OT: Bearcats

[Cincyfan78]

Shaq should not be playing at all.

He's only slightly better than Sanders. At least he has actual skills. It's unfortunate that he's too damned afraid to use it.

At this point, I'd almost just consider moving Clark to SF, plug in Moore at PF (Or DeBerry) and Ellis at Center with Caupain and Johnson/Cobb in the backcourt.

 

[kramer1]

San Diego St is going to crush us.

 

[Cincyfan78]

San Diego St is going to crush us.

It's going to be ugly.

The other thing that kills me about this years' team...I knew it was going to be a transition year, but so many guys just stand around and "wait" for something to happen. Deflected entry pass? Just wait for it to slowly get to you. No going and getting that loose ball. Nebraska's players were all over the floor while UC players simply watched or bent over at the waste.

The best part though, not that it would have mattered at all, but just shows you the mind-set of Shaq...On Kevin Johnson's last shot, he misses, and the Nebraska player rebounds the miss with something like maybe 2 seconds on the clock...not a lot. Shaq is so busy pouting underneath the basket that he didn't even realize the game hadn't ended yet and by the time the horn sounded, he THEN realized the game hadn't been over and made a feable attempt to swipe at the guy. He was so stuck in his own world pouting he had no clue what was going on around him. Just pathetic.

 

[bengaldoug]

San Diego St is going to crush us.

They might hold us under 30 points......

 

[Cincyfan78]

UC host 18th ranked SDSU tonight.

SDSU ranks 14th in the nation in scoring defense.

Cincinnati ranks 9th in scoring defense.

Both teams are barely averaging 60 points a game. If you thought last years' Pitt game at 45-44 was brutal, tonight is sure to make you claw your eyes out. I'm already preparing my optometrist bill to be sent to UC care of Mick Cronin.

 

[cincygrad]

 

[kramer1]

My poor fucking liver...

 

[kramer1]

We beat 'em pretty handily. Thank god.

Fucking refs tried to screw us.

 

[Cincyfan78]

The call at the end of the regulation was brutal. No way is that a foul. They may have gotten their feet tangled slightly, but the guy was trying to turn the corner and was out of control. No way you can give that to him. None.

Pretty impressed overall. I think they ended up shooting 47% for the game, and their defense is pretty damn good, and will only get better with more experience.

That Clark kid is something else. For a freshman he sure doesn't seem to get caught up in anything, and is a load to handle in the paint. That cross-over drop step with 6 seconds on the clock for the inbounds was sick.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Good article...

Cincinnati may not play pretty, but there's reason for optimism - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

 

[Cincyfan78]

That was a solid game last night @NCST. Got up, and never let them back under 10pts. Shaq actually scored by attacking the paint...shocking.

That's a decent win.

 

[kramer1]

We need 22-23 wins or a conference tourney title to get in the tourney.

Come back soon, Mick.

 

[Cincyfan78]

We need 22-23 wins or a conference tourney title to get in the tourney.

Come back soon, Mick.

Well, with 19 games remaining...and with 9 wins already...you're talking about 13-5 in conference play or 14-4 (not including the XU game in Feb).

Honestly, it's pretty doable because the rest of the AAC isn't very good. UConn is still decent enough, but then after them SMU hasn't been great, and their wins are mostly against bad teams. Memphis was vastly overated, as usual, and haven't played anyone of note outside of Whichita in their first game. The rest of the teams in the AAC have beaten their cupcakes, but outside of Temple shocking Kansas, no one else really has any wins of note.

You figure UC should be able to, at worst, split with those 3 teams...for 3 losses, and still allows them a loss or two that will happen to a team they shouldn't lose to...If they can sweep 1 or 2 of those games, then that gives them more room.

Plus they should win at least 1 in the AAC tourney depending on their draw. The problem isn't going to be wins, but the strength of the AAC overall...it's not good. Probably going to get 2 teams in the NCAA...and that could be the limit.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Cronin officially out for the year. He should return next year, but for the rest of this year, he's simply recruiting and being an advisor. He will still help with the game-plans and other aspects, but he simply won't coach at practices or games.

All the doctors agree, that he should be able to return to normal duties in about 3 months, so he should easily be in the clear for next year.

 

[kramer1]

Cronin officially out for the year. He should return next year, but for the rest of this year, he's simply recruiting and being an advisor. He will still help with the game-plans and other aspects, but he simply won't coach at practices or games.

All the doctors agree, that he should be able to return to normal duties in about 3 months, so he should easily be in the clear for next year.

Lets hope the kids can use this as a rallying cry. I fear this may derail the season, though.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Lets hope the kids can use this as a rallying cry. I fear this may derail the season, though.

The saving grace is that the AAC is just bad. If the bearcats can just play their normal defense, it should be good enough to easily win 12-13 games in coference.

 

[bengaldoug]

I'm just happy to hear he's going to be ok. My stepfather had an aneurism, and had surgery on it. During the surgery he had a major stroke and spent the last ten years of his life in a wheelchair and missed out on would have been a great and well deserved retirement. Mick could easily have been facing something similar.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Nice win today. Nice to finally have a shooter other teams have to worry about.

 

[bphillips4gg]

Cobb looked good, Troy appears to be taking the wheel for the team, which is good because nobody else seems to want it.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I thought that Shaq played a decent game. He didn't score, but he continued to attack the paint. I've said it all along, they need to attack the paint to open up the offense. Today they did that, but they didn't always get the correct pass out of it, but ultimately, it caused the defense to collapse leaving guys open just enough.

Defensively, this team is only going to get better with experience, and that is really scary.