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Old 04-14-2019, 02:29 PM   #1
HExus
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John Brannen named UC head basketball Coach.

Per the teams social media.
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Old 04-14-2019, 02:40 PM   #2
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Yes, it's official now. He may seem like the easy and safe higher, but based on his resume he was the obvious choice. Being so local was just an added bonus.

He preaches toughness and offensive rebounding like Cronin did, but also seems to be quite a bit more offensive minded. He likes to press on D and our team next year will have the athleticism, length and size to be an excellent pressing team.

Brannen became my favorite early on and I just kept liking him more as time went on.
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Old 04-14-2019, 02:46 PM   #3
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I am extremely interested to see how this team looks on offense next year. First priority is to secure our roster. I am excited for the change and hope we can finally get some damn shooters in here.
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:48 PM   #4
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"Apollo 11 Lands on Moon" - HExus
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:12 PM   #5
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Welcome to UC coach Brannen.

There were likely a wider group of impressive candidates that didn't get interviews, but Brannen has done an impressive job with developing players and running a strong program. He's a great hire under the circumstances.

It's really uncommon for a young D1 program to achieve the results they've had at NKU. Going to the NCAA in their first eligible season and losing to Kentucky by a mere nine points...that's your coach putting you in a position to compete against the odds. Yeah, they lost, but they had their chances against a loaded team with several NBA prospects.

Regarding the UC team...I don't think we have to worry about Curtis. He's signed a LOI and this new coach is no one that he should fear wouldn't set him up for great development and success.

I'd be concerned about Cumberland, but that was the case with Cronin as well, and we'll just have to see what he wants to do next. If he's gone it's going to be a major adjustment, but I still feel optimistic about several of the guys making a big jump this season.

One thing Cronin has done well with this roster is set guys up to see their path of where they can grow into more contribution. I'd be surprised if many decide to bail after this hire.

Trevon Scott has to be looking at how Brannen took a 6'8" Drew McDonald and turned him into an inside/outside star and hoping that he might learn something good.
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:23 PM   #6
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Welcome to Brannen! Our guys know how to play D and give effort so it will be interesting to see how they can excel under a new coach on offense. Hopefully we can keep all the major players and maybe add a transfer. Not sure if any player can or will follow Brannen or if he looks for a shooter transfer.
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:25 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirthought View Post
Welcome to UC coach Brannen.

There were likely a wider group of impressive candidates that didn't get interviews, but Brannen has done an impressive job with developing players and running a strong program. He's a great hire under the circumstances.

It's really uncommon for a young D1 program to achieve the results they've had at NKU. Going to the NCAA in their first eligible season and losing to Kentucky by a mere nine points...that's your coach putting you in a position to compete against the odds. Yeah, they lost, but they had their chances against a loaded team with several NBA prospects.

Regarding the UC team...I don't think we have to worry about Curtis. He's signed a LOI and this new coach is no one that he should fear wouldn't set him up for great development and success.

I'd be concerned about Cumberland, but that was the case with Cronin as well, and we'll just have to see what he wants to do next. If he's gone it's going to be a major adjustment, but I still feel optimistic about several of the guys making a big jump this season.

One thing Cronin has done well with this roster is set guys up to see their path of where they can grow into more contribution. I'd be surprised if many decide to bail after this hire.

Trevon Scott has to be looking at how Brannen took a 6'8" Drew McDonald and turned him into an inside/outside star and hoping that he might learn something good.
Agreed, Scott has always had the game of more of a stretch 4 (likes to play facing the basket, a good passer and okay at handling the ball). Hopefully Brannen can help him take his game to the next level.

Last year Brannen had a guy go from the low 20's in 3-point shooting percentage to the low 40's. We've got quite a few guys on this team who need to make a jump in 3-point percentage (Williams, Moore, Scott, Johnson), so hopefully he can help them.

If Scott can become an even better inside/outside player (he should be able to) and 2 of those 4 can become at least 35% 3-point shooters we will be in excellent shape next year.
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Old 04-14-2019, 07:55 PM   #8
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I'm not 100% sold on Brannen, but finally divorcing the program from Bob Huggins is a positive. It's long past time to move on. Frank Martin would have been a terrible choice, as he has essentially had one well-timed hot streak and a whole lot of hot garbage for years now. Pitino would have been fun, but the dude is radioactive right now. It would be begging for nonstop investigations into the program.

Cronin left the program in far better shape than he found it, and at the end of the day you hope every coach can do that.

Bohn has done well with his last two hires in football and women's basketball, so I think he has earned some trust with this one.
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Old 04-14-2019, 08:23 PM   #9
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Solid hire on paper. Too many unknowns to see how it will all shake out, but the upside is we have an up and coming coach who can build off our recent success and maybe do something March. I'm really excited that the teams identity will inevitably evolve under Brannen, and here's to 9 more tourney's under his leadership.
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Old 04-15-2019, 06:54 AM   #10
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I really like the hire. He was #2 on my list behind Casey Alexander when the coaching search started. But honestly the more I compare the 2, Alexander only had more years under his belt. If you compare each of their first 4 years at their previous program, Brannen comes out ahead.



There are plenty of things to like here. His former guys praise how smart he is. Last year his team was 27th in eFG% and the year before they were 25th in eFG% on defense. As a comparison we weren't in the top 100 in offensive eFG% a single time under Mick, and we were in the top 25 in eFG% on defense 6 times (all in a row from 2013-2018). This makes me think he's going to be good on both ends of the floor and has a good understanding for what he wants to do at each end. I think this is going to be an improvement for us from that aspect.


We have to see how his recruiting does but he seems like a guy that is capable. The media loves him and he seems to have really good relationships with his former players. It appears all the nku players and fans love him. I look forward to having a coach that doesn't come off as downright embarrassing from time to time the way huggins and cronin did.
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