First we will start with some things I noticed in Cincinnati's 62-55 loss to Georgetown last night...
-Both these teams seldom used their bench. Georgetown basically went with a 6 man rotation while UC played with 7.
-I would love to see Shaq Thomas get more playing time. He played only 2 minutes last night. I think he brings an energetic spark to this lackluster offense with his ability to slash to the basket.
-The bearcats offense was extremely inefficient last night shooting just above 30% from the field with Cashmere and Kilpatrick shooting an abysmal 8-27 combined and 3-15 from deep.
-A common problem all year has been the inability of Cincinnati's bigs to score the basketball. They have long athletic bigs like Mbodj, Jackson and Nyarsuk that definitely help their stellar team defense but they are not skilled with the ball. Incoming top 20 recruit Jermaine Lawrence should help immediately next year in this department.
-UC shot 17-30 from the free throw line last night. In a tough defensive battle like this every point was crucial and they left several points at the line.
-Georgetown is solid as always. They dont wow you but they always play tough defense and now have the longest winning streak in the big east at 7 and have taken over first place.
-The Hoyas big man Nate Lubick led the team in assists with 4 last night. Everytime I see this guy play I cant help to think how goofy he looks but he has great vision for a big man and can shoot as well.
-How good is Otto Porter? The guy is leading the Hoyas in scoring, rebounding and steals. At 6-8 he is extremely capable of scoring from the inside or out and has a great skill set for a big man. He will be a lottery pick next year.
-The Bearcats were torched by freshman Dvauntes Smith-Rivera last night to the tune of 14 points. And if the name sounds familiar to you it should. He was at one point a Xavier commit and de-committed to play for the Hoyas. Bright future for this kid.
-Georgetown is also missing their 2nd best player right now. Greg Whittington was ruled academically ineligible. If they can get him back by tournament time this team is dangerous to their stout defense that allows only 55 points a game. They will always be able to keep games close.
Preview of Xavier at Dayton
-UD arena is always a tough place to play and this is always a highlighted game on the calender.
-Dayton is really struggling this year at 3-7 in the much improved A-10. They need to pick it up or they could be in danger of missing the A10 tournament.
-Dayton has some solid depth but havent been able to put it all together this year. They are led by pg Kevin Dillard who averages 15 a game to go with 5 assists.
-This should be an interesting matchup as Dayton can score points, they are 4th in the league in scoring against Xavier's always tough man to man defense that is 2nd in the league in points allowed.
-Dayton is the number one 3 point shooting team in the conference so this game will probably be dictated by how hot they can get from distance.
-Xavier is sitting at 7-3 in the conference much to the chagrin of the muskies supporters. This is a team that lost ALL 5 STARTERS from last years sweet 16 team. They are led by Semaj Christon who is undoubtedly one of the top 5 freshman in the country in my opinion. The guy can absolutely get buckets with his ability to get to the rim.
-The problem for Xavier all year has been trying to find a 3rd scoring option behind Christon and Travis Taylor. Justin Martin has been hot the past few games and maybe he can finally start putting it all together to give Xavier that much needed 3rd option.
-This team will be much improved next year with the addition of transfer Matt Stainbrook, and frosh non-qualifiers Myles Davis and Jalen Reynolds. Big time scorer Brandon Randolph from California will also be coming in as a true freshman.
-Xavier won the first match up at the Cintas Center 66-61. Dayton is favored by 5.5 but I am going with Xavier in a very similar score. Ill go Xavier 67 Dayton 63 in this one!
You nailed it on this one Al. The lack of a big man for UC has been their downfall all year. The defense is great and Mick's strong suit. But you can't win college basketball games without putting the ball in the basket. It sounds simple, but in the Bearcats last three losses, they are averaging 52.3 points. You just don't win games with those scoring totals. Late in the game, UC took a 1 point lead and from there out it was all perimeter jump shots. No looks into the paint. No drives looking to draw contact. This about sums up the night for UC: Cheikh Mbodj 31 minutes played, 0 FG attempts.
ReplyDelete