Dayton 12/16 7:00 ESPN+

[bearcat1518]

Well, after crushing those buy games, we wanted to find out what we really have, so now we know. There are a bunch of one dimensional guys on this team. The guys who can shoot can’t defend, our best defenders can’t score. We have point guards who want to dribble drive instead of facilitate. Aziz is not the impact player we were led to believe, and the two big lineup is a failure so far. That, and again you could sense early on that the Dayton guys took this game very seriously, and again our guys didn’t seem to. Coach Miller needs a little more Huggs vibe, if guys don’t show extreme effort, get them out of there. I’m thinking of guys who drive to the rim in traffic and keep missing low percentage shots.This was a real embarrassment. I’m too upset to go on right now.

Well said.

And for the second game in a row…basically two guys on other team smoke us and coach can’t make an adjustment to stop it. There is zero strategic impact from Wes. But hey, as long as the players think he is cool…all good right?//

[Rufus]

Wash, rinse, repeat. Same script same result. Miller gets recruits by promising them freestyle of play, but he's not gonna be able to keep em with losing. No body wants to play for a loser. He is **** bent on proving that success can be achieved by allowing these kids to play however they want and is blind that nothing is working. That and the revolving door rotation is self destructing this team. This is beyond pathetic, no it's actually a crime to have this much talent and have absolutely no structure, no direction, and no clue on how to correct things.

[longtimefan]

One more thing. I know we’ve had decent success there, but I hate playing in that cold, sterile barn on the riverfront. I like the idea of playing Dayton, but make it home-home. They have a nice facility, so do we, play it home-home.

[longtimefan]

And yet, Trayvon Griffith cannot get on the court.

That’s a head scratcher.

[bearcatbret]

Cats 8 of 16 FT's, Flyers 28 of 30. That's just lack of focus.

That is the game right there.

[SKell82155]

Well said.

And for the second game in a row…basically two guys on other team smoke us and coach can’t make an adjustment to stop it. There is zero strategic impact from Wes. But hey, as long as the players think he is cool…all good right?//

I think the Xavier players thought Travis Steele was cool too lol.

[bearcatbret]

I would also like to point out that there is a lot of negativity on this board on all topics. I agree with most of it. However, it does not do any of us any good. I suspect that many who criticize the coaching have never coached college basketball before especially on the D1 level. I also suspect that those who criticize the players have never played D1 ball before. Please refrain from attacking the players who are out there trying to win. Any student athlete at this level hates to lose. Yes, we do have to prepare for the opponent thus planning offensive plays and a set of defensive stances. Probably the same people who complained about Mick's recruiting and play style are the ones who also wanted him gone. At least Mick took us to the NCAA tournament every year.

[SKell82155]

And yet, Trayvon Griffith cannot get on the court.

Did I see a Rayvon sighting in the Bryant game the other night ?

[leo from jersey]

[QUOTE=Rufus;n409020]Wash, rinse, repeat. Same script same result. Miller gets recruits by promising them freestyle of play, but he's not gonna be able to keep em with losing. No body wants to play for a loser. He is **** bent on proving that success can be achieved by all"""owing these kids to play however they want and is blind that nothing is working. That and the revolving door rotation is self destructing this team. This is beyond pathetic, nI""


I can only imagine what CJ and Simas would do if they were on a team that planned for their strengths? As it is, they often lead the team in scoring. It appears that the team must give up exciting for playing as a unit. There is little, if any attempt to do that. The standing around was too much. CWM should have jerked all five off the court. Maybe a couple had quit for a few minutes and needed to be woke up. WHERE was the rim protection last night. Good moves by Dayton showed where it was on several attempts especially when the game was tightening up ? Where was the inside scoring game? How many blocks did UD have? I wasn't there, but did it seem like any on the bench was leaning forward, involved with the game and wanted in. Are classes done for a time and the break moved to BB? That was wretched ball last night and there is coming up a very difficult schedule with well coached teams.

[leo from jersey]

I would also like to point out that there is a lot of negativity on this board on all topics. I agree with most of it. However, it does not do any of us any good. I suspect that many who criticize the coaching have never coached college basketball before especially on the D1 level. I also suspect that those who criticize the players have never played D1 ball before. Please refrain from attacking the players who are out there trying to win. Any student athlete at this level hates to lose. Yes, we do have to prepare for the opponent thus planning offensive plays and a set of defensive stances. Probably the same people who complained about Mick's recruiting and play style are the ones who also wanted him gone. At least Mick took us to the NCAA tournament every year.

We didn't attack those out playing to win, but those who think they are entitled to win and to their scholarship. Did you see the game or only the forum? Once again, your comment covered the old ground of folks wanted MC gone and he took UC to the tourney. By that logic, CWM should also be wanted to go. I have advocated at least one more year, but the team just doesn't play intelligent ball versus teams who have equal talent and not the buy teams. This board is a place to come and show frustration, but after reading your post it appears that you think that you are the only one entitled to be frustrated. I think your frustration is mostly misplaced. The members here love the Cats. The members love the history. The members love the school and being UC, we are entitled to better..

[bearcat1518]

I would also like to point out that there is a lot of negativity on this board on all topics. I agree with most of it. However, it does not do any of us any good. I suspect that many who criticize the coaching have never coached college basketball before especially on the D1 level. I also suspect that those who criticize the players have never played D1 ball before. Please refrain from attacking the players who are out there trying to win. Any student athlete at this level hates to lose. Yes, we do have to prepare for the opponent thus planning offensive plays and a set of defensive stances. Probably the same people who complained about Mick's recruiting and play style are the ones who also wanted him gone. At least Mick took us to the NCAA tournament every year.

I would also like to point out that I do not care what you think. I did play D1 for UC. Also, the game isn’t rocket science…so yeah, anyone can criticize, even a couch potato is entitled to criticize. Secondly, the only reason pro sports and today’s college sports exist is because of fans and the revenue from given fans.

in your words, “please refrain from attacking” fans who care about and support their alma mater. SMH…

[London 'Cat]

And yet, Trayvon Griffith cannot get on the court.

It’s Rayvon. I don’t understand the coaches’ logic behind this. Do they want to redshirt him? Is there not a position for him in the random substitution pattern? Is he not the recruit we apparently believe he is? I just don’t get why he can’t see the court.

[bearcated]

I suspect that many who criticize the coaching have never coached college basketball before especially on the D1 level.

I don't need to be a D1 coach to know bad basketball when I see it. If not the coach, who do I blame? The cheerleaders?

The talent is sufficient. Not dominant, but s/b enough to beat a rebuilding X squad and a decent mid-major Dayton team. If they had been competitive in those games, but it just came down to who made the last shot to win, then so be it. Stuff happens.

I expected last night to be a close competitive game, that would come down to the last minute or two. The arena sucks, but I liked the idea of a close game and tournament type feel, with a fired up crowd. Last night Dayton largely controlled the game, and dominated in the second half. At no point in the second half did I feel like UC was going to make a serious run. The UC side of the arena was just sitting in shocked disbelief, watching Dayton fans high five in celebration.

There are problems with this program, and at some point the buck has to stop somewhere.

[Gmann]

Let me see if I can sumarize my feelings toward the CWM era after a few hours of sleeplessness in the middle of the night. My ire and frustration is solely with CWM and his coaching staff not the players. I believe CWM is a master recruiter. I would contend in my 50+ years of following Bearcat BB this is the most talented roster top to bottom that they have ever had. You can see everyone of the guys flash their talent at times but not consistently. All of these guys have had success in High School, or in another program or JC level. I'm not saying that previous regimes under Huggins and Cronin that there hasn't been better individual stars and competitors but never this depth of athleticism and skill. The best of those teams usually had maybe 2-4 talented competitive players but never the depth this team has.

With that said it is clear the sum of the whole in current talent is considerably less than the sum of the individual parts and that rests solely on Miller. He reminds me of the parent who is more interested in being their child's friend than teaching them discipline or holding them accountable. That approach is working for recruiting players to come here but not toward building a winning culture.

In Miller's 3 years here he has 1 signature win and that was the ILL. win in his first year. In every other game of any magnitude (especially against rivals) he's come up short. Good coaches know how to take us out of the free wheeling, shooting open 3's, and lobs for dunks offense we run. Coach Grant's strategy yesterday was a masterclass in coaching. On offense they screened us to death until they got open looks or mismatches and then either made the shot or went to the foul line and converted. On defense he pushed out on our 3 put shooters for few open looks and disrupted the flow of passes so that we reverted once again to 1 on 1 street ball. This is a pattern we've seen repeated many times.

I no longer want to hear about how high guys jump or how deadly they are shooting 3's in practice. None of that is converting to wins against decent opponents. I also can not get excited about future 3 and 4 star recruits we land who become zombies when they get in the program.

What's Next?: The fan base will get high on the empty calories of wins over 3 cupcake teams over the next 2 weeks. Then the conference season will start and we'll get smacked in the mouth by teams with talented rosters and good coaches. I believe this roster is talented enough to be .500 or better in the Big 12. My prediction based on current and past performance of the coach says bottom third and another missed tourney berth. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks for letting me vent.

PS: Thank you Bengals from keeping me from having a complete meltdown yesterday.

[Lobot]

It’s Rayvon. I don’t understand the coaches’ logic behind this. Do they want to redshirt him? Is there not a position for him in the random substitution pattern? Is he not the recruit we apparently believe he is? I just don’t get why he can’t see the court.

I was led to believe that the rando sub patterns would disappear this year without Mike Roberts on the bench doing analytics. Guess not.

As far as Rayvon goes, He's playing at the deepest position on the team and has a lot of things to work on. It makes sense for him to redshirt at this point even though I'm sure it's not what anyone originally planned to do going into this year.

Wes seems to lack feel for the game when he's coaching particularly on the road. The substitution patterns are frustrating becuase he will remove a player with a hot hand based on time on the clock. Or at least it seems that way.

This team has no idea what to do away from 5/3. We should have seen the Xavier and and Dayton results coming after Howard took us to overtime in DC.