We were a bucket away from being knocked out by Akron - no dance, no run, no Groce running off to Illinois.  How would we feel about this team's record today had that been the scenario?

We were a foul shot away from moving to the Elite 8 - playing for a trip to the Final Four - How would we feel about this team's record today had that been the scenario?

The fact we can credibly look at both of those scenarios means we have an excellent team, but an unpredictable team, a team that, like a shot, can go either way.  Per an earlier thread, softness, lack of "D" are terms from last year as well.

Folks were stunned, even outraged that Groce would leave this team for Illinois - statements like "doesn't he realize this can be a special team?" were presented.  Perhaps he realized more than we think. 

My take is Christian was not hired to try to turn a magical 3 weeks into a magical 2012-2013 season.  For continuity sake, Dustin would have been the choice for that (and probably would have been a thankless job).  Christian was hired to build a perennial MAC contender and Champion - and to be here for the long-term in sustaining that objective.  We'll see how it plays out short-term and long-term.

Obviously the jury on Coach Christian is still out even though I think he was the right hire. But I do have concerns about playing time.

For one, players sit too long after committing fouls. John played only 11 minutes against UMass, and not because he fouled out. He didn't even commit 4 fouls. What was he being saved for? 

The 3 inside bigs- Reggie, Kadeem and John- played a combined 38 minutes, not even a full game amongst them. And  this on a team that’s usually one and done on offense and not strong on the defensive end either. 

 My other issue has to do with pulling players after making a bad play or decision. That’s not a strategy that instills anything positive in players. It gives them a bad mindset. You want your players in the game confident, loose, and not afraid they might make a mistake.


Good post.

Yep.  Agree.  I support this coaching staff 100%. 

I was at the UMASS Game and must say coach did appear frustrated at times. This game was lost at the foul line, UMASS went to the line 35 times compared to 10 for us. We just do not want to take it to the hoop. We rely on 3 pointers too much. The other issue is defending. We left #35 along too often and he made his shots. UMASS shot much better than their season to date stats showed, maybe it's our D that did get the job down.


GO BOBCATS

My take is Christian was not hired to try to turn a magical 3 weeks into a magical 2012-2013 season.  For continuity sake, Dustin would have been the choice for that (and probably would have been a thankless job).  Christian was hired to build a perennial MAC contender and Champion - and to be here for the long-term in sustaining that objective.  We'll see how it plays out short-term and long-term.

It never hit me last year when O.U. hired JC, but I am putting together my theory. Many people were happy when Hunter was let go because they were tired of 18 wins being the best we fans could expect, and he had, according to some, proven his upside, and that upside was not good enough. Enter TOS who was supposed to take us to the next level, and we saw where the next level was, and most did not like the next level. Then O.U. kind of went out on a little bit of a limb with Groce, and discovered a coach who did take the Cats to the next level. Groce had no real track record as a head coach, and I think we can agree O.U. ultimately got lucky because he developed into a very good coach, and brought in some good, and in some cases, very good talent..

I wondered last year why the rush to hire JC. He did not seem to me such a hot commodity that if you don't jump on him right away he will be gone to another school. Perhaps, as some here have suggested, TCU was not particularly pleased with JC, and his options were a little limited. When O.U. made the hire, I thought that while we know his upside may be higher than Hunter's, his upside, as demonstrated at Kent and TCU, was not as high as Groce's. While someone can argue that Groce only had one superior year, there can be no question that as a young coach, he could, and did, get better as he went along, and he did recruit the kids who ultimately took O.U. to a free throw away from the Elite 8. As I've written elsewhere, I think this is my favorite O.U. basketball team since I started paying attention about twenty-five years ago. And I thank Groce for that, and like everyone here, figured that the experience they gained, together with the talent, should take them back. I get there is a little bit of luck involved, but that is the case with every team, and there are certain teams that know they will be there.

As I look back at the JC hire, I get the impression the administration wanted a known commodty, I believe, thinking that a known commodity, a more experienced head coach, is more likely to lead this particular team back to the gains it made last year rather than a younger coach, perhaps an assistant from a major program,  who may have higher upside down the road, but will be learning their way a little as a head coach. I think the administration viewed JC as less likely to waste this talent than a younger coach who may not blossom for three years. I think it safe to assume that there would not have been a shortage of assistant coaches from a major program who would have loved to be this team's head coach.

Whether, at the end of the day, it was prudent to hire JC or hire a promising younger assistant coach from a major program, and take the chance, time will tell. But the returns don't seem promising, so far. I've only been able to make the trip for the Richmond and Maryland/Eastern Shore games, and they did look good in those games, but it seems to me that at this point in the last two seasons, Groce had them further than JC does. While Groce certainly had blips on the screen last year, he did not have them at this point in the season last year, which is all we can say at this point this year. Perhaps JC will run through the MAC like a hot knife through butter, but with some of the losses he has endured thus far, and the kind of loss in Memphis, I hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

If JC fails to make the big show this year, with this talent, and the experience this team most certainly gained last year (can anyone really say that the team that played in the big dance was the same as the team which started the season?), I fear JC will become a rich man's Hunter.

+1

Although some could say our 3 pt D was special last year.

For those that feel that way, our team is currently 5th in the nation in assists. We currently average 18.6 assists/game. We finished with 13.2 assists/game last year. Is JC doing something right?

Definitely agree Monroe. Hopefully we can reserve our judgement until JC gets at least one chance to prove his worth.

I would simply say that if our point guard has more of those 10+ assist games and 10 pts per game, we'll be better than if he thinks he needs 20 every night.  He's much more valuable creating for others than bombing away.  Of course, the others have to step up.  We know Kellog, Offut and Baltic'Ivo can, they just need to.

I'm guessing that many of you have seen a lot more of us this year than I have.  That said, I thought this year would be significantly about REBOUNDING....kinda assuming that what we were last year would not drop away.

And I still think that our away record is predominantly important; we almost always win at home--but need to add being a tough out on the road.

Your second to last sentence simply proves you've never played a competitive game at a higher level.

There undoubtedly is a certain element of luck shooting the ball. As a whole, this team has shot the 3-point shot real well: 36.6 percent ranks 85th of nearly 350 teams in the country. Ohio's 3-point defense ranks 274th at 36.3 percent. The team didn't shoot well against Winthrop. UMass and Robert Morris shot excessively well. Those were key reasons for losses in those games. I'm  not so worried about the Winthrop loss because it happened based on something that is out of the norm (against a team that is WAY better than they were given credit for at the team). However, there is a tendency for this team to give up a high percentage of 3-pointers, so that bothers me more. That's what I want to see improve. I think it will.