UC at Memphis

[JerseySean]

Rubles is a grinder, he does a great job of rebounding for a guy his size and plays good interior defense against larger foes. He is not an offensive asset and he shouldn't be looked at as one. If Rubles has a look at an un-contested layup or shot from 12 ft and in then he's most likely going to attempt it but he should not be shooting jump shots. The offense should not be putting the ball in his hands unless he's close to the rim.

I love watching him get the ball in the high post and then giving 2 to 3 head fakes. The defender nearly always just stands there, not biting. Hilarious.

That said, I like the kid a lot. He plays hard, defends well, brings leadership and swagger. His first half last night was off the charts. May we have many more complete games like his first half last night...

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I love watching him get the ball in the high post and then giving 2 to 3 head fakes. The defender nearly always just stands there, not biting. Hilarious.

That said, I like the kid a lot. He plays hard, defends well, brings leadership and swagger. His first half last night was off the charts. May we have many more complete games like his first half last night...

Machock eluded to this last night. He said that we should schedule Houston every week to get that performance out of Titus. Rubles is from Dallas and had friends and family so I am sure he was pumped to play in front of them.

 

[JasonS]

Yes ,they did. thought the buckeyes were going to pull it out. It may not be popular on this site but i love watching A. Craft play.

Aaron Craft is the most overrated player in college basketball.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Aaron Craft is the most overrated player in college basketball.

thanks for your thoughts Jason.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I love watching him play and lose. Just like any schmuckeye team.

then you probably had a wonderful evening.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Aaron Craft is the most overrated player in college basketball.

I think that Craft is one of those guys that you love him if he is on your team and love to hate him if you are facing him.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I think that Craft is one of those guys that you love him if he is on your team and love to hate him if you are facing him.

I don't expect him to be popular on this site but as stated I enjoy watching him. Kid plays all out 100 percent of the time. Don't think he has a NBA career in front of him but he is a 4.0 student and my understanding is he wants to be a doctor.

 

[bearcat jeff]

I don't expect him to be popular on this site but as stated I enjoy watching him. Kid plays all out 100 percent of the time. Don't think he has a NBA career in front of him but he is a 4.0 student and my understanding is he wants to be a doctor.

I appreciate his effort and understand why people like him but I can't stand him. I've never seen anyone in my life get away with reaching in and slapping other players arms as much as he does. He's one of those guys that television hypes so he never gets called for it. I see it every single game. He is gritty and tough but I don't like him. Maybe the fact that Matta coaches him has something to do with it (refer back to my disdain for X).

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I appreciate his effort and understand why people like him but I can't stand him. I've never seen anyone in my life get away with reaching in and slapping other players arms as much as he does. He's one of those guys that television hypes so he never gets called for it. I see it every single gamer. He is gritty and tough but I don't like him. Maybe the fact that coaches him has something to do with it (refer back to my disdain for X).e

absolutely Jeff. He gets his share of calls. As posted earlier if he's on your team you love him if not you hate him. Kid works his tail off and makes good decisions with the ball. I guess I'm old school and my appreciation of his game has as much to do with his game as it does the fact he is a true student athlete. I have a ton of respect for the kids who work their tails off both on the court and in class room.

 

[bearcat jeff]

absolutely Jeff. He gets his share of calls. As posted earlier if he's on your team you love him if not you hate him. Kid works his tail off and makes good decisions with the ball. I guess I'm old school and my appreciation of his game has as much to do with his game as it does the fact he is a true student athlete. I have a ton of respect for the kids who work their tails off both on the court and in class room.

Didn't say I didn't love his attributes and appreciate his impact on every game

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Didn't say I didn't love his attrubtes and appreciate his impact on every game

I understand. Also rest assured if we play them I will be cheering against them just as I did in our recent sweet 16 game.

Being a graduate of Rollins College but born and raised a Bearcat fan my loyalty is a bit different then a guy who is a UC alum. Also being in the military for 20 years you really identify with the programs closest to your home town. UC is always my number 1 team. But I will cheer for others if they aren't playing or out of the tournament. Sports are great ice breakers for guys in service. First thing people ask is where you from and are you a fan of such and such.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Jeff, I guess you could say I get a bit confused sometimes about who I'm rooting for. I lived in Tucson for 8 years beginning in 1973. I was your typical gym rat. Played hoops 7 days a week. After work mon-fri and sat and sun all day. In those days during the off season had the opportunity to play against some very good college players from the University of Arizona. Eric Money,Corniele Norman,Al Fleming and Big Bob Elliot. All played professionally after graduating. I also might add they pissed everyone off because they held the court all day. I went to U of A games and became a fan of their program.Well as fate would have it Sean Miller ex X coach is now the head coach. While I was there Tony Mason took over the football program bringing Larry Streeter and Hubert Oliver with him. In case your not old enough to remember Mason was head coach at UC. As I mentioned earlier my two youngest are buckeyes.. Well now Maata is head coach there. I guess you could say I'm very confused when filling out my bracket. Anyway to make a long story short I am a UC fan first and some form of TOSU and U of A second.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

in no context is GG a better option then TC at PG.

For defensive purposes he is and when dribbling against pressure. Caupain has a tendency to pick up his dribble when making a pass. Deonte Vaughn used to do it and it drove me crazy. If you pick your dribble up under pressure, that's where you get trapped and in trouble. Cash was so good at avoiding this. He could keep his dribble and make the pass. I think Guyn is much better at this at this point than Caupain. I will say that we haven't really faced great on the ball pressure much this year. We faced it alot in the Big East.

I've been wanting to make this point and haven't really found the right topic to do it. I think we will see the status quo as to who starts as long as we are winning. If we go on a stretch where we lose two in a row or two of three, especially against teams we shouldn't lose to, I think it will give Cronin the green light to switch up the rotation should he choose to. Right now what we are doing is working, so no justification to change it. I will say I think he likes Guyn starting to get better defense in there early to set the tone and not let a team get out to a good start offensively.

 

[bearcat jeff]

Jeff, I guess you could say I get a bit confused sometimes about who I'm rooting for. I lived in Tucson for 8 years beginning in 1973. I was your typical gym rat. Played hoops 7 days a week. After work mon-fri and sat and sun all day. In those days during the off season had the opportunity to play against some very good college players from the University of Arizona. Eric Money,Corniele Norman,Al Fleming and Big Bob Elliot. All played professionally after graduating. I also might add they pissed everyone off because they held the court all day. I went to U of A games and became a fan of their program.Well as fate would have it Sean Miller ex X coach is now the head coach. While I was there Tony Mason took over the football program bringing Larry Streeter and Hubert Oliver with him. In case your not old enough to remember Mason was head coach at UC. As I mentioned earlier my two youngest are buckeyes.. Well now Maata is head coach there. I guess you could say I'm very confused when filling out my bracket. Anyway to make a long story short I am a UC fan first and some form of TOSU and U of A second.

That's what makes sports fun.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I see where your coming from, but I disagree a little with you. Maybe his shooting "looks" awful because of his flat shots, but the statistics say he isn't awful in the results he achieves. He's shooting 42% overall and 36% from 3, so his overall percentage is a little behind SK and his 3-pt. percentage is a couple points ahead of SK. For a 6'7"-6'8" forward, these are decent percentages. Of the 9 players who generally play, only 3 shoot free throws better than him. He's right at 70% which is a nice "average" free throw percentage. And, only 2 of the 9 players shoot the 3 better than him.

Sanders has had a nice little run recently, but when we played a really good, athletic, and quick team, his production dropped...which is what I suspected would happen. Against Memphis, Sanders was 1-3 overall, 1-2 from 3, 4 rebounds, 2 assista, 1 block, 1 steal, zero turnovers and 3 points. Shaq was 4-9 overall, 1 for 1 from 3, 1 block, 3 steals, zero turnovers, 10 points. I just don't think Sanders will perform the same against the better teams we will play because of his lack of quickness and athleticism, whereas Shaq is far better equipped to compete against those teams. And ultimately, it's those teams that we'll need to beat in March. I wouldn't give up on Shaq yet. Just my opinion.

I get what you're saying, but logic should dictate that if Shaq were better against the better teams, then he should be even better against the weaker teams. It is true that Shaq's game appeals to more of the up and down type and might've matched up better against a team like Memphis, but I don't see the conclusion that all the better competition will be like Memphis. There are good teams that don't try to outrun you or play above the rim. In fact I think Sanders is better equipped to play against teams that rebound well and play good defense and that seems to be more a measure of success to me than playing uptempo. Memphis didn't play much D, for that matter neither did Houston. If we draw an opponent that doesn't play good D come March I think there's less to worry about anyway. Right now, Sanders understands the game better and plays looser and makes less mistakes. Shaq needs minutes and needs confidence from his teammates and his coach so he can continue to improve.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I get what you're saying, but logic should dictate that if Shaq were better against the better teams, then he should be even better against the weaker teams. It is true that Shaq's game appeals to more of the up and down type and might've matched up better against a team like Memphis, but I don't see the conclusion that all the better competition will be like Memphis. There are good teams that don't try to outrun you or play above the rim. In fact I think Sanders is better equipped to play against teams that rebound well and play good defense and that seems to be more a measure of success to me than playing uptempo. Memphis didn't play much D, for that matter neither did Houston. If we draw an opponent that doesn't play good D come March I think there's less to worry about anyway. Right now, Sanders understands the game better and plays looser and makes less mistakes. Shaq needs minutes and needs confidence from his teammates and his coach so he can continue to improve.

I agree with all of the above. On top of that I think Shaq needs to get some mental toughness as well. I hope that he is in the gym working on his shot all day and night and works out as hard as SK did this offseason with the weights. Coaches and teammates can give him confidence , but he also needs to do things himself to round his game.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

For defensive purposes he is and when dribbling against pressure. Caupain has a tendency to pick up his dribble when making a pass. Deonte Vaughn used to do it and it drove me crazy. If you pick your dribble up under pressure, that's where you get trapped and in trouble. Cash was so good at avoiding this. He could keep his dribble and make the pass. I think Guyn is much better at this at this point than Caupain. I will say that we haven't really faced great on the ball pressure much this year. We faced it alot in the Big East.

I've been wanting to make this point and haven't really found the right topic to do it. I think we will see the status quo as to who starts as long as we are winning. If we go on a stretch where we lose two in a row or two of three, especially against teams we shouldn't lose to, I think it will give Cronin the green light to switch up the rotation should he choose to. Right now what we are doing is working, so no justification to change it. I will say I think he likes Guyn starting to get better defense in there early to set the tone and not let a team get out to a good start offensively.

david he does not handle the ball better then TC. I can't recall him ever being trapped. GG is not better under pressure. That is why in tight games he is on the bench.

 

[ervins84]

Caupain has a slightly lower turnover rate while maintaining double the assist % of guyn.

Caupain's eff fg % is 10 points higher.

His offensive rating is way higher while having almost identical usage rates.

Caupain's steal % is tied for the team lead with JJ at 3.9. Rubles is next at 3.6. Guyn is at 0.8. Only guy lower is big Dave.

His off and def rebd percentages are higher. He fouls less on D. He draws more fouls on offense. This isn't even remotely close when we add in that Caupain just turned 18 and I think guyn to a year of prep school so he might even be an older junior.

Caupain isn't perfect obv and of course he will have some rough games but at this point, he needs to be playing 30+ minutes a game.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Caupain has a slightly lower turnover rate while maintaining double the assist % of guyn.

Caupain's eff fg % is 10 points higher.

His offensive rating is way higher while having almost identical usage rates.

Caupain's steal % is tied for the team lead with JJ at 3.9. Rubles is next at 3.6. Guyn is at 0.8. Only guy lower is big Dave.

His off and def rebd percentages are higher. He fouls less on D. He draws more fouls on offense. This isn't even remotely close when we add in that Caupain just turned 18 and I think guyn to a year of prep school so he might even be an older junior.

Caupain isn't perfect obv and of course he will have some rough games but at this point, he needs to be playing 30+ minutes a game.

Thanks for all the stats. Your hard work confirmed what my eyes were seeing.

 

[ME80]

Aaron Craft is the most overrated player in college basketball.

I would take him for UC in a second!