Houston March 1st, 4:30 CBS

[GoBearcats31]

UC is 7-11, a half game behind Kansas State (Wednesday) and a game up on Oklahoma State (Saturday)

Beat both and hopefully finish 10th or maybe 11th (8/9 likely puts you on track to face Houston again)

[leo from jersey]

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

you didn't read that from me.

[Rufus]

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.

Sedz quote above about SL here can be said about three of the six normal starters on this team and epitomizes each one. They are all one dimensional and predictable. SL refuses to try for rebounds and is liability on defense many times. DS can't shoot the three consistently and if he does drive he's out of control. He does try to rebound but if they don't come he goes into hiding and is a liability on defense. Mitchel is not afraid to mix it up underneath but is not an outside shot threat and reluctant to drive inside for shots. He needs to be very active to get open shots. If he's not very active he concentrates on his defensive assignment and goes ghost on offense. And Aziz is good enough defensively but is not an offensive threat, no post game, and can't be relied upon to get the lob from our two guards that produce the majority of our points. It says a lot about this team when two of our most productive points producers are the two staring guards We are used to Huggins demanding all of his players to involved in every facet of the game. He called it playing hard. CWM in allowing his players play their type of game does not demand that they go for rebounds or follow their own shots, excel at free throws shooting etc. It has been said on this forum before that we fan's are used to getting two or three shot attempts on any trip down to our goal. But not now. Sampson once said that He at Houston would never beat Cincinnati until they get as physical as us. The script has flipped. We are used to imposing our will and pace to the opponent all we have now is athletes who can shoot when open but rarely find the man open man to shoot.

[leo from jersey]

Who will transfer out?

JJ is not NBA ready as he lacks floor awareness. That results in poor ball handling/passing skills and pitiful defense. Does his Dad and advisers think he can develop this at UC? What about Ray? Is hometown enough? Will the Cats have the NIL money available if they don't pay DS and use it to keep others. Will teams that have plenty of NIL come after the players. Will the Cats push any out the door to use the NIL money on others. Will Page stay? Who is left? The Cats must keep Betsey, but his shot has gotten noticed. Can the Cats develop any other skill in him. Some might wish to go to a winning program and appear on national TV a lot and the Tourney once in their career.

[zykarious]

JJ is not NBA ready as he lacks floor awareness. That results in poor ball handling/passing skills and pitiful defense. Does his Dad and advisers think he can develop this at UC? What about Ray? Is hometown enough? Will the Cats have the NIL money available if they don't pay DS and use it to keep others. Will teams that have plenty of NIL come after the players. Will the Cats push any out the door to use the NIL money on others. Will Page stay? Who is left? The Cats must keep Betsey, but his shot has gotten noticed. Can the Cats develop any other skill in him. Some might wish to go to a winning program and appear on national TV a lot and the Tourney once in their career.

Do we want Page to stay? He can't/won't rebound or box out, even after getting a massive cut in playing time because of it. I wouldn't be that surprised if Wes told him to move on.

A similar question could be asked of Ray, if he can't find the floor even with CJ and Hickman injuries and Simas/Dan playing poorly, will there be mutual agreement that he'd be better off at a mid-major?

As I see it, there are 5 key guys we want to keep. JJ, Day Day, Reed, Betsey and Mitchell. I assume Dzellat and McKinley will stay around, not counting on them, but it's a bonus if they develop.

Then we have to find a way to attract a quality wing who can handle the ball and a center in the off-season. I've been saying for years that failing to recruit/develop a center is an issue, but we'll have another year trying to pull in the hardest guy in basketball to recruit, a transfer big man who can defend, rebound and score (because everyone in basketball wants that guy).

[leo from jersey]

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.

Sedz quote above about SL here can be said about three of the six normal starters on this team and epitomizes each one. They are all one dimensional and predictable. SL refuses to try for rebounds and is liability on defense many times. DS can't shoot the three consistently and if he does drive he's out of control. He does try to rebound but if they don't come he goes into hiding and is a liability on defense. Mitchel is not afraid to mix it up underneath but is not an outside shot threat and reluctant to drive inside for shots. He needs to be very active to get open shots. If he's not very active he concentrates on his defensive assignment and goes ghost on offense. And Aziz is good enough defensively but is not an offensive threat, no post game, and can't be relied upon to get the lob from our two guards that produce the majority of our points. It says a lot about this team when two of our most productive points producers are the two staring guards We are used to Huggins demanding all of his players to involved in every facet of the game. He called it playing hard. CWM in allowing his players play their type of game does not demand that they go for rebounds or follow their own shots, excel at free throws shooting etc. It has been said on this forum before that we fan's are used to getting two or three shot attempts on any trip down to our goal. But not now. Sampson once said that He at Houston would never beat Cincinnati until they get as physical as us. The script has flipped. We are used to imposing our will and pace to the opponent all we have now is athletes who can shoot when open but rarely find the man open man to shoot.

It is interesting that DS had his quick 3 tos and then was yanked. CWM chewed him out and it seemed to have worked. Maybe some reality treatment is what he will respond too or at least being chewed out on National TV for all to see.

[sedz]

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

I still think we should have done that. We only took 20 threes - lower than our average in conference. That's not firing away. Note that my goal was to make a dozen, not 6. To win a game when you are a huge underdog, you usually need to get lucky. Shooting a lot of threes gives you more chances for luck. Texas Tech made 12 threes in their win against Houston, Alabama made 11, San Diego St made 9. It can be done.

[leo from jersey]

I still think we should have done that. We only took 20 threes - lower than our average in conference. That's not firing away. Note that my goal was to make a dozen, not 6. To win a game when you are a huge underdog, you usually need to get lucky. Shooting a lot of threes gives you more chances for luck. Texas Tech made 12 threes in their win against Houston, Alabama made 11, San Diego St made 9. It can be done.

You must get open. The Cats had some open 3s and they missed. UH plays smart defense and they hustle.

[daveh]

you didn't read that from me.

no i didn't. i was agreeing with your post. outside of SL the first few games, this team isn't very good at the three ball. yet some on here said they shoot more 3's.

[leeraymond]

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.

There are no moral victories. UC took a beating in the paint. Houston outscored UC in the paint 40-24. UC had no paint defense yesterday. Although Roberts did not single handedly beat UC, Roberts, Tuggle, and Francis (Houston's bigs) combined for 20 points in the paint. Houston's guards also got in on the paint party. Combined, Houston's guard accounted for another 20 points in the paint.

The reason why Houston only made 3 threes yesterday is because their strategy was to punish UC in the paint. Houston normally takes 20 threes a game. Yesterday, UH only took 14 threes. Clearly, UH's game plan was to take UC's guards off the dribble and back down the wings in the paint.

UC's wings were no match for Houston's bigs. Cincinnati needs some big men for defensive purposes. Those wings are not big enough to handle the tough play in the paint. Sampson had a good strategy. Beat up on UC in the paint. UC had no answers for Houston in the paint.

Going forward, punishing UC in the paint may be the game plan for the remaining teams that play UC on the season.

[leeraymond]

UC is 7-11, a half game behind Kansas State (Wednesday) and a game up on Oklahoma State (Saturday)

Beat both and hopefully finish 10th or maybe 11th (8/9 likely puts you on track to face Houston again)

Man, it's funny and kind of sad that you bring that up because UC was picked to finish 6th. Now we are talking about UC struggling to finish 10th or maybe 11th. The difference between 11 and 6 is coaching. UC is currently in 12th place in a 16-team league. Not quite doormats, but not far from it.

I do not mean to be rough on the team, I am just tired of the team not being able to compete at the highest levels. Think about it for a second. UC was picked to finish 6th in the BIG XII and now are STRUGGLING to finish in 10th or 11th place. I rest my case.

[sedz]

If there are no moral victories there should be no Pyrrhic victories either, but we're all quick to find faults in wins. I'm going to analyze the good and bad, win or lose. We had a good strategy yesterday that should serve us well in upcoming games if we can execute it. I'd be thrilled if we make the opposing team take 28 twos away from the rim or hold them to 6 offensive rebounds.

[leeraymond]

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.

Sedz quote above about SL here can be said about three of the six normal starters on this team and epitomizes each one. They are all one dimensional and predictable. SL refuses to try for rebounds and is liability on defense many times. DS can't shoot the three consistently and if he does drive he's out of control. He does try to rebound but if they don't come he goes into hiding and is a liability on defense. Mitchel is not afraid to mix it up underneath but is not an outside shot threat and reluctant to drive inside for shots. He needs to be very active to get open shots. If he's not very active he concentrates on his defensive assignment and goes ghost on offense. And Aziz is good enough defensively but is not an offensive threat, no post game, and can't be relied upon to get the lob from our two guards that produce the majority of our points. It says a lot about this team when two of our most productive points producers are the two staring guards We are used to Huggins demanding all of his players to involved in every facet of the game. He called it playing hard. CWM in allowing his players play their type of game does not demand that they go for rebounds or follow their own shots, excel at free throws shooting etc. It has been said on this forum before that we fan's are used to getting two or three shot attempts on any trip down to our goal. But not now. Sampson once said that He at Houston would never beat Cincinnati until they get as physical as us. The script has flipped. We are used to imposing our will and pace to the opponent all we have now is athletes who can shoot when open but rarely find the man open man to shoot.

During some points in yesterday's game, I specifically watched the rebounding. On some of UC's shots, none of the wings went back to rebound. They just watched the flight of the ball and ran back on defense after the miss. Simas, Reed, and Betsey combined for 68:44 minutes of play and only pulled down 4 (four) rebounds between themselves. These guys do not understand that when you play a superior opponent, you do what you can to get as many possessions as possible. I know that UC had more offensive rebounds than UH, but it could have been more. That is how a team can win games when it is an underdog. However, UC does not seem to understand that.

[leo from jersey]

There are no moral victories. UC took a beating in the paint. Houston outscored UC in the paint 40-24. UC had no paint defense yesterday. Although Roberts did not single handedly beat UC, Roberts, Tuggle, and Francis (Houston's bigs) combined for 20 points in the paint. Houston's guards also got in on the paint party. Combined, Houston's guard accounted for another 20 points in the paint.

The reason why Houston only made 3 threes yesterday because their strategy was to punish UC in the paint. Houston normally takes 20 threes a game. Yesterday, UH only took 14 threes. Clearly, UH's game plan was to take UC's guards off the dribble and back down the wings in the paint.

UC's wings were no match for Houston's bigs. Cincinnati needs some big men for defensive purposes. Those wings are not big enough to handle the tough play in the paint. Sampson had a good strategy. Beat up on UC in the paint. UC had no answers for Houston in the paint.

Going forward, punishing UC in the paint may be the game plan for the remaining teams that play UC on the season.

totally agree - The Cats are weak and often lack desire outside of shooting - While I still love them, they are not the Cats which I started loving.

[leeraymond]

If there are no moral victories there should be no Pyrrhic victories either, but we're all quick to find faults in wins. I'm going to analyze the good and bad, win or lose. We had a good strategy yesterday that should serve us well in upcoming games if we can execute it. I'd be thrilled if we make the opposing team take 28 twos away from the rim or hold them to 6 offensive rebounds.

I am in agreement with all of that. UC shot 44.1% overall. That is not bad. However, Houston shot 53.6%. Houston exploited UC's weak internal defense. UC cannot win without capable scoring. But UC also needs to play defense. If UC cannot stop anybody, it cannot win. Yesterday was about weak defense.

Guess what, UC plays another team with two big men on Wednesday (K-State). Teams with two bigs have given UC problems all season. I read somewhere that Coleman Hawkins may be hurt (do not quote me on that). Nevertheless, if Hawkins cannot play, K-State can bring a 7-footer off the bench (Onyenso).

UC may experience more problems on Wednesday because of a lack of big men.

By the way, we are regular everyday guys on this thread. Why are you using words like Pyrrhic (too costly)? Come on Sedz, we are just everyday people. No need to confuse us .