OT: Bearcats

[cincygrad]

Whatley only converted for the jokes.

 

[Kingspoint]

I'm a rabid anti-Dentite too

Very good.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Easily one of the most disappointing seasons under Cronin.

 

[kramer1]

St. Joes is a bunch of midgets. There is no reason why we shouldn't dominate this game. Our D should crush them. They shouldn't score 50.

I'm sure we'll lose

 

[cincygrad]

St. Joes is a bunch of midgets. There is no reason why we shouldn't dominate this game. Our D should crush them. They shouldn't score 50.

I'm sure we'll lose

I'm sure we would if Ocatvius Ellis still played for us..... And Gary Clark wasn't limping around the place.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I've said all year, this team follows Ellis. I'm convinced even more now than before.

Last year, he was an asshole. Played with a massive chip on his shoulder, and this team fed off of that. They got their toughness from that.

This year, in order to not get ejected and get technicals, he toned it down. With it went his attitude and toughness, and the team followed suit.

I'm not saying he needs to go out there and start swinging elbows, but he needs to find that energy he had last year, that chip he played with, for the NCAA's.

There's just no reason for a team to return the top 7 players on an NCAA team from a year ago, and add a player (Evans) who is 3 times the only player UC lost (Sanders), and play as poorly as they have this year, with a lack of attitude, a lack of urgency, and a lack of toughness. Just no excuse.

 

[cincygrad]

Another inspiring performance by a Huggins team in the tourney. I know we all love/loved the guy, but I think it's safe to say that he's always been overrated as a coach.

 

[bphillips4gg]

Who's ready to watch UC blow another double-digit halftime lead? Why the fuck do I do this to myself?

 

[Kingspoint]

Pac-12 stunk it up.....again.

 

[kramer1]

Cronin has to go

 

[cincygrad]

Cronin has to go

I like Mick a lot. But this year was clearly his worst year. He didn't get anything out of this team. They did have worse luck than just about any other team I can remember, so I think it's worth saying it was just a bad year.

What do they look like next season?

 

[cincygrad]

BTW... Until we move to a new conference and upgrade our facilities, we won't get top talent. That's just the way it's going to be. We spent millions on Nippert to get a conference upgrade and now we need to pray that it works. We're a basketball school, but we'll fade away very fast if things don't change soon.

 

[kramer1]

I like Mick a lot. But this year was clearly his worst year. He didn't get anything out of this team. They did have worse luck than just about any other team I can remember, so I think it's worth saying it was just a bad year.

What do they look like next season?

Next year looks good. We have an NC State transfer, the best guard in Ohio (an SK clone), and another big guy.

 

[Cincyfan78]

First, on this year...Just a lot of bad luck. Even as they got better down the stretch, Clark got hurt, Shaq got hurt, Cobb got hurt. You can argue losing Shaq doesn't hurt, but he provided depth and at least the was the kind of athlete that could guard guys like UConn's Hamilton and stay in front of him. Something UC clearly struggled with in games after he was hurt.

Also, I think this team really expected more out of Ellis. Caupain improved his scoring and assist/TO ratio (though his shooting % did go down). Clark took another step and was more active on the boards, and showed nice range on some shots. Rebounds and Pts went up. Cobb improved his shooting over last year. The guy they really needed to take a step was Ellis, though, and lead this team like he did last year with his energy. I've said all year that this team fed off his energy last year (right or wrong on some of his actions, the team followed that toughness). They lacked that this year big time, and no one needs to look any further than Ellis, and the lack of toughness he displayed throughout the year. The stakes were high, and clearly this team underachieved. Probably the first real year that Cronin had a team that should have done more, and they did not.


Now, next year does look really good.

Caupain and Johnson will be Seniors.

Clark and transfer Washington will be Juniors along with Quadri Moore.

Evans, Jennifer round out the sophomore class.

Tre Scott is a red-shirt freshman, Brooks is another big-man coming in, Cumberland is clearly the star of the class though.

Early lineup will probably look like:

Caupain
Johnson
Evans
Clark
Washington

For once, you kind of know going into the season these guys can score, at least compared to each year hoping some guy like Shaq can go from 5 points a game to 12 or 13 as a Jr/Sr. Cuapin, Evans, and Clark can all get to the 12-15 PPG mark, and Evans will probably take the biggest jump. At worst, Washington can replicate Ellis at around 10 points a game and grab rebounds, but most importantly, hopefully he brings some of that missing attitude back to the post and to the team.

The one thing they are going to be short on next year is good bench play. This year, they had Evans and Johnson/Cobb and DeBerry coming off the bench. Next year it's Jennifer, Cumberland, and Moore/Brooks in the post.

I also think that Cronin still have 1 open scholarship available.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Cronin is going to walk.

UNLV is all but done at this point.

Say what you will about Mick, but he's done a hell of a job in Cincinnati considering his entire time here the deck has been stacked against him.

Crappy roster he took over.

Rebuilt this team in the toughest conference in the NCAA's. Improved nearly every year.

Got shafted, along with all UC sports, being placed in the AAC.

Had to raise his own funds to renovate lockers and provide other expenses (all paid through Mick's raising, not one single dollar came from anyone else at UC helping him to raise funds for the basketball program). It's tough enough to recruit to Cincinnati when you are playing in the AAC, but then you walk in and see that there are high school gyms and locker-rooms that BLOW UC's out of the water. It's embarrassing, and no wonder it's hard to get a few of those kids here. The facilities suck, and they stunk the moment that arena was opened.

Finally he had enough. What does it say about the leadership at UC when a guy who grew up here, went to H.S. here, went to college at UC, got his start at UC under Huggins, and wanted to be here for life....leaves because UC can't commit to basketball? Can't get an arena approved, or upgraded, but spent nearly 100MM on football to add a few extra K's seats that no one will fill.

Mick leaving says more about how the University views this program than it does anything else. The future is not so bright.

 

[cincygrad]

Whoa! Cronin is the only thing keeping that program together. UC is going to be Tony Yates era level bad within 2 or 3 seasons....We'll be completely irrelevant.

And I'm with you.... The fact that we never rebuilt basketball facilities is just plain stupid. We fell in love with the almighty football dollar and lost site of our basketball tradition. And for what? So we can spend 6 Saturdays a year watching Temple and SMU play for a chance in the Yankee Bowl?

Meanwhile, it shows just how stupid the city is as well. They build 2 new sports stadiums and then finally develop the banks project, only to keep that old eyesore of an arena. A new arena could have supported Cincinnati basketball and a number of concerts and other forms of entertainment and businesses would have thrived. It would have made for a good night to go out for dinner, go to the bearcats game and then go for drinks. What you have instead is a bunch of empty bars waiting for the Reds to begin playing baseball.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Whoa! Cronin is the only thing keeping that program together. UC is going to be Tony Yates era level bad within 2 or 3 seasons....We'll be completely irrelevant.

And I'm with you.... The fact that we never rebuilt basketball facilities is just plain stupid. We fell in love with the almighty football dollar and lost site of our basketball tradition. And for what? So we can spend 6 Saturdays a year watching Temple and SMU play for a chance in the Yankee Bowl?

Meanwhile, it shows just how stupid the city is as well. They build 2 new sports stadiums and then finally develop the banks project, only to keep that old eyesore of an arena. A new arena could have supported Cincinnati basketball and a number of concerts and other forms of entertainment and businesses would have thrived. It would have made for a good night to go out for dinner, go to the bearcats game and then go for drinks. What you have instead is a bunch of empty bars waiting for the Reds to begin playing baseball.

OH...Don't even get me started on not using US Bank Arena. That made too much sense. In all aspects. Most of all, anymore, you are not just selling the game(s), but an experience. You have to convince people that it is worth their time and effort and, most importantly, MONEY to come watch a game.

You do that by selling an experience along with the game. Baseball does it, Football does it...it makes total sense to use the Banks and sell the experience of coming downtown, getting a few drinks, hitting the game, and then hanging out afterwards at a club or bar. TOO MUCH SENSE. You don't get an experience on campus at UC, unless you count mugging as a positive thing.

But I digress...the board of trustees was more worried about the 500 students that would have to....gasp...travel to get to a game. As if UC isn't already one of the largest commuter schools in the state. Good Grief, Charlie Brown.

People keep talking about winning and winning in the NCAA's... you need to recruit to do that. Mick is a hell of a recruiter, but you can't sell the sizzle without the steak. UC has no facilities. Nothing of note to speak in. Mick is walking into a recruits house offering a McDonalds double cheeseburger while other schools are offering ribeye. It's amazing what he's done considering how severely handicapped he's been since day 1.

 

[kramer1]

Good riddance. He's the Marvin Lewis of UC athletics.

 

[cincygrad]

Good riddance. He's the Marvin Lewis of UC athletics.

Well, get ready for the David Shula era.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Good riddance. He's the Marvin Lewis of UC athletics.

Not hardly.

Not a huge fan of some of his in game coaching, but when you consider all things, the guy gets it done. I just wish UC cared enough to give him the proper tools to recruit better players.

Again, they walk into 5/3rd and see a dollar value meal, and then walk into Louisville, UConn and others that are offering prime rib.