UCLA

[JasonS]

Saw it. Nice read. We will end up in a good conference. jason here is another article on JC players transitioning to D1. Really give some good numbers comparing Rubles.

http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2013/03/titus-rubles-and-junior-college-learning-curve.html

Good article. I hadn't seen that one yet. Paul does a great job of breaking down facts and researching interesting angles. I like his work.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

That's fine but I think we can all agree that Mick's teams haven't played the type of offense that is capable of winning you a championship. Look at Louisville, yeah they get deflections and press and have guys that hustle for an entire game but they also can put the ball in the basket. If Louisville wins the championship it will be because they played the best combination of offense and defense of anyone in the country. Louisville scored less than 60 points only 3 times this season. I'm willing to bet UC held their opponents to a lower average point total than Louisville did but that was by design. You don't have to win games 53-47 to be considered a great defensive team, you can win 75-67 and still be a great defensive team, I think that's where Mick needs to be willing to change.

Mick has to improve his offense, either he needs to be willing to change what he's been trying to do or he needs to go out and hire someone to who can be that offensive expert while he continues to focus on the defense.

Don't know if there is anything wrong with Mick's ability to coach offense that a few good healthy players wouldn't cure. Prior to the brawl against X we were throwing the ball into Yancy and working off the inside out game. We were also struggling.When Yancy got suspended we had to rely on a 4 guard offense. That offense scored more points,made the sweet 16 and BE finals. This offense had no one near Yancy's ability inside, a injured PG, no reliable second ball handler like Dixion and SK was exposed for the spot up shooter who can't create his own shot by getting to the rim that he is. Not down on SK just stating the facts. If he was able to create he wouldn't be coming back his senior year. As bad as Yancy was to some he was light years better then anything we had playing in the post. We essentially replaced Dixon with Rubles and that was also a downgrade. As bad as Dixon was his shot was much better than Rubles and he got to the rim more and his TO's were less. When Yancy came back Mick adjusted the offense which gave us a good season. With the increase in landing talented recruits I look for our overall game to improve. It may not happen right away because talented freshman still take time to grow but I think by years end we will be playing good basketball. I think Kentucky would have been a better team at the end of season if Noels had not got hurt. They beat Fla. without him. Don't think we have that kind of talent yet but we do have a good class and a few nice pieces returning. if mick can find a PG out of the group and get some inside scoring out of Strickland without him killing us defensively we will win some games. As bad as Modj was he did D well and blocked alot of shots.

 

[JasonS]

I don't know that I agree with SK not being able to get to the rim or create his own shot. He would disappear at times but you have to remember that every defense was shading toward SK so even if he beat his man, there was another one there ready to rotate over. SK needs to work on his handle a bit for sure but I think it is inaccurate to call him nothing but a spot up shooter.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I'm not making this statement to justify whether Mick is a good Coach or not but to talk about the 2013 team. Mick can coach and that is proven in his record. We have beaten the Mick vs. Huggins topic to death. One is proven and one is trying to get there. Both have been good for the university. That said this is purely basketball.

Did last years team over achieve or did we over rate them? I think a couple of things stand out for me.

1. We missed Yancy and Dixon much more than we thought. Jackson,Modj,Gaines and Narsuk couldn't give us combined what Yancy gave us.Dixon was a much better ball handler,more athletic, and a better defender than anything we had to replace him with. A case could be made for Thomas but he is still develoing and needs much work iin weight room.

2. Cash's injury really exposed us and allowed teams to focuse exclusively on SK.

I think everyone is in agreement that our 2012 team was a special group. Rebounding from the brawl and getting to the sweet 16 and BE final was a great accomplishment. 2013 was a team that played with much intensity but lacked pieces perventing team from winning close games. We lost many close games. I'll say it again. WE LOST MANY CLOSE GAMES. While this years team was good it was not good enough to overcome cash's injury and the loss of Yancy and Dixon. In close games (which we played many of) you want the ball in someone's hand that can get to the rim or set someone up. Cash was our only player capable of doing that. Parker could get to the rim on occasions but a 58% FT shooter is not someone I'm trusting the last shiot to. SK hasn't got the handle to do it. Thomas showed he has the ability to get in the lane but he is far froma finished product. Sanders,Guyn,Jackson and rubles are guys i don't want touching the ball at the end of the game. My opinion is looking at the team and breaking them down it is apparent to me we finished about where we shoud have.

 

[UCBearcats]

Don't know if there is anything wrong with Mick's ability to coach offense that a few good healthy players wouldn't cure. Prior to the brawl against X we were throwing the ball into Yancy and working off the inside out game. We were also struggling.When Yancy got suspended we had to rely on a 4 guard offense. That offense scored more points,made the sweet 16 and BE finals. This offense had no one near Yancy's ability inside, a injured PG, no reliable second ball handler like Dixion and SK was exposed for the spot up shooter who can't create his own shot by getting to the rim that he is. Not down on SK just stating the facts. If he was able to create he wouldn't be coming back his senior year. As bad as Yancy was to some he was light years better then anything we had playing in the post. We essentially replaced Dixon with Rubles and that was also a downgrade. As bad as Dixon was his shot was much better than Rubles and he got to the rim more and his TO's were less. When Yancy came back Mick adjusted the offense which gave us a good season. With the increase in landing talented recruits I look for our overall game to improve. It may not happen right away because talented freshman still take time to grow but I think by years end we will be playing good basketball. I think Kentucky would have been a better team at the end of season if Noels had not got hurt. They beat Fla. without him. Don't think we have that kind of talent yet but we do have a good class and a few nice pieces returning. if mick can find a PG out of the group and get some inside scoring out of Strickland without him killing us defensively we will win some games. As bad as Modj was he did D well and blocked alot of shots.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. I respect your opinion and it's obvious you've got a well thought out theory as to why you believe that our offense has struggled but I've had a problem with Mick's offense since he's been here. Even with Yancy we struggled and I used to pull my hair out because every time Yancy caught the ball he caught it beyond the 3 point line. In my opinion, Mick's offense is terrible, it's really not even an offense. We were no doubt better for stretches when we had Yancy and lack of a big man held us back this year but as an overall scheme and concept this offense is terrible.

I hope we do something about it because if we don't I can't picture this program getting to where any of us want them to go.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I don't know that I agree with SK not being able to get to the rim or create his own shot. He would disappear at times but you have to remember that every defense was shading toward SK so even if he beat his man, there was another one there ready to rotate over. SK needs to work on his handle a bit for sure but I think it is inaccurate to call him nothing but a spot up shooter.

I'll accept that. I may have been a tad harsh but Jason if he had a handle he wouldn't be coming back his senoir year. he is not good creating for himself. How is that??? Look at how many times he got to the foul line. It was down from last year which tells me he is settling for jumpers. His 3's were up as well. That tells me he is much more comfortable shooting J's then driving to the hoop.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. I respect your opinion and it's obvious you've got a well thought out theory as to why you believe that our offense has struggled but I've had a problem with Mick's offense since he's been here. Even with Yancy we struggled and I used to pull my hair out because every time Yancy caught the ball he caught it beyond the 3 point line. In my opinion, Mick's offense is terrible, it's really not even an offense. We were no doubt better for stretches when we had Yancy and lack of a big man held us back this year but as an overall scheme and concept this offense is terrible.

I hope we do something about it because if we don't I can't picture this program getting to where any of us want them to go.

Bearcats I'm not saying we were good offensively only that we were better than this team. We had a couple of issues with Yancy. He didn't like to work to get the low post position and when he did our guards didn't deliver him the ball. Can't correct that the player needs to perform. Our offense this year was terrible but I'm saying it was terrible because we lacked the talent inside to run it. absolutely no inside out game. People complained about not throwing the ball inside. With the way the bigs turned it over who could blame them. They would throw it in an the bigs would not make a move to the hoop,they would run the clock down pass it out and the wing would be forced to jack up a 3. we essentially played 3 on 5. Yancy would at least finish at the rim and occasinally turn to the hoop forcing someone to guard him. He also took up much space. Dixon also helped spread the floor and got to the rim on occasion. yes i guess mick could have run a new offense but 3 on 5 is tough to run. More balance scoring is what we needed and we didn't have that. We were perimeter oriented and few other options exsisted.

 

[JasonS]

I'll accept that. I may have been a tad harsh but Jason if he had a handle he wouldn't be coming back his senoir year. he is not good creating for himself. How is that??? Look at how many times he got to the foul line. It was down from last year which tells me he is settling for jumpers. His 3's were up as well. That tells me he is much more comfortable shooting J's then driving to the hoop.

I think that is fair.

 

[UCBearcats]

Bearcats I'm not saying we were good offensively only that we were better than this team. We had a couple of issues with Yancy. He didn't like to work to get the low post position and when he did our guards didn't deliver him the ball. Can't correct that the player needs to perform. Our offense this year was terrible but I'm saying it was terrible because we lacked the talent inside to run it. absolutely no inside out game. People complained about not throwing the ball inside. With the way the bigs turned it over who could blame them. They would throw it in an the bigs would not make a move to the hoop,they would run the clock down pass it out and the wing would be forced to jack up a 3. we essentially played 3 on 5. Yancy would at least finish at the rim and occasinally turn to the hoop forcing someone to guard him. He also took up much space. Dixon also helped spread the floor and got to the rim on occasion. yes i guess mick could have run a new offense but 3 on 5 is tough to run. More balance scoring is what we needed and we didn't have that. We were perimeter oriented and few other options exsisted.

I'm not going to disagree with anything you're saying other than the fact that we weren't playing 3 on 5. Teams still had to cover up our bigs with defenders so it's not like we had 3 guards being defended by 5 guys with two bigs open under the hoop.

The offense was held back by big men who lacked offensive skills. That is true. But where were the screens, where was the movement, where was the concept of getting our shooters (undoubtedly the strength of our team) into position to get open looks?

Moving forward where are the big men you are saying we desperately need? Strickland looks pretty raw on tape, he's most likely going to be a project and probably not somebody we can expect results from in years 1 or 2. Things like this are the reason I'm not on board with Mick. I hope he proves me wrong, I really do....but I just don't see him changing his philosophies, I don't see his recruiting delivering the type of guys he needs to run his system, I don't see the player development, and I think we'll continue to see a team who's only realistic goal is to make the NCAA tourney.

 

[JasonS]

I'm not going to disagree with anything you're saying other than the fact that we weren't playing 3 on 5. Teams still had to cover up our bigs with defenders so it's not like we had 3 guards being defended by 5 guys with two bigs open under the hoop.

The offense was held back by big men who lacked offensive skills. That is true. But where were the screens, where was the movement, where was the concept of getting our shooters (undoubtedly the strength of our team) into position to get open looks?

Moving forward where are the big men you are saying we desperately need? Strickland looks pretty raw on tape, he's most likely going to be a project and probably not somebody we can expect results from in years 1 or 2. Things like this are the reason I'm not on board with Mick. I hope he proves me wrong, I really do....but I just don't see him changing his philosophies, I don't see his recruiting delivering the type of guys he needs to run his system, I don't see the player development, and I think we'll continue to see a team who's only realistic goal is to make the NCAA tourney.

I think you are going to see the team go "small" next year with Lawrence at the 4 and JJ at the 5. Shaq or Rubles will be your 3 and SK will play the 2. The PG will be the biggest question in my opinion.

While JJ is not great offensively, and maybe not even good, you can throw the ball into him in the post. This will also be a very athletic lineup. Lawrence can play inside and out so it should be interesting for sure. I expect the team next year to be better than this year's team ended up. Of course, if SK leaves, that changes everything.

 

[Bearcat22]

I think you are going to see the team go "small" next year with Lawrence at the 4 and JJ at the 5. Shaq or Rubles will be your 3 and SK will play the 2. The PG will be the biggest question in my opinion.

While JJ is not great offensively, and maybe not even good, you can throw the ball into him in the post. This will also be a very athletic lineup. Lawrence can play inside and out so it should be interesting for sure. I expect the team next year to be better than this year's team ended up. Of course, if SK leaves, that changes everything.

I think you're right. Here's a quote from Cronin about bulking JJ up to be more of a force inside.

"His future won't be as an athletic wing player. He has too many ball-handling limitations for that. He'll need him to bulk up and be able to bang inside in addition to his athleticism blocking shots"

http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2013/03/discussing-mick-cronins-radio-show-commentary.html

 

[UCBearcats]

I think you are going to see the team go "small" next year with Lawrence at the 4 and JJ at the 5. Shaq or Rubles will be your 3 and SK will play the 2. The PG will be the biggest question in my opinion.

While JJ is not great offensively, and maybe not even good, you can throw the ball into him in the post. This will also be a very athletic lineup. Lawrence can play inside and out so it should be interesting for sure. I expect the team next year to be better than this year's team ended up. Of course, if SK leaves, that changes everything.

I have no problem with them going smaller but if they don't move the ball on offense or ever more important, move without the ball on offense nothing is going to change. Giving the ball to Shaq and having him try to shake a defender and drive to the hoop is not an offense, it's one on one streetball. Whatever, we'll see what happens I guess.

 

[TheLongHaul]

I think you're right. Here's a quote from Cronin about bulking JJ up to be more of a force inside.

"His future won't be as an athletic wing player. He has too many ball-handling limitations for that. He'll need him to bulk up and be able to bang inside in addition to his athleticism blocking shots"

http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2013/03/discussing-mick-cronins-radio-show-commentary.html

Problem is JJ is going into his senior year. I could have told you during his freshman year that he didn't have the handles or shot for a 3. There is very little chance of him significantly bulking up by next year.

I honestly have no idea who is going to man the 5 spot next year. If you thought this year was bad, next year could be even worse at the center spot unless Strickland comes in and makes an immediate impact. DNy will provide some minutes and hopefully improves some but I don't think it will be dramatic and Gaines still doesn't seem like a D1 player.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Problem is JJ is going into his senior year. I could have told you during his freshman year that he didn't have the handles or shot for a 3. There is very little chance of him significantly bulking up by next year.

I honestly have no idea who is going to man the 5 spot next year. If you thought this year was bad, next year could be even worse at the center spot unless Strickland comes in and makes an immediate impact. DNy will provide some minutes and hopefully improves some but I don't think it will be dramatic and Gaines still doesn't seem like a D1 player.

agree. Post scoring will need to improve and Strickland is a key.

 

[JumpinJack5]

Problem is JJ is going into his senior year. I could have told you during his freshman year that he didn't have the handles or shot for a 3. There is very little chance of him significantly bulking up by next year.

I honestly have no idea who is going to man the 5 spot next year. If you thought this year was bad, next year could be even worse at the center spot unless Strickland comes in and makes an immediate impact. DNy will provide some minutes and hopefully improves some but I don't think it will be dramatic and Gaines still doesn't seem like a D1 player.

JJ has improved a lot, from what I saw this summer. I don't ever think he will be an amazing scorer, but he now has a decent midrange game and is a defensive force. He improved a lot with his turnover problem, but he just couldn't stay healthy this year. A healthy JJ next to Strickland would make for a solid big man duo. Add in Lawrence/Rubles, Shaq/Sanders/SK, and JD3/Guyn/Caupain, pretty solid rotation. David can also add some solid minutes next year, I think he could be a good player off the bench.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I know Mick isn't going to UCLA but if he did, man snagging Bruce Pearl might actually put UC in a better spot...plus his daughter goes to UC. Just some food for thought.

 

[JasonS]

I know Mick isn't going to UCLA but if he did, man snagging Bruce Pearl might actually put UC in a better spot...plus his daughter goes to UC. Just some food for thought.

Bruce Pearl can't even call a recruit until August 2014. This is not even a realistic pipe dream.

 

[bearcat18]

Supposedly UCLA and Brad Stephens are in contract negotiations right now, according to Andy Katz and ESPN LA.

 

[Bearcat04]

Supposedly UCLA and Brad Stephens are in contract negotiations right now, according to Andy Katz and ESPN LA.

So much for UCLA wanting a coach that plays an exciting style of basketball. Stevens is a damn good coach, but Butler games are very hard to watch.

 

[JasonS]

So much for UCLA wanting a coach that plays an exciting style of basketball. Stevens is a damn good coach, but Butler games are very hard to watch.

Agreed. I am actually surprised he would leave Butler. Seems like a cush job. Maybe he feels he better strike now before Butler is in a league where they won't be able to dominate?