American Tournament

[leo from jersey]

I understand the philosophy behind that, but this team isn’t going anywhere in the NIT either. Play whomever for the one or two games they will be in the tournament.

agreed - on to next year and hope is eternal

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

If Miller has a good handle on who's leaving and who's staying. Who he's going to ask to remain and who he's not then if and when the invite to the NIT comes then play the ones who are remaining. Let them get some needed playing together and developing time. Let's waste no more time on those who are moving on and reward those that are returning the playing time.

For sure play Skillings and Reed, along with Vic.

[longtimefan]

Memphis destroyed Tulane 94-54. Not sure anybody would consider Penny a top tier coach, but talent wins.

[bearcatbret]

For those who want to cry in their milk, the school of cheaters down the road lost by nearly as much while supposedly being the 15th best team in the country and it was not against the no. 1 team. We had a bad game, fell back to our bad habits, could not shoot or rebound. This team is really good when they make shots and are really bad when they can't buy a basket. Today, they were really bad. It doesn't mean that they will fail in the NIT. They could potentially put together a string of good games.

[SKell82155]

Bret, why school of cheaters ? Whaddaya know ?

[leeraymond]

The thing that disturbs me about the Houston loss is that Miller has now seen Houston 6 times in two years and still has no clue how to beat them. Even Brannen beat Houston and Memphis one time each in his first year. My history following UC basketball goes back to Huggins. I cannot remember one team that dominated Huggins or Cronin the way that Memphis and Houston are dominating Miller. What is Miller going to do when he gets in the BIG 12? There are teams in the BIG 12 that can beat Houston.

UC only hit 13 shots against Houston. They normally hit about 26 shots a game. This UC team has players that DO NOT PLAY BIG IN BIG GAMES. Likewise, Miller has a terrible track record playing against nationally competitive teams. This was an embarrassing loss. Miller has five of them on the season (NKU, Ohio State, Houston at home, ECU, and Houston in conference tourney). There is something very wrong with Miller's basketball constructs and his system for preparing his players. These problems occur mostly on the defensive end. All game long against Houston, UC was a step slow, did not contest shots, and had problems getting around the screens. This late in the season and this team is still a mess.

I believe that Miller deserves a chance. I sincerely believe that. However, with every national game that UC plays, it becomes clear that Miller has problems competing with the nation's more competitive teams. Is he really the coach the program needs going forward? That question is also disturbing.

[bearcat1518]

a team that's really good without there best player...someone said snakebit and that's correct

no one game plans to miss open shots and get killed on the boards

what should the game plan have been?

there is no game plan. The only thing this team does is dribble down the court and fire up contested 3s. No movement. No consistent focal point of offense. Horrible defensive sets.

and if guys don’t rebound with effort…sit them. You’re gonna lose anyway, might as well set the tone. Skillings comes in, rebounds with effort and lessens the lead. Then back to the bench. Maybe practice nothing but rebounding…like Huggs would do when he was pissed.

2 full seasons and nothing has changed.

[bearcat1518]

You're ranking has nothing to do with Basketball Skills... UC has had a ton of 3 Star Players over the last 30yrs who had more TALENT than the above 4 star players you mentioned....

What was Kenyon Martin's ranking coming into UC..? And you're telling all of us Kenyon was not more skilled than the above mentioned... Thats Ridiculous!

youre actually proving my point. A coach like Huggs can take less talented guys and make them great players through teaching them hustle, defense and coaching them up on in-game situations. There is no evidence to support Wes has or can do that.

I’m not implying this current roster has final four talent, but to act like UC has no talent on its current roster is nonsensical.

[leo from jersey]

there is no game plan. The only thing this team does is dribble down the court and fire up contested 3s. No movement. No consistent focal point of offense. Horrible defensive sets.

and if guys don’t rebound with effort…sit them. You’re gonna lose anyway, might as well set the tone. Skillings comes in, rebounds with effort and lessens the lead. Then back to the bench. Maybe practice nothing but rebounding…like Huggs would do when he was pissed.

2 full seasons and nothing has changed.

I can't disagree with any of that. I could go on but I have lamented the weak me first efforts for a long time. Every word you said was right and I am glad someone has the balls to speak out, We do want a winning team and although the record says over 20 wins, most of us see the play on the court lacks effort, coaching and heart.

[leo from jersey]

youre actually proving my point. A coach like Huggs can take less talented guys and make them great players through teaching them hustle, defense and coaching them up on in-game situations. There is no evidence to support Wes has or can do that.

I’m not implying this current roster has final four talent, but to act like UC has no talent on its current roster is nonsensical.

“Guts win more games than ability.”

“Coaching isn’t a great mystery. It’s Just hard work, determination, and inspiration at the right moment.”

Robert Zuppke (College football Hall of fame coach at Illinois)

[Lobot]

I was at the game yesterday. We were not ready to play out of the gate and as someone mentioned, we were a step slow all day. I thought we looked tired out there and made a lot of mental unforced errors.

Some additional observations: You can't shoot 26% from the field in a first half against anyone much less the #1 team in the country and win. We did that twice. Our FG% actually went down in the second half.

David DeJulius is ineffective against defenders that are long and taller than he is. He was a no show in the tournament scoring column however you can't blame him for that. It's a bad matchup for him and Wes doesn't really control that.

Houston goes 10 deep and there's not a lot of falloff from the A team to the B team. We saw that when they expanded their lead after Sasser went down. Houston did that to us and only shot 20% from the 3pt range in the game. They won by 21 but too be honest in the gym it seemed like it should been 30+.

Jarace Walker is much bigger than you think. Remind me of Kevin Durant in that he's kind of all arms and shoulders. He'll be a lottery pick probably although he didn't have the greatest game yesterday.

Back to UC, Vik was not healthy yesterday going into the game and was in visible pain in the second half after going down in a loose ball scramble. He gutted it out the whole game and you could see on his face in the second half that he was hurt. I'm not sure what the injury was but I'm guessing a groin issue. He was holding his left arm below his waist band a good portion of the 2nd half. I think the reason he didn't dunk the ball that rimmed out is because he couldn't.

Regardless of Houston's defense, we couldn't hit the broadside of a barn yesterday. When we did get a decent look they weren't going down. We had some three balls that were perfectly on line and went short in that game. That was one of the signs to me that were were tired. It's not like they were out late partying or something because there's not a lot going on around the team hotel in downtown Ft. Worth.

Houston fans outnumbered everyone else at the tournament. The place holds 13K for basketball and I'd say about the place was at 40% capacity for our game and 90% of those attending fans were Houston people. UC fans did not travel well for this tournament at all which is a shame because the arena is pretty nice even though the overall location is terrible for a tournament. Glad we're leaving the AAC if for no other reason than they keep putting the tourney in the farthest geographical location away from the conference's middle point. it's just stupid on their part.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

[leeraymond]

I was at the game yesterday. We were not ready to play out of the gate and as someone mentioned, we were a step slow all day. I thought we looked tired out there and made a lot of mental unforced errors.

Some additional observations: You can't shoot 26% from the field in a fist half against anyone much less the #1 team in the country and win. We did that twice. Our FG% actually went down in the second half.

David DeJulius is ineffective against defenders that are long and taller than he is. He was a no show in the tournament scoring column however you can't blame him for that. It's a bad matchup for him and Wes doesn't really control that.

Houston goes 10 deep and there's not a lot of falloff from the A team to the B team. We saw that when they expanded their lead after Sasser went down. Houston did that to us and only shot 20% from the 3pt range. in the game. They won by 21 but too be honest in the gym it seemed like it should been 30+.

Jarace Walker is much bigger than you think. Remind me of Kevin Durant in that he's kind of all arms and shoulders. He'll be a lottery pick probably although he didn't have the greatest game yesterday.

Back to UC, Vik was not healthy yesterday going into the game and was in visible pain in the second half after going down in a loose ball scramble. He gutted it out the whole game and you could see on his face in the second half that he was hurt. I'm not sure what the injury was but I'm guessing a groin issue. He was holding his left arm below his waist band a good portion of the 2nd half. I think the reason he didn't dunk the ball that rimmed out is because he couldn't.

Reagrdless of Houston's defense, we couldn't hit the broadside of a barn yesterday. When we did get a decent look they weren't going down. We had some three balls that were perfectly on line and went short in that game. That was one of the signs to me that were were tired. It's not like they were out late partying or something becuase there's not a lot going on around the team hotel in downtown Ft. Worth.

Houston fans outnumbered everyone else at the tournament. The place holds 13K for basketball and I'd say about the place was at 40% capacity for our game and 90% of those attending fans were Houston people. UC fans did not travel well for this tournament at all which is a shame because the arena is pretty nice even though the overall location is terrible for a tournament. Glad we're leaving the AAC if for no other reason than they keep putting the tourney in the farthest geographical location away from the conference's middle point. it's just stupid on their part.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Very good and enlightening assessment.

[leo from jersey]

I was at the game yesterday. We were not ready to play out of the gate and as someone mentioned, we were a step slow all day. I thought we looked tired out there and made a lot of mental unforced errors.

Some additional observations: You can't shoot 26% from the field in a fist half against anyone much less the #1 team in the country and win. We did that twice. Our FG% actually went down in the second half.

David DeJulius is ineffective against defenders that are long and taller than he is. He was a no show in the tournament scoring column however you can't blame him for that. It's a bad matchup for him and Wes doesn't really control that.

Houston goes 10 deep and there's not a lot of falloff from the A team to the B team. We saw that when they expanded their lead after Sasser went down. Houston did that to us and only shot 20% from the 3pt range. in the game. They won by 21 but too be honest in the gym it seemed like it should been 30+.

Jarace Walker is much bigger than you think. Remind me of Kevin Durant in that he's kind of all arms and shoulders. He'll be a lottery pick probably although he didn't have the greatest game yesterday.

Back to UC, Vik was not healthy yesterday going into the game and was in visible pain in the second half after going down in a loose ball scramble. He gutted it out the whole game and you could see on his face in the second half that he was hurt. I'm not sure what the injury was but I'm guessing a groin issue. He was holding his left arm below his waist band a good portion of the 2nd half. I think the reason he didn't dunk the ball that rimmed out is because he couldn't.

Reagrdless of Houston's defense, we couldn't hit the broadside of a barn yesterday. When we did get a decent look they weren't going down. We had some three balls that were perfectly on line and went short in that game. That was one of the signs to me that were were tired. It's not like they were out late partying or something becuase there's not a lot going on around the team hotel in downtown Ft. Worth.

Houston fans outnumbered everyone else at the tournament. The place holds 13K for basketball and I'd say about the place was at 40% capacity for our game and 90% of those attending fans were Houston people. UC fans did not travel well for this tournament at all which is a shame because the arena is pretty nice even though the overall location is terrible for a tournament. Glad we're leaving the AAC if for no other reason than they keep putting the tourney in the farthest geographical location away from the conference's middle point. it's just stupid on their part.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

perhaps the players should have been rested more when it was obvious Temple would never come back and had quit. Of course, big leads have been given away this year, but Temple was done much earlier than when the subbing started.

Houston also played the day before and had a tougher game than the Cats did. Temple while trying, was mentally and physically dismayed over losing their best player.
Ty Cobb stated something to the effect of: "the most important part of a great ballplayer's body is above his shoulders." Decades later, however amusing it may sound, Yogi Berra added his now famous phrase, "90% of the game is half mental. You did mention as did others that the Cats were not ready to play.

To score so few points in a half, even while being tired and hurt, there had to be something else. Houston is a very good team and like the bearcats from the past, the victory was almost conceded before the tip off. It took Huggs till Nov. 25, 1989 to have his team totally believe although he was building on it.
We all want to see that and my hope is for that. Beat X next year and it will make whatever happens in the Big 12 tolerable.

[longtimefan]

The thing that disturbs me about the Houston loss is that Miller has now seen Houston 6 times in two years and still has no clue how to beat them. Even Brannen beat Houston and Memphis one time each in his first year. My history following UC basketball goes back to Huggins. I cannot remember one team that dominated Huggins or Cronin the way that Memphis and Houston are dominating Miller. What is Miller going to do when he gets in the BIG 12? There are teams in the BIG 12 that can beat Houston.

UC only hit 13 shots against Houston. They normally hit about 26 shots a game. This UC team has players that DO NOT PLAY BIG IN BIG GAMES. Likewise, Miller has a terrible track record playing against nationally competitive teams. This was an embarrassing loss. Miller has five of them on the season (NKU, Ohio State, Houston at home, ECU, and Houston in conference tourney). There is something very wrong with Miller's basketball constructs and his system for preparing his players. These problems occur mostly on the defensive end. All game long against Houston, UC was a step slow, did not contest shots, and had problems getting around the screens. This late in the season and this team is still a mess.

I believe that Miller deserves a chance. I sincerely believe that. However, with every national game that UC plays, it becomes clear that Miller has problems competing with the nation's more competitive teams. Is he really the coach the program needs going forward? That question is also disturbing.

Brannen had Trevon Scott and Jarron Cumberland, and that Houston team was nowhere near the level of this Houston team. Three Brannen guys are still getting major minutes, guys that didn’t get an offer from UC when Mick was here. Give the coach a chance with his own guys.

[Gmann]

A couple other thoughts on yesterday's game....

Skillings is clearly the type of talent that can move the whole program forward. He brings the energy and looks on offense to get to the basket first before settling for a 3 which he can also do well. Too many of the current players take the lazy way out with contested 3's making us so easy to defend. Skillings also has the athleticism to rebound and puts in the effort. He is not afraid to get physical on either end of the floor. We need more of that. He still needs to improve on defense as he is too often off balance and flailing around. I think he will get better there because he's trying.

Also I also really appreciate Oguama's effort yesterday. That dude is giving it everything he has all the time. He's still a work in progress offensively but man is he active and athletic. I hope he stays.

I am really curious to see what happens with Reed.. You can see he's lost confidence and is barely getting any PT. I hope he can be more than what we've seen so far.