Sometimes You Just Lose
by Matt Opper on Feb 11, 2012 5:12 PM EST
Email
PrintThis is one of those times.
7 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Sometimes you just lose?
You come out like a bolt of lightning and go up 12 in the first few minutes of the game and then lay an egg the rest of the game. C’mon man!!
Mick Cronin finally had his guards shooting lights out b/c of all the 3’s attempted early on in the conference play. Then he changes it up and tries to always go inside to Gates. The guards are out of sink when they are not shooting 3’s. They clearly are not taking as many as they were early on and they can’t hit them when they need too. I understand that taking 3’s can really put you out of a game by missing, but there is a night and day difference here between this team and the early team. They relied on the guards shooting 3’s and not so much Gates being the go-to guy. Now, Gates is the go-to guy and they are losing again.
Do you guys see something here? I can’t wait until Mick Cronin is gone. Yes, making the tourny last year might have saved his lousy coaching ass for a while but seriously he needs to go.
The way UC started the game is irrelevant
because that kind of shooting is impossible to keep up for 40 minutes. UC lost because they got suckered into playing the pace that Marquette wanted on their home floor. As a result there were a ton of quick shots, bad offense and worst of all turnovers. UC had 9 first half turnovers and that’s what got Marquette back into the game. Taking stupid passes and converting them to easy buckets on the other end.
Gates has nothing to do with this. The biggest reason for the struggles in the past three weeks is a simple one. The Bearcats have lost the turnover margin in 5 of the 6 games since the win at UConn. As much as you want to play the Mick Cronin is garbage and needs to get fired card at every turn it really doesn’t apply with what has happened over the last few weeks. Its the same players, running the same offense that ripped off 10 of 11 in December and early January. Those same players and that same offense have slipped over the last three weeks. This is Big East basketball. Unless you’re Cuse every team has these kind of runs at some point
I don't know what team your watching
When Gates came back into the mix after his suspension, he play a valuable part in rebounding and defense. The guard play was what was carrying this team then. Only when Mick made his comments about “using Gates and getting him his double-doubles” “that they would win their games”. He said “he honestly believed this”. Well, they are not winning. I’m here to tell you that they have changed their style of play a bit and started forcing Gates the ball more inside so they would have the inside game as well. Which I kinda agree with to a point, as you said that it’s hard to keep up the shooting they were doing for 40 minutes in Big East play. But, at some point you have to go back to it in the games b/c that is what was bringing this team to success. Force feeding Gates the ball is not the answer (see the losses the past weeks). It throws off the rhythm of the guards and they tend to miss a high percentage of their 3’s. It was a fact that Mick was letting the kids play their game before they started force feeding the ball to Gates so he could get his 12 points and 10 rebounds a game.
As for Mick being fired, he should and I’m not backing off my stance. Most of the turnovers in this past game was due to the press and that should have been taking care of after the 4th or 5th steal. He was sending Wright up by himself with no help. To me the adjustment should have been made then and not after the 10th steal and the 16th point. These kids are just waiting for Mick to put them into the right situation and make the right adjustments so they can use their talents. It showed when Mick said “he was letting the kids play their style” a few weeks ago. Now he’s changed it on behalf of Gates coming back and getting his…..
I’m blaming the coach b/c he is the one that manages these games. The kids play to what and how the coach wants. Yes they sometimes do get beat and are off their game once in a while, but if you can’t see that there is a coaching problem here then you need to take off your Mick Cronin homer glasses. Win or lose, I will always dislike Mick b/c I think he can’t coach in the Big East. It’s to Big for him to manage and shows in his games. Even the games he wins….
I don't know where you are getting this "the offense runs through gates" theory
But the stats just don’t back it up. Look at the chart for his possession rate. Pre Xavier it was .23 post Xavier it is .21. His usage rate is almost as low as it was during his sophomore year when he took the floor with two black hole’s masquerading as Lance Stephenson and Deonta Vaughn.
Look at the chart of the starters possession rates this season you will find that since coming back from suspension Gates hasn’t finished higher than 2nd in terms of possessions used since the Notre Dame game. In most games he is 4th above Jaquon Parker. Since Gates returned he has averaged 9.5 possessions per game. The rest of the list is Dixon at 12.45, Cash at 11.45, Kilpatrick at 11 and Parker at 6.81. Simply put your idea that Gates has become the centerpiece of the offense doesn’t hold any water.
In the past two games gates has been more involved offensively. Not because Cronin has changed his approach, but because St. John’s and Marquette had a major dearth of post players. The Johnies had God’s Gift and no one else, Marquette didn’t even play a post for most of the game. When you have a post and the other team doesn’t it’s smart to go to that guy, and UC did, in both games.
You want Cronin fired, that’s fine. But I don’t see the merit in blaming this stretch only on Cronin. Just like I don’t see any merit in blaming it only on Dion Dixon and Parker shooting 36.7 and 33.1 per cent from the field, or Cash having a 1.85/1 assist/turnover ratio or Kilpatrick shooting 36.5 per cent from 3. All of those things are factors, but no one thing is at fault.
Like I said
It’s not only this stretch of games it’s just about all of them. He manages the games, right? He is the one that is responsible for putting his players in the right situation to win. Make in game adjustments and LEAD the players. I do not see him doing this, even in most of the wins. I don’t think he is a coach that can keep us as a contender. In most part, he is always out coached and to me that is what does it for me. If you take at look most of the games, the players seem lost from time to time through out the games.(see Marquette and Rutgers games). It’s the players talent that gets them through the lapses. The only game that I would say that he did a fairly descent job was Georgetown. But a dog gets a bone every-now-and-then.. Or maybe he’s still learning too. But we don’t need that! We need a coach to get it done..
As for the Gates possession percentage, these stats are skewed a bit. If I wish had the time to look it up, but they have been dishing the ball to Gates way more the past few weeks then they have when he first came back from the suspension. Fact too, is that they (the guards) shoot less 3’s than they did before. My point is, is that the Guards shoot better and make more 3’s when they shoot more and play their game. Therefore they win too. It’s a known fact that Mick said he was going to get Gates the ball more b/c, and I quote “when Gates gets his double-doubles Mick honestly believes they will win these games” That came from his mouth not mine…. So giving the ball more to Gates has been happening, just not translating into wins.
Another fact is that they are shooting less 3’s, right? Right after Gates came back they were shooting a high percentage of 3’s and making a high percentage too. But Gates was concentrating on rebounds and defense. So we were told and the guards were being allowed to play their game. That statement came from Mick also..
I’m not saying that Gates is being used as the center piece of this offense, I’m saying the guards were and are no longer. I guess Mick is trying to distribute the ball around evenly so they can have more of a well rounded game, but that isn’t their game. I know you have to change things up per team that you face, but you have to use your strength. Playing the inside game along with Gates and not shooting from the perimeter the whole game isn’t. Especially with long and lanky players as they face in the Big East. Mick needs to let the guards play their game. He never allowed that to transform. He kept the guards attacking the basket and dishing the ball to Gates. Where was the assists and perimeter shooting? Seems to me they were hesitant to shoot from the outside, which was not the game plan Mick invoked for this game and other games, he should have though.
BTW, they play a better defense when they play at a high pace too.
Mick Cronin isn't a moron
That is anathema to your world view but it’s the truth. He isn’t god’s gift to basketball either. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Where exactly I have no idea because he has only been playing with a full deck for 60 games.
Possession percent is not skewed by anything. It is a tempo neutral stat that simply measures how often a player participates in the offense while on the floor.
The guards are shooting less threes in aggregate but three point attempts as a percentage has fallen to 35 percent from the 46 per cent during gates suspensions. So you are right that the Bearcats shoot fewer threes now than when they had to play five guards for long stretches against vastly inferior foes.
What hasn’t changed is the percentage of scoring coming from three pointers. it is still roughly a third of scoring in Big East play just like it was before Big East play. What has changed is that the three point shooting percentages have gone down. Way down. In Conference UC makes 33 per cent of threes, good for 206th in the nation and 8th in the Big East. During Gates suspension the Bearcats made 42 per cent of 3’s. Oh an no one in the Big East takes or makes as many threes per game as UC.
I guess Mick is trying to distribute the ball around evenly so they can have more of a well rounded game, but that isn’t their game.
What? The Bearcats have based the entire offense around balance since the Xavier game. Gates coming back hasn’t changed that in the least. Kilpatrick, Dixon, Gates and Cash all average double figures. Parker isn’t far behind at 8.7. What is that but balanced?
And this group doesn’t play better defense at a faster pace. They force more turnovers and gain more steals but the faster the pace the worse the efficiency numbers get. In the Big East UC has averaged 66 possessions per game. In games where the pace is below average UC allows .99 PPP and 99.5 efficiency in games above those same figures are 1.05 and 104.5.
You think Cronin’s a moron and should have lost his job years ago. That’s fine. I am not into changing the opinions of other people, merely stating my own. But the arguments you are trying to use to back that position here don’t hold water upon even the slightest bit of analysis. You keep clinging to this gates double double quote that I have never even heard before on the assumption that Cronin has diverted the entire offense to get Yancy his double double . The stats don’t back that idea up at all.
Yancy had maybe two plays called for him
a 18 footer he passed up on , and a under the basket play that he DERP’ed.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
