UCLA

[cincycpaw]

What a great game. Really enjoyed that. It seemed like everyone just about brought their A game last night.

[waterhead]

It seems like Williams is averaging about 2 dunks a game lately. It's been a while since we had a player that goes above the rim with style like he can. It adds another level of excitement to the game for the fans and it really gets them going. He tries to dunk everything he can.

We were lights out from 3 which also is a fan favorite! The fans got their money's worth.

[waterhead]

As well as we played I think the ball bounced our way a lot last night. Williams got some shots to fall that probably should not have 3 or 4 of them. The ball seemed to bounce our way a lot off the rim for rebounds too.

We would have won the game either way obviously but we had somewhat of a perfect storm last night which rarely seems to happen for us. Sometimes you make your own breaks I guess.

We passed the ball extremely well last night. So nice to see us carve up the zone when they showed it. 24 assists on 6 turnovers is outstanding. 38 to 25 on boards. I want to watch that game over and over.

[ZCat]

Originally Posted by Mcginnjw

Huggs was slurring pretty bad

I didn’t think he was slurring.
It’s just typical Huggins. With a dry humor.
He complemented Mick, the arena the defense. Micks choice to switch to zone. It was nice to honor him, And that he was able to come in the middle of the season

[ZCat]

Originally Posted by Mcginnjw

This has been great to watch us completely destroy these highly recruited pussies.

We sometimes see teams shoot lights out.I guess for once I can say we had a hot shooting night. Along with that awesome defense. Great job to the coach for leading this team And the players. I’m going to enjoy this one.

[justinhub2003]

I love that Keith Williams said tonight was his Jordan flu game. He was sick all day leading up to the game and then put on a show.

[beeman7467]

Please tell me the “Just like football” chant was as awesome as it sounds. On vacation with no access to a tv, so hopefully someone taped it and can post to YouTube?

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by waterhead

We passed the ball extremely well last night. So nice to see us carve up the zone when they showed it. 24 assists on 6 turnovers is outstanding. 38 to 25 on boards. I want to watch that game over and over.

The two stats are almost as impressive as the score. UCLA is taller then us at 4 out of 5 positions and was one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country. We grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to their 20 defensive rebounds.

24 assists partialy comes because guys were hitting shots, but 6 TO's is going to win a lot of games even if you aren't hitting shots. All but 1 starter (Cumberland) had at least 3 assists.

They had 8 more TO's and 6 fewer offensive rebounds then us. Which means we basically created 14 more possessions then them for ourselfs by playing hard D and giving maximum effort to getting rebounds.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by justinhub2003

Just an FYI. Our offense was ranked 49th last season on a team with 3 pros.

And yet this year out offense is ranked 46

I see a whole note offensive sets than I’ve ever seen.

Our zone offense was fantastic tonight

Last year we were very predictable on O. Get it in to Clark/Washington and the either they try to score or kick it out. Teams knew what we were going to do, it was just a matter of if they could stop it.

I know I am a Kyle Washington hater, but to me the biggest difference is Brooks/Nsoseme. Washington was a one trick pony on O, get the ball and shoot it. It worked when it worked, but it didn't work too often. His lack of passing and movement clogged the lane.

This year our O is much more free flowing and our C's are much better moving, passing, screening and rebounding. They aren't the scorers that KW was, but everything else they do makes it much easier on everyone else. And they provide enough scoring wise that it keeps defenses honest.

Scott is also more mobile then Clark was and an excellent passer. I'd take Clark back in an instant, but Scott's movement does help open more driving lanes.

All that makes our O much more active and mobile and harder for teams to defend. If they lose track of a guy, that guy will take it to the rim for an easy bucket.

The other big difference is simply Cumberland. He shot 33.9% from three last year, this year he is shooting 46.7%. He has very good range as well. Teams are guarding him 5-10 feet beyond the three point line. He draws a lot of defensive focus and even when he's not scoring his movement and the threat of him shooting 3's opens a lot more driving lanes.

Jenifer oddly is also shooting 46.7% from 3. We may not have as many 3 point shooters as last year, but Jenifer and Cumberland hit at a very high rate. Other guys make up for their lack of 3 point shooting but being more active with screens and backcuts.

I also suspect that Cronin has a bigger hand in the offense this year as well. Last year he seemed more content to just let us play. This year, we are running a set play almost every time down the court. And a lot of the time set plays are getting us open looks.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by cincrulz11

ive never seen brooks finish around the rim like this before

For the first time it looked like his timing was right. When he gets too quick or pump fakes too much it's a disaster. When he's making the right read he looks pretty good.