UC offense search for answers continues
UC looks to cure its recent offensive failures
Mar. 16, 2013 6:31 PM


The Bearcats have relied too much on their main three players, including Sean Kilpatrick.USA TODAY Sports /Debby Wong

Written by
Bill Koch

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats are poised to earn their third straight NCAA tournament berth Sunday despite the offensive shortcomings that have resulted in a 4-7 record over their last 11 games.

When the 68-team field for this year’s tournament is revealed on CBS Sunday at 6 p.m., the Bearcats (22-11) are expected to be included for the 27th time in the school’s rich basketball history.

Before Saturday’s games, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected UC as a No. 10 seed. CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm had the Bearcats as a No. 9. Last year UC was a No. 6 seed when it knocked off Texas and Florida State in Nashville before losing to Ohio State in the East region semifinals in Boston.

“I think anything between six and 11, they’re all the same,” said UC coach Mick Cronin. “But I think six or 11, to me, would be better than seven, eight, nine or 10 because then you’re against a three in the second round (instead of a No. 1 or No. 2 seed).”

If the experts’ projections are accurate, the Bearcats will be included in the field based on their five wins against teams from the RPI Top 50 and their strength of schedule, which was ranked No. 21 nationally. Heading into Saturday’s games they were ranked 47th in the RPI and 33rd in the BPI (Basketball Power Index), which takes into consideration such factors as injured players, scoring margin, blowout wins and opponents’ strength of schedule.

Unlike the past two years, the UC players and coaches will not gather at the original Montgomery Inn to watch the selection show. Instead, they were planning an afternoon workout before watching the selection show at Fifth Third Arena.

The Bearcats will enter the tournament still trying to find their way offensively. Cronin has devised various solutions in recent weeks designed to solve that nagging problem, but has yet to hit on a permanent remedy.

At one point, he said that if JaQuon Parker could become a consistent double-figure scorer, UC would be fine offensively. Parker did and the Bearcats weren’t.

Then the UC coach figured the answer was better defense. The Bearcats had to force more turnovers to speed up the game so they didn’t have to slug it out offensively in the half-court. And finally, after UC knocked off Providence in the Big East tournament, he decided more playing time for the athletic Shaq Thomas might be the answer.

All three theories succeeded temporarily, but none has proved to be the ultimate answer. Because of their defensive ability, the Bearcats know that if they can find a way to score 61 points, they’ll probably win based on their 20-1 record this season when they reach that number. But getting there has been an arduous chore for the past two and a half months due largely to a lack of scoring from the front line.

“To advance in this tournament we’ve got to get production from other people outside of our big three (Parker, Sean Kilpatrick and Cashmere Wright),” Cronin said. “Really the problem for us right now is that Titus (Rubles) and Justin (Jackson) are really struggling. Somehow I’ve got to get those guys to get us some baskets.”

Cronin pointed out that the Bearcats received just two field goals from the number four and five spots in their lineup in UC’s 62-43 loss to Georgetown in the Big East tournament quarterfinals last Thursday.

“That’s just not enough to win,” he said, “not against an elite team.”

“Our defense is good enough to carry us and give us a real chance,” Cronin continued, “but we’ve got to get offensive production. You’re not always going to be able to steal the ball in the press. You can try, but when you play the best teams it’s going to be hard to rely on that. So we’ve got to become more efficient in the half court. Teams double SK off of everything we do. We’ve got to have some other guys step up when they get the opportunity and play with a little more confidence.”

UC has won at least one game in the tournament in each of its last four appearances, advancing last year to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001. Three starters are back from that team, so the Bearcats will have plenty of tournament experience regardless of who their first-round opponent is.

“It doesn’t even matter about last year,” said Wright, UC’s new career leader in games with 138. “We’re a whole new team. We’re just going to go out there and play hard and know how we win and stick to it.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...-continues

Although frustrated with our offense, I wonder how we will play once we are away from BE competition.

(03-17-2013 09:41 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  Although frustrated with our offense, I wonder how we will play once we are away from BE competition.

I am greatly looking forward to it. I anticipate getting more points off our defense that we have in the Big East, and I think that may ignite our offense.

the only chance this team has at any type of run is cash, sk, and parker to get RED HOT from 3pt range...that happens, with our defense, rebounding, and shot blocking we will be heck to play.

of course the odds of that happening are slim and none