Oklahoma St. 2/21 7:00 ESPN+

[sedz]

I'm going to disgree somewhat. The defense was subpar last night for sure but this is on the staff for lack of preperation and lack of adjustments. We (on this board?) knew coming in what these guys were and it's like The staff didn't scout or players didn't execute that scouting report. I don't know what causes that unless the team has hit a wall.

I'm wondering if the travel schedule in this conference is having an effect on the team. Mike Rehfeldt has all kinds of recovery equipment and methods at his disposal to get these guys ready so I don't think it's on him or his staff for sure.

This is exactly the point I'm tying to make. Our staff didn't adjust to their 5 out offense. And we shouldn't have even had to adjust since it shouldn't have been a surprise. We should have had a plan going into the game. That's the main reason we lost. Not because we threw the ball away, or Jizzle didn't play enough, or bigs shot threes, or really anything to do with offense. This is college basketball, we shouldn't have to put up NBA efficiency numbers to win. 76 points in a 68 possession game on our home floor should be more than enough offense. We lost this game because we had no defensive strategy to limit what OK St wanted to do.

[London 'Cat]

We only had 5 second half turnovers (and 14 for the game, which isn't that bad and only half of them were live ball). How did the consensus here become that we threw the ball away on offense? We had 13 turnovers at Texas Tech, 15 against TCU, and 19 at BYU.

The solution to defensive issues is to fix the defensive issues. Not to try and play perfect offense and score 90 points.

Agree completely. UC allowed OSU to shoot 55.6% from the field. Not a recipe for success and not good defense by any standards. UC lost because it did not defend effectively.

[leeraymond]

My brother listened to the game on the radio last night. Apparently Terry said coach has to stop worrying about guy's feelings and get his best lineup on the court, or something like that.

This is a VERY GOOD point. Former UC football coach Brian Kelly used to say, "I don't have time to worry about a player's feelings". I am looking for guys that CAN MAKE PLAYS. Of course Kelly went on to have an outstanding career at UC and is STILL one of the best college football coaches in the country. Good advice for Miller.

[leeraymond]

This is exactly the point I'm tying to make. Our staff didn't adjust to their 5 out offense. And we shouldn't have even had to adjust since it shouldn't have been a surprise. We should have had a plan going into the game. That's the main reason we lost. Not because we threw the ball away, or Jizzle didn't play enough, or bigs shot threes, or really anything to do with offense. This is college basketball, we shouldn't have to put up NBA efficiency numbers to win. 76 points in a 68 possession game on our home floor should be more than enough offense. We lost this game because we had no defensive strategy to limit what OK St wanted to do.

Welcome to the defensive basketball world of Wes Miller. Miller's defenses have a very bad habit of NOT being able to take offenses out of what they want to do. Teams usually can run their stuff without many disruptions. If I am Miller, I start studying Kelvin Sampson's and T.J. Otzelberger's (Iowa State) defenses for next season before it is too late. I used to live in Cincinnati. The fans are very sensitive about loses in that town. It is probably not all that pleasant for Miller right in Cincinnati. I am sure is he counting the days before the next away game. Good luck to Miller. He is really going to need it the rest of the way.

[Rufus]

accepting a lack of discipline, i.e. turnovers, or having no consequences on turning it over just leads to more complacency. When Skillings tried to lob the ball over the defender and got intercepted he didn't wince, didn't curse, didn't even make an all out attempt to get back to defend the dude. When you accept anything but full bore it energy then the rest of your game is going to obtain to the same level.

[leo from jersey]

Agree completely. UC allowed OSU to shoot 55.6% from the field. Not a recipe for success and not good defense by any standards. UC lost because it did not defend effectively.

how do we adjust in the game to win. The effort on defense wasn't there and I saw nothing to change that from the bench.

[leo from jersey]

accepting a lack of discipline, i.e. turnovers, or having no consequences on turning it over just leads to more complacency. When Skillings tried to lob the ball over the defender and got intercepted he didn't wince, didn't curse, didn't even make an all out attempt to get back to defend the dude. When you accept anything but full bore it energy then the rest of your game is going to obtain to the same level.

since the defense couldn't do the job, it fell on the offense and Skillings had the ball too much. We stopped trading basket for basket and OSU took the lead and won the game. Neither team's defense came to play. OSU made baskets UC had turnovers. Too many unforced errors my friend. I know you saw that

[sedz]

Welcome to the defensive basketball world of Wes Miller. Miller's defenses have a very bad habit of NOT being able to take offenses out of what they want to do. Teams usually can run their stuff without many disruptions.

I agree, that's been my main concern with Wes this year. He has a different defensive philosophy than we got used to under Cronin and even Huggins. Cronin went to great lengths to take away the main scoring option of the opponent, with a tradeoff that we were often left scrambling to open shooters and struggling to rebound defensively. We were never good at defending the three point line or defensive rebounding under Cronin, and that came back to bite us in the postseason. Wes takes the opposite approach, choosing to play straight up man and keeping defenders in position on off ball shooters and rebounders. As a result we're really good at defending against threes and rebounding misses. I'm fine with the different philosophy, but we still need to apply scouting principles. We can still play straight man but put small quick defenders out there when the other team plays 5 out. Or stick to the screener if we're getting beat in PnR. Or force shooters to put the ball on the deck. In general our defense has been really good this year, but in several games we've been torched by easily correctable strategy mistakes.

Offensively we can't shoot. Guards can't hit threes or finish at the rim, bigs can't score outside the paint or hit free throws. Strategy can only overcome so much of that. I'm hoping more skilled players can give us more offense in coming years.

[sedz]

how do we adjust in the game to win. The effort on defense wasn't there and I saw nothing to change that from the bench.

Put in Ody or Reed at center when they play 5 out. Doesn't have much to do with effort. If anything Aziz was giving too much effort on the perimeter trying to block threes. Aziz and Jamille can't guard players who are essentially small forwards out there. And they're way too slow to protect the rim from out there when another player drives.

[Lobot]

My brother listened to the game on the radio last night. Apparently Terry said coach has to stop worrying about guy's feelings and get his best lineup on the court, or something like that.

Terry is not the only one with that opinion. And there’s a little more to it than that.

[leo from jersey]

Put in Ody or Reed at center when they play 5 out. Doesn't have much to do with effort. If anything Aziz was giving too much effort on the perimeter trying to block threes. Aziz and Jamille can't guard players who are essentially small forwards out there. And they're way too slow to protect the rim from out there when another player drives.

was that ODY who gave up the back door and was yanked. I have poor vision and sometimes I don't see well despite a giant tv

[Gmann]

Offensively we can't shoot. Guards can't hit threes or finish at the rim, bigs can't score outside the paint or hit free throws. Strategy can only overcome so much of that. I'm hoping more skilled players can give us more offense in coming years.
[/QUOTE]

That's a question I've had on my mind. What do we think the situation will be with our "Bigs" next year. Who will be back? I don't see that we are bringing in anyone new in to this point. How do we get better? Who even works with the "Bigs" on this team? Post moves are sadly lacking with this group outside of Reynolds. Other than a dunk Aziz is a walking TO on offense.

[leo from jersey]

Put in Ody or Reed at center when they play 5 out. Doesn't have much to do with effort. If anything Aziz was giving too much effort on the perimeter trying to block threes. Aziz and Jamille can't guard players who are essentially small forwards out there. And they're way too slow to protect the rim from out there when another player drives.

Ody and Reed are my two favorite Cats at this time. Reed has gotten more PT and has been solid except for 3 times in the last two games he was very slow in reacting going to his right and stepping into the path of the driver. The driver blew by him and our big didn't help out in time to stop the bunny. I believe that CWM can work on that, and we will see less of that. But for now, the head twitch and bye bye. The thing is he should know that is the path to the basket unless the driver is moving to his right to set the screen for the shooter. Quick decisions must be made and plenty of film work before the game.

[leo from jersey]

Offensively we can't shoot. Guards can't hit threes or finish at the rim, bigs can't score outside the paint or hit free throws. Strategy can only overcome so much of that. I'm hoping more skilled players can give us more offense in coming years.

That's a question I've had on my mind. What do we think the situation will be with our "Bigs" next year. Who will be back? I don't see that we are bringing in anyone new in to this point. How do we get better? Who even works with the "Bigs" on this team? Post moves are sadly lacking with this group outside of Reynolds. Other than a dunk Aziz is a walking TO on offense. [/QUOTE]

I wish I could give you 10 upvotes. We think the same about the shooting and where will the bigs come from next year. I don't think that big Tolentino can be the one. I believe we will have room for some transfers just like last year. I have asked that question about who will work with the bigs since Chuck Machock got sick and stopped. We had Clark, Washington and a young Scott in '17. Darren Savino was good.

[sedz]

That's a question I've had on my mind. What do we think the situation will be with our "Bigs" next year. Who will be back? I don't see that we are bringing in anyone new in to this point. How do we get better? Who even works with the "Bigs" on this team? Post moves are sadly lacking with this group outside of Reynolds. Other than a dunk Aziz is a walking TO on offense.

I don't think we need traditional bigs. Even at the NBA level most big centers are one dimensional. They're either scorers like Jokic/Embiid or rim protecters like Gobert/Davis. It's hard to be versatile at that size, unless you're a wiry unicorn like Wembanyama/Holmgren. And so some teams go without a big entirely.

Most of our great Bearcat teams didn't have a true center. We had frontcourts with Corie Blount & Erik Martin, Kenyon Martin & Pete Mickeal, Jason Maxiell & Eric Hicks, Justin Jackson & Tius Rubles, Kyle Washington & Gary Clark. None of those guys were over 6'9", and they could all move laterally. That lets you play a more positionless style so you can switch screens, press, and play help defense. Having big guards makes all that even easier. Of course we have also had our fair share of big, slow centers like Fortson and Yancy, but they aren't necessary to have a great team.

We've got McKinley and Betsey coming in, and I'm hoping that lets us play more positionless. Imagine the length we could have if Skillings is at the 2 instead of the 4. And hopefully more scoring options too.