Game 27: Wichita St. 2/17 7:00 ESPN2

[Rufus]

JD dribbling around trying to get himself open instead of passing tries to drive the lane and gets stripped.

[Rufus]

What in the world was MS trying to do with that 3 on 2 fast break? Typical guard play here latey, throw up a prayer.

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

4 pts in 3 seconds for whichita, wes miller is not a good coach. Salt some freaking clock for the love of god.

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

This team is so poorly coached on offense I cant watch them anymore

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

Why is he taking shots with 15 seconds on shot clock when he is being face guarded, this team is not bad, they are so poorly coached it is almost impossible to watch, instead of salting away a game they continue to shoot so early in shot clock and giving whichita every opportunity to get back in

[Rufus]

Because hes apparently got the green light to shoot it from any where anytime anyhow he can get it off. Because hes not afraid to shoot it.

[bearcatbret]

Woods - assist = 3, turnovers = 4
However, he did lead the team with rebounds with 6. That is bad in itself, not for Woods but for the team.

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

I'm sorry guys, I dont think miller has one bit of offensive coaching in him, jd needs pulled especially when the game matters. He is so careless with his shot selections and to keep trying to score whenever he gets the ball. Uc built their 2nd half lead with him on bench, he is extremely difficult to watch and then watch ody get pulled when he rebounds better than anyone else on team. I have never ever ever seen a coach allow his team to continue to take super early shots when up by 13 with 6 to go. Every single possession they tried to score like they were down 15. Miller is an extremely awful in game management coach on top of an horrific offensive coach. He can only get better, they basically begged whichita to win. This team is not elite but have enough players to be on the bubble. Miller is bad, very bad at coaching

[London 'Cat]

How do you coach a bunch of players who have no offensive skills to be good at offense? It’s not Miller’s fault the players have no offense skills. They are really not fit to play at this level. They try hard, some times, but good defensive teams can make them one dimensional - spot shooters at best.

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

We have been in basically every game but 2. Yes were not elite at offense but because uc relies on 3 pt baskets they will be hot and cold. I dont like to give out participation ribbons like some do. They scored 80 tonight, they have their flaws but their players are not incompetent on offense, they just dont value possessions and take dumb shots. That's ion coach when it continues to happen. U think that they shouldn't of tried to salt the clock longer than 5 seconds into when up by 14 with 6 to go then maybe blame it on the players. I'm saying they are, u cant pull jd when he continues to not rebound and not guard but will take 5 straight air ball 3pt shots early in the clock. Then give up multiple points on defense. Pull guys instead of allocating them certain amount of minutes at certain times in games. That's on coach, were not kentucky with offensive talent, but u take better shots and work the ball around and play stout defense and they have enough talent to finish top 3 in this league period.

[London 'Cat]

So you assert that CWM and staff are coaching the players not to value the ball and to take stupid, early shots. Got it. Since that is a fact because you assert so, then yes, Miller is a terrible coach and should be fired immediately. And absolutely no blame falls at the players’ feet because they are only doing what the coaching staff tells them to.

An alternate theory is the players have limited offensive skills, are poor passers into the post, the post players cannot finish when they do get the ball in position to score, and other than DDJ, no player can create his own shot off the dribble. Which seems more reasonable and rationale than Miller is an awful coach?

[John P]

Overall, I thought the Cats played pretty good tonight. Their shots were falling, I saw more effort rebounding, Ody looked pretty good under the basket.
Were they perfect? NO WAY. I'm not one to put a lot of stock in preseason polls but I think they're playing right about at the level they were expected to play at.
CWM threw this team together in a very short time and the pool was pretty dry when he had to go looking. This team certainly isn't the yardstick to measure CWM and his ability to coach.

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

We definitely understand that miller threw together a team at the last minute, I agree we shouldn't be a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and never expected to be, what I'm saying is when jd take these contested 3 pt shots super early in the clock when when time is on our side I expect him to say something to him, sit him for a minute and explain he will get shots but stop forcing things its hurting the team and not helping, anyone watching the game tonight seen that ody has great potential, he plays hard and rebounds which is more than I can say about any other big down low. Miller doesn't scoff when ado doesn't box out or play with fire, but he will yank a guy who gave u 2 rebounds and 4 pts in a minutes. Why? That's coaching, again when ur up by 14 with 6 to go why not be saying on sidelines or waving for them to take more time off clock, that's coaching. As bad of offensive players everyone says we have we still are in games, still have had plenty of chances to win, but what has cost us many games is the shot selection. That's when a coach tells his guys to take good shots, pass the ball. We dont have the greatest players but were playing in a 1bid possibly 2 bid league so u dont have to be world beaters to be in top 3 or 4. He doesn't call timeouts ever to stop bleeding when games are slipping away. Also I never said he should be fired, I would give him at least 3 years but I watch the games very carefully and we have had a chance to win basically all but 2. Your argument is we dont have the offensive skilled players, then why on God's green earth is it ok to shoot 30 ft contested 3 pt shots. Those shots are for guys good at offense right? Had whichita been able to hit shots when they had 4 attempts almost 4 possessions in a row, why not get guys in willing to rebound why allow them without saying hey guys times on our side dont shoot 2 seconds into the clock. Everything I ever hear is we dont have great offensive players then why does he continue to allow certain ones to not play d and rebound and why does he continue to allow the to shoot the worst possible percentage shots. That's coaching regardless, is he a good motivator sure, does he teach good defense maybe. U cant have certain guys in and play man all the time, guys like jd and mikey need to be hidden in a zone every once in while. He allows his guys to play whatever type offense they want, why would he do that if we dont have great offensive players? the questions as asked how do I expect players without offensive skill to score? First off the dumb shot takers would be penalized by sitting on pine, second I would attack to pass the ball so guys get open, cut to basket every once in while but mainly since they are not good offensive players I would coach them to do things other than take low low percentage shots. moat shots that they take u could get at any time in shot clock.

[RedDog]

I totally agree John.
I think this was the best game they have played in weeks. There was more effort to get the ball inside and more effort by the bigs to make moves and get some shots off. This generated some nice inside out passing and open 3's and less pressure on the perimeter.. I have been saying all along its not the number of 3's that's the problem its generating decent looks out of the offense and the quality of the 3's. There is a direct correlation between our shooting % and our willingness to move the ball and make the extra pass. Tonight was a clear example. Granted there was still some very sloppy and selfish play at times and as a rule our guards are very poor passers, but I can live with tonights performance. I would say they played very well about 28 minutes and very poor about 12 minutes. The film should be an excellent example to show the guys the difference.
At this point I think there is so much animosity built up many of our posters have lost their objectivity. This was a nice win. If this team, with all the issues we have been discussing and quickly assembled roster can win 20 games, that's a pretty good first season for Wes. I am not sure what everyones expectations were but clearly they were unrealistic for the circumstances.

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

I agree that they played hard, that should be an automatic for everyone who puts a Cincinnati Jersey on. I'm very proud of this team, we have a lot of upper class men on this squad, after the first five games I truly expected to be a bubble team come tournament time. My argument is coach needs to hold guys accountable and not just play guys certain amount of times just because. Had whichita been able to hit a few more shots from 6 minute mark on, this game could of turned ugly and super close real quick. He definitely should of told them to take more time off clock. Because I love the cats so much I do want them to win and there are seniors who wont get to play in ncaa tournament. I'm ok with shooting a ton of 3 pt shots as long as they are good looks. But to come down especially in crunch time and jack up crazy shots early early in shot clock I also expect him to coach them not too. Any win is a good day to me. But if he just coached them to value their possessions more by sitting them or doing something them maybe they would be less likely to take them and uc would be less likely to go through 10 or 12 minute slop sessions