(03-18-2015 08:32 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  We are rehashing old news bringing back the sting and stink of that year for no real purpose.

^^^^^^

So anyway, does Ole Miss have a decent shot at X? I thought BYU would be the tougher matchup for Xavier, but if Moody can get hot again, they can beat a looooot of teams.

If Ole Miss can hang with UK at Rupp, they can beat XU. I do wonder about tired legs and the travel involved having an affect on the Rebels especially in the last 10 minutes.

Doss is just trolling. But the results don't speak too well for AK. He has made the tournament twice, once as a 12 seed and now as an 11.

On the other hand, we are one of 11 programs in the country to make the tournament 5 straight years. In those years, we have been ranked somewhere between 21-24 (couldn't find), 22nd, 37th, 17th, and 29th on the seed list. We have established ourselves as consistently a top 25-30 team. Even in our down year, we were ranked in the top 15 for awhile before Cash hurt his knee at the end of January.

A lot of people will respond that Cincinnati is a traditional basketball power while Ole Miss isn't, so comparing the results isn't fair. But 1.) that ignores the situation Mick inherited when he took over and 2.) Cincinnati doesn't invest in the program currently like a traditional power. Our basketball budget is 1/3 to 1/2 of the best programs in the country. Our facilities overall are pretty mediocre. It took forever to upgrade the practice facility, and our head coach had to do all the fundraising. We are still waiting on a locker room renovation that is badly overdue. He was flying last summer without a private jet to recruit, something that puts you WAY behind the other big boys.

There is another thread that is active right now about how we have had 9 years of Mick Cronin and only 1 sweet 16 and all of Cincinnati fans are ok with that. That might sound nice and like you care, but it is incredibly unaware of the state of our basketball program and the challenges it faces. If Mick were to be gone after this year, say for health reasons, and we were forced to hire another coach, we would be looking at up and comers who would definitely leave us the instant a big time job came available. We aren't a basketball power right now. We don't have the fan base that supports us like one and we don't have the resources invested in the program. I'm not sure how you could expect results much better than what we've gotten the last 5 years.

I had BYU going to the Sweet 16, assuming they got by Ole Miss. Now I am going to update my bracket and have Baylor going to Sweet 16 and XU beating Ole Miss. Ole Miss is just so inconsistent (We got them on a night that Moody was unstoppable, like he was in the 2nd half last night) and after how hard they fought last night, I think that will allow XU to pull it out.

AK has raised Ole Miss well above it's historic level. The same cannot be said for MC.

(03-18-2015 08:58 AM)dossbig Wrote:  AK has raised Ole Miss well above it's historic level. The same cannot be said for MC.

Laughing at your trolling, but if AK doesn't sneak in the tournament as a 12 seed a couple of years ago, he gets fired. Seems Ole Miss doesn't respect their head coach as much as you do.

(03-18-2015 08:57 AM)Overrated Wrote:  But the results don't speak too well for AK. He has made the tournament twice, once as a 12 seed and now as an 11.

I don't care how his success compares to Mick at UC, because they are two different jobs. I am happy with Cronin and excited for the future of UC basketball. That said, I think this is a statement devoid of context. Compare how AK has done at Ole Miss to the 8 years before he took over or 20 years before he took over and you get a different impression. It is harder to win at certain programs. When compared to Ole Miss historically the results speak very well for AK.

(03-18-2015 06:53 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Talked to a couple former uc guys who played for AK prior to the shootout this year. They had some stuff to say on Ak / mick which I was told not to repeat, but it was clear they still like and respect AK. Take it for what it's worth but I think he gets trashed around here a little unnecessarily .

Those players think Cronin hasn't reached out to them more and allowed them to be a bigger part of the program. This was more pronounced in Cronin's first couple of years when he was trying to make it his program and there was tons of animosity from the Huggs faithful and the team was terrible. Right or wrong, some of those players are not unbiased observers.

It's also pretty weak to come on here and say, trust me, I heard stuff and players think AK (whom they played for) is great and Mick (whom they didn't) isn't, but I can't really tell you.

(03-18-2015 10:18 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(03-18-2015 08:57 AM)Overrated Wrote:  But the results don't speak too well for AK. He has made the tournament twice, once as a 12 seed and now as an 11.

I don't care how his success compares to Mick at UC, because they are two different jobs. I am happy with Cronin and excited for the future of UC basketball. That said, I think this is a statement devoid of context. Compare how AK has done at Ole Miss to the 8 years before he took over or 20 years before he took over and you get a different impression. It is harder to win at certain programs. When compared to Ole Miss historically the results speak very well for AK.

Is that really true? Didn't Ole Miss go to the tournament in '97, '98, '99, '01, and '02 under Rod Barnes?

(03-18-2015 10:30 AM)levydl Wrote:  

(03-18-2015 06:53 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Talked to a couple former uc guys who played for AK prior to the shootout this year. They had some stuff to say on Ak / mick which I was told not to repeat, but it was clear they still like and respect AK. Take it for what it's worth but I think he gets trashed around here a little unnecessarily .

Those players think Cronin hasn't reached out to them more and allowed them to be a bigger part of the program. This was more pronounced in Cronin's first couple of years when he was trying to make it his program and there was tons of animosity from the Huggs faithful and the team was terrible. Right or wrong, some of those players are not unbiased observers.

It's also pretty weak to come on here and say, trust me, I heard stuff and players think AK (whom they played for) is great and Mick (whom they didn't) isn't, but I can't really tell you.

Agreed. The fact that AK and Huggs sat at his last radio show and bragged to UC fans how they had killed the program and laughed about it makes me extremely happy that he has no job at UC. We supported him and his players for years ands then he totally sh#t on us.

(03-18-2015 06:49 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Not me. No way no how. For a thousand reasons, many of which were notoriously on full display in the national news for months. He was a dickhead behind the scenes here. He was a dickhead publicly and unequivocally showed his ass in that lol arrest and civil suit. Leopard doesn't change its spots.

This ^^^^ I would rather hire the cab driver than AK.

(03-17-2015 10:58 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Glad to see AK's squad move on. hope they take it to X

I can't decide who I hate more.

(03-18-2015 12:38 AM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 11:00 PM)dossbig Wrote:  Great to see the coach we should have had move on over BYU

I was firmly in the Andy Kennedy camp in 2006. But, man... that was 9 years ago. And as much as I still like AK, he has only taken Ole Miss to the big dance twice while Mick has gotten us there 5 times.

It's hard to say what Andy Kennedy would have done at UC -- it's safe to say our recruiting wouldn't have suffered as much in the short term since there would have been more stability in the program. Of course, that's no fault of Mick's. I think Kennedy would have done just fine here and would probably still be our coach. But from what we know, I would say the right hire was made.

Since AK was convincing Devon Downey to move elsewhere - what was it, South Carolina - I hardly think he's a friend of the program.

(03-18-2015 11:27 AM)mlb Wrote:  Agreed. The fact that AK and Huggs sat at his last radio show and bragged to UC fans how they had killed the program and laughed about it makes me extremely happy that he has no job at UC. We supported him and his players for years ands then he totally sh#t on us.

They were treated like garbage and were likely venting. Huggins did more for the University during his time here than pretty much anybody. It's not uncommon for people to feel bitter, pissed and so on when you're done the way he was. The real blame rests at the feet of Zimpher. If she wanted to fire Huggins, fine. Instead, she was willing to kill the program.

The most annoying thing is that you all got sucked into dossbig's trap.

(03-18-2015 10:30 AM)levydl Wrote:  

(03-18-2015 06:53 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Talked to a couple former uc guys who played for AK prior to the shootout this year. They had some stuff to say on Ak / mick which I was told not to repeat, but it was clear they still like and respect AK. Take it for what it's worth but I think he gets trashed around here a little unnecessarily .

Those players think Cronin hasn't reached out to them more and allowed them to be a bigger part of the program. This was more pronounced in Cronin's first couple of years when he was trying to make it his program and there was tons of animosity from the Huggs faithful and the team was terrible. Right or wrong, some of those players are not unbiased observers.

It's also pretty weak to come on here and say, trust me, I heard stuff and players think AK (whom they played for) is great and Mick (whom they didn't) isn't, but I can't really tell you.

When the hell did I say or insinuate that? All I said was the players clearly still like and respect AK. I will say that I am more interested in what I heard from players close to the situation than I am in message board conjecture about why AK is awful and what prompted me to ask about the situation is the continued trashing of AK by so many on here.

I hate being one of those "I heard from these people and can't say anything," which is why I never said anything after talking to them at the shootout. However, I at least wanted to speak up based on my conversation with a couple players because of the way AK was getting trashed and how contrary some of the things being said are to the conversation I had with players who actually played for him.

(03-18-2015 08:57 AM)Overrated Wrote:  Doss is just trolling. But the results don't speak too well for AK. He has made the tournament twice, once as a 12 seed and now as an 11.

On the other hand, we are one of 11 programs in the country to make the tournament 5 straight years. In those years, we have been ranked somewhere between 21-24 (couldn't find), 22nd, 37th, 17th, and 29th on the seed list. We have established ourselves as consistently a top 25-30 team. Even in our down year, we were ranked in the top 15 for awhile before Cash hurt his knee at the end of January.

A lot of people will respond that Cincinnati is a traditional basketball power while Ole Miss isn't, so comparing the results isn't fair. But 1.) that ignores the situation Mick inherited when he took over and 2.) Cincinnati doesn't invest in the program currently like a traditional power. Our basketball budget is 1/3 to 1/2 of the best programs in the country. Our facilities overall are pretty mediocre. It took forever to upgrade the practice facility, and our head coach had to do all the fundraising. We are still waiting on a locker room renovation that is badly overdue. He was flying last summer without a private jet to recruit, something that puts you WAY behind the other big boys.

There is another thread that is active right now about how we have had 9 years of Mick Cronin and only 1 sweet 16 and all of Cincinnati fans are ok with that. That might sound nice and like you care, but it is incredibly unaware of the state of our basketball program and the challenges it faces. If Mick were to be gone after this year, say for health reasons, and we were forced to hire another coach, we would be looking at up and comers who would definitely leave us the instant a big time job came available. We aren't a basketball power right now. We don't have the fan base that supports us like one and we don't have the resources invested in the program. I'm not sure how you could expect results much better than what we've gotten the last 5 years.

In fairness to Nachoman, I don't think he was critical of Mick per se. I interpreted that he was making the very same points about limited recruiting budget, facilities, etc. He also commented on our fans and their lack of financial support of the program and being just happy to make the tournament (as opposed to actually make deep runs).

Oversized Steve Logan!

Clifton, can you please do something about the size of your signature picture of Logan? It is playing hell with my computer.

(03-18-2015 11:44 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  When the hell did I say or insinuate that? All I said was the players clearly still like and respect AK. I will say that I am more interested in what I heard from players close to the situation than I am in message board conjecture about why AK is awful and what prompted me to ask about the situation is the continued trashing of AK by so many on here.

I hate being one of those "I heard from these people and can't say anything," which is why I never said anything after talking to them at the shootout. However, I at least wanted to speak up based on my conversation with a couple players because of the way AK was getting trashed and how contrary some of the things being said are to the conversation I had with players who actually played for him.

"They had some stuff to say on Ak / mick which I was told not to repeat"

What, they said they like Mick and think he's great, but you can't repeat that?

(03-18-2015 08:57 AM)Overrated Wrote:  Doss is just trolling. But the results don't speak too well for AK. He has made the tournament twice, once as a 12 seed and now as an 11.

On the other hand, we are one of 11 programs in the country to make the tournament 5 straight years. In those years, we have been ranked somewhere between 21-24 (couldn't find), 22nd, 37th, 17th, and 29th on the seed list. We have established ourselves as consistently a top 25-30 team. Even in our down year, we were ranked in the top 15 for awhile before Cash hurt his knee at the end of January.

A lot of people will respond that Cincinnati is a traditional basketball power while Ole Miss isn't, so comparing the results isn't fair. But 1.) that ignores the situation Mick inherited when he took over and 2.) Cincinnati doesn't invest in the program currently like a traditional power. Our basketball budget is 1/3 to 1/2 of the best programs in the country. Our facilities overall are pretty mediocre. It took forever to upgrade the practice facility, and our head coach had to do all the fundraising. We are still waiting on a locker room renovation that is badly overdue. He was flying last summer without a private jet to recruit, something that puts you WAY behind the other big boys.

There is another thread that is active right now about how we have had 9 years of Mick Cronin and only 1 sweet 16 and all of Cincinnati fans are ok with that. That might sound nice and like you care, but it is incredibly unaware of the state of our basketball program and the challenges it faces. If Mick were to be gone after this year, say for health reasons, and we were forced to hire another coach, we would be looking at up and comers who would definitely leave us the instant a big time job came available. We aren't a basketball power right now. We don't have the fan base that supports us like one and we don't have the resources invested in the program. I'm not sure how you could expect results much better than what we've gotten the last 5 years.

I do not understand why people think the Cincinnati Basketball Program is a stepping stone job for an up and comer? The only UC Bball Coach to voluntarily leave for another program was Catlett, going back to at least the 50's. The other's were either fired, retired or not hired in AK's case.