The season reviews have been coming in alphabetical order from Jeremiah Davis, Alex Eppensteiner, Kelvin Gaines, Ge'Lawn Guyn and Justin Jackson, not to mention the state of the program, but today is a little different. When I said on twitter last night that I was going to be writing a recap today, someone named Cody wanted to read about Shaq Thomas. Since this is a blog for the people written by a person, today's season review is about Shaq Thomas.

Shaquille, don't call him Shaq, Thomas played in 33 of the 34 Cincinnati games this season. He averaged 10.8 minutes per game. Thomas used a pretty modest 18.7% of Cincinnati possessions. His shot percentage was 19.8%, which doesn't seem to add up. Thomas had a lower than you would think offensive rating of 93.6. He was 42-101 from the field, 41.6%. Thomas was 3-8 from 3. He was especially poor from the free throw line. This will be a huge area for his improvement as a sophomore. Thomas was 13-27, 48%. As a result, his true shooting and effective shooting percentages were all in the range of his 41.6% field goal percentage at 43% and 43.9%. True shooting weighs 3s and effective shooting weighs 3s and free throws. When you look at the free throw shooting, that makes sense to why the offensive rating was so low. Thomas scored 100 points on the nose. That averages out to 3 points a game. 

Thomas was decent on the glass with a 2.2 average. He pulled in 9% of the offensive rebounds and 12.8% of the defensive. You would like to see the defensive number rise quite a bit next year. Shaq dished out 16 assists against 19 turnovers. That's something that really has to correct. Thomas did show off some defensive skills. He had 17 steals. He blocked 6 shots. Both of those were accomplished without fouling very much. There is a lot of talent here and you can see it in the modest stat line. 

Shaq Thomas scored his first career points in his first career game. He went 1-4 for 3 points with a rebound in the season opening win against Tennessee-Martin. Thomas was much more efficient the following game as he scored 6 points on 3-3 shooting with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers. He played the first of his five 20 minute outings against NCAA tournament team North Carolina A&T. He was 3-8 for 6 points, 4 rebounds, a career best 3 assists but with 2 turnovers. 5 of his 19 turnovers came in the first 3 games of the season. Thomas picked up his first steal and block in very limited action against Campbell. He barely played against Iowa State before getting 9 minutes against Oregon. He scored 4 points on 1-3, 2-3 from the free throw line, with 3 boards, 2 offensive and 2 steals. The only game Thomas missed was the Bearcats last second victory over Alabama. Shaquille came back to action with 12 minutes against UALR but he had a rough game with 2 points on 1-4,  with 3 rebounds and 2 steals. It was the game after that against UMES where Thomas flashed his potential. 

Thomas played 22 minutes against UMES. He went 4-8 from the floor, 3-4 from the free throw line, for his then season high of 11 points. He pulled in 7 rebounds and matched his career best with 3 assists. The made free throws was the season high point for Shaq. The 4 attempts would be one of two times he attempted that many. The next was the following game against Marshall, where he was 2-4 as part of an 8 point effort where he went 3-4 from the floor. Thomas added 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in the win over the Thundering Herd. Shaq had 2 points on 2 shots, 2 offensive rebounds and 2 turnovers in his first Crosstown Shootout. That was followed by 1 point against Wright St. 

It was at this point in the season where Thomas went from a consistent at least 10 minutes of time on the court to yo-yoing minutes. He played 18 with 5 points and 2 steals in the loss to New Mexico, followed by 7 against Pitt, 2 points, 3 boards, and St John's. That was followed by a season high 24 minutes against Notre Dame. Thomas scored 5 on 2-6 with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a block. He played just 4 minutes against Rutgers. Shaq scored 4 against DePaul on January 15 then didn't score until February 6 against Providence. After 12 minutes where he didn't take a shot against Marquette, Thomas played 13 minutes total the next 3 games. Shaquille played 16 against the Friars and looked to be unguardable against the PC back court. He scored 6 on 3-5 shooting. He had 4 rebounds, 2 offensive, with 1 steal and 1 block. It was Thomas who attempted a late game layup with the game in the balance. After 9 minutes and 2 points against Pitt, Thomas played 2 minutes each against Villanova and Georgetown. He didn't attempt a shot in either game. 

If you just looked at the season stats, this is in the point in the season where Shaq went "Eff it, I'm shooting the ball no matter what, no one can guard me." In 10 minutes against UConn he went 0-2, but 2-2 from the stripe to go with 3 boards, an assist and a steal. He scored 7 on 3-6 with 5 boards, 2 steal and an assist in the loss at Notre Dame. Thomas was the second leading scorer for the Cats that day. He didn't score against UConn in 8 minutes, but it wasn't for a lack of attempts. He went 0-4. For some reason, Thomas barely played in the 16 point loss to Louisville and got just 2 minutes against USF. 

When tournament time rolled around, Shaq Thomas was unleashed. He played 19 minutes against PC with 5 points on 2-7, a career high 8 rebounds, a career high 4 offensive rebounds, 1 assist and a block in the win. He played 18 minutes against Georgetown in a less pressure filled game with 4 points on 2-5 and 3 boards. He had 2 turnovers in that game. It was the season ending loss to Creighton where Shaq really shined. He scored his season high 12 points on a season best 6-9 from the field. He went 0-3 from the free throw line, which really hurt because he missed them both on a late game flagrant foul by Doug McDermott. He was just 1-6 from the foul line to close the season. Thomas had 4 rebounds, 2 offensive and a steal. He made a couple of highlight plays with a big follow dunk and a nasty crossover jump shot. There was a lot to be excited about for next year based off of this 3 game run. 

When you look at the season story for Shaq Thomas, everything points to the 2013-14 season. He's not going to be blocked at the 3 or the 4 by veterans. In a just world he should not have his minutes juggled as much as he did this season. We know a part of the reason Thomas didn't see a ton of action was because Mick wasn't happy with his rebounding or his defense. Thomas is going to have to work on his rebounding a lot for next season. He's athletic enough to be a good defender if he puts his mind to it. Thomas was a part of the pressure package on defense, so maybe that's something we see more of next year. UC should be more athletic with Guyn, Kilpatrick, Thomas, Lawrence, Rubles, and Jackson on the floor so you would think the signs would point to a higher tempo offensively and defensively. Obviously I named 6 players so they wouldn't be on the court at the same time. I haven't seen the other freshmen play so we can talk about them later if they should be included in that group. The point is that Shaq Thomas opens up some new possibilities with his style of play that quite frankly JaQuon Parker did not. 

That said, there is a lot of room in his game for Shaq Thomas to grow. Right away two things jump out. One is his free throw shooting. 48% is not going to cut it. Move that up 20% and he is still not a good foul shooter, but 68% is decent and that is an extra couple of points a game. The second thing is shot selection. Thomas can slash to the basket on anyone. What he had a lot of trouble doing at times was avoiding the reckless drive that ended with a bad shot. He went 41%. That's not bad. Thomas needs to mix in the 3 ball a little more. I know a UC player needing to be told to shoot the 3 more sounds insane, but Thomas has a good shot. He hit 3 of his last 5. His driving potential is going to give him looks. The jump shot being added to his game would get the points up a little more. When you add it up quickly, 2 free throws a game is 2 points, a 3 is obviously 3, 2 jumpers is 4, 2 layups on either put backs or driving is 4 and we are at 13 points a game. That seems like it's very doable for Shaq Thomas. The steals could go up with playing time. I wouldn't be surprised with around 1 a game. The assists should rise if he's playing with other guys who can score. His rebounding you would think improves with minutes. A 13 point, 4.5 rebound, 2 assist, 1 steal season doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility for Shaq Thomas. It would be a hell of a breakout season. I believe it's not only possible, but I believe it's going to happen. 

Happy May, everyone. A man named Andrew Woods emailed me saying "When are you going to continue the season reviews?" The answer is today. I've been suffering some burnout lately and I need a kick in the ass every once in a while from you guys. It's appreciated. 

I needed a kick in the ass to get back on the season recaps just like the next player up in the recaps needed a mid-season kick in the ass to start playing well. The next man up is Justin Jackson. If you missed the earlier reviews that I have written about the program, Jeremiah Davis, Alex Eppensteiner and Kelvin Gaines and Ge'Lawn Guyn, click on the links and read those as well. 

Before the season started, I wrote a Getting to Know the Bearcats piece in which I predicted Justin Jackson would have an 8 -7 -1.5 block - 1.5 assist - 1.2 steal season. I didn't just expect him to get better, I expected a pretty big jump from him. Except in blocks. My prediction was a little off from that. Jackson ended up averaging 1.5 blocks, 1.5 assists and 1 steal a game. That part was surprisingly accurate. The points and rebounds were way off. I thought it was a very disappointing season for Justin Jackson. Many of you thought it was a disappointing season for Jackson. I'm sure even Justin thought it was a disappointing season for him. The stats only tell part of the story. He was benched for a game. He suffered an injury. He played over 25 minutes twice all season. That's it. Justin Jackson was thought of to be a key cog on the team. By the end of the season, he was just 5 fouls to use on Doug McDermott and Gregory Echenique. It was a giant step back season for JJ. 

Justin Jackson played in 30 of the 34 Cincinnati games this season, starting 22. He averaged 18.8 minutes a game. That was down from 21 as a sophomore. He took a small step up in his possession percentage, from 16.8 to 18.1. He took a big step down in his offensive rating. He had a career low 82.5 rating. For someone who had an offensive rating of 84.6 as a freshman, that's a pretty low number to sink beneath. Jackson was worse from the floor. He was 46-110, 41.8%. That was also a career low, 10% below his career average. Jackson's effective and true shooting percentages was 42.2% and 44%, 10% and 8.5% lower than 2011-12. Justin's lack of improvement showed at the foul line. He had a lower free throw rate, which probably came because of the cut in minutes, where he went 22-43, 51.2%. A lot of that was in the non-conference. To his credit, Justin was 15-27, 55.6% in conference play at the stripe. That's still awful, but it's not as awful. What was awful were the career high 11 three point attempts. JJ made only 1. There were audible groans when he attempted 3s as the season progressed. Progress is something that Jackson's offensive game did not do. Jackson averaged just 3.8 points a game. 

Justin Jackson averaged 5.1 rebounds a game. It was nearly a full rebound a game improvement. That was 3rd on the team. Jackson was slightly worse on the offensive glass as he pulled in 9.4% of the offensive rebounds compared to 10.1%, but he was significantly better on the defensive glass. Jackson pulled in 20.4% of the available defensive rebounds while on the court. That's a huge upgrade from his freshman and sophomore seasons. The one thing Jackson really improved on was defensive rebounding. Jackson pulled in 4 less rebounds than last year in 7 less games. There was improvement there. 

There was no improvement in the amount of turnovers Jackson caused. His turnover percentage was a career worst 32.5%. That means on every 100 UC possessions with Jackson the court, he turned it over on 32 of them. You all know how percentages work, but damn that is a lot. Jackson was a better passer but he had 44 assists to 54 turnovers. That was his career best assist/turnover ratio, but at 0.8 that's nothing to brag about. Justin's passing did see him assist on 15.8% of UC baskets. Jackson blocked 41 shots, 10th in the Big East. He averaged 1.4 blocks a game, 8th in the league. He blocked shots on 7.7% of possessions, 7th in the BE. The last two numbers were slightly down from last year. The total number of blocks was down by 20, but remember 7 less games. Although maybe he would have had more blocks if he didn't foul out 6 times. Jackson has played 67 games the last 2 seasons and fouled out of 13. Pretty much 1 of every 5 games he fouls out. 

Justin got the season off on a solid foot with a 7 point, 11 rebound, 2 assist, 2 steal, 1 block performance. It was slightly marred by 5 turnovers. Turnovers were a problem with Jackson in the first 4 games. He had 13 total against sub-par competition. Jackson's numbers took a slight decline every game from there. 2 of them saw performances hampered by foul trouble He put up 5 and 8 in just 16 minutes followed by 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals against NCAA tournament team North Carolina A&T. Jackson played only 13 minutes because of fouls the next game, with 2 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 turnovers. Jackson had 4 fouls against Iowa State, holding him to 17 minutes when he was playing well with 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. JJ had 4 fouls yet again in the Oregon game. It truncated a 2 point, 5 rebound, 4 assist, 1 steal, 1 block outing. Jackson wasn't in foul trouble against Alabama, but outside of 4 blocks he did nothing in his 15 minutes of that game. 

The next 3 games for Justin Jackson showed some offensive growth. He had 7 points, 4 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals in a win over UALR. Jackson had 9 points on 4-8 with 7 rebounds and 3 blocks against UMES. His only double digit outing of the season was a 10 point game against Marshall where he went 5-6 with 3 assists and 3 steals. Jackson had 5 boards but didn't attempt a shot against Xavier before fouling out, but he had 9 points on 4-10 with 7 boards in a win over Wright State. Unfortunately for Justin, he would score 10 points total the next 4 games. Despite 8 rebounds and 3 steals, he went 0-6 from the floor in a 1 point loss to New Mexico. He had a modest 4-2 against Pitt before being a train wreck with 0 points, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 16 minutes against St John's. JJ was benched the following game against Notre Dame. 

It appeared that the benching had opened up Jackson's eyes. He had 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 0 turnovers in 24 minutes against Rutgers. But he played just 12 minutes against DePaul in part because of 3 fouls and he only managed 16 minutes before fouling out in the overtime game against Marquette. Jackson played 14 minutes against Syracuse, a large part came when UC was playing well, with 4 points, 5 rebounds and an assist. He had his best game of the year the following game against Rutgers. Jackson had 7 points on 3-8 shooting, that part wasn't the best, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and a season high 6 blocks. Jackson strung together 3 solid games in a row starting with that one. He had 3 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a block against Seton Hall and 5 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists against Providence before fouling out of that one. JJ went into another funk. He played just 7 minutes against Pittsburgh due to injury. He came back for 21 minutes against Villanova but didn't play that great with 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls. He did have 1 block and 1 awesome picture that you can see at the top of the post. 

Jackson attacked the offensive glass in the first meeting with Georgetown for a season high 5 offensive rebounds and 8 total to go with 3 blocks, 2 assists, 1 steal and 5 points. He was just 3-8 at the foul line in a close loss. Jackson would foul out of the next 2 games against UConn and Notre Dame, both UC losses, with just 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers total. He would miss the next 3 games due to another injury. 

Justin Jackson was able to come back just in time for the Big East tournament. He played 14 minutes against Providence with 5 rebounds. He rebounded very well against the Friars. He will miss them. He played just 13 minutes against Georgetown in the blowout with 3 points and 4 boards. He saw 22 minutes against Creighton in the NCAA tournament, many at center, with 2 points on 1-3 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 3 turnovers before he fouled out. 

We'll never know if Justin Jackson can be the player that he has the talent to be because he can't stay on the floor. If it's not silly defensive fouls, it's his inability to set a screen without moving. I'm not saying Jackson could throw up a triple double, but he has the talent to fill out a box score that way. The fact he has 5 double digit scoring games, 1 double digit rebound game and a career best of 4 assists shows he's not getting the most out of his talent. He has 0 career double doubles. That's just not good enough.

Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there. Maybe he isn't the type of guy that can string 14-11-7 blocks-4 assists-4 steals together on one night. Those are his career highs in all those numbers by the way. It doesn't look unrealistic for a player to do that against a Tennessee-Martin or a Campbell or a SMU or a Houston. But the fact many of you scoff at when I say it's possible for Justin Jackson shows how much he has to grow this summer. It seems like he hasn't been around a long time but he has. This is his last year to break out. I think he has the skill in him. I don't know if he has the push to be great in him. It's disappointing to write that out about someone on your squad. I hope that Justin Jackson puts in the work this summer and gets it together. Sometimes the guy who can't score is always the guy who can't score. It doesn't have to be that way for Justin Jackson. His low shooting percentage could easily rise with better shot selection and some luck around the rim. If he could stay out of foul trouble, his minutes and rebounds rise. He's got the ability to impact games. We've seen it against Marquette last year and Rutgers this year. His ability to block shots is a special thing. He gets the arena rocking with the #MeanFace and all that other stuff. I do think that the mean faces and that got in his head some this year by the way. He would try to get the block and end up out of position. Basically what this long paragraph is saying is that I believe Justin Jackson has some big games in him. Sure they could be against Lewis College instead of Louisville, but the key is inside Justin Jackson. He's going to be relied upon to be a player this year. It's to you to deliver, Jack. 

The Cincinnati Bearcats had 4 players signed by NFL teams since the draft has ended. All 4 will participate in the rookie mini-camps or whatever the hell it is that NFL teams do to pretend to know what they are doing. The only Bearcat drafted during the NFL draft was Travis Kelce to Kansas City in the 3rd round. Speaking of Kelce, the Chiefs site Arrowhead Pride had a scouting report of Travis earlier today if you want to relive his Cincinnati glory.

Here is a quick recap of where the 4 landed. 

Maalik Bomar - Jacksonville Jaguars

Dan Giordano - Arizona Cardinals

Kenbrell Thompkins - New England Patriots

George Winn - Houston Texans 

The 2013 NFL draft has come and gone with 1 Cincinnati Bearcat selected. That man was Travis Kelce, who was the first selection of the 3rd round to the Kansas City Chiefs. Andy Reid loves those Cincinnati Bearcats. Kelce was the Bearcats leading receiver in 2012. He hauled in 45 passes for 722 and 8 TDs. He shattered every single season record for a tight end at Cincinnati. 

There was hope that George Winn would get selected today, but that obviously didn't work out for him. He, along with Walter Stewart, Kenbrell Thompkins and maybe Drew Frey, will sign on as college free agents in the next couple of days. Their road won't be easy, but they will at least get a chance at their dream. When they sign, Bearcats Blog will let you know where. 

Congratulations to Travis Kelce and the Kelce family. Travis joins his brother Jason in the NFL. The past few seasons have seen both Kelce's make their mark on the Cincinnati program. Travis made the most of his final season as a Bearcat with an absolutely incredible season. He earned his way into the NFL. Best of luck to him in Kansas City. 

The 15 ACC schools today agreed to a grant of media rights, which means the ACC owns their media rights for the next 15 years. So if Clemson went to the Big 10, the ACC would make all the revenue from every Clemson home game no matter what. The ACC teams are going to make over $20 million a year starting in July. That effectively means that no current ACC team is leaving the ACC. All of the power leagues except the SEC have grant of rights agreements. 

What this means for Cincinnati is that the Bearcats are not joining the ACC. Not for the next 15 years at least. Some eyes have turned to the Big 12 in the hopes that the conference expands beyond 10 teams. I think if UC was going to the Big 12, they would have gone with Louisville when that was a possibility. Now? I'm not very sure. As someone just pointed out on twitter, sorry I forgot who, UC will be able to collect all the exit fees now that they are not leaving, so that's a good thing. 

Look, I know that no one wants to be in the Conference USA-like AAC. I don't want to. You don't want to. The university doesn't want to. But here we are. I haven't been very positive about any of the realignment talk. That doesn't mean that I am not disappointed by UC's current lot in conference life. The American will be a cool league I guess for a year. Then it will be a conference to dominate. If the Big 12 is going to expand back up to 12, crushing this league would go a long way in helping UC be a prime candidate. UC is stuck here. The world is not going to end. It'll be alright. The ACC is ugly anyway. Our conference has 2 A's which means it's twice as awesome. Oh god that is not helping. Here is a hug. 

Please watch the gif as many times as you need until you get your hug quotient for the day. Realignment sucks.