It's going to be a long day. I can hardly wait for tipoff, but as the last game of the day (9:40 pm) it's going to be a long wait. It's going to be a tough game, but I really like the Bearcats chances. Cincinnati has not been getting a lot of attention, even after their big win over Missouri, and are once again the underdog. That's fine with me. Mick Cronin and the players will use it as additional motivation. There's a great article about it on SI.com.
I'm curious to see how Cronin chooses to approach this game. Will the Bearcats sit back in their half-court defense, or will they press? Man-to-man or zone? I can't wait to find out. Here's some additional game previews to get you through the day from ESPN. Try this one and this one.
Showing posts with label Connecticut Hukies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connecticut Hukies. Show all posts
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Thoughts on UC as a 6 seed
When the brackets were announced on Sunday, I was happy and slightly surprised that UC got a 6 seed. I think they deserve a 6, but thought the committee would give them a 7. What I am not happy with is their matchup.
Missouri is no 11 seed. Their RPI isn't far behind the Bearcats and they went 0.500 in a major conference. They are more like an 8 or 9 in my opinion. The other 6 seeds are St. Johns, Georgetown, & Xavier, and they are matched up against Gonzaga, the USC/VCU play-in winner, & Marquette, repectively. One could argue that Xavier's draw is as tought as UC's, but I think Cincinnati's is just a little tougher, while Georgetown got the easiest of the bunch.
If the Bearcats can get past the Tigers, UConn potentially awaits. UConn beat UC this season at Fifth Third Arena and are red-hot and full of confidence coming off their Big East Tournament Championship. Hopefully they will be out of gas as well.
It's a tough draw to be sure, but one that UC can win if they come out with intensity and play smart basketball. In their first trip back to the dance since 2005, it sure would be nice to play two (or more).
Missouri is no 11 seed. Their RPI isn't far behind the Bearcats and they went 0.500 in a major conference. They are more like an 8 or 9 in my opinion. The other 6 seeds are St. Johns, Georgetown, & Xavier, and they are matched up against Gonzaga, the USC/VCU play-in winner, & Marquette, repectively. One could argue that Xavier's draw is as tought as UC's, but I think Cincinnati's is just a little tougher, while Georgetown got the easiest of the bunch.
If the Bearcats can get past the Tigers, UConn potentially awaits. UConn beat UC this season at Fifth Third Arena and are red-hot and full of confidence coming off their Big East Tournament Championship. Hopefully they will be out of gas as well.
It's a tough draw to be sure, but one that UC can win if they come out with intensity and play smart basketball. In their first trip back to the dance since 2005, it sure would be nice to play two (or more).
Friday, November 13, 2009
Defensive Deficiency? I Disagree.
Alot has been made of the high score posted by Connecticut in Cincinnati's 47-45 win last Saturday. Varied sites are saying things like UConn "picked apart" the UC defense, and that the game "exposed the warts, moles and scar tissue on the Big East's beauty queen". It has led to one writer from Foxsports picking West Virginia as his "Upset pick of the week" at the end of this article.
I disagree.
The belief is that the large, physical UConn offensive line wore down the smaller, quicker UC defense with their grind-it-out style of play. That would probably mean a huge time of possession advantage for UConn (similar to the Fresno State game), right? Um no. Actually UC led time of possession 32:45 to 27:15. A few long, sustained UConn drives that wore down the defense? No again. Connecticut had only one scoring drive greater than 2 minutes in the 2nd half (6:42) and only 2 in the 1st half (4:36 & 4:25).
So what's the problem then? Very simply, UConn made some very big plays in the 2nd half. Jordan Todman had a 46-yd TD run, Robert McClain had an 87-yd TD punt return, and Zach Frazer completed a 52-yd pass to Khalif Moore that setup a 1-yd run by Todman. Those 3 drives took 0:41, 0:00, and 1:30, respectively. They accounted for 22 of UConn's 35 second half points. Without those big plays, UConn still might have scored, but it would have taken more time and prevented them from having the number of possessions needed to get back into the game.
The Cincinnati defense made mistakes, but it is not a hidden flaw that has been exposed. It's a few missed assignments that gave way to the big play and a couple of big plays often result in an upset. "Everything that happened can be fixed. It was just one guy out of position here, two guys out of position there." Bearcats linebacker Marcus Waugh said. The UC defense has generally not been burned by big plays prior to the UConn game. I am sure that the defense and special teams had a good week of practice and are eager to prove that last week's game was a fluke.
While a big, physical offensive attack isn't an ideal matchup for the Bearcats defense, they proved against Fresno State that they can win against it. This week's matchup against West Virginia features an offense that relies more on speed than power, which should be a more favorable matchup for UC.
I disagree.
The belief is that the large, physical UConn offensive line wore down the smaller, quicker UC defense with their grind-it-out style of play. That would probably mean a huge time of possession advantage for UConn (similar to the Fresno State game), right? Um no. Actually UC led time of possession 32:45 to 27:15. A few long, sustained UConn drives that wore down the defense? No again. Connecticut had only one scoring drive greater than 2 minutes in the 2nd half (6:42) and only 2 in the 1st half (4:36 & 4:25).
So what's the problem then? Very simply, UConn made some very big plays in the 2nd half. Jordan Todman had a 46-yd TD run, Robert McClain had an 87-yd TD punt return, and Zach Frazer completed a 52-yd pass to Khalif Moore that setup a 1-yd run by Todman. Those 3 drives took 0:41, 0:00, and 1:30, respectively. They accounted for 22 of UConn's 35 second half points. Without those big plays, UConn still might have scored, but it would have taken more time and prevented them from having the number of possessions needed to get back into the game.
The Cincinnati defense made mistakes, but it is not a hidden flaw that has been exposed. It's a few missed assignments that gave way to the big play and a couple of big plays often result in an upset. "Everything that happened can be fixed. It was just one guy out of position here, two guys out of position there." Bearcats linebacker Marcus Waugh said. The UC defense has generally not been burned by big plays prior to the UConn game. I am sure that the defense and special teams had a good week of practice and are eager to prove that last week's game was a fluke.
While a big, physical offensive attack isn't an ideal matchup for the Bearcats defense, they proved against Fresno State that they can win against it. This week's matchup against West Virginia features an offense that relies more on speed than power, which should be a more favorable matchup for UC.
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