Some Cracks exposed

[TheLivingLegend]

Well that was a very disappointing game that I saw coming for a few weeks.

This UC team is a good team, but they have some serious issues that need to be addressed.

- Zero post presence. I saw the ball go into the post I think once tonight. We have no body that can do anything in the post. Serious problem.

- Outside of Parker, Cash and SK, can anyone on this team score? Anyone? Jackson went 0-6 tonight. Rubles followed that up going 1-6....

- I have said this for YEARS on this board. UC defense will always be good, Thats what Mick knows. I seriously have concerns about his half court offensive scheme. Looks miserable at times.

- Are bigs are VERY weak.

- Live and die by the Three.

 

[JumpinJack5]

Well that was a very disappointing game that I saw coming for a few weeks.

This UC team is a good team, but they have some serious issues that need to be addressed.

- Zero post presence. I saw the ball go into the post I think once tonight. We have no body that can do anything in the post. Serious problem.

- Outside of Parker, Cash and SK, can anyone on this team score? Anyone? Jackson went 0-6 tonight. Rubles followed that up going 1-6....

- I have said this for YEARS on this board. UC defense will always be good, Thats what Mick knows. I seriously have concerns about his half court offensive scheme. Looks miserable at times.

- Are bigs are VERY weak.

- Live and die by the Three.

Rubles must change his shot-I could ask a random 5th grader to shoot and they would have a better shot. Nobody falls for a pump fake when you can't shoot. If he can just improve a little on his shot, he will be so much more effective. Shaq looked okay. Bigs can't do anything offensively-boy, I wish we had Lawrence this year.

 

[ready2go]

Rubles must change his shot-I could ask a random 5th grader to shoot and they would have a better shot. Nobody falls for a pump fake when you can't shoot. If he can just improve a little on his shot, he will be so much more effective. Shaq looked okay. Bigs can't do anything offensively-boy, I wish we had Lawrence this year.

Im not sure that shot is fixable... Dead serious

But what he should be doing is attacking the rim. He is athletic enough to crash for put back dunks or to keep the ball alive on missed shots. Outside of that I dont see much that he brings. He doesnt look comfortable penetrating and his shot scares NO ONE. "Make it rain"

 

[JumpinJack5]

Im not sure that shot is fixable... Dead serious

But what he should be doing is attacking the rim. He is athletic enough to crash for put back dunks or to keep the ball alive on missed shots. Outside of that I dont see much that he brings. He doesnt look comfortable penetrating and his shot scares NO ONE. "Make it rain"

I think it is fixable, but it is all on him-he needs to put in the time. If he is as dedicated as SK, he could be a force to be reckoned with by the end of the season.

 

[ready2go]

I think it is fixable, but it is all on him-he needs to put in the time. If he is as dedicated as SK, he could be a force to be reckoned with by the end of the season.

I hope ur right but I look at it this way. You dont ask an offensive lineman to go play wr. His shot is that bad and Id just like to take his talents and use them to help this team win, now. Take what ur players have and put them in the best position to win.

His athletic ability far outweighs his scoring. No reason he cant attack the glass and be a high flyer. Give the crowd something to be excited about and maybe he can feed off that

 

[JumpinJack5]

I hope ur right but I look at it this way. You dont ask an offensive lineman to go play wr. His shot is that bad and Id just like to take his talents and use them to help this team win, now. Take what ur players have and put them in the best position to win

I get what to are saying to a certain extent, but a jump shot is all form and repetition. He needs to shoot like a normal human being-a basketball isn't a shot-put, so don't put it over your head like that. If he would just square up and keep his elbow in, he would already have improved.

 

[ready2go]

I get what to are saying to a certain extent, but a jump shot is all form and repetition. He needs to shoot like a normal human being-a basketball isn't a shot-put, so don't put it over your head like that. If he would just square up and keep his elbow in, he would already have improved.

Yea no question. I said last game he has no business hoysting that 3rd grade shot up until he improves, but like we were saying I think he can contribute far more by releasing his athleticism. You have to bring something to the table

 

[JumpinJack5]

Yea no question. I said last game he has no business hoysting that 3rd grade shot up until he improves, but like we were saying I think he can contribute far more by releasing his athleticism. You have to bring something to the table

He definitely has athleticism, and that is something you can't teach. If he can attack and make good decisions, he is still a very solid piece to our puzzle.

 

[ready2go]

This may be for another thread but I have jokingly said it before....Offense sells tickets.

I saw some empty seats and really all game there wasnt much to get excited about. Fans dont want to watch a defensive battle. Fairweather or not. If we can get these guys to be able to use their athleticism, Im telling you things will get back to the old Catitude

 

[JumpinJack5]

This may be for another thread but I have jokingly said it before....Offense sells tickets.

I saw some empty seats and really all game there wasnt much to get excited about. Fans dont want to watch a defensive battle. Fairweather or not. If we can get these guys to be able to use their athleticism, Im telling you things will get back to the old Catitude

Hopefully Tommy T read this comment, offense also sells football tickets, as we have learned in recent Bearcats football history.

 

[ready2go]

Hopefully Tommy T read this comment, offense also sells football tickets, as we have learned in recent Bearcats football history.

Its the truth isnt it... As a WR I def buy into it

 

[TheLivingLegend]

when the half court offense is abysmal..... the solution isnt rocket science.. DONT GET INTO HALF COURT SITUATIONS.

TEMPO. Run. I dont care if you dont have numbers you push the ball at a ridiculous pace.

We could have exhausted those two bigs if we just ran the ball. I dont care if its one on five, run the ball up the court and go from there.

Let me coach Mick, I could solve the half court misery. We would never be in the half court.

 

[Ryno99]

Didn't press as much tonight either. probably b/c of Cash being out and in foul trouble, but that hurt.

 

[westsidecat]

when the half court offense is abysmal..... the solution isnt rocket science.. DONT GET INTO HALF COURT SITUATIONS.

TEMPO. Run. I dont care if you dont have numbers you push the ball at a ridiculous pace.

We could have exhausted those two bigs if we just ran the ball. I dont care if its one on five, run the ball up the court and go from there.

Let me coach Mick, I could solve the half court misery. We would never be in the half court.

i like this.

uc should just put their heads down and run and dribble as fast as they can. brilliant. this might work if you had anyone on the team with any kind of feel and touch around the basket. plus the 20+ turnover this would cause would be nice.

 

[ervins84]

It's kinda hard to say we live and die by the 3 when UC shot 42% from 3 on 26 attempts. That's a really good game from 3. A big concern is the complete lack of free throw attempts from this team, with a FT rate ranking in around 250th which is even worse considering how many games we've shot fts at the end due to fouling bc of the score.

Also were playing at a significantly faster pace than ever before in cronins tenure. You can look it up on kenpom, but our adjusted tempo is in the top 70 in the country, ranking faster or as fast as well known up tempo teams like Kansas and Indiana. For perspective, Uc averaged 64 possessions per game the last 2 seasons. That was between 250 and 300th in the country. This year, they are at 69.5 per game ranking in the top 70.

There's undoubtedly been an emphasis on increasing tempo this year given how quickly they outlet the ball on every make or miss compared to walking it up a lot last season. What's bad is our offense in the half court is anemic, but that's not really for lack of good looks. Guys shoot 9-38 from 2 and it's impossible to win. Our guards and bigs are both struggling to finish around the rim and on drives or dump offs and stick backs.

Rebounding is great at least.

 

[ervins84]

And I forgot to add, that new Mexico did a great job of controlling tempo and getting back in transition defense. That game only had 62 possessions, and despite us pushing the ball when we had chances, we were forced to pull it out because new Mexico recovered well.

This is something we'll struggle with all year most likely, and teams like Pitt that play a slower pace will give us a lot of problems. Very few teams are going to want to run with Cincinnati.

 

[ralph1950]

Well that was a very disappointing game that I saw coming for a few weeks.

This UC team is a good team, but they have some serious issues that need to be addressed.

- Zero post presence. I saw the ball go into the post I think once tonight. We have no body that can do anything in the post. Serious problem.

- Outside of Parker, Cash and SK, can anyone on this team score? Anyone? Jackson went 0-6 tonight. Rubles followed that up going 1-6....

- I have said this for YEARS on this board. UC defense will always be good, Thats what Mick knows. I seriously have concerns about his half court offensive scheme. Looks miserable at times.

- Are bigs are VERY weak.

- Live and die by the Three.

Every college basketball team in the nation has cracks, none are perfect. All will lose this season, there has not been an undefeated D1 college basketball team since 1976, 37 years ago.

 

[ralph1950]

when the half court offense is abysmal..... the solution isnt rocket science.. DONT GET INTO HALF COURT SITUATIONS.

TEMPO. Run. I dont care if you dont have numbers you push the ball at a ridiculous pace.

We could have exhausted those two bigs if we just ran the ball. I dont care if its one on five, run the ball up the court and go from there.

Let me coach Mick, I could solve the half court misery. We would never be in the half court.

The half court offense worked fine. The team shot 9-38, 23.6%, from inside the 3 point line. The players failed to put the ball in the basket.

 

[#BearcatNation]

The two big issues I saw last night, and that I've been seeing lately, are:

1) Inability to finish. Goes along with not having any sort of post presence. Can't tell you how many times we've been a foot away from the hoop and weren't able to score.

2) Not running any real form of offense. Our offense looks like something they'd try in the NBA. Just a bunch of one-on-one and 3 point bombing. I'm okay with shooting a decent amount of 3s, I think our guys can handle it. What I can't handle is just swinging the ball around the perimeter over and over and once the shot clock runs down, we recklessly drive in a one-on-one situation and either throw up an ugly 10 footer, lose the ball, or dish it back out to chuck up a heavily guarded 3. There is very little offensive movement and play calling and it killed us tonight.

 

[mplebanon]

The two big issues I saw last night, and that I've been seeing lately, are:

1) Inability to finish. Goes along with not having any sort of post presence. Can't tell you how many times we've been a foot away from the hoop and weren't able to score.

2) Not running any real form of offense. Our offense looks like something they'd try in the NBA. Just a bunch of one-on-one and 3 point bombing. I'm okay with shooting a decent amount of 3s, I think our guys can handle it. What I can't handle is just swinging the ball around the perimeter over and over and once the shot clock runs down, we recklessly drive in a one-on-one situation and either throw up an ugly 10 footer, lose the ball, or dish it back out to chuck up a heavily guarded 3. There is very little offensive movement and play calling and it killed us tonight.

You and the LivingLegend beat me to it. I agree with both of you.

I said it during the game last night. If we could have hit half of those driving low post shots, we win going away. And we should have been able to finish them. Frustrating that we can't. Is it focus? I know they do this in practice, but they need to get out the pads and bump these guys around while trying to make layups and shots from 5' in. They need to focus and make the shot.

Here's my list:
1. Finish shots from 5' in. These team has guys who can get in the lane. But it does not good if they can't finish.
2. Don't be afraid of contact going to the basket. Going to the FT line is a plus. Something we failed to do last night.
3. Half court offense is abysmal. Been watching this one on one stuff since the Huggins days. I agree with LL. Push the tempo and don't let the defense get set. Crash the boards.
4. Cashmere absolutely HAS to avoid foul trouble. Offense was completely out of it when he was on the bench. Atleast with him in the game he is another legit threat.