Not sure who that is, but I bet he’s not Brandon.
Looks like a mix of Dave Bliss, Billy Tubbs and Dauber from Coach and Jon Gruden.
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I would be okay with college basketball copying the NBA. Four 12 minute quarters instead of two 20 minute halves, 24 second shot clock instead of 30 second, 6 fouls instead of 5, a few other subtle differences.
I think it would make for a faster, better game, although the record book would be rewritten over time.
Wow. The refs are gonna need to up their game to get our opponents in the bonus…
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Taking 5 years minimum to implement this is ridiculous.
same pod as before (with utah and tcu)… but now looking at cincys transfers
summary-
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great defense, horrendous shooting last year
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thinks jizzle and dayday dont work together - surprised they kept both… hope 1 starts, the other on the bench
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loves thiam
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doesn’t like haynes in the big 12, thinks the a10 played a major role in his success at his size (low agility and only 6’8)… thinks him and thiam make no sense together, and you probably have to start celestine and have haynes be thiams backup… but notes they rebound great
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Sencire Harris- elite defender, nothing on offense - questions fit with non shooters as major pieces (jizzle and day day)
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doesnt like kerr’s defense but lineups with kerr and celestine have to be prioritized for shooting… notes celestine is top 95% in off-the -dribble shooting, top 70% in catch and shoot… notes haynes is more touted but any prognostication shows celestine as the more natural fit to start if looking for a cohesive team
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tournament is realistic but lineup choice is vital… notes dayday, jizzle, harris, haynes, thiam, would be a worse shooting team than last year
@justinhub2003 almost word for word all my talking points in our debate
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Rebounding. Wes values it. If he does then no way Celestine is a 4.
Also UC is in on Baba Miller still apparently. If they him, 100% Celestine becomes Abaev backup at the 3 since they don’t have a back up 3
Also have no idea who these dudes are.
Wes has no idea how to build a roster that’s clear. Too many guys can only do 1 thing well.
But Haynes is ranked 150 spots high in the portal.
Also if Haynes drops some pounds with UC’s weight room who knows what he can do.
I mean Houston played for a Natty by starting 2 bigs who made a combined 3 3’s all year. Zero floor spacing. Just rebounding and defense.
J’Wan was “just rebounding and defense”??
You’re clueless.
Wanny’s offensive ability in the post??
the context was the full team… we had good floor spacing as the nations #1 3pt shooting team. all 3 starting guards were elite… lj and sharp both have a case as the nations best shooter … sharp liked to shoot almost logo 3s, you had to guard him half court… and all were quick trigger after screens, so bigs had to help on screens. thus making bigs defend the perimeter, the post wasnt crowded like UC
Houston’s spacing wasnt perfect, but it wasnt from crowding the post… but actually on the perimeter… on any screen, the smart teams would just both double the shooter/ball handler… there was no fear of a pick and pop…
- back to point that is a drastically different situation than UC… you could start jizzle (26% in league) And dayday, (35% in league on low volume)… then adding a non shooting 4 and 5 would be horrendous offense (aka LAST SEASON)
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Great point about the 3 point shooting. The importance of that can’t be overstated. Also, just borderline elite efficiency overall. I don’t think we can expect that from this group in Cincinnati.
The glaring elephant in the room is PG play. It’s not a sexy discussion because there isn’t much there there to discuss. But the discussion begins and ends there with Cincinnati IMO. Cincinnati has short combo-tweener chuckers and ball stoppers running the show who don’t facilitate all that well.
They are good ball players, don’t get me wrong. Im just still not sure Wes has earned the benefit of the doubt that he really has a good enough plan here bigger picture. They are both intriguing pieces that can go off on any given night and present problems when they are hot.
But James and Thomas don’t have the height or the raw sniper ability, respectively, that a Uzan and Cryer had to make shots reliably with the shot clock running down like UH did, hence the efficiency component. Perhaps not even the raw athleticism and burst of Mylik or the fearless ability to pull from range of Sharp.
I think everyone knows Jizzle can play. But his best weapon is an off the bounce pull up mid range/long 2. Even if he nails these at an unbelievable clip, moneyball analytics guys are throwing up in their mouths as we speak. It’s not a recipe for flow, high scores, or efficiency. It’s just not. Thomas is similar with more consistent range. I hate to be reductive because I do think they are both good players I mean I’d take them. The problem is Wes and the bigger picture until he proves differently.
The potential similarity of their respective bigs is kind of irrelevant for the purposes of comparing the overall offenses here IMO.
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ill even note that spacing as a team is important for jizzle and dayday too…
the volume of midranges imo was becuase they post was so crowded
this is how team defended them
teams crowded the post… the options: take the semi open mid range or try to score 4on1 in the post . teams didnt see cincy’s 3pt shot as a threat… and i think the high mid range from cincy was a sympton of that
@justinhub2003 wants the line up of- jizzle, dayday, abeav, haynes and thiam (context hayne is a 6’8 260lbs lowpost scoring/rebounding big man from a good George mason… haynes has limited agililty and doesnt shoot)… haynes is a great rebounder and he thinks the the reboudning will be vital
i noted that lineup is last years line up but worse… dillion mitchell was also a dominant rebounder (their 4 last year)… the same spacing issue, doesnt address any problems for last year
the lineup I HOPE they use: Jizzle, Abaev, Kerr, Celestine, Thiam… Kerr has made over 80 3s his last 2 full seasons (pg of #1 overall season arizona in the 1st)… Celestine is statistically one of the best shooting power forwards in the nation but low usage… justin hates this line up becuase clestine is a poor rebounder for the position… (which is true)… but it completely changes the dynamics … it goes from horrendous spacing to great spacing… some defensive question marks … but you rotate in sencire harris as needed for kerr or abaev based on the game
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That above illustration bothers me. Why? It’s a perfect illustration of how 3 pt shooting has mostly eliminated the backdoor cut for many teams/coaches. What’s infuriating is seeing teams struggle with 3s, either in games or continually throughout the season, and don’t utilize the cut to create easy points and/or force the defense from packing the paint.
Iowa State is one example of a team that (often) struggled from three yet rarely utilized backdoor cutters. And the one player we had that was good at them (Watson) rotted on the bench while Milan shot 1-7 away from Hilton and mostly played horrendous defense.
Hijack/rant over.
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I’ll be interested to see what Wes does. I agree with the discussion but I’m guessing they saw it in house as well.
The short summary of last season: good players who did not come together to make a good team last season.
I assume they are going to change something in the mix this season.
the only possible disagreement i see between pesik and justin is whether Wes is correct to value rebounding/defense over getting the ball in the bucket every once in a while for a change
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And frankly it’s fun to see it play out. I like when a maverick tries to change things. It’s good for CBB and good for the conference.
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Kerr is great offensively and dog poo on defense, like it drives his numbers into the ground. Jizzle is average on D. Abaev is dreadful on D, Celestine can’t rebound nor can he guard bigger 4’s…
That would be the worst defensive & rebounding lineup UC could run out there and it’s not like it’s so dynamic offensively that it make up for bad D.
I think the best lineup that offers defense, shooting and rim protection might be.
Jizzle
Dayday (top 5 on ball defender in big 12)
Celestine
Haynes
Thiam
That offers 2 shooters in Dayday & Celestine, a post up 4, a 5 who can protect the rim guard 4/5 and step out to hit jump shots, and volume scorer in Jizzle.
Wes likes to play guys 20-25 min if he can. So every one will play ultimately but with that lineup you can go to the bench and bring in:
Kerr -shooter/playmaker
Harris -lockdown defender
Abaev - shooter
Tyler McKinley - Stretch 4 who passes & shoots
Dzellatt- big body rebounder
With Tillery swapping in for Kerr/harris as needed.
To me the line up is pretty balanced if they run it like this. I don’t think Abaev should start if he can’t defend or turns it over too much.
My question to you is this: How is that different from last year?
If you swap the “post‑up 4” for a “slasher/driving 4”, everything else is identical to last year.
My counter to your “everyone will get minutes” point is that the real issue is who plays together. Your starters will still log most of their minutes as a group.
- DayDay isn’t a shooter—he only pulls the trigger when he’s wide‑open, and even then he hits just 35 % in league play, averaging one make per game.
- A lineup of Jizzle, DayDay, Celestine, Haynes, and Thiam has worse spacing than last year (Simas > Celestine as a shooter; Mitchell attacked from the perimeter; Haynes stays in the post).
I really don’t like DayDay with Jizzle, and I really don’t like Haynes with Thiam; they should sub for each other. All four are good players—but not together.
A unit of Jizzle, Abaev, Kerr, Celestine, and Thiam would be weaker defensively, but great defensive coaches usually coax solid defense out of any lineup (Sharp and LJ weren’t touted defenders at first when they got here). In my view, you start with the best offensive lineup, put them in a sound defensive system, and adjust defensive matchups in games with subs.
- Abaev is 6’7". His defense is poor, but you can’t teach that height for his position; you can develop his D. & Kerr defense didn’t prevent Arizona from getting the #1 seed
- We’re bringing in 6’2" Pop Isaacs, another poor defender, with plans to develop him and start him if Milos leaves. We don’t just accept that he’s bad on defense.
I’d use my lineup precisely because it changes the formula. TRY SOMETHING NEW. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. You already noted the systemic problem: your struggled in many games, scoring 59 points or fewer. Your lineup doesn’t address that issue.
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It’s about ********* time we had a non-conference slate that wasn’t a complete joke. There was never a good reason for it and it hurt us more than it ever helped.
It’s not where it needs to be, but it’s a step in the right direction. Next up? Get rid of 8 of the 10 250+ Net ranked opponents we schedule every year. Those absolutely hammer our non-con SOS and hurt us come selection time.
The super weak opponents hurt much more than the strong opponents help (just look at Kansas as an example).
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