@SMU

[mdchick]

Eventually, we have to start winning these games if we want to be taken seriously. Couple wins in March wouldn't hurt either. I still think we have a good team but one of these years we have to win something.

Totally agree there's no reason why we shouldn't have won a conference tournament in the aac, we really need to win it this year.

 

[ZCat]

1. Someone for the love of God tell Capuain to stop shooting threes.

2. Tell Kyle Washington to post up on the block and if he even thinks about shooting a jumpshot bench him.

3. Jarron Cumberland needs more PT at the 2 guard spot. KJ doesn't impress me

4. Go to man to man and force them off the 3 point line

You are right on!!
I am especially tired of UC not valuing possession's. KJ drives in , gets blocked all the time (not the dunks in SMU game). If that is not your forte, just back it out. Troy is just not a good 3-point shooter, so what. Just limit them, shoot them when needed, and when u can step into one.

And who is the big man coach?? How can Kyle give up the baseline time after time. Can't he position his hips and R foot closer the baseline? Is it bc he is L handed, and leaning that way (when he is on the L side of the hoop).
Quadri too, how u gonna just give away points. There is nothing I cant stand more than just giving away free points.

I still think we can get to E-8 if we are on that day, but I hope to see some fixes. 5-6 possessions can be saved just by Troy and KJ doing what they are good at, and avoid what they are not good at. Even Brooks - Mick said he knew he was good at and sticks to it then 1-2 games before his injury he shoots a 19 footer. Why?? We need to value possession's.
Rant over.

 

[coachpipe]

You are right on!!
I am especially tired of UC not valuing possession's. KJ drives in , gets blocked all the time (not the dunks in SMU game). If that is not your forte, just back it out. Troy is just not a good 3-point shooter, so what. Just limit them, shoot them when needed, and when u can step into one.

And who is the big man coach?? How can Kyle give up the baseline time after time. Can't he position his hips and R foot closer the baseline? Is it bc he is L handed, and leaning that way (when he is on the L side of the hoop).
Quadri too, how u gonna just give away points. There is nothing I cant stand more than just giving away free points.

I still think we can get to E-8 if we are on that day, but I hope to see some fixes. 5-6 possessions can be saved just by Troy and KJ doing what they are good at, and avoid what they are not good at. Even Brooks - Mick said he knew he was good at and sticks to it then 1-2 games before his injury he shoots a 19 footer. Why?? We need to value possession's.
Rant over.

I wish I could think like that, but I just cant. With what my teams have done to me in the past I go one game at a time, never fully optimistic because you can always have games like Tulane or ECU the last few years. And as far as the tournament. Its a crap shoot. Seeding isnt as important as matchups. And then a little luck. When is UC going to win the first round and go on to play the winner of #2/#15 seed where the 15 seed wins? It works for Xavier

 

[waterhead]

I wish I could think like that, but I just cant. With what my teams have done to me in the past I go one game at a time, never fully optimistic because you can always have games like Tulane or ECU the last few years. And as far as the tournament. Its a crap shoot. Seeding isnt as important as matchups. And then a little luck. When is UC going to win the first round and go on to play the winner of #2/#15 seed where the 15 seed wins? It works for Xavier

Luck of the draw certainly plays a factor in the dance. It did for our Final Four team 25 years ago. That said we are due for a good draw and an extended run of some sort. With the seed we will likely get 4-6 I would usually just be happy making it to the second weekend with an outside chance at getting lucky with the draw and going a little further.

This year I like our chances more than in the past because of our versatility but we still lack that "go to guy" on the perimeter. Cronin needs to get in the head of Troy, Evans and/or Cumberland before that time comes (maybe even Jenifer). KJ lacks the ability to create. We are going to need at least some "very good" guard play to advance past the 1st round.

We have been getting very average play (if not below) lately from the guards as a whole. I hope the light comes on for one or two of them and we will get at least a slight step up in someone's game on offense. Troy has been a great rebounder and assist to turnover guy and Evans has been great on D and does a lot of other things well. So just a slight improvement on offense from them would probably do us wonders. Cumberland has to provide an offensive spark when he comes in...in some shape or form. That could be making shots, driving or great passing.

Guard play will need to improve to help our seed or to make a March run. We can't rely on Kyle and Gary to do it all.

 

[Bearcat2016]

Couple days late but here are some of my thoughts.

Jacob was 5-11 from 3 and his shot looked good. I know he missed a lot in the 2nd half, but most of those were right on line and just short. Think that could be huge because the guy is a really talented shooter, and hopefully when people try to run him off the 3 point line that will help him get into the lane to create.

If you would have told me they were playing Gary one vs one in the post and we had a 9 point lead in the 2nd half....I would have told you the game is over. As a Bearcat fan you have to take that. I mean hell, in January he was 8-9 vs. SMU for 18 points. He played a bad game, it happens.

Troy: Mick needs to address this as a coach strategically. You have to have a shorter leash. I love Troy, but I'm EXTREMELY worried he could pull one of these games in the tournament. He gets mentally fragile and that isn't something we can afford or something we can just brush aside "Because he is a senior and will figure it out". I have confidence in Justin and we need to be prepared.

All in all, our d gave up 60 points on the road and that's enough for a win. Still think they need to work on playing hard for a full 40 minutes on that end.

Control what you can control and have fun playing basketball! So important this time of year. You can only be great at something when you are enjoying it and hopefully Mick is making this enjoyable for them.

 

[ZCat]

I know it sounds cliche.


But Im not really sure I want my team finishing out the season and going into the tourney on such a long winning streak.

This is a wake up call. It feels weird to lose.


I think they just need to work on staying intense even when you have the lead.

When we get the lead, we start going for three's (when we fall behind as well). I know many teams do this, but we need to be different. Dont go for the dagger, just continue to play. extend the lead. We let them get in a rhythym, and did not call TO early enough.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Couple days late but here are some of my thoughts.

Jacob was 5-11 from 3 and his shot looked good. I know he missed a lot in the 2nd half, but most of those were right on line and just short. Think that could be huge because the guy is a really talented shooter, and hopefully when people try to run him off the 3 point line that will help him get into the lane to create.

If you would have told me they were playing Gary one vs one in the post and we had a 9 point lead in the 2nd half....I would have told you the game is over. As a Bearcat fan you have to take that. I mean hell, in January he was 8-9 vs. SMU for 18 points. He played a bad game, it happens.

Troy: Mick needs to address this as a coach strategically. You have to have a shorter leash. I love Troy, but I'm EXTREMELY worried he could pull one of these games in the tournament. He gets mentally fragile and that isn't something we can afford or something we can just brush aside "Because he is a senior and will figure it out". I have confidence in Justin and we need to be prepared.

All in all, our d gave up 60 points on the road and that's enough for a win. Still think they need to work on playing hard for a full 40 minutes on that end.

Control what you can control and have fun playing basketball! So important this time of year. You can only be great at something when you are enjoying it and hopefully Mick is making this enjoyable for them.

Evans needs to be more decisive imo. When he decides to drive he needs to do like Cumberland and just put his head down and go. I couldn't care less if he gets a few offensive fouls. The comment the other day about his Shaq Thomas dribbling and dancing but getting nowhere gave me nightmares.

Caupain is tricky. I share your concern about him having a game like that in the tournament. But we all know for a fact that he isn't going to get taken out no matter what. I just don't know what Coach can do to get through to him during the game. He's not like Washington, who is going to go down swinging no matter what. He's come up huge a bunch of times but there are just some games where he just doesn't have it. It's so weird. Idk what can be done. It seems like Cronin has had to fight him every step of the way when it comes to being aggressive. At some point he has to decide once and for all that he's not going to go out with a whimper.

 

[waterhead]

Totally agree there's no reason why we shouldn't have won a conference tournament in the aac, we really need to win it this year.

It's gotta be the refs if it ain't bad luck Come on man...just sack up and get it done. Is one loss max too much to ask...lol!

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Evans needs to be more decisive imo. When he decides to drive he needs to do like Cumberland and just put his head down and go. I couldn't care less if he gets a few offensive fouls. The comment the other day about his Shaq Thomas dribbling and dancing but getting nowhere gave me nightmares.

Caupain is tricky. I share your concern about him having a game like that in the tournament. But we all know for a fact that he isn't going to get taken out no matter what. I just don't know what Coach can do to get through to him during the game. He's not like Washington, who is going to go down swinging no matter what. He's come up huge a bunch of times but there are just some games where he just doesn't have it. It's so weird. Idk what can be done. It seems like Cronin has had to fight him every step of the way when it comes to being aggressive. At some point he has to decide once and for all that he's not going to go out with a whimper.

Guys if TC would have hit some of his wide open 3's we could have been in a position to win that game. He shot terrible on Sunday. But it wasn't just him. He never has been a PG that can get to the rim at will. He has been very steady offensively and takes care of the ball which is his strength. He needs the guys around him to play well. His asist to turn over ratio is one of the best in the country. Against SMU it wasn't just TC. Washington and Clark destroyed SMU in Cincy. This game Washington forced things all day and Clark, who had man coverage couldn't convert when the opportunity presented itself. It is one game against a very talented opponent in their gym. We will see them again on a neutral floor and we will win the game. Still think we are the better team.

 

[waterhead]

Guys if TC would have hit some of his wide open 3's we could have been in a position to win that game. He shot terrible on Sunday. But it wasn't just him. He never has been a PG that can get to the rim at will. He has been very steady offensively and takes care of the ball which is his strength. He needs the guys around him to play well. His asist to turn over ratio is one of the best in the country. Against SMU it wasn't just TC. Washington and Clark destroyed SMU in Cincy. This game Washington forced things all day and Clark, who had man coverage couldn't convert when the opportunity presented itself. It is one game against a very talented opponent in their gym. We will see them again on a neutral floor and we will win the game. Still think we are the better team.

Waite...it's not just Troy I will certainly agree. But he is the guy who operates the machine. I'm not putting losses on Troy...it's a team effort. He is the guy with the ball in his hands more than anyone so he's got to step it up for us to be great. He's got to knock down more than 25% of his shots and 15% from 3 (recently last 5 games). We can't win in March with those numbers unless we "make up for it" somehow. If he just shoots his average for 4 years we will be just fine...but he's slumping right now something fierce. He's not even rebounding like he was for the first half of the season...not even close.

His assist to turnovers are freaking awesome! I am rooting like hell for that guy. One of my favorite Bearcats of all time. I think he has a lot of guts but he's got to be more efficient for us to win big games.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Waite...it's not just Troy I will certainly agree. But he is the guy who operates the machine. I'm not putting losses on Troy...it's a team effort. He is the guy with the ball in his hands more than anyone so he's got to step it up for us to be great. He's got to knock down more than 25% of his shots and 15% from 3 (recently last 5 games). We can't win in March with those numbers unless we "make up for it" somehow. If he just shoots his average for 4 years we will be just fine...but he's slumping right now something fierce. He's not even rebounding like he was for the first half of the season...not even close.

His assist to turnovers are freaking awesome! I am rooting like hell for that guy. One of my favorite Bearcats of all time. I think he has a lot of guts but he's got to be more efficient for us to win big games.

no doubt he needs to drain a few jumpers.