(12-22-2020 10:55 PM)oasispirate Wrote:  

(12-22-2020 10:48 PM)BrooklynRocket Wrote:  Cincy wasn't that much better than the rest of the league over the past few years. They won a lot of close games due to usually having the best player on the court (Cumberland) and having the intangibles of Cronin-culture give them an edge.

USF and UCF are both no better than UC talent-wise. Neither team will contend for an NCAA tourney bid (as a lifetime Cincy fan, you know what the minimum threshold for being an NCAA team looks like). The difference is that under Brannen, Cincy is slowly losing their edge in the intangibles department (deflections, turnovers, clutch plays) and that is why they are consistently losing to unimpressive teams for the first time since the big bang.

I've always been a bit shocked Cincinnati can't recruit better, especially with the new arena. Best player in recent years is arguably Gary Clark, who wasn't even offered by the NC ACC schools. Honestly, a kid like today Dooley would have a good shot at not letting him leave the state.

You're right Cincy always win with the a gritty style in recent years. That's a tough way to make a living getting recruits outside the top 100.

The Cincinnati fans might be able to provide more details but Huggins wasn't racking in 5 stars either. He got a lot of hard nosed players, especially from the JUCO ranks, that fit into his stype of play. Not saying there wasn't a Mickey D AA in there at times but overall that was far from the typical recruit. Patterson, Fortson, Van Exel etc. were all big JUCO guys iirc.

Cincinnati and Temple should both be able to recruit better. Chaney got some Mickey D guys but always relied on a lot of grinders and hard workers too. Then there was Dunphy's approach to recruiting. Similar to that of Lehigh's....