2024 Big XII Tournament

[leo from jersey]

any win is a great win - The Cats did what they should have done. The middle was soft and shown by the rebounds and drives to the basket. I was happy with the first half 3s. One thing they need to understand is the fast break. Twice last night when the game was tight, both JJ and DS drove when they had numbers and didn't even look for their teammates to have an easy basket. The result was two misses. There is a need for fundamentals as kids are encouraged to just go in without thinking. NEXT

[Gmann]

34 in the NET as mentioned, 33 on Kenpom.

Work still to do and there are obvious flaws in the resume, but computer numbers are starting to look good. Let’s not become the team that everyone says had the highest XYZ metric to miss the dance …

A win tonight over Baylor would make our metrics nearly impossible to overllook. I hope the guys have some gas left in the tank.

[GoBearcats31]

#14 Baylor is a 5.5 point favorite tonight

Ken Pom: 14 vs. 33 (BU #5 adjusted offensive efficiency, #71 adjusted defensive efficiency -- UC 72/18)
NET: 14 vs. 34
Torvik: 17 vs. 39

Baylor's last five games:
L to Houston in OT
W at TCU
W vs Kansas
W vs Texas
L at Texas Tech by 10 on Saturday (got down 13 at the half, battled back to take the lead, before TT regrouped)

BU trailed by 14 in the Texas win and had a 16-point halftime deficit in the Houston loss. So I suppose you want to get off to a fast start, but have to play a full 40 mins.

[Lobot]

Box Score:


https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401625439

Furthy killed us in the first game and we held him completely in check this time on the offensive end.

[bearcatbret]

Cincinnati Defeats Kansas In Second Round of Big 12 Tournament (heartlandcollegesports.com)
Bearcats Rout No. 16 Kansas; Play No. 14 Baylor in Thursday Quarterfinal - University of Cincinnati Athletics (gobearcats.com)

Today will be a tough one against a fresh Baylor team looking for revenge.

[sedz]

Baylor is a ridiculously good three point shooting team. They make over 40%, 4th best in the country. There isn't a single player on their roster who averages at least 10 mpg that shoots under 34%. Three players make over 42%. They are also elite at the rim, converting 66% there. They are top 25 nationally in offensive rebounding, grabbing 35% of their misses. And they are #17 in free throw rate. Overall, it's an elite offense ranking top 5 in efficiency.

Slowing Baylor's offense is a huge challenge, but the good news is our scheme is tailored for a team like this and we executed well once already, holding them to 25% from three. We're good at preventing open set shots from beyond the arc. Their highest usage player is PG RayJ Dennis, who turns it over 3.5 times per game. Their centers don't shoot threes. They aren't a great midrange shooting team, hitting under 38%. So if we can run them off the line again and keep a shot blocker at the rim, we can repeat the first game where we held them under a point per possession.

Defense is another story. Baylor outside the top 100 in each of the "four factors", and the overall defense ranks #90 in efficiency. We only scored 0.94 points per possession in the first matchup, and we need to do a lot better this time. Hitting more than 19% from three would help, but we need to attack. Their interior defense is bad. Baylor allows opponents to convert 66% at the rim. Michigan St converted 18 of 23 rim looks (78%) in a 88-64 neutral court win. That's the recipe we should follow. We were 14 of 22 in the first game, which is good against most teams but only average against Baylor. I would go 5 out and run a lot of PnR with one big. We did that for a while, but then Baylor switched to a zone and went on an 11-0 run that we never recovered from. Hopefully we have a better plan against the zone this time.

Day Day and Simas combined to go 0 for 12 from three in the first game. Jizzle, Simas, and Newman got to the rim only twice as a group but went 1 for 9 from midrange. Can't repeat those numbers. Skillings got to the the rim 8 times and made 4 of 6 from deep.

[red_n_black_attack]

HEre's a thought: I know each basketball court has all of the same dimensions, but the arena gives each court a slightly different feel, depth perception. IT seems like the Bearcats are locked in in Kansas City. I think they have a slight advantage over Baylor having played two games versus some practices/shootarounds. It doesn't mean we will win, but it could be enough of an edge to be a factor early as we build momentum.

[bearcatjd]

Box Score:


https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401625439

Furthy killed us in the first game and we held him completely in check this time on the offensive end.

Furthy looked ike he was going cry the whole evening.

[Lobot]

Tech with an early lead on BYU, 20-11.

3rd Base rap references for everyone from the announcers with Pop Isaacs on the floor.

[leeraymond]

I mentioned this earlier and I think it's based on previous stats and doesn't account for the missing players.

Yeah, I got you. However, I saw another prediction on the CBS Sports Network and they had UC favored in the Kansas game by only 2.5 points. Come on man. I know that UC is new to the BIG 12 and all, but these prognosticators should give UC some credit. UC is a high-major D-1 team. Did they expect UC NOT to whip Kansas' tail when Kansas had their two best players out? In the end UC did what it should have done; give Kansas a beat-down.

[leeraymond]

So Kansas went with the four guard lineup and Adams at the 5 for almost the entire game. Braun only played 3 minutes. They just conceded the paint. It's almost impossible to win a basketball game like that unless you're the 2022 Golden State Warriors. Very strange.

We held Kansas to 0.73 points per possession. We dominated the defensive glass, as the Jayhawks rebounded less than 20% of their misses. They put up 25 midrange shots and only made 32% of them.

Offensively we were just ok, putting up 1.01 points per possession. We chucked up 26 midrange shots and only made 23% of them. That's horrible shot selection, especially given the circumstances. We should have been getting Jamille the ball in the post to start every possession. Kansas had no chance to guard him straight up with their personnel. But we made up for it by converting 35% from three and rebounding 35% of our misses while turning it over only 10 times.

Player of the game was Newman with 5.9 net points, posting a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Skillings was just behind with 5.4 net points, scoring 25 to go with 7 rebounds. Aziz was the best defensive player, posting a 9.4 defensive box plus minus while grabbing 37% of available defensive rebounds. Simas and Day Day, the heroes of Tuesday night, were the only players with negative net points. They went a combined 0 of 8 from midrange with 5 turnovers.

Quite a bizarre pair of games. We're still alive.

Kansas did not quite concede the paint. They scored 32 points in the paint compared to 38 for UC.

[swilsonsp4]

Half: TTU 42, BYU 23. At one point late in the half, the Cougars went 1-for-19 from the floor.

[GoBearcats31]

Half: TTU 42, BYU 23. At one point late in the half, the Cougars went 1-for-19 from the floor.

Texas Tech is not a team I have been high on for the NCAA Tournament, but maybe I misread them.

BYU I don't have a great feel on, but they have a chance to play 1-2 tourney games in Salt Lake City which could be a huge advantage. Not sure if a blowout today could hurt their metrics enough to knock them out of the correct seeding for that to happen.

[sedz]

Kansas did not quite concede the paint. They scored 32 points in the paint compared to 38 for UC.

Because we settled for threes and midrange. Our bigs only took 3 shots combined. Looking beyond points, we dominated the glass. Kansas only had 8 offensive rebounds on 41 missed shots. Playing four guards and a 6'7 guy at center is absolutely conceding the paint. We just didn't take advantage on offense.

[swilsonsp4]

BYU never recovered. They did cut the TTU lead to 7 in the final 7 minutes, but the Red Raiders rebuilt it. Final: 81-67.