UC @ New Mexico

[Bearcat_NTS]

Would we have been better prepared to play on the road had we played New Mexico the third game of the season on the road? I don't get the complaint of playing seven straight home games. Your first road game will be your first road game no matter where it falls on the schedule. Should we go play at USC Upstate and give up some revenue to be better prepared to play New Mexico on the road? How were we unprepared? When we play Louisville and face a top five team will we be unprepared because we won't have played a top five team prior? We play X next week, will we be unprepared because we haven't scheduled a rival earlier?

New Mexico is probably the toughest place to play in America. I was pleased with how Johnson and Caupain played, they will ned to be keys this season. Didn't get much of anything out of Thomas or Guyn. Really though Shaq would have a good season, he is way too talented to be this tentative...

 

[david aka the TYZ]

New Mexico is a bad match-up with their bigs. We knew that going in. I thought we had a good gameplan we just didn't execute. I thought the first half we were rushing ourselves and nervous on offense. I know the gameplan was to attack and to get fouls on them. Good gameplan, would have worked better had the refs called fouls on NM. Apparently the new hand check rule was only in effect today with Rubles and Johnson. New Mexico must play the most flawless defense in the country. Bottom line we got behind on the road vs. a tough team in a tough environment. The Cats played hard and fought to the final whistle. We have some good tape to watch. Didn't help that the ball bounced New Mexico's way more often then not. Many blocks or forced missed shots fell right into their lap for an easy bucket. Some of that is them being smart at positioning and some of it is the luck of the bounce. All in all it was a loss, but I thought we played good, just didn't execute on the offensive end. We settled for some threes at times, but that is what we do.

 

[Bcatfollower]

It is the same song and dance every year. UC simply doesn't have enough players who can create consistent offense. After every game we say the same thing, "If they only made a few more shots!"

I will concede this New Mexico team is a very bad match up for Cincinnati. They have two effective big men that can score. I have hopes for the future because Caupain and Johnson were very effective is spurts today.

I don't believe its the players not being able to create offense, I believe its the lack of offensive scheme from the coaching staff. Its been the same old story every year...all d and no o. We've had some pretty good scorers come in and once they get here, nothing.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

This is a much needed reality check for this team...should learn a lot and grow from this...sure wish the Shoe' could be that rowdy...

I agree with all three points. We were gonna lose at some point, rather it be today than next week. I hate that we lost twice to them now and won't get revenge. That place was tough as advertised. I love arenas like that. Our fans aren't passionate enough for that unless we're facing a top team. Nippert was pretty rowdy Thursday night.

 

[All we do is Guyn]

Only real positive of this game was how well we shot free throws. 14 out of 15, can't get much better than that

 

[JumpinJack5]

Only real positive of this game was how well we shot free throws. 14 out of 15, can't get much better than that

This whole year, we have been shooting free throws well. I hope it continues, as we could've won an extra 2-3 games last year had our free throw shooting been better.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I don't believe its the players not being able to create offense, I believe its the lack of offensive scheme from the coaching staff. Its been the same old story every year...all d and no o. We've had some pretty good scorers come in and once they get here, nothing.

The offensive schemes are fine. The execution has been poor. Mick has worked hard to develop an offense for this year. Unfortunately, New Mexico was able to nullify both Jackson and Rubles. Lawrence made one nice move and dunk, then didn't do anything the rest of the game.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

New Mexico is probably the toughest place to play in America. I was pleased with how Johnson and Caupain played, they will ned to be keys this season. Didn't get much of anything out of Thomas or Guyn. Really though Shaq would have a good season, he is way too talented to be this tentative...

I don't think Guyn played bad, he just missed shots. Had he made a couple of those threes early (and they weren't bad shots) we would have praised how well he played. Unfortunately when you're forced to take jumpers, whether or not they fall determines whether or not you play well.

I critiqued Shaq earlier this year about the fact that he hasn't really improved and caught alot of heat for it. And I wasn't even putting him down. Shaq is an athlete. He is a street baller. The fundamentals of basketball are not part of his game. He also is weak, which is just his body type not much he can do about it. Shaq won't be much of a factor against teams that play good, tough defense. Unless he can drain his 18 foot jumpers. He can create a little space with his length and athletic ability. But he does it 20 feet from the rim and then jumps 3 feet in the air for a jump shot. I'd like to see him leap towards the basket at least instead of straight up. Not only would his 18 foot jumper become a 13 footer, he could draw a foul. He's too weak to penetrate to the basket and get a shot up, especially vs. a team like New Mexico that has bigs just waiting off the ball to block the shot. He really needs to work on using his body for his benefit and work on his jump shot. His effectiveness will be with a good mid-range game. I think we'll see some growing pains with him this year, which being a sophomore is not unexpected. I'm hoping by next year Cronin has him ready to be an effective and consistent player.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

The offensive schemes are fine. The execution has been poor. Mick has worked hard to develop an offense for this year. Unfortunately, New Mexico was able to nullify both Jackson and Rubles. Lawrence made one nice move and dunk, then didn't do anything the rest of the game.

I've been saying this. In the past we had some players with some offensive liabilities and you have to play to that. This year we lack a big with size that can eat space. I still think we are more versatile on offense this year than we have been under any other Cronin team as far as options and talent combined. Teams like New Mexico will be our Achilles heel with highly effective big men with size. We won't play many games against such competition.

 

[waterhead]

Ok I am going to try and find some positives from today although there were a lot of negatives.

We fought back after an abysmal first half and played them even (or beat them slightly) in the second half. For our first road game in a hostile environment I will give them the benefit of the doubt. As much as we like to press on D we were pressing on O today.

SK basically took over for our team in the second half.

TC really made me a believer today. Not as a PG but as a player we need on the court to help SK. He has finished so controlled around the rim this year and his outside shot is falling as well as anyone right now. He keeps making FT's and has been relatively unflappable. KJ made another 3 ball...yay!

Now for some negatives...

KJ and JL need to stop fouling so much. They are good enough on D without needing to foul. GG needs to start dropping more of his 3 attempts or start doing something else. ST needs to do less dribbling and more driving...same with TR. ST needs to make one or two dribble moves and pull up for a shot. TR needs to do the same except he needs to put his head down and go to the hole.

 

[waterhead]

The offensive schemes are fine. The execution has been poor. Mick has worked hard to develop an offense for this year. Unfortunately, New Mexico was able to nullify both Jackson and Rubles. Lawrence made one nice move and dunk, then didn't do anything the rest of the game.

The offensive scheme is probably fine...but until Cronin starts harping on certain players to be aggressive (like he does on D) we aren't going to get better on O. We have a few players who are obviously worried about not making mistakes and coming out of the game. Those players are not named SK, JJ, or TR. Those are players MC has determined we need on the court for one reason or another.

Every other player on our team is subject to coming out of the game for significant minutes for a dumb mistake. Even if SK, JJ, or TR make a stupid mistake...they might come out for 2 minutes but they KNOW they are going back in. None of the other players have that assurance and it shows on the offensive end...with the possible exception of TC right now. He seems pretty fearless.

 

[CaptDale]

As we have seen throughout his career SK will probably get it figured out in the second half. He forced a few and is pressing because NOBODY else was getting anything done. He took it upon himself to try to create some offense and it just hasn't worked yet. Caupain might be able to open things up a bit...he's making his shots (what a strange shooting stance he has with the right foot forward).

We need to get someone in the lane for some 8-10 footers. Need to come out firing to take the crowd out of it.

Sorry, but SK is a volume shooter. He can't do it all by himself. Then we have no 5. JJ is a 4 playing the 5. Big Dave is a liability. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I've been saying all along this will be the test to see what kind of a season we have. Our stats are atrocious: 5 assists! Outrebounded by 7, GG (who I like at PG) had 0 points, no assists and tossed the ball away 3 times. Shaquille was a no show as was Lawrence. We're young and still in the learning stages, but playing all those patsies was only good practice - not real life teams. As for BearcatJeff's analysis at the beginning of this thread, very nicely done (I'll ignore the prediction). Unfortunately, there's theory, then there's application. We just couldn't apply the knowledge to the court. Looks like it's going to be a long season and X will be no pushover coming up. One game at a time. Who will show up for that game? That is the question!

 

[bearcat jeff]

This team will take some early lumps. Troy Caupain needs to play. He can scor either at the rim or from the line. If Shaq and Sanders can't score go with 3 guards.

 

[Basketball.com]

It's designed for SK to do it all, but we need somebody to step up, Saq just piss me off! I need more from him! I'm so sick of everybody watching SK. (KJ) (TC) (ST) (JL) some fuckin body needs to help in a major way. But our program is design for SK! He did good but we can't spend a whole fuckin game in trying to get SK going! We need a team with SK! All in all we will be okay. Energy.

 

[JumpinJack5]

This team will take some early lumps. Troy Caupain needs to play. He can scor either at the rim or from the line. If Shaq and Sanders can't score go with 3 guards.

We need Shaq to step up, and I think that if he wasn't subbed in and out constantly, he might be able to do that. Sanders is a decent player now, but we need to give Shaq the opportunity to start. If he continues to flop by the time conference play starts, go 3 guard or play more of Sanders.

 

[Basketball.com]

I agree. JumpinJack5

 

[Basketball.com]

Mick did a great job,he tried every combination! We will be okay.

 

[UCalum08]

Mick did a great job,he tried every combination! We will be okay.

As bad as we were at new mexico, that game will only make us better. I feel more confident about playing X and pitt now than before yesterday.

 

[CaptDale]

For those of you who keep saying NM was a bad matchup for us, it's going to happen again. That's just the way it goes. Every team cannot be equal. Mick knew what kind of team we were facing. He had time to develop a plan of attack. We just lack that elusive big. JJ starts out giving up inches and then gets no help down low on D. But 5 assists! WTF?! On a positive note, we didn't turn the ball over - let me rephrase that - we didn't get stripped. We did throw it away a number of times, although one was a lead pass on a fast break that was just a little overthrown (a correct play - just too much adrenaline). Maybe we should revert to a zone on teams that have 2 high-scoring bigs?

 

[waterhead]

We have to go with the guys that give us the best chance to win...not just the best chance to play great D. We have 3 guys who are no brainers right now with SK, JJ, and TR. SK is not known as a lock down defender but he's got a long leash because of the other things he offers. I am starting to think TC is becoming one of those players we need to have on the court for 25-30 minutes. Who knows who is going to step up and play the minutes at the wing.

I am not saying GG is playing poorly...but TC has the better all around stats and outplayed him by a mile in our biggest game so far...TC's numbers are trending up. They have basically played the same amount of minutes.

Points...7.5 TC...6.5 GG (close but TC trending)
3%...TC 40%...GG 30% (significant)
FG%...40%...GG 39% (same)
FT%...87%...GG 59% (huge and he's been to the line 30 vs 17 times)
Assists...16 TC...9 GG (almost double)
Rebounds...TC 2.5/game...GG 2/game (close)
Steals...9 TC...1 GG (huge)
TO's...10 TC...GG 8 (about same)

Is GG's defense worth the drop in production?