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Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
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ctipton Offline
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Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Bill Koch, bkoch@enquirer.com 4:44 p.m. EDT October 9, 2014

It's not like University of Cincinnati guard Deshaun Morman is an offensive liability. After all, he averaged 14.3 points and 7.4 assists as a senior in high school. But Morman's strength is his ability to play defense. It's what he prides himself on and it's the main reason UC coach Mick Cronin offered him a scholarship after he saw him play in an AAU game.

"When (UC assistant coach) Antwon Jackson sent me to see him, he guarded the other team's best player for 94 feet the whole game," Cronin said. "People don't do that in AAU. He was dogging that guy and his team lost. He was beyond being upset that his team lost. He broke every summer basketball rule with his hustle and his defense and how much he cared about the outcome of the game. That doesn't happen in the summer."

Morman didn't get a chance to flash his defensive skills last year because he broke his right foot during the preseason and received a medical redshirt. During the off-season, he added about 10 pounds of muscle to go with an attitude that makes him one of the Bearcats' hardest-working players every day in practice.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound redshirt freshman from Richmond, Va., is so good defensively that Cronin has already proclaimed that he will be the best perimeter defender he has ever coached even though he has yet to play in a college basketball game.

"He's a guard version of Justin Jackson," Cronin said.

That's high praise because Jackson was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season when he blocked 99 shots. Morman might block an occasional shot, but his specialties are getting steals, forcing turnovers and relentlessly hounding the player he's guarding.

Morman said he would have preferred to play last year as a true freshman, but now that the season is behind him he says it was probably beneficial that he didn't. It gave him a chance to watch and learn from a distance while preserving his four years of eligibility. And it helped that his foot healed to enable him to return to practice late in the season.

"In this position I'm in right now, I'm kind of glad I redshirted," Morman said. "I just look at things at a better level as if I already played a year of college basketball. I was around the game a lot. I watched practice. I just picked up a lot of things."

In retrospect, the injury helped Morman and the UC coaching staff make a decision they were leaning toward making anyway because it would have been difficult for him to find significant playing time last year.

"The problem was that (Sean Kilpatrick) was one of the five best players in college basketball," Cronin said. "With Jermaine (Sanders) and Shaq (Thomas) at the other wing spot, where was he going to get minutes? Early on, I didn't know if he would be able to play point guard but I saw that that was going to be too much for him, that he wasn't going to be able to do that.

"It wasn't that he wouldn't have given us great energy, it was where are you going to play him? It was hard to get Kevin (Johnson) minutes. So if I had both of them, somebody would have not played, so why waste a year?"

Morman does not claim to be a great shooter, but Cronin said he can get to the rim for dunks and is a deft passer.

For now, though, it's his defense that will get Morman on the court, especially if there's an offensively gifted opponent that needs to be stopped. That's when Morman will get the chance to show the attitude he displayed in that AAU game that so impressed Cronin.

"That's just the way I grew up playing basketball," Morman said. "I feel like I'm the best defender on the court, so if you're the best player, then we're just going to have to get it on. That's just how it is."

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../16986067/
 
10-09-2014 06:24 PM
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Post: #2
RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Defense: check. The bigs will be effective scoring and hopefully KJ and others can hit some outside shots.
 
10-09-2014 07:02 PM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
I can not wait to see these kids play.
 
10-09-2014 07:07 PM
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Dannyboy Offline
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
If we can shoot better than 50% from 12" it'll be an improvement.
 
10-09-2014 07:08 PM
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ctipton Offline
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
I am very anxious to watch the development of our young players and the team as a team. This group will be together for quite a while. We only lose 2 seniors this year, so damn near everyone will be back. First time since Mick has been here that we can play toe to toe with "the big boys" on the blocks and in the paint. We will always out work and out hustle the other team. I am such a fan that I don't want to see them lose a game but realistically we should be just a hair over the 20 win season. If that is the case, I will be extremely pleased and just pissing my pants waiting for the 2015 season to start.
 
10-09-2014 07:12 PM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
(10-09-2014 07:12 PM)ctipton Wrote:  I am very anxious to watch the development of our young players and the team as a team. This group will be together for quite a while. We only lose 2 seniors this year, so damn near everyone will be back. First time since Mick has been here that we can play toe to toe with "the big boys" on the blocks and in the paint. We will always out work and out hustle the other team. I am such a fan that I don't want to see them lose a game but realistically we should be just a hair over the 20 win season. If that is the case, I will be extremely pleased and just pissing my pants waiting for the 2015 season to start.

Anything less than 22 wins would be a letdown and likely NIT bid. My expectations are somewhere 22-9 and 26-5 and an NCAA tournament bid. 26-5 was last year's record achieving that level is if anything comes together rather quickly. The conference is going to down this season. UConn and Memphis both lost a lot of talent and will be working in new guys like Cincinnati. SMU should be very good but they will not replicate Louisville did in league play last season. While Houston, Temple, and Tulsa should be compete for a post season the rest of the conference is going to be rather poor. I am expecting a team that that struggles at times early in the season but finishes with five league losses or less.
 
10-09-2014 07:22 PM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Morman is the one I'm most excited to watch. I've watched his videos more times than I'd like to admit. Kids looks extremely athletic.
 
10-09-2014 09:41 PM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Assuming our young guards progress as expected, for me the question mark lies inside. Therefore I'm most interested in seeing what Ellis and DeBerry can do.
 
10-09-2014 10:39 PM
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Post: #9
RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Cronin hasnt talked much about him but Im thinking Ellis will be a force inside. I dont expect him to score a ton but he will hustle and rebound and block shots at a better than average clip. I think it will be hard to get him off the floor at the 5 spot. I can see Moore and Clark getting good minutes at the 4 and both guys are capable of scoring the ball.

I expect most of the scoring to come from the backcourt in the form of Johnson, Caupain, Cobb and Thomas. Guyn and Sanders will be experienced fillers.

The big question is who gets the ball in crunch time and who emerges as the leading scorer? My bets go to Caupain and Thomas in that regard.

Should be a really deep and athletic team. I expect some early struggles on offense before the young team gels, but a formiddable tournament team in the 7-10 seed range by the end of the year.
 
10-10-2014 12:10 AM
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Post: #10
RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
This is the earliest I've given a rats about hoops in a LONG time but at least we have some hope here. We may be a bit shaky out of the gate but I know it won't be from lack of effort (football team, take notice).


Any way Cronin can be the DC for Tubs? I kid I kid.
 
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2014 06:47 AM by Bearcats#1.)
10-10-2014 06:47 AM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
(10-09-2014 10:39 PM)OneUChoopsfan Wrote:  Assuming our young guards progress as expected, for me the question mark lies inside. Therefore I'm most interested in seeing what Ellis and DeBerry can do.

Ellis pretty much gives us JJ, IMO, in terms of being an eraser. Maybe not as good yet, but along that theme. Not sure about what Deberry will give us, but he is supposedly a strong finisher.

It is very clear that Clark, Moore and Strickland can all score.

Obviously, I base this all on the Bahamas game...
 
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2014 07:45 AM by Ring of Black.)
10-10-2014 07:45 AM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Quote:"I feel like I'm the best defender on the court, so if you're the best player, then we're just going to have to get it on. That's just how it is."

That is the kind of attitude we need.

Damn it would have been something to see what he could have done against Napier.

Reports from Chad have said that he is so damn quick and explosive that he can not just guard his guy when he gets the ball he can flat out prevent his guy from getting the ball in the first place.

And he is a passing lane patrolling ball-hawk - anyone that throws a lazy cross court pass can look forward to watching him jam it on the other end a few seconds later.

Dude is a scorers worst nightmare.

I think he will become our version of Darrelle Revis - no double team needed. Guys are going to get lost on "Deshaun island".
 
10-10-2014 11:24 AM
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Ring of Black Offline
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
(10-10-2014 11:24 AM)Eastside_J Wrote:  
Quote:"I feel like I'm the best defender on the court, so if you're the best player, then we're just going to have to get it on. That's just how it is."

That is the kind of attitude we need.

Damn it would have been something to see what he could have done against Napier.

Reports from Chad have said that he is so damn quick and explosive that he can not just guard his guy when he gets the ball he can flat out prevent his guy from getting the ball in the first place.

And he is a passing lane patrolling ball-hawk - anyone that throws a lazy cross court pass can look forward to watching him jam it on the other end a few seconds later.

Dude is a scorers worst nightmare.

I think he will become our version of Darrelle Revis - no double team needed. Guys are going to get lost on "Deshaun island".

IMO, Guyn, despite having his shoulder injured all year, did a very good job on both Shabazz and Smith last season. Morman does seem to have an all-around more complete game, and that is probably what has most of us excited. Having slightly better size does not hurt either.
 
10-10-2014 12:02 PM
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Post: #14
RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Hopefully Morman turns out to be Immanuel McElroy on defense
 
10-10-2014 01:21 PM
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Intimidate Dominate Celebrate Offline
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
A healthy Guyn, KJ and Mormon on defense is just going to be nasty. We need the guy on the back end to erase mistakes, hopefully Ellis can be that guy.
 
10-10-2014 03:00 PM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
(10-10-2014 03:00 PM)Intimidate Dominate Celebrate Wrote:  A healthy Guyn, KJ and Mormon on defense is just going to be nasty. We need the guy on the back end to erase mistakes, hopefully Ellis can be that guy.

Ellis is a solid rim protector. Don't sleep on Gary Clark in that role either. He has a very natural feel for blocking shots from the weak side...
 
10-10-2014 06:33 PM
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namrag Offline
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
For a team that always seems to be offensively challenged, I am not thrilled with any player being compared to JJ.
 
10-10-2014 11:47 PM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
Hey I felt like JJ did a tremendous job on offense last year. No we do not have Jabari Parker in our front court, but the guys we have are more than serviceable.
 
10-11-2014 01:16 AM
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Dannyboy Offline
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
JJ was massively improved on O last year, yes. But man, do we need better shooting. I'd be thrilled if we could make the easy ones. We miss more layups and 3 footers than anyone.
 
10-11-2014 09:54 AM
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RE: Cronin: Deshaun Morman the guard version of Jackson
(10-10-2014 11:47 PM)namrag Wrote:  For a team that always seems to be offensively challenged, I am not thrilled with any player being compared to JJ.

A lot different than JJ. He is more of a scorer than a pure shooter from what I understand. He can take the ball to the rack and finish. Should get some pts and assists off steals as well.

But we should do fine shooting the ball from the perimeter. Morman can shoot as can KJ, Cobb Caupain, Sanders and Moore.

Hopefully we can get shots out of a lot of guys instead of having one guy who HAS TO put up 20-25 a game shots.
 
10-11-2014 12:20 PM
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