The latest news on Cincinnati recruiting target Chris Obekpa is .......... nothing. The regular signing period for this class ended yesterday. Obekpa has been very silent. Bearcats Blog has a theory about this. Such a good theory, that it is in the next paragraph. 

Chris Obekpa isn't a real person. I'm convinced at this point that he is a figment of recruiting circles imaginations. I think Adidas made him up. I think this is a social experiment to find out what happens when a shoe company, or recruiting service, or a high school even, makes up a player and pushes his story out there. Now before you think I've developed a drinking problem or lost the rest of my mind, let me ask you this. Have you actually seen Chris Obekpa? I don't mean pictures. Has anyone actually seen him? Have you even seen a video of him? I haven't. I don't think such video exists. Here is the only known video of "Chris Obekpa."

 


Obviously that video shows us nothing. You can't hear anything he says. He's being interviewed by a child it looks like. For all this award winning (*Bearcats Blog's Best Bearcats Blog Named Bearcats Blog winner 2009, 2011.) blog writer knows, that is a normal man with the camera pointed up at him. The conversation is low enough and broad enough that we can't hear what's happening. It's a hoax. Notice how the man in the video doesn't look directly at the camera. It's a lie. 

If you don't believe me, look at the twitter followers. Just a simple google search lands on Obekpa's page and he has just 528 followers or something like that. Anthony Bennett, another member of the 2012 recruiting class, has 8,000. Amile Jefferson has 5,000. Even another unsigned player like Devonta Pollard has over 1,000. Those horrible, horrible, horrible fake Wonka accounts somehow have thousands of followers. Those things are fucking stupid and upset me greatly. They are worse than the fake Will Smith twitter. Yeah, another bombshell in a post full of them.

The world keeps awaiting a Chris Obekpa decision to Cincinnati, Providence, DePaul or Oregon, but this award winning writer (*Bearcats Blog Sucks Worst Blog 2009, 2010, 2011) has a feeling that the world is going to have to keep waiting. Want one final reason why? He's considering going to DePaul. The DePaul that's in Chicago. That's all you need to know. The truth is out there. 

 

Gif via   no comments

Better late than never in covering a story, so here is this. As the twitter world found out at some point last night, a group of Cincinnati basketball players were allegedly involved in a fight with a bouncer at PLAY. Let's run through a few burning questions as it relates to this story. 

How do we know UC players were involved and not just random tall people?

The answer comes from this quote from the accuser.  "I know for a fact that they were UC basketball players because my boss told me they (were) whenever he said I'm letting these guys go up on stage and hang out for a while," said Brian McLucas.

What caused the altercation?

The players were sitting at someone else's VIP table. Since I'm a VIP at every club I attend, I can that this is a legitimate problem that some clubs face. When I'm trying to pop bottles and drink tequila out of a belly button, I don't want the hassle of someone sitting at my table and drinking my booze. That's a no-no. 

Did the players refuse to move and become vocal at that pointl?

"The players apparently refused to move and became rather vocal at that point."

Did the accuser use bad grammar in discussing how the incident went down?

"I said you guys need to calm down. And whenever I did that I looked to the right of me and right as I looked to the right of me I seen the dude take three quick steps and punch me in the eye," said McLucas.

You saw the guy take 3 quick steps and punch you in the eye. As someone who has never been punched in the eye, I can't really speak on if I would make this same mistake. I do know that I believe him a little less because of that. 

Does the club know what players were on the VIP list that night? 

"McLucas says his bosses know exactly which UC players were on the VIP list and inside play on Saturday night."

Did Whit Babcock make a statement?

Yes. Here it is.

"Right now we are working to gather information and facts. While we certainly don't want to rush to judgment and will allow for due process, we also want to strongly emphasize that we hold all of our student-athletes to a high standard for their behavior in the community.  It is a privilege to play for and represent UC, it is not a right.  We have made great strides in our program and this type situation is not what UC athletics is about or will be about.  As of now, to my understanding, there are no charges filed, only accusations.  We will next comment after we have had time to gather facts and our process moves along or is completed.  We will invoke disciplinary action if any of our student-athletes acted in an inappropriate manner."

Are the names known but not being released?

I think the answer is yes. Fox 19 isn't leaking anything. The club isn't leaking anything. No one on twitter has busted the issue. 

What do we know for sure?

It sounds like only 1 player did the punching. It sounds like UC had a bunch of players there. It sounds like they might have been drunk. It sounds like it had to have been someone tall. I'm not sure how tall the bouncer is, but he said it was someone of height. I don't know, I don't really want to speculate anymore. 

Has the media picked up on this story?

Yahoo and CBS did for sure. 

Did the CBS story start off with the sentence "Brian McLucas is the new Kenny Frease?" 

You'll have to find out yourself. But the answer is yes. Spoiler alert. 

Should Cincinnati basketball players sign an agreement to not punch people in the face?

I think it would be a good idea. 

Finally, is there a video of a fight that the accuser was involved in that people are sending me on twitter?

Yes. I'm not going to post the video, but I'll link to it here so you can watch it if you want. It's not safe for work, unless your work lets you watch videos of people getting in fights with lots of cursing. If that is your job, you need to put in a good word for me. I would like to work there. 


I heavily used quotes and lines from this article by fox 19. Thanks to them and whoever sent that to me on twitter last night. 
  no comments

I'm sure many of you have noticed that the past couple of weeks there hasn't been any new content on the blog. You might have also noticed that I, someone who tweets a whole lot, stopped being active on twitter. I don't really like it when sites I like go away with no explanation. This normally means that something bad had happened. And you would be correct in that assessment. 

Without getting into too much detail, a week after Easter my dad got accepted into Hospice care. At the time, they told us that he had months to live. From Monday to Friday, things turned for the worse. I was planning on a trip to one of my friend's birthday parties that Saturday. On Friday, I went to get new tires for my car. I came home to some of the worst news imaginable, my dad was in the first stages of death. That was one of the hardest days of my life. Listening to my mom call my brothers and my dad's family and tell them the news was heart breaking. The weekend was spent sitting around with my family and watching my dad. There were some scary times, there was some fun and laughter, there were a lot of tears and sadness. But most importantly, there was a lot of love there. My dad, who wasn't eating or drinking anything since maybe Wednesday night, made it through the weekend. Monday night I stayed up until 6 am because my mom and brother wanted someone to be with him. Tuesday I made it until 3. When I went to go to bed, I knew that it could be the last time I ever saw my dad. It was. He died sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 last Wednesday. You can see his obituary here. 

Needless to say, the past couple weeks have been a blur. I'm trying to get back to life and starting to get routines going again. It's just been really hard. I never have really known anyone who has died, and for that first person to be my dad, well. I've kept this pretty close to the vest, but I think it's time to let people know what's going on with me. I think writing more will help me get back into some semblance of a normal reality. One day I'll write about my dad and how much he meant to me as a sports fan and person, but that day isn't today. 

Just to close things up for now, I'm going to be around. The site isn't going anywhere. Slowly but surely things will start to happen again. I just need some time. I'm sure you understand. I was and am a little gun shy about writing this, but you all have been very supportive of me and the blog and I think that you should know what's going on. You all have been so good to me, it's the least I can do for you. Just stay with me. Thank you.  no comments

"Bearcats Blog, why are you covering Xavier transfers?" I can hear you asking as you click the headline. I do for one reason and 1 reason only. Xavier is bringing in one of the most interesting players in college basketball. Matt Stainbrook played at Western Michigan last year. They were ass, but he went for a little over 11 and about 7 boards a game. He's got some talent. He is good around the basket. He scored 32 in a game this year. 

What makes Matt different is that he's not your average center. Photo from Mac Daily. 

 
That gives off more the chess club president than the college baller. Let's move on to game action Matt from the basketball prospectus.

 
 Yes. Stainbrook didn't always have this look though. From Luke Winn

 
Yes, he does look familiar. From the Hustle Belt, but I really wish I could take credit for this.

 
I wish we could wave transfer rules for this year, but seeing the Big Stain on the bench in street clothes all season should be a trip. Good luck with that, X.   no comments

The Bearcats give a little preview to the 2012 season tomorrow afternoon when they play Bearcat Bowl VI. Since Bearcats Blog is the Bearcats blog that cares, here are 10 things that you need to know about the event. Yeah, I had no good opening paragraph. 

 The event takes place at Nippert Stadium at 4 pm. That's the most important piece of information that you need.

Admission is free. But they get you with the parking because that costs $5. That's the second most important piece of information. Be sure to bring a stress ball for when you can't find a parking garage that is open and you drive around campus for seemingly your entire life. That may or may not have happened to me when I went to the Marquette game.

The game is at 4, but there are activities around campus all day. For those so inclined, some players will be signing autographs from 2:15-2:45.

The game itself will be 4 12 minute quarters. The first half will run like a regular half. After a 10 minute intermission, the last 24 minutes will feature a running clock. 

The last 6 will feature things to watch for during the game.  

This is the first time in some years that Cincinnati is on a little shaky ground when it comes to QB play. Munchie Leagux is the starter. We all believe in him. But the fact that he's a little unproven is still a thing. In his 4 starts last year, he had just 1 where he completed over 48% of his passes. His footwork and accuracy is something that has been worked on all offseason. It's something to hunker down and watch tomorrow. I think he's going to have a fine day tomorrow. Look for his touch on the deep balls. I think he hits at least 2. Also look out for Jordan Luallen. He was primarily a runner last season. There was talk of moving him around to running back or receiver. He's going to be a swiss army knife player. Brandon Kay should get some reps. Hopefully Patrick Coyne does too. He's the pride of Badin High, gotta support him. 

Staying with the offense, the next thing to watch is the backfield. Just like how the Bearcats have turnover at quarterback, they have it at running back as well. With Isaiah Pead off to the NFL, Bearcat Nation turns it's eyes to Jameel Poteat. Poteat had 23 carries for 108 yards last year with a TD against Akron. He was mainly used in the blowout situations. He's getting a majority of the carries this spring. Since he told me that on twitter, I'm taking him at his word. He was a big time recruit to Cincinnati who battled some injuries last season. Namely a concussion, I think. Poteat should get a majority of the early carries. There are still going to be opportunities for George Winn, the primary back up last season. The bruiser the big run against Vandy in the Liberty Bowl. Ralph David Abernathy IV should get some carries. Maybe some of the freshman, I don't know. Great analysis to close this paragraph. 

 I'm interested in what we see from the receivers. No receiver hit 700 yards a year after UC had 2 receivers at nearly 1,000 yards. Anthony McClung is definitely the man this season. He had 683 yards and a team high 6 TDs. Kenbrell Thompkins should made a bigger impact. He was second on the team in catches. He had 536 yards and 2 TDs. After that, there is a void. Alex Chisum worked his way onto the field by seasons end. He should be a starter in a 3 receiver set. There is Travis Kelce returning at tight end. After that, it's a mystery. Anthony McClung said he would score 6 TDs tomorrow. If he doesn't, yell at him after the game. 

UC loses a lot on the defensive line numbers wise, but the depth they established last season should go a long way in helping this group look good. Cameron Beard is a player drawing a lot of praise. I'll be honest, haven't kept up with a lot of the spring reports so this is an area I'll be keeping tabs on closely. 

Solomon Tentman had an awesome story written about him by the man Paul Dehner Jr, link, and he steps into this game as the starting middle linebacker. This is a position that was held in the solid hands of JK Schaffer. The void is large in the eyes of the fans. Tentman has put in a lot of work to not only get his legs healthy, but to get his starting spot. If his twitter is accurate, he's been busting his ass ever since last season ended. Don't hold the fact he went to Roger Bacon against him. He's a good story. More than that, he's got the potential to be a very good player. He's got Maalik Bomar to one side and Nick Temple to the other. They could have a nice year as a surprising linebacker corps. 

 Finally we wrap things up with the secondary. The group played very well to close last season. There are still some injuries to guys like Malcolm Murray and Dom Battle. That gives the rest of the unit time to shine. Cameron Cheatham and Deven Drane return at corner. Drew Frey returns at safety. I want to see more from Reuben Johnson. It was disappointing that he didn't get a lot of run last year. I hope that turns around this year because RJ is the man. Did I write this just to shout him out? Maybe. 

The most important thing to remember tomorrow is that it's all about fun. Have a good time. It'll be a fun event. If you can't make it, you'll miss out on everything and probably should sit at home and think about your life. Even if you live in England or something, there is no excuse to not be there. It's free. It's Bearcats football. Enjoy the day.   no comments

Octavius Ellis had a kind of weird season. The 3 star recruit by both Rivals and Scout came into UC as a player everyone tapped as a redshirt. His 6-9 frame only held 200 lbs as he came into the program. The best solution for him seemed to be to sit out a year, practice and get stronger. But, that's not exactly what happened. Then things took a turn for the worse. Let's not skip the whole story though, because there isn't really a lot of story to tell in this case. 

Octavius Ellis played in 4 of the 7 games he was a part of the roster for. He played 6.5 minutes a game in those 4. He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting. He was 3-4 at the free throw line. He pulled in 5 rebounds. That was good for 1.2 a game. 4 of the 5 were defensive rebounds. He had 17.8% of the available defensive rebounds while on the floor. 

Ellis had a reputation as being a good defender. He showed promise by having 2 steals. He put up a 4.9% steal pct. Ellis blocked 2 shots. Do you think an 8.3% block pct is good? You should. Ellis wasn't as good with the ball. He had 1 assist to 3 turnovers. He turned the ball over an amazing 37.5% of possessions. That's what small sample sizes tend to do to people. 

Ellis was thought of to sit out the season, so when he played in the season opener against Alabama St, it turned some heads. He turned heads with his performance. He had 6 points on 2-2, 2-2 at the line, 2 boards, 2 blocks and 1 steal. He played garbage minutes against Jacksonsville St. He went 0-1 with an assist and steal. After sitting out the Presbyterian game, Ellis returned against Northwestern State. In 9 minutes he scored 1 point, had a career high 3 rebounds with a career high 3 turnovers. Ellis picked up a thumb injury along the way. He didn't play against Marshall or Miami. For some reason he entered the game for 45 seconds against Georgia. Then his season turned. 

Some of you may not be aware of this, but Cincinnati and Xavier got in a fight. Octavius Ellis didn't play in the game. At halftime with Mark Lyons barking at the Bearcats, Ellis got up and got over in his face. That set the table for what happened later. In the closing seconds, Ellis used the benches clearing as a chance to go after the Xavier loudmouth. He got suspended for 6 games. That effectively was a rest of the season suspension. Mick pointed to the thumb injury and that's why Ellis could medically redshirt this season. I'm not entirely sure how that works, but it could happen. 


(Ellis is circled)

It's impossible to say what kind of year Ellis had besides a bad one. He got injured. He wasn't going to play much. He was involved in a black eye for the program and suspended. He was involved in the fighting and not the highlight of the action. That has to be a little depressing. Not from the publicity standpoint, but for the fact his season ended and he wasn't even the centerpiece of the show. That's why you don't fight people during a game. 

I'm not entirely sure how big an impact Ellis will have on next season. He's going to get minutes because of his size and the lack of depth up front. It's him, Jackson, Gaines, Mbodj and that's about it. That's why landing a power forward this summer is big. UC will play smaller a lot with all their wings, but Ellis could fit in. He's taller than Justin Jackson. He needs to bulk up a lot. I think defensively he could be a solid player. He showed off a little ability to get up and block shots. At worst, Ellis could be a non-conference superstar who makes flashy plays off the bench and then sits against the big boys. I don't know why, but I get a Darnell Wilks vibe from him. That's probably not great since Darnell Wilks was much higher regarded and as a result, a disappointing player. The expectations on Ellis are lower and he'll have 4 years to grow into a role. I hope he can put this season behind him and grow as a player and person. 

Previous Entries

# 0 Jeremiah Davis 
# 1 Cashmere Wright  no comments

The next person in the series of season recaps up is #1 Cashmere Wright. The redshirt junior had an interesting season. More importantly, he had a season in which he showed off his maturing skill set. Every statistical category showed improvement. His scoring, rebounds, assists and steals all improved. In some cases, they improved dramatically. Yet when you look at the big picture for Cashmere, there is still a lot of growth that is yet to come. 

Cashmere Wright played in all 37 Cincinnati games this season. He started 36 of them. He generously gave up his starting job for 1 game when Justin Jackson was having back problems and Mick wanted him on the floor. That's a sign of a leader. Wright scored 403 points, 10.9 per game. He was 149-364 overall from the field, 40.9%. Wright greatly stepped up his 3 point game. He made 63, he made 50 total his first 2 seasons, and attempted 170, 161 attempts those 2 seasons. That's a pretty good 37.1%. He went from 25.7% to 35.2% to 37.1%. That does mean that the 2 percentage fell off. He hit 44.3% on his 2s this season. He made just 37% in Big East play. That's pretty rough. Wright didn't help himself at the line either. He took a career low 63 attempts. He made 42 for 66.7%. His free throw rate was just 17.3, meaning for every 100 field goals he attempted, Cash would shoot 17 free throws. His rate last season was 47.8. Cash had just 5 games where he got to the free throw line 4 or more times. 

Wright played a career high in minutes with 31. In that 31 minutes, he used 22% of the Cincinnati possessions. That's just about right on pace from last season and the year before, 22.3 and 21.1 respectively. Wright came up a little short in matching last season's offensive efficiency, hitting 105.3 this year. He stepped up his shooting possessions. He took shots on 21.5% of them. Wright had his best effective field goal percentage (counts 3s) at 49.5. Because of his free throw shooting, his true shooting percentage was worse than last year, rating at 51.1%. That was down from 53.8%. Wright scored 46.8% of his points this season from 3. He scored 42.6% of them from 2, right on pace with last year. Just 10.4% of his points were from free throws. That was the worst of his career by over 10%. 

One area Wright really shined as rebounding. He pulled in 140 boards, 49th in the Big East, 3.8 a game. 112 of them were defensive boards, 32nd, 3.0 a game. Wright pulled down a career best 11.2% of the available defensive rebounds. His 28 offensive rebounds nearly matched his career total of 29. 

Wright upped his passing to career best levels this season. He had 169 assists, 52nd in the nation and 7th in the Big East. His 4.6 a game ranked 11th in the Big East. He assisted on 30% of the Cincinnati field goals. That's actually down from last year's 31.4%, but hey, you can't make people make shots. Wright turned the ball over 83 times, 2.2 times a game. That was a career high. Because of the amount of minutes he played, Wright turned the ball over a career low 20.3% of possessions. That's over 3% less than last season. His assist/turnover ratio was 2. A great sign of improvement. 

What was also a great sign of improvement was the defensive anticipation of Cashmere. He had put up some solid defensive numbers last season, 17th in the BE in steals, 19th in steals per game, 10th in steal pct, but no one could have guessed what he had in store this season. Wright had 74 steals. That was good for 15th .... in the nation and was 4th in the league. Wright's 2 steals a game ranked 35th in the NCAA and 4th in the league. His 3.9 steal pct ranked 47th and 6th. 43 of those steals game in Big East play. Where he dropped off the past couple years, he stepped up big time this past year. That's what you want to see out of one of your star players. 



Cashmere Wright started the season off with a modest 10 points on 4-7 shooting, 3 boards and 3 assist game that was marred by 4 turnovers. He went to town on Jacksonville State however. He scored 23 points, 1 off his then career high (spoiler alert), on 9-14 shooting, 2-3 from 3. He added in 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Wright turned the ball over 5 times though. He had a miserable game in the loss to Presbyterian, going 1-8, 0-5, 2 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 3 turnovers. That was followed with a good shooting game, 4-5 for 9 points, but 5 more turnovers against Northwestern State. That's 17 turnovers in 4 games. Wright had his second bad shooting game next, and that corresponded with the second Cincinnati loss. He was 2-10 against Marshall for 7 points. He had 10 assists and 4 steals however. Wright had a solid 9-7 assist game in the slow down Miami game. He had a solid 7 boards-5 assists-2 steals, but just 5 points and 4 turnovers at Georgia. He followed that with an absolute clunker against X, 4 points on 1-8, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and he fouled out.

With the team changing face, so did the direction of Wright's play. He hit for 12 against Wright State on 5-10 with 8 assists and 4 rebounds. He had 3 turnovers in that game. He wouldn't have 3 turnovers again for a month. Cashmere exploded offensively and as a result, the Bearcats exploded offensively. He scored a career high 25 points against Radford on 10-16 shooting, 4-9 from 3, with 6 assists and 5 rebounds with 2 steals and 0 turnovers. It was probably the best game of his career. That was followed with a 20 point game on 6-12, 6-10 from 3, with 5 assists and 0 turnovers against UAPB. The Bearcats scored over 100 in both of those games. Cash played just 23 minutes against Chicago St, but had 14 points on 5-7 and 7 assists.



Cashmere Wright didn't have a reputation for taking and making the big shot until December 29. The Bearcats trailed Oklahoma 55-54 in the closing seconds. Wright was 2-13 with 6 points until then. With 9 seconds left, the seas parted and Wright made a layup to put Cincinnati ahead for good. It was a crucial win for that point in the season.

Wright had a rough shooting game at Pitt, 3-10 for 7 points, but had 7 assists and 4 steals. He bounced back some against ND, 4-9 for 9 points, with 5 assists and 5 steals. His shooting slump continued though. He was 3-11 for 8 points against St John's with 0 assists in a UC loss. That was followed with an 0-6 game against Georgetown. Wright did have 4 steals. The shooting stayed out 1 more game. He went 2-14 for 11 against Villanova, which included 0-8 on 2s, but he had 6 boards, 5 assists and 6 steals. Even through a prolonged slump, Wright kept up his all around play. 

Cash's shot came back to him as UC's schedule picked up. He had 13 on 5-6 shooting, 3-4, against UConn with 5 assists in that huge win. He had 17 on 6-14 with 7 rebounds and 4 assists against West Virginia. He had another 17 on 6-13 shooting, 5-9 from 3, in the loss to Syracuse. Cash hit a skid against Rutgers, as did the whole team, going 1-7, 3 points in the loss. He did have 6 assists. He didn't bounce back fully the next game, 4-13 for 11 points, but it was against DePaul so UC won. Cashmere had a monster game against St John's in the return game. He put up 12 on 6-9 shooting with a career high 10 rebounds. He did that in 27 minutes. It was his first double double of the season, and the second of his career. Wright had a good shooting game in the Marquette loss, 4-11 for 14 points, with 5 assists, but he turned the ball over 4 times. Cash put 9-5-5 on Providence and 13 on Seton Hall in wins. He would have a pretty big next game. 

Last season, Cashmere Wright had a huge game against Louisville. This season, Cashmere Wright had a huge game against Louisville. He had 22 points on 8-19 shooting, 6-13 from 3. He had 5-5 in the big UC win. He had just 7 against USF. 4 of those points came in the last minute. Both put UC ahead by a point. Senior day against Marquette was a big win, but not a landmark game for Cash. He was 0-7 and didn't score for the only time this season. He made up for that in the regular season finale against Nova. Cash had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 steals. That's one of the highest steal totals in UC history. 

Tournament play would be good for Cash. He had 10-4 assists-5 steals in the Georgetown win. He had 11 points on 5-11 with 5 rebounds and 8 assists in the Syracuse upset. Cash was the only Bearcat who scored against Louisville. He had 16 of the 44 Cincinnati points on 7-12 shooting. He had 5 turnovers though. Cash opened up the NCAA tournament with 11 points on 4-8 shooting, 6 rebounds and 5 assists against Texas. He shot poorly against FSU, 2-10, but Cash had 5 boards, 6 assists and 5 steals. Cash closed his junior year by scoring 18 against Ohio St on 6-12 shooting, including 4-6 from 3. 



Overall, there was a lot of good to take away from this season. Cashmere really grew as a player. He's definitely not the same guy who stepped onto the court 2 years ago. He was able to stay relatively healthy all through this season. Mick managed his minutes very well. It didn't seem like Wright had much of a problem playing 39 minutes or 29 minutes. If you were looking at some of the holes from his game this year, I think it begins and ends inside the arc. He had some bad luck on 2 point shots, but some of the looks he took from 2 just weren't very good. He had much better shot selection from deep, that needs to translate inside. Of course, the free throw shooting, or lack thereof needs to be addressed. Your point guard has to be one of the team leaders in free throws attempted. I don't know if it was the injuries or what, but Cash just wouldn't get to the line. He had 2 games last year that he got to the line 10 times. He had 11 free throws attempted the first 8 games of the season. That's just not good enough. His defense could stand to be a little better, but so could anyones. 

Looking into the future, I see big things on the horizon for Cashmere Wright. The Big East is loaded with point guards so he may not make any of the preseason teams, but don't let that change your mind about what he brings to the table. In the preseason, I threw out 10-11 points, 5.5 assists, 2 boards for Cash. That ended up averaging out and even was surpassed with his steals. With Dixon gone, the scoring is going to go up. I think he's absolutely going to get to the line more. I'm thinking he puts up around 13-14 a game next year. The rebounds will probably stay the same, around 3.8, 3.9, maybe 4. I expect the assists to bump to 5. Add in a steal a game and that's a point guard that could get you to the tournament 3 years in a row. That's what I think Cashmere Wright is. There are a lot of good guards in this league, but I would take him on my team any day. 



Previous Entries

0 Jeremiah Davis   no comments

It's time to break down the basketball season that seemed like it ended a year ago. It's been just a couple weeks, but seems like it was decades ago since UC last played. Hell, it seems like decades ago that we had the Final Four and the title game, and that was just last week. The wheels keep moving with or without you, so let's hop on the train. 

We start the season recaps with the first player listed on the roster. Why I chose to go by numerical order, I don't know, but it will work out for the best anyway. The first on the list is number 0, freshman guard Jeremiah Davis. 

Jeremiah Davis came to Cincinnati as a 3 star recruit on both Rivals and Scout as a shooting guard. Davis played in 27 of the 37 Cincinnati games this season. In those 27, he averaged 8 minutes a game. Jeremiah scored 68 points, 2.5 a game. Davis used 20.2% of Cincinnati's possessions. He took 21.1% of the shots on the floor. He hit 26 of 66 shots from the field for 39.4%. Out of his 26 makes, 12 of them were from 3. He attempted 31 for 38.7%. Davis took just 9 free throws. He made 4 of them, finishing at 44%. Davis had an effective field goal percentage (counts 3s more) of 48.4%. His true shooting (free throws and 3s) was just 48.3%. That went a large part in Davis finishing with an offensive rating of 92, which is pretty bad. Davis had 14 assists against 16 turnovers. He turned the ball over on 23% of possessions. That hurts your efficiency. 

Davis took home 25 rebounds this year, nearly 1 a game. 20 of those were defensive rebounds. He grabbed 10.9% of the available defensive rebounds when he was on the floor. Davis' 5 offensive rebounds accounted for 2.5% of the offensive total.  Davis had 13 steals. That works out to half a steal per game. He got steals on 3.8% of possessions. Davis blocked 1 shot. 

Jeremiah Davis started his career with a bad game. In the season opener against Alabama State, Davis was 0-1 with 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 4 turnovers in 11 minutes. That's a lot of turnovers in a very short period. Davis sat the next 2 games before getting 6 minutes against Northwestern State. Davis once again had 2 rebounds and an assist while going 0-1, but mixed in a steal. After not playing against Marshall, Davis had a rebound in 2 minutes against Miami. It looked like Davis was headed for bench duty as the schedule picked up. He sat out against Georgia and Xavier. Then something happened against Xavier that changed Davis' season.

With the suspensions and the short bench, Davis started getting minutes. He played 11 against WSU, but went 0-2. All 4 of his shots were 3s. Davis finally got on the board against Radford. He went 3-8, 2-2 on his first career free throws, with 8 points. He had 2 steals and 2 assists with 2 turnovers. Davis followed that with the best of his career against UAPB. He scored 13 on 5-7 shooting, 3-4 from 3. He had 3 rebounds as well. Davis canned a 3 late to push the Bearcats over 100 for the second game in a row for the first time in ages. That was followed with a solid 11 points on 4-8 shooting against Chicago St. Davis matched his career high of 3 boards in that one.

Davis played sparingly against OU, 3 minutes, and didn't take advantage of his 8 minutes against Pittsburgh, 2 fouls. He responded in a huge way against Notre Dame. Davis checked in then dropped a 3, layup and another 3 in a minute and a half to take a 7 point game to 13. The double digit lead wouldn't be threatened after Davis pushed it to 13. Davis came into the St John's game in pure gunner mode. He went just 1-6 in 8 minutes, but the 1 came 9 seconds left to tie the score at 55. The Bearcats would lose on a last second tip in, but Davis' shot was a bright spot. He played 12 minutes against Georgetown, but didn't take a shot. Davis went 1-4, 4 points against Nova in 13 minutes. That was the most minutes Davis would play the rest of the year. He had a solid 8 minutes against UConn. He scored 4 points in that game, including a big tip in at the buzzer in the first half to put UC up 9 at the break. He played 11 minutes against WVU going 1-3 for 2 points with 2 boards. Davis fell back in a slump with that game. He was 0-3 against Syracuse and 0-2 against DePaul. He played 12 minutes in the St John's blowout. He went 3-5, 2-2 from 3, with 8 points. He played more garbage time minutes against Marquette, but went 0-3. He played 5 against Providence going 2-3 for 5 points. Those would be the last 5 points and the last 3 shots Davis took. He played 14 minutes from February 15 on with 2 rebounds and 1 assist. He played 3 minutes, 5, 2, 1 and 1 before ending up on the bench the entire Big East tournament and first 2 NCAA tournament games. I don't really know why Davis fell out of the rotation. Maybe it was his defense. Maybe it was something he did in practice. Maybe it was just Mick really tightening up the rotation. I would have liked to have seen him play more. 

The take away from Davis' freshman season is that Cincinnati could have a dangerous scoring option off the bench. Using the word dangerous makes me sound like a gigantic homer, but when you look at the body of work Davis had, you can't deny that he could go all Russ Smith for the Bearcats next year. Maybe not that dramatic in his ball dominance, but Davis could come off the bench and drop 10 at will. His jumper has a tendency to look flat. That could just be his shot, but I wrote that a lot this season. His defense wasn't spectacular. He fouled quite a bit against higher quality opponents. He could take better care of the ball. A lot of those things could, and would, be ironed out getting more comfortable in the system and the college game.

I think the future for Davis is bright. Next year, I could see him being a little Field Williams/Tony Bobbitt type role player. He attempted 3s on nearly half of his shots. With more minutes, the more attempts he's going to take. And he hit 38%. That's something to build on. Field was a much better shooter as a freshman than Davis and shot the ball a lot more. Field hit 43.8% from 3 as a frosh. Both are in the 6-3, 6-4 range. Both are around 200 lbs. I think that Davis could become a better scorer around the basket than Field was, just because of his size. 9 free throws is not good enough. If Davis can win the 6th, 7th man spot off the bench next year, I think we could have a very pleasant surprise on our hands. 

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As some of you know, I'm a pretty big boxing fan. On the return of the random Friday posts, let's take a look at one of my favorite all time fighters with one of their greatest all time moments. 

 

When people write things like "Why does athlete X get paid so much money?" I think of this video. Athlete X gets paid so much money because that athlete is insanely talented. Do you know how many people in the world that Glen Kelly, the guy Roy Jones clowned in this video, would destroy? He finished his career 31-3-1. Athletes at the top of their game are in professions that are multi-billion dollar industries. The average person can't do what they do. If we could, we would be raking in the big bucks. 

This is also a somewhat sad video about someone who hung around too long. They were talking about Jones' career coming to a close in this video. It's from 2002. 10 years later, he's still plodding away. He's taken his share of losses that are harshing his legacy some. He's lost 4 of his last 7 fights. The wins against tomato cans. It's hard to stop things you love doing. But sometimes you just need to. It makes you remember the sad moments instead of the awe-inspiring.   no comments

In Cincinnati, opening day is like a holiday. I went to catholic school for grade school and high school, St Bart's Consolidated and Badin shout out, and therefore had to wear uniforms. The only times that we were allowed to dress out of uniform for a random day was on opening day. Besides the NCAA tournament, opening day was the only tv we were allowed to watch. Actually, that's not entirely true because in journalism class one year we watched election coverage from the Bush/Gore fallout. That was a long time ago. I'm a very old man. I have a long gray beard and a walking stick. I wear panama hats and smell like orange juice and some kind of weird soap. The type of soap that you find in hospitals that smells weird and you kind of wish you didn't make up the story that you had to pee because you didn't know what to say anymore or a nurse came in the room so you were like "I gotta go to the bathroom," but you didn't really have to go so you kind of forced yourself to and then you stood there for a minute before washing your hands like you were scrubbing up for surgery then when you are drying them you can smell the soap and you instantly regret it. That may have been the longest sentence in the history of the world. It also had nothing to do with opening day. 

For all of my life, I've been a Reds fan. That's something a lot of us have in common. Since I'm older than some of you, I actually remember watching the Reds win the 1990 World Series. I don't remember opening day of that season, but I do remember that the Reds played at Houston. They won. Wire to wire. Seeing the Reds win the Series when I was 7 is one of the lasting images of my childhood. My dad went to Fountain Square and said he almost took me. It was probably better he didn't because I would have died. Wait, that was Cincinnati, not Lexington, so people wouldn't have started bon fires and lost their pants.

The Reds winning the World Series when I was a young lad set me up with hope every season that they would make another run at it. They've only been to the playoffs twice. Back when I was growing up, I can't say that I was as plugged into things as I was now. We didn't have the internet. I'm pretty sure not every Reds game was on television. There were many times when I would fall asleep at night listening to the post game and extra innings. I always loved when the Reds went on the west coast during the week for that very reason. There were few things better than listening to Marty and Joe and picturing the game in your head. Listening on the radio is one of the major advantages baseball has on other sports. You can instantly picture what's happening. Basketball is the worst because you need to see what's happening. A lot of stuff happens off the ball. The announcers have to watch the ball to call the action. Football is pretty much the same way as basketball, but it's not as bad because you can kind of see it. I lived out of Cincinnati when the Bengals made the playoffs in 2005. We got some of their games on tv, but for the others, I was glued to the radio. It wasn't the same. But baseball, baseball is the announcers sport. Almost all of the legendary announcers call or called baseball. They all did it on the radio. I always thought it was so crazy that Marty would give shout outs to 98 year old ladies in west Tennessee who picked up 700 and listened to every Reds game for 50 years. I wondered, "Who does that? Why would anyone do that?" It's the romance of the game.

Because baseball happens every day for 6 months, it's the only sport where you feel like you can read the players. You can follow every day and can tell if someone is playing well, lost their confidence. If they got injured or are fresh off an injury, you can tell. I think baseball is the only sport when you can look at someone and know that they are going to get the job done. That is probably not true at all, but it's just how I feel. Here are 2 examples of that. The first was back sometime in the 90s. I want to say 93 or 94 but it could have been later. The Reds were playing maybe the Giants. The Reds were losing. They might have had a man on base. Up to the plate walked Jeff Branson. I hated Jeff Branson. I don't know why, I just did. I remember he got traded to Cleveland and it was the happiest day. I remember I stood up. The guys behind me and my dad who talked to us the whole game asked why. I said "He's going to strikeout." Sure enough, Branson went down swinging because he sucked. The second instance happened a couple of years ago. The Reds were playing the Phillies. The Reds were losing by 3 in the 9th. They started getting a little rally going with 2 outs. I said to my friend that they just needed to get Votto to the plate. Sure enough, the Reds got Votto up to the plate. Everyone in the stadium seemed to know Votto was going to come through. On the 2nd or 3rd pitch, Votto absolutely crushed one to center. It was one of the most awesome moments I've seen live. 

That kind of hope isn't just in baseball, but it seems more special in baseball. That's what the allure of opening day is all about. Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Oakland, they aren't going to sell out a lot of games this season. But they all will opening day. I don't remember a ton about the Reds last season off the top of my head, but I sure as hell remember Ramon Hernandez's home run to beat Milwaukee. I kind of hate watching baseball live when I'm not there, but I will watch opening day from the get go with my dad. The Reds could win 100 games, they could win 50 games, but this is one I will remember. Anything can happen this season. That's the beauty of sports. And it all starts on opening day.   no comments