Those examples are from the three teams that did draw fouls. The few top 100 foul-drawing teams were also good. I’m not saying drawing fouls isn’t a viable path—I’m saying it’s not the only path.
Purdue (preseason #2) doesn’t draw fouls. Duke didn’t draw fouls. Kansas was worse than us in that category and still made the tournament. Baylor, BYU, and Texas Tech all weren’t focused on drawing fouls through their guards.
Looking ahead, the preseason #1, #2, #3, and #4 teams for next year—Houston, Purdue, Texas Tech, and Louisville—will all not be strong at drawing fouls with their guards.
Side note: most of Sharp’s foul rate comes from being given the ball to close out games (intentional fouls). Day Day gets to the line just as much as Sharp through drives, but he doesn’t have the late-game, clock-milking free throws that boost Sharp’s numbers. If Cincinnati is good next year and playing with late leads, one of your guards will need to be the designated end-of-game free throw shooter, and their FT rate will go up. Sharp barely drove the ball late in the season.
“Just don’t see a lot of freshmen making huge impacts in the Big 12.”
What???
Every top team in the Big 12 is relying on freshmen:
- Houston has five freshmen in the rotation next year—two are expected to start.
- BYU’s star player will be a freshman. If they can’t land a top transfer, they’ll be starting two freshmen.
- Kansas currently has only one scorer on the roster—and he’s a freshman. They’re also going after a 2026 reclass who would be their #2 scorer if they land him. if they land him they could realistically start 3 freshmen
- Arizona is expected to start two freshmen.
- Baylor’s best player next year will be a freshman.
- Iowa State’s best shooter—and likely Curtis Jones’s replacement—will be a freshman.
- Colorado has five guards on the roster; four of them will be freshmen.
I posted earlier in this thread that the Big 12 freshman class is crazy. There are 26 players who could legitimately make a case for the All-Freshman Team. Historically, the All-Freshman Team has players that don’t make the All-Conference teams. But next year, I’m predicting there will be more than five freshmen among the 20 players who make All-Conference—some freshmen will even miss the All-Freshman Team but still make All-Conference.
Let me make a strong declaration: If UC is relying on Day Day and Jizzle, you can mark me down as saying I think Cincinnati will struggle badly again.
Tillery has to be a major contributor because of his ability to shoot. I’m not saying he needs to be the star or even start, but he has to play significant minutes and consistently knock down shots.
he has to be able to at least contribute to the level Christian Anderson did last year or robert wright
.