cncchris33
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1. This team is a supercharged V-8 that is hitting on 5 cylinders, right now. Chemistry is not there, yet, and you can tell that they haven't had a ton of practice running together. The assists are down, and the sloppy TOs are up. The raw talent is evident, but they are not yet cohesive in the way a lot of our fans who will meet at the watercooler Monday to discuss how disappointed they are, would like them to be. That is understandable to a point, but it is also why some of us warned against the early, gaudy expectations for this team. Covid, grad transfers, and the freshman transition weren't likely to make for an immediate finished product on the floor. You were warned, but now you see it manifested.
2. We still don't have a PG, and I'm not certain that Jaden Springer isn't pur best eventual option. @BruinVol and I both stated that belief, last year, but it still seems to be a possibility. Vescovi is a nice player, but he just doesn't handle the ball well enough to make me totally comfortable with him as the man bringing the ball up in crunch time. Springer isn't Jordsn Bone with the ball, either, but he is much more of a threat to get to the basket, and Vescovi is the better spot-on shooter.
3. Our frontline was 8-25, today, after shooting a combined 7-29 against Colorado. They have to be more efficient. As a team, we missed probably a dozen shots right around the rim. Hopefully, that is a sign of a lack of practice, but it has to be fixed. We can't win with a frontline being that inefficient.
4. That same frontline dominated the boards, today, however, and made Cincy earn their points outside and in transition. They really defended well and took care of second chances for Cincy on the offensive glass. We had 14 offensive boards ourselves. Great job on what was a big weakness, last year.
5. FTs were huge. Hard to believe we shot 30 FTs to Cincy's 7, but we don't win without them. Glad to see us shoot 83%, too. We attacked the rim and earned a lot of those opportunities.
6. Olivier Nkamhoua doesn't need to be seeing the floor, right now. He is a non-factor for positive plays, and a frequent contributor to negative ones. In 14 minutes, this season, he has 2 pts on 1-4 shooting, 0 rebs, 0 blks, 0 assts, 0 steals, 2 TOs, and 2 fouls.
7. Pons was much better offensively, today. His rebounding wasn't nearly as good, but he finished with 8 pts, 4 rebs, and 2 blks.
8. Keon Johnson had another solid effort. Shows the most promise of any player on our roster, followed by Springer, IMO. KJ: 7 pts, 6 rebs, 1 asst, 1 blk. Cut his TOs from 5 to 2. Springer: 11 pts, 4 rebs, 1 asst, 1 stl, and only 1 TO in 25 minutes.
9. JJJ filled the stat sheet again with 8 pts, 4 rebs, 3 assts, 3 stls but also had 3 TOs playing a little more PG, today than vs Colorado, and missed another couple shots right at the rim, shooting a really inefficient 1-5. He has to finish better because he can get to the rim.
10. It's again pretty impressive to win by 9 when you shoot 32% as a team. Our defense, outside of several open 3s we allowed, was again fantastic. We forced Cincy to beat us from outside, which they are not typically a great shooting team, but today they capitalized on those shots to keep it close. If we shoot even 40%, we likely win by 15 points. In addition to playing great D, we got to the FT line at a better than 4:1 ratio, and got their best players in foul trouble, yet still couldn't capitalize because we couldn't score. That has to get fixed and is likely tied to point #1. As with Colorado, a better team would have beaten us today. Fortunately, we had enough to hold Cincy off. Hopefully in this stretch of winnable games, we afford ourselves more opportunities to get the offense on the same page, get the guys some confidence on offense, and build chemistry with reps in practice and in games.
2. We still don't have a PG, and I'm not certain that Jaden Springer isn't pur best eventual option. @BruinVol and I both stated that belief, last year, but it still seems to be a possibility. Vescovi is a nice player, but he just doesn't handle the ball well enough to make me totally comfortable with him as the man bringing the ball up in crunch time. Springer isn't Jordsn Bone with the ball, either, but he is much more of a threat to get to the basket, and Vescovi is the better spot-on shooter.
3. Our frontline was 8-25, today, after shooting a combined 7-29 against Colorado. They have to be more efficient. As a team, we missed probably a dozen shots right around the rim. Hopefully, that is a sign of a lack of practice, but it has to be fixed. We can't win with a frontline being that inefficient.
4. That same frontline dominated the boards, today, however, and made Cincy earn their points outside and in transition. They really defended well and took care of second chances for Cincy on the offensive glass. We had 14 offensive boards ourselves. Great job on what was a big weakness, last year.
5. FTs were huge. Hard to believe we shot 30 FTs to Cincy's 7, but we don't win without them. Glad to see us shoot 83%, too. We attacked the rim and earned a lot of those opportunities.
6. Olivier Nkamhoua doesn't need to be seeing the floor, right now. He is a non-factor for positive plays, and a frequent contributor to negative ones. In 14 minutes, this season, he has 2 pts on 1-4 shooting, 0 rebs, 0 blks, 0 assts, 0 steals, 2 TOs, and 2 fouls.
7. Pons was much better offensively, today. His rebounding wasn't nearly as good, but he finished with 8 pts, 4 rebs, and 2 blks.
8. Keon Johnson had another solid effort. Shows the most promise of any player on our roster, followed by Springer, IMO. KJ: 7 pts, 6 rebs, 1 asst, 1 blk. Cut his TOs from 5 to 2. Springer: 11 pts, 4 rebs, 1 asst, 1 stl, and only 1 TO in 25 minutes.
9. JJJ filled the stat sheet again with 8 pts, 4 rebs, 3 assts, 3 stls but also had 3 TOs playing a little more PG, today than vs Colorado, and missed another couple shots right at the rim, shooting a really inefficient 1-5. He has to finish better because he can get to the rim.
10. It's again pretty impressive to win by 9 when you shoot 32% as a team. Our defense, outside of several open 3s we allowed, was again fantastic. We forced Cincy to beat us from outside, which they are not typically a great shooting team, but today they capitalized on those shots to keep it close. If we shoot even 40%, we likely win by 15 points. In addition to playing great D, we got to the FT line at a better than 4:1 ratio, and got their best players in foul trouble, yet still couldn't capitalize because we couldn't score. That has to get fixed and is likely tied to point #1. As with Colorado, a better team would have beaten us today. Fortunately, we had enough to hold Cincy off. Hopefully in this stretch of winnable games, we afford ourselves more opportunities to get the offense on the same page, get the guys some confidence on offense, and build chemistry with reps in practice and in games.
