Re: Raising the level of conversation

[Jonathan Breiner]

been busy and lazy.  I had to change my email address in order to send emails and was too lazy and busy to do it!

I thought your post was great and agree with many of the questions and that one question is the questions.  Otherwise here are some thoughts:

How will Coach Cronin make the adjustment from Murray State to UC?

I think he will do well eventually.  He only had a few weeks to recruit and actually put together a remarkable class all things considered.  We'll see how overmatched or not these guys are from mid-December on, but perhaps as MR said, by Feb. they might figure it out and beat a few teams they are "not supposed" to.

What type of talent have we recruited to go alongside of McGowan?

New talent.  It will take some time to integrate them.  I see an upside of 20 wins, downside of 9-10 wins, and a much more likely about half-way in-between finish.

What type of year will McGowan have without Hicks beside him?

I think he will do ok, but he was inconsistent at times in effort with Hicks beside him.  He needs to play harder for longer, and as a senior and likely captain, I expect him to do that.  With that said, I would not expect to see his numbers change appreciably in either direction.

Who will be the point guard?
Who will play center?
Who will play on the wings?  
> From where will our points come?

No clue.

What style will we play?

Up-tempo.  pressure defense, shoot the 3 and rebound.  Similar to what Mick saw at UC and UL and what he tried to do at Murray.

What type of depth will we have?

I think we will be deep in a sense as we have many comparable players, but the depth may not be solid enough.  Again I can see it rounding into enough shape to compete in a few games in the late season that we on paper should not compete in, but it will also be a reason we struggle as we work out the kinks, or gel, or whatever you want to call it.

Who will ultimately make our rotation? What will it look like?
How many minutes will each player get?

No clue again.

Mostly, I am keeping an open mind and I am very interested in watching them play against "inferior" competition for awhile.  If they cannot figure it out then, it will be a long last 3 months of the season.  Someone or sometwo will step up at some point, but are they good enough?  See another question.  Too many to ponder right now!  :)

Jon


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "dfairchild" <address@hidden>
To: "UC Basketball Forum" <address@hidden>
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 7:22 PM
Subject: [UC Basketball] Raising the level of conversation


Help!?

I'm trying to figure out the dynamics of the forum.

A couple of days ago, I made a post that was strictly about the basketball program.  I raised the question about the issues (questions), the program/Cronin needs to answer for this season.  I listed over 10 important basketball questions (see below).  The post was largely ignored.  (The lack of response may just be a sign of the sure genius of the post and everyone agreed with it; but some how I doubt that.)

In contrast, any little slight either way in the Huggins v. Zimpher/administration debate creates a firestorm of posts.  Some of these posts even come from people who complain about the tit for tat level of conversation.

So which is it?  Is the goal of the forum a substantial discussion of the UC basketball program?  Or, is that just a facade and the purpose is merely a space for rants?

Go Cats!
DF

This year, there are so many unknowns, that I'm not even sure I know the questions for this year.
How will Coach Cronin make the adjustment from Murray State to UC?
What type of talent have we recruited to go alongside of McGowan?
What type of year will McGowan have without Hicks beside him?
Who will be the point guard?
Who will play center?
Who will play on the wings?  
> From where will our points come?
What style will we play?
What type of depth will we have?
Who will ultimately make our rotation? What will it look like?
How many minutes will each player get?

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.12/461 - Release Date: 10/2/2006