I am sorry, but I am sick of the same routine where I delude myself into thinking the Cats can make a run in the tourney. I will be doing a bracket and will pick against them in the first round (while cheering 100% for the opposite to happen of course) because frankly I don't want to lose those points this time.
Here is how things will play out over the next 10 days or so:
1. Most likely the Bearcats will receive the "worst" 6 seed or even a 7 seed (that is what I am leaning toward at this point).
2. The team will talk about "having something to prove", blah, blah, blah etc.
3. I will read our opposition's team capsule and begin to think that we can exploit some weakness in them.
4. We will show flashes of looking like a decent team, while letting some unknown players smoke us for wide open 3s. The other team getting ANY kind of lead will cause us to totally panic and force crazy shots (of which Jihad will actually make enough to keep the game interesting). In the end we will lose our first round game by 8 points and have close to 20 turnovers in the game.
5. Then I will begin to tell myself that lots of teams would like to win 20+ wins, start talking to my Dad about guys coming in next year, etc....
So the vicious circle of being a Bearcat fan continues :( Oh well, I still wouldn't want to root for any other team :)
bcatwilly Wrote:I am sorry, but I am sick of the same routine where I delude myself into thinking the Cats can make a run in the tourney. I will be doing a bracket and will pick against them in the first round (while cheering 100% for the opposite to happen of course) because frankly I don't want to lose those points this time.
Here is how things will play out over the next 10 days or so:
1. Most likely the Bearcats will receive the "worst" 6 seed or even a 7 seed (that is what I am leaning toward at this point).
2. The team will talk about "having something to prove", blah, blah, blah etc.
3. I will read our opposition's team capsule and begin to think that we can exploit some weakness in them.
4. We will show flashes of looking like a decent team, while letting some unknown players smoke us for wide open 3s. The other team getting ANY kind of lead will cause us to totally panic and force crazy shots (of which Jihad will actually make enough to keep the game interesting). In the end we will lose our first round game by 8 points and have close to 20 turnovers in the game.
5. Then I will begin to tell myself that lots of teams would like to win 20+ wins, start talking to my Dad about guys coming in next year, etc....
So the vicious circle of being a Bearcat fan continues :( Oh well, I still wouldn't want to root for any other team :)
I would be happy just to get in at this point I don't care what seed.
And I better not hear about we have something to prove crap. If you do just leave it on the floor.
very true, bcatwilly...very true
:saber:
We will probably end up a 7 playing a 10, and we will be lucky to win.
It's definitely one and done at best for us this year.
This is a really tough team to watch and enjoy. There's just nothing smooth about them at all. Our best teams haven't necessarily run great offense, but there were playmakers at the guard spots that could take over from time to time when needed. Our go-to-guys need someone to get them the ball - and when they're not getting it, it gets ugly.
I think we've had 16 total assists in the last 2 games. That tells you all you need to know.
EVERYONE took this game lightly. Players, coaches, fans...we're all guilty. Guilty of not understanding history and the simple fact that, regardless of how cliche it sounds, if you don't come to play every night, anyone has a chance to beat you.
The sad part is, that our guys don't even understand how easy it can be. Come out with fire early, take them out of the game quick....crush their flimsy confidence, and you can coast. It was obvious with every passing second that South Florida was believing in themselves more and more. When you're dealing with an inferior team, you have the power to take away their confidence...and you can also give it to them with your own effort and attitude. Tonight, the 'Cats gave them everything they needed to win the game, and they won it.
Say what you want about UL this year...but they really know how to close games out. It may take them awhile sometimes, but they stick with their gameplan, take a lead and then step on the gas.
It's frustrating for all of us right now as fans, because we watch and wait for 4 months just to get to this time of the year, and more often than not the 'Cats have disappointed us. Last 2 plus seasons, we've been one and done in the Conference tourney twice, lost in the NCAA first round once and and the 2nd round once. There is a nice 3 day stretch in Cincy last year that netted a tourney title, but the simple facts are that outside of that one 3 day stretch last March AT HOME, this group of players (Kirk, Max, Hicks) have played exactly 1 game more than the minimum amount of tourney games you can play. 3 one and dones, a Tony Bobbitt 3-pointer from losing to a 13 seed last year, and a 2nd round blowout exit.
This collection of players, barring a complete turnaround in effort in execution, looks to be the most disappointing group to ever play for Huggs at UC. And that's sad, because I really do think there's enough talent to at least make things interesting for a few rounds in the tourney. What history tells us, however, is that when the chips are down, this particular group of players can't get it done on a neutral floor. Can't shoot, can't pass, can't rebound, can't execute, can't hustle.
I'll be right there on thursday/friday, however-rooting for the 'Cats like crazy and hoping against hope that everything I've just said is dead wrong...dying for Kirk and White and Muhammad to make me eat my words. I'd do it gladly just to see this team play hard and smart in a tourney game ONE FREAKING TIME.
At least this year we should not be disappointed when we lose in the first or second round.
Exactly, but the players must step up. There are no expectations of this team, so they , hopefully, will have a woody to prove us all wrong. The bandwagon is getting less crowded, but at least I have some leg room now.
There were no expectation that we would make it to the sweet 16 last time we did :)
Yeah I know, attitudes like that just get me disappointed.
beck Wrote:Exactly, but the players must step up. There are no expectations of this team, so they , hopefully, will have a woody to prove us all wrong. The bandwagon is getting less crowded, but at least I have some leg room now.
I'm not off the bandwagon by any stretch of the imagination...I'm a Bearcat through and through. I'm just finding it hard to root for a guy like Armein Kirkland, with all the talent in the world and a coach with a proven track record of molding NBA-caliber players, who basically isn't getting it done, in my opinion, because he doesn't really care.
It kills me to see a team with "Cincinnati" on their jerseys bow out of a conference the program has dominated for it's ENTIRE EXISTENCE so meekly and without any effort. If we lose a semifinal because Memphis is playing out of their minds with a wild crowd supporting them, or a championship game to UL in overtime or a closely contested game, then that's one thing. But to be beaten up and down the floor, out-hustled, out-toughed and out-played by one of the league's doormats is just very hard and bitter to swallow, and it just feeds the fear that this particular group will fold next week when it counts the most. To give away so easily what it took 15 years and the blood, sweat and tears of past players that would've run through walls to win a title to build is infuriating.
To me, it's not whether they win or lose. It's how they conduct themselves on the court. It's knowing that regardless of the score, they gave everything they had. I still consider the '93 tourney loss to North Carolina as the greatest game a Huggins coached UC team ever played. Nobody walked away from that loss, or the loss against UConn two years later, or even the loss to Mississippi State in '96 feeling like those teams didn't give their all. Heck, I even count Logan's last team among my favorite, despite the fact they lost to an 8 seed in the 2nd round...because I believe those teams gave everything they had.
Can you think of any reasonable excuse why this team should have lost to South Florida last night, other than the fact that they just didn't SHOW UP?
In true Bearcat form, though, I'm trying to paint a scenario in my head where:
1. J-Max calls a players only meeting, where the team decides enough is enough and they're going to leave it all on the floor from this point out. Max talks about this being his last go-around, and he's not going to finish his UC career walking off the floor like they did against South Florida.
2. The next week of practices are as sharp and crisp as any this team has had.
3. Kirk and White make personal committments to crash the glass hard every possession.
4. Jihad decides the best way to win is inside-out, and makes it his mission in life to dribble-drive at every opportunity...always looking for the best available scoring opportunity regardless of whether it's him or a teammate.
If we've learned nothing else, we should know that past performance has no bearing on future results...so I'm not going to carry over the S.Florida bitterness into next week. I do hope that the players will, though-and funnel their embarrassment and anger into preparation over the next week.
Dare to dream...Go Cats!