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I just did a bit of research on Cincinnati's season. They are 13-18 overall, and have a 3-10 record against the RPI top 50. They are 4-11 against the RPI top 100, and a respectible 4-9 against NCAA Tournament teams (though they have lost four in a row against these teams). They also have beaten Louisville AT Louisville, West Virginia AT West Virginia, and Pittsburgh at home. How they finished with a six game losing streak is beyond me, but some of their excellent wins earlier in the season suggest this could be a very dangerous team. Bradley needs to play one of their best games of the season to beat this team. And a win against Cincinnati would be a good win for the program despite the 13-18 record.
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I agree, and I am sure Jim Les and the players will not take them lightly. They are a team capable of winning this game.
They are not a great shooting team, but they do shoot a lot of threes.
They have shot 614 threes on the year, fewer than Bradley's 779, but still about 20 per game, and they make about 6.5 per game. And leading scorer 6'1" Deonta Vaughn (17 ppg) has shot 234 of them. That is almost as many as Jeremy Crouch's 243 threes. They shot 41.1% overall, and 32.4% from three.
The other guards who play a lot are 6'3" Marvin Gentry (6 ppg), a juco transfer who is an average shooter, and 6'2" Jamual Warren (5.3 ppg), who is not a very good shooter, just 10-41 on threes for the year.
Power forward 6'6" John Williamson is the 2nd leading scorer at 11.5 ppg and their best rebounder at 6.3 rpg. And 6'10" center Adam Hrycaniuk averages 6.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg.
From what I have seen of them, they are a little like the Pitt team that Bradley played in Auburn Hills in the 2006 NCAA tournament, but just not as good or as consistent. But they have big guards who can score from outside or drive to the basket, and some big guys who can wear you down inside. Bradley will need one of their better offensive and defensive efforts to win. -
FYI, Gentry has not played the last few games with an injury. Hyrcaniuk while a good role player, plays good defense and important in the offense setting picks, has trouble finishing around the rim. The guy to watch coming off the bench is FR Rashad Bishop. He often times comes in and really gives the team a spark. Williamson has really stepped his game up since the beginning of February. Cronin had a talk with him about giving everything he has since this is the end of his career and it took it to heart. He has had some much bigger games since then. We are also usually pretty good on the offensive glass, especially Williamson.Originally posted by Da Coach View PostComment
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This is a talented Cinci team. If you take them player by player and compare them to ours based on physical potential I would contend that there is no comparison - Cinci comes out way ahead. However, they have certainly not lived up to the hype.........makes you wonder about Cronin's coaching ability.Comment
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You have to remember that not one scholarship player on the roster came into this season with more than 1 year at the D-1 level. We have 5 seniors, but they are all JUCO's, no juniors on scholarship, 1 sophomore in Vaughn, and the rest are freshman. We also had our starting PG, Warren out for 6 early games after he was in a car accident. Our best player, Mike Williams, blew his achilles tendon right before the season began and has missed the whole season. Most UC fans were predicting 16-18 wins at the beginning of the season, before Williams went down. If Warren had been healthy and Williams had played, I think we would have probably got those extra 3-5 wins. We only won 2 Big East games in 06-07, and improved to 8 this year. Cronin has done a decent job given the situation he walked into. When he took over the team, there were only 2 scholarship players on the roster.Originally posted by Braves4Life View PostComment
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Thanks for all the input subflea. None of us really know much about other teams and the innerworkings even though we often times think we do.
I have seen Cincy on TV a few times but that's about it. Should be a competitive game with contrasting styles. The Ruffin-Vaughn matchup will tell a lot.Comment
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I like the match up too. I think it will be a good game as long as our guys play like they did in the middle of the season. They are very excited to still be playing and hopefully that translates into putting forth a good effort.Comment
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Not that Mike Williams, this one:
He was a McDonald's AA and went to Texas. He transferred to UC when Cronin got the job.Comment
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