Tulsa

[Queens_NYC]

Just finished watching the game after an afternoon at the park with my son and a night out with my wife and friends in Forest Hiils (great NYC neighborhood btw if any of you ever visit).

Couple takeaways...

MAW is bad. I'm ready to scrap all of his minutes for Mason Madsen, sight unseen. He can make free throws and nothing else. Will never be a legit high major offensive player. Let him go to Buffalo or Binghamton at the end of this year. If he's our starting 2 guard for the next 2 years then **** me in the ***.

Keith. Not much more to say other than he is a loser. Not that he isn't a physically impressive player, but when the game is on the line, he cannot make winning plays. Hence, he is a loser. 65% at the line is not good enough.

As for Brannen, I'm officially done with him. If he can't win with this group, I don't think he can win with anyone. I'm ready to part ways with him after this season. The program culture is nothing short of embarrassing. Let's cut our losses now and build from the ground up with Van Exel.

 

[cincyalum2014]

It's ok to trust in a HC instead of trying to blow it up because of a horrible month. This fan base is beyond toxic in so many ways. As for Nick Van Exel, why is literally no other team offering him a head coaching position, literally not a single team in division 1...people would bitch and moan if we hired him if he wasn’t a former player. Take your past UC glory bias away and he is nothing more than a G league coach.... I don’t think Brannen is the guy personally but Jesus to blow it up right now or even after the season would just be silly

 

[Queens_NYC]

It's ok to trust in a HC instead of trying to blow it up because of a horrible month. This fan base is beyond toxic in so many ways. As for Nick Van Exel, why is literally no other team offering him a head coaching position, literally not a single team in division 1...people would bitch and moan if we hired him if he wasn’t a former player. Take your past UC glory bias away and he is nothing more than a G league coach.... I don’t think Brannen is the guy personally but Jesus to blow it up right now or even after the season would just be silly

**** that.

I'm officially with Jhub and am done trying to sugar coat our situation.

We're consistently losing to teams with less talent and it's because of poor coaching.

Cumberland and Tre Scott bailed Brannen out last season when we all knew the product on the court was inferior.

We nearly lost to a sh*tty Temple team on Senior Day.

The best thing that happened to Brannen was the pandemic.

We were primed for getting upset in the AAC tourney and losing our "supposed" at-large bid.

Davenport is the only player who is playing to or above his potential at this point.

Every other player is getting the **** end of the stick.

Dejulius deserves better. Harvey deserves better. Eason DEFINITELY deserves better.

Time to keep it real and stop accepting the "Cincinnati way" of mediocrity.

 

[skyblade]

How long can we keep losing before it starts to effect - the non-existent - recruiting for next year? Brannen has been recruiting on the back of Cronin averaging 30 wins a year and hopes and dreams of something even better. Now that the dreams are looking more like nightmares, how many recruits are going to want to come here next year?

What does Brannen have in his book to entice a recruit? Keith and Jarron regressed under him, MAW and others regressed in three point shooting, he has done horrible recruiting transfers. Reality is likely to be a harsh judge when he starts calling guys up in the spring.

You don't blow things up mid-season and Brannen doesn't fail based on one bad month. But he needs to turn things around this season. If we finish with under 10 wins and looking like we are going to need a complete rebuild, there is no reason to keep around the coach who got us into the mess. At that point there is more opportunity to take a risk on someone like NVE (no need to worry about continuity, since Brannen already ruined that) or find someone who seems be set to rebuild.

 

[cincyguy13]

How long can we keep losing before it starts to effect - the non-existent - recruiting for next year? Brannen has been recruiting on the back of Cronin averaging 30 wins a year and hopes and dreams of something even better. Now that the dreams are looking more like nightmares, how many recruits are going to want to come here next year?

What does Brannen have in his book to entice a recruit? Keith and Jarron regressed under him, MAW and others regressed in three point shooting, he has done horrible recruiting transfers. Reality is likely to be a harsh judge when he starts calling guys up in the spring.

You don't blow things up mid-season and Brannen doesn't fail based on one bad month. But he needs to turn things around this season. If we finish with under 10 wins and looking like we are going to need a complete rebuild, there is no reason to keep around the coach who got us into the mess. At that point there is more opportunity to take a risk on someone like NVE (no need to worry about continuity, since Brannen already ruined that) or find someone who seems be set to rebuild.

The recruiting isn’t on the top 10 things to be concerned about. Plenty of time left, especially this day and age. Kids decommitting, coaching changes, etc....

Honest question, how did jarron regress? It been stated the guy was hurt, are we blaming brannen for that? These plenty to blame brannen for, why make something up?

 

[cincyguy13]

How long can we keep losing before it starts to effect - the non-existent - recruiting for next year? Brannen has been recruiting on the back of Cronin averaging 30 wins a year and hopes and dreams of something even better. Now that the dreams are looking more like nightmares, how many recruits are going to want to come here next year?

What does Brannen have in his book to entice a recruit? Keith and Jarron regressed under him, MAW and others regressed in three point shooting, he has done horrible recruiting transfers. Reality is likely to be a harsh judge when he starts calling guys up in the spring.

You don't blow things up mid-season and Brannen doesn't fail based on one bad month. But he needs to turn things around this season. If we finish with under 10 wins and looking like we are going to need a complete rebuild, there is no reason to keep around the coach who got us into the mess. At that point there is more opportunity to take a risk on someone like NVE (no need to worry about continuity, since Brannen already ruined that) or find someone who seems be set to rebuild.

I also see, “these guys aren’t progressing” a lot. Some guys just have a ceiling. If they didn’t we’d have nba picks every year. How long did we wait for Shaq Thomas to progress? Biggie McClain, go down the list. Some times, the player is who they are. I know we want everyone to turn into this all league player but that’s not realistic. Keith’s been the same player for 4 years. Great athlete, decent player, not much skill, and makes dumb decisions. That’s who he is. Brannen isn’t a miracle worker.

 

[cincyalum2014]

**** that.

I'm officially with Jhub and am done trying to sugar coat our situation.

We're consistently losing to teams with less talent and it's because of poor coaching.

Cumberland and Tre Scott bailed Brannen out last season when we all knew the product on the court was inferior.

We nearly lost to a sh*tty Temple team on Senior Day.

The best thing that happened to Brannen was the pandemic.

We were primed for getting upset in the AAC tourney and losing our "supposed" at-large bid.

Davenport is the only player who is playing to or above his potential at this point.

Every other player is getting the **** end of the stick.

Dejulius deserves better. Harvey deserves better. Eason DEFINITELY deserves better.

Time to keep it real and stop accepting the "Cincinnati way" of mediocrity.

That is such a lazy way it to dismiss so many factors, I will agree next years recruiting class having zero recruits is an issue. We all know Vogt sucks and we all know he was nothing more than a filler. Rap was a huge miss but everyone on here including myself was extremely excited for him at the start of the season. Jarren and Tre helped tremendously last year to help smooth the transition and there is no denying that. Yes lets keep it real, Brannen has gone after high recruits and missed, but at least he is making an attempt, he is trying to get guys here. Harvey who is like our 5th highest rated recruit since 247 rankings came out hasn't lived up to anywhere near the potential we all thought or how he cant even crack the starting lineup. Eason was a big get. MAW and Saunders are probably NKU guys, the Madsons remain to be seen. But to jump off the cliff this early is hilarious. And the fact that Nick Van Exel would come in and just take us to the promise land is ridiculous. Look at Jerry Stackhouse at Vanderbilt.

 

[skyblade]

I also see, “these guys aren’t progressing” a lot. Some guys just have a ceiling. If they didn’t we’d have nba picks every year. How long did we wait for Shaq Thomas to progress? Biggie McClain, go down the list. Some times, the player is who they are. I know we want everyone to turn into this all league player but that’s not realistic. Keith’s been the same player for 4 years. Great athlete, decent player, not much skill, and makes dumb decisions. That’s who he is. Brannen isn’t a miracle worker.

It's the coaches job to get guys who can and will progress. That's part of why the ranking of recruits is fairly meaningless, it's not just about getting the guy who will be best today, it's about getting the guy who will be best in 2-3 years.

I'm not expecting guys to become stars overnight, but I expect to see guys make year-to-year improvement and improve throughout the season. It can be small things, like improving shooting, defense or just reducing fouls.

I'd bet everything I own that Cronin would have turned Keith into a star, the other coaches in the league were clearly expecting Keith to turn into a star (hence the first team picks). One player failing to develop is a problem with the player, but the whole team failing to develop is a problem with the coach. Who on this team looks significantly better than they did last year?

 

[TheLivingLegend]

It's the coaches job to get guys who can and will progress. That's part of why the ranking of recruits is fairly meaningless, it's not just about getting the guy who will be best today, it's about getting the guy who will be best in 2-3 years.

I'm not expecting guys to become stars overnight, but I expect to see guys make year-to-year improvement and improve throughout the season. It can be small things, like improving shooting, defense or just reducing fouls.

I'd bet everything I own that Cronin would have turned Keith into a star, the other coaches in the league were clearly expecting Keith to turn into a star (hence the first team picks). One player failing to develop is a problem with the player, but the whole team failing to develop is a problem with the coach. Who on this team looks significantly better than they did last year?

Non shooters don't all the sudden become shooters lol. That's impossible to teach.

Keith was never going to be a star. He doesn't have it. Yet another thing impossible to teach.

 

[cincyguy13]

It's the coaches job to get guys who can and will progress. That's part of why the ranking of recruits is fairly meaningless, it's not just about getting the guy who will be best today, it's about getting the guy who will be best in 2-3 years.

I'm not expecting guys to become stars overnight, but I expect to see guys make year-to-year improvement and improve throughout the season. It can be small things, like improving shooting, defense or just reducing fouls.

I'd bet everything I own that Cronin would have turned Keith into a star, the other coaches in the league were clearly expecting Keith to turn into a star (hence the first team picks). One player failing to develop is a problem with the player, but the whole team failing to develop is a problem with the coach. Who on this team looks significantly better than they did last year?

How would have cronin made Keith a star? I’m actually curious? You realize cronin didn’t turn all his players into stars right? How many “stars” did cronin have in 12 years? Sk, jarron, Jacob, Gary, Yancy maybe, caupain regressed his senior year, guess that was cronin fault . So 4-5 in 12 years. Cronin also wasn’t a miracle worker. You can’t turn these guys into things they aren’t.

Also, brannen is giving Keith the ball all the time. What more do you want brannen to do? If Keith’s a star, go be one. It’s not like he isn’t getting the opportunity. Brannen did make Tre a star. That doesn’t count tho.

 

[cincyguy13]

Question for anyone, how is brannen holding Keith back from being a star? I’d love to hear a reason. Plays 30 minutes a game, our number one option. How is brannen holding Keith back? Honestly curious

 

[skyblade]

Non shooters don't all the sudden become shooters lol. That's impossible to teach.

Keith was never going to be a star. He doesn't have it. Yet another thing impossible to teach.

Then recruit shooters, isn't that what Brannen was supposed to do? Better offense, better three point shooting. Now he can't be blamed when his recruits can't shoot the three, his recruits who came some a supposedly great recruiting class.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Then recruit shooters, isn't that what Brannen was supposed to do? Better offense, better three point shooting. Now he can't be blamed when his recruits can't shoot the three, his recruits who came some a supposedly great recruiting class.

He did. Gabe and Mason likely two best shooters a uc team has had in a decade. They are also freshman and need to learn to play vs more athletic guys

 

[skyblade]

How could Keith be a star? First, you have to actual put quality players around him. Not many guys succeed when they are their teams only threats.

It's starts with blowing the recruiting of bigs and refusing to give Diarra (the only big we have who has a chance of being a quality player) a shot. Vogt is only threatening 3 feet from the basket and doesn't know how to post up, Rap was useless, Lahkin seems to be in the same mold.

Then of course the lack of shooters. Even if Mason/Gabe are our best shooters (and not just false hope because we haven't seen them shoot yet), that's two out of 10+ guys. Brannen's offense needs shooters to spread the floor. He has put a slasher like Keith in the horrible position of having no one to spread the floor, than puts a big 7 footer who can't move or shoot down low to further clog the lane.

Brannen needs to either recruit shooters or teach guys how to shoot. He has done neither. There is basically no one - except Davenport and maybe Keith - who plays regularly who I would expect to be able to hit >40% of their threes in an open gym. If Cronin recruited shooters half this bad fans would have thrown massive fits.

What exactly has Brannen recruited for? He's gotten guys who are less tough, less strong, less athletic and can't shoot the ball. But at least they were higher rated. At least when guys couldn't shoot for Cronin, they'd be fighting for every offensive rebound and every loose ball.

 

[Bcatfollower]

It's the coaches job to get guys who can and will progress. That's part of why the ranking of recruits is fairly meaningless, it's not just about getting the guy who will be best today, it's about getting the guy who will be best in 2-3 years.

I'm not expecting guys to become stars overnight, but I expect to see guys make year-to-year improvement and improve throughout the season. It can be small things, like improving shooting, defense or just reducing fouls.

I'd bet everything I own that Cronin would have turned Keith into a star, the other coaches in the league were clearly expecting Keith to turn into a star (hence the first team picks). One player failing to develop is a problem with the player, but the whole team failing to develop is a problem with the coach. Who on this team looks significantly better than they did last year?

Davenport

 

[cincyguy13]

How could Keith be a star? First, you have to actual put quality players around him. Not many guys succeed when they are their teams only threats.

It's starts with blowing the recruiting of bigs and refusing to give Diarra (the only big we have who has a chance of being a quality player) a shot. Vogt is only threatening 3 feet from the basket and doesn't know how to post up, Rap was useless, Lahkin seems to be in the same mold.

Then of course the lack of shooters. Even if Mason/Gabe are our best shooters (and not just false hope because we haven't seen them shoot yet), that's two out of 10+ guys. Brannen's offense needs shooters to spread the floor. He has put a slasher like Keith in the horrible position of having no one to spread the floor, than puts a big 7 footer who can't move or shoot down low to further clog the lane.

Brannen needs to either recruit shooters or teach guys how to shoot. He has done neither. There is basically no one - except Davenport and maybe Keith - who plays regularly who I would expect to be able to hit >40% of their threes in an open gym. If Cronin recruited shooters half this bad fans would have thrown massive fits.

What exactly has Brannen recruited for? He's gotten guys who are less tough, less strong, less athletic and can't shoot the ball. But at least they were higher rated. At least when guys couldn't shoot for Cronin, they'd be fighting for every offensive rebound and every loose ball.

Wait, we said that cronin would bring in 1 really good player in every year or two and we are expecting brannen to have a fully stocked roster in a year in a half?

Keith isn’t a star, dou isn’t a star. I know you want an excuse and someone to blame for them not being stars but they just aren’t the players you think they are, brannen isn’t holding Keith back. He’s had every opportunity in the world. There is nothing cronin would have done different to make Keith a star.

Brannen also brought in two guys just to shoot. Davenport can shoot. That’s 3 players right there. So that’s about 30% of the guys he brought in. They are freshmen. It’s not like he’s ignoring shooting like you think he is. One left, can’t predict that.

 

[skyblade]

Davenport

Yeah, out of what 6 guys? One has improved.

 

[skyblade]

Wait, we said that cronin would bring in 1 really good player in every year or two and we are expecting brannen to have a fully stocked roster in a year in a half?

Keith isn’t a star, dou isn’t a star. I know you want an excuse and someone to blame for them not being stars but they just aren’t the players you think they are, brannen isn’t holding Keith back. He’s had every opportunity in the world. There is nothing cronin would have done different to make kith a star.

He'd bring in one NBA level player per year. Plus some other pieces. Again, Brannen blew the recruiting of transfer, has done horrible with big men and couldn't keep (or forced out) Cronin recruits. I don't expect perfection from his freshmen/sophomore's (though I did expect more than what I have seen).

You can believe that, I'll take Cronin's history of making NCAA tournaments and consistent player development.

 

[cincyguy13]

You can believe that, I'll take Cronin's history of making NCAA tournaments and consistent player development.

Believe what?

 

[TheRealMick]

I be trying come here and participate, cincyguy13 just sucks the life out of this site. I get supporting our team but give it a break my friend, JB is terrible. Cut our losses now and move on. This hire was worse than tubby