Rath, Coop, RealDeal, Lawjd, Cat-Man, OUCHfan, and Gametime, all great posts
Quote:Right now it's the John's and Joe's not Xs and Os.
We have a bunch of first year guys with a ton of upside who we are relying upon who frankly are going to look like first year guys for a while. Make a list of stud 1st year players at UC...there are several but not many...and definitely not many on the same roster.
As a positive, Ellis is the best all around player on this roster. Not sure it is even close, either.
First-year guys were clearly in the forefront. Ellis, Clark and Moore all showed diverse offensive skills. While I am impressed with Quad's shooting range, I don't want to see him fall in love with the three too much, but I think he did a good job with shot selection for his first game, outside of a couple forces. Clark just has a great feel for the game. His passing was a huge contribution, before he even scored his first point. As you say, Ellis is clearly the man right now. I'd say Troy is second, but I cannot tell you whether or not it's close, just because they are two completely different players. PROBABLY a distant second.
Quote:I don't. The defense should always be way ahead of your offense at this time of year. A lot of it is based on effort, and that's the one thing you can control.
Spot on Coop... Watching the two preseason games, there was plenty of grief expressed about how bad the defense looked, and with good reason. The only good half, I'd say, was the second against Fairmont (with the second half vs. Bellarmine being decent). To see an opening effort like this against an experienced team is a very optimistic development.
Quote:Team shot 46% from the field while getting a combined 5 from our 3 guys who have more than one years experience.
I would have loved for the offense to look effective but when your three experienced players give you nothing a bunch of newcomers are not going to play good team offense. I see real offensive talent in the new guys when it comes together they'll be a much more efficient offensive team than recent years.
Defensively I didn't think we'd be able to match last year's team but seeing the long arms and athleticism of Ellis and Clark I think we can be an elite defensive team. This team has a very high ceiling.
I wasn't that disappointed in Sanders, tell you the truth. He only attempted two threes (from what I saw - maybe I missed something), and was looking to get guys involved, more than himself. Loved that rebound-dish that, I think, Ellis cleaned up for a flush. At least Guyn scored a couple good buckets and got a steal in an opening flurry that got us going. Thomas was completely invisible - people are appropriate to be losing their patience in a fourth-year guy at this point. As I replied to Rath, it was great to see the three new bigs set the tone, in their first game, with the scoring absence of the experienced guys.
In terms of shooting/scoring, I was actually a bit more disappointed in KJ/Cobb than the three veterans. I feel that those two are two of our four best perimeter shooters (Moore/Troy the others, in no particular order). And neither was really close all night.
Quote:I have no issues with offense. Mick played a lot of guys last night and that has to factor into the lack of consistent offensive play. My biggest issue with the offense was turnovers because when they didn't turn it over the Cats actually had some decent looks. The only thing that matters is that UC won the game. We are a long way from March and every season is a process.
This whole post is common sense. For one, it's the first game. The first half was nearly flawless, until the final six minutes or so. SF did a good job in adjustments, and the thing is, we need to do a much better job at countering the adjustments. Mick will get it straightened out. Just concerned about the turnovers and outside shooting. Although, I am glad there were only 14 trey attempts when we were shooting that badly. It shows the team did not overdo what was not working.
Quote:The team they played also scored 60. I'd rather hold a team who returns 99% of their offense to 37 points.
I will admit that before the game last night I was skeptical of this team. But seeing how long and active they are, I think they are going to be REALLY good defensively. The offense will come around. I hate to say it, but it won't come from Thomas, Sanders, or Guyn. Those guys are who they are. I don't think it will change. But the new guys will start to carry this team. You can tell they are still feeling each other out and figuring out how to play together.
I disagree with what has been written in the paper and what Mick has said. From what I see, this isn't Thomas, Sanders and Guyn's team. This is already Caupin, Johnson and Ellis' team.
Great post. Although the jury is still, kind of, out on the defense, pending SMU, UConn, etc., you cannot help liking the immediate strides they've made. As I replied to Coop above, seeing where they were a week ago, they are WAY ahead of schedule, IMO.
As for the trio, I think Mick is rightful in allowing the upper classmen first opportunity of ownership. But, if they don't deliver, the nice thing is, that there are plenty of younger players who are capable of picking up the slack.
Quote:Last night's ESPN color commentator mentioned (several times) that the team doesn't yet have go-to person. The end of game man.
Finding that person (hopefully more than one) may take some time, but my guess is it turns out to be Caupain. This is his second year, so he has credibility with team mates, and appears to have a lot of confidence.
That's something the freshmen don't have, and won't until they prove themselves. Right now, they're learning how to fit into the system.
We've got lots of players with the abilities to be the one, and that is a good thing.
It's always good to see Mark Adams (brother of Tim) on a Bearcat telecast. I wanted to see him get the UC job over Terry (I think Nelson is OK, although often too much a goofball). Always superior insight.
Troy is a good candidate to step into the role. But, he still seems very reluctant to look for his own offense. Despite that, he was the top-scoring guard, which really worries me. I think KJ and Cobb are both capable, as well, but Friday, their shooting really looked like crap.
Quote:Minus the turnovers the offense ran well in the 1st half. Shooting 54% and getting assists on 10 of 13 made FGs is running quality offense. They scored 20 of 29 points in the paint by moving the defense, finding the open man and executing.
They didn't make proper reads in the 2nd half when St Francis packed the paint, and were late on entry passes which allows the help side defense to recover and stalls out the effectiveness of the ball screens. Going 0-8 from three didn't help the cause either, but the poor entry passes were largely to blame. You make the defense scramble by being crisp off the screen, moving it to either side and making the post entry for either a shot attempt or reversal. They did a poor job on that the entire 2nd half shown by the 8 FGs and 2 assists over the final 20 minutes. Moving the ball side to side without throwing in to the post isn't how the system is designed to run, but that's life with a new team in a new system...
Great summary of our offense. The second half was a bit tough to watch, but the things that were wrong are completely correctable. Fact is, we were 19/32 (almost 60%) from two-point range. As disppointed as I was in the outside shots, and especially turnovers, THAT is what I like paying attention to.
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Tv for basketball opener vs. St Francis (PA) 11-14-14 ??
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