Trending the wrong way?

[waterhead]

Yah...I like the idea of Cumberland for Scott. I see very good reason to play Kyle and Gary as many minutes as possible and playing inside out when they are both in. I see very little reason to play with two bigs otherwise. And for God sakes...NEVER use two bigs when both Clark and Kyle are out of the game. That drives me insane! If I see any combination of Moore/Scott, Moore/Brooks, Brooks/Scott...it will be too soon.

If your 6th man is a guard...go small!

Jarron is #1 on the team in EFG% and TS% both overall and in conference. Our other guards are at the bottom of this category.

He is 3rd on the team in scoring per 40 minutes overall and 2nd in conference. He has surpassed a struggling Evans in Conference. Cumberland hasn't even been playing great most recently.

Needless to say I like the idea of getting him more minutes. Now that he has plenty of experience I like that Cronin is trying to find a way to get him in there. This could be a piece to the puzzle we are missing. We will need him to be semi aggressive on offense to maximize the benefits.

 

[waterhead]

I just looked into road performance on team rankings recently. Overall games we were 55th in shooting percentage. Out of all the teams in the top 55 only 3 teams shot more than double figures worse on the road compared to home . We were one of them. But there was not one team in the top 183 of overall percentage that shot as low as we do on the road. 40 percent. The year before we shot 39 percent.

This is not a coincidence obviously. Our versatility hasn't helped much on the road in terms of shooting. Obviously we are doing something right winning games But we need to do better shooting on the road because no tourney games will be in our arena.

The question becomes why are we so bad on the road the past two years? We are now #62 in shooting % on the season. In the top 62 there are 3 teams who shoot more than 10% worse on the road than at home (we are one which puts us in the bottom 5%). There are also 7 teams who shoot better on the road. The average difference is probably only about a 3% drop. There isn't a team in the top 183 teams for overall shooting that shoots worse than us on the road. 40.2%

Why is this? Last year we shot 39% on the road. It's endemic to our team not a fluke.

Well, partially our shooting % is inflated by early home patsies...but other teams load up with patsies too. Part of this is due to shooting in comfortable surroundings and having fan support at home but other teams have the same advantage at home.

So what gives? Well, we have the same guys shooting a majority of our outside shots. I don't think we can expect significant improvement without a "change of the guard(s)" so to speak. I don't know if we get rattled or what...but our seniors have not been great shooters over the years. We have guys shooting better in Evans, Washington, and Cumberland at 39%, 42% and 39% but they are relatively new to the team. Our seniors have been stuck around 32-33% for their careers.

Next year I expect significant improvement since our volume deep balls should come from higher % guys. Not sure on Broome but seriously I can't imagine he will shoot much worse than 33% from deep. This will open things up for our bigs as well...who do a pretty good job of knocking down shots. They too must being doing significantly worse on the road because defenses will pack it in and let our seniors try to make some outside shots.

Much of this is confidence related too I'm sure. The old adage in baseball is "hitting is contagious". I think the same thing applies in team basketball for shooting (but not on the road apparently). One of the nice things about this year is our team must at least be confident in passing the ball to another teammate because they can all score as opposed to other years. Last year giving the ball to Ellis down low in crunch time or to Thomas must have been uneasy at best.

KJ is coming around but I'm not sure if he can keep it going although I have always thought he had a nice stroke. He is so confidence dependent. We need more guys who can shoot through a bad stretch and remain confident. Troy flat out needs to shoot better. We really need him to.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

If your slumps still net you wins, id call that a good team.

We had so many losses this time last year and yet this year we refuse to lose despite how we shoot.

Couldn't disagree more with your assessment. We've played 7 games against tournament-ish teams (Rhode Island, @ISU, @Butler, Xavier, SMUx2 , Houston) and are 4-3. If we played Tulsa and Temple of last year, given the way we played on the road, we probably would have lost those games. Our record is a product of an awful portion of the schedule where we went from playing NCAA quality teams to borderline Top 100 teams. Last years team probably would have a similar record given this schedule.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Yah...I like the idea of Cumberland for Scott. I see very good reason to play Kyle and Gary as many minutes as possible and playing inside out when they are both in. I see very little reason to play with two bigs otherwise. And for God sakes...NEVER use two bigs when both Clark and Kyle are out of the game. That drives me insane! If I see any combination of Moore/Scott, Moore/Brooks, Brooks/Scott...it will be too soon.

If your 6th man is a guard...go small!

Clark and Washington don't just both sit on the block all game.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

The question becomes why are we so bad on the road the past two years? We are now #62 in shooting % on the season. In the top 62 there are 3 teams who shoot more than 10% worse on the road than at home (we are one which puts us in the bottom 5%). There are also 7 teams who shoot better on the road. The average difference is probably only about a 3% drop. There isn't a team in the top 183 teams for overall shooting that shoots worse than us on the road. 40.2%

Why is this? Last year we shot 39% on the road. It's endemic to our team not a fluke.

Well, partially our shooting % is inflated by early home patsies...but other teams load up with patsies too. Part of this is due to shooting in comfortable surroundings and having fan support at home but other teams have the same advantage at home.

So what gives? Well, we have the same guys shooting a majority of our outside shots. I don't think we can expect significant improvement without a "change of the guard(s)" so to speak. I don't know if we get rattled or what...but our seniors have not been great shooters over the years. We have guys shooting better in Evans, Washington, and Cumberland at 39%, 42% and 39% but they are relatively new to the team. Our seniors have been stuck around 32-33% for their careers.

Next year I expect significant improvement since our volume deep balls should come from higher % guys. Not sure on Broome but seriously I can't imagine he will shoot much worse than 33% from deep. This will open things up for our bigs as well...who do a pretty good job of knocking down shots. They too must being doing significantly worse on the road because defenses will pack it in and let our seniors try to make some outside shots.

Much of this is confidence related too I'm sure. The old adage in baseball is "hitting is contagious". I think the same thing applies in team basketball for shooting (but not on the road apparently). One of the nice things about this year is our team must at least be confident in passing the ball to another teammate because they can all score as opposed to other years. Last year giving the ball to Ellis down low in crunch time or to Thomas must have been uneasy at best.

KJ is coming around but I'm not sure if he can keep it going although I have always thought he had a nice stroke. He is so confidence dependent. We need more guys who can shoot through a bad stretch and remain confident. Troy flat out needs to shoot better. We really need him to.

Mick mentioned this on his post game I believe. Part of it is because our guys avoid contact rather then power through. He especially mentioned Washington and Evans. He also mentioned games are officiated a bit different for the road team. As for our 3% I have no answer. Cumberland sometimes misses by a wide margin on the road.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

The question becomes why are we so bad on the road the past two years? We are now #62 in shooting % on the season. In the top 62 there are 3 teams who shoot more than 10% worse on the road than at home (we are one which puts us in the bottom 5%). There are also 7 teams who shoot better on the road. The average difference is probably only about a 3% drop. There isn't a team in the top 183 teams for overall shooting that shoots worse than us on the road. 40.2%

Why is this? Last year we shot 39% on the road. It's endemic to our team not a fluke.

Well, partially our shooting % is inflated by early home patsies...but other teams load up with patsies too. Part of this is due to shooting in comfortable surroundings and having fan support at home but other teams have the same advantage at home.

So what gives? Well, we have the same guys shooting a majority of our outside shots. I don't think we can expect significant improvement without a "change of the guard(s)" so to speak. I don't know if we get rattled or what...but our seniors have not been great shooters over the years. We have guys shooting better in Evans, Washington, and Cumberland at 39%, 42% and 39% but they are relatively new to the team. Our seniors have been stuck around 32-33% for their careers.

Next year I expect significant improvement since our volume deep balls should come from higher % guys. Not sure on Broome but seriously I can't imagine he will shoot much worse than 33% from deep. This will open things up for our bigs as well...who do a pretty good job of knocking down shots. They too must being doing significantly worse on the road because defenses will pack it in and let our seniors try to make some outside shots.

Much of this is confidence related too I'm sure. The old adage in baseball is "hitting is contagious". I think the same thing applies in team basketball for shooting (but not on the road apparently). One of the nice things about this year is our team must at least be confident in passing the ball to another teammate because they can all score as opposed to other years. Last year giving the ball to Ellis down low in crunch time or to Thomas must have been uneasy at best.

KJ is coming around but I'm not sure if he can keep it going although I have always thought he had a nice stroke. He is so confidence dependent. We need more guys who can shoot through a bad stretch and remain confident. Troy flat out needs to shoot better. We really need him to.

Broome was 32.2% in his first 2 years at Sacred Heart.

 

[waterhead]

Broome was 32.2% in his first 2 years at Sacred Heart.

Okay thanks...we will have to wait and see with Broome. There are a lot of other factors. He was the primary scorer creating a lot of his own shots but he was also the focal point for opposing D. He didn't face the same level of D either so who knows. Troy and KJ have been shooting a lot of set shots...neither create a lot of their own.

 

[waterhead]

Clark and Washington don't just both sit on the block all game.

I understand...they both get out to the perimeter too. The problem is we have been lacking penetration. Troy, Cumberland, Evans etc...all need to drive to the bucket when we spread it out. Otherwise paying 4 out is not going to work like it should.

 

[cincyguy13]

Couldn't disagree more with your assessment. We've played 7 games against tournament-ish teams (Rhode Island, @ISU, @Butler, Xavier, SMUx2 , Houston) and are 4-3. If we played Tulsa and Temple of last year, given the way we played on the road, we probably would have lost those games. Our record is a product of an awful portion of the schedule where we went from playing NCAA quality teams to borderline Top 100 teams. Last years team probably would have a similar record given this schedule.

How good do you think this team is? Just curious. I do think the schedule makes people think they are better then they are but I do think they are a top 20 team.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

How good do you think this team is? Just curious. I do think the schedule makes people think they are better then they are but I do think they are a top 20 team.

I know you're asking NTS, but I'd also say around 20. Better on a good day though.

 

[waterhead]

Mick mentioned this on his post game I believe. Part of it is because our guys avoid contact rather then power through. He especially mentioned Washington and Evans. He also mentioned games are officiated a bit different for the road team. As for our 3% I have no answer. Cumberland sometimes misses by a wide margin on the road.

They must be officiated differently for all teams. Which still doesn't explain why our road shooting % is so bad compared to everyone else.

Hey, I'm not trying to pick on this team...so I hope it doesn't sound that way. I love what I am seeing for the most part from this team. Best team in the Cronin era!! I am trying to figure out how we can play better on the road where all tourney games will be played. I am ecstatic with our record and I want that to translate to tourney success.

I have been seeing a bit of a dropoff lately but I think we will turn that around and I like that Cronin seems to want to address it.

 

[cincyguy13]

I know you're asking NTS, but I'd also say around 20. Better on a good day though.

Not many great teams this year. I think that helps. I don't think we are the best team ever or anything, but I think we could hang with teams like duke and UK this year. They would win the majority but this year I think we could compete imo

 

[#BearcatNation]

Broome was 32.2% in his first 2 years at Sacred Heart.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think that'll improve. He averaged over 7 three point attempts per game last year; the majority being from NBA-territory with a hand in his face. He's not going to need to force it that hard here. If he only attempts 3 or so per game when he's open, I bet he shoots over his career %.

 

[justinhub2003]

Couldn't disagree more with your assessment. We've played 7 games against tournament-ish teams (Rhode Island, @ISU, @Butler, Xavier, SMUx2 , Houston) and are 4-3. If we played Tulsa and Temple of last year, given the way we played on the road, we probably would have lost those games. Our record is a product of an awful portion of the schedule where we went from playing NCAA quality teams to borderline Top 100 teams. Last years team probably would have a similar record given this schedule.

I wrote a really huge rebuttal. Then I deleted it.

Your just trolling us. You hate UC so bad that you want us to join you.

 

[waterhead]

I know you're asking NTS, but I'd also say around 20. Better on a good day though.

We can beat most teams in the top 25 on a neutral court with just above average shooting because of our D. If we can get 45% from the floor and 35% from 3 we are very dangerous (which isn't shooting lights out by any means). Right now we are getting 40% on the road and 31% from 3.

That's not a big adjustment to ask for.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

How good do you think this team is? Just curious. I do think the schedule makes people think they are better then they are but I do think they are a top 20 team.

Somewhere between 20-25. Definitely a step up from last year where I thought they were more like 25-35.

 

[waterhead]

I wrote a really huge rebuttal. Then I deleted it.

Your just trolling us. You hate UC so bad that you want us to join you.

I would prefer to see your rebuttal. Give some stats...you are very good when you use them

 

[cincyguy13]

Somewhere between 20-25. Definitely a step up from last year where I thought they were more like 25-35.

I agree, somewhere in that range. they are definetly a step up from last year. March will depend on match ups and if our shots are falling. Not much room for error when you play those teams with 8 5 stars on their team

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I wrote a really huge rebuttal. Then I deleted it.

Your just trolling us. You hate UC so bad that you want us to join you.

Cincinnati played 10 Tier A games last year (in the regular season) and finished 3-7. This year, we only will have played 6 Tier A games and are currently 3-2 with 1 to go. How can you "rebuttal" that. The schedule was clearly much more difficult last season.

How many games would last years team be underdogs in using this year's schedule? Most likely @Butler, @Iowa State, @Houston and @SMU. So essentially one additional game compared to this season (we were favored @Houston).

Not sure how you could rebuttal anything I've said. I'd like to see your thoughts though.

 

[waterhead]

I agree, somewhere in that range. they are definetly a step up from last year. March will depend on match ups and if our shots are falling. Not much room for error when you play those teams with 8 5 stars on their team

Think about this. All we need to do is a better job offensively. A better job...not a fantastic job...a better job.

Troy has been bad shooting. Jacob has not been himself. Cumberland has not been aggressive. Just a marginal improvement from all 3 would do wonders or even a substantial improvement from any of them.

My preference of course is for Troy to do well since he has the ball in his hands the most. He could have an effect on all 3. I have seen him play much better basketball. Come on Troy...finish your career in style!!