OT: How 'bout dem Bearcats!

[Cincyfan78]

He needs to get his ass back with 'cube so they can make the last Friday movie.

That first one is gold.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I did not realize that Memphis starts 4 seniors.

Big win already, but really encouraging to see that the younger guys got it done against more experienced players down the stretch, and on the road with 17K in attendance.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Really good read.

Terrific defensive effort leads Cincinnati past Memphis - CBSSports.com

 

[Cincyfan78]

Well, at least one team showed up this weekend.

UC Bearcat time. Not sure how the season will end for these guys. My initial expectations were pretty low realizing that they needed a lot of help from freshmen and a sophmore, plus Jackson to morph into Hicks to win a few good games.

Oddly enough, that is what has happened. The future of the PG position has arrived in Caupain, they are getting solid defense out of Johnson and Thomas, and Rubles, plus a little scoring from Johnson and Thomas (not so much from Rubles).

And, after the 2-game losing streak, where UC was badly outplayed in the post, Justin Jackson has turned into a machine. Dude has turned his athletic ability into a consistently scoring post player, who still gets you 8-12 rebounds, 5 blocks, and a few assist per game, but most importantly, he's not turning the ball over in the post, and his confidence is sky high and he's not hesitating anymore once he gets the ball in the post/paint. He gets that ball, and now, he KNOWS he's going to score.

 

[bengaldoug]

I blame the Bearcats for yesterday. They should have been willing to sacrifice the Memphis game to help the Bengals. We all know Cincinnati can only stand so much success on any given weekend.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Too much to hope for when UC, XU, AND have the Bengals win, as well.

 

[Cincyfan78]

UC 26th in the AP poll.

I really don't want them ranked. They have not played well under Cronin once they start getting national recognition.

Keep 'em working.

 

[bengaldoug]

UC 26th in the AP poll.

I really don't want them ranked. They have not played well under Cronin once they start getting national recognition.

Keep 'em working.

Agree...besides, the upset win over Memphis doesn't nearly offset the Crosstown Blowout.....they don't deserve any ranking.....

 

[cincygrad]

I have barely paid attention to UC hoops this season. I had my mind made up that they were going to stink and be painful to watch on offense and I need a break from my sporting disappointment.

Now that they are playing some good ball, I will continue to stay away so that you guys may enjoy it. I'm afraid i'll jinx it.

BTW -- I also plan to avoid the Reds. I'm not sure if I'll be successful, but I sure hope I am. If you have ANY confidence in them performing this season, you need your head examined.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I have barely paid attention to UC hoops this season. I had my mind made up that they were going to stink and be painful to watch on offense and I need a break from my sporting disappointment.

Now that they are playing some good ball, I will continue to stay away so that you guys may enjoy it. I'm afraid i'll jinx it.

BTW -- I also plan to avoid the Reds. I'm not sure if I'll be successful, but I sure hope I am. If you have ANY confidence in them performing this season, you need your head examined.

Way to take one for the team. UC has played well above expectations. I thought it would be a major struggle for them to return to the NCAA's. Another solid win in league play, and a decent finish is probably going to be enough, I think, now.

Again, the elevated play of Caupain, Johnson, and Thomas have really helped. It's hard to know what to expect out of freshmen because Cronin almost refused to play them due to lack of ability on the defensive end. Nice to see 2 of them are getting it done enough to contribute on both offense and defense.

Jacksons transformation is the key component, though. Without him scoring inside, the defenses will do what they did last year, and spread them out on defense and force bad shots.

As for the Reds...3rd place in the NL Central.

 

[bengaldoug]

I have barely paid attention to UC hoops this season. I had my mind made up that they were going to stink and be painful to watch on offense and I need a break from my sporting disappointment.

Now that they are playing some good ball, I will continue to stay away so that you guys may enjoy it. I'm afraid i'll jinx it.

BTW -- I also plan to avoid the Reds. I'm not sure if I'll be successful, but I sure hope I am. If you have ANY confidence in them performing this season, you need your head examined.

The Reds are going to suck......they'll come nowhere near replacing Choo's offensive output, and the pitching will not be quite as good.....they are in salary hell right now deciding who they can afford to keep(hint: that would be almost none of them)....they tried like hell to unload Phillips and failed. They can only keep one of Bailey and Latos(maybe). They have totally mismanaged the Cuban missile.


It's not going to be pretty...........

 

[cincygrad]

Way to take one for the team. UC has played well above expectations. I thought it would be a major struggle for them to return to the NCAA's. Another solid win in league play, and a decent finish is probably going to be enough, I think, now.

Again, the elevated play of Caupain, Johnson, and Thomas have really helped. It's hard to know what to expect out of freshmen because Cronin almost refused to play them due to lack of ability on the defensive end. Nice to see 2 of them are getting it done enough to contribute on both offense and defense.

Jacksons transformation is the key component, though. Without him scoring inside, the defenses will do what they did last year, and spread them out on defense and force bad shots.

As for the Reds...3rd place in the NL Central.

I thought this year's UC basketball team would feature Kilpatrick chucking 25 footers and Rubles comically bricking 4 footers. Now I'm intrigued.... But I don't want to jinx it.

As for the Reds.... At least they'll play a lot of very short baseball games. I forsee a lot of 3-1 losses.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I thought this year's UC basketball team would feature Kilpatrick chucking 25 footers and Rubles comically bricking 4 footers. Now I'm intrigued.... But I don't want to jinx it.

As for the Reds.... At least they'll play a lot of very short baseball games. I forsee a lot of 3-1 losses.

Kilpatrick is a high volume scorer, much like Kemba walker was. Needs a ton of shots most nights to score. At least this year he's getting to the FT line when he's not making baskets.

The most encoraging thing I've seen this year is this team relying on Johnson, Caupain, and Thomas on the road at Memphis where they start 4 pretty good seniors.

Not only did they score enough, and did it decently, they locked them down on defense completely. Memphis had averaged 80+ points a game, and were held well below.

It was also their worst home conference loss since 1999 against.....Cincinnati.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Another win last night, though it came to be much closer than it should have been.

The defense suffered in the 2nd half, but big minutes off the bench by Nyarsuk. 10 minutes, 4 points, 3 blocks. He affected the Houston offense with his height when they went to a 2-3 zone, which worked better than their man-to-man defense.

Freshman Kevin Johnson nailed the two big FT's, and they survived a game in which Jackson only played 20 minutes due to foul trouble.

3-0 in conference play since their last year in C-USA. They started 2-0 in BE play several times.

Also, the officiating was flat out terrible last night. These guys were making up calls from thin air. They had no clue what was going on.

Or...maybe they were simply keeping the game close because it was rigged? LOL

 

[kramer1]

Another win last night, though it came to be much closer than it should have been.

The defense suffered in the 2nd half, but big minutes off the bench by Nyarsuk. 10 minutes, 4 points, 3 blocks. He affected the Houston offense with his height when they went to a 2-3 zone, which worked better than their man-to-man defense.

Freshman Kevin Johnson nailed the two big FT's, and they survived a game in which Jackson only played 20 minutes due to foul trouble.

3-0 in conference play since their last year in C-USA. They started 2-0 in BE play several times.

Also, the officiating was flat out terrible last night. These guys were making up calls from thin air. They had no clue what was going on.

Or...maybe they were simply keeping the game close because it was rigged? LOL

Rigged IMO. I think Vegas phoned in at the half.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Rigged IMO. I think Vegas phoned in at the half.

The missed intential foul call was probably the worst.

Jackson is fouled well before the ball is ever put in play. That is an automatic intentional foul, 2 shots, plus the ball back.

The refs blew that.

Also, they missed the And-1 when Jackson was fouled going up for the tip in. They waived off the basket, and made UC play the ball in.

 

[bengaldoug]

That game got way too close in the second half. Rubles dominated on the boards in the first half then disappeared in the second half.

 

[Cincyfan78]

That game got way too close in the second half. Rubles dominated on the boards in the first half then disappeared in the second half.

Indeed. You knew UC wasn't going to shoot 3's all game long (and make them).

Rubles needed to continue in the 2nd half, and just couldn't.

The defense really fell apart. Guys weren't rotating, and a lot of times you could tell it was almost like 2 or 3 were playing one defense, and the other guys were playing another defense. Just total lapse.

I was really happy to see Nyarsuk come in and provide big minutes. There are going to be games where he's going to have to play, and you can't hide him much. The 2-3 zone seemed to work really well, also. I think they should have stuck with that in the 2nd half more, even with Jackson and Rubles back in there.

 

[bengaldoug]

Nyarsuk is pretty good in the middle of the zone. It's easily the best(only?) thing he does.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Nyarsuk is pretty good in the middle of the zone. It's easily the best(only?) thing he does.

He's smart, and he rotates in the zone well.

He's also so big that a lot of guys last night go to the elbow, paint, or baseline, and turned away once he came at them.

He's not agile, and can't run/rebound very well at all. But, in a half-court offense, he demands attention because of his size, and in a 2-3 zone (or even something like a 1-3-1) you can take advantage of his shot blocking and size while putting others in position to rebound.

Lawrence apparently has a torn ligament in his toe. He could require surgery, and could miss 6 weeks or more. If that is the case, Jackson needs to stop being a screen setter to preven silly fouls, and Nyarsuk is going to have to be able to play 10-15 minutes a game.