2011/2012 UC Basketball official thread

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by SeeinRed

Great season for the Cats! They exceeded my expectations to be sure. There will be no sweating it on Selection Sunday. What a great effort from the guys today. I'm absolutely thrilled with this team right now.

This team is a Tournament team, and that feels good to say for the first time in a long time.

Speak for yourself.... I am still sweating us getting an 8 seed and having to face a #1 in round #2.

[nmculbreth]

Originally Posted by NorrisHopper30

Thank you seniors!

This cannot be said enough. While some of them haven't developed as I'd have hoped, I will forever be appreciative of what they did for this program. They took a leap of faith coming to a program in complete disarry and were a huge part of bringing the program back to respectability.

It's really nice to be back to playing meaningful basketball in March!

[NorrisHopper30]

Originally Posted by nmculbreth

This cannot be said enough. While some of them haven't developed as I'd have hoped, I will forever be appreciative of what they did for this program. They took a leap of faith coming to a program in complete disarry and were a huge part of bringing the program back to respectability.

It's really nice to be back to playing meaningful basketball in March!

They lost to Belmont in their first game as Bearcats....that's how far they came. Ridiculous how much has changed.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Speak for yourself.... I am still sweating us getting an 8 seed and having to face a #1 in round #2.

Lunardi had them as a 7 before they throttled Georgetown today.

Even if they get dumped in their first BE Tournament game, I can't see the Bearcats doing worse than a 7. The goal they need to be shooting for right now is winning a game or two next week and locking up a 6 seed. I don't think this team is good enough to win a conference championship, but their run in the NCAAs would be aided greatly if they can avoid facing a 1 or 2 in the second round.

[Redlegs23]

They will likely face Nova in the tournament. I actually like this matchup with the way Nova is playing, especially since we won't have to play them in their tiny gym. Win that and we will play Notre Dame I believe. If we win those two games we could be looking at a 5 seed.

[NorrisHopper30]

Originally Posted by Redlegs23

They will likely face Nova in the tournament. I actually like this matchup with the way Nova is playing, especially since we won't have to play them in their tiny gym. Win that and we will play Notre Dame I believe. If we win those two games we could be looking at a 5 seed.

ND will be playing for a 1 seed and is currently a 2 seed...I think there's a chance if we beat Nova and ND on primetime espn back to back nights that we could jump to a 4 seed..we're talking about a 26-7 team with 7 top 25 rpi wins if that happens. The media hasn't really seen this team play, they just ripped on our OOC and haven't forgiven us yet, with a good showing on ESPN I think things would not only flip around but drastically.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

Lunardi had them as a 7 before they throttled Georgetown today.

Even if they get dumped in their first BE Tournament game, I can't see the Bearcats doing worse than a 7. The goal they need to be shooting for right now is winning a game or two next week and locking up a 6 seed. I don't think this team is good enough to win a conference championship, but their run in the NCAAs would be aided greatly if they can avoid facing a 1 or 2 in the second round.

Maybe its just me, but the selection committee seems to find ways to make me hate our seeds every year. Until I see a seed, I have no faith in them to get it right.

[jredmo2]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Maybe its just me, but the selection committee seems to find ways to make me hate our seeds every year. Until I see a seed, I have no faith in them to get it right.

I'm with you. I fear an 8 seed. But I'm trying to keep in mind that in the last five years I would have been jumping for joy just to have this discussion. And, if UC does get an 8 seed, let's hope they get lined up to play a team they'd really relish taking down (**AHEM** tOSU).

[NorrisHopper30]

No way UC gets an 8 seed. 7 seed minimum.

[Sea Ray]

UC fans have to be happy about South Florida knocking off Villanova. What happened to Villanova? We've seen similar finishes in this city, unfortunately

[nmculbreth]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

UC fans have to be happy about South Florida knocking off Villanova. What happened to Villanova? We've seen similar finishes in this city, unfortunately

To be honest, I'd rather face Villanova.

A win over USF will likely do very little for UC's seeding in the NCAA tournament and a loss would be without a doubt UC's worst of the season. Even with Villanova tanking down the stretch, a win over them may have been enough to move UC up another spot.

[BearcatShane]

Well it does improve our likilihood in winning tonight and I want a matchup with Notre Dame tomorrow.

[SeeinRed]

Impressive showing by UC tonight. Gates was a monster. Lets hope that trend continues.

[jredmo2]

I'm interested to see what defensive gameplan Mick goes with against ND. UC has really been excelling when they mix in zones a lot. Against UConn I think they played strictly man, and UConn shot lights out that game.

Now, this is all a little counter-intuitive to the whole "zone-buster" mentality. Against Louisville, a good 3 pt shooting team, I think UC ran a 2-2-1 press into a 3-2 zone almost exclusively (I could be wrong, it was a while ago). Against Georgetown and Marquette (both good shooting teams) they've run a lot of zones and shut down their outside shooting.

So, I guess my point is that Mick doesn't abandon the zone against ND just because they are so good at 3 point shooting. It's a really aggressive zone UC plays -- I'm impressed at how well they extend it and disrupt perimeter passing, and the rotations have been excellent.

[NorrisHopper30]

Originally Posted by jredmo2

I'm interested to see what defensive gameplan Mick goes with against ND. UC has really been excelling when they mix in zones a lot. Against UConn I think they played strictly man, and UConn shot lights out that game.

Now, this is all a little counter-intuitive to the whole "zone-buster" mentality. Against Louisville, a good 3 pt shooting team, I think UC ran a 2-2-1 press into a 3-2 zone almost exclusively (I could be wrong, it was a while ago). Against Georgetown and Marquette (both good shooting teams) they've run a lot of zones and shut down their outside shooting.

So, I guess my point is that Mick doesn't abandon the zone against ND just because they are so good at 3 point shooting. It's a really aggressive zone UC plays -- I'm impressed at how well they extend it and disrupt perimeter passing, and the rotations have been excellent.

Expect a lot of the press into man to man. We didn't press much first time around, but it's coming tomorrow and it's coming in a big way IMO. ND thrives in the walk up the court then run your play offense, if we can disturb that (they don't really have an exceptional ball handler - but most are capable) and limit their offensive possessions to 25 seconds - maybe they'll take bad shots. We have to rebound, and we have to not fall behind by 20 like we did last time.

The tricky part is, they can respond well to pressure, and everyone on their team hits open threes. They are all experienced and can pass to the open man with no problem, so it's going to have to be a good press and we have to get back quickly.

I think the Cats win 67-62...I have a good feeling, we have a lot of confidence and I think the D steps up.