Houston March 1st, 4:30 CBS

[leo from jersey]

In one sense, Day Day played his best game as a Bearcat. He was just too pumped for the game and was over aggressive on defense, those four quick fouls really hurt. We out rebounded Houston with only two 2nd half turnovers. It was that sequence in the first half with multiple turnovers in quick succession that killed us.

We gave up too easy drives.

[longtimefan]

It’s funny that we were once on the same level with Houston
For those guys who say tough, demanding coaches can’t coach today’s players, I say look at Sampson and Pitino. We have very good players and a lousy head coach. We started trap press late in the game and had some success, but CWM didn’t stick with it, just like he does with player rotation. We’re 3 years into this and going no where, forget about the NIT

We’ve had two coaching changes since then, both inheriting disasters and having to rebuild. Sampson has been there all that time without interruption. If we do another coaching change, it will be another start over, and I for one am tired of that.

[London 'Cat]

Houston is on another level vs. anybody in NCAA. Elite defense and offense that focuses on shots at the rim and second chance points. The ‘Cats played as well as I expected. I thought they would score no more than 40 points.

[kennh]

We’ve had two coaching changes since then, both inheriting disasters and having to rebuild. Sampson has been there all that time without interruption. If we do another coaching change, it will be another start over, and I for one am tired of that.

We are going to be starting over anyway. I think the Transfer Portal will be loaded with UC BB players starting on 3/25. If Wes stays he will be recruiting a whole new team.

[leo from jersey]

We’ve had two coaching changes since then, both inheriting disasters and having to rebuild. Sampson has been there all that time without interruption. If we do another coaching change, it will be another start over, and I for one am tired of that.

so you expect CWM to make the Cats a top tier program? How long?

[longtimefan]

We are going to be starting over anyway. I think the Transfer Portal will be loaded with UC BB players starting on 3/25. If Wes stays he will be recruiting a whole new team.

Who will transfer out?

[Jeff Burk]

We are going to be starting over anyway. I think the Transfer Portal will be loaded with UC BB players starting on 3/25. If Wes stays he will be recruiting a whole new team.

I don't think that there will be a mass exodus of players. I do think they like playing for him.

[bearcatbret]

The final results are better than I had expected. Men's Basketball Falls at No. 4 Houston - University of Cincinnati Athletics
I have to admit, I spent the day at the arcade with my grandson which was more entertaining and less stressful than watching the game. BTW, if you are in Cincinnati, check out Wondercade in Westwood (old fashion arcade games).

[John P]

I didn't get a chance to watch the game, and I just read through the comments on here. After reading these comments, I thought UC must have lost by 20 or more. I was shocked to later see we lost by 9 points, No, it's not a win but I was expecting a blowout and appears it wasn't. I thought Houston was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 point favorites. I know all losses are disappointing but did any of you guys really expect a win? I hope the Cats come home and shake off the loss and get ready to take on the next game.

[Jeff Burk]

I watched the game. The team played hard like they have been recently. they lost to a VERY good team. SL is a good 3point shooter but is not good defensively or seeing the floor. Dan Skillings has so much raw talent but plays out of control and really hurts this team at crucial points. DD had foul trouble and sat out a lot of minutes. hopefully they can win out and get a few win in the conference tourney and then we wait and see.

[leo from jersey]

I believe UH let up some at the end. Regardless of how the Cats played Houston is the standard and until we beat them, the Cats are not top tier. I don't care for second tier. Until this team gets some strength and a floor leader, they will remain second tier. Your floor leader doesn't get overly excited and commit early fouls sitting himself on the bench and not on the floor. No excuses for the fouls. He wasn't ready for a game of this importance.

[John P]

I watched the game. The team played hard like they have been recently. they lost to a VERY good team. SL is a good 3point shooter but is not good defensively or seeing the floor. Dan Skillings has so much raw talent but plays out of control and really hurts this team at crucial points. DD had foul trouble and sat out a lot of minutes. hopefully they can win out and get a few win in the conference tourney and then we wait and see.

Thanks, it's good to see a rational recap of the game. It's funny how last years so many guys were ragging on DD and this year he's valued so highly. I like DD and it hurts this team when he's not on the floor. I'd like to see Reed getting more minutes he's proving to be a great asset.

[leeraymond]

Did you all really think that UC would win this one? UC lost this game in the first half, although it outscored Houston in the second half. Crucial turnovers by Skillings, Simas, and Betsey in the first half, along with Thomas being on the bench, doomed UC again playing Houston. The points off of turnovers were the difference in the game for Houston (17 to 9). Both Skillings and Simas each had 3 turnovers in the first half.

What is it with Skillings? Why does he fall on the floor all of the time? That guy needs to take some ballet classes to help him with his foot work. Simas was weak with the ball today.

UC is now 1-10 in Quad 1 games. Miller has now lost to Kelvin Sampson 9 (nine) consecutive times. Miller needs to build a roster that can handle Houston. The wing-oriented roster does not give UC enough paint defense. Mitchell, Simas, and Reed were no match for Roberts today. He backed them all down in the paint. UC's wings also had problems dealing with Houston's good shooting guards.

If UC wants to beat Houston, it needs to begin to prepare for Houston in the summer. UC needs to build its program around beating Houston. Houston is the best team in the BIG XII. Also, Houston is perhaps UC's biggest rival in basketball other than Xavier. However, this has not been much of a rivalry the last 4 or 5 years. If UC can build a roster that can beat Houston, then it will be able to beat any team in the BIG XII.

If UC continues ONLY to prepare for Houston during the week that it plays Houston, it will never beat them. UC needs to build drills into their practices designed to beat Houston. Miller needs to study film on Houston all summer to understand its weaknesses, then build systems to take advantage of those weaknesses.

If a team can beat Houston, then it can beat most of the teams in the country. Miller needs to understand that.

[sedz]

Frustrating game to lose because the gameplan was good. Houston only had 6 offensive rebounds and only made 3 triples. We shut down their normal scoring scheme. But they shot 64% inside the arc and were on fire from midrange. It's hard to stop a team that does that. Roberts only scored 8 points on 4 of 9 shooting with zero offensive rebounds. We didn't lose because he has more muscles than us. And we only had 11 turnovers in 64 possessions - that's 17% which is well below the 22% that Houston forces in conference. We scored a point per possession on the road against the best defense in the country. We didn't lose because of our offense. We lost simply because Houston has good shooters who hit a lot of tough shots. Hard pill to swallow, but I'm proud of our performance today.

Day Day was our best player with 5.3 net points. He was on fire in the second half, and he also led us in defensive BPM. It's too bad he got into early foul trouble. Jizzle was next best with 3.8 net points, leading with 5 assists and 3 steals. Aziz, Mitchell, and Reed were close to neutral.

Simas was our worst player with negative 4.7 net points. He hit some big threes but ended up 3 for 10 and had 3 turnovers and negative defensive BPM. Skillings was next worst, also turning it over 3 times while going just 1 of 4 from the field with negative defensive BPM.

With carnage across the bubble today, I'd say our position improved. This loss will not hurt, especially since we beat the metrics spread by 6 points, so our NET ranking may go up a bit.

[daveh]

32to 28 rebounding for the Cats. Only 2 TOs in the second half. UH was 24 % from 3 so why the loss. I suspect the lack of an interior defense may have been the problem. The entire defense needed help. Our dependence on the 3 didn't help. Foul trouble too.

ha! i saw some mumbo jumbo on here, that the road to victory for the 'cats was to fire away from three.