Poll: Who is most to blame for the current state of UC hoops?

[GoBearcats31]

Obviously I am oversimplifying things by trying to box anyone who chooses to vote into casting one vote. But curious what people think.

Is Wes the big problem? Wes isn't on the court playing bad defense, throwing bad passes, chucking up bricks, etc. And maybe the guys getting big $$$ aren't locked in like they used to be. Does John Cunningham who, among other things, hired WM get blame? What about Mike Bohn? Seems to be the reason that Mick Cronin left town and his hiring of CJB was, well, not great. Hey, why not blame Nancy Zimpher? Maybe UC hoops would have remained a force if she had not pushed Huggs out... Something/someone else?

[D.A.H.]

only one? tough pick! i'm not sure which one that the mumbo jumbo stats point to the most.

[zykarious]

I give it to players, maybe I'm being optimistic because I doubt we can afford Wes's buyout. I'm trying to find reason to believe next year won't be a disaster if Wes returns.

Something went badly wrong after conference play started. We played well enough before conference play, beating Xavier and Dayton who are both good teams. We weren't a bad team when we we're trying, not good on offense, but good enough on defense to give us a chance against most teams. It's not the style fans want, but it's the style Mick made the NCAA tournament with for many years.

Anyone who watches the games can tell the locker room is busted now. Blame goes to the players and coaches. I believe Wes hates losing and desperately wants to win, I don't think that's true of a number of the players. When guys just don't care, nothing coaches do is going to motivate them. I'm hoping this is the first time Wes has lost his locker room, he learns his lesson and makes corrections (by clearing out the cancer, adding players with the right attitude and an assistant coach who is better at motivating guys). Wes, like fans, may have gotten caught up in recruiting the best talent possible, thinking we needed it to be competitive in the Big 12 and been too lax in recruiting for attitude and grit. It seems like he's finally starting to use playing time to hold guys accountable.

If I were to guess who to point fingers at, I'd be looking at Jizzle, Skillings, Simas and Page. Skillings may be partly excused by his injury. It will be interesting to see what happens this off-season, who chooses to leave and who is told not to come back.

[sedz]

I voted for Cunningham. Bohn and Zimpher are ancient history at this point. I'm not absolving them, but there's been plenty of time to recover from anything they did. And there was lots of evidence that Wes Miller was not a good offensive coach when we hired him, that he didn't run a modern style. In his best year at UNCG, his offense was ranked #191, the defense #25, free throw rate #336, tempo #319. This year our offense is #192, the defense #13, free throw rate #353, tempo #301. Almost identical in several key aspects. That's Wes Miller's style. He is who he is. Cunningham should have been able to identify that if casuals such as myself can. His hiring and extension of Wes Miller are ultimately why the program looks the way it does right now.

[Carthage World]

I voted for Cunningham. Bohn and Zimpher are ancient history at this point. I'm not absolving them, but there's been plenty of time to recover from anything they did. And there was lots of evidence that Wes Miller was not a good offensive coach when we hired him, that he didn't run a modern style. In his best year at UNCG, his offense was ranked #191, the defense #25, free throw rate #336, tempo #319. This year our offense is #192, the defense #13, free throw rate #353, tempo #301. Almost identical in several key aspects. That's Wes Miller's style. He is who he is. Cunningham should have been able to identify that if casuals such as myself can. His hiring and extension of Wes Miller are ultimately why the program looks the way it does right now.

When you couple the poor handling of the Miller hire/extension with the poor Satterfield hire, it accentuates Cunningham's blunders all the more. He gets my vote as well.

[red_n_black_attack]

There have been a few coaches retire the past few years citing NIL as the reasoning, notably Jay Wright and Laranagga (?spelling?). Benching an All-Star (insert position in MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) is tricky. You'd think it would be a little easier with college players who should be motivated enough to work hard, improve, or prove their draft worthiness. With that said, it seems that the coach still needs to be able to exert control over players. While several programs struggle with this, too many don't. The root of the issue is Wes isn't able to get effort of the players or have the luxury to bench them when not perfoming up to expectations based on paycheck. Some of that may be the Athletic Director, some high influencing boosters, some parents feeling their kid has done enough to get drafted, and some is the coach not willing to buck all of the aforementioned to bench a kid not performing.

NIL is the source of the issue, but it is Wes' job to coach the players. IF he has his hands tied by the AD or big money boosters, then the players will walk all over him knowing they don't have to listen. I'm not in a position to know if Wes has his hands tied or simply cannot get the players to work. What is clear is the players aren't listening to Wes and he needs to bench some of them until they earn minutes in practice.

[Rufus]

I think you have to go with a perfect storm scenario as to blame.#1 CWM himself said it took time for him to learn while UNCG, so he was not seasoned enough to jump to power conference. #2 Cunningham should have realized this that this would a very important hire as we were going into the B12 conference. He should have went with a coach who had some power conference experience at least as a assistant ready to be promoted. And #3 neither parties as well as many others were not equipped and perhaps even rushed to adapt to the portal / NIL / and legalized gambling aspects of coaching / directing in a power conference. Anyone who is just a novice college bball fan can see that this current team is not trying to play as a team only seeking to pad their own stats. And too, anyone with any common sense would have known that allowing legalized gambling in college bball or any sport, pro or amateur would methodically and drastically change things. I hope that that the higher ups have a handle on this situation because this can be more devastating than when we had the five simultaneously head for the portal.

[Bearcat93]

I’m just waiting for that 2025 “home” opener to be moved to Lincoln. Go get ‘em, Johnny. I effectively change my vote to JC vs Wes, although they both need to go

[D.A.H.]

coffee with cunningham this Thursday could get interesting - late in the football season, he tried to address the "Satterfield follies", as the 'cats were on that season ending swoon. I hope to God that basketball doesn't
repeat that, and go "O for" the rest of the season, but I wonder if JC will bring it up, or if the peanut gallery asks. honestly, with the rest of the schedule, does any body see more than two, maybe three wins tops?

[leeraymond]

Among the things that I look at when it comes to the hiring of a coach is the win-loss record. At UNCG, Miller averaged 14.2 losses a year over 10 years. His last 5 years were better than his first 5 years. Nevertheless, the numbers are what they are. At UC, Miller has averaged 14.3 losses over his first three years. Based on his record for the current year, Miller is going to end up with well over 10 losses.

It is very difficult to get to the NCAA's when you play a weak non-conference schedule, have a losing record in the conference, and average 14-15 losses a year. However, that is what Miller has been doing since coming to UC. What I am saying is that Miller has always been a high-loss coach. Cunningham or whomever should have seen this coming based on Miller's history.

Miller will get one more year unless some goes very wrong (like not winning another game all season).

[Bearcat9796]

Ed Cooley today. "I don't think our kids know how to fail today. They don't know how to struggle.
We, the parents, have bailed them out of everything.”

Maybe this is true about more than a few of our players and wes continues to enable it.

[GoBearcats31]

Lobot and loshow22 - feel free to weigh in on "Other" ...

[Bearcat1996]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but what if we didn't play the NIL game with players. Scout for the guys who show some ability but more heart and resilience. Spend the added money on coaching. The pendulum has to swing the other way eventually.

[loshow22]

Lobot and loshow22 - feel free to weigh in on "Other" ...

I have no inside information whatsoever. As silly as it sounds, I just have a gut feeling that there is something we aren't quite privy to that's causing trouble. Like I said, I don't know...but something feels very very off....and it's not just coaching/talent.

[London 'Cat]

Everyone speculates that something is awry with CSS and his hire - a booster with deep pockets is driving that bus. Could it be the same with Wes and the basketball program? That there are people involved with the program who should not be? I have no inside information but if the talk about the football team is true, then the same may also be happening in the basketball program.