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Missed opportunity to get another big win, but I'm probably more convinced that we have a good team this year than I was when the game started. We just don't go away and keep trading punches. Fun game to watch.

The defense (rebounding) have been pointed out ad nauseam. What really hurt them offensively was Davenport being off. They aren't going to win very many games relying on DDJ to score a ton. He's too streaky. They also don't work hard enough to find the open man. Madsen comes in and he's basically useless because he can't get open to get a look. Don't know if that's his fault, or the lack of screens and passing. I don't know what to make of Newman yet. He seems to play hard and hits some big shots here and there, but he also throws up some ugly ones. Even his FT's are ugly. He almost air balled 2 of them. They barely nicked the front of the rim.

I'm going to take a slightly...different...take on last night. Watched the game...WHAT A GREAT GAME!!!

Two games against Top 25 teams in two nights; won 1, took the other to the wire. Could we have beaten Arky? Darn Straight. But someone has to lose and this loss is the picture of a "good loss." I wouldn't be at all surprised if UC ends up ranked or just outside the rankings next week. But beyond that, this is a fun team to watch. Yes, there are all sorts of things to improve on, but man...we got some ballers on this squad.

Beyond that, Miller is the first UC coach to go 5-0 in his first year here.

Happy. I'm very happy.

Davenport. Did you notice how effectively he was defended? Very few open looks or opportunities to drive the ball. Just great defense by Arkansas. They just erased him.

I was disappointed that he missed that bunny at the end.

(11-24-2021 10:04 AM)ucbandguy Wrote:  Davenport. Did you notice how effectively he was defended? Very few open looks or opportunities to drive the ball. Just great defense by Arkansas. They just erased him.

I was disappointed that he missed that bunny at the end.

That bunny miss was the dagger!

I am VERY impressed with the squad. For a group that is just learning each other and a new system that was as impressive a back to back BB display as I can recall. Kudos to the guys.

Loved listening to the announcers consistently refer to the 'Cats as a Top 25 team (not quite yet IMO) and was so UC Proud when the 'Cats went down 6 late and the announcers essentially wrote them off... then BAM, 3 straight layups, 2 defensive stops and tie game. Loved it!

Can't wait to see them play again... such a change for last season. Now if UC can get shots to fall and remember to box out and not try to jump/reach over the other guy for rebounds UC can make some real noise.

Just watch, have no expectations, this will be a very fun year for UC basketball....

(11-24-2021 10:41 AM)CincyBro Wrote:  Just watch, have no expectations, this will be a very fun year for UC basketball....

I was really looking forward to just enjoying this year. Then the Illinois game happened and now I have my hopes up again unfortunately

(11-24-2021 10:41 AM)CincyBro Wrote:  Just watch, have no expectations, this will be a very fun year for UC basketball....

Agree. There will be peaks and valleys with these guys, but they will play hard every night.

One good thing is that the crowd was hostile. Can hopefully learn a bit before going to Cintas. Refs won’t be our pals there, either.

Really dissapointing to miss another quality win. However, going 1-1 against two likely Q1 games is massive for our tournament hopes already. For reference, here's the Q1 records of the last 4 teams who made it last year:

Louisville: 1-6
Syracuse: 3-8
Drake: 1-3
Boise: 2-4

Point being is that Q1 games are rare and bubble teams usually have very poor Q1 records. We stole a big one vs. Illinois and made a huge jump in the computers over the weekend. Great success.

(11-24-2021 12:31 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  One good thing is that the crowd was hostile. Can hopefully learn a bit before going to Cintas. Refs won’t be our pals there, either.

I am interested in seeing what type of “crowd” UC faces at Miami next week.

(11-24-2021 03:03 PM)UCBearcatlawjd2 Wrote:  

(11-24-2021 12:31 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  One good thing is that the crowd was hostile. Can hopefully learn a bit before going to Cintas. Refs won’t be our pals there, either.

I am interested in seeing what type of “crowd” UC faces at Miami next week.

Not sure even Miami fans know how to cheer at a game. This will be their first while on campus.

(11-24-2021 09:49 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  The defense (rebounding) have been pointed out ad nauseam. What really hurt them offensively was Davenport being off. They aren't going to win very many games relying on DDJ to score a ton. He's too streaky. They also don't work hard enough to find the open man. Madsen comes in and he's basically useless because he can't get open to get a look. Don't know if that's his fault, or the lack of screens and passing. I don't know what to make of Newman yet. He seems to play hard and hits some big shots here and there, but he also throws up some ugly ones. Even his FT's are ugly. He almost air balled 2 of them. They barely nicked the front of the rim.

Most of the problems you're mentioning are routed in the fact that they did a very poor job of getting the ball inside all night long. When you do not get the ball inside you put an awful lot of pressure on the perimeter guys to create offense. It was really frustrating to get the ball inside to JD for that easy gimme and miss it at the end. Got to run more offense through the post, particularly against quality teams.

(11-24-2021 11:06 PM)dsquare Wrote:  

(11-24-2021 09:49 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  The defense (rebounding) have been pointed out ad nauseam. What really hurt them offensively was Davenport being off. They aren't going to win very many games relying on DDJ to score a ton. He's too streaky. They also don't work hard enough to find the open man. Madsen comes in and he's basically useless because he can't get open to get a look. Don't know if that's his fault, or the lack of screens and passing. I don't know what to make of Newman yet. He seems to play hard and hits some big shots here and there, but he also throws up some ugly ones. Even his FT's are ugly. He almost air balled 2 of them. They barely nicked the front of the rim.

Most of the problems you're mentioning are routed in the fact that they did a very poor job of getting the ball inside all night long. When you do not get the ball inside you put an awful lot of pressure on the perimeter guys to create offense. It was really frustrating to get the ball inside to JD for that easy gimme and miss it at the end. Got to run more offense through the post, particularly against quality teams.

We didn't get the ball inside because we don't have much in the way of interior scorers (except Lakhin, who struggled). Ado is as likely to turn the ball over as he is to get up a good shot, Koval doesn't really have an inside game, Ody has some interior moves, but is still pretty raw and we don't usually run offense for him. None of them are guys you have to worry about or have to double. It's something we need to work on, I'd like to see Hensley get some time and see what he can do and also try posting up some of our smaller guys (Davenport or Newman) if they've got a size mismatch.

We still appear to be an offensively challenged team.

Hopefully once they get comfortable playing together their shooting percentages improve.

(11-26-2021 11:07 AM)namrag Wrote:  We still appear to be an offensively challenged team.

Hopefully once they get comfortable playing together their shooting percentages improve.

Outside of Saunders we don't have anyone who can beat their man off the dribble. Every shot inside is pretty much contested for everyone else on the team.