Oklahoma 3/5 8:00 ESPN+

[Rufus]

That is why the HC position is turning into a CEO position and you need capable assistants to actually lean on to control the practices and game flow. The game has changed concerning the players, but not the Coaches roles.

I disagree to an extent. There are schools and coaches who in the past played by the rules as far as paying recruits, illegal contacting of recruits etc. who now have to contend with the paying of players legally. And once you got the recruit signed and into class you could just about guarantee his being there for four years unless something drastic occurred. But now with the NIL and the portal it's not unusual to have several players leaving at seasons end every year. When we had six leaving after Brannen's last season everyone was in a panic and a rush to talk them into returning. That is not so uncommon for many teams today. The portal is what 5-6 years old now and last I heard there were over 1200 or more bball players looking to change teams. As I write this post it was reported that Dartsmouth's mens bball team has voted to unionize. That is not where I wish college bball to be going but it is where we are at now sadly.

[longtimefan]

I hope you're kidding about bringing in Huggins? Wes has hired former head coaches as assistants, and needs to bring in others who are looking to become HC. The great coaches have a big coaching tree because they were smart enough to bring in the brightest and best assistants. I don't believe Huggs would take a "consultant" role or defer to Wes if there are disagreements with Wes having final say. Huggs would be too disruptive to be of real assistance.

Huggins has been gone 20 years, and he turns 71 before next season. We need to move on.

[red_n_black_attack]

I've seen such promise of what this team could be in the last two games. I mean some really good defensive and offensive play at the same time. It is amazing how great this team will be playing and then one player just kills all of the momentum by making bad passes or consistently shooting and missing. It is like they mentally check out of the game for a couple of minutes and then the game momentum has switched.

Bring Huggins in as an advisor to teach multiple defenses and find a star player who can make the big shots. We just don't have that right now and that is the difference between winning and losing. We could easily be 23-7 or whatever if we had a shooter who could make big shots. Shots that stop the other teams momentum or a player who creates his own shot like Day Day and Jizzle. Maybe one of those two could be that guy next year if they stay. I think Lakhin might be able to as well. Simas is a role player who has shown IMO he is not that guy. Maybe Skilling's if he could ever get his head in the game for 40 minutes. Sometimes he just kills us but I love his potential.

This team has exceeded my reasonable expectations and I have seen enough to say that next year it is tournament or bust. I'm ok with this year but Wes has next year and then I am off the train. If he is smart and I think he is he brings in a defensive coach who can teach multiple defenses. I do think the team could make a run in the B12 tournament if they got hot and played as a team without those momentum killing moments and someone knocks off Houston before we have to play them.

I hope you're kidding about bringing in Huggins? Wes has hired former head coaches as assistants, and needs to bring in others who are looking to become HC. The great coaches have a big coaching tree because they were smart enough to bring in the brightest and best assistants. I don't believe Huggs would take a "consultant" role or defer to Wes if there are disagreements with Wes having final say. Huggs would be too disruptive to be of real assistance.

[leo from jersey]

Let's get real. Having to navigate the transfer portal and the NIL money to get them to your school and keeping them happy ( and the their parents ) with playing time, living up to the tradition of a school, and winning enough to make the tournament is a task that very few has accomplished presently.

That is why the HC position is turning into a CEO position and you need capable assistants to actually lean on to control the practices and game flow. The game has changed concerning the players, but not the Coaches roles.

[leo from jersey]

The defense was really good last night aside from all the late fouls. We gave up 0.97 points per possession, our third best performance in conference play. Oklahoma converted just 11 of 27 (41%) at the rim, and 3 of 13 from midrange. They had 15 turnovers and only 8 offensive rebounds. It was impressive to give up under a point per possession despite 28 points at the stripe.

On offense we put up 0.93 points per possession, our 4th worst output in conference. We got to the rim 31 times and converted 55%, and only took 11 midrange shots. Unfortunately the threes weren't falling. Many looks in the first half were bad (contested or off the dribble), but I can't blame them for the wide open set shots they missed in the second half. Simas and Newman had a bunch of good looks that wouldn't go down.

For the first time that I can remember, Jizzle was our best player statistically. He had 5.3 net points and a game high 14 box plus minus (even his defensive box plus minus was second on the team after Aziz). It helps that he didn't have to guard the Sooners starting PG Javian McCollum. Still, Jizzle had an efficient 16 points on 14 shots with an assist, no turnovers, and a couple steals. Skillings (6 offensive rebounds, 3 steals) and Newman (15 points on 16 shots, 2 steals) were the only other players with positive net points. Jamille was our worst player for the second game in a row, scoring 6 points with 6 rebounds but also 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, and no assists, blocks, or steals in 18 minutes.

It helped that JJ completely stopped his horrid lobs to Aziz , but when he was running the point the Cats lost double digit leads 2 times. I saw a different player being the best I think - actually nobody. It is often not the shot you make but the ones that should have been made by all around play. I have yet to see a stat for that

[BearKatz]

In regards to Wes Miller, I do not believe he should be fired! Who wants to start all over again? Plus we would probably lose our top 2 recruits and who knows how many would end up hitting the portal.

Wes is only in his 3rd Season and I think every coach deserves (5)yrs to turn around a program.

It took Mick 5yrs before we made the NCAA Tournament:

2010-11

Cincinnati (BIG EAST)

Head Coach

26-9

11-7

T-6th

Quarterfinals (1-1)

NCAA Second Round (1-1)

The previous year we were close:

2009-10

Cincinnati (BIG EAST)

Head Coach

19-16

7-11

11th

Quarterfinals (2-1)

NIT Second Round (1-1)

I think with Rayvon and both Tyler's, we will make the tournament in year #4 under Wes. If for some reason, we do not see a major improvement by year #5. Then we should start talking about finding a new coach...In the meantime, we're going to have to suffer through some of these unbearable losses.

[sedz]

The defense was really good last night aside from all the late fouls. We gave up 0.97 points per possession, our third best performance in conference play. Oklahoma converted just 11 of 27 (41%) at the rim, and 3 of 13 from midrange. They had 15 turnovers and only 8 offensive rebounds. It was impressive to give up under a point per possession despite 28 points at the stripe.

On offense we put up 0.93 points per possession, our 4th worst output in conference. We got to the rim 31 times and converted 55%, and only took 11 midrange shots. Unfortunately the threes weren't falling. Many looks in the first half were bad (contested or off the dribble), but I can't blame them for the wide open set shots they missed in the second half. Simas and Newman had a bunch of good looks that wouldn't go down.

For the first time that I can remember, Jizzle was our best player statistically. He had 5.3 net points and a game high 14 box plus minus (even his defensive box plus minus was second on the team after Aziz). It helps that he didn't have to guard the Sooners starting PG Javian McCollum. Still, Jizzle had an efficient 16 points on 14 shots with an assist, no turnovers, and a couple steals. Skillings (6 offensive rebounds, 3 steals) and Newman (15 points on 16 shots, 2 steals) were the only other players with positive net points. Jamille was our worst player for the second game in a row, scoring 6 points with 6 rebounds but also 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, and no assists, blocks, or steals in 18 minutes.

[GoBearcats31]

UC is 346 out of 362 teams on KenPom in luck factor, which I believe has some correlation to close losses.

In 2016, UC was 322 out of 351. That was the team with Caupain, Cobb, Clark, Ellis, etc. that lost to Iowa State by 2, at SMU by 2, at Temple by 2 in 2OT, at Tulsa by 2 in OT, had the 4OT AAC loss to UConn, and lost to St. Joe's in the tourney when Octavius Ellis' game-tying dunk at the buzzer was waived off.

[Rufus]

Let's get real. Having to navigate the transfer portal and the NIL money to get them to your school and keeping them happy ( and the their parents ) with playing time, living up to the tradition of a school, and winning enough to make the tournament is a task that very few has accomplished presently.

[leeraymond]

That is why they keep score.

Ha haaa. You are right about that Leo.

[John P]

For me, I've actually been pretty impressed with the Cats this year. Before conference play, I would have guessed every game would have been a losing blowout loss but they've hung in every game against some of the best teams in the country despite so many weaknesses.
If they could have just improved 2 things this year, they'd simply be unstoppable.
-Improve the free throw percentage. It wouldn't take a huge improvement to put us in the winning column.
-Decrease the number of fouls we're making. Most of our losses come giving up too may free throws. We get killed here in most of our losses.
I'm no self-proclaimed expert and I've never played at any level but loosing 7 or 8 games by 5 or less points show the cats are playing really well...all thing considered.

[leo from jersey]

I've seen such promise of what this team could be in the last two games. I mean some really good defensive and offensive play at the same time. It is amazing how great this team will be playing and then one player just kills all of the momentum by making bad passes or consistently shooting and missing. It is like they mentally check out of the game for a couple of minutes and then the game momentum has switched.

Bring Huggins in as an advisor to teach multiple defenses and find a star player who can make the big shots. We just don't have that right now and that is the difference between winning and losing. We could easily be 23-7 or whatever if we had a shooter who could make big shots. Shots that stop the other teams momentum or a player who creates his own shot like Day Day and Jizzle. Maybe one of those two could be that guy next year if they stay. I think Lakhin might be able to as well. Simas is a role player who has shown IMO he is not that guy. Maybe Skilling's if he could ever get his head in the game for 40 minutes. Sometimes he just kills us but I love his potential.

This team has exceeded my reasonable expectations and I have seen enough to say that next year it is tournament or bust. I'm ok with this year but Wes has next year and then I am off the train. If he is smart and I think he is he brings in a defensive coach who can teach multiple defenses. I do think the team could make a run in the B12 tournament if they got hot and played as a team without those momentum killing moments and someone knocks off Houston before we have to play them.

Too much insecurity to bring someone of the stature especially with the history Huggs has. It would be a major shipwreck. Day at tOSU brought in Chip Kelly, but Kelly is his mentor. With CWM, the only man is Roy Williams and I don't see him leaving retirement to help UC.

[leo from jersey]

In no way am I suggesting that Miller should be fired. Regardless of the outcomes of these first three seasons, Miller deserves a chance. You got to give the man a chance. I do believe in that. However, "you are what your record says you are". I believe in wins and losses. I also believe that UC's administration may give a damn about wins and losses as well. Winning is what it is all about.

That is why they keep score.

[hipal88]

Exactly but I see folks insinuating that he should be fired and someone said last night that the Wes Miller Experiment needs to be over. You can't dump a coach every 3 years. It takes at least that to even get the ship turning in the right direction.

He has one more year. Has to beat X and has to get to the tourney. If we have Dayton again, that is a must win too. I would even go so far as to dump him after an X loss

[leeraymond]

I've sad this before, and it bears repeating the playing time is being distributed to keep players out of the transfer portal and hoping a win will be the outcome. TMO.

That is an interesting thought Rufus.