American Tournament

[Chewbacca2099]

Brannen had the benefit of playing with Cronin coached players. I think there has been a big dropoff since on effort and hustle. Look how well Cronin is doing now when he doesn't have to recruit so hard to get high end players. Wish he would have stayed until we got into the Big12, we could be elite again.

[bearcatbret]

Bret, why school of cheaters ? Whaddaya know ?

I doubt if they are cheating this year. I think that starting last year, it is a free for all with NIL and lack of oversight. I will clarify that we believe that they have covered up internal player issues in the past, every past coach of theirs has moved on to bigger programs and ultimately got busted for illegal recruiting and other violations. I was just referring to the big picture of their program historically.

[Rufus]

I was very much on board with the CWM hiring and have been rooting for him to succeed. I was even in the same boat as many others on this forum that was constantly saying to wait for the time to when He has a stable of his own recruits. Then let's see what he can do. But after watching this season unfold as it has I'm of the opinion that He is enamored with the idea of being the head coach of a school with such a rich tradition but is over his head in teaching defensive strategies, rebounding techniques, and especially motivating players. He tolerates too much ineffective and would even go as far as detrimental play from players before making changes. He has shown no ability to strategize against the defenses he's faced or to make any in game adjustments. Someone mentioned that DDJ was ineffective against anyone taller than he assigned to guard him. That's been the case all season and yet no one on this staff can't devise plays to get him open? In fact I see no offensive plays being run at all other than passing the ball to get to one of our best shooters.
I'm afraid that going into the B12 with these players and playing the same scheme that we are currently employing that we are going to languish in the basement.
Someone else has said it but it's a fact we've seen the same product with no one, coaches or players trying to conform to the others strengths and getting better. Any coach can recognize what the opposing teams are doing to defend your better players but to not do anything different to counter that even after seeing it six times and standing pat with the same strategy is crazy.

[longtimefan]

He hasn’t even brought in his 2nd recruit class yet.

[JBB]

Rufus, you are spot on! I have said on previous posts
that CWM wasn’t tough enough on this team. You control the effort by granting playing time. Several on this forum used excuse of “today’s AAU” type kids. I refuse to believe that, Cronin, Mark Few and even Sean Miller get more effort s out their players. Coaches don’t need to verbalize abuse their players to get their attention. It’s about setting a standard and not giving in to substandard play
FYI, we have declined to the 3rd best D1 basketball program in the city, X, NKU and us. Brannon and the AD contributed to this rebuild. But CWM needs to set the bar high and not worry about the portal or the local kid getting enough PT and his shot at glory. I would have played Reed and Skillings a heck of a lot more. Now we’re worried about transfers???? Really??? When do we start acting like an elite program???

[longtimefan]

Memphis dominated Houston, showing again that talent wins. Maybe Kelvin Sampson isn’t such a great coach after all.

[bearcatbret]

Was Houston without their best player?

[JBB]

30 wins? I would say Sampson is a great coach. His players play extremely hard, defend, rebound and scrap all over the floor. Seems reminiscent of years gone by of my Bearcats

[John P]

30 wins? I would say Sampson is a great coach. His players play extremely hard, defend, rebound and scrap all over the floor. Seems reminiscent of years gone by of my Bearcats

But when Mick had 30 wins everyone said he couldn't coach and wanted him gone.

[longtimefan]

Memphis gets an 8 Seed. There’s your 8 beating 1 upset in round 2.

[bearcatbret]

But when Mick had 30 wins everyone said he couldn't coach and wanted him gone.

And with 30 wins, the fans chased him off.

[leo from jersey]

Was Houston without their best player?

Temple was and Houston's got hurt at the middle of the first half against the Cats

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Was Houston without their best player?

Sasser did not play.

[bearcatbret]

Sasser did not play.

I hope that he is able to play full strength in the NCAA. It would be great if Houston could make a deep run in the tournament.

[Lobot]

Box Score: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401515337

Athletic Post Mortem: ($)

https://theathletic.com/4298701/2023...asketball-aac/