesn't play offense as well. UC ranked 2nd in the conference in offensive Tempo. The 3 years prior to this we were ranked 10th each year in offensive Tempo.

-- they play slow. The American Is the 31st ranked conference in Tempo.

--Semi Ojeleye like Gary Clark, is a problem. Kenpom has him 2nd in American POY behind Dedric Lawson. The bright side of that list, we have 2 plays in the top 5 for AAC POY

--SMU is TO prone. they lack a PG and I really think Justin Jenifer maybe able to cause some havoc on the defensive end with some hounding of Milton.

- They don't generate TO. Would be nice if we kept the TO to under 10

There are 31 conferences?

 

[kskenyon4]

There are 31 conferences?

32 actually:

America East Conference
American Athletic Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Sun Conference
Big 12 Conference
Big East Conference
Big Sky Conference
Big South Conference
Big Ten Conference
Big West Conference
Colonial Athletic Association
Conference USA
Horizon League
Ivy League
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Mid-American Conference
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
Mountain West Conference
Northeast Conference
Ohio Valley Conference
Pac-12 Conference
Patriot League
Southeastern Conference
Southern Conference
Southland Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Sun Belt Conference
Summit League
West Coast Conference
Western Athletic Conference

 

[justinhub2003]

I did notice that smu did some early 3 quarter court pressing against ecu but ecu had very little problem beating it. Early on it lead to some easy dunks at the rim.

I think they use it to slow teams down. They aren't very quick and don't seem to go after the ball all that much.

 

[justinhub2003]

Teams that usually give UC problems are teams that pass the ball really well and very quick.

Smu does not do that. They do a lot of one on one ISO drives then either finish or kick to the open 3 point shooter. Those kinda teams have also given UC problems (Tulsa last year and temple). But if we trust our one on one D and only help from the paint, I think we will do fine. But we can't leave shooters open in the corner because some one on the perimeter tries to help.


Also... SMU plays mostly man to man but they will bust out the 1-3-1 zone (they did against memphis). Will need to find how to score in it, otherwise I could think and Xavier using it on us a ton

 

[waterhead]

Teams that can shoot and penetrate usually give all teams problems. If we play with enthusiasm... They will have to be firing on all cylinders...Which is tough to do against us right now. Our D is playing better than maybe any team in the country right now. They have bought in!!!

We haven't had a whole team buy in like this in the Cronin era. Probably his best coaching job thus far.

This is in Offense too...We are passing the ball an extra pass to get the open look. Both sides are playing together very well and that will give us great chances in march!

 

[waterhead]

Teams that can shoot and penetrate usually give all teams problems. If we play with enthusiasm... They will have to be firing on all cylinders...Which is tough to do against us right now. Our D is playing better than maybe any team in the country right now. They have bought in!!!

We haven't had a whole team buy in like this in the Cronin era. Probably his best coaching job thus far.

This is in Offense too...We are passing the ball an extra pass to get the open look. Both sides are playing together very well and that will give us great chances in march!

After the Marshall game we were like 15-17 on KenPom in defense. To be #2 right now is a fantastic response and leads me to believe coach has gotten through to a couple of players who weren't already on board with their whole heart and soul.

The prospect of the bench is working. Coach is using it to full advantage. It's good to have quality bench support.

 

[2bearcatdad]

After the Marshall game we were like 15-17 on KenPom in defense. To be #2 right now is a fantastic response and leads me to believe coach has gotten through to a couple of players who weren't already on board with their whole heart and soul.

The prospect of the bench is working. Coach is using it to full advantage. It's good to have quality bench support.

I think the biggest difference between our defensive efficiency between then and now is that we are playing almost exclusively man-to-man now rather than zone.

BTW, congratulations on your big day! May God bless you two!

 

[waterhead]

I think the biggest difference between our defensive efficiency between then and now is that we are playing almost exclusively man-to-man now rather than zone.

BTW, congratulations on your big day! May God bless you two!

Thank you!! And I agree!

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Teams that can shoot and penetrate usually give all teams problems. If we play with enthusiasm... They will have to be firing on all cylinders...Which is tough to do against us right now. Our D is playing better than maybe any team in the country right now. They have bought in!!!

We haven't had a whole team buy in like this in the Cronin era. Probably his best coaching job thus far.

This is in Offense too...We are passing the ball an extra pass to get the open look. Both sides are playing together very well and that will give us great chances in march!

Kevin Johnson has been a big part in the lock down defense obviously...but he also has now become a big part of the ball movement. It doesn't get stuck with him holding and scanning for 3 seconds while the defense resets. Makes a huge difference. He did have a pick 6 in the Houston game, but I'll take that occasionally if it means he's being quicker with his decisions.

 

[waterhead]

Kevin Johnson has been a big part in the lock down defense obviously...but he also has now become a big part of the ball movement. It doesn't get stuck with him holding and scanning for 3 seconds while the defense resets. Makes a huge difference. He did have a pick 6 in the Houston game, but I'll take that occasionally if it means he's being quicker with his decisions.

He's a changed man KJ! The starting 5 is pretty darn good. Cumberland off the bench is what we used to have in the olden days. A scoring lift off the bench. It's nice to know we also have a defensive lift off the bench at the 4-5 as well. It's about all we can ask for really.

It's looking good right now!

 

[mdchick]

Cronin just tweeted out student tickets are free....

I don't understand why it's gotten to that point..

 

[justinhub2003]

Cronin just tweeted out student tickets are free....

I don't understand why it's gotten to that point..

you mean free or the fact that he has to ask students to come?

Im just glad that he is tweeting to the fan base and asking for support. A lot of other coaches use social media a lot better than he does.

 

[justinhub2003]

Speaking of 3 point defense and man to man.

Since the 2nd half of the Marshall game, our Man to Man defense has forced a combined 13-73 from 3 for a 17.8%


Holy crap is that good.


In that same stretch, we allowed just a combined 52-139 from 2 for 37.4% from 2.


Safe to say that the man to man defends both the 3 and the 2. And you see a drop off on 2 point defense.

 

[prancer]

Speaking of 3 point defense and man to man.

Since the 2nd half of the Marshall game, our Man to Man defense has forced a combined 13-73 from 3 for a 17.8%


Holy crap is that good.


In that same stretch, we allowed just a combined 52-139 from 2 for 37.4% from 2.


Safe to say that the man to man defends both the 3 and the 2. And you see a drop off on 2 point defense.

I do like the man to man that they're playing. I was tired of watching them give up those corner threes out of the zone. But I would still like Mick to incorporate the match up zone. Play zone a few possessions, then go to man, then go back to zone after a timeout,... I think it makes the defense that much tougher to face if the opponent doesn't even know what defense they'll be facing on any given possession. Since we can play both defensive styles at an elite level, using both within a game can make this defense a nightmare to prep for.

 

[justinhub2003]

I do like the man to man that they're playing. I was tired of watching them give up those corner threes out of the zone. But I would still like Mick to incorporate the match up zone. Play zone a few possessions, then go to man, then go back to zone after a timeout,... I think it makes the defense that much tougher to face if the opponent doesn't even know what defense they'll be facing on any given possession. Since we can play both defensive styles at an elite level, using both within a game can make this defense a nightmare to prep for.

I think you start every game with man. They made a good point on the skinny podcast about how we can keep guys from ever getting a rhythm to start games. Until our man to man shows weakness then keep it up

 

[justinhub2003]

Plus we defensive rebound so much better out of man.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Kevin Johnson has been a big part in the lock down defense obviously...but he also has now become a big part of the ball movement. It doesn't get stuck with him holding and scanning for 3 seconds while the defense resets. Makes a huge difference. He did have a pick 6 in the Houston game, but I'll take that occasionally if it means he's being quicker with his decisions.

KJ and Cumberland have given us very nice production at the 2 guard. Cumberland also backs up Evans at the 3.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Plus we defensive rebound so much better out of man.

I agree. If it ain't broke...