Cronin, Bearcats could use zone more with Lawrence out
Jan. 19, 2014 3:20 PM


Mick Cronin directs his team during the first half against USF on Saturday. / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Written by
Bill Koch

When it comes to defense, Mick Cronin is unapologetically old-school.

The University of Cincinnati basketball coach prefers the man-to-man approach because it encourages his players’ aggressive natures and because it has made the Bearcats one of the top defensive teams in the country.

But Cronin is also fond of winning, which is why he’s not averse to going to Plan B when circumstances dictate it. In this case, Plan B is a zone, which the Bearcats resorted to for long stretches of their 61-54 victory over South Florida on Saturday.

Expect to see more of it as long as 6-foot-9 freshman forward Jermaine Lawrence remains on the shelf with his turf toe injury.

No. 19 UC was forced to go to the zone when senior forward Justin Jackson was saddled with two fouls early in the first half. With 7-foot-1 center David Nyarsuk not offering much in Jackson’s stead and with the Bulls fielding a physically formidable front line, the Bearcats were in a zone for roughly 80 percent of the game.

Cronin’s only regret was that he didn’t go to it sooner.

“I probably should have started the game in a zone,” Cronin said, “but our man-to-man has been so great for us, it’s been such a go-to defense for us, I didn’t want to take any aggressiveness away from our team to start the game. But I probably should have started the game in a zone to try to protect Justin because of the size difference.”

The Bearcats - winners of their last 10 games - continue to roll through the American Athletic Conference. They’re unbeaten through six conference games and own a 17-2 overall record, their best mark through 19 games since the 2001-02 team was 18-1.

Led by first-team All-American guard Steve Logan, that team was ranked as high as No. 4 nationally, went 31-4, and set a school record for victories. Those Bearcats won the Conference USA regular-season and conference championships before losing to UCLA, 105-101, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Playing so much zone defense against USF, the Bearcats forced only 13 turnovers, but they still managed to hold USF to 54 points and 39.2 percent shooting. Asked if he thought his players executed the zone as well as they do their ‘man’, Cronin said the zone might actually be more effective.

“If you look at our charts and the percentage of scoring against our zone, our zone is way better than our man,” said Cronin, who acknowledged that those percentages might be skewed because before Saturday UC had played zone only about 10 percent of the time.

But the zone is a nice fall-back option to have, especially while Lawrence remains unavailable, which will probably be for at least a few more weeks. Lawrence was still wearing a protective boot on his left foot Saturday, but said he doesn’t believe the injury will force him to miss the rest of the season.

While he’s out, the Bearcats will face more size disadvantages on the front line, so the zone might be the way to go. But that doesn’t mean Cronin is ready to go all Jim Boeheim on us and make that his primary defense.

“I don’t think you can live in it,” Cronin said. “We take every game and make scouting report decisions about what we think we need to do to win that game.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20140...wrence-out

Mick said on his radio show tonight, Lawrence may be ready to go in a week or so. Good news!

Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

I wouldn't play him. I don't care if we drop a game to UofL that we probably lose anyway if it means JJ gets hurt again.

(01-27-2014 08:52 PM)Bearcatbdub Wrote:  

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

I wouldn't play him. I don't care if we drop a game to UofL that we probably lose anyway if it means JJ gets hurt again.

Ditto. Rather have him healthy the week after and going forward.

Cats can beat Louisville without Jackson but they have to shoot the ball and play solid defense. More important than Thursday night is getting Lawrence and Jackson back for a tournament run. The good news is that this team has learned to play without a few pieces already.

Not sure this is the right thread to post it in, but I think it deserves mentioning that UC is finally pushing the ball up the floor constantly. Either something clicked or Mick finally told them to run, run, run. I'm not saying they score every time, but they are always looking for the pass up ahead instead of just finding Guyn, Troy or SK trailing the play.

(01-27-2014 09:30 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  Not sure this is the right thread to post it in, but I think it deserves mentioning that UC is finally pushing the ball up the floor constantly. Either something clicked or Mick finally told them to run, run, run. I'm not saying they score every time, but they are always looking for the pass up ahead instead of just finding Guyn, Troy or SK trailing the play.

Yep, finally pushing the ball and attacking.

(01-27-2014 09:45 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(01-27-2014 09:30 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  Not sure this is the right thread to post it in, but I think it deserves mentioning that UC is finally pushing the ball up the floor constantly. Either something clicked or Mick finally told them to run, run, run. I'm not saying they score every time, but they are always looking for the pass up ahead instead of just finding Guyn, Troy or SK trailing the play.

Yep, finally pushing the ball and attacking.

I've been impressed with how we have been running the fast break...FINALLY

(01-27-2014 09:09 PM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  Cats can beat Louisville without Jackson but they have to shoot the ball and play solid defense. More important than Thursday night is getting Lawrence and Jackson back for a tournament run. The good news is that this team has learned to play without a few pieces already.

^^^^^
This

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

Mick said on the news that they won't risk JJ playing injured and that he'd have to prove he can go full out and the team docs would have to agree.

I bet he plays. I think this is a bit of gamesmanship on the part of Mick to keep UofL guessing whether they have to deal with JJ.

(01-28-2014 10:47 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

Mick said on the news that they won't risk JJ playing injured and that he'd have to prove he can go full out and the team docs would have to agree.

I bet he plays. I think this is a bit of gamesmanship on the part of Mick to keep UofL guessing whether they have to deal with JJ.

Unless this was an NCAA tournament game, I don't see the need for gamesmanship or risking the rest of the season for a road game that was going to be a challenge either way. Don't give Louisville easy buckets and you can beat them. I would rather lose on Thursday and beat USF and UConn at home with healthy team going forward. Actually it wouldn't shock me if Jackson sat out the weekend game too.

(01-28-2014 11:13 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  

(01-28-2014 10:47 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

Mick said on the news that they won't risk JJ playing injured and that he'd have to prove he can go full out and the team docs would have to agree.

I bet he plays. I think this is a bit of gamesmanship on the part of Mick to keep UofL guessing whether they have to deal with JJ.

Unless this was an NCAA tournament game, I don't see the need for gamesmanship or risking the rest of the season for a road game that was going to be a challenge either way. Don't give Louisville easy buckets and you can beat them. I would rather lose on Thursday and beat USF and UConn at home with healthy team going forward. Actually it wouldn't shock me if Jackson sat out the weekend game too.

Agree with all; USF has some size inside that could be challenging without JJ but you can't risk his season (and UC's) playing him on a bad ankle and turning it into a season ending injury. Maybe Lawrence gets back for the USF game Sunday.

(01-28-2014 11:13 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  

(01-28-2014 10:47 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

Mick said on the news that they won't risk JJ playing injured and that he'd have to prove he can go full out and the team docs would have to agree.

I bet he plays. I think this is a bit of gamesmanship on the part of Mick to keep UofL guessing whether they have to deal with JJ.

Unless this was an NCAA tournament game, I don't see the need for gamesmanship or risking the rest of the season for a road game that was going to be a challenge either way. Don't give Louisville easy buckets and you can beat them. I would rather lose on Thursday and beat USF and UConn at home with healthy team going forward. Actually it wouldn't shock me if Jackson sat out the weekend game too.

I agree on all counts. Whether he plays will depend on just how severe the injury is. He warmed up at half-time at Temple but couldn't go full out in the second half. The fact that he warmed up would indicate the injury isn't too severe. If he is still recovering he shouldn't play. He will be needed down the stretch. We'll see on 1.30.

(01-28-2014 10:47 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  

(01-27-2014 08:42 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Doesn't sound like Jackson will play Thurs. night, though.

Mick said on the news that they won't risk JJ playing injured and that he'd have to prove he can go full out and the team docs would have to agree.

I bet he plays. I think this is a bit of gamesmanship on the part of Mick to keep UofL guessing whether they have to deal with JJ.

Somebody was correct in their assessment of JJ's injury.