@UCF

[cincyguy13]

The last time UC went to the Sweet Sixteen they lost to Presbyterian, lost to STJ@ home scoring 55 and lost @USF scoring 45 points.

If they make a run, we would all love it and no one remember this game. Think most of us are worried about what we are seeing. Big picture, this loss doesn't make a big difference.

 

[2bearcatdad]

Not even counting the end...Tre Scott just isn't ready to help a Top 20 team. Not sure if he ever really will be either.

Tre's advanced stats are likely better than you'd think.

He's essentially tied with Jarron & KJ for steals either per 40 minutes or per 100 possessions. Also, his rebounding rate is pretty close to Gary and Kyle - and much better than Brooks.

He actually leads the team in DRtg per 100 possessions. Also, he's 5th in Win Shares / 40 minutes behind Gary, Jarron, Jacob & Kyle.

He's certainly better defensively than he is offensively right now, but he's only a freshman. I don't know that he'll end up being a superstar, but he's already a solid contributor when he's in.

 

[juckerrules]

I wonder if North Carolina fans are crapping their drawers as much as Cincinnati fans....after all, their beloved Tar Heels just went on the road to Virginia & got whipped when they put a whopping 43 points on the board....for the whole game

Why can't they score on the road???

 

[TheLongHaul]

I wonder if North Carolina fans are crapping their drawers as much as Cincinnati fans....after all, their beloved Tar Heels just went on the road to Virginia & got whipped when they put a whopping 43 points on the board....for the whole game

Why can't they score on the road???

Probably not as much as UC fans considering UNC doesn't have a long documented history of not being able to score. Add that to the fact that Virginia is a very good team, and UCF isn't. So essentially your argument is pointless.

 

[cincyguy13]

Probably not as much as UC fans considering UNC doesn't have a long documented history of not being able to score. Add that to the fact that Virginia is a very good team, and UCF isn't. So essentially your argument is pointless.

Agree. If we have won anywhere near the amount North Carolina has it would be a lot easier to chalk up as a bad game and move on

 

[ZCat]

Teams are packing the paint daring us to shoot 3's and doubling our post players. We have to make a higher % of 3's or...OR JUST MAYBE...we can run a little bit so we can TRY TO get short shots off before the D sets up?

If we don't have guards who want to push the pace...maybe we need to bring in some guys that do for at least a portion of the game. We have to rebound well on the other end of course to push it.

It's very rare to see Caupain take an outlet pass and immediately pass the ball up the court to guys who are already sprinting up court...let alone take off dribbling like a bat out of hell. If we could just get 5 more "easier" shots off each game by pushing the ball...it would help a lot. I know one guy who does this almost every chance he gets. I would prefer that guy be Caupain but it's not...and the coach can't seem to get him to do it even with a significant amount of prodding.

We rushed up the court at the end of the game, and almost got a dunk. Easy 2 points in 8 sec, C's difficult 3 points in 30 sec. Imagine that. We the defense scramble.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I wonder if North Carolina fans are crapping their drawers as much as Cincinnati fans....after all, their beloved Tar Heels just went on the road to Virginia & got whipped when they put a whopping 43 points on the board....for the whole game

Why can't they score on the road???

Love this argument. The Mick guys use it every year.

 

[juckerrules]

I wonder if North Carolina fans are crapping their drawers as much as Cincinnati fans....after all, their beloved Tar Heels just went on the road to Virginia & got whipped when they put a whopping 43 points on the board....for the whole game

Why can't they score on the road???

Of course it's pointless....it's meant to put UC's plight in a little perspective....sorry the subtlety was lost on you

 

[waterhead]

Probably not as much as UC fans considering UNC doesn't have a long documented history of not being able to score. Add that to the fact that Virginia is a very good team, and UCF isn't. So essentially your argument is pointless.

UCF is a very good defensive team. We should have beat them but their defense is very good. We had enough good looks to win the game but we have to find out an easier way of producing 65 points or so against solid defenses. If we can't make 3's we need to find easier 2's or FT's.

Had we pushed the pace more I think we could have seen some easier buckets before the D sets up. Half court D is designed for players to be in certain spots and they all know where to be. When you push the pace they have to scramble to figure out who to guard first and it becomes a lot less efficient on the defensive end.

We got plenty of good looks in the half court sets to win but we just don't shoot well on the road so we have to change something up. We need to find about 3 more easy layups or short jumpers per game...and then of course shooting a little better will help. If those layups come from more picks, passes, penetration and movement that's fine but I think we are missing the boat by not pushing against very good defensive teams before their D can get set. Why in the world would you choose to run half court offense against the better defensive teams out there? Makes no sense.

 

[waterhead]

Advanced stats are only fair for Kyle on our team.

He leads the team in PER, but that's not a great stat imo. Favors offense too heavily, but it still favorable for Kyle that he leads the team.

However, he's 6th on the team in ORtg per 100 possessions; behind Gary, Jarron, Jacob, JJ & Troy. Also, he's 4th in Win Shares / 40 minutes behind Gary, Jarron & Jacob.

So, while he's our leader scorer, he's not our most important contributor by far.

The stats all say Gary is the most important contributor to the team - and it's not close. He ranks essentially at or near the top in nearly every offensive and defensive advanced stat.

These stats can give you a pretty good idea of what is going on but one thing about Kyle is he takes by far the most shots per 100 possessions and I think if the rest of the guys were forced to take that many they wouldn't be as efficient as Kyle. Gary picks his shots very meticulously and still is only about as efficient as Kyle in terms of FG%. He throws a lot of passes from the paint that I wish he would have put up himself. Especially on the road where we don't shoot 3's very well.

I would probably debate your point about Kyle's importance in contribution but it's interesting to look at so thanks for posting. In terms of D Gary is the better player by far so his all around importance is probably on par with Evans. Kyle is in the top 3 for sure IMO...even lacking D and assists. Troy is in the top 4 because he has the ball in his hands the most.

As of right now I am leaning towards Cumberland being a major factor in what we do in March. He has shown some abilities that we need and the rest of the perimeter players aren't as good at. Of course KJ's D and knocking down a couple of 3's per game will be a solid factor.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

These stats can give you a pretty good idea of what is going on but one thing about Kyle is he takes by far the most shots per 100 possessions and I think if the rest of the guys were forced to take that many they wouldn't be as efficient as Kyle. Gary picks his shots very meticulously and still is only about as efficient as Kyle in terms of FG%. He throws a lot of passes from the paint that I wish he would have put up himself. Especially on the road where we don't shoot 3's very well.

I would probably debate your point about Kyle's importance in contribution but it's interesting to look at so thanks for posting. In terms of D Gary is the better player by far so his all around importance is probably on par with Evans. Kyle is in the top 3 for sure IMO...even lacking D and assists. Troy is in the top 4 because he has the ball in his hands the most.

As of right now I am leaning towards Cumberland being a major factor in what we do in March. He has shown some abilities that we need and the rest of the perimeter players aren't as good at. Of course KJ's D and knocking down a couple of 3's per game will be a solid factor.

The most disappointing thing about this game for me was that we got a early over the back call on Fall and neither of our bigs challenged him with a pump fake or a drive to the rim. They instead kept trying to shoot over him and he either blocked the shot or made them alter its trajectory. The only player that made a move toward the hoop was Cumberland. Washington held the ball and the wings never seemed to get in a rhythm. I really believe the plan was to try to push the ball after missed shots but fouls and TO's slowed the game as much as their pace. As bad as we shot still had a shot to take it into overtime.

 

[UCBearcats]

I wonder if North Carolina fans are crapping their drawers as much as Cincinnati fans....after all, their beloved Tar Heels just went on the road to Virginia & got whipped when they put a whopping 43 points on the board....for the whole game

Why can't they score on the road???

If we played in the national championship game last season, were a lock for a 1 or 2 seed and in first place in the toughest basketball conference in the country I don't think people would be freaking out about losing to another ranked team on the road. I think we'd simply chalk it up as an outlier and move on.

I can almost guarantee you that somewhere on a message board there is a group of UNC fans freaking out about that loss. If anything most Cincinnati fans are more tolerant of and more accustomed to losing than the majority of other fan bases.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Another observation I would like to throw out there is concerning Evans. its constantly pointed out that he needs to be more aggressive. I couldn't agree more. Athletically he is probably our best player. According to Mick he is our best pro prospect. To this point in his career I would label him full of potential. But plenty less talented players do far more with the basketball to help there team win. He needs to add getting to the rim and drawing fouls to his game. getting the other team in foul trouble and shooting fouls is essential for him and this team to take the next step. He needs to be the man who carries this team offensively. TC, KJ, Clark or Washington, none have his skills. If Cumberland can routinely get to the rim and draw fouls or dish no reason he can't/ The time is now for him. Without him adding this to the game this year I'm afraid we may be in for a early exit. If he stands at the arc waiting to shot 3's we will not have the season we all want. Time for him to grow a pair.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

My biggest concern with both this and the Rhode Island games are its not like the opponent played a great game. In the Rhode Island game their starting PG was knocked out of the game in the first half and their best big man was in foul trouble all game. If you told me we were going to lose to UCF, I would have imagined that Matt Williams went crazy from three but he actually played an awful game. Very concerning Mick!

 

[2bearcatdad]

My biggest concern with both this and the Rhode Island games are its not like the opponent played a great game. In the Rhode Island game their starting PG was knocked out of the game in the first half and their best big man was in foul trouble all game. If you told me we were going to lose to UCF, I would have imagined that Matt Williams went crazy from three but he actually played an awful game. Very concerning Mick!

BJ Taylor is UCF's leading scorer and he's the one that hurt us.

The loss had a lot more about how we played than how they played.

 

[rogerOH]

Just watched the highlights of the UCF game, I already knew he had the best pump fake on the team (he got 2 UCF players in the air one time and then split them) but he is by far the best at feeding the post also.

 

[waterhead]

Just watched the highlights of the UCF game, I already knew he had the best pump fake on the team (he got 2 UCF players in the air one time and then split them) but he is by far the best at feeding the post also.

I agree on both accounts. I thought Evans and Cumberland had the best overall games at UCF which I guess is rather obvious. Jacob landed three 3 pointers but the other telling stat about this game on the road is that they combined to shoot 13 of our total 14 FT attempts. Cumberland had 3 layups and made 5-8 FT's...that's all 11 of his points.

Clark, Washington, and Caupain did not get to the line. KJ shot 1 FT. Between pushing the pace against good defensive teams and trying to drive more I believe is the key to having more road success. We have proven we aren't going to make a high % of shots...so we need to try for more layups and getting fouled.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I agree on both accounts. I thought Evans and Cumberland had the best overall games at UCF which I guess is rather obvious. Jacob landed three 3 pointers but the other telling stat about this game on the road is that they combined to shoot 13 of our total 14 FT attempts. Cumberland had 3 layups and made 5-8 FT's...that's all 11 of his points.

Clark, Washington, and Caupain did not get to the line. KJ shot 1 FT. Between pushing the pace against good defensive teams and trying to drive more I believe is the key to having more road success. We have proven we aren't going to make a high % of shots...so we need to try for more layups and getting fouled.

Agree WH. Still think Evans needs to be lots more consistent. getting to the line consistently is the next step in his development. Cumberland in my opinion is ahead of him in that department.

 

[waterhead]

I agree on both accounts. I thought Evans and Cumberland had the best overall games at UCF which I guess is rather obvious. Jacob landed three 3 pointers but the other telling stat about this game on the road is that they combined to shoot 13 of our total 14 FT attempts. Cumberland had 3 layups and made 5-8 FT's...that's all 11 of his points.

Clark, Washington, and Caupain did not get to the line. KJ shot 1 FT. Between pushing the pace against good defensive teams and trying to drive more I believe is the key to having more road success. We have proven we aren't going to make a high % of shots...so we need to try for more layups and getting fouled.

Cumberland is quite possibly our best chance at driving the lane from the perimeter...and he's pretty good in transition. He's great at entry passes and is probably our only perimeter passer who attempts cross court passes. He can get to the line as well. KJ has been shooting pretty well from 3 but he's not going to give us the other dimensions. I like the idea of Mick putting in Cumberland to replace Scott as well. He could be seeing 25+ minutes from here on out. KJ will get 25+ as well because of his mental handle on our defensive scheme and being a better on ball defender.

 

[waterhead]

Agree WH. Still think Evans needs to be lots more consistent. getting to the line consistently is the next step in his development. Cumberland in my opinion is ahead of him in that department.

I agree I would like to see Evans getting to the line more...but he is 3rd out of our starters plus Cumberland in getting there. Evan's is 2nd best on the team in FT%. KJ is first but is way behind in being able to get to the line. I don't care who gets to the line really...we will make a better % of those than our actual shots plus we get the advantage of getting other teams in foul trouble.