Bearcats baskteball

It’s tough to consider these guys a bubble team now with a 5-10 conference record and zero quality non-conference wins. UC needs to grow a set of balls and start scheduling some better non-conference competition.
 
AEW Champion said:
It’s tough to consider these guys a bubble team now with a 5-10 conference record and zero quality non-conference wins. UC needs to grow a set of balls and start scheduling some better non-conference competition.
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I think it's a double-edged sword. Because UC beat bad teams soundly during their non-conference schedule, it boosted their metrics to the point where they're still a top 45 team (per NET and KenPom) even with a 5-10 Big 12 record.

On the other hand, facing some tougher opponents earlier in the season could've better prepared the team for the rigors of Big 12 play and maybe they don't lose to Texas at home by 1, Oklahoma at home by 4, WVU on the road by 4 (after blowing a late 10-point lead), and Oklahoma State at home by 4. Although, there's still no guarantee that UC would be in a better position that they are now.

The story of Wes Miller's time at UC has been about slow but incremental progress. Hopefully that trend continues on the scheduling front next season.
 
Chop Stix said:
I think it's a double-edged sword. Because UC beat bad teams soundly during their non-conference schedule, it boosted their metrics to the point where they're still a top 45 team (per NET and KenPom) even with a 5-10 Big 12 record.

On the other hand, facing some tougher opponents earlier in the season could've better prepared the team for the rigors of Big 12 play and maybe they don't lose to Texas at home by 1, Oklahoma at home by 4, WVU on the road by 4 (after blowing a late 10-point lead), and Oklahoma State at home by 4. Although, there's still no guarantee that UC would be in a better position that they are now.

The story of Wes Miller's time at UC has been about slow but incremental progress. Hopefully that trend continues on the scheduling front next season.
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Schedule, Shmedule.....there 362 D1 basketball teams, Cincinnati's strength of schedule is ranked 33rd. This bunch has had three months to try to figure out what they can do, and what they can't do, and they don't know any more now than they did back in December. In addition to not being very good shooters, this is probably the poorest pass and catch UC team I can remember. Also, as a group we have the lowest basketball IQ that I can remember. That extends from the coaching staff all the way to the ball boys. Case in point, last night we are down by six with 1:26 left and we intentionally foul the guy out by half court with :20 left on the shot clock. How's about we guard em' out, get a stop, and we get the ball back with a minute to go down by six as opposed to giving Houston two free throws. We have been beyond terrible in end of game situations all year, I don't think playing UK, Duke, Purdue, and UNC back in December would have made this bunch any smarter. This is a bad league to be stupid in, cause them other guys know what they're doin'......
 
JUSTGOPLAY said:
Schedule, Shmedule.....there 362 D1 basketball teams, Cincinnati's strength of schedule is ranked 33rd. This bunch has had three months to try to figure out what they can do, and what they can't do, and they don't know any more now than they did back in December. In addition to not being very good shooters, this is probably the poorest pass and catch UC team I can remember. Also, as a group we have the lowest basketball IQ that I can remember. That extends from the coaching staff all the way to the ball boys. Case in point, last night we are down by six with 1:26 left and we intentionally foul the guy out by half court with :20 left on the shot clock. How's about we guard em' out, get a stop, and we get the ball back with a minute to go down by six as opposed to giving Houston two free throws. We have been beyond terrible in end of game situations all year, I don't think playing UK, Duke, Purdue, and UNC back in December would have made this bunch any smarter. This is a bad league to be stupid in, cause them other guys know what they're doin'......
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I like the OOC scheduling of Dayton and Xavier. I hope those never go away.

I would like to add some local OOC games like Ohio State, Louisville, Indiana, etc. instead of the Merrimacks and directional schools. Even throw in some MAC schools like Miami, Toledo, etc... With Miller's connection to UNC, that would be an awesome home-and-home. I think the affiliation to the Big XII, hopefully, will open some doors to some better OOC opponents.
 
jdizzle said:
I like the OOC scheduling of Dayton and Xavier. I hope those never go away.

I would like to add some local OOC games like Ohio State, Louisville, Indiana, etc. instead of the Merrimacks and directional schools. Even throw in some MAC schools like Miami, Toledo, etc... With Miller's connection to UNC, that would be an awesome home-and-home. I think the affiliation to the Big XII, hopefully, will open some doors to some better OOC opponents.
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Trust me, I'm a season ticket holder. As a fan, watching the Bearcats play UNC or UK at 5/3rd beats the hell out of watching them play Evansville. That being said, I don't t believe that our OOC schedule is the reason we have struggled so much in conference this year.
 
JUSTGOPLAY said:
Trust me, I'm a season ticket holder. As a fan, watching the Bearcats play UNC or UK at 5/3rd beats the hell out of watching them play Evansville. That being said, I don't t believe that our OOC schedule is the reason we have struggled so much in conference this year.
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I have season tickets too...what section are you in?
 
jdizzle said:
I like the OOC scheduling of Dayton and Xavier. I hope those never go away.

I would like to add some local OOC games like Ohio State, Louisville, Indiana, etc. instead of the Merrimacks and directional schools. Even throw in some MAC schools like Miami, Toledo, etc... With Miller's connection to UNC, that would be an awesome home-and-home. I think the affiliation to the Big XII, hopefully, will open some doors to some better OOC opponents.
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Next season we're going to play 20 Big 12 conference games. That only leaves 11 non-conference games. I think 4-5 high major/high profile opponents and 6-7 buy games is a healthy balance (dependent on if we're home/away for the Shootout and if we're participating in a notable MTE).

Regardless, I'd like to continue playing Xavier every year (obviously), and would like to play at least one other home-&-home/neutral site game with a local high profile opponent (Dayton, OSU, IU, UK, etc) as you mentioned. Otherwise, I'm not too particular about who fills out the rest of the schedule.
 
JUSTGOPLAY said:
Schedule, Shmedule.....there 362 D1 basketball teams, Cincinnati's strength of schedule is ranked 33rd. This bunch has had three months to try to figure out what they can do, and what they can't do, and they don't know any more now than they did back in December. In addition to not being very good shooters, this is probably the poorest pass and catch UC team I can remember. Also, as a group we have the lowest basketball IQ that I can remember. That extends from the coaching staff all the way to the ball boys. Case in point, last night we are down by six with 1:26 left and we intentionally foul the guy out by half court with :20 left on the shot clock. How's about we guard em' out, get a stop, and we get the ball back with a minute to go down by six as opposed to giving Houston two free throws. We have been beyond terrible in end of game situations all year, I don't think playing UK, Duke, Purdue, and UNC back in December would have made this bunch any smarter. This is a bad league to be stupid in, cause them other guys know what they're doin'......
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Wes's coaching has left much to be desired at times and I think it played a notable role in the XU, WVU, and Oklahoma State losses.

In other cases like last night, our players just weren't good enough. There's a reason why no team has come within 8 points of Houston at home this season. They've perfected their style of play whereas our identity (particularly on offense) is still a work in progress.

Wes has done a good job to raise this team's profile season after season. The state of this current team is frustrating because we're so close to being a NCAA team and an assortment of individual and collective deficiencies have us barely falling short at the moment.

My only hope is that our upward trajectory continues and are a definite top 30 team next season.
 
Exciting game against Kansas State at Fifth Third last night as the Bearcats blow a 13-point lead with less than 7 minutes to go in the game but pull out a victory thanks to Big Shot Simas's game-winning 3 with 10 seconds left.

UC's slim NCAA hopes continue to hang on by a thread as the Bearcats need to win at Oklahoma on Tuesday to work their way back onto the tournament bubble.

Hopefully Skillings is able to play as the team desperately missed his rebounding last night en route to losing the battle on the glass 37-27.
 
Chop Stix said:
Exciting game against Kansas State at Fifth Third last night as the Bearcats blow a 13-point lead with less than 7 minutes to go in the game but pull out a victory thanks to Big Shot Simas's game-winning 3 with 10 seconds left.

UC's slim NCAA hopes continue to hang on by a thread as the Bearcats need to win at Oklahoma on Tuesday to work their way back onto the tournament bubble.

Hopefully Skillings is able to play as the team desperately missed his rebounding last night en route to losing the battle on the glass 37-27.
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Why was Skillings Jr. out?
 
UC remains somewhere outside Lunardi’s Next Four Out, along with teams like K-State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Ohio State and others. Barring a stunning run next week, I don’t see any March Madness path for this team.
 
AEW Champion said:
UC remains somewhere outside Lunardi’s Next Four Out, along with teams like K-State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Ohio State and others. Barring a stunning run next week, I don’t see any March Madness path for this team.
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There's a path, but they gotta' beat Oklahoma on the road tonight and WVU on Saturday at 5/3rd.....NET sits at 45, 3 and 9 in Quad 1 games, it would take a run to the semi's in the BIG12 tourney to get back into consideration. The loss at WVU, and the loss to Oklahoma State at home were resume' killers. They get beat tonight, you can stick a fork in em'......
 
Between the large array of missed point blank 3s, the senseless 2nd half fouls, and the inability to close the game out late, last night definitely made its case for the most frustrating game of the season.

The nail is officially in the coffin for our NCAA hopes, and barring an improbable run in the Big 12 tournament, there's a good chance that this season goes down as a disappointment.
 
Frustrating is putting it lightly.

Wes needs to make some major improvement to his in game coaching ability this offseason - especially time management and substitution management. The loss wasn’t all him, how the hell do you foul on a 3 pt shot FOUR TIMES in a single game, but they still had a chance and then he subbed Jamille in with about 90 seconds just to watch him immediately give up a bucket.
 
I’ve decided Wes is to this Cats team, as Travis Steele was to his final XU team.

I hope football season is better than last year.
 
Anyway, I am out of town this weekend for a wedding and have 2 tickets in section 217 with a parking pass at campus green for Saturdays WVU game. If anyone would like them, they are yours as long as you promise to purchase at least one Cincy Light. Not looking for money, just butts in seats. Shoot me a PM.
 
I missed the first half last night, but the remainder of the game was mostly poorly played basketball from both teams. I understand Oklahoma was missing their best player (which is even worse for UC), but still. UC bricked a ton of threes and tallied up a ton of dumb fouls. For its part, OU missed umpteen shots within 10 feet of the basket.

Neither team had the look of a tournament team. And why was the arena maybe at one-third capacity? No raucous environment and no best player on the opposite side and UC still found a way to play just sloppy enough to lose.
 
Looks like UC’s Big 12 path is WVU, Kansas, Baylor, probably Iowa State, probably Houston. A walk in the park!

Even with Hunter Dickinson out, Kansas probably sends off the Bearcats on a March to Nowhere.
 
AEW Champion said:
Looks like UC’s Big 12 path is WVU, Kansas, Baylor, probably Iowa State, probably Houston. A walk in the park!

Even with Hunter Dickinson out, Kansas probably sends off the Bearcats on a March to Nowhere.
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There's a good chance that Kevin McCullar sits out too on Wednesday. If that's the case, I'd give UC a 50/50 shot at worst.
 
Chop Stix said:
There's a good chance that Kevin McCullar sits out too on Wednesday. If that's the case, I'd give UC a 50/50 shot at worst.
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Even at full strength we can play with anybody in this league. We can hang with Houston, conversely we could get beat by West Virginia. Depends on what kind of mood the fellas are in this week out in Kansas City.
 
I would say that unless UC wins it all (highly doubtful), they are out of the NCAA tournament talk for this year.

So, let's move on.... do they get an NIT bid? Last year's NIT game versus Virginia Tech at 5/3 was a great game and great atmosphere. They covered the upper level seats and the lower arena was packed with great energy.
 
jdizzle said:
I would say that unless UC wins it all (highly doubtful), they are out of the NCAA tournament talk for this year.

So, let's move on.... do they get an NIT bid? Last year's NIT game versus Virginia Tech at 5/3 was a great game and great atmosphere. They covered the upper level seats and the lower arena was packed with great energy.
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They will 100% get a NIT bid even if they (by some miracle) lose to WVU today. My initial guess would be a #2 or #3 seed.

As for their (almost non-existent) NCAA tournament hopes, I say they need to win their next 3 games (WVU, Kansas, then Baylor) before it should become a topic of conversation again.
 
jdizzle said:
I would say that unless UC wins it all (highly doubtful), they are out of the NCAA tournament talk for this year.

So, let's move on.... do they get an NIT bid? Last year's NIT game versus Virginia Tech at 5/3 was a great game and great atmosphere. They covered the upper level seats and the lower arena was packed with great energy.
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I propose a UC/Ohio State matchup at 5/3 for the opening round of the NIT.....
 
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