Re: Too little, too late

[richard l. kandell]

I don't disagree with your assessment of their defensive capabilities, as
well as the probable reasons therefore.  We can beat St. Louis, ECU, and
UAB, all on our floor, with primarily the "regulars."  It's the other 6
games I, and I would assume Huggins and staff, am/are concerned about.  I
think it is apparent the we will have a terrible time with UofL home and
home, OSU @ the Shoe, @ Marquette, and even @ Charlotte & @ Memphis using
primarily the "regulars" unless they have a great game(s) and our opponents
have an off day.  If we lose all 6 of the tough ones, and candidly, on what
we've seen to date, why isn't that a good possibility, it's 16-11 and the
NIT.  Under those circumstances, I think maybe some of the people down the
bench should get as much playing time as is reasonable if they are to form
the nucleus of next year's squad.  (Yes, I know all about the great
recruiting class, but only White will have exposure to the Huggins "system"
and it takes a while for even the jc people to get the hang of it - though I
doubt Whaley, for one, if he's as good as advertised, will see much bench
time even at the beginning of the season - since we don't even have another
"5.")

Maybe Huggins turns it around - but was it Jon or Randy who said he was
unsure about how the team would react to the DePaul loss, and there was the
chance that you could see "the wheels come off."  Marquette took off the
passenger side rear wheel.  We'll see if between now and Wednesday they jack
up the car and put on the spare, or if the driver's side front goes flat,
too.

Richard K.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zuke" <address@hidden>
Newsgroups: uc.bearcats
To: <address@hidden>
Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] Too little, too late


> In article <address@hidden>,
> richard l. kandell <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Andy - I like Randy's suggestion to the effect that maybe we play most of
> > the "younger" guys, Hicks, Kirkland, Moore, along with Bobbitt, as a
group.
> The sad thing about this is if you are watching any time those guys are in
> the game, they are so weak on defense it almost looks like a  pickup
> game being played amongst students in the Armory fieldhouse.  Did you
> see that guy go around Moore on the fast break?  Kirkland has no idea,
> which is sad for a 6-8 guy with long arms.  Bobbitt constantly gets
> beat in transition.  Unfortunately, defense is not an area where you
> get better with minutes.  It's all effort, basketball smarts and
> fundamentals.  If these guys were putting in the work in practice
> it would be already showing on the game floor.  When are we going to
> see one play from this group even approximating the effort McElroy
> put in this year.  I rememeber a play last year where Mac was knocked
> down on the offensive side and was the leading guy on a defensive
> break.
>
> I think Huggins indicated in the postgame it might be time to look
> longterm.  Watching Kirkland play, I can think that this kid is
> going to be a monster if he can put the effort like Kenyon and
> Durden did.  Bobbit is already one quarter of his way
> through his UC tenure but he can still have a big effect.
>
> I think you are going to see a lot more of these guys over the
> rest of the year.  Let's just hope they can suddenly start making
> the defensive plays.
>
> I don't know about Moore.  Yesterday he threw up a shot that missed
> everything, was used and abused on a defensive fast break and
> made at least one ugly turnover.  Plus there's no comparison between
> his defense and Barker's.
>
> Later,
>
> Zuke
>
> --
> You are in control until you are out of control.