Game 29: UCF 2/23 ESPNU 9:00

[Fox19bearcatbounce]

I don't know if they auditioning but if they are... it's not going well. I think the early success the team had unfortunately made many of us feel we were ahead of schedule. Makes todays reality harder to deal with.
I have said this before but I'm convinced that improvement will only come with player replacement vs improvement of the current roster.

I agree with better players more improvement will come, you give Miller uk talent he would prolly make the dance and be a contender to get to 2nd weekend. My point is things like boxing out and making adjustments. Since the lack of supposible talent miller has, he should be coaching and structuring things more than if he had a ton of talent. Something did happen from the first 5 games uc won, maybe they let it go to their heads or maybe teams just didnt know how to scout uc and now they know if u play solid d and uc isnt on fire from 3 that their going to win when uc lacks fundamentals and doesn't attempt to rebound.

[Carthage World]

A couple realizations I've had over the past several weeks:

1) Wes really misjudged the raw talent of many guys on the roster.

Now I'm not sure if he brought some of these guys in to be 1-2 year stop-gap pieces or legitimate program cornerstone pieces, but many of them have not filled the roles that Wes must've imagined for them.

-Newman... He's been a passenger on offense for most of the season. Plays 26 mpg when he contributes like someone who plays 15.

-Ody... He's one of the few players I don't want to give up on but his mental side of the game has been very disappointing.

-Ado... He simply does not look anywhere near a player that started 130 games in the SEC. I'm assuming lingering injuries have been his greatest issue all season. I wonder to what degree these injuries were present when we signed him versus what became an issue after he got on campus. It's possible that he only landed at UC because we were the best program that would take him despite the injuries.

-MAW... Thinking back to what Wes said about MAW during preseason interviews, I think he envisioned MAW being much more aggressive with the ball in his hand and developing into a more consistent scorer. MAW has done a better job this year of creating assists and limiting turnovers, but we needed more scoring from him and he has more often than not failed in that department.

Everyone else either came in with little to no expectations (Lakhin & the 3 UNCG guys) or has somewhat built upon their production from last season (Saunders, DDJ, JD). Madsen falls somewhere in between those two groups.

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2) The lack of balanced players in this squad makes line-up combinations very difficult.

If we put out a line-up of DDJ, Madsen, Davenport, Vik, and Ody we'll give up 100 points/game.

If we put out a line-up of Saunders, MAW, Newman, Koval, and Ado we'll only score 40 points/game.

Obviously Wes has tried to find the best blend of line-ups over time, but every line-up we put out has some glaring weakness that opposing AAC coaches are finding to be increasingly easy to exploit.

----

3) No Plan B

Wes either feels so crippled by the limitations of this current roster that he believes any major line-up changes or system changes (man vs zone D) will lead to all-out disaster OR he's so stubborn about his own ways that he refuses to compromise and shake things up in an attempt to win more games.

Aside from a few exceptions where everything just magically clicked (Illinois, Wichita & SMU at home) we've struggled in nearly every non-Q4 game on our schedule.

It's as if all you need to beat Wes Miller is average talent, decent athletes, and a little bit of coaching acumen.

[red_n_black_attack]

I agree with better players more improvement will come, you give Miller uk talent he would prolly make the dance and be a contender to get to 2nd weekend. My point is things like boxing out and making adjustments. Since the lack of supposible talent miller has, he should be coaching and structuring things more than if he had a ton of talent. Something did happen from the first 5 games uc won, maybe they let it go to their heads or maybe teams just didnt know how to scout uc and now they know if u play solid d and uc isnt on fire from 3 that their going to win when uc lacks fundamentals and doesn't attempt to rebound.

I was thinking how different this season looks if they had won the Are-Kansas and Monmouth games, as both were close games following the win over Illinois. Things were clicking, shots were falling, and all was well to begin the Wes Miller era. If they were 9-0 heading into the University of Norwood game, even if we still lost, and the swagger may have lasted longer into the season. I don't think those two losses crushed team momentum, but that momentum and chemistry/swagger may have been much higher in some of the bad losses. Oh well. Maybe they can get hot in conference tournament or NIT.


Please note. This isn't a wasted season. This team has just about met my realistic expections from October and my expectations were falsely raised after beating the Illini. My heart says we should have zero losses or be competitive in every game. I have the expectation to win prior to every game. I get we won't but last night was miserable.

[Gmann]

As we have seen if we don't hit a high percentage of 3's we lose and we don't have any consistent 3 point scorers. It would seem to me you shouldn't be playing up tempo if you don't attack the basket well and turn it over at an alarming rate. They'd be better off running clock and trying to get a good look and limiting possessions of their opponent since they are horrible on defense. I think MIller is going to run and gun even though he doesn't have the players to execute it. At this point it really doesn't matter for this year's outcome but if he's married to one style he better recruit players who have the talent to run it.

[Carin's Dad]

The commentary on here is looking a lot like Mick's first year, but I don't think Lobot is going to allow this discussion to get as ugly as it did in 2006/7.

Wes has a better start than Mick - a winning first season. It took Mick five seasons to get to the dance, so I'm going to be patient for a couple of years.

[Rufus]

You ever get the feeling that some of these guys are auditioning for their next team because they know they're gone?

You know, Lobot, I commented a while back on the attitude and court demeanor of several players wondering if their attitude was even right. Perhaps that just may be it. Maybe these one time defectors were only going to stay for one year under the new regime and ate hawking their wares so to speak If that is the case their interview and resume is going to severally lacking. But it makes much more sense than my dream scenario of CWM just giving these players enough "coaching " to make them competitive through the conference but then when tourney time came it would be "release the Kracken"! Lull everyone to sleep thinking its in the bag but then Bam! All heck breaks loose come tournament..
I think Carthage World has the right synopsis. I think CWM knows exactly what needs to be done to win games now with the talent he has while biding time to build the team he wants. As I stated earlier its going to be very interesting to see who does go and who stays. I cant hardly wait to see what were getting in Skillings and Reed.

[Big_Daddy_Bearcat_07]

I watched the end of the WVU/ISU game as I was waiting for our game to cut over to ESPNU. I didn't see much difference in WVU from the Bearcats. WVU took horrible shots, played selfish and had really bad mistakes that handed the game away. I know the older alumni want back the years were coaches disciplined and instilled work ethic into the players but it seems like this generation of kids don't respond it. When faced with adversity, most quit and/or become selfish. Even Huggs stood there looking like his head was about to explode but remained calm and it was not the traditional reaction we all would have expected. I think any coach will need time to build a culture and expectation along with recruiting players who want to be apart of it. The prior coach was fired for his effort (right or wrong) attempting to get the players to respond. A big part of the new hire was to for the new coach to be different from the old. I think Wes's hands are tied a bit knowing that the administration, players, and players family want him to be sensitive to him being overly abrasive. This team was never gonna win the AAC and making the dance was never a realistic achievement. The seasons has been much of a mirror to last season. Some early highs followed by constant lows. The constant over the last two seasons is the players.

[leo from jersey]

perhaps just a case of uncoachable players all existing together

[Rufus]

Lets not forget the advent of the transfer portal, G leagues and the new NIL agreement gives students today more of a voice on how, when, where they are going to play. College sports has forever changed and were seeing the germ of it. Building a culture is going to be non-existent. "Free agency" has dictated that one determines how to best use the talent available in each given year. Developing a player through multi - year term is going extinct.

[leeraymond]

This UC team is an interesting team to watch. Last night they got off to an okay start. The score was 11 to 11 when Saunders and Ody came in. Next thing you know Davenport turns the ball over driving the paint and on the very next possession, Saunders turns the ball over. Both turnovers led to baskets and UC was down by 6 just like that. They never were in the game after that. I have seen every game this season. Many of their 11 losses started okay. Then the backups come in and the game becomes unstable for UC. I am NOT saying that the backups are the source of the problem. However, Coach Miller has a very hard time reading the tea leaves. Also, he does not seem to be the type of guy that learns from mistakes or desires to try new approaches. I read on this blog that Miller is not responsible for the substitution patterns (Mike Roberts is) but can veto them if he does not like them. People become head coaches to make those types of decisions. What type of head coach would give an assistant coach that kind of control over the team? Last point. Check out Miller's defensive stats when he was at Greensboro. He was there for 10 years. It took him 5 years to get an overall winning record. His last 5 years were pretty good (winning records). The point is this, during Miller's entire time at Greensboro, except for one year (62 points a game 2017-18) his teams gave up anywhere from 66 to 70 points a game (Southern Conference). Those are NOT dominating defensive numbers. You would think that he would have had more dominating defenses in a lesser league. Not unless a coach is really good defensively, when he/she goes to a higher conference, those defensive numbers may go up. That is what is happening to Miller. What worked in the SOCON is not working in the AAC. UC has now given up 75 or more points in five straight games and guess what? They have lost four of those games. It is very difficult to win giving up those types of points night in and night out. Also, they are going to finish with a LOSING RECORD IN THE CONFERENCE for the first time in over a decade. UC is not an easy place to be a basketball coach. The fans are spoiled with such long-term appearances in the NCAA. Additionally, Cincinnati fans KNOW COLLEGE BASKETBALL. I hate to say this, but it appears that the fan pressure is already on Miller. A basketball coach has to earn his respect at Cincinnati. Fans do not just give it to a coach. So far Miller has NOT impressed anyone. Good luck to you Miller. You will need it for next year.

[longtimefan]

perhaps just a case of uncoachable players all existing together

I think that’s 90% of it.

[longtimefan]

I’m not ready to place blame anywhere. Coach Miller’s first recruiting class isn’t even on campus yet. He’s had to adapt to his personnel, so we really don’t know what a Miller coached really looks like. It appears DDJ may return (he’s not participating in Senior Night), the recruits already signed will fill glaring needs, and coach will have a normal off-season to bring in talent via transfer. If we look like this in two-three years then CWM should be held accountable, but I really don’t see that happening.

[BorisTheCat]

Longtimefan, I agree with you that.. it's unfair to judge CWM too much on the current situation EXCEPT for... I think we would have given him a lot of credit if things were trending the other way... we actually did at the start of the season. I'd be interested in knowing how many roster spots he REALLY considers open... obviously, we have three recruits coming in but... coach's have a way of encouraging transfers if they can fill a spot with a better player... Just wonder if when the season is over, CWM gets a bit more hardcore on making this team better by possible personnel upgrades.

[leo from jersey]

I have changed my mind. CWM needs to give us all a hug. BTW before we all sing unity sunshine songs about how the coaching has changed, did anybody notice the Temple coach the other night. He seemed to be extremely upset with his team in the lead and shared his feelings with players who made plays beneath his expectations. He won the game as a visitor. - I know Philly tough and I used to know Cincy tough. I can eat both Philly steaks and Cincy coneys with pleasure, but I can't say the same for efforts on the court.

[Lobot]

Well, this is interesting. I think what we have here is a lack of quality practice time leading to lots of other stuff ($)

https://theathletic.com/3147392/2022...pointing-loss/