Kansas State 3/5 7:00 ESPN+

[D.A.H.]

I think it could benefit Wes and the players if we rearrange our NIL deals to include escalators, just like the escalators in a coach's contract. X amount for player of the week, X amount for first All conferences, and second team all-conference, team bonuses for winning the regular season championship, winning conference championship, making the NCAA, sweet 16, etc... The same could apply to football or other sports, but the money has to be there.

You mention Wes is a bad in-game coach, to which I agree, but he is also a bad game planner to prepare something a little different for each team to jump out early, then make in-game adjustments as the other coach makes changes. I'd argue Huggs was a horrible in-game coach too, though he could game plan with the best of them. I can't count how many times Hugs came out with a great game plan, jumped out to a big lead (15-20 pts at half), then the opposing coach made adjustments for which Bobby didn't have an answer. Wes has been stubbornly clinging to his slow pace of play, yet the Bearcats had their best success when the pace was faster and/or they instuted a full-court press. I don't know why Wes doesn't keep the faster pace and defensive intensity. It can't be rest as we have a deep bench.

I take issue with folks who say Wes plays too many players. I've heard too often Wes needs to find a 7-8 guy rotation and stick to it. I think the faster pace and defensive intenstiy almost necessitates playing more players so they play at 100%

play as hard as long as you can, and then next man in - you've 13/14 scholarship guys - you'd think they figure out how to go hard, and then get a blow

[D.A.H.]

How crucial was Josh Loeffler and his X's and O's? I am genuinely curious as to just how instrumental he was in our offensive strategy. This is basically the same team as last year and they look lost on the offensive end.

not to start baseless rumors, but there's one out there that wes will stay, but will need to hire a new set of assistants. my thought is, if josh loeffler was so damn important, why'd they let him go.

[London 'Cat]

Wes’ teams are similar to Cronin’s teams in terms of offensive schemes. Remember how we all complained about offense under Cronin? I hear similar complaints now. The difference is Wes doesn’t coach defense as effectively as Cronin. UC could win rock fights when they held the opponent to under 60 points. Wes’ teams can’t defend that well.

You also have to consider the opponents - AAC vs BigXII. Quite a step up in competition without really elevating your own team, at least in the first two years in the conference. As has been the case for the last several years, UC has solid players but most would be bench players in this league. I will be interested to see whether any player on UC’s roster is selected for all conference honors. I don’t think they will. I think that’s a real issue with UC basketball lately.

[red_n_black_attack]

I'm going to be Mr. Negative this morning. Worst.Effort.Ever.... At least in a clutch situation. We had to have that game. They came out spectacularly flat and blew it.

That was low energy on all fronts last night. Yes, the fans too. There were a couple of times late in the game where you could have heard a pin drop in 5/3 on the TV broadcast. What even is that?

From the coaches, to the players, to the fans, everyone was asleep at the wheel last night. I think NIL has led to some of the players mentally checking out early because they were going to get paid anyway. Makes me wonder how many of them actually listen to Wes in game and in practice.

Also, let's just get this out of the way. Wes is a bad in-game coach. He can recruit well and draw up inbound plays really well but his ability to adjust on the fly and coach modern offense is sorely lacking. Every once in while I have to remind myself that when he was at UNCG, it took a long long time for him to sustain success there and over his ten years with the program he averaged 18.5 wins a season despite winning the conference 4 times.

I think everything about Wes looked good coming in but we were starting from the point of the Brannen debacle at that time. I like Wes but I don't feel like he can motivate his players and in this NIL era it's harder to do that from the jump. The NIL era is not what most of these coaches signed up for to be honest so it's not all on Wes for sure. Players have to want to improve and get to the next level. With NIL, the cash incentive to do so is gone.

I want to continue to support the team and Wes but the effort level and attitude need to improve across the board from the players and I'm not not sure Wes can get that out of them. I want guys on the floor playing for the C and not just for the $.

Hopefully Wes will keep Abaev and Tillery and the three of them will prove me wrong next season.

I think it could benefit Wes and the players if we rearrange our NIL deals to include escalators, just like the escalators in a coach's contract. X amount for player of the week, X amount for first All conferences, and second team all-conference, team bonuses for winning the regular season championship, winning conference championship, making the NCAA, sweet 16, etc... The same could apply to football or other sports, but the money has to be there.

You mention Wes is a bad in-game coach, to which I agree, but he is also a bad game planner to prepare something a little different for each team to jump out early, then make in-game adjustments as the other coach makes changes. I'd argue Huggs was a horrible in-game coach too, though he could game plan with the best of them. I can't count how many times Hugs came out with a great game plan, jumped out to a big lead (15-20 pts at half), then the opposing coach made adjustments for which Bobby didn't have an answer. Wes has been stubbornly clinging to his slow pace of play, yet the Bearcats had their best success when the pace was faster and/or they instuted a full-court press. I don't know why Wes doesn't keep the faster pace and defensive intensity. It can't be rest as we have a deep bench.

I take issue with folks who say Wes plays too many players. I've heard too often Wes needs to find a 7-8 guy rotation and stick to it. I think the faster pace and defensive intenstiy almost necessitates playing more players so they play at 100%

[Lobot]

I'm going to be Mr. Negative this morning. Worst.Effort.Ever.... At least in a clutch situation. We had to have that game. They came out spectacularly flat and blew it.

That was low energy on all fronts last night. Yes, the fans too. There were a couple of times late in the game where you could have heard a pin drop in 5/3 on the TV broadcast. What even is that?

From the coaches, to the players, to the fans, everyone was asleep at the wheel last night. I think NIL has led to some of the players mentally checking out early because they were going to get paid anyway. Makes me wonder how many of them actually listen to Wes in game and in practice.

Also, let's just get this out of the way. Wes is a bad in-game coach. He can recruit well and draw up inbound plays really well but his ability to adjust on the fly and coach modern offense is sorely lacking. Every once in while I have to remind myself that when he was at UNCG, it took a long long time for him to sustain success there and over his ten years with the program he averaged 18.5 wins a season despite winning the conference 4 times.

I think everything about Wes looked good coming in but we were starting from the point of the Brannen debacle at that time. I like Wes but I don't feel like he can motivate his players and in this NIL era it's harder to do that from the jump. The NIL era is not what most of these coaches signed up for to be honest so it's not all on Wes for sure. Players have to want to improve and get to the next level. With NIL, the cash incentive to do so is gone.

I want to continue to support the team and Wes but the effort level and attitude need to improve across the board from the players and I'm not not sure Wes can get that out of them. I want guys on the floor playing for the C and not just for the $.

Hopefully Wes will keep Abaev and Tillery and the three of them will prove me wrong next season.

[Gmann]

Lots of complaining after the loss. The complaining should have started with the first BIG 12 game, but beating X and Dayton gave hope. Sadly, the play on the floor did not. Lack of desire, toughness and a floor leader is roster building for failure. UC admin made the right decisions to get into the BIG12 and now they are playing stupid and satisfied. Again, this off season is critical and I am not referring to incoming frosh, but the staff and the players who stay. I will also include the Athletic Department making sports success minded decisions. Throw in that monster factory as their motivational techniques has not developed bearcat desire in the team. That department is to get players strong mentally as well as physically. It has not been good since the second coming. ---Such an important off season

I couldn't agree more that the entire program needs to go under the microscope from the administration, to the coaching staff, to the players. Several aspects of this program need an upgrade and I'm afraid we don't have the leadership to get it done. I'm glad the fans are voicing their displeasure. The fan and booster support has been great and this program is coming up woefully short again. This has not been a one year anomaly. The heat needs to get turned way up. We are not close to success in basketball or football.

Finally I am still glad we made the jump to the B12. It is a realistic measuring stick for just how good your program is and ours stinks. There is great tradition here and it's sad what it's become. The only thing Miller did well last night is acknowledge in his post game that the fans were justified in their booing because that effort and the whole season deserves it.

[loshow22]

How crucial was Josh Loeffler and his X's and O's? I am genuinely curious as to just how instrumental he was in our offensive strategy. This is basically the same team as last year and they look lost on the offensive end.

[leo from jersey]

Lots of complaining after the loss. The complaining should have started with the first BIG 12 game, but beating X and Dayton gave hope. Sadly, the play on the floor did not. Lack of desire, toughness and a floor leader is roster building for failure. UC admin made the right decisions to get into the BIG12 and now they are playing stupid and satisfied. Again, this off season is critical and I am not referring to incoming frosh, but the staff and the players who stay. I will also include the Athletic Department making sports success minded decisions. Throw in that monster factory as their motivational techniques has not developed bearcat desire in the team. That department is to get players strong mentally as well as physically. It has not been good since the second coming. ---Such an important off season

[leo from jersey]

Back to old habits on offense. We took 21 shots from midrange and only got to the rim 18 times. Midrange is the only spot on the floor we outscored them. Not going to win if that's our focus. We scored 0.78 points per possession, our second lowest output of the entire season.

Skillings was our best player with 5.6 net points. He scored 7 points, all at the rim or FT line, and added 3 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and a block with zero turnovers and a game best 12.4 defensive BPM. If only we had that effort all season. Day Day was second best with 3.7 net points, scoring 12 from the field on 11 shots with 2 steals and an 8.5 defensive BPM. Simas also had a positive game thanks to a game high 5 assists and no turnovers.

Reed was our worst player with negative 5.1 net points, going just 1 for 9 from the field. Mitchell was just behind with negative 4.5 net points, going 1 for 4 from the field, 0 for 4 at the stripe and committing 3 turnovers. Jizzle, Aziz, and Betsey also had a negative impact on the scoring margin.

We won the turnover battle, the rebounding battle, the blocked shots battle. All the areas usually associated with toughness and effort we outperformed K State. We just have a terrible offensive philosophy.

well it may be considered toughness, but look at the opponent. DS played better. I still say he changed since CWM chewed him out on national tv. He has been a changed player since then. I did notice CWM screaming at JJ on the side. Maybe that will work too. Longtimefan or others who were at the game, did you hear what CWM was saying to JJ.

[London 'Cat]

So many people blame the coach, I think a lack of effort and enthusiasm from the players is more of the problem. Some of these guys just don't seem to have any heart.

I think the problems are lack of effort by players and poor coaching schemes. I don’t know which is more at fault. Even if the players were putting forth maximum effort the team will still be limited by the schemes coached.

[leo from jersey]

This team has no offense. It is Jizzle dribbling around and shooting. Day Day dribbling around and shooting. There is absolutely no front line play, or any attempt to try to play from the paint, no real pick n roll game, no screening. There isn't a single player on the team who plays better, smarter, more effectively than they were on Day 1 of the season.

what he said

[Bearcat1996]

CWM can draw up an inbound play. That's about it.

[John P]

So many people blame the coach, I think a lack of effort and enthusiasm from the players is more of the problem. Some of these guys just don't seem to have any heart.

[bearcatjd]

What a piss poor performance last night. This is the most upset I have been at a UC loss in 20 years. With less than a minute left our guards were dribbling the ball above the 3pt line & not making or wanting to make an attempt at scoring. THIS IS ALL BAD COACHING! HORRIBLE COACHING! BUY MILLER OUT & LET'S START OVER. HORRIBLE!

[D.A.H.]

Even with the team playing like cr@p, Griffith doesn't play.

i'd love to know what miller has against rayvon - i'm sure that there's a stat for it, but i'm "too stupid" to figure the mumbo jumbo horse crap out