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Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - ctipton - 12-30-2015 08:44 AM
Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault'
Kevin Goheen , Enquirer contributor 7:03 a.m. EST December 30, 2015
![[Image: 635870023966042698-20151229-gma-bk2-044....PDK9.1.jpg]](http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/c975fba82ac3be6a84ba890607847f714aba7413/c=0-0-2990-3987&r=383&c=0-0-380-510/local/-/media/2015/12/29/Cincinnati/Cincinnati/635870023966042698-20151229-gma-bk2-044.jpg-G6DD0PDK9.1.jpg)
UC's Octavius Ellis comes down with a rebound against Temple's Daniel Dingle. David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
Mick Cronin had the tone of disappointment in his voice Tuesday afternoon after his University of Cincinnati basketball team lost to Temple, 77-70, in front of 10,029 fans at Fifth Third Arena.
It wasn’t the kind of disappointment of not finding the Christmas present under the tree one hopes to find. No, this was the disappointment felt by parents and teachers when their kids and students don’t learn lessons or, worse yet, when they don’t just fail to meet expectations but they don’t seem to care if those expectations are met.
“I’d like to apologize to all of our former players that have to watch our guys play with that type of defensive effort,” said Cronin. “It’s an embarrassment. It’s my fault and I mean that. And to all of the 10,000 people that came to our game today.”
The loss dropped UC to 10-4 overall and 0-1 in the American Athletic Conference but Cronin’s reasons for discouragement are many. It was his team’s third loss at home already this season after they had gone 33-4 at Fifth Third Arena the past two seasons. It’s the second time in a row they’ve allowed 70 or more points in a game, following last week’s 81-79 loss to Iowa State, and the fourth time that’s happened this season. They gave up 70 points just once last season and eight times total the previous three seasons.
They hadn’t allowed 70 points in consecutive games since Nov. 20-23, 2013, when they beat Campbell 91-70 and Iowa State 78-70.
The Bearcats’ hold on a Top 25 ranking (they are No. 22 in this week’s Associated Press poll and No. 23 in the USA Today coaches’ poll) will be up next week but that’s the least of Cronin’s concerns.
Temple (6-5, 0-1 AAC) shot 50 percent from field overall, including making a season-high 10 3-pointers, four of which came from guard Devin Coleman. Guard Quenton DeCosey led the Owls with 19 points. After giving up 15 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points against Iowa State, UC allowed 11 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points to Temple. Through the first month of the season the Bearcats were averaging around 50 deflections a game. They had 15 on Tuesday.
“Temple made some shots. Give them credit, but our defensive effort is porous, lazy,” said Cronin. “Our problem is we’re just not a good defensive team right now. We lack a lot of toughness. We don’t do anything that’s hard. It’s hard to win games against good, solid teams.”
Temple outscored UC 15-7 in the final 5:05 of the game after Troy Caupain’s layup had given the Bearcats a 63-62 lead. The game was tied 65-65 with 2:57 to play but UC committed three turnovers and made just two of its final eight shots from the field. By contrast, Temple was 2-of-3 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line down the stretch without losing the ball.
“We've lacked talent when we were rebuilding the program. We've lacked height. We've never lacked toughness,” said Cronin. “We got exactly what we deserved. If somehow we'd have won that game, we wouldn't have deserved to.”
Caupain scored a season-high 19 points and had seven assists but he also committed two of the three late turnovers. Octavius Ellis had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Farad Cobb added 10 points but after 11 ties and 14 lead changes UC couldn’t match Temple’s intensity and efficiency on either end of the court.
Ellis and forward Shaq Thomas were not in the starting lineup for the first time this season. The seniors were replaced by senior Coreontae DeBerry and freshman Jacob Evans III, respectively, because of poor practices leading up to the game. Thomas entered the game for the first time with 17:14 left in the first half, replacing sophomore Gary Clark. Ellis came in following the first media timeout and immediately got in the scorebook with a slam dunk off a pass from Evans.
“It was just a wakeup call for me because I know that I’ve been playing too relaxed lately,” said Ellis.
That’s something Cronin has to fix with the entire team before UC’s next game, a 4 p.m. home tip-off against Tulsa.
“For those people who say I'm throwing my players under the bus, I'm not,” said Cronin. “If we lack toughness or Gary Clark can't get a deflection, it's my fault. Everything is my fault, just for the record. If we lack toughness, it's because I didn't recruit enough toughness or I'm not making guys tough enough. I'm just answering a question as to why our defense struggles and why our rebounding struggle. We lack toughness. It's a fact. Watch us play.”
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/university-of-cincinnati/2015/12/29/temple-hands-uc-another-home-loss/78035678/
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - Dannyboy - 12-30-2015 08:48 AM
Is it me or does that last paragraph sound really sarcastic or disingenuous? Maybe I'm reading that in.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - Coopdaddy67 - 12-30-2015 09:08 AM
(12-30-2015 08:44 AM)ctipton Wrote: “It was just a wakeup call for me because I know that I’ve been playing too relaxed lately,” said Ellis.
Perhaps you should have made adjustments when you first realized that.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - Bearcatbdub - 12-30-2015 09:12 AM
Step 1 is admitting there is a problem. I have noticed it the entire season. Let's see what he does about it. I still believe if this team gets an attitude adjustment there is a ton of potential.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - WalterSobchak - 12-30-2015 09:20 AM
Damn right it is. Do something about it.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - cpawfan - 12-30-2015 09:37 AM
(12-30-2015 08:48 AM)Dannyboy Wrote: Is it me or does that last paragraph sound really sarcastic or disingenuous? Maybe I'm reading that in.
Sounds like honest frustration to me. I've never questioned Mick's desire to win.
Players aren't robots and coaches can't play the game for them. The attitude and effort of the players is lacking and it sucks as a coach when you have to "waste" your practice time coaching attitude and effort instead of improving skills and execution.
Mick has talked about this team's lack of toughness for weeks. He has avoided drastic measures so far, hoping the team would have some personal pride and get better. We are probably in store for some old fashion motivation such as not being able to wear UC gear, having to practice in their own clothes, kicked out of the locker room, etc.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - 50Cent - 12-30-2015 09:41 AM
I'd start by taking the nice new shooting shirts and the locker room away until they play with desire to win.
This is essentially the same team as last year. And defense and rebounding are effort related so the good news is this should be repairable.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - bearcatfan - 12-30-2015 09:44 AM
Last season I can remember the players being much more active on defense - moving their arms, extending their arms, and getting the deflections Cronin spoke about.
Yesterday (and every game this year) they all pretty much stood still until the player or area they are guarding has the basketball.
They also are flat-footed way too much on rebounds.
I'd have them spend a whole practice or two doing nothing but jumping and waving their arms until they puke, and then do it all over again.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - dave108 - 12-30-2015 09:58 AM
(12-30-2015 09:44 AM)bearcatfan Wrote: Last season I can remember the players being much more active on defense - moving their arms, extending their arms, and getting the deflections Cronin spoke about.
Yesterday (and every game this year) they all pretty much stood still until the player or area they are guarding has the basketball.
They also are flat-footed way too much on rebounds.
I'd have them spend a whole practice or two doing nothing but jumping and waving their arms until they puke, and then do it all over again.
mick sounded very disgusted on the post game show. I don't think he's being sarcastic - I think that he's genuinely frustrated - not that mick is the second coming, but, he's a cincy guy, and, as opposed to TT, he does care. if he can fix it, he will. vs doing the tub's golf dance, while the fball program crashes.
he did change the lineup yesterday, to send a message. didn't work, but he did try.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - bearcatlawjd2 - 12-30-2015 10:18 AM
Coaching staff miscalculated a few things regarding this roster in the offseason. Jennifer isn't ready to be a backup point guard, the overall team wasn't ready to change defensive schemes from last season, and probably most important were the rule changes. Instead of using the new rules to your advantage by pressing and falling back into a zone forcing teams into late shot clock situations UC seems to be forcing a faster tempo that exposes their weakness. It doesn't help that UC four losses are to teams with really good offensive skill. Play more teams like VCU and watch the Cats shut them down based on matchups alone.
The other issue the coaching staff hasn't adjusted to yet is the timeout rules. I know coaches can't call timeout anymore during a live ball situation but please call timeouts after made baskets or tell the players on the court to call a time out to give players rest, stop momentum, and make adjustments. You don't get extra points for keeping timeout the entire game.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - bearcatmark - 12-30-2015 10:26 AM
(12-30-2015 10:18 AM)bearcatlawjd2 Wrote: Coaching staff miscalculated a few things regarding this roster in the offseason. Jennifer isn't ready to be a backup point guard, the overall team wasn't ready to change defensive schemes from last season, and probably most important were the rule changes. Instead of using the new rules to your advantage by pressing and falling back into a zone forcing teams into late shot clock situations UC seems to be forcing a faster tempo that exposes their weakness. It doesn't help that UC four losses are to teams with really good offensive skill. Play more teams like VCU and watch the Cats shut them down based on matchups alone.
The other issue the coaching staff hasn't adjusted to yet is the timeout rules. I know coaches can't call timeout anymore during a live ball situation but please call timeouts after made baskets or tell the players on the court to call a time out to give players rest, stop momentum, and make adjustments. You don't get extra points for keeping timeout the entire game.
I wouldn't call Temple a skilled offensive team. They were one of the worst shooting teams in the country coming into yesterday's game. I also don't think UC is really forcing a faster tempo. They still rank 294 in adjusted tempo despite being a faster offensive team this year. Teams still take a lot of time to get shots against UC's defense, it's just they get too many clean looks at 3 late in the shot clock and the more talented teams get way too many offensive rebounds.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - Crewdogz - 12-30-2015 10:31 AM
As far as rebounding goes I observed in the VCU game that multiple Bearcats go for the block leaving no one to rebound. I wasn't able to watch yesterday's game due to work but listened on the radio. It's hard to rebound when you are not in position because you are trying to block the shot.
Re: RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - RealDeal - 12-30-2015 11:35 AM
(12-30-2015 10:18 AM)bearcatlawjd2 Wrote: Jennifer isn't ready to be a backup point guard, the overall team wasn't ready to change defensive schemes from last season, and probably most important were the rule changes.
I completely agree on Jenifer. Caupain made a couple mistakes he normally doesn't make late yesterday and looked visibly gassed. Neither Cobb nor Jenifer inspire any confidence when handling the ball. My concern with Justin if you're not good enough to be a backup as a freshman will you be ready to be a starter in 2 years. If there's a JUCO PG available I'd take a look at that for next year.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - CincyBro - 12-30-2015 12:13 PM
(12-30-2015 10:31 AM)Crewdogz Wrote: As far as rebounding goes I observed in the VCU game that multiple Bearcats go for the block leaving no one to rebound. I wasn't able to watch yesterday's game due to work but listened on the radio. It's hard to rebound when you are not in position because you are trying to block the shot.
Numerous times yesterday after switching on D, Ellis, Clark and DeBerry were left guarding at the top of the key when a shot was taken, not optimal rebounding position for your big men. Has been going on all year.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - Cal1362 - 12-30-2015 05:37 PM
IMO, the 5 or 6 cupcakes that UC played early gave the team a false sense of success. Mick has consistently said that this team lacked toughness and the ability to put teams away. Apparently he hasn't found the button to push to fix that...yet. Hope he's still tinkering.
From my perspective, several points stick out
#1 - The 3 point defense is horrid, putrid and just unBearcat like. Maybe the stats compared to previous years disprove that but it sure seems like the decent teams on our schedule consistently shoot fairly high %. UCs guards seem to be sagging into the lane to protect the bigs or clog passing lanes or something. They have to contest more 3s
#2 - The guards simply do not seem to consistently be able to make quality entry passes to our bigs. The bigs seem to be at worst holding their own and often have the edge on our opponents but the ball just doesn't seem to get to them in quality position
#3 - UC sorely needs someone willing and able to hit a 12 - 15 foot jumper on a regular basis so that we can flash someone into the soft spot around the FT line and elbows of a zone defense. The offense seems to be 3-4 "shooters" standing around the 3 point line and 1-2 bigs on the blocks which makes UC significantly easier to defend than if someone was regularly flashing up to/through the FT line area making the D have to defend on 3 levels and skip passes that include both sides of the court instead of just 2 levels and typically one side of the court in the current scheme
#4 - It might be redundant but IMO the offense needs to work inside out, not dribble and then jack up a 3. I'm probably being harsh here but 25 foot 3s are not my idea of an offense
#5 - Please please please stop walking the ball up the floor and letting the defense get set before we attack. UC may not be as up tempo as we'd like but it could be quicker than it is. Push the ball and good things will happen.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - bearcatmark - 12-30-2015 06:11 PM
(12-30-2015 05:37 PM)Cal1362 Wrote: IMO, the 5 or 6 cupcakes that UC played early gave the team a false sense of success. Mick has consistently said that this team lacked toughness and the ability to put teams away. Apparently he hasn't found the button to push to fix that...yet. Hope he's still tinkering.
From my perspective, several points stick out
#1 - The 3 point defense is horrid, putrid and just unBearcat like. Maybe the stats compared to previous years disprove that but it sure seems like the decent teams on our schedule consistently shoot fairly high %. UCs guards seem to be sagging into the lane to protect the bigs or clog passing lanes or something. They have to contest more 3s
#2 - The guards simply do not seem to consistently be able to make quality entry passes to our bigs. The bigs seem to be at worst holding their own and often have the edge on our opponents but the ball just doesn't seem to get to them in quality position
#3 - UC sorely needs someone willing and able to hit a 12 - 15 foot jumper on a regular basis so that we can flash someone into the soft spot around the FT line and elbows of a zone defense. The offense seems to be 3-4 "shooters" standing around the 3 point line and 1-2 bigs on the blocks which makes UC significantly easier to defend than if someone was regularly flashing up to/through the FT line area making the D have to defend on 3 levels and skip passes that include both sides of the court instead of just 2 levels and typically one side of the court in the current scheme
#4 - It might be redundant but IMO the offense needs to work inside out, not dribble and then jack up a 3. I'm probably being harsh here but 25 foot 3s are not my idea of an offense
#5 - Please please please stop walking the ball up the floor and letting the defense get set before we attack. UC may not be as up tempo as we'd like but it could be quicker than it is. Push the ball and good things will happen.
I think you are being really harsh on the offense which has mostly been really good this year. They are up to 28th nationally in kenpom adjusted offense after finishing outside the top 100 last year. They've mostly gotten wide open shots, Caupain has done a nice job getting to the rim and their big guys have been pretty efficient inside. Four of your points involve issues on the offense. To me the big deal for this team is they are doing too much helping off shooters and giving up open shots as a result, their rotation on switches has been horrendous against good teams and they haven't defensive rebounded against teams that are any good. Those issues have caused their defense to go from a top 15 defense to a defense that isn't even top 60 at this point.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - FenderCat - 12-30-2015 07:08 PM
(12-30-2015 09:20 AM)WalterSobchak Wrote: Damn right it is. Do something about it.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No. Who's with me? LET'S GOOOOOOO!
However, it does seem the Cats are on double secret probation.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - FenderCat - 12-30-2015 07:14 PM
The offensive rebounding by Temple, especially in the 1st half, was sickening. I think maybe 4 or 5 times in a row they got a stickback. Old UC teams would have gotten PHYSICAL before it got to three. Even if you get called for a foul, it sends the message that we aren't putting up with this. Not in our house.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - UCGrad1992 - 12-30-2015 07:26 PM
(12-30-2015 07:08 PM)FenderCat Wrote:(12-30-2015 09:20 AM)WalterSobchak Wrote: Damn right it is. Do something about it.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No. Who's with me? LET'S GOOOOOOO!
However, it does seem the Cats are on double secret probation.
I think we would all be more pissed if Mick didn't say he was embarrassed. Agree, coach 'em up and make a difference on Saturday against Tulsa. If they lose, Niedermeyer will rise up to spit in some faces.
RE: Cronin: UC loss 'an embarrassment' and 'my fault' - OhioIsMySacredHome - 12-30-2015 07:35 PM
I don't care all that much for basketball but I think Cronin's accountability is refreshing. Tommy Boy could learn a thing or two from Cronin.