OT: Bearcats

[kramer1]

Cronin was as hot as I've heard him after the game. He actually just said "You know what Chuck, I just don't want to do this right now" and left the radio show.

Had some harsh words, but we'll see if it resonates with the players. This has got to be really hard for Cronin. Finally has his best offensively talented team, maybe ever, at UC and none of them want to play defense one iota.

I'd play about 7 guys. The rest can sit there.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I'd play about 7 guys. The rest can sit there.

The problem still remains that none of those 7 consistently play defense.

Maybe Caupain and Clark, but even Clark refuses to rotate at times. Evans is just a freshman, but he often does the same thing as Clark getting sucked in and not doing his job.

This team is an absolute mess right now on defense. I wouldn't be surprised if the next 20 practices don't even involve shooting a ball.

 

[kramer1]

The problem still remains that none of those 7 consistently play defense.

Maybe Caupain and Clark, but even Clark refuses to rotate at times. Evans is just a freshman, but he often does the same thing as Clark getting sucked in and not doing his job.

This team is an absolute mess right now on defense. I wouldn't be surprised if the next 20 practices don't even involve shooting a ball.

Well, part of the problem is the new rules. I think the coaching staff failed a bit in that regard. They severely underestimated the impact these new rules would have.

These kids they recruited (and the majority have played in) were for a certain style and pace. Now, you can't guard close. No 5 seconds. The clock is shorter...gotta play a faster pace. Gotta be able to create on your own. We don't have the personnel for that style of play.

We constantly have 18 seconds left on the clock before Caupain even starts the offense. This just isn't going to work. Couple that with the fact we can't defend close any more. We can't slow the game down to our style. We have to go go go. Don't get me started on the 2nd chance points...good god

 

[Cincyfan78]

Well, part of the problem is the new rules. I think the coaching staff failed a bit in that regard. They severely underestimated the impact these new rules would have.

These kids they recruited (and the majority have played in) were for a certain style and pace. Now, you can't guard close. No 5 seconds. The clock is shorter...gotta play a faster pace. Gotta be able to create on your own. We don't have the personnel for that style of play.

We constantly have 18 seconds left on the clock before Caupain even starts the offense. This just isn't going to work. Couple that with the fact we can't defend close any more. We can't slow the game down to our style. We have to go go go. Don't get me started on the 2nd chance points...good god

All valid points.

It drives me mad that each year we hear how this team is going to be faster, move more on offense to get things started, and defensively pressure the ball to shorten the clock, and they start out that way every year and then when the teams get tougher, they completely fall back into half-court offense/defense.

I know you don't want to get beat down the court on defense, but you don't have to trap and be 100% on your man to just apply some minor pressure. Even an extra 4 seconds to get the ball across the line means 4 seconds less you have to play on defense. 4 seconds less they have to find that open guy.

Defensively, they still have too many lazy guys that just don't rotate. The back side shooter (as you mentioned) is open nearly 100% of the time because no one rotates. That's not skill. That's not anything but flat out "want to" and hustle.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Cronin at the presser:

"I'd like to apologize to all of our former players who have to watch our guys play with that type of defensive effort. It's an embarrassment. It's my fault. I mean that. And (apologize) to the 10,000 people who came to the game today. That said, Temple made some shots. Give them credit. But our defensive effort is porous, lazy. 15 deflections. We have a starter that has played two straight games without a deflection. Our problem is we're just not a good defensive team right now. We lack a lot of toughness. We don't do anything that's hard. It's hard to win games against good solid teams we have too many players on our team thinking everything is okay because we're ranked. They think everything is good. 'I'm averaging double figures, my team's ranked, everything is okay.' How okay is it now? It wasn't okay in my book when you lose two home games. I don't care where a team is ranked. You lose two home games, it sholuldn't be okay. We embrace that personality. We embrace at thoughts process and that's why you see what you see today. When you lose games, and everyone keeps saying 'You're 10-3 and here's so you've lost to,' but it's a loss. You lost and you scored enough points to win. You should be embarrassed you can't get enough stops to win games. But it doesn't bother us, so here we sit."

On problems defensively and rebounding, and the starting lineup change:
"Anything that requires toughness, we struggle in that area. It's just a fact. We lack toughness. Why do we lack toughness? It's a rhetorical question in my opinion. I don't lack toughness. I lack options. Right now I don't have options. I don't like the way some guys practice. The lineups will be different from here on out. That really worked well. Some guys don't even care. I don't know."

On if he saw a tough game coming:
"Absolutely saw it coming. One hundred percent, I saw it coming. Everything is okay, Iowa State's a good team. It's not okay. It's not okay when you lose. It's not okay. But that's the generation we're dealing with. Social media and 'Our team is ranked, I averaged double figures. Everything's okay.' It wasn't okay for me, I can assure you. Not okay for me. It should never be okay when you lose at home. Everything was okay, though, for us. Try to get guys not to buy into that, but no sense of urgency at all. No sense of urgency. Just going to walk out there, flash our jersey and win."

On the mentality:
"I don't buy not ready to play. That's got nothing to do with nothing. We lack toughness. Period. End of story. I will do everything in my power to continue to rectify it. That's what they pay me for. For those who say I'm throwing my players under the bus, I'm not. If we lack toughness or Gary Clark can't get a deflection, it's my fault. Everything is my fault, just for the record. If we lack toughness, it's because I didn't recruit enough toughness or I'm not making guys tough enough. I'm just answering a question as to why our defense struggles and why our rebounding struggle. We lack toughness. It's a fact. Watch us play."

On if past teams have lacked toughness:
"Never. We've lacked talent when we were rebuilding the program. We've lacked height. We've never lacked toughness. Sit there and say, 'Well you missed a lot of open shots when you had a chances.' That's what we deserved. In this game, the game gives you back what you deserve. We didn't deserve to win. So when we had that run and we had a chance to knock down those shots that were wide open and win the game, we didn't make them because we didn't deserve to. We got exactly what we deserved. If somehow we'd have won that game, we wouldn't have deserved to. Same thing I told you after the Butler game. Wouldn't have deserved to. But we got four guys averaging double-figures, so we got four guys happy. Maybe they can get us out of the rankings, maybe that will make some guys upset, they'll care about that when their highlights aren't on TV. Right now, they're a disgrace to every guy that's been in there bleeding to build that program. That's played out-manned, under-manned in a battle royale. Right now, they owe those guys an apology for the way they defend and the way they play. Yes, I saw it coming, yesterday's practice was why there are two guys who didn't start today. Yesterday's practice was not pretty. I will rectify it."

 

[cincygrad]

This team is mentally weak. I'm not sure they will even be in the tourney at this point.

 

[Cincyfan78]

This team is mentally weak. I'm not sure they will even be in the tourney at this point.

Nope.

NIT bound.

They just don't defend. Again. Down the stretch, they let the other teams only shooter nail a wide open 3, and then can't get a rebound to save their lives. They are too worried about complaining about fouls that weren't called, and being pussies.

 

[cincygrad]

Nope.

NIT bound.

They just don't defend. Again. Down the stretch, they let the other teams only shooter nail a wide open 3, and then can't get a rebound to save their lives. They are too worried about complaining about fouls that weren't called, and being pussies.

They are completely unlikable.... How does a guy the size of Ellis go to the free throw line once yesterday? One fucking time? He's 6'10" for gods sakes.

 

[Cincyfan78]

They are completely unlikable.... How does a guy the size of Ellis go to the free throw line once yesterday? One fucking time? He's 6'10" for gods sakes.

UC shot 4 free throws.

4.

Let that sink in.

Now, I'll agree that they did not get the calls like SMU did in the 1st half, but they also failed to finish around the rim strong, avoiding contact, and not forcing the call.

The one strong play of the game was Ellis getting fouled and hitting 2 FT's. That was it.

I've said it for nearly 3-4 weeks now. Ellis should be benched. Go with DeBerry and then Moore (yes, I know he sucks) over Ellis and get his attitude back. Let him know that just because he's a senior doesn't give him any special rights.

It's a sad, sad indictment of a UC team when a 6'5" freshman wing player is your BEST defensive rebounding, and that is coming from Cronin. Not Ellis. Not DeBerry. Not even Clark. Jacob Evens is the BEST defensive rebounder on this team right now, and looks like the only one out there at least trying on every play.

 

[bphillips4gg]

That game sucked. This team is a huge disappointment. How do you score 2 goddamn points in the last 4 minutes? Chokers. They fit right into the Cincinnati sports scene.

 

[kramer1]

Would it kill Mick to recruit basketball players instead of "athletes"?

 

[Cincyfan78]

Would it kill Mick to recruit basketball players instead of "athletes"?

Really, the only "athlete" on the team is Shaq.

The issue is the regression of players like Ellis. He's a shell of himself compared to last year. Cobb is better, Caupain is slightly better, Kevin Johnson might be the worst passer on the planet. He has to have a 3-1 turnover to assist ratio. He's brutal.

Quadri Moore is re-living Justin Jackson's first 3 years thinking he's a stretch 4, when really he just needs to be a 5, and stay a five, and commit to being a 5. He's not a shooter, nor should he be at his size.

It's sad that the best all around effort comes from a freshman.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Hey, played a decent game last night.

Good defense down the stretch when Houston made their run.

3-pt defense still stinks, they collapse on defense way too much leaving shooters open.

Nice to see Kevin Johnson remembered how to play basketball for a night, and Ellis with a double double. About damned time.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Huge win last night @UConn.

I hate Kevin Ollie. He's always crying.

Also, did anyone who watched the game see how far out Ollie was on the floor during the last sequence for UConn?

He was IN FRONT of the Ref nearly the entire time. How did he not get a technical? Ridiculous that the ref BEHIND him did not tell him to move, or give him a Technical.

 

[cincygrad]

Good win. Where the hell was the offense for the last 4 minutes?

 

[Cincyfan78]

Good win. Where the hell was the offense for the last 4 minutes?

As long as they can play defense, I'll worry less about the offense. This is still a good scoring team overall. UConn only gives up 37% shooting on their defense. UC shot 38%. I think at times they got a bit too removed from post play that was key early on.

Also, UConn went on a 16-6 run to end the half. I put this squarely on Mick. He sat the starters, and on the floor he had: Cobb, Johnson, Moore and Deberry....some of the worst defenders on the team. Johnson is decent man defender, but his lack of awareness kills them in the zone-matchup. With those 4 on the floor UC when from being up 5, at 25-20 with 4 minutes left, and ended the half down 36-31. With 3 consecutive 3-pt shots from Gibbs and then another 3 by Purvis.

 

[cincygrad]

The issue I have with the offense is that they aren't great at passing the ball. Even when guys are doing a good job moving without the ball, plays get bogged down by a guy just aimlessly dribbling around the perimeter.

 

[Cincyfan78]

The issue I have with the offense is that they aren't great at passing the ball. Even when guys are doing a good job moving without the ball, plays get bogged down by a guy just aimlessly dribbling around the perimeter.

I don't disagree with that. They need to run more. They've done better in the past few games of getting out and pushing the ball, but when Caupain just takes his time, it hurts because it eliminates Shaq from the offense. When they are running, everyone is a threat. When it is half-court offense, it's 4-5 every time he's no the floor.

Shaq is hurt though. At minimum, he's out for a bit with an ankle/foot sprain. At worst, his career at UC is over. Sucks, but Evans getting more PT is good for the offense.

 

[kramer1]

Shaq being done is a good thing. Adios!

Can we please get a god damned player who can make a fuckin shot more than once every 5-6 years? Thanks.

 

[kramer1]

6-7 more wins and we're a lock for the tourney.