Three things I took away from the game yesterday:

Still poor free throw shooting
Inability to defend the 3 point line
Inability to finish around the basket out of an offensive set.

Don't see where the press will be that effective against good teams, every year UC starts out they are going to press the hell out of everybody, by the time mid-December rolls around and we get to good teams, Mick has the press in his back pocket.

Jackson is much improved, how ever we'll see how that translates against a 6'8"" D-1 Player, not a smallish D2 player.
Team had a good shooting percentage but many were dunks after Bellarmine clearly tired out and when it was all said and done, they gave up 72 points to this team, should be no more than mid-50's.
Lawrence is not ready to be a PT player, may be a year or two. Don't know why Davis III don't play more.

(11-03-2013 08:11 AM)Intimidate Dominate Celebrate Wrote:  The negativity is hilarious. Sure they got off to a slow start, but did anyone notice Killa didn't take a shot in the first 10 minutes of the game? Give them credit for trying to work their offense. Jackson scores 19 pts and is the "same player"? I disagree.

How many 3's did they take? Not many. Troy took 2, Guyn 1, and Killa 3. That's it. I'd say that's far different than last year.

Anyone see Lawrence in the first game? He showed nothing, yesterday he showed he's going to have a nice elbow game. God forbid he spins the ball behind his back at the FT line. Whatever works, do it.

The press will cause fits for a lot of teams this year. Rubles is very active, if anyone needs to work on finishing though, it's him. Thomas' long arms will cause a lot of deflections and turnovers.

really like what I see from JD3 on the offensive side of the ball. Hope he gets more PT. Those that are asking for more fundamentally sound guys should hope for the same too.

If Guyn can make good decisions and take care of the ball in end game situations, we know he'll make his FTs, so he adds value there.

Great post IDC The one thing I do not like about Guyn is his lack of offensive acumen. But, if the team is running the offense by committee, as appears to be the case, my concerns about him are a bit less. He does bring considerable athleticism and toughness to the position.

Agree about JDIII! Seems he will be a very reliable instant offense type.

Saw the replay first half... I admit to a couple red flags...

Thomas sat for quite awhile. To me, it seems like Cronin was irritated by him, again, losing shooters beyond the arc. Real problem was, Sanders did the same thing (MANY others did too). Silver lining there was, it gave a good opportunity to show the three-guard offense, and I like KJ in the third guard role. I think Shaquille will eventually tighten up things, but it may take longer than we want. He did come back in and immediately made some things happen.

I have only one complaint about JJ - his FTs are still abysmal, and since he is obviously option 1 inside, that could hurt us, missing out on the "gimme" points.

Some good things...

Lawrence looked a LOT more relaxed, more like the guy we expected.

JDIII has gone from a forgotten guy to one of the favorites off the bench. He has been one of the big stories.

SK really, now, has the complete offensive game.

Second half notes...

I love Caupain's feel in transition.

Some good minutes/contributions from Sanders. I hope he does a better job pushing Thomas going forward.

I like how Guyn plays within himself. Although not the best offensive player, he doesn't force things. But, he will be aggressive when he has a clear advantage (like when he took their 5 ft-nothing guy to the hole).

Letting a guy go coast to coast off of a made FT is inexcusable.

Other than JJ, we still have MAJOR problems finishing in traffic. We had an alarming number of shots blocked or altered vs. a smaller team. This was our biggest issue a year ago.

Although the defense needs to be tightened up, the length that Mick talks about does give it potential. Between this and the finishing, not that big a deal now, but it cannot continue come January, or December for that matter.

Looks like all the freshmen will get a lot of key minutes. That is a good thing for all of us who were looking forward to this incoming class.

I hope Strickland's tweet was correct, that he would be back by the 3rd-4th game. We NEED him, considering that Mick chose a front court of Lawrence and Rubles (with JJ out) on occasion, instead of putting in D-Ny. If D-Ny can just give error-free minutes and clog the middle with JJ taking a breather, he is fine. But it would be nice to have Strickland for sure.

I disagree with the comments about our FT shooting. JJ was the only one who was particularly bad. SK and G were good, Rubles and Lawrence were at least mediocre. Does need to improve, but it wasn't the worst thing.

(11-03-2013 01:14 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  Second half notes...

I love Caupain's feel in transition.

Some good minutes/contributions from Sanders. I hope he does a better job pushing Thomas going forward.

I like how Guyn plays within himself. Although not the best offensive player, he doesn't force things. But, he will be aggressive when he has a clear advantage (like when he took their 5 ft-nothing guy to the hole).

Letting a guy go coast to coast off of a made FT is inexcusable.

Other than JJ, we still have MAJOR problems finishing in traffic. We had an alarming number of shots blocked or altered vs. a smaller team. This was our biggest issue a year ago.

Although the defense needs to be tightened up, the length that Mick talks about does give it potential. Between this and the finishing, not that big a deal now, but it cannot continue come January, or December for that matter.

Looks like all the freshmen will get a lot of key minutes. That is a good thing for all of us who were looking forward to this incoming class.

I hope Strickland's tweet was correct, that he would be back by the 3rd-4th game. We NEED him, considering that Mick chose a front court of Lawrence and Rubles (with JJ out) on occasion, instead of putting in D-Ny. If D-Ny can just give error-free minutes and clog the middle with JJ taking a breather, he is fine. But it would be nice to have Strickland for sure.

I disagree with the comments about our FT shooting. JJ was the only one who was particularly bad. SK and G were good, Rubles and Lawrence were at least mediocre. Does need to improve, but it wasn't the worst thing.

Have a feeling Cronin didn't put D-Ny in there because having him chase a 6'10 guy who could shoot around the perimeter would have been unfair and ugly.

Like you, I don't get all the negativity about this team. They seem much better offensively. The defense will tighten up, have to remember we have a lot of freshmen and guys who didnt play much last year. They will get better with time. Although this team isn't as strong a last years starting out- the potential is much much greater if we can stay out of foul trouble in the post.

BTW JJ is looking great as advertised this year. Jermaine Lawrence showed some of the skills that got him rated as a 5 star. He looks to be a legit 6'10" with great ball skills.

And I do think that Carleton an Bellarmine are better teams than any of the cupcakes on our schedule. They are quality coached teams that can really shoot it.

Really excited about the depth at guard and wing on this team. It will be a lot of fun to watch these guys develop if Mick is as free with minutes as he has been during the exhibition games.

Strickland missed a ton of time in high school because of injury and can't practice with the team right now. If he is cleared, contributing doesn't seem likely at all. He is going to be someone the staff develops.

This was just a terrible match up for DNy. He can only defend the post. When we play teams that spread the floor, he isn't going to get minutes. Which is fine. That actually plays to our strengths.

Also I don't get the idea that Jackson looks like the same player. I know the competition is weak, but when has he ever played like he is currently playing. Its not like we never played cupcakes during his first 3 years here.

(11-03-2013 07:14 PM)Overrated Wrote:  Strickland missed a ton of time in high school because of injury and can't practice with the team right now. If he is cleared, contributing doesn't seem likely at all. He is going to be someone the staff develops.

This was just a terrible match up for DNy. He can only defend the post. When we play teams that spread the floor, he isn't going to get minutes. Which is fine. That actually plays to our strengths.

Also I don't get the idea that Jackson looks like the same player. I know the competition is weak, but when has he ever played like he is currently playing. Its not like we never played cupcakes during his first 3 years here.

DEPENDING on the staff to improve a big man is a big concern then. We've not had a lot of luck over the years with that.

I was at the game. Saw a bunch of good stuff and also some mistakes that need to be corrected.

One thing I did notice, Bellermine is one of the best passing teams - at any level - that I have seen in the last 10 years. They reverse the ball as well as any team in America. That is why they get those open 3 point looks.

(11-04-2013 07:37 AM)QSECOFR Wrote:  I was at the game. Saw a bunch of good stuff and also some mistakes that need to be corrected.

One thing I did notice, Bellermine is one of the best passing teams - at any level - that I have seen in the last 10 years. They reverse the ball as well as any team in America. That is why they get those open 3 point looks.

Yeah they really moved the ball extremely well. The few fast breaks they had, everyone ran to the 3 point line and then whip it around some more.

(11-04-2013 07:37 AM)QSECOFR Wrote:  I was at the game. Saw a bunch of good stuff and also some mistakes that need to be corrected.

One thing I did notice, Bellermine is one of the best passing teams - at any level - that I have seen in the last 10 years. They reverse the ball as well as any team in America. That is why they get those open 3 point looks.

Agreed. They moved the ball really, really well and I'm glad Cincinnati scheduled them. For a team like the Bearcats who are a hodgepodge of vets and youngsters, I'm sure facing that fast-paced offense was a great learning experience for them.

A few years ago, UC played Belmont in an early season game and we were completely schooled by the high efficiency of Belmont in passing and shooting. They were in mid-season form and defeated the Bearcats. Example how a high basketball IQ team can be competitive with anybody, even high Division I competition.

(11-04-2013 07:30 PM)vabearcat Wrote:  A few years ago, UC played Belmont in an early season game and we were completely schooled by the high efficiency of Belmont in passing and shooting. They were in mid-season form and defeated the Bearcats. Example how a high basketball IQ team can be competitive with anybody, even high Division I competition.

That was either Mick's first or second year here (I think second).