More positive publicity for our suddenly very popular head coach:

Quote:....Q: Speaking of Russ Smith, you've got him, Cincinnati's Sean Kilpatrick and UConn's Shabazz Napier all in the league, likely competing for the conference's player of the year honor. In the so-called Year of the Freshman, is it kind of refreshing to see three senior guards all having great seasons like this and impacting the game like this?

A: Yeah. I think it's unfortunate that the powers that be continue to do "freshman watch" and all that stuff, because that's all about the NBA draft. I think if you look at the most productive seven or eight players in the country, there's no doubt that the three guards you mentioned in our league are in the top eight players in the country, and, obviously, (Creighton senior) Doug McDermott has probably been the top player in the country, production-wise. … I think too much is talked about who's going to get drafted in the top 10 instead of who the best 10 players are, and who's making their team win the most. At the end of the day, that's what matters. That's why we play the games.

Q: What has it been like to see Sean develop over the course of his five years (he redshirted his first season) and to finish his career with the type of season he's having right now?

A: We met last year to talk about him going to the NBA, and the one thing I'm happy about is my prophecy came to fruition. He has improved every year immensely since he got here. I asked him, 'What would make you think that you wouldn't get even better with one more year? As good as you've gotten, now you've got all this knowledge and you're developing your talent, it would stand to reason that the biggest jump you'd make would be to next year (this current season). You'll be an All-American.' I'm glad it's happened for him, because that's exactly it. He's gotten better every year. Exponentially better every year. Now, he's a combo — he can play point guard and the off-guard, which helps his professional stock and draftability. It's obviously a big reason why we're one of the best teams in the country. It's why he's an All-American.

Q: As you and your team enter this final stretch here — three games left in conference play — are you close to where you want to be? Mentally, physically, etc.? How far do you need to go to get to where you want to be?

A: We're close. For us, we can't forget who we are defensively. That's a big thing. We need to improve offensively; our passing and our execution have to get better to beat the best teams. That's something we're working on, but we can't forget who we are. That's a recipe for disaster. That's easily done in our game — you can lose sight of what's important if you're worrying about improving in other areas. We've got to make sure our focus is on being the best defensive team in the NCAA tournament when it starts. (Cincinnati's defense is currently the fifth-most efficient in the country, according to kenpom.com.) If we continue to do that, I like our chances. We are spending most of our team now, in practice, on offensive development. That's really what we spend our time on. And we watch a lot of film and talk about playing smart. You're going to have close games when you're playing against the best teams. You've got to play smart in close games.

Q: I always like to end on this question. Who's impacted your career the most? Who are your mentors?

A: My father. He's a Hall of Fame high school coach here in Cincinnati. If it wasn't for him, I would have never gotten into coaching. I grew up in a gym, going to his practices. For me, there was nothing like a snow day. That meant I got to miss school, and we'd have practice at noon. I got to get extra work in on my game as a kid, too, and I got to spend the whole day in the gym with him and his team.​

read the rest here:
Coach's corner: Cincinnati's Mick Cronin

Cronin and Brown are getting all the love

Where the heck is all this pub coming from...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

(03-01-2014 12:26 AM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Where the heck is all this pub coming from...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

1.) We are winning.

2.) Our coach is a good person.


It's a good combination.