The unofficial online home for fans of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(01-10-2019 09:46 PM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  The team was sicker than snot, the opponents shot 9-11 behind the arc in the 2nd half, and were on a 15 game home win streak and yet ....UC pulled out the win. People here can whine all they want, but it was a big win under tough circumstances.

i've never been to the city but as my representatives repeatedly bear witness, no one rolls into tulsa expecting a good time

(01-11-2019 12:55 AM)Lush Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 09:46 PM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  The team was sicker than snot, the opponents shot 9-11 behind the arc in the 2nd half, and were on a 15 game home win streak and yet ....UC pulled out the win. People here can whine all they want, but it was a big win under tough circumstances.

i've never been to the city but as my representatives repeatedly bear witness, no one rolls into tulsa expecting a good time

Man's got a point.

(01-10-2019 10:13 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 10:09 PM)gerhard911 Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 10:05 PM)jarr Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 10:03 PM)Bearcatbdub Wrote:  It’s a team that was shooting 30% for the year from the 3 pt. arc. What would you do? Run them off the line like they were the Golden State Warriors? A team gets hot once in awhile not much you can do about it. Our defense is not the problem.

U wanna ***** about our offense? that’s a different story...

If it was a freak, one game thing I would agree. But ot seems everyone torches us from 3.

Yep. And when it happens, hard headed Mick refuses to adjust his D to stop it.

When you only have up .9 points per possession for the game despite the great three point shooting maybe that's the right decision

Their 3 point defense is why they aren't elite on that end right now but they are great in every other respect on defense and are a top 20 defense nationally despite 3 point issues.

Man also has a good point...

Oh man, I've been waiting for this thread. Mick is the worst at defending the 3 and once teams get hot it's hard to cool them down. This has been a multi-year problem I don't care about your statistics, eye test says its so.

So what should he do. For teams like ECU + Tulsa, extend the D to guard the 3. If guard drives chase them to foul line and no more, bigs have to defend the rim at that point. Cannot get sucked in to inside-out 3 pt basketball. Our bigs are pretty talented over the years at making it difficult to score on. Its harder for teams that have the ability to score inside and outside like Wichita last year or SMU couple years ago. That can be a pick your poison type scenario and you may want to gamble that they can't hit the 3. For most of this AAC though, I say extend the D to the 3 and don't chase drivers, let the bigs take care of them. I think that's the winning recipe.

That will be $100. Thank you.

Bearcats were the 7th best 3 point defense in the country last year. The idea that this is a multi year problem is silly.

Mick's D has been good enough to win 350 games so far in his coaching career. He's doing something right.

(01-11-2019 04:42 AM)bcat1997 Wrote:  Oh man, I've been waiting for this thread. Mick is the worst at defending the 3 and once teams get hot it's hard to cool them down. This has been a multi-year problem I don't care about your statistics, eye test says its so.

So what should he do. For teams like ECU + Tulsa, extend the D to guard the 3. If guard drives chase them to foul line and no more, bigs have to defend the rim at that point. Cannot get sucked in to inside-out 3 pt basketball. Our bigs are pretty talented over the years at making it difficult to score on. Its harder for teams that have the ability to score inside and outside like Wichita last year or SMU couple years ago. That can be a pick your poison type scenario and you may want to gamble that they can't hit the 3. For most of this AAC though, I say extend the D to the 3 and don't chase drivers, let the bigs take care of them. I think that's the winning recipe.

That will be $100. Thank you.

Both of those teams suck at shooting the 3. That would be dumb. The law of averages says it comes back to it. The minute we would have started extended onto their terrible shooters thwy would have been waltzing into the paint for uncontested layups. Sometimes guys get hot and don’t miss what can you do?

(01-11-2019 06:04 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Bearcats were the 7th best 3 point defense in the country last year. The idea that this is a multi year problem is silly.

But muh eyes.

(01-10-2019 10:13 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 10:09 PM)gerhard911 Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 10:05 PM)jarr Wrote:  

(01-10-2019 10:03 PM)Bearcatbdub Wrote:  It’s a team that was shooting 30% for the year from the 3 pt. arc. What would you do? Run them off the line like they were the Golden State Warriors? A team gets hot once in awhile not much you can do about it. Our defense is not the problem.

U wanna ***** about our offense? that’s a different story...

If it was a freak, one game thing I would agree. But ot seems everyone torches us from 3.

Yep. And when it happens, hard headed Mick refuses to adjust his D to stop it.

When you only have up .9 points per possession for the game despite the great three point shooting maybe that's the right decision

Their 3 point defense is why they aren't elite on that end right now but they are great in every other respect on defense and are a top 20 defense nationally despite 3 point issues.

I looked it up, and you're right. We give up 0.879 points per possession. That's 14th in the country. And people are still complaining?

Maybe it's because last year we were #1 in the country in that stat by a huge margin (0.033).

I think people worry about the defense because they know the offense is not exactly going to light it up. Every three ball that goes down may take us 3 possessions to regain.

Not to be argumentative but this has been one of our better offensive teams so far. We have not had a lot of top 50 offenses under Cronin. I really thing the illnesses hurt the offense last night. For us to be good the defense really has to be the side that takes it to another level. I just don't see another gear offensively.

(01-11-2019 09:37 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  Not to be argumentative but this has been one of our better offensive teams so far. We have not had a lot of top 50 offenses under Cronin. I really thing the illnesses hurt the offense last night. For us to be good the defense really has to be the side that takes it to another level. I just don't see another gear offensively.

That's the problem

(01-11-2019 09:37 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  Not to be argumentative but this has been one of our better offensive teams so far. We have not had a lot of top 50 offenses under Cronin. I really thing the illnesses hurt the offense last night. For us to be good the defense really has to be the side that takes it to another level. I just don't see another gear offensively.

Agreed. Team is currently 43 in kenpom adjusted offense and 20 in kenpom adjusted defense. They really have been one of Mick's more balanced teams to date. Honestly if the offense can remain around top 40 caliber I'd be very pleased. They need the defense to be a top 10 type defense to be a real threat to make a run (not just a flukie run).

I should also note that the pace of UC games is incredibly slow because
1. They play offense at a slow pace...316 in possession length according to kenpom which is slow even for Mick teams AND
2. They force others to play at a slow pace with their ability to protect the ball, prevent transition scores and the time it takes to attack their matchup zone... UC opponents are 339 in average possession length.

With that slow pace, even good, efficient offense isn't going to produce really high scores.

Gutty performance by Broome and Cumberland, but lets face it, until Broome went off the last couple minutes for 12 points in regulation, that defense was getting UC beat. Three point line atrocious defense is nothing new for Cronin's team, ECU come to mind.

(01-11-2019 09:55 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-11-2019 09:37 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  Not to be argumentative but this has been one of our better offensive teams so far. We have not had a lot of top 50 offenses under Cronin. I really thing the illnesses hurt the offense last night. For us to be good the defense really has to be the side that takes it to another level. I just don't see another gear offensively.

Agreed. Team is currently 43 in kenpom adjusted offense and 20 in kenpom adjusted defense. They really have been one of Mick's more balanced teams to date. Honestly if the offense can remain around top 40 caliber I'd be very pleased. They need the defense to be a top 10 type defense to be a real threat to make a run (not just a flukie run).

I for one would settle for a "flukie run" to the Elite Eight at this point. Some here believe that's the only way X has advanced every time in March.

Seriously though, I think this team is close to being one that could do some damage in the postseason. If Moore could be the three point assassin we hear he is in practice and Logan could give some minutes the way he did last night, this team could surprise. Big "ifs" I know but strange (good) things can happen in the NCAA Tourney. They just haven't happened for UC in a long time.

(01-11-2019 09:37 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  Not to be argumentative but this has been one of our better offensive teams so far. We have not had a lot of top 50 offenses under Cronin. I really thing the illnesses hurt the offense last night. For us to be good the defense really has to be the side that takes it to another level. I just don't see another gear offensively.

When I learned about all of the illness on the team last night my opinion of the game changed. I think we should focus on the fact we got out with a W and move on.

Three things in life are certain, death, taxes, and our opponent will make the corner 3.

It's a low percentage shot, but I think it's no coincidence you see our opponents pushing the ball to the corner to pop a 3.

If you want to build your defense to allow that shot to be the one that beats you, I'm also ok with that.

I'm also ok letting the defense suffer to have a better offensive team.

(01-11-2019 11:42 AM)Bcatbog Wrote:  When I learned about all of the illness on the team last night my opinion of the game changed. I think we should focus on the fact we got out with a W and move on.

Much truth in that.

I bet I could find a game thread for every single team in the country in which their opponent shot well from three, and every comment will be about how bad their perimeter defense is, and always has been.