(02-25-2013 09:49 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  Mick complained about the officiating yesterday. I stopped watching the game sometime in the first half.

I always expect UC to get homered at Notre Dame, but how bad was it?

Also - despite probably being mostly true, I have to think these constant comments about officiating are not helping Mick and UC. I don't think Mick has had much respect with officials to begin with.

if your team cant make shots you should never blame the ref for anything. It just seems overused and tacky. the refs had nothing to do with the fact this team cant make simple shots. Yes there were times where Cooley got away with fouls. atleast 1 offensive and 1 defensive, but does it really change anything?

The officiating was skewed, but it did not cost UC the game, even though it seemed like a few of the bad calls or no calls happened on the rare times UC was making a little run. But it did not cost them the game. Notre Dame always gets the calls at home against everyone, even against UK earlier in the season. Now the UConn game, that was another matter and I am still bitter about that one. One team can beat on you and the other gets called for touch fouls and UC arguably won most of the statistical categories handily against UConn except 3 pt shooting and FT shooting. Against ND, they were pretty much dominated in every facet of the game.

This team seems to have somewhat the same offensive scheme as my granddaughter's sixth grade team: dribble into a crowd and try to fling it at the basket, or if you can't do that throw it up from anywhere.

The game had some terrible calls, almost all of which went against us but if you lose by 20 you keep your mouth shut because officiating didn't cost us the game. I agree with what Mick said I just don't think he should have said it. A private call to the league office this morning would have been the better avenue to complain about officiating.

Stop worrying about officials and get some guys that can create space, set their feet and make some jump shots. Get in the gym and toughen up those big guys who can't even finish right at the rim or rebound.

Practice spacing and PASSING the ball. It is tough to go one on one and score when nobody can make a pull up jump shot or get to the rim and finish.

When the Cats can execute something on the offensive end and play defense then start worrying about the calls you are or aren't getting from the officials.

Well said by Mo...in great detail

>>>>I drove four hours to South Bend on Saturday afternoon, and four hours back yesterday evening, all to see arguably the most embarrassing UC effort in years. 41 freaking points. Forty. One. Points. Not only did the Bearcats produce their lowest point total in two decades, but they looked shockingly disinterested from the minute they took the floor for pregame warm-ups.

There's so much from yesterday's loss to sort through, but that one thing stands out. I was fortunate enough, working on the broadcast, to have a courtside seat directly opposite the UC bench. I watched the team warm up, I watched during pregame intros, I checked the team out as they took the floor, and I watched the bench during the early minutes of the game. They never seemed anything but lifeless, completely bereft of emotion, and collectively and individually looking like they'd rather be doing anything other than playing basketball yesterday.

That might be most disappointing, especially given the stakes and importance of yesterday's game, that Mick Cronin's team looked like it lacked any enthusiasm to play what many thought was their biggest game of the season to date.

Even when the Bearcats made a rare basket, the bench reacted as is someone had ripped a fart. That might have been appropriate, because UC laid a stinker in South Bend.

Quite simply, this team has no chance if Cashmere Wright and Sean Kilpatrick are no good, and yesterday, both were awful. I think I've seen about 95% of the shots Cash has taken during his UC career. None have ever missed as badly as the three he air-balled by 18 inches in the second half. When he wasn't lifting airballs, he was trotting around the Joyce Center gym looking like a 74 year-old man that was trying to get used to his new artificial hip. Cash is trying despite clearly being limited physically, but this team is going nowhere until he turns back into Cashmere Wright. The more I watch him here down the stretch, the more I wonder if A) they should have rested him after the Pitt game and B) if we'll ever see him look remotely like himself again.

Kilpatrick was bad too, but so was the gameplan. Dan Hoard said this on the radio yesterday, and he's right - to paraphrase UC's play by play voice, UC gets a lot of heat for shooting too many threes, but for better or worse, that's what they are, so forget driving to the hoop or throwing it inside, shoot the three.

They live and die by the trey, yet with almost no inside offensive presence, the Bearcats insisted on taking the ball to the basket, even while facing a double-digit deficit. A team reliant on threes, with no hope of getting back into the game except with the outside shot, only attempted 12 yesterday. Doesn't make sense.

A lot didn't make sense yesterday, including how Cheikh Mbodj could catch a ball two feet from the basket and throw up a shot that nearly hit the shot clock, and how many UC players insisted on driving right into double teams before almost blindly chucking the ball up at the rim. It didn't make sense how lifeless the Bearcats looked, even before tipoff, and neither did Mick's statements about officiating in the postgame ("I thought the game was unfairly officiated, and that is all I'll say on that.")

The Bearcats looked dead yesterday, and because of it, their NCAA chances are dying.

The bracket dorks still have UC in the dance, which would be great if the tournament field was announced today. Problem is, UC is significantly trending downward, with the losses getting progressively worse, the team failing to score more than 55 in four of its last six, and little hope remaining that besides Cash getting a new pair of knees, much will improve between now and Selection Sunday.

The committee puts weight on how well a team does down the stretch. Those results, right now, speak for themselves. And there is an "eye test" component too. If you watched that game yesterday, if you've watched UC these last three weeks, then you're only giving them a passing grade on the eye test if you're somehow reading this in Braille.

But forget Tournament metrics. Throw away bracketology, RPI, or even the now seriously in doubt goal of even making the NCAA Tournament. How about finishing higher in the Big East? In two months, UC has gone from being ranked eighth in the country to occupying tenth place in their league. How about the idea of matching, and maybe even improving upon, last year's Big East and NCAA Tournament success? Forget winning consecutive games in March, I'd just like to see them score on consecutive possessions. The mere idea that UC wouldn't even make the tournament seemed laughable as recently as ten days ago, now it seems like they need a minor miracle to just qualify for the field.

They have the benefit of this year being a bad year in college basketball. They have a beatable UConn team coming here Saturday, an awful USF team coming to town to end the regular season, and as unlikely as a win seems, a chance for a loud statement victory at Louisville a week from today. They have players who have been through a March run before and they could certainly benefit from nearly a week between games.

But there is almost nothing to like about this team right now, and what's most disturbing is that right when you want a college basketball team to start peaking, the Bearcats seem to be bottoming out.


Read more: http://www.espn1530.com/pages/mo.html#ixzz2LvkFshRl

^^^^THIS x100000

Great piece of writing by Mo. Of even greater concern: next season. I see no solutions in the incoming recruiting class for either the low post or point guard. Even if he was signing blue chip recruits at either position, young players struggle in the Big East. I like the guys Mick recruited for next year but there will still be gaping holes in the lineup unless a couple guys really step up next season.

(02-25-2013 01:07 PM)indycat Wrote:  Great piece of writing by Mo. Of even greater concern: next season. I see no solutions in the incoming recruiting class for either the low post or point guard. Even if he was signing blue chip recruits at either position, young players struggle in the Big East. I like the guys Mick recruited for next year but there will still be gaping holes in the lineup unless a couple guys really step up next season.

agreed and I sure don't see Jackson, Gaines, Rubles or Nyarsuk doing much to help us next season. It's hard to believe that when Yancy graduated that none of the other post players could step up to fill the gap. Probably one of the worst front lines in college basketball right now.

Funniest statement Mo wrote:

Quote:Even when the Bearcats made a rare basket, the bench reacted as is someone had ripped a fart.

Let's hope we've hit rock bottom.