NIT picking

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

I mentioned that the other night. College kids can be pretty cruel - maybe there’s a faction that have gotten to
him ?

Or even a teammate. Hopefully not.

[bearcatbret]

HEARTBREAK: Bearcats’ Bid Ends in NIT Quarterfinals Clash with Indiana State | Fan Recap

[leeraymond]

I would say this. This is the first year that I felt I saw a Wes Miller team. I think that DeJulius & Adams-Woods stuck around after the Brannen mess, and Wes owed them and went with them. So he was some what hobbled in building his program from what he was left with. The team I saw this year was as good as any team Mick Cronin had in Cincinnati. When I consider the stream of NBA players that Huggy got through the years, Cronin wasn't close to matching him. With Skillings/James and three 6'11" players, I get the feeling that Wes can recruit talent.

I agree with you somewhat that James (and Skillings) don't see the floor and make the right passes, but I don't doubt that they are young players who will improve a lot. Being in the Big 12, Cincinnati is at the top of the food chain. We all saw the loses, but I saw a young inexperienced team that was competitive against Kansas, Houston, Baylor, Texas, BYU. I'm pretty hopeful that Cinci b-ball is big league.

I disagree with you concerning this year's team being as good as any Cronin team. This year's team had more talent, perhaps, than most of Cronin's UC teams. However, there is one big difference, Cronin's teams won games because they knew how to play defense. Here is some food for thought concerning Cronin's UC teams: 1) 6 seasons with over 25 wins; 2) back-to-back 30 win seasons; 3) 9 consecutive NCAA Tournaments; 4) one Sweet 16; and 5) .668 win percentage. Miller is no where near the type of coach that Cronin is and was at UC. Cronin knew how to win games. Miller stands on the sidelines and wonders why his team cannot get a stop.

Next season, with all of the talent that Miller is going to have, UC is STILL going to struggle to get stops. Also, UC will end up being on the bubble again. The conversations that we are having now about Miller's teams, we will have the same conversations next season. Like I said before, UC has the talent. There is no doubt about that. UC had the talent this year and last year. However, Miller is the wildcard. Until he learns how to play pick-and-roll-defense, how to defend against cutters and slashers, and how to defend big men that can play on the perimeter, we will be back in this sad damn space again next year.

One last thing. Cronin's UC teams routinely beat Houston and Kelvin Sampson. Miller's UC teams have played Houston 7 or 8 times now and are 0-7 or 0-8.

[sedz]

Cronin's UC teams routinely beat Houston and Kelvin Sampson. Miller's UC teams have played Houston 7 or 8 times now and are 0-7 or 0-8.

San Francisco routinely beat UCLA and John Wooden. Wes Miller is undefeated against San Francisco.

[leeraymond]

San Francisco routinely beat UCLA and John Wooden. Wes Miller is undefeated against San Francisco.

Wes Miller did NOT play against the guy that coached San Francisco during the Wooden era. However, both Cronin and Miller have played against Sampson multiple times. What were the results?

[swilsonsp4]

I disagree with you concerning this year's team being as good as any Cronin team. This year's team had more talent, perhaps, than most of Cronin's UC teams. However, there is one big difference, Cronin's teams won games because they knew how to play defense. Here is some food for thought concerning Cronin's UC teams: 1) 6 seasons with over 25 wins; 2) back-to-back 30 win seasons; 3) 9 consecutive NCAA Tournaments; 4) one Sweet 16; and 5) .668 win percentage. Miller is no where near the type of coach that Cronin is and was at UC. Cronin knew how to win games. Miller stands on the sidelines and wonder why his team cannot get a stop.

Next season, with all of the talent that Miller is going to have, UC is STILL going to struggle to get stops. Also, UC will end up being on the bubble again. The conversations that we are having now about Miller's teams, we will have the same conversations next season. Like I said before, UC has the talent. There is no doubt about that. UC had the talent this year and last year. However, Miller is the wildcard. Until he learns how to play pick-and-roll-defense, how to defend against cutters and slashers, and how to defend big men that can play on the perimeter, we will be back in this sad damn space again next year.

One last thing. Cronin's UC teams routinely beat Houston and Kelvin Sampson. Miller's UC teams have played Houston 7 or 8 times now and are 0-7 or 0-8.

Both Cronin and Miller inherited dumpster fires. It wasn't until Mick's 5th season (2010-11) that he had a KenPom defensive efficiency in the Top 30. His teams stayed there from that point on. In his 3rd season, UC had the #108 defensive efficiency playing in the BE. This is Miller's 3rd season. They finished at #16, while playing in the B12.

This season's squad was a very good defensive team. Saying Miller doesn't know what to do at that end is wildly off target.

[leo from jersey]

Both Cronin and Miller inherited dumpster fires. It wasn't until Mick's 5th season (2010-11) that he had a KenPom defensive efficiency in the Top 30. His teams stayed there from that point on. In his 3rd season, UC had the #108 defensive efficiency playing in the BE. This is Miller's 3rd season. They finished at #16, while playing in the B12.

This season's squad was a very good defensive team. Saying Miller doesn't know what to do at that end is wildly off target.

agree 100%. The only concern is that CWM often seems to get too personal with certain players and it perhaps clouds his judgement. The problem at the end of the games was only one didn't freeze in the moment. The final minutes were too big for a couple of players, but hopefully another year will solve that.

[sedz]

Kelvin Sampson and Mick Cronin are both 0-1 against Harvard and Tommy Amaker. Wes Miller has never lost to Harvard.

[leeraymond]

Kelvin Sampson and Mick Cronin are both 0-1 against Harvard and Tommy Amaker. Wes Miller has never lost to Harvard.

I wonder what the results would be over multiple games.

[leeraymond]

Both Cronin and Miller inherited dumpster fires. It wasn't until Mick's 5th season (2010-11) that he had a KenPom defensive efficiency in the Top 30. His teams stayed there from that point on. In his 3rd season, UC had the #108 defensive efficiency playing in the BE. This is Miller's 3rd season. They finished at #16, while playing in the B12.

This season's squad was a very good defensive team. Saying Miller doesn't know what to do at that end is wildly off target.

If you look at the 2023-24 NCAA scoring defense rankings, UC is ranked 68 and it gave up 68 points / game. In the conference, UC ranked 4th and gave up 69.3 / game. By the way for you defensive purists, you will be glad to know that all the teams coming from the AAC ranked in the top 5 for scoring defense in the BIG 12 (Houston 1, Iowa State 2, UCF 3, and UC 4). Not bad. The teams from the AAC were better than projected (at least defensively). Miller's defensive numbers are not bad, but giving up 69.3 points a game is probably not good enough to win championships. By the way, UC only scored 69.6 points / game in the conference (10th place).

During Cronin's break-out year in the BIG East, UC gave up 58.2 points / game. That was the best in the BIG East for 2010-11. During Cronin's third year in the BIG East, UC gave up 66.3 points / game (5th place).

Two points: 1) Miller had MUCH MORE to work with his first year than what Cronin had. Think about what Miller had: the defensive player of the year in the SEC (Ado), one of the best shot blockers in NCAA history (Koval), all types of high-major D-1 experience (Ody Wake Forest, DeJulius Michigan, Ado Miss St, Davenport and Adams-Woods Cincinnati, and Newman Clemson). So you cannot say that Miller inherited a dumpster fire. Miller had some ball players. He just did not know how to use them to get wins; 2) It is not as though Miller is some young inexperienced coach. Miller has been a head coach for 13 mother $%#@# years. Come on Swilsonsp4, you got to admit it, 13 years is a long time to be a head coach. Miller is NO rookie. I know, I know that this was UC's first year in the BIG 12 and there is going to be a competitive learning curve to adapt to. On the other hand, how do you explain Houston and Texas Tech who also have coaches coming from lesser leagues? Those two teams made the NCAAs.

I want UC to win every game. However, that is not realistic. Nevertheless, if Miller can get the losses down to 9 to 10 a year would probably put the team over the hump. Regardless of what we are talking about on this blog, next year is going to show us a lot concerning what direction the program is going in.

[sedz]

Kelvin Sampson lost 11 games and missed the tournament in his third year at Houston. He was no rookie, having been a pro or head college coach for 30 mother falcon years. Totally embarrassing.

[sedz]

I wonder what the results would be over multiple games.

You don't have to wonder. Sampson actually is 0-2 against Harvard. He lost to Tommy Amaker twice in his first three seasons. How does that guy still have a job? I'm sure the Houston administration is taking notice.

[longtimefan]

What did Wes take over? The remnants of a team that lost twice to Houston by 38 and 37, and those games weren’t as close as the score indicated. JDIII was probably the best player on the roster. It was a train wreck.

[red_n_black_attack]

What did Wes take over? The remnants of a team that lost twice to Houston by 38 and 37, and those games weren’t as close as the score indicated. JDIII was probably the best player on the roster. It was a train wreck.

That was still better than Mick's first year. Wes had benefit of the portal or what has morphed into The Portal instead of getting football player walk-ons. Nonetheless, the point is Wes is a good coach and I feel that UC is in the right direction with him at the helm.

[leeraymond]

Kelvin Sampson lost 11 games and missed the tournament in his third year at Houston. He was no rookie, having been a pro or head college coach for 30 mother falcon years. Totally embarrassing.

Yeah, you have a point. However, Kelvin Sampson had no talent to work with when he got to Houston. Also, he did not have the benefit of going through the portal. You are reasoning that Sampson's and Miller's situations were similar, but nothing can be further from the truth. Also, concerning first year coaches that were highly successful in their first year in the BIG 12, how about Mark Pope from BYU (another NCAA Tournament team)?

Look, I like Miller. He has an ability to get his players to play very hard on every possession. Also, his players seem to truly like him. Maybe that is why they play so hard for him. Additionally, with his friendly personality, I would assume that he is well-liked by the administration. However, Miller has a problem understanding how to win games. Some of his losses are puzzling. Nevertheless, he is a Bearcat and I am on his side. I am rooting for him. I hope that he is able to GROW into the job. That is what bothers me. I have NOT seen any coaching growth from Miller since he has been at UC. I have seen him bring in better players, and in many of those games the players have won the game DESPITE the coaching.

Changing conversations a little, what do you all think about the BIG BAD BIG 12? Iowa State was knocked out last night. In the second weekend of Post-Season play, there is only ONE BIG 12 team left in the country. The last team left in Post-Season play is Houston and they play Duke tonight. Hopefully, Houston can get the win. Over-and-out.