Cane Broome Showed Out Against Florida

Sports writing is an inherently results-driven enterprise. When the team you cover wins, you heap praise on players and explain why the (insert nickname here)s are succeeding. When that same team hits a rough patch, as the Cincinnati Bearcats have, there’s a responsibility to put the failures into context and diagnose what’s wrong. Too often, the silver linings go unheralded.

There is one such silver lining wrapped around the cloud darkening the skies around UC basketball, even if that cloud really shouldn’t be that ominous. That silver lining personified is Cane Broome.

If you don’t know already, the stat line Broome had against Florida over the weekend was solid. The Sacred Heart transfer scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Plus, he also scored 16 points against Xavier so obviously some things have been working for him while the Bearcats ride the struggle bus. But it wasn’t just that Broome scored as much as it was the way he scored. Aside from a deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep three, the majority of his buckets came from nifty ball-handling, quick cuts and fearless aggression to the rim. Just look at these scoring plays.

Oh don’t mind me, I’ll just go right at a guy a foot taller than me and sink it in his face, while earning a trip to the line.

If you get a step behind Broome, you are finished.

From the arc to the rim in a couple of seconds.

Steal the ball then go coast-to-coast. That’s the Bearcat dream. (Big ups to OhVarsity! for getting these clips on Twitter. If you’re not already following them, you are doing yourself a disservice.)

If there is one critique to Broome’s efforts the last two weeks, its his work at the free-throw line. Getting and-ones is great, but going .500 at the line (5-for-10 combined the last two games), negates that a bit.

Every one of those buckets was earned by Broome. He created for himself and with the speed he has off the dribble, he should be able to do it again and again and again. So, while there are certainly issues that need settling in the aftermath of the last two losses, getting strong play out of Broome isn’t one of them. Let’s appreciate that.