Game on! Thursday, January 26th, 7 PM, ESPN 2. It's time. Time to win. Tired of these phucks from across the neighborhood beating us. They've won 14 of the last 20, 7 of the last 10 and the last three in a row. They come to our house where the Cats have won 19 consecutive games. The home crowd will be in a frenzy. Let's make 'em pay and send them back to Musketeer Land with a loss. Mick and The Boys make us proud!!!

The tale of the tape...

#22 Xavier
14-5 (4-3)
Last 10: 7-3
Last 5: 2-3
Live RPI: 14
Kenpom: 27
SOS: 11
Leading Scorer:Trevon Bluiett 16.8 PPG

#20 Cincinnati
17-2 (7-0)
Last 10: 10-0
Last 5: 5-0
Live RPI: 17
Kenpom: 19
SOS: 59
Leading Scorer: Jacob Evans 14.2 PPG

We gotta pound the ball inside and extend on the shooters, watch the cutters. I hate Xavier and they are due for a win...

The key to stopping X is very simple, control Sumner and win the game. If they allow Sumner to drive to the basket in the half court and allow him to run the floor on defensive rebounds, X could pull off the upset, yes it will be an upset if they win.

(01-22-2017 07:40 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  The key to stopping X is very simple, control Sumner and win the game. If they allow Sumner to drive to the basket in the half court and allow him to run the floor on defensive rebounds, X could pull off the upset, yes it will be an upset if they win.

Agreed. Stick Evans/Clark on Bluiett, Troy on Macura and KJ on Sumner.

On the other end, Xavier rarely plays with two bigs, so you'll always have Clark or Washington in a favorable matchup. Dump it down to them and expect a double team. Clark is particularly strong at making plays out of the post, so I'd run the offense through him. His passes out of the double can either lead to open threes or a pass to Washington (depending on where the double team comes from).

And while UC will have that advantage offensively, they won't be hurt defensively. Clark can easily guard Bernard/Gates on the other end.

The only thing that bothers me is that extended 1-3-1 zone they play, we have not attacked that defense well when we've been up against it.

From the little I've seen, I don't think X has the guard play this year to beat Cincy. Of course, we should expect even the walk ons to light it up vs the Cats.

Cincy always seems to either lose by two or win by double digits. I hope it's a 20 point win this year.

Guessing it will be close. Teams seem pretty even overall.

XU has a couple more losses but has played against better competition than UC.
UC gets home court which should make the difference.

Hoping Mick finally gets the importance of winning this game for the fans.

Love to see a UC beat down.

We will go full Quad on them and they won't know what hit 'em!

(01-22-2017 09:44 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  We will go full Quad on them and they won't know what hit 'em!

Unfortunately, the cats out of the bag regarding Agent Zero 2.0.

(01-22-2017 09:53 PM)eroc Wrote:  

(01-22-2017 09:44 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  We will go full Quad on them and they won't know what hit 'em!

Unfortunately, the cats out of the bag regarding Agent Zero 2.0.

Quadri Rising!

Troy's last 5 games PPG:
14
18
8
16
13

He's been more consistent on the offensive end and would love to see him have a big night Thursday.

(01-22-2017 07:40 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  The key to stopping X is very simple, control Sumner and win the game. If they allow Sumner to drive to the basket in the half court and allow him to run the floor on defensive rebounds, X could pull off the upset, yes it will be an upset if they win.

I agree about Sumner.

And UC's opponents seem to have an easy time getting the ball inside against them - not necessarily scoring, but definitely getting inside close to the basekt.

(01-23-2017 08:21 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  

(01-22-2017 07:40 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  The key to stopping X is very simple, control Sumner and win the game. If they allow Sumner to drive to the basket in the half court and allow him to run the floor on defensive rebounds, X could pull off the upset, yes it will be an upset if they win.

I agree about Sumner.

And UC's opponents seem to have an easy time getting the ball inside against them - not necessarily scoring, but definitely getting inside close to the basekt.

I don't really agree with this, though I will say that Sumner is the kind of guy that can get the ball inside against UC and has at times. The strength of UC's defense has been how hard it is for teams to get the ball inside and score inside. Teams shoot a horrible 2 point percent because UC doesn't let them get it in for layups and forces difficult 2s. It's why UC is 2nd in the nation in field goal percentage defense. Sometimes, fast athletic, point guards are the exception to this so handling Sumner and making him shoot jumpers will be key.

A whole 5 days during the heart of the college bball season to gear up for the Shootout...Man I don't know if I'm gonna be able to take it.

(01-22-2017 09:07 PM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  Guessing it will be close. Teams seem pretty even overall.

XU has a couple more losses but has played against better competition than UC.
UC gets home court which should make the difference.

Hoping Mick finally gets the importance of winning this game for the fans.

I think he knows the importance. Mick stated he's taken enough harassment from Fortson and Martin after each loss to X. They evidently call him every year.

(01-23-2017 08:36 AM)DownOnRohs Wrote:  A whole 5 days during the heart of the college bball season to gear up for the Shootout...Man I don't know if I'm gonna be able to take it.

Gonna be great fun this week, hopefully it ends with a win.

(01-22-2017 07:48 PM)JFlight21 Wrote:  

(01-22-2017 07:40 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  The key to stopping X is very simple, control Sumner and win the game. If they allow Sumner to drive to the basket in the half court and allow him to run the floor on defensive rebounds, X could pull off the upset, yes it will be an upset if they win.

Agreed. Stick Evans/Clark on Bluiett, Troy on Macura and KJ on Sumner.

On the other end, Xavier rarely plays with two bigs, so you'll always have Clark or Washington in a favorable matchup. Dump it down to them and expect a double team. Clark is particularly strong at making plays out of the post, so I'd run the offense through him. His passes out of the double can either lead to open threes or a pass to Washington (depending on where the double team comes from).

And while UC will have that advantage offensively, they won't be hurt defensively. Clark can easily guard Bernard/Gates on the other end.

Depending on how the game plays out, Mick may have to change his sub patterns for this game. For instance, if KJ is on Sumner no way can MC sub JC for him as he has been, Cumberland is not near quick enough to guard Sumner. Not sure who JJ guards either, they may have their playing time reduced for this game, barring foul trouble. Brooks, however. may play a big part in this game.

UC up to 19th in both polls........ X at 24th in AP and 22nd in coaches. Good, we want to be the ones to knock them out.