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Sorry gents. I know this is early for posting this but I don't want a certain poster to co-op our beloved Bearcats for faux purposes. Anywho...

This is a daunting road game to begin conference play. Tough environment as we'll see in conference play and BYU is good. Damn good. #12 AP. 2 NET. Dayum. At least the game is on ESPN2. 10 PM Saturday. Be there!

It's going to be a good game. This will be their first conference game, and conference games mean more. This could be the start of a good rivalry. The more teams play the better the chance of being rivals. The Bearcats need to concentrate and be at their best.

In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

(01-06-2024 08:07 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

I feel like this is a can't lose game. All upside and no downside. Byu is top 5 in basically every good metric. Losing on the road to them won't hurt at all, but winning would be enormous.

The 3 home games in the next 6 are kind of the opposite. They need to get at least 2 of them... but tonight feels like a house money game to me

I'm almost more interested in how we look away from The Shoe this time than the outcome.

(01-06-2024 08:07 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

Vegas has UC as a 9.5 point underdog, so they agree with you.

(01-06-2024 10:39 AM)RuckleSt Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 08:07 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

Vegas has UC as a 9.5 point underdog, so they agree with you.

Opened at 10.5 (kenpom has byu by 11). So some money has come in on uc

(01-06-2024 09:07 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 08:07 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

I feel like this is a can't lose game. All upside and no downside. Byu is top 5 in basically every good metric. Losing on the road to them won't hurt at all, but winning would be enormous.

The 3 home games in the next 6 are kind of the opposite. They need to get at least 2 of them... but tonight feels like a house money game to me

I agree Mark. I said in another thread if we could go 2-3 at minimum in this five game opening stretch including taking 2 of 3 at home, I'd feel pretty good. That said, I just don't want to get blown out tonight. Keep it competitive and we hang around late in the game...we shall see.

(01-06-2024 10:45 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 10:39 AM)RuckleSt Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 08:07 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

Vegas has UC as a 9.5 point underdog, so they agree with you.

Opened at 10.5 (kenpom has byu by 11). So some money has come in on uc

Smooth Billy's $$ is going goose that up to 11.

I'm also curious to see how the lineups/player minutes may change now that we enter league play. Also, will Wes play more Thomas/James together? I'd like to see us drive the lane more for easier buckets/dish it off/get to the foul line early in the game.

(01-06-2024 10:36 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  I'm almost more interested in how we look away from The Shoe this time than the outcome.

Agreed. I am very intrigued by this game, more so than all the other games combined so far this season.

Given the results away from home at X and downtown with Dayton, I hope for the best but expect a 20 point beatdown at the hands of a very good BYU team. Neither of those prior opponents compare favorably with the Cougars.

This should be a great measuring stick for playing the best in the Big 12 and it appears the Cougars will be among that elite top tier. It wasn't that long ago that we couldn't have imagined a game with BYU would be anything less than another UC victory.

Regardless of the outcome, I'm looking for signs of encouragement that this Bearcat team is progressing as they move into conference play.

BYU split with Arizona State and Utah...I watched those two teams play this week and they are both just solidly ok (Gabe Madsen has added about 25 lbs to his frame BTW). I'm not sure yet if BYU is end of season Top 20 good or not. Stats look great and that is apparently a great home environment but they really haven't played a bunch of great competition yet either.

I'm more interested in this game than anything we've had on the schedule yet. Will be a great litmus test. Frankly, I'm not sure anyone has any real idea what we have on this team yet.

(01-06-2024 12:00 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  BYU split with Arizona State and Utah...I watched those two teams play this week and they are both just solidly ok (Gabe Madsen has added about 25 lbs to his frame BTW). I'm not sure yet if BYU is end of season Top 20 good or not. Stats look great and that is apparently a great home environment but they really haven't played a bunch of great competition yet either.

I'm more interested in this game than anything we've had on the schedule yet. Will be a great litmus test. Frankly, I'm not sure anyone has any real idea what we have on this team yet.

They dump trucked Arizona State. They also have convincing wins over san Diego state and NC state.

Their one loss was a close road loss to Utah (top 30 kenpom).

I think they're probably a top 10-15 team... probably not top 5 where basically every metric has them. (I've seen them as high as 1)

let's castrate em

I’m expecting a rather convincing win for BYU. Just don’t see how the defense we’ve seen from UC away from home stops the BYU team from lighting up the scoreboard.

Texas game on Tuesday is the biggest game of the year. Assuming they lose tonight and at Baylor next Saturday it’s incredibly important to win that Texas game at home. 0-3 could turn to 1-5 or 0-6 really quickly.

Texas has a very similar resume to UC right now. Good record but not really any quality wins.

What will make the game tough for the Bearcats is that it will be played in the other team's gymnasium, which means the fans and spectators will be cheering for BYU. That can be demoralizing to a player's confidence and mental well-being. Miller has to get his players to overcome that, and help them deal with it. He needs to build their confidence and they need to be mentally tough.

(01-06-2024 02:59 PM)Tim Biddle Wrote:  What will make the game tough for the Bearcats is that it will be played in the other team's gymnasium, which means the fans and spectators will be cheering for BYU. That can be demoralizing to a player's confidence and mental well-being. Miller has to get his players to overcome that, and help them deal with it. He needs to build their confidence and they need to be mentally tough.

Time to shut up now. Waiting………..

(01-06-2024 10:57 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 10:45 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 10:39 AM)RuckleSt Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 08:07 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  In before the meltdown that will occur a little after midnight.

This has the recipe of a disaster for us: traveling two time zones to play at 10pm against a school with a bunch of lanky guys who can drain the three. I can’t remember the last time this worked out well for us.

Vegas has UC as a 9.5 point underdog, so they agree with you.

Opened at 10.5 (kenpom has byu by 11). So some money has come in on uc

Smooth Billy's $$ is going goose that up to 11.

(01-06-2024 04:58 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 02:59 PM)Tim Biddle Wrote:  What will make the game tough for the Bearcats is that it will be played in the other team's gymnasium, which means the fans and spectators will be cheering for BYU. That can be demoralizing to a player's confidence and mental well-being. Miller has to get his players to overcome that, and help them deal with it. He needs to build their confidence and they need to be mentally tough.

Time to shut up now. Waiting………..

He is somewhat amusing, but mods should limit him to one post per thread.