Doc: UC needs to sign shooters from Corn Belt
Mar 23, 2013


A dejected Cincinnati guard Sean Kilpatrick after losing to against Creighton. / The Enquirer/Joseph Fuqua II

Written by
Paul Daugherty

PHILADELPHIA – When Mick Cronin and his staff take to the road now, to watch AAU games and read reports and study tape and talk to high school coaches and do whatever else it is they do to bring players to Clifton, maybe they should consider something like this:

Go to some farm community in the middle of Corn Belt nowhere. Find a 6-foot-3 kid who has a basket in his driveway at the end of a long lane, surrounded by corn or wheat or cows. You get the picture. This particular kid might not be able to hit his head on the rim. But he can shoot.

He has been shooting since he was 5 or 6. Every day, all the time. He doesn’t stop shooting until he makes 20 threes in a row. He doesn’t stop if it’s raining canned hams and tractor parts. He has a key to the truck and the gym. That’s all he needs.

Sign this kid. Gear some of your offense to get him open shots. Tell him to shoot. You won’t have to tell him twice. He knows all about shooting.

Great effort from the Bearcats Friday, against Creighton. Good defense in holding the Blue Jays eight points under their season average, and in keeping their shooting percentage six points lower than their norm. It didn’t matter.

“That’s our season, right there,’’ said Shaq Thomas, who showed flashes of offense. He wasn’t talking about scoring, though. Thomas was referencing UC’s want-to. “We’re never going to give up.’’

That’s a noble trait, but really, nobody should give up. Especially not now. Effort should be assumed. In the end, it’s about making shots. In the end, it’s always about making shots. That’s why Creighton won the game, and UC lamented a missed opportunity.

The Blue Jays made nine of their first 12. Their first option off the bench, a 6-foot-7 sharpshooter named Ethan Wragge, drained his first four three-pointers, like he was at the state fair, trying to win a stuffed bear for his girlfriend. Again, this guy doesn’t even start.

Meantime Doug McDermott, Creighton’s best player – and truly one of the five best quasi-am players currently working – was hitting from everywhere, just like that farm kid Mick needs to find. “You take one thing away, he just finds another hot spot,’’ said Titus Rubles.

UC didn’t do a bad job on McDermott. He was just that good. He wriggled inside for muscle shots. He ran UC’s defenders through screen after screen, until he got the ball and the shot he wanted. Truly a smart scorer. “From the shoulders up, he is truly one of the better basketball players I’ve ever been around,’’ said his dad Greg, who also happens to be the Blue Jays coach.

McDermott averages 23; He had 27 Friday, including 11-for-11 from the free throw line. No one is suggesting the Bearcats can land the next Doug McDermott. Only that they need to have a few players who can really, really shoot.

What they had this year – and, excepting perhaps Deonta Vaughn, all of Cronin’s time at UC – is an athletic team that falls short on putting the ball in the basket. Defense is nice, but it doesn’t win championships.

That’s why the Bearcats pushed the rock uphill all afternoon. They hung around, the way they do. Every time their try-hard got them close, some McDermott or Wragge would drop a dagger on their aspirations. Even when the game was close, which it was most of the way, it didn’t seem that close.

It was sad and fitting, then, that UC’s last, best chance was a three-point try. Sean Kilpatrick is their best shooter and scorer, but he suffered through a 1-for-7 first half, and has not been as consistently solid as a top scorer needs to be.

He launched a three from the left wing with six seconds left and the Bearcats down, 66-63. “I thought it was going in. Everybody else thought it was going in. It was halfway down,’’ Kilpatrick said.

“I was praying it would go in, for my career,’’ said Cashmere Wright, whose career ended instead.

It didn’t go in. A shot that likely would have forced overtime bounced off the iron and the glass, and UC’s season ended the way a lot of its games ended. The Bearcats were resolute enough to win big games. Just not offensive enough.

You could suggest that the refs jobbed UC, or that Jaquon Parker wasn’t himself after he took a hand to the face three minutes into the game. But that wasn’t it. UC lost because it didn’t make shots. No surprise there.

A new league, free of the tractor pulls that characterize Big East contests, could free up UC to play a little less like candidates for the UFC. But only if Cronin & Co. can find some shooters. Find a cornfield somewhere, and a 17-year-old who’s been shooting since the womb. Sign the kid. Win a game like the one you lost Friday.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...ck_check=1

I don't know how many times I've said essentially the same thing.

When you look at the teams that are left in the Final 4, they usually have a couple of players like this, the teams relying on streetball having been eliminated.

Daugherty has watched "Hoosiers" too many times.

Isn't that what Twymans grandson supposed to be?

Maybe UC should sign a bunch of NBA one and done players because Kentucky won the national title last year without a bunch of Corn Belt players. At the end of the day you need pro level players regardless where they come from.

UC advanced to the sweet 16 last year because they a pro level big man in Yancy, maybe not NBA good but good enough to make money somewhere. The most talented players on this roster are Rubles and Thomas; however, they were not a finished product this season. JUCO usually get better in year two and Thomas should become an impact player over the next few seasons. SK is also good enough to make money playing basketball, I hope he puts is pro career on hold and comes back for next season.

Is SK on schedule to receive his undergraduate degree this year?

I don't care where they come from, but UC could use some guys that can shoot.

(03-23-2013 08:30 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  I don't care where they come from, but UC could use some guys that can shoot.

And a big man who can catch the ball in the post...and not travel while doing it.

Signing shooters won't help if you don't consistently run good offense to get them good shots. Even the good shots we tend to get come from athletes making places to get open shots, and not running crisp, good offense. Until UC does this, they will continue to take high degree of difficulty shots and will miss a lot of them

All true, lock thread. It is sooo obvious.

Trying to pin down UC's problems this year on one area is a waste of time. They were lacking at every spot 1-5. They played exceptional defense which kept them in games, but to compete with the elite UC will need better players at all 5 spots. And I actually do think that some of those players are coming in next year. The appearences in the NCAA are now going to start paying off.

Side note, I really like what Shaq did yesterday, but with his shot he will be a streaky player for his entire career. He shoots the ball on the way down which makes it a line drive shot. Same goes for his free throws, and it kills a team having a scorer that can't knock down free throws.

Bottom line is that the guys that Mick has been able to win with really surprises me. Most guys on the teams have gaping holes in their games that high major kids just should not have.

(03-23-2013 08:40 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Signing shooters won't help if you don't consistently run good offense to get them good shots. Even the good shots we tend to get come from athletes making places to get open shots, and not running crisp, good offense. Until UC does this, they will continue to take high degree of difficulty shots and will miss a lot of them

I think Cronin can only do so much with the guys he's been forced to recruit so far. I think the problems with our offense have much more to do with the intelligence of our players. For example when I played basketball I never needed a coach to tell me to move and use screens if I wanted an open shot. Good shooters are good shooters because they know how to get an open shot. Make no mistake, basketball IQ is part of what makes a 5 star recruit. If kids get to college without ever having really learned the game I don't think there is much hope for them. JJ for example. I think you could drill him on the right way to play for 4 years and you'd be wasting your time. He has played a certain way his entire life and never had interest in, or was never forced to do it the right way.

If you haven't noticed, Mick & Company has not yet established a rhythm in the yearly recruiting process, no pipeline of like or better replacements.

Gates is one example. Several years to do it, but Gates was not replaced with like or better.

Plus, there have been so many "oops, now what do we do" situations.

Hopefully, with Lawrence, we restart the process with inside players. Hopefully, one of this year's could be recruits, really will be.

P.S. Does anyone else think Mick looks taller in that pin stripe suit? Only an unmarried man would buy a suit like that.

(03-23-2013 08:40 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Signing shooters won't help if you don't consistently run good offense to get them good shots. Even the good shots we tend to get come from athletes making places to get open shots, and not running crisp, good offense. Until UC does this, they will continue to take high degree of difficulty shots and will miss a lot of them

Bingo bingo bingo! Doc is too simplistic in this view. We need scorers AND a team that runs and understands offensive execution. It isn't just pick setting. It is cutting off the screens, moving away from the ball, guards and screeners that can execute simple pick and rolls, back door cuts. We are woeful at most of these things. You could have two Jimmy Chitwoods on this team and it wouldn't mean nothing if we weren't capable of running offense to get such shooters open.

(03-23-2013 10:09 AM)OneUChoopsfan Wrote:  If you haven't noticed, Mick & Company has not yet established a rhythm in the yearly recruiting process, no pipeline of like or better replacements.

Gates is one example. Several years to do it, but Gates was not replaced with like or better.

Plus, there have been so many "oops, now what do we do" situations.

Hopefully, with Lawrence, we restart the process with inside players. Hopefully, one of this year's could be recruits, really will be.

P.S. Does anyone else think Mick looks taller in that pin stripe suit? Only an unmarried man would buy a suit like that.

Is Mick the shortest coach in Div I hoops? Just asking.

Doc is the master of the obvious, as usual, and the lemmings will be quoting him on Monday.
Anyone that watches UC and has the remotest clue about hoops in general knows what UC's problems are; they can't shoot a lick, their current big men are stiffs and because of that you can cover our guards like a blanket. Sure, there are others, but in a nutshell that is it. Hard to change the stand around the perimeter system when you don't have players that can box up or those that can penetrate and kick.
As for Mick being "forced" to recruit certain players , sorry, I'm not buying that. When you whiff and whiff and whiff and bring in guys like Mbodj, Nyarsuk and Gaines you must look within.

All of that bitching done, Mick is doing a decent job, not great but pretty good.

(03-23-2013 08:34 AM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-23-2013 08:30 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  I don't care where they come from, but UC could use some guys that can shoot.

And a big man who can catch the ball in the post...and not travel while doing it.

You nailed it Billy Having a team full of "Hoosiers" would do a damn if you don't have an inside game that anyone will respect.

Cash and SK CAN shoot. But when they get continuously overplayed, they NEVER got into any sort of rhythm. Let's see how SK does next year with Strickland and Lawrence on the court. Bet JDIII will blow up as well.

(03-23-2013 08:52 AM)BeerCat Wrote:  Trying to pin down UC's problems this year on one area is a waste of time. They were lacking at every spot 1-5.

I would say, pretty much 4 and 5, myself. But, there was little off the bench for 1,2 and 3, I must admit.

(03-23-2013 10:09 AM)OneUChoopsfan Wrote:  If you haven't noticed, Mick & Company has not yet established a rhythm in the yearly recruiting process, no pipeline of like or better replacements.

Gates is one example. Several years to do it, but Gates was not replaced with like or better.

Plus, there have been so many "oops, now what do we do" situations.

Hopefully, with Lawrence, we restart the process with inside players. Hopefully, one of this year's could be recruits, really will be.

P.S. Does anyone else think Mick looks taller in that pin stripe suit? Only an unmarried man would buy a suit like that.

(03-23-2013 11:25 AM)beck Wrote:  Doc is the master of the obvious, as usual, and the lemmings will be quoting him on Monday.
Anyone that watches UC and has the remotest clue about hoops in general knows what UC's problems are; they can't shoot a lick, their current big men are stiffs and because of that you can cover our guards like a blanket. Sure, there are others, but in a nutshell that is it. Hard to change the stand around the perimeter system when you don't have players that can box up or those that can penetrate and kick.
As for Mick being "forced" to recruit certain players , sorry, I'm not buying that. When you whiff and whiff and whiff and bring in guys like Mbodj, Nyarsuk and Gaines you must look within.

All of that bitching done, Mick is doing a decent job, not great but pretty good.

Best two posts in here OUCHfan/Beck However, although Mick did a very poor job lining up a replacement for Yancy, I am very optimistic about the 2013 class. They will have to come up to speed rapidly, though, because I bet three of them will be starting (Caupain, Strickland and of course, Lawrence).