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(03-14-2023 12:36 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 11:53 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 11:18 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 08:45 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  

(03-13-2023 11:03 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  I also think a lot of the Eason mismanagement (specifically on the court) criticism is revisionist. My clear recollection of him here was that Eason flashed great talent, but he was a foul machine and prone to mistakes and turnovers. I guess one can partially blame Brannen for not coaching him into something better more quickly, but the reality is that tends to come with the territory with the majority of freshmen in my opinion. You have to work with what you have.

At the time I defended it because he was a foul/TO machine. However the guy in the two years after he had a huge year at LSU and is contributing in the NBA. I think it's beyond fair to say that Brannen should have been able to get more out of him.

Yeah but that's what I'm saying about it being revisionist. Out of curiosity I just checked 247 and it looks like Eason was only the composite 138th-ranked recruit in his class coming out of HS. So it's not like "the experts" thought he was a nearly finished product when he arrived.

I'm not saying it's a perfect comparison but look at Vic prior to his injury this year compared to what he was last year in his first year actually playing college basketball. Should Wes have gotten more out of him earlier or does it just take some time with many players? How much of it is on the player v. the coach and who does the "buck" stop with? Even if both are striving for it, is getting things to "click" something that can be controlled or rushed? I don't know the definitive answers and I'm skeptical of anyone, especially a fan outside the program, who thinks he does.

But hopefully Skillings will have us asking the same questions next year

I think the big thing was general mismanagement for Eason. He was being used primarily as a low post player by Brannen, despite it being pretty obvious based on tape and his play style that he was a rim runner and more of a high post/perimeter forward. It wasn't necessarily thinking he was an NBA guy when he was a freshman, it was just a lot of people clearly seeing he wasn't what he was being made to be in the game plan. His fouls were far more associated with him being played out of position and in a place he was never used to than anything else. TOs were a different story, but that's a freshman being a freshman. I think starting Rob Banks at Temple over Eason was the last straw for me.

I sincerely apologize for offering up a way to derail a dead thread...my bad there.

I think that goes back to my comment above "You have to work with what you have." Looking back at the roster, the only guys we had 6-8 or taller aside from Eason were Vogt, Rap (who left to go pro pretty early in the season as I recall) and Diarra. Even before getting into quality, that's not a lot of options period.

I don't know Brannen's reasons (maybe a player making the same mistakes too often?), but it's hard for me to get worked up about Banks starting one game rather than Eason. Especially a game in which we actually won against a team well known for playing a slow half-court game (Temple was 296th in scoring that year) not very conducive to Eason per your description (final score was 63-60 btw.)

In service of further overkill, I'll also note that Eason played more minutes (12 to 9) than Banks in that game despite not scoring a single point with 2 turnovers and 2 fouls. (In fairness, Banks didn't score either but ya gotta work with what you have I guess haha).

I'm probably the only one and I'm not sure there's much more to say but I think it's an interesting discussion with some broader ramifications (albeit off-topic - sorry).

Rap sucked his year at UC. He looked pretty good at Colgate but the upgrade in competition left him homeless.

(03-26-2023 01:38 PM)bearcat54 Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 12:36 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 11:53 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 11:18 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(03-14-2023 08:45 AM)RealDeal Wrote:  At the time I defended it because he was a foul/TO machine. However the guy in the two years after he had a huge year at LSU and is contributing in the NBA. I think it's beyond fair to say that Brannen should have been able to get more out of him.

Yeah but that's what I'm saying about it being revisionist. Out of curiosity I just checked 247 and it looks like Eason was only the composite 138th-ranked recruit in his class coming out of HS. So it's not like "the experts" thought he was a nearly finished product when he arrived.

I'm not saying it's a perfect comparison but look at Vic prior to his injury this year compared to what he was last year in his first year actually playing college basketball. Should Wes have gotten more out of him earlier or does it just take some time with many players? How much of it is on the player v. the coach and who does the "buck" stop with? Even if both are striving for it, is getting things to "click" something that can be controlled or rushed? I don't know the definitive answers and I'm skeptical of anyone, especially a fan outside the program, who thinks he does.

But hopefully Skillings will have us asking the same questions next year

I think the big thing was general mismanagement for Eason. He was being used primarily as a low post player by Brannen, despite it being pretty obvious based on tape and his play style that he was a rim runner and more of a high post/perimeter forward. It wasn't necessarily thinking he was an NBA guy when he was a freshman, it was just a lot of people clearly seeing he wasn't what he was being made to be in the game plan. His fouls were far more associated with him being played out of position and in a place he was never used to than anything else. TOs were a different story, but that's a freshman being a freshman. I think starting Rob Banks at Temple over Eason was the last straw for me.

I sincerely apologize for offering up a way to derail a dead thread...my bad there.

I think that goes back to my comment above "You have to work with what you have." Looking back at the roster, the only guys we had 6-8 or taller aside from Eason were Vogt, Rap (who left to go pro pretty early in the season as I recall) and Diarra. Even before getting into quality, that's not a lot of options period.

I don't know Brannen's reasons (maybe a player making the same mistakes too often?), but it's hard for me to get worked up about Banks starting one game rather than Eason. Especially a game in which we actually won against a team well known for playing a slow half-court game (Temple was 296th in scoring that year) not very conducive to Eason per your description (final score was 63-60 btw.)

In service of further overkill, I'll also note that Eason played more minutes (12 to 9) than Banks in that game despite not scoring a single point with 2 turnovers and 2 fouls. (In fairness, Banks didn't score either but ya gotta work with what you have I guess haha).

I'm probably the only one and I'm not sure there's much more to say but I think it's an interesting discussion with some broader ramifications (albeit off-topic - sorry).

Rap sucked his year at UC. He looked pretty good at Colgate but the upgrade in competition left him homeless.

I'm not sure I get your point. Rap was named Player of the Year in the Patriot League so yeah I guess that was at least pretty good. He played in 7 games for UC before opting out so I'm not sure how much we learned about how equipped he was or wasn't for the AAC (given some time.) Details are hard to find, but it looks like he's found home(s) playing professionally overseas from what I can tell.

Rap was used in a completely different position here than he was at Colgate...I didn't blame him for bolting.

(03-26-2023 03:52 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(03-26-2023 01:38 PM)bearcat54 Wrote:  Rap sucked his year at UC. He looked pretty good at Colgate but the upgrade in competition left him homeless.

I'm not sure I get your point. Rap was named Player of the Year in the Patriot League so yeah I guess that was at least pretty good. He played in 7 games for UC before opting out so I'm not sure how much we learned about how equipped he was or wasn't for the AAC (given some time.) Details are hard to find, but it looks like he's found home(s) playing professionally overseas from what I can tell.

Rap was definitely a talented player and he could've been good for Cincinnati as well. I think the issue with him at UC was that he was a bad fit in a number of ways.

Brannen put him on the floor at the same time as Chris Vogt, who in his own right was a defensive liability but was even more exposed when Rap was on the floor with him. Rap was basically a slightly shorter Vogt with a better outside shooting game but they were both slow, lumbering bigs who couldn't guard the lane effectively and didn't move well enough on offense to match the pace and spacing that Brannen wanted implement. If Rap was paired with, say, a Tre Scott-type who could be the yin to his yang, I think he would've had a solid career here.

Yet, for me, he'll go down as one of biggest misfires in the transfer portal along with Chris McNeal and Jaime Sorolla.

Nolley has declared for the draft. Best of luck to him.

(03-27-2023 03:06 PM)The Big O Wrote:  Nolley has declared for the draft. Best of luck to him.

Not at all unexpected. It sounds like he can still withdraw his name from the draft if he's not hearing what he wants to hear from scouts.

(03-27-2023 03:11 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:06 PM)The Big O Wrote:  Nolley has declared for the draft. Best of luck to him.

Not at all unexpected. It sounds like he can still withdraw his name from the draft if he's not hearing what he wants to hear from scouts.

Chad had been hinting he was going to enter his name and go through the process, while maintaining the option to come back. This was exactly what I was expecting based on that.

(03-27-2023 03:17 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:11 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:06 PM)The Big O Wrote:  Nolley has declared for the draft. Best of luck to him.

Not at all unexpected. It sounds like he can still withdraw his name from the draft if he's not hearing what he wants to hear from scouts.

Chad had been hinting he was going to enter his name and go through the process, while maintaining the option to come back. This was exactly what I was expecting based on that.

Yeah, I would have been amazed if he didn't enter the draft. It makes sense to go through the process for anyone close to the NBA level. It might even make sense for someone not that close like Vik but who has future NBA hopes, just to get experience and a pro-level evaluation.

The big question now is how long do we keep Nolley's spot open? It might be June before he decides if he's coming back or not and by then the transfer market won't be very full. Do you keep a spot open (hoping either Nolley returns or Flory commits), or fill it and either force someone out or tell Nolley there's not spot for him if he wants to return?

My guess is they'd give Nolley a warning, we've got a guy ready to commit to fill your spot, so either you withdraw now or there won't be a spot for you.

Well ****.

35 minutes of JD being a volume shooter on line 1.

(03-27-2023 03:25 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Well ****.

35 minutes of JD being a volume shooter on line 1.

Nope...this just means John Newman's knee ligaments are going to have to refrain from turning to dust for 9 months.

(03-27-2023 03:25 PM)skyblade Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:17 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:11 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:06 PM)The Big O Wrote:  Nolley has declared for the draft. Best of luck to him.

Not at all unexpected. It sounds like he can still withdraw his name from the draft if he's not hearing what he wants to hear from scouts.

Chad had been hinting he was going to enter his name and go through the process, while maintaining the option to come back. This was exactly what I was expecting based on that.

Yeah, I would have been amazed if he didn't enter the draft. It makes sense to go through the process for anyone close to the NBA level. It might even make sense for someone not that close like Vik but who has future NBA hopes, just to get experience and a pro-level evaluation.

The big question now is how long do we keep Nolley's spot open? It might be June before he decides if he's coming back or not and by then the transfer market won't be very full. Do you keep a spot open (hoping either Nolley returns or Flory commits), or fill it and either force someone out or tell Nolley there's not spot for him if he wants to return?

My guess is they'd give Nolley a warning, we've got a guy ready to commit to fill your spot, so either you withdraw now or there won't be a spot for you.

Best Wishes to him!
Love that guy.

I think you keep his spot open for as long as it takes.

Any chance that Caleb Love takes a look at UC with Miller being the coach?

(03-28-2023 10:34 AM)bww Wrote:  Any chance that Caleb Love takes a look at UC with Miller being the coach?

A career 35% shooter from the field who also reportedly had some...incidents...in the locker room, yeah, no thanks there.

He's rumored to be a Memphis lean. Perfect style for Penny...a guy who takes wtf shots early and often.

(03-28-2023 11:00 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(03-28-2023 10:34 AM)bww Wrote:  Any chance that Caleb Love takes a look at UC with Miller being the coach?

A career 35% shooter from the field who also reportedly had some...incidents...in the locker room, yeah, no thanks there.

My least favorite kind of player. Shoots a ton of bad shots, makes a low percentage of them, and is not a good passer. Pass.

(03-27-2023 03:25 PM)skyblade Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:17 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:11 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 03:06 PM)The Big O Wrote:  Nolley has declared for the draft. Best of luck to him.

Not at all unexpected. It sounds like he can still withdraw his name from the draft if he's not hearing what he wants to hear from scouts.

Chad had been hinting he was going to enter his name and go through the process, while maintaining the option to come back. This was exactly what I was expecting based on that.

Yeah, I would have been amazed if he didn't enter the draft. It makes sense to go through the process for anyone close to the NBA level. It might even make sense for someone not that close like Vik but who has future NBA hopes, just to get experience and a pro-level evaluation.

The big question now is how long do we keep Nolley's spot open? It might be June before he decides if he's coming back or not and by then the transfer market won't be very full. Do you keep a spot open (hoping either Nolley returns or Flory commits), or fill it and either force someone out or tell Nolley there's not spot for him if he wants to return?

My guess is they'd give Nolley a warning, we've got a guy ready to commit to fill your spot, so either you withdraw now or there won't be a spot for you.

I’d venture it’s Nolley saying make the NIL better than second round pick $ and I’ll be back another year…

It's not second round pick money they need to beat it's the $500k guaranteed two way deal money that he is very likely to get at his size and how he shoots from deep. Plus at his age he's running out of time to start the clock for a NBA deal after the two way.

If he shoots well in Portsmouth I think he is gone.

(03-28-2023 01:41 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  It's not second round pick money they need to beat it's the $500k guaranteed two way deal money that he is very likely to get at his size and how he shoots from deep. Plus at his age he's running out of time to start the clock for a NBA deal after the two way.

If he shoots well in Portsmouth I think he is gone.

Yep, he's the type of player that gets a 2-way deal or goes over to Europe and makes a couple hundred thousand a year right now. Coming back to UC doesn't change that at all.

I just checked...each NBA team gets 2 two way player deals. The guaranteed two way deal is 1/2 of the rookie minimum. It was $502k for a max of 50 combined games in 2002. So the NBA really kind of has 4 rounds of draft.

If he can get a two way deal to get his career started he'd be nuts to come back at 23 or 24 years old.