Oklahoma St. 2/21 7:00 ESPN+

[leeraymond]

This is what I said before the game. I think the reason Dailey had been struggling is other teams scouted and had a gameplan for when OK St went small. We clearly did not.

Miller does not play the match-ups. A reporter once asked Miller about defending against a particular player and Miller's response was, we do not design our defense to defend against a particular player. Yeah, and it showed tonight.

[leeraymond]

We've completely lost any home court edge under Miller. No need to monitor bubble talk anymore.

You are correct about that one. Since Miller has been the coach, UC has lost 48% of its conference home games. That is almost half. Guess what, there are still a few more games to lose. Under Miller, that once great home court advantage is NOW GONE. So sad.

[London 'Cat]

Down to #41 in KenPom. The only way to get back to the tournament is simple, win at Houston.

Winning at Houston will be extremely difficult. The average margin of victory in UH home games is at least double digits.

[leo from jersey]

I feel really bad for John Newman, he’ll leave UC without playing in the NCAA, same for Ody Oguama. That just can’t happen for a UC Bearcat.

Ody may not play in any gaames besides Senior night. We had 3 bigs with zero minutes. That is some very valuable roster spots.

[leo from jersey]

We scored 44 points in the second half. Offense was not the problem.

Too many silly turnovers when the defense can't see the floor, play as one and fall for freshman dribble fakes. That back door was wretched. Therefore, since the defense can't adjust to the opponent, those tos were the difference to me. No defense was acknowledged in that game, so to win your offense had to be better. It wasn't. CWM was besides himself and was reduced to mumbling about the defensive mistakes and his continual mantra - We will get better ---- I wish Terry would have asked "when".. Let's give CWM another year. Sure he will basically have 3 frosh, but he knows what is needed in the portal. Heck we all know. -- A floor leader who directs both sides of the court and a mean spirited defender.-- You know, an old fashioned Bearcat.

I heard this is how you win. Know your weakness. Adapt and overcome. You should be able to rebound and play defense every night. Shooting is often muscle memory and taking the right shot, but your head has to be in the game to play defense and rebound. Yes, a good pass, screens and spacing is important to the offense, but a scorer can score usually especially with that slow confused defense OSU has.. When you know your weakness is on seeing the court and reacting defensively, then you must adapt and overcome by scoring more points. The Cats just couldn't do that with crazy out of control drives in the first half and even worse senseless TOs in the second. Many talked about not adjusting. What pieces does CWM have to throw in there defensively? I would have liked to see ODY, but it wasn't to be. I am not talking stats here guys, but what was needed to win the game at hand considering your roster.

Do not let what you can't do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooten

[leo from jersey]

I figure few like quotes. I like them because they are usually spoken from experience. I would post them in my gym at home and I believe it inspired my kids and also me while teaching great points. I hated UCLA from the beating they gave the Cats in the 60s, but I loved Coach Wooten. I won't bore you with a lot of stuff, but here are two quotes pertinent to the current Cats.

"Champions are brilliant at the basics." ~
"A mistake is valuable if you do four things with it: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it" ~ John Wooden

[leeraymond]

As you know, Okla. State came into last night's game scoring only 66.9 points a game (conference) and giving up 76.2 points a game (conference). Last night UC let them score 80 points and UC scored 76 points. Wow. I went back and looked at UC's conference scoring defense since Miller took over. Here are the numbers: 2021-22 (70.2); 2022-23 (70.6); and 2023-24 so far (69.62). That averages to about 70 points a game in the conference. This year UC is giving up 70 pts a game at home. The message here is this, Miller's defenses HAVE NOT gotten better over time. You would think that they would. You make adjustments as you learn about what does not work. I do NOT see that with Miller's defense.

Last night, if UC holds Okla. State to 70 points, UC wins. Okla. State went on to score 80 points and UC lost. Miller has got to think differently about his defense because it is slowly killing his career. Not to mention the 10th loss of the season. Once again, for three straight years, the once proud defensive minded UC will have ten or more losses; and counting.

[leo from jersey]

As you know, Okla. State came into last night's game scoring only 66.9 points a game (conference) and giving up 76.2 points a game (conference). Last night UC let them score 80 points and UC scored 76 points. Wow. I went back and looked at UC's conference scoring defense since Miller took over. Here are the numbers: 2021-22 (70.2); 2022-23 (70.6); and 2023-24 so far (69.62). That averages to about 70 points a game in the conference. This year UC is giving up 70 pts a game at home. The message here is Miller's defenses HAVE NOT gotten better over time. You would think that they would. You make adjustments as you learn about what does not work. I do NOT see that with Miller's defense.

Last night, if UC holds Okla. State to 70 points, UC wins. Okla. State went on to score 80 points and UC lost. Miller has got to think differently about his defense because it is slowly killing his career.

Defense is important beyond other aspects of the game (in my opinion). CWM had little time to recruit his first year for defense and not the rep the next two years to get the guys. That leaves coaching what you have up. It starts with the mental. There are two many soft speaking guys on UCs team as of now (what a diplomatic way of expressing it). I heard a soft speaking CWM on the post game. Today
s players are bent on doing what they want and it is not usually playing defense or rebounding. They get overly sensitive (remember just a couple of years ago). This was the adjustment Cunningham made in coaching. I think CWM can be the coach needed - He learned from Roy Williams although he didn't get the UNC job. It is simply reduced to his getting the ability out of the current guys or get new guys. A new coach has that opportunity, but does a 3 year coach have that? Why do I think CWM has it in him. Look at how he handles JJ. He keeps him out at crunch time when the pressure of the announcers, the fan recognition and a HoF dad is in attendance, JJ dad knows. He played a sport at the highest level. CWM can do that because he has DayDay for defense. I don't see that luxury for the rest of the lineup. Three bigs rode the bench. As you said Lee, this is CWM career. He has to make the adjustments. Give him NIL money and get some hard nose guys that have been coached hard or better still effectively. It is a tough situation here. CWM seems to have lost the home fan support although they still support the team. Until he gets those players, his only choice is to coach up. Will our guys follow? Have they been taught the basics of defense from grade school or just me ball? One thing I noticed is that he isn't so touchy feely on the court since a particular player transferred. Give CWM another year, but I know we all hate to lose.

[Lobot]

On a related note, Vik didn’t see the floor again tonight. He was “out sick” for several games, and then gave us zero when he returned. Is there more to his illness than we’ve been told?

I don't think illness is the issue here at all. It's not Vik's fault but as you probably noticed leading up the last two games, Vik's not right. I have educated guesses as to why but it's probably not a good thing to speculate about.


Wes's rotations continue to be an issue. I do not get his substitution patterns, like at all. It's almost like this team has too many guys that can really play on the roster to keep everyone happy.

The loss of a home court advantage under Wes is really puzzling.

[bearcatjd]

Let's face it, we do not(at this time)have the quaility of players that can consistently make shots. Until we start getting some quality offensive players, this is not going to change

[bearcatrunner]

I just don't understand when you have a player being so glaringly bad like Skilling's last night why you leave him in. Now for the record he is rebounding well! However, you just can't let those lazy passes from guy not get addressed. Not once did he take him off the court. I seriously was thinking Skilling's is getting paid to throw the game. They all seemed like they were at critical parts of the game and just soooo bad!

As for JJ vs Day Day. As most have said keep them both in the game! Put Day Day on the best shooter and let JJ get experience. They both are so talented and I think JJ's game would open things up for the athletic Day Day. Why not put both of them out there and press during the game. We should have really tired them out with our advance numbers and their limited ones.

I just don't know why Wes doesn't work on different defenses. This is the easiest team I have ever seen to scout against. Wes does not mix things up to confuse the other team. Look what happened to our team when they went small ball. We could be doing that. We have the lineup for a press and for a zone. From what I can tell they are not evolving at all right now and Wes continues to make lineup mistakes. Wes get your best players on the court! JJ has to start playing more. If not for this year then for next! If JJ transfers from this team I'm done with Wes Miller. He is the next Steve Logan.

[leo from jersey]

Let's face it, we do not(at this time)have the quaility of players that can consistently make shots. Until we start getting some quality offensive players, this is not going to change

Just about any team could have scored against that wretched defense of OSU. The problem was UC didn't score enough to win the game and made tragic bonehead grade school plays when it mattered. I stand by my statemen the offense lost it as our defense didn't exist so the offense had to outscore OSU. With OSU's defense it should have been done, but it wasn't.

[leo from jersey]

I guess what I am saying is this. It isn't about looking back on why we lost, but in the present seeking how to win. To me, that is a major factor and both statements are miles apart. Look at the game at hand as you have one chance to win each game. Sadly, the loss last night was likely the worse loss in a long time. We had a home crowd, a healthy roster and a weak opponent. The Cats didn't have the means to get it done.
In other words the entire team - coaching staff and players are not seeing the court or don't know how to address it. It is playing in the now.

[bearcatrunner]

In my mind it is simply on the coaching staff right now. Stop trying to be their best friend and be their coach. Skilling's should have been benched after the first lazy turnover an you throw in Anythony or Jizzle. Bandaogo taking an ill advised three pointer at a critical point in the game. Why that is not his job! Bench him and remind him what his job is again and put Reynolds in.

Press the other team to tire them out! We have the numbers and it gets more of our skilled players on the floor. Our team never looks tired at the end of the game. Which is a credit to them and the coaching staff for having them in shape, so use it to your advantage! We are wasting so many good players on the bench and such a good rebounding team all because the coaching staff can't teach other defenses or how to maximize the roster.

I don't miss Huggins because I was never a fan of some of his stuff. However, he knew how to get his players under control, fired up and he knew how to coach defense. This team has everything we need to be successful which is what is driving me crazy. For so many years that has not been true. We were out coached once again last night and I'm up in the air on Wes because he put this good team together but he is also the one who is killing it.

[red_n_black_attack]

We didn't lose that game last night for lack of scoring. It wasn't really bad defense for the most part. Ok St is not usuallyu a great shooting team, but they were hot from beyond the arc last night. Tough pill to swallow losing to a much lower ranked Net team who was winless on the road in conference play, but sometimes the other team just hits the shots you expect them to miss.