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Surprised there has been no talk about this game. This will not be an easy one. They are a legit opponent that returns nearly all of their best players and they were picked to win the Southern Conference. This would be a pick-em on a neutral court. We are currently 2.5 point favorites.

No doubt.. honestly the spread seems a bit high. They're 64 in Kenpom and were 63. I suspect we'll come out with a better energy than Saturday.

I'm kind of down on the program. Really dejecting to see layup after layup after layup.
Right now we stink. I'll watch but I don't really care if they beat Furman. No one will see it as a good win.

My schedule says the game is on ESPN+. It is also against Furman during football season.

Hard to get interested.

They are probably roughly as good of a team as Xavier. We were in position to beat Xavier and closed like a$$. Need to play better tonight.

I'd say they're better offensively, but not as talented defensively. Hopefully we don't fall in love with the 3. Could be loss #2.

Anybody know if this game was on our original schedule or was this added after all the Covid upheaval.

(12-09-2020 12:53 PM)dsquare Wrote:  Anybody know if this game was on our original schedule or was this added after all the Covid upheaval.

Not sure, but it's the kind of game we'll likely see every year on our schedule and consistent with Brannen's scheduling philosophy. He wants our buy games to be real tests. This will be a tough game.

(12-09-2020 10:05 AM)Helicopter Wrote:  I'm kind of down on the program. Really dejecting to see layup after layup after layup.
Right now we stink. I'll watch but I don't really care if they beat Furman. No one will see it as a good win.

I can't imagine what this place was like in 2004/2005. Unless you are getting recruiting classes with multiple Mcdonalds All-Americans, rebuilds take time.

(12-09-2020 09:28 AM)Bearcat04 Wrote:  Surprised there has been no talk about this game. This will not be an easy one. They are a legit opponent that returns nearly all of their best players and they were picked to win the Southern Conference. This would be a pick-em on a neutral court. We are currently 2.5 point favorites.

This right there needs to tell you how far this program has fallen in two years...

(12-09-2020 01:04 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  

(12-09-2020 09:28 AM)Bearcat04 Wrote:  Surprised there has been no talk about this game. This will not be an easy one. They are a legit opponent that returns nearly all of their best players and they were picked to win the Southern Conference. This would be a pick-em on a neutral court. We are currently 2.5 point favorites.

This right there needs to tell you how far this program has fallen in two years...

A top 75 kenpom team would be a good opponent no matter the year.

(12-09-2020 01:04 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  

(12-09-2020 09:28 AM)Bearcat04 Wrote:  Surprised there has been no talk about this game. This will not be an easy one. They are a legit opponent that returns nearly all of their best players and they were picked to win the Southern Conference. This would be a pick-em on a neutral court. We are currently 2.5 point favorites.

This right there needs to tell you how far this program has fallen in two years...

You do realize that this program would be here regardless of who the coach was due to the crazy amount of roster turnover. Hell, it may be worse with Cronin's proclivity for staying away from adequate transfers...MAYBE that's WHY Cronin left like so many of us were talking about. He knew the state the roster would be in for this season.

Always excuses....

(12-09-2020 11:03 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  They are probably roughly as good of a team as Xavier. We were in position to beat Xavier and closed like a$$. Need to play better tonight.

Agreed. I look forward to watching as I believe we'll see definite improvement in quality of play tonight. If Brannen is the coach most of us believe he is, he's seeing what we're seeing and will correct some problems immediately and utilize different player combinations more effectively.

Please find me a time when UC was only a two point favorite against a Southern League opponent.... Good Luck....

These games were free pizza games....

(12-09-2020 01:36 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  Please find me a time when UC was only a two point favorite against a Southern League opponent.... Good Luck....

Please find me the last time UC played a top 75 kenpom team from the Southern Conference. Good luck.

These games were "free pizza" games because for example in 2018 we were playing kenpom 317 Savannah St., kenpom 302 Western Carolina, kenpom 347 Coppin State. Furman is ranked higher than Northwestern, VCU, South Carolina, Providence, Iowa State, Texas A&M, Auburn. They are just behind Cincinnati, TCU, Dayton, Butler, Xavier.

Yea if we were playing teams in the 300s we'd be winning by 40-50.

They haven’t played anyone. They beat two (that’s right 2) D2 glorified high schools and 2 dreadful D1 programs that are a combined 1-8. If that is enough to get you rated in the top 75 of anything, bless their soul.

If we struggle playing a team at 5th 3rd from the Southern Conference, we have a problem.

This will be the kind of game that is a stat stuffer.

(12-09-2020 01:11 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(12-09-2020 01:04 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  

(12-09-2020 09:28 AM)Bearcat04 Wrote:  Surprised there has been no talk about this game. This will not be an easy one. They are a legit opponent that returns nearly all of their best players and they were picked to win the Southern Conference. This would be a pick-em on a neutral court. We are currently 2.5 point favorites.

This right there needs to tell you how far this program has fallen in two years...

You do realize that this program would be here regardless of who the coach was due to the crazy amount of roster turnover. Hell, it may be worse with Cronin's proclivity for staying away from adequate transfers...MAYBE that's WHY Cronin left like so many of us were talking about. He knew the state the roster would be in for this season.

The roster would be so different and so would the style of play. Right now the program is basically an unfinished product but I am not sold on the direction we are going yet. I though Brannen did enough in conference play to not be a considered a year one failure but there are still big issues.

Despite Mick’s NCAA failures he still won 30, 31, and 28 games in his last three years earning single digit seeds and two conference tournament championship. Right now the program seems worlds away from those benchmarks. Right now the team seems closer to 2003 and 2009 level talent. Good enough to compete but with serious problems.

And I'm in no way arguing this team is as talented as many we've had in the past either...but really, what have we seen so far? A 12 point win against a team we should've beaten and a loss to Xavier. Why is that any different than any other year in the last decade?