Who is our next UC coach?

[leo from jersey]

Tyler McKinley could be that guy, but not this year.

and key Tillery could be our floor leader although until they are on the court, one just doesn't know.

[leo from jersey]

. Our offense is the big problem right now. .

That is stating the obvious and like leeraymond I also trust what I see. What I see is what I don't recognize as basketball.

[longtimefan]

Lol, who are you going to play at the 4 then? You want even less mobility on the floor? Page would foul out in 10 minutes and get abused by quick forwards. We have no one else bigger than Mitchell.

We can try a point forward regardless of who is on the court. The idea is to force bigger, slower defenders to move around screens and free up guards to operate in space on the wings. It can work regardless of how big our frontcourt is. Our offense is the big problem right now. The defense has been fine. We need to try something different.

Tyler McKinley could be that guy, but not this year.

[sedz]

Yeah. However, those forwards at Michigan have GOOD positional size. Sam Walters can handle the ball at 6'10", Will Tschetter at 6'8" 230 can handle, and Dan Wolf, who is a 4/5, can really handle is 7'0". These guys have good positional size or are big bodies. These guys would absolutely kill Dillion Mitchell because Mitchell just does not have the size to deal with big fours and fives. Mitchell is no match for these types of forwards. It is a mistake to play Mitchell at the four when UC plays big front lines. As much as I hate to say that, I trust what I see.

Lol, who are you going to play at the 4 then? You want even less mobility on the floor? Page would foul out in 10 minutes and get abused by quick forwards. We have no one else bigger than Mitchell.

We can try a point forward regardless of who is on the court. The idea is to force bigger, slower defenders to move around screens and free up guards to operate in space on the wings. It can work regardless of how big our frontcourt is. Our offense is the big problem right now. The defense has been fine. We need to try something different.

[leeraymond]

Did anyone watch Michigan hang 94 on Cronin using a point forward? I think we should try that with Mitchell. We don't know what we've got until we try to use our talent in different ways. We don't run actions for arguably our two best players, Skillings and Mitchell.

Yeah. However, those forwards at Michigan have GOOD positional size. Sam Walters can handle the ball at 6'10", Will Tschetter at 6'8" 230 can handle, and Dan Wolf, who is a 4/5, can really handle is 7'0". These guys have good positional size or are big bodies. These guys would absolutely kill Dillion Mitchell because Mitchell just does not have the size to deal with big fours and fives. Mitchell is no match for these types of forwards. It is a mistake to play Mitchell at the four when UC plays big front lines. As much as I hate to say that, I trust what I see.

[red_n_black_attack]

This whole conversation is way premature. Wes is the best recruiter here since Huggins, he’ll keep building even in this era. He’ll be fine.

Exactly why I propose keeping Wes and adding great assistant coaches

[bearcatlifer]

4 years is plenty long.I like Wes and I think he puts his heart into the job but if you cant get to the tournament in 4 years you gotta go. This is not Tubervilleland where he wanted us to be happy just to be fielding a team.We have the reasonable expectation as fans to have a competitive team. You can preach patience all you want but if people stop caring and stop coming to the games then you get the 1980's UC athletics all over again

[Lobot]

Lo,
Id like to explore this thought of not expecting to win road games. Interpreted strictly, everyone would be .500 then in conference play., which I don’t think is what you mean. In my mind, highly performing teams win half of their road games, or at least 2-4 of them, which is how you prepare for success in the tournament which is a road location almost 100% of the time. Thoughts?

I can agree with some of that and you can argue that the goal should be to win every contest if you're the coach and players. As a fan I do not expect to win road games in this league. Are you going to grab a 3-4? Sure if you play well.

I'll disagree that the NCAA Tournament games are road games. They can feel like it depending on location and the opposing fan base but by and large these are neutral court games. Totally different vibe that's more similar to a conference tournament with multiple fan bases stuffed into the arena than a true road environment.

[longtimefan]

This whole conversation is way premature. Wes is the best recruiter here since Huggins, he’ll keep building even in this era. He’ll be fine.

[red_n_black_attack]

I don't think Wes will be fired or replaced, but I would like to see us press on defense. We have the bodies and depth to install a full-court press every possession, and I'd offer assistant head coach job to Jim Crutchfield, and let he own the defense. Wes can manage the offense, and hope the shooting gets better. The article below is paywalled, but essentially 69 year old Jim Crutchfield has had amazing success taking two losing schools and turning them into a winner with a menacing full-court press.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/603...onboarded=true $$$$

[red_n_black_attack]

Lo,
Id like to explore this thought of not expecting to win road games. Interpreted strictly, everyone would be .500 then in conference play., which I don’t think is what you mean. In my mind, highly performing teams win half of their road games, or at least 2-4 of them, which is how you prepare for success in the tournament which is a road location almost 100% of the time. Thoughts?

Agreed, and maybe we should say we should expect to lose a road game to nearly equal teams. I think the Bearcats are at a spot to expect to go 7-3 at home and 4-6 on the road, or 11-9 in conference play. There will be surprise wins (eventually) to go with the surprise loss to K St. I thought they had a good chance against Zona, but dang that three point stat line.

[Bearcat93]

The college sports landscape has changed so much that I don’t feel comparisons to 10 years ago even work today. With the portal-this is both good and bad-you can collect talent very quickly. To me, it’s what you do with the talent that drives success. You can see it with IU football (just one example), you don’t need 3-5 years like it was years ago. You run an offense (or defense) that attracts players (along with NIL). I’m just not sure what Wes’s offense and for sure his defense actually is (just a fan’s take, I’ve never coached basketball). That being said-I know I said this in an earlier post-if any coach was successful in regular season play for 5+ years and never won a post season game ever, I’d look for another coach. You simply cannot win championships that way and I still believe that’s the goal in major level
sports.

[leeraymond]

No matter what happens this year, my guess is Miler will have at least one more year. Remember, UC brings in the ballyhooed Shon Abaev. If Miller is let go, Abaev is going somewhere else. Also, McKinley will be back next year. UC likewise brings in a 4-star point guard. Both of those guys might leave if Miller is gone. The PROGRAM DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH ALPHA MALES. Miller needs to go out and bring in some of those types of recruits. Sometimes a team can still win DESPITE the coach. Player led teams are more successful. The portal may be the key to next season.

By the way for you UC basketball historians, it took Cronin 5 (five) seasons to get to the NCAA Tournament. I know some of you will say that Miller had A LOT more players to work with, and you are correct. Here is another fun fact, it took Miller 5 years at UNCG to really get the program going. Miller does NOT have a strong coaching tree to fall back on. Miller NEVER COACHED at North Carolina. He was a player, but NOT a coach. In terms of his coaching tree, all of his coaching experiences come from one of the lowest mid-major conferences in D-1 basketball, the Southern Conference. He is truly LEARNING ON THE JOB.

UC basketball stinks right now. It is embarrassing that UC was HIGHLY RANKED coming into this season, had a very good non-conference, and are now DOOR MATS IN THE BIG XII. I know everyone's feelings are HURTING right now. I am no different. I am wondering too what is up with Miller and his coaching staff. Also, how much longer can we say; "give the man a chance to get his recruits in". Well, his recruits are in and still UC is losing winnable games. I say give Miller one more year. Five years proved to be the magic number with Cronin. Maybe Miller also needs 5 years. Let's give him that.

If Miller CANNOT win with what is coming in next year, the man would have shown that he cannot coach.

[sedz]

Cronin had another epic rant after UCLA's last loss. I doubt if he will survive this season. He does understand Ohio a whole lot better than California but a hard no for him coming back.

Did anyone watch Michigan hang 94 on Cronin using a point forward? I think we should try that with Mitchell. We don't know what we've got until we try to use our talent in different ways. We don't run actions for arguably our two best players, Skillings and Mitchell.

[Bearcat93]

Holy crap people. He has a 10M buyout. It's not happening unless you have that kind of cash laying around as pocket change. He's not getting fired either.

That said, he's got to get the ship righted this season and produce results. I understand why everyone is frustrated but this is the Big XII. You should not expect to win road games in this conference. We've lost three in a row and two of those were on the road. Arizona is a very good team that came in with a mediocre record because of who they previously played. You hate to lose at home but it's not a bad loss by any stretch.

Lo,
Id like to explore this thought of not expecting to win road games. Interpreted strictly, everyone would be .500 then in conference play., which I don’t think is what you mean. In my mind, highly performing teams win half of their road games, or at least 2-4 of them, which is how you prepare for success in the tournament which is a road location almost 100% of the time. Thoughts?