Oklahoma 3/5 8:00 ESPN+

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Lobot]

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

Huggins needs to retire and focus on his sobriety. End of story.

[Gypo O'Leary]

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

...and he has the coldest beer tap in the State of West Virginia

[SKell82155]

Wes Miller wasn't missing all those 3's

But he is allowing them to take them. Reminds me
of Travis Steele, formerly of X. Allowed everyone
& anyone to shoot 3s.
Cant’t the coaching staff develop the bigs- a jump
hook or something ?

[Gypo O'Leary]

If I had a criticism of this tough loss to Oklahoma it would be the huge difference in the look of those two offenses. Oklahoma was running three or four high post screens in a row with their center Godwin coming as close to a moving pick as he could get away with. All to get some motion and some defensive switches. I see nothing like that from Cincinnati's offense. Thomas and James are good guards. Throughout the Big 12 the top teams seem to be loaded with really big physical guards that they don't match up well with.

Lahkin has basically killed us. Coming into Big 12 play, it looked like we had an offense that went through him. The guards could play off tossing it into him at the high post. He could go inside, he could step outside and hit a shot, and he could work the ball back out. It seems like upgrading to this league filled with solid big men just overwhelmed him. Reynolds has a decent touch but he can't kick the ball back out or handle double teams. Bandaogo is limited offensively. Lahkin needed to be your Danny Manning.

Bearcats rebounded and played pretty good D for long stretches, but their offense is lacking.

And we have to remember that without 4 ticky-tacky touch fouls on guys throwing up threes that were not going in, you could have taken 12 points off the board. I don't recall seeing that happen in any game before. What a sad way to lose.

[sedz]

If I had a criticism of this tough loss to Oklahoma it would be the huge difference in the look of those two offenses. Oklahoma was running three or four high post screens in a row with their center Godwin coming as close to a moving pick as he could get away with. All to get some motion and some defensive switches. I see nothing like that from Cincinnati's offense. Thomas and James are good guards. Throughout the Big 12 the top teams seem to be loaded with really big physical guards that they don't match up well with.

Lahkin has basically killed us. Coming into Big 12 play, it looked like we had an offense that went through him. The guards could play off tossing it into him at the high post. He could go inside, he could step outside and hit a shot, and he could work the ball back out. It seems like upgrading to this league filled with solid big men just overwhelmed him. Reynolds has a decent touch but he can't kick the ball back out or handle double teams. Bandaogo is limited offensively. Lahkin needed to be your Danny Manning.

Bearcats rebounded and played pretty good D for long stretches, but their offense is lacking.

And we have to remember that without 4 ticky-tacky touch fouls on guys throwing up threes that were not going in, you could have taken 12 points off the board. I don't recall seeing that happen in any game before. What a sad way to lose.

Solid assessment.

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

But he is allowing them to take them. Reminds me
of Travis Steele, formerly of X. Allowed everyone
& anyone to shoot 3s.
Cant’t the coaching staff develop the bigs- a jump
hook or something ?

I agree with you. The biggest problem is they can't shoot. They should be taking a lot more makeable shots.

[longtimefan]

I agree with you. The biggest problem is they can't shoot. They should be taking a lot more makeable shots.

Which is the problem. There’s a reason so many of those threes were wide open, OU wasn’t really worried about those. They tried to cut off everything inside. To loosen that up we have to hit a decent portion of wide open threes. 20% is not going to get that done.

[leeraymond]

If I had a criticism of this tough loss to Oklahoma it would be the huge difference in the look of those two offenses. Oklahoma was running three or four high post screens in a row with their center Godwin coming as close to a moving pick as he could get away with. All to get some motion and some defensive switches. I see nothing like that from Cincinnati's offense. Thomas and James are good guards. Throughout the Big 12 the top teams seem to be loaded with really big physical guards that they don't match up well with.

Lahkin has basically killed us. Coming into Big 12 play, it looked like we had an offense that went through him. The guards could play off tossing it into him at the high post. He could go inside, he could step outside and hit a shot, and he could work the ball back out. It seems like upgrading to this league filled with solid big men just overwhelmed him. Reynolds has a decent touch but he can't kick the ball back out or handle double teams. Bandaogo is limited offensively. Lahkin needed to be your Danny Manning.

Bearcats rebounded and played pretty good D for long stretches, but their offense is lacking.

And we have to remember that without 4 ticky-tacky touch fouls on guys throwing up threes that were not going in, you could have taken 12 points off the board. I don't recall seeing that happen in any game before. What a sad way to lose.

I do not believe that Lakhin was/is overwhelmed by the big men of the BIG 12. For some reason, the UC coaching staff stopped looking at him as a primary scorer and relied on the guards to do most of the scoring. Look at how that has worked out.

[WestCoastAlum]

Our D is good enough to win games EXCEPT they need someone to teach them the fundamentals so they guard without fouling. That's why Wes has defensive assistant coaches. THEY are the ones not doing their job with the fundamentals. They can be replaced easily by a lot of defensive coaches. And Wes needs to quit emphasizing jacking up 3s any time they want. Originally, when Lahkin first started played, he was at the low post and had a decent game. Moving him to the 4 was a big mistake. He's a back to the basket guy - not a perimeter shooter. We're going to lose guys to the portal almost assuredly. Either JJ or DayDay because each wants more playing time. Nobody will get drafted. Some will graduate. But until Wes changes his philosophy on shooting 3s, we're doomed to fail.

[longtimefan]

Our D is good enough to win games EXCEPT they need someone to teach them the fundamentals so they guard without fouling. That's why Wes has defensive assistant coaches. THEY are the ones not doing their job with the fundamentals. They can be replaced easily by a lot of defensive coaches. And Wes needs to quit emphasizing jacking up 3s any time they want. Originally, when Lahkin first started played, he was at the low post and had a decent game. Moving him to the 4 was a big mistake. He's a back to the basket guy - not a perimeter shooter. We're going to lose guys to the portal almost assuredly. Either JJ or DayDay because each wants more playing time. Nobody will get drafted. Some will graduate. But until Wes changes his philosophy on shooting 3s, we're doomed to fail.

Or, bring in a few guys who can make threes. We thought CJ was that guy, but his injury problems continued and he didn’t help. JJ is 35% on threes this year, as a freshman. That number will go up.

[leo from jersey]

Our D is good enough to win games EXCEPT they need someone to teach them the fundamentals so they guard without fouling. That's why Wes has defensive assistant coaches. THEY are the ones not doing their job with the fundamentals. They can be replaced easily by a lot of defensive coaches. And Wes needs to quit emphasizing jacking up 3s any time they want. Originally, when Lahkin first started played, he was at the low post and had a decent game. Moving him to the 4 was a big mistake. He's a back to the basket guy - not a perimeter shooter. We're going to lose guys to the portal almost assuredly. Either JJ or DayDay because each wants more playing time. Nobody will get drafted. Some will graduate. But until Wes changes his philosophy on shooting 3s, we're doomed to fail.

Good second post. CWM has assistants for recruiting it seems. He seldom communicates with them during the game as well. Are they fans or are they observing. Look we both know these guys have received much tutoring before coming to UC. How can you not with a HOF Dad. Yet they play defense with their hands and not their feet, dribble with eyes down, wild passing if they even see a teammate. They want to make flashy plays and thus out of control. Have the 5th and 6th grade coaches become dads who want to make their kid the next Pete Maravich, although he could dribble, pass and play defense, instead of teaching the beginning fundamentals.You see what the players want to do and if a coach tries to change it they pout or if the kid has heart plus humility, they win championships. The last five years at UC - Pouting or championships.