Catswin Wrote:I am 100% positive the play was not for Jihad to shoot. Hicks could not hit the ocean from a boat today....STOP FREAKING SHOOTING!!!!

agree, williams should of shot the ball obviously, but jihad just dribbles forever and throws up some wild shot that a 0% chance of going in
:mad:

binturong Wrote:Bingo! Hey, they can win a game here and there in these #13 vs. #19 type struggles. But generally speaking, whether it's in December, January or especially March, when it's time to do the preparation and coaching and execution to step up and meet a big, national-level challenge, more often than not, the Bearcats blink.

I'm not piling on, and I want desperately for UC to break this cycle, but over time they have defined themselves as a team that will beat the teams they're supposed to beat, and miss their best opportunities to take the next step as a team/program. That's no sin, but it is what it is -- and they are what they are.

Break that cycle! Break that cycle! Break that cycle!

(Applaud, applaud) Couldn't have put it better.

snart Wrote:I think the word is "choke".

Personally, I think we need to do a bit more grandstanding after baskets. Either that or develop a 'killer' instinct that doesn't allow a team to rebound from a seventeen point deficit.

What a complete embarrassment! This could be a very ugly two weeks ahead.

From all that I have read, Kirkland is a nice, young man. But he really disappears in big games. For UC to win these games, Kirkland needs to show up. I don't know if he gets intimidated, or he is not as good as we think, but we will not win many games against quality opponents until Kirkland shows up against these opponents.

I made a post saying this not too long ago. Until Kirkland, White, and Hicks get their games together in BIG GAMES, this team is going nowhere.

Jihad hurts this team more than he helps it.

Right now I'm ready to go back to Nick Williams or Kirkland at PG if Jihad is going to be a stupid ballhog at stupid times.

Yes, I'm ticked.

If anything came out of this game today, it's that both Louisville and Cincinnati aren't ready to be primetime players.............I wasn't impressed with either team. Louisville definitely has issues............but obviously our issues are greater.

Neither one of these teams is going anywhere this year unless some other players rise to the occasion. I don't know how we let Dean go off on us. But it has been a sad trend all year that we let the other team's leading scorer have his way. How do you not stop their best shooter and take your chances with the rest of their team???? Past UC teams would not let that happen.

This team is stupid, plain and simple.

They have a month and a half to get it together, but up until now........the two most important games of the season have been pissed away.

Well UC is tested this year, and there is no reason on this planet for UC to be intimidated anymore. Period. And, truth be told, I'm not so sure UC got intimidated in this game so much as the lack of production of other players caught up to them. Kirkland didn't do a d*mn thing all day, Hicks was missing shots left and right and Maxiell was swamped and Jihad's defense was horrible. But UC kept winning. Then, when things fell apart, the other player's lack of production caught up to UC and here we are, with another gutless performance.

I am willing to cut Jihad some slack. He has only been playing Division I basketball for 15 games. He is going to make some mistakes, but he is learning, and competing. But Kirkland does not show up and compete in this big games. And Hicks was just out of control today.

WacoBearcat Wrote:I am willing to cut Jihad some slack. He has only been playing Division I basketball for 15 games. He is going to make some mistakes, but he is learning, and competing. But Kirkland does not show up and compete in this big games. And Hicks was just out of control today.

I agree. Still, Jihad should clearly know better. And it didn't help that Huggins put him in a situation like that where he had to create the last second shot. That should have been Chadd with the ball in his hands with time winding down.

I just have to ask, was that the Eric Hicks who played for UC this year, or last year. Awful shooting on his part.

Bob said the play at the end was supposed to be the same as the play they ran last year to tie it against Louisville. So I guess Nick was supposed to take the shot, but I didn't see him open. Blame goes all around, I suppose.

I'm declaring open season on the Bearcats. All the negative comments you can muster until the next game, then it's back in fan mode. Have at it.

Here's my questions.

1. Has Nick finally found his shot? Can he keep it up?
2. Will James continue to show up playing like that?
3. Can Jihad stop making these rookie mistakes?
4. Will Hicks become the enforcer we all know he can be?

bearcatstubb Wrote:u know huggs drew up a play....jihad wants to be a hero...he as no control on the floor...i think he hurts us as much as he helps

stubb,
quit your whining about how bad Jihad is playing right now. Criminy, he has done a whole lot more at this stage of his career than Nick Van Exel had done. Nick turned it on the last 12 games of the season and give Muhammad a chance. Let's see if he improves. I think he will as the season progresses. This team was not supposed to even be in the running for the conference championship so chill out.
We don't have a lot of INSIDE GAME right now and probably wont for a couple years or so. We definitely are not ready to enter the BIG EAST and play those teams with the giants. Hopefully the next 2 years of recruiting will address those shortcomings. But this team has no center, we lost having Vince Banks, and Pilgrim chickened out and left when the going was going to be tough. He quit and let this team down. I'll be content to win 20 games and get another ncaa bid.

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:1. Has Nick finally found his shot? Can he keep it up?
2. Will James continue to show up playing like that?
3. Can Jihad stop making these rookie mistakes?
4. Will Hicks become the enforcer we all know he can be?

I guess we will have to wait and see

Waco

who cares if Kirkland is a nice young man? honestly, why does that matter? we watch them for basketball, not manners.

and Jihad is learning true, but come one, a 5th grader knows to run the final play that the coach just drew up in the huddle. not to dribble aimlessly and throw up a worthless fadaway turnaround 3 as time expires.

#1bearcatfan Wrote:

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:1. Has Nick finally found his shot? Can he keep it up?
2. Will James continue to show up playing like that?
3. Can Jihad stop making these rookie mistakes?
4. Will Hicks become the enforcer we all know he can be?

I guess we will have to wait and see

Hicks won't become an enforcer unless he dunks the freaking ball instead of laying it up and missing it.

DP3113,

I thnk its important to remember the players we are critiquing right now are human beings and did not intentionally lose this game. They are not machines. That's the only reason I prefaced my criticisms of Kirkland with that comment.

But, Kirkland was a major reason we lost today. He does not show up, and compete in these big games. And we need him to compete. It it self-confidence? I don't know. But we don't have the degrees of freedom on this roster this year for players not to perform. We need Kirkland in these big games. He was missing-in-action today!!

I guess the season is officially over. This team will never learn from their mistakes. It's just one game. I'm as P.O. as any fan, but things will get better. Hopefully Jihad learns that he doesn't have to be the hero everytime out. He shot the ball with over 2 seconds left. All I can say is REBOUND the ******ING BALL!!! Didn't James White say that they'll get up for the big teams??

peace.

humans are allowed to have negative things said about them.

the may not have intentionally lost, but they didn't try to win. if you try to win you run the final play the coach calls.

THG Wrote:I guess the season is officially over. This team will never learn from their mistakes. It's just one game. I'm as P.O. as any fan, but things will get better. Hopefully Jihad learns that he doesn't have to be the hero everytime out. He shot the ball with over 2 seconds left. All I can say is REBOUND the ******ING BALL!!! Didn't James White say that they'll get up for the big teams??

peace.

Hey, I never said the season was over. In fact I created a thread pointing out what UC needed to do to help save the season. And UC was up for this game, no doubt. They just didn't execute like they should have and it was ridiculous.

Cat's_Claw Wrote:

THG Wrote:I guess the season is officially over.  This team will never learn from their mistakes.  It's just one game.  I'm as P.O. as any fan, but things will get better.  Hopefully Jihad learns that he doesn't have to be the hero everytime out.  He shot the ball with over 2 seconds left.  All I can say is REBOUND the ******ING BALL!!!  Didn't James White say that they'll get up for the big teams?? 

peace.

Hey, I never said the season was over. In fact I created a thread pointing out what UC needed to do to help save the season. And UC was up for this game, no doubt. They just didn't execute like they should have and it was ridiculous.

the real season is in march, these losses don't mean anything come tournament time, except were your seeded.

Rebounding and free throw shooting are what lost this game today, as well as a complete lack of desire in the second half.

About halfway through the second half Max was shooting free throws and they put up this stat: 7 points, 1 REBOUND

My God, I know rebounding is 90% effort, and I would almost never question Max's effort on the floor, but what the hell is that??????

Without Max and Hicks crashing the boards hard, we are going to be in serious trouble.

Now please, put this garbage behind us and start playing Bearcat basketball!!!! :wwf:

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Bob said the play at the end was supposed to be the same as the play they ran last year to tie it against Louisville. So I guess Nick was supposed to take the shot, but I didn't see him open. Blame goes all around, I suppose.

Just wondering ... maybe if you run the exact same play against the same opponent on the same court in the same exact situation a year later, you might expect for Pitino and his players to be prepared to bottle it up.

Nah... that makes no sense.