upstate game thread

[TheLivingLegend]

What a game from our guards... G, Caupain, SK

KJ played well.

I thought Lawrence finally played "big" on defense.

Little dissapointed in Shaq and the fact that Justin put us in the hole in the first half by picking up 2 fouls.

The fact that the walk-on saw minutes and JD didnt is just absurd. I have to wonder if Mick is trying to free up a scholarship.

 

[waterhead]

It was our best complete game so far. 2nd half was pure domination and thats what 40 min of pressure will do. He said we really need to get better at rebounding as a team. That really hurt us in the 1st half. He thought the refs had a really quick whistle and our fans got our first taste of the new rule change. We really made a good team look bad (in regards to the 2nd half). Chuck mentioned the solid play of Ge and Cronin said its really helped him bc he is getting consistent minutes. Also said JL had a nice 2nd half in the defensive end. Also talked about how Upstate was just packing it in on d and we had to make the extra pass to get an open shot. Said it was our best passing performance yet.

Sorry for the poor sentencing, I am on my phone and am quick typing. But that was it in a nut shell lol

Thanks. I would agree on second half passing and JL just going nuts out there on D. He has unbelievable quickness (for a big) when he is out on the perimeter. His effort is off the charts. He might be able to guard a PG at this point...not quite as good as TR but he is really quick out there.

As long as JL is giving that type of effort on D...he's going to get 20+ minutes.

 

[waterhead]

What a game from our guards... G, Caupain, SK

KJ played well.

I thought Lawrence finally played "big" on defense.

Little dissapointed in Shaq and the fact that Justin put us in the hole in the first half by picking up 2 fouls.

The fact that the walk-on saw minutes and JD didnt is just absurd. I have to wonder if Mick is trying to free up a scholarship.

Yah...that's just a slap in the face for JDIII. I don't think we know the whole story there. There is no way Tobler offers this team more than JD. I smell transfer...unless there is something else we don't know.

 

[UCalum08]

Quote of the night is from Ge'lawn! He was asked about taking the ball to the basket and opening the perimeter. He responded saying "with the new foul rule, taking it to the basket is the best thing to do."

I love hearing that lol

 

[Bcatfollower]

Yah...that's just a slap in the face for JDIII. I don't think we know the whole story there. There is no way Tobler offers this team more than JD. I smell transfer...unless there is something else we don't know.

Yes I hate to comment without knowing the dynamic, but its a shame for the player that he wasn't able to transfer before this year, now if he transfers he will only have 1 year of eligibility left if I'm not mistaken due to his redshirt. 5 years to compete 4 years.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

JDIII has already redshirted once, he would have to transfer down a level to avoid losing a year of eligibility. I think he will contribute to this team next year and the year after. Kilpatrick is taking most minutes at the 2. I was kind of confused to see Tobler in with 3:30 and not JDIII. Someone needs to ask Mick about him during a radio show.

As for this game, I thought UC attacked the zone much better in the second half, that Upstate team is pretty solid but was made to look silly by UC's defense.

 

[waterhead]

Quote of the night is from Ge'lawn! He was asked about taking the ball to the basket and opening the perimeter. He responded saying "with the new foul rule, taking it to the basket is the best thing to do."

I love hearing that lol

It's a really good time to have picked up guys like KJ, DM, TC, and JL. We should be one year ahead of the curve. All of these guys have the BB skills (eventually) to get past their man and TC really knows how to use his body.

The timing of our class couldn't be better in reagards to the new rule IMO.

 

[waterhead]

Yes I hate to comment without knowing the dynamic, but its a shame for the player that he wasn't able to transfer before this year, now if he transfers he will only have 1 year of eligibility left if I'm not mistaken due to his redshirt. 5 years to compete 4 years.

I agree. But it would have been hard to suggest a transfer with a "sight unseen" freshman class coming in. If the frosh weren't ready JDIII might have been a more integral part of our team so far.

 

[L-T]

Some key strengths of this team.
1) Teamwork
2) Effort
3) Continuous Improvement
4) Good Free Throw Shooting
5) Solid Guard Play
6) Senior Leadership
7) Smothering Defense

The level of competition leaves me still wondering just how good we really are, but you have to like a lot of the positive signs. The next three games are huge. Sweep all 3 (which is very possible), and we're off and running. We absolutely must win a minimum of 2 of these games or the weak schedule will be magnified. Loving the "potential" of this team.

Just one negative......Please Mick.....upgrade this sorry schedule! Tired of looking at empty seats and having a dead home court atmosphere. There's no excuse playing these crap teams. I don't blame fans for not paying these ridiculous season ticket prices when the schedule is 70% cupcakes and no-name schools. I attend every game and wish there were more joining me. This team deserves support, but Mick is doing the program a diservice by not having the balls to play anyone.

Having said that, he's doing a great job coaching this group!

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Some key strengths of this team.
1) Teamwork
2) Effort
3) Continuous Improvement
4) Good Free Throw Shooting
5) Solid Guard Play
6) Senior Leadership
7) Smothering Defense

The level of competition leaves me still wondering just how good we really are, but you have to like a lot of the positive signs. The next three games are huge. Sweep all 3 (which is very possible), and we're off and running. We absolutely must win a minimum of 2 of these games or the weak schedule will be magnified. Loving the "potential" of this team.

Just one negative......Please Mick.....upgrade this sorry schedule! Tired of looking at empty seats and having a dead home court atmosphere. There's no excuse playing these crap teams. I don't blame fans for not paying these ridiculous season ticket prices when the schedule is 70% cupcakes and no-name schools. I attend every game and wish there were more joining me. This team deserves support, but Mick is doing the program a diservice by not having the balls to play anyone.

Having said that, he's doing a great job coaching this group!

LOL to argue UC doesn't want to schedule anyone is ridiculous. Mick has been literally BEGGING major teams to come to the Shoe but no one wants to without it being a neutral site game. Don't be stupid man, wait too late.

Cincinnati doesn't have that bad of an OOC. If we could have gotten into a good pre-season tournament, it would have been a GREAT OOC. Middle Tennessee State, USC-Upstate, and NC Central are EXACTLY the type of mid majors UC needs to schedule. NC State was a good early season home game, as well as games @New Mexico and at MSG against Pittsburgh. There are really only 3-4 games that I would consider horrible.

Cincinnati doesn't draw fans because the city has horrible fans. Louisville doesn't play ANYONE good at home in the OOC, yet they will sell out every game. That is the difference between a good group of fans and a bad one.
(Louisville's OOC schedule is ranked 185 and UC's is 122).

 

[TheLivingLegend]

^^^
The above debate has been going on for years... There are several factors.
- The Shoe... Most dont want to watch games there
- Ticket Price... Lower section, even chair back sections are expensive.
- Competition...
- Clifton... Who wants to be in clifton? While the campus is decent, parking, and surrounding area is awful.
- Sad, but true... post Huggins.. was a rough couple of years. The tweener fans left.

 

[L-T]

LOL to argue UC doesn't want to schedule anyone is ridiculous. Mick has been literally BEGGING major teams to come to the Shoe but no one wants to without it being a neutral site game. Don't be stupid man, wait too late.

Cincinnati doesn't have that bad of an OOC. If we could have gotten into a good pre-season tournament, it would have been a GREAT OOC. Middle Tennessee State, USC-Upstate, and NC Central are EXACTLY the type of mid majors UC needs to schedule. NC State was a good early season home game, as well as games @New Mexico and at MSG against Pittsburgh. There are really only 3-4 games that I would consider horrible.

Cincinnati doesn't draw fans because the city has horrible fans. Louisville doesn't play ANYONE good at home in the OOC, yet they will sell out every game. That is the difference between a good group of fans and a bad one.
(Louisville's OOC schedule is ranked 185 and UC's is 122).

Again, the schedule is a joke!

 

[Bearcat04]

Again, the schedule is a joke!

Did you even bother to read the response? The schedule is not a joke. Yes, there are too many 200+, and even 300+, RPI games, but 8 of the 13 are quality games.

Had Appalachian State, Campbell, UMass-Lowell, Kennesaw State, and Chicago State been replaced by Louisiana Monroe, Northeastern, Morehead State, North Dakota State, and UC Irvine we'd have one of the best OOC schedules in the country. Yet, the same people would still be bitching that we don't play anyone, because they have no idea that Northeastern is one of the better teams in the Colonial. TV, not Mick, dictates the UConn-Florida and Memphis-Oklahoma State type matchups that we'd all love to have.

L-T, I wish more fans were like you and chose to attend every home game, however.

 

[UCalum08]

^^^
The above debate has been going on for years... There are several factors.
- The Shoe... Most dont want to watch games there
- Ticket Price... Lower section, even chair back sections are expensive.
- Competition...
- Clifton... Who wants to be in clifton? While the campus is decent, parking, and surrounding area is awful.
- Sad, but true... post Huggins.. was a rough couple of years. The tweener fans left.

Agree with the bold. Unless you are down low or in the first 5 rows of the upper deck, the shoe is not that great to watch a game. The concourse and concession are disgusting. Absolutely no fan amenities.

There is nothing wrong with Clifton. There are a lot of great new and old places to get drinks and eats before and after. If you don't like what is going on in Clifton you're a true suburbanite who doesn't like urban life.

Cincinnati fans, especially UC fans suck. Most of them are tweeners/band wagon fans who don't fully support the university like people on this site. Too many people aren't real basketball fans. If they were, they would love to come to the games and watch our players hustle their arse off. I appreciate it. Kind of funny how the greatest basketball player of all time, The Big O, comes to 90% of the games. You know why? Because he loves basketball and his school. He doesn't whine about playing non-big name schools early on. People need to get over it and support the team. If you don't want to, fine but don't complain about stuff since you're part of the problem.

The schedule will not change and that has nothing to do with Cronin. ESPN and $ dictate that so stop complaining.

 

[#BearcatNation]

Yeah, to me, SOS isn't a big issue with attendance. I think it's partially the condition FTA is in, but mostly, it's the product put on the floor. During the Huggins years, we were a bit spoiled with the fact that we were ranked EVERY YEAR, often top 15. Incredibly consistently. Didn't matter the year or team. Now, I'm not at all dissing Cronin, because I like what he's done. 3 straight NCAAs after the 2006-08 years is huge. That said, these teams have generally just looked "good", never "elite". I think you can argue that the 2011-12 team could've beat some Huggins teams, but otherwise, Cronin's teams have all pailed in comparison to Huggins' teams. Unfortunately, I think that's how a lot of fans look at it. Huggins vs. Cronin. If Cronin could get teams as consistently good as Huggins had them, I think we would be averaging 11-12k/game like we did up until 2005. Not saying that's right, because our fans can be very fairweather/bandwagon-ish. But you put a great product on the floor year in and year out, and the people will come. Now I've heard there is a big hipster-scene going on at UC these days, which probably hurts student section-wise, but there's plenty of alums that are big fans. Keep playing well, and we'll be fine.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

^^^
The above debate has been going on for years... There are several factors.
- The Shoe... Most dont want to watch games there
- Ticket Price... Lower section, even chair back sections are expensive.
- Competition...
- Clifton... Who wants to be in clifton? While the campus is decent, parking, and surrounding area is awful.
- Sad, but true... post Huggins.. was a rough couple of years. The tweener fans left.

How is the Shoe any different now than it was when Huggs was here? And if I am not mistaken we averaged 10-12K per game. And the Shoe was in Clifton then right? And the football team plays in Clifton now and nippert averages 30K fans this year, and people use the same parking facilities for basketball and football. Football fans generally show up earlier and hang out in Clifton and surrouding areas for those games so Clifton must not be that bad. Also, 10-12K showed up to the Shoe to see Huggs, so why not now? It isn't Clifton, or the arena, or the competition.

Ticket prices are reasonable and have not been raised a significant amount since Huggs, sans the Shootout.

As far as the competition, UK sells out no matter who they play, so does OSU, UL etc...

The reality of the situation is that there are not that many die hard UC basketball fans left that want to attend every game.

 

[waterhead]

How is the Shoe any different now than it was when Huggs was here? And if I am not mistaken we averaged 10-12K per game. And the Shoe was in Clifton then right, and the football team plays in Clifton now right, and nippert averages 30K fans this year. And 10-12K showed up to the Shoe to see Huggs, so why not now? It isn't Clifton, or the arena, or the competition.

Ticket prices are reasonable and have not been raised a significant amount since Huggs, sans the Shootout.

As far as the competition, UK sells out no matter who they play, so does OSU, UL etc...

The reality of the situation is that there are not that many die hard UC basketball fans left that want to attend every game.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

The fans just have not gotten excited enough about the program yet. We need to be back in the final 4 or get in the top 10. If we start the season with a high ranking even the early season patsies will sell out (or at least come close). All this BS about the Shoe and parking and Clifton and schedule etc...NONE of them are difference makers. They might keep a few butts out of the seats but someone will pick those up if we have a red hot team. The difference maker is getting this team back into the Contender category rather than the Pretender category when it comes to NCAA tourney chances.

 

[waterhead]

It's all about the buzz around the water cooler. The Xavier game gets people talking around the water cooler. The game sells out. Right now there is just not enough hype about this team. We started to get some hype the past couple of years and more fans came out. But it's not near enough hype yet to make our wish washy fan base sell ALL the games out.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Correct me if I am wrong but the Shootout didn't sell out last year. Also, last night Mick said ticket sales are not good for this years game.

 

[B-Team]

Agree with the bold. Unless you are down low or in the first 5 rows of the upper deck, the shoe is not that great to watch a game. The concourse and concession are disgusting. Absolutely no fan amenities.

I will disagree with you on the part about the upper deck seating having horrible views if you are beyond the first 5 rows of the upper deck. My season tickets are in Row 18 of the upper level, and I'm near midcourt. The cost of my season tickets are less than $10/game, and as long as you are near center court, I think the view is pretty darn good from up there.

I'd much rather have that view than have corner or endcourt upper level seats at a hockey/basketball venue like US Bank Arena.

As far as fan amenities and concessions go, this is where FTA is lacking big time. There's very little, if anything, to keep you entertained outside of the game itself. On-court entertainment during timeouts? Virtually non-existent. Halftime entertainment? Virtually non-existent, minus the once per year appearance by the Zooperstars or something similar.

Concessions at FTA? Very, very basic concessions. I really wish that FTA would have some different beer offerings other than your typical Bud Light, Miller Light, etc.. In past years, they have on occasion carried Christian Moerlein at one beer stand, but even that was closed several games back when I took a trip around the concourse.