_avier 7:30 12/5 TNT

[bearcatjd]

Miller has never been able to use or coach up a big man. Terrible coaching.

[SKell82155]

If someone told me before the game that X would shoot 21% from 3, get out rebounded by 15, only make 2 more FT than the Cats, & the Cats with only 9 TO- I woulda bet a significant sum on the Cats !

[Gmann]

Don’t agree. X had 2 more FT.

11 of 22 FT's. Can't win shooting 50% from the line.

[SKell82155]

11 of 22 FT's. Can't win shooting 50% from the line.

X was 13-23- not really a game breaker imo.

[sedz]

We scored exactly a point per possession. 74 points in a 74 possession game. Not good enough. Individual things change game to game, but that's the consistent reason why we continue to underperform. We crushed Xavier on the glass and only turned it over 9 times, but we went just 5 for 16 from midrange and only converted 50% at the rim and FT line.

Tre Carroll made 7 of 9 from midrange, outscoring our entire team by 4 from there on about half the number of shots. Xavier as a team went 13 of 19 from midrange. On average they make 4 of 14. Three point shooting was the big concern coming in and we held them to 21%. Just a frustrating way to lose.

Abaev was our best player with 4.8 net points. Shon went 4 of 7 from deep, scoring a very efficient 16 points on 10 shots with just one turnover. Celestine was second best, scoring 10 points on only 6 shots. Miller struggled shooting but made up for it with 17 rebounds and 6 assists with no turnovers. Day Day also had a solid game with 15 points on 13 shots.

Harris had the worst game with negative 3.8 net points, going 0 for 6 from the field. He is such a liability on offense. Kriisa was next worst, going 2 of 9 from three with 2 turnovers. McKinley also struggled. He had some big offensive rebounds but scored just two points and turned it over twice with a game worst negative 4.4 DBPM.

[sedz]

If someone told me before the game that X would shoot 21% from 3, get out rebounded by 15, only make 2 more FT than the Cats, & the Cats with only 9 TO- I woulda bet a significant sum on the Cats !

Agreed. As always seems to happen when we play Xavier, throw all the scouting reports out the window.

[Gmann]

X was 13-23- not really a game breaker imo.

Fair enough but it's been a constant contributing theme to the subpar seasons. With Miller it's always something....Turnovers, Rebounding, Poor 3 pt shooting, and of course poor FT%. He rotates through the various excuses and nothing changes especially the losing.

[longtimefan]

Agreed. As always seems to happen when we play Xavier, throw all the scouting reports out the window.

And it’s usually one guy.

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Did you hear him on the postgame show talking about Jesus? This after making non-stop "Zip Em Up" gestures. Does he know this means zipping up the body bag as in you killed the person? What a Christian example but this really doesn't surprise me considering that school and really all of those type schools.

Those type schools?? Explain.

[longtimefan]

Those type schools?? Explain.

The type who would start a fight with the opponent, leading to suspensions on both sides, then wait for the opponent to issue suspensions, so they can give their own players lesser penalties to make it appear the other team was at fault. The type whose fans once called my wife a ni***r lover for cheering on a Bearcat player. That type of school.

[SKell82155]

Agreed. As always seems to happen when we play Xavier, throw all the scouting reports out the window.

Sedz, what was the impetus of Baba chucking up 4 three pointers & Thiam 1 ? Trying to draw X’s bigs out ?
Didnt make much sense to me. Figured CWM was channeling his inner Travis Steele (former X coach) shoot those 3’s once you see the whites of their eyes !
Did think Abaev showed more shot discretion- hopefully he’s developing.

[sedz]

Sedz, what was the impetus of Baba chucking up 4 three pointers & Thiam 1 ? Trying to draw X’s bigs out ?
Didnt make much sense to me. Figured CWM was channeling his inner Travis Steele (former X coach) shoot those 3’s once you see the whites of their eyes !
Did think Abaev showed more shot discretion- hopefully he’s developing.

I think the impetus is our offensive philosophy is for players to take the first shot they like, rather than running actions designed for each player's strengths. Why did our worst shooter Harris take 6 shots in 17 minutes? Why do we have zero inside out game? Why is everything run from the top instead of reversing the ball to move the defense and open driving lanes? Why don't we run off ball flare and down screens to get open catch and shoot threes or back door cuts on the wings? These are questions I ask myself every game.

[leeraymond372@gmail.com]

You cannot give anything to a team that you do not have yourself. Coach Miller does not know how to win games. His UC teams have reflected that. On the other hand, we cannot blame Miller for every loss. A number of guys that the team depends on just could not make the plays when they were needed. Although Baba Miller had a double-double, he had a horrible game on both sides of the ball. He went 3-12 and 0-4 from three. Why take all of those low probability threes when you are not a three-point shooter? Maybe he hit those shots in practice this week. Those threes by Miller and Thiam are a waste of possessions (0-5 between the two of them). Harris also had a game where he had opportunity after opportunity, but he could not make the plays at the rim. He blew about 3 or 4 lay-ups. Those missed lay-ups would have changed the outcome of the game. Kriisa only went 2-9 from the field but went 4-5 from the FT line. He also had some key turnovers.

UC's defense was terrible in the in the second half. Miller's UC teams always seem to have problems with better teams the first few minutes of the second half. It allows better teams to take control of the game in the first few minutes of the second half. We learned that Baba Miller is not a good one-on-one defender. The tape of Carroll killing Miller in the second half is going to go out all over the BIG XII. Hopefully, this game becomes his wake-up call. UC, most definitely, needs to work on its individual defensive one-on-one drills.

UC has now lost 3 of its last 5. It plays Georgia in a week. Georgia is a one lost team as of now. UC will go into that game without playing for over a week. So, UC will be rusty. Guess what? Georgia beat Xavier. UC also plays Clemson about a week or so after Georgia. Guess what again? Clemson beat Georgia. Then UC has to deal with BIG XII.

This UC team does not have a real go-to guy like Carroll. UC does not have that one guy that can make winning plays when the game is on the line. I thought that Thomas would emerge to be that guy.

UC had five guys to score in double figures and still lost. Think about that for a minute. Where does UC basketball go from here? It appears that Coach Miller has taken the program as far as he can. What will UC do to get wins against Georgia, Clemson, and the BIG XII? I don't know. I wonder if Coach Miller has a plan of action.

This UC team is in trouble.

[SKell82155]

I think the impetus is our offensive philosophy is for players to take the first shot they like, rather than running actions designed for each player's strengths. Why did our worst shooter Harris take 6 shots in 17 minutes? Why do we have zero inside out game? Why is everything run from the top instead of reversing the ball to move the defense and open driving lanes? Why don't we run off ball flare and down screens to get open catch and shoot threes or back door cuts on the wings? These are questions I ask myself every game.

I like the way you think , as said by Professor Turgeson to
Thornton Melon in movie “ Back to School”.

[sedz]

Milicevic followed Pitino from New Mexico. N'Diaye came from familiar Mountain West opponent UNLV. They had promising freshman seasons but I'm not surprised either of them picked X. Borovicanin also followed from New Mexico. Malik Moore, All Wright, and Lassina Traore are ok. Gabriel Pozzato is underwhelming. The big splash is Tre Carroll, who had a 6.5 BPM last year.

X is moving fast but not reeling in any big catches aside from Carroll.

Tre Carroll (6.5) had a better BPM than Baba Miller (4.5) at FAU last year. It showed tonight.