Wichita State

david aka the TYZ · 01-19-2019, 05:54 PM

Justin stepped up big with points today. One of his threes was a bad shot but it went in. Hitting all four of the technicals was huge. Hard to knock 17 points, but I'm going to say this team is only going to be successful when justin can stay on the court and play well. The offense was still stagnant today and that ultimately falls on his shoulders. And when he goes to the bench the team D suffers. My point is while the 17 points is awesome, that's not what we should expect from him and hides the fact that the offense was still stagnant. Cumberland is going to carry us and that's great but you have to have ball movement and other options. Until the technicals and then fouls late to stop the clock we were trending around 50-55 points today and that doesnt cut it. We've been giving up 70 plus lately and while I think Mick will correct that, I dont see us holding teams to 50 too often. So, again, I think Justin has to be the one who steps up to keep the offense moving and the defense playing like we need it to.

cincrulz11 · 01-19-2019, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ervins84

The second 3 he hit was massive. It also was a rare unassisted 3 off the dribble for him. I still can't believe how much his shooting improved this year. That may be the single biggest surprise of the year.

yeah and he's shooting more in conference play which is something i felt he needed to do for the team.

Queens_NYC · 01-19-2019, 09:20 PM

Missed the game live and surprisingly was able to find a full game replay on Youtube.

The defense and rebounding was stellar. On top of Cumberland's playmaking and Jenifer's shooting, Keith Williams made a lot of big buckets himself.

justinhub2003 · 01-19-2019, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterhead

Thank god for the double T. Cumberland did a good job of baiting there. Without that it was a last possession type game

We would have been up 7 at that point.

It helped, but we were breaking away even before the tech’s

Emperor Snapper · 01-20-2019, 10:50 AM

After starting the season 9 of 32, over the last 4 games Keith Williams is 6 for 11 from 3-point range. He hit 4 his entire freshman season in 27 tries. I am starting to get slightly worried about losing him early to the NBA.

UC currently ranks 38th in adjusted offense on KenPom, a better ranking than last year (although a slightly lower rating) and on pace for the 2nd-best ranking in Cronin's tenure (behind 2017). At the start of the year I didn't think this team was going to finish top 100 in adjusted offense. Williams, Jenifer, and Brooks have all turned out to be way more effective than I imagined.

Thank goodness, too, because the defense is on pace to be his worst since at least 2010. It is even possible, although unlikely, that the team could wind up the season ranked higher on O (currently 38) than D (currently 30). Even being within 10 spots is very, very un-Cronin like. The only time it has happened was 2009, when the offense was ranked 83rd and the defense 108th.

The past two seasons this team was decidedly decent on offense, which I generally attributed to getting an unusual concentration of offensive talent (Evans, Clark, Washington, Cumberland). 3 of those 4 guys are gone, they added no one who is comparable, and they have maintained their efficiency. It is possible that Cronin has actually fixed some things here.

cincycpaw · 01-20-2019, 11:15 AM

Just from what I’ve seen, not data so might be wrong,
It feels like the offense is not better by scheme. Just we are hitting 3’s (well Cumberland and Jenifer), Cumberland is able to get shots and points 1:1 better than clark, Evans...and Washington. And we have another player that will take the ball to the basket in Williams.

It seems individual 1:1 wins have lead to a better offense. Maybe not but it’s what I see.

**sedziobs** · 01-20-2019, 11:25 AM

Brooks has improved a ton on offense. His Torvic ORtg is up to 122 this season, after being below 97 his first two years. He takes a lot of heat here for being soft, but his finesse game has been pretty good, even if it is mostly limited to the sweeping hook. He's shooting 62% on 94 attempts, which is a lot more efficient than Washington was last year. I think one of our problems last year is Washington had the highest usage on the team, with one of the lowest efficiencies.

cincrulz11 · 01-20-2019, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cincycpaw

Just from what I’ve seen, not data so might be wrong,
It feels like the offense is not better by scheme. Just we are hitting 3’s (well Cumberland and Jenifer), Cumberland is able to get shots and points 1:1 better than clark, Evans...and Washington. And we have another player that will take the ball to the basket in Williams.

It seems individual 1:1 wins have lead to a better offense. Maybe not but it’s what I see.

i think cumberland is definitely better suited to run our iso offense over evans. better scorer, better driver, better passer, draws more fouls.

skyblade · 01-20-2019, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedziobs

Brooks has improved a ton on offense. His Torvic ORtg is up to 122 this season, after being below 97 his first two years. He takes a lot of heat here for being soft, but his finesse game has been pretty good, even if it is mostly limited to the sweeping hook. He's shooting 62% on 94 attempts, which is a lot more efficient than Washington was last year. I think one of our problems last year is Washington had the highest usage on the team, with one of the lowest efficiencies.

I agree, I was a big critic of Washington last year and think he dragged the team down a bit. But I did not expect Brooks to improve so much or so quickly. By most measures Brooks has been a significantly better player then Washington was last year. Per 40 minutes he averages more offensive rebounds, more rebounds, more blocks, fewer TOs, a higher FG% and more assists, he also has a much higher ORtg, all on a lower usage rate.

He trails KW last year in a few areas. He averages fewer points per 40 minutes (though only 4 fewer) and also ironically has a quite a bit worse DRtg - which is an area I thought Brooks would be significantly better than Washington. The biggest key thing I see for Brooks to work on is fouls. He averages 5.6 per 40 minutes (2.5 more then KW's average per 40 last year). Would like to see him get that number under 5 this year and under 4 next year.

cincrulz11 · 01-20-2019, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyblade

He trails KW last year in a few areas. He averages fewer points per 40 minutes (though only 4 fewer) and also ironically has a worse DRtg - which is an area I thought Brooks would be significantly better than Washington. The biggest key thing I see for Brooks to work on is fouls. He averages 5.6 per 40 minutes (2.5 more then KW's average per 40 last year). Would like to see him get that number under 5 this year and under 4 next year.

brooks doesn't have the best defender of the cronin era by his side. clark made everybody better.

View Poll Results: Who wins?
Bearcats by 1-5 points	8	40.00%
Bearcats by 6+ points	10	50.00%
Shockers by 1-5 points	2	10.00%
Shockers by 6+ ponts	0	0%
Voters: 20. You may not vote on this poll

01-19-2019, 05:54 PM	#81
david aka the TYZ Epic Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Mason area Posts: 3,086	Justin stepped up big with points today. One of his threes was a bad shot but it went in. Hitting all four of the technicals was huge. Hard to knock 17 points, but I'm going to say this team is only going to be successful when justin can stay on the court and play well. The offense was still stagnant today and that ultimately falls on his shoulders. And when he goes to the bench the team D suffers. My point is while the 17 points is awesome, that's not what we should expect from him and hides the fact that the offense was still stagnant. Cumberland is going to carry us and that's great but you have to have ball movement and other options. Until the technicals and then fouls late to stop the clock we were trending around 50-55 points today and that doesnt cut it. We've been giving up 70 plus lately and while I think Mick will correct that, I dont see us holding teams to 50 too often. So, again, I think Justin has to be the one who steps up to keep the offense moving and the defense playing like we need it to.

01-19-2019, 09:20 PM	#83
Queens_NYC Epic Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 1,655	Missed the game live and surprisingly was able to find a full game replay on Youtube. The defense and rebounding was stellar. On top of Cumberland's playmaking and Jenifer's shooting, Keith Williams made a lot of big buckets himself.

01-20-2019, 10:50 AM	#85
Emperor Snapper Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 255	After starting the season 9 of 32, over the last 4 games Keith Williams is 6 for 11 from 3-point range. He hit 4 his entire freshman season in 27 tries. I am starting to get slightly worried about losing him early to the NBA. UC currently ranks 38th in adjusted offense on KenPom, a better ranking than last year (although a slightly lower rating) and on pace for the 2nd-best ranking in Cronin's tenure (behind 2017). At the start of the year I didn't think this team was going to finish top 100 in adjusted offense. Williams, Jenifer, and Brooks have all turned out to be way more effective than I imagined. Thank goodness, too, because the defense is on pace to be his worst since at least 2010. It is even possible, although unlikely, that the team could wind up the season ranked higher on O (currently 38) than D (currently 30). Even being within 10 spots is very, very un-Cronin like. The only time it has happened was 2009, when the offense was ranked 83rd and the defense 108th. The past two seasons this team was decidedly decent on offense, which I generally attributed to getting an unusual concentration of offensive talent (Evans, Clark, Washington, Cumberland). 3 of those 4 guys are gone, they added no one who is comparable, and they have maintained their efficiency. It is possible that Cronin has actually fixed some things here.

01-20-2019, 11:15 AM	#86
cincycpaw Epic Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,680	Just from what I’ve seen, not data so might be wrong, It feels like the offense is not better by scheme. Just we are hitting 3’s (well Cumberland and Jenifer), Cumberland is able to get shots and points 1:1 better than clark, Evans...and Washington. And we have another player that will take the ball to the basket in Williams. It seems individual 1:1 wins have lead to a better offense. Maybe not but it’s what I see.

01-20-2019, 11:25 AM	#87
sedziobs Senior Moderator Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 2,395	Brooks has improved a ton on offense. His Torvic ORtg is up to 122 this season, after being below 97 his first two years. He takes a lot of heat here for being soft, but his finesse game has been pretty good, even if it is mostly limited to the sweeping hook. He's shooting 62% on 94 attempts, which is a lot more efficient than Washington was last year. I think one of our problems last year is Washington had the highest usage on the team, with one of the lowest efficiencies.