Mick is a good coach he runs a clean program the talent on the team has got better every year I love this years team but think next years will be even better his first few years were a mess not sure any coach would have a better job with what happened to the program and moving to the big east and if I remember right huggs had plenty of first round loses with much more talented teams

(01-27-2017 08:21 AM)dj3600 Wrote:  Mick is a good coach he runs a clean program the talent on the team has got better every year I love this years team but think next years will be even better his first few years were a mess not sure any coach would have a better job with what happened to the program and moving to the big east and if I remember right huggs had plenty of first round loses with much more talented teams

Agree with all that. And I think Mick's early years are in part a result of a commitment to do it the right way. We've all seen the "quick fix" coaches that come in with a boatload of transfers, jucos, partial qualifiers or character problems and win instantly, only to have scandal and a short tenure.

(01-27-2017 08:21 AM)dj3600 Wrote:  Mick is a good coach he runs a clean program the talent on the team has got better every year I love this years team but think next years will be even better his first few years were a mess not sure any coach would have a better job with what happened to the program and moving to the big east and if I remember right huggs had plenty of first round loses with much more talented teams

I love the program Mick runs but I think it's fair to criticize the lull in talent between the Cash/Yancy/SK classes and recent classes where we've recruited all conference caliber players four years in a row (Troy, Gary, Jacob, and Cumberland). Most of this team is back next year so we should be even better next year. We just need the recruiting to stay where it's been recently.

(01-26-2017 11:35 PM)Bearcatbdub Wrote:  

(01-26-2017 09:51 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  I think Mick dispelled the notion that this is not a big game for him. I don't know that I've seen him this intense. The berating of the official at the timeout changed the calling of the game to UC's favor a few times after that.

Of course it's a big game for him. He's spent most of his life in Cincinnati.

I was responding to criticisms I've read from some posters that felt Mick doesn't treat this as a big enough game, doesn't get the team ready to play for it, not fired up enough, etc., etc. There's always something to criticize a coach about but I never felt that way about Mick with regard to the Xavier game.

(01-27-2017 09:40 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

(01-26-2017 11:35 PM)Bearcatbdub Wrote:  

(01-26-2017 09:51 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  I think Mick dispelled the notion that this is not a big game for him. I don't know that I've seen him this intense. The berating of the official at the timeout changed the calling of the game to UC's favor a few times after that.

Of course it's a big game for him. He's spent most of his life in Cincinnati.

I was responding to criticisms I've read from some posters that felt Mick doesn't treat this as a big enough game, doesn't get the team ready to play for it, not fired up enough, etc., etc. There's always something to criticize a coach about but I never felt that way about Mick with regard to the Xavier game.

In fairness to both sides of the argument, I'd say there was a time where Mick did seem to treat the game as just another game. I think that has changed in the past couple of seasons. This is a result of several reasons IMHO: 1) We are no longer BE and do not have Louisville, Pitt, WVU, etc. on the schedule 2) We have been getting our hat handed to us of late and 3) Mick has commented that he is tired of having the former players call him to complain. I have noticed the former players have gotten much more engaged in the program over the past couple of seasons (spearheaded by efforts by Terry Nelson). Mick said last night that Herb Jones and Corrie Blount spoke to the team before the game and that Herb had a complete scouting report on X.

I've always said that Mick is a top-10 defensive coach in all of College Basketball. Maybe even Top-5. And I've always said that he's a poor offensive coach but if he lucked into an average offense, he'd have a team capable of reaching the Final Four.

This year we have a better than average offense. If this is due to Mick's improved coaching abilities on the offensive end, then the future looks good indeed.

(01-27-2017 09:54 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  I've always said that Mick is a top-10 defensive coach in all of College Basketball. Maybe even Top-5. And I've always said that he's a poor offensive coach but if he lucked into an average offense, he'd have a team capable of reaching the Final Four.

This year we have a better than average offense. If this is due to Mick's improved coaching abilities on the offensive end, then the future looks good indeed.

Well the offensive talent is just there. Compare a guy like Gary Clark to Titus Rubles.

There are guys at 5 spots on the floor capable of taking the game over on any given night.

Other than the fact that he recruited em- thats the guys on the floor, not coaching.

As far as a X's and O's they pass the eye test as well this season. Great ball movement and unselfish play. Still have some times when the ball sticks and end of shot clock heaves, but most of the time we are looking crisp. That stuff is on the coach.

Insight on the post game by Cronin, when X went to the 1-3-1- he coached them to take the first clean look at 3 they had and sent 3 guys to the glass. Knew we could eat them up on the boards and get an easy shot undeneath. Worked like a charm- they could not stop us and had to come out of it.

(01-27-2017 08:44 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  

(01-27-2017 08:21 AM)dj3600 Wrote:  Mick is a good coach he runs a clean program the talent on the team has got better every year I love this years team but think next years will be even better his first few years were a mess not sure any coach would have a better job with what happened to the program and moving to the big east and if I remember right huggs had plenty of first round loses with much more talented teams

I love the program Mick runs but I think it's fair to criticize the lull in talent between the Cash/Yancy/SK classes and recent classes where we've recruited all conference caliber players four years in a row (Troy, Gary, Jacob, and Cumberland). Most of this team is back next year so we should be even better next year. We just need the recruiting to stay where it's been recently.

This is a key point. We had a couple years were the talent wasn't quite there. But starting with Troy's class we've been bringing in really high caliber players and finally putting teams out there without major offensive liabilities. UC can beat you from all 5 positions most the time now. That's huge.

I thought an important note last night was that UC almost never ran the shot clock down into the final five seconds. It was a welcome change.