shaunsimpson
02-05-2009, 11:20 AM
Made the trip to Cincinnati for the game last night. Thanks to the Bearcat Tailgater guys I had seats just close enough to see McAlarney's tatoos. Just wanted to give my thoughts on the game and everything surrounding it.
I will make it a point not to point out all of the pessimists (or realists if you are one) who didn't think we win this game since there is plenty of room on the bandwagon and we don't hold grudges (well, not all of us). Come aboard and hopefully we can celebrate a trip to the NCAA tournament together.
Arena:
There are many things good and bad about having a game at US Bank Arena (or whatever it is called this week). First off the seats actually face the court and increase in slope to a degree where I am not consistently trying to find a hole through someone's head Isaiah Pead style. From some one out of town it is easier to get there and through the door. Concessions and concourses are easier to root through. The upper deck seating is significantly better than the Shoemaker Center.
The negatives are that you are far away from the court. Being set up for hockey and multipurpose you do not have the seats up next to the court. There is no doubt that the student seating is significantly worse and that you have to bus the students down for the games. Considering that it takes an act of god to get most of them to walk a 1/2 mile to the games this is problematic. How dire is that building when 1/2 of the seats don't have armrests, the jumbotron looks like my grandma's TV in her guest bedroom 5 years ago and nothing was done to increase the atmosphere for basketball.
Overall I think there are 3 options for arenas. If you like the comfort of the Shoe then you better hope we keep it despite the horrible upper deck and the seats looking into nowhere. This is because if we build a new arena it will have the same characteristics as US Bank Arena. It will be designed to have concerts and other events played there. We are not going to build a 6,000 capacity arena for home court advantage. The other two are going to US Bank arena (and there is an alumni push for this so don't brush it off like it is 100% out of the rhelm of possibility) or building a new one just off campus. The one just off campus will be like an NBA arena (my thoughts at least) where sound is designed to travel up and the seats will be much like US Bank Arena (with better armrests).
Crowd:
The crowd was about what I expected from the UC fans and waaay worse for the UND fans. I was surprised to see a lack of green there as I was expecting 30% or so to think that they have to be Fighting McAlarney's (sorry I mean Irish) because their parents sent them to a school in Cincinnati that made them like ND.
The crowd was loud at times and I found that people didn't sit in their seats like other games. A lot of this could have been that we were trying to be obnoxious after Mick's TF and the McAlarney shove that almost ended him in at Good Sam for the evening.
Going into the game:
I was one of very few to say that I fully expected UC to win this game. We were in our own city (I don't say home there) in an arena that we have won 18 or so consecutive games in and were playing a team that is weak on defense and had lost 5 in a row and a game to ST Johns.
Their lack of defensive pressure allows Vaughn and others to stay fresh and not worry about turning the ball over coming up the court. I know this did change down the stretch, but their ball pressure would have something to be desired in an "And 1" event.
I really thought - and some others mentioned as well - that this game would come down to Dixon hitting 3s, Mitchell playing tough down low and Bishop playing a good point forward (or guard, whatever you want to call him). If those 3 didn't happen then we could lose the game.....boy was I wrong there.
Offense:
Lately I get the feeling that our team pulls out one of those 12 sided dice that the people that we made fun of (and probably work for now) had in High School and determine who is going to be the secondary go to guy on the team. Tonight this guy was Larry Davis.
First off I have to mention Vaughn. I have been down on him a bit this year (knowing that much of it was him playing with the ball instead of off the ball) due to his poor shot selection and even though he did have a couple that I cringed at he waited for the open shot. What a performance he put up.
Back to Larry Davis. Yes, Davis his 3-6 3 pointers, but what amazed me was his ability to drive and hit an 8 foot shot. He was 5 of 8 from inside the arch as well.
Gates also played well and his turn around shot is starting to work. Hopefully he is in the gym right now shooting FTs, but he played very well fronting up the ND big men and taking advantage of Harangody who is terrified of getting in foul trouble so he plays soft on defense a bit.
And yes, it was said that Harangody would get the benefit of the doubt on defense and he did. I was not a big fan of the officiating early and lost it when we had a moving screen called since I don't think UND knows how to set a screen without moving (they must have brought Toyloy in during the off season to teach that).
Overall, ball movement was very good and we got the ball up the court and took advantage of their half effective press when we could.
Defense:
I can't believe that in a game where we give up 83 that I would be thrilled with the defense. There were still the occasional bad layups given up and bad fouls, but overall I was very impressed.
Once again Larry Davis (my player of the game) stuck on the thug (sorry, I mean McAlarney) and forced him into bad shots all game including one late that I think iced the game for the cats. For a guy who is hitting 45% of his 3s this year it was very impressive to keep him to 0-5 from three and 2-12 from the field. This was not just because he had an off day, but because the pressure caused him to force the shot.
This was also possible due to the two headed monster down low of Gates and Toyloy. A fear going in is that we would have to double Harangody to be effective and then he would pass it out to an open shooter. Well it turns out that we didn't need to double him much of the game. I haven't seen the Irish play too many games, but my guess is that Harangody is taking advantage of taller, but weaker players by musseling them in. Gates and Toyloy held their ground, forced him away from the hoop or had a hand in their face. It is tough to block his shot, but he didn't have many open shots.
You would think that a guy who had 28 points wasn't stopped, but 12 of those points (4 of 4 from the field) were in the last 3 minutes of the game when we were trying to prevent the 3 and were willing to trade 2 for 2 (assuming we made the free throw). Take away those 3 minutes and he was 6 of 17 (and I did the math on that so it could be off) from the field. That is stopping the Big East player of the year in my book.
Rebounding:
Very impressive rebounding. We each had 37 rebounds; however, UND had 5 of those rebounds in the last 3 minutes (we had 2) and 4 off of missed FTs (where we had one). I would say that we won that battle.
Ball Control:
VERY IMPRESSED WITH OUR BALL CONTROL. Two of our best games of the year (Uconn and this game) we had 6 and 5 turnovers respectively. If we can hold onto the ball then we can win the game. 15/5 assist to turnover is very good especially when they are pressing the last 8 or so minutes to try to create turnovers. Notre Dame controlled the ball well only having 8 turnovers and most of those were forced as UC had 6 steals. There were very few sloppy turnovers in this game.
Block shots and steals:
6-1 and 6-1 both in our favor. Not much else to say about that, but those are typically effort numbers and well done.
Mick:
Great gameplan and halftime adjustments. I heard many times in the arena something to the effect of "well, we always collapse in the 2nd half. After being tied in the first half we scored 56 (inflated due to ND's annoying don't quit gameplay) to UND's inlfated 46 points.
After the free throws from micks technical foul we were down 1 and went on to win by 10. I am not saying that contributed too much, but the crowd was fired up like I haven't seen in a long time after that and the team seemed to play better immediately hitting a 3 to take the lead back.
Fouls before the technical: Cincinnati 6 UND 2
Fouls after the techincal before the last 3 minutes when UND started fouling a lot: 12 Cincinnati 16 UND (UND finished with 7 more and UC 1 more in the last 3 minutes)
Noteable Stats not mentioned:
- UC makes 3 fewer shots from the field, but because of winning late and taking the ball to the hole we win by 10.
- After complain about free throws since the last game we took 41. (yes, 14 were in the last 2 minutes, but 27 is still very good).
- 7 players with an assist. Vaughn had 4, but they were spread around well.
Other:
I thought that Wilks played well. Often in this game we went small with Wilks in the lineup which is why you didn't see Mitchell. He came in the game a couple of times and couldn't understand who he was supposed to guard so he didn't play much. It wasn't anything other than matchups with him and defensive confusion that Mick took the blame for in his post game comments.
Overall:
I love going to UC games and this one was great because so many didn't think we could beat them and lets face it.....I don't like Notre Dame.
NCAA tournament:
5-3 would make me feel very good, but 4-4 with 2 Big East tourny wins should do it as well.
I will make it a point not to point out all of the pessimists (or realists if you are one) who didn't think we win this game since there is plenty of room on the bandwagon and we don't hold grudges (well, not all of us). Come aboard and hopefully we can celebrate a trip to the NCAA tournament together.
Arena:
There are many things good and bad about having a game at US Bank Arena (or whatever it is called this week). First off the seats actually face the court and increase in slope to a degree where I am not consistently trying to find a hole through someone's head Isaiah Pead style. From some one out of town it is easier to get there and through the door. Concessions and concourses are easier to root through. The upper deck seating is significantly better than the Shoemaker Center.
The negatives are that you are far away from the court. Being set up for hockey and multipurpose you do not have the seats up next to the court. There is no doubt that the student seating is significantly worse and that you have to bus the students down for the games. Considering that it takes an act of god to get most of them to walk a 1/2 mile to the games this is problematic. How dire is that building when 1/2 of the seats don't have armrests, the jumbotron looks like my grandma's TV in her guest bedroom 5 years ago and nothing was done to increase the atmosphere for basketball.
Overall I think there are 3 options for arenas. If you like the comfort of the Shoe then you better hope we keep it despite the horrible upper deck and the seats looking into nowhere. This is because if we build a new arena it will have the same characteristics as US Bank Arena. It will be designed to have concerts and other events played there. We are not going to build a 6,000 capacity arena for home court advantage. The other two are going to US Bank arena (and there is an alumni push for this so don't brush it off like it is 100% out of the rhelm of possibility) or building a new one just off campus. The one just off campus will be like an NBA arena (my thoughts at least) where sound is designed to travel up and the seats will be much like US Bank Arena (with better armrests).
Crowd:
The crowd was about what I expected from the UC fans and waaay worse for the UND fans. I was surprised to see a lack of green there as I was expecting 30% or so to think that they have to be Fighting McAlarney's (sorry I mean Irish) because their parents sent them to a school in Cincinnati that made them like ND.
The crowd was loud at times and I found that people didn't sit in their seats like other games. A lot of this could have been that we were trying to be obnoxious after Mick's TF and the McAlarney shove that almost ended him in at Good Sam for the evening.
Going into the game:
I was one of very few to say that I fully expected UC to win this game. We were in our own city (I don't say home there) in an arena that we have won 18 or so consecutive games in and were playing a team that is weak on defense and had lost 5 in a row and a game to ST Johns.
Their lack of defensive pressure allows Vaughn and others to stay fresh and not worry about turning the ball over coming up the court. I know this did change down the stretch, but their ball pressure would have something to be desired in an "And 1" event.
I really thought - and some others mentioned as well - that this game would come down to Dixon hitting 3s, Mitchell playing tough down low and Bishop playing a good point forward (or guard, whatever you want to call him). If those 3 didn't happen then we could lose the game.....boy was I wrong there.
Offense:
Lately I get the feeling that our team pulls out one of those 12 sided dice that the people that we made fun of (and probably work for now) had in High School and determine who is going to be the secondary go to guy on the team. Tonight this guy was Larry Davis.
First off I have to mention Vaughn. I have been down on him a bit this year (knowing that much of it was him playing with the ball instead of off the ball) due to his poor shot selection and even though he did have a couple that I cringed at he waited for the open shot. What a performance he put up.
Back to Larry Davis. Yes, Davis his 3-6 3 pointers, but what amazed me was his ability to drive and hit an 8 foot shot. He was 5 of 8 from inside the arch as well.
Gates also played well and his turn around shot is starting to work. Hopefully he is in the gym right now shooting FTs, but he played very well fronting up the ND big men and taking advantage of Harangody who is terrified of getting in foul trouble so he plays soft on defense a bit.
And yes, it was said that Harangody would get the benefit of the doubt on defense and he did. I was not a big fan of the officiating early and lost it when we had a moving screen called since I don't think UND knows how to set a screen without moving (they must have brought Toyloy in during the off season to teach that).
Overall, ball movement was very good and we got the ball up the court and took advantage of their half effective press when we could.
Defense:
I can't believe that in a game where we give up 83 that I would be thrilled with the defense. There were still the occasional bad layups given up and bad fouls, but overall I was very impressed.
Once again Larry Davis (my player of the game) stuck on the thug (sorry, I mean McAlarney) and forced him into bad shots all game including one late that I think iced the game for the cats. For a guy who is hitting 45% of his 3s this year it was very impressive to keep him to 0-5 from three and 2-12 from the field. This was not just because he had an off day, but because the pressure caused him to force the shot.
This was also possible due to the two headed monster down low of Gates and Toyloy. A fear going in is that we would have to double Harangody to be effective and then he would pass it out to an open shooter. Well it turns out that we didn't need to double him much of the game. I haven't seen the Irish play too many games, but my guess is that Harangody is taking advantage of taller, but weaker players by musseling them in. Gates and Toyloy held their ground, forced him away from the hoop or had a hand in their face. It is tough to block his shot, but he didn't have many open shots.
You would think that a guy who had 28 points wasn't stopped, but 12 of those points (4 of 4 from the field) were in the last 3 minutes of the game when we were trying to prevent the 3 and were willing to trade 2 for 2 (assuming we made the free throw). Take away those 3 minutes and he was 6 of 17 (and I did the math on that so it could be off) from the field. That is stopping the Big East player of the year in my book.
Rebounding:
Very impressive rebounding. We each had 37 rebounds; however, UND had 5 of those rebounds in the last 3 minutes (we had 2) and 4 off of missed FTs (where we had one). I would say that we won that battle.
Ball Control:
VERY IMPRESSED WITH OUR BALL CONTROL. Two of our best games of the year (Uconn and this game) we had 6 and 5 turnovers respectively. If we can hold onto the ball then we can win the game. 15/5 assist to turnover is very good especially when they are pressing the last 8 or so minutes to try to create turnovers. Notre Dame controlled the ball well only having 8 turnovers and most of those were forced as UC had 6 steals. There were very few sloppy turnovers in this game.
Block shots and steals:
6-1 and 6-1 both in our favor. Not much else to say about that, but those are typically effort numbers and well done.
Mick:
Great gameplan and halftime adjustments. I heard many times in the arena something to the effect of "well, we always collapse in the 2nd half. After being tied in the first half we scored 56 (inflated due to ND's annoying don't quit gameplay) to UND's inlfated 46 points.
After the free throws from micks technical foul we were down 1 and went on to win by 10. I am not saying that contributed too much, but the crowd was fired up like I haven't seen in a long time after that and the team seemed to play better immediately hitting a 3 to take the lead back.
Fouls before the technical: Cincinnati 6 UND 2
Fouls after the techincal before the last 3 minutes when UND started fouling a lot: 12 Cincinnati 16 UND (UND finished with 7 more and UC 1 more in the last 3 minutes)
Noteable Stats not mentioned:
- UC makes 3 fewer shots from the field, but because of winning late and taking the ball to the hole we win by 10.
- After complain about free throws since the last game we took 41. (yes, 14 were in the last 2 minutes, but 27 is still very good).
- 7 players with an assist. Vaughn had 4, but they were spread around well.
Other:
I thought that Wilks played well. Often in this game we went small with Wilks in the lineup which is why you didn't see Mitchell. He came in the game a couple of times and couldn't understand who he was supposed to guard so he didn't play much. It wasn't anything other than matchups with him and defensive confusion that Mick took the blame for in his post game comments.
Overall:
I love going to UC games and this one was great because so many didn't think we could beat them and lets face it.....I don't like Notre Dame.
NCAA tournament:
5-3 would make me feel very good, but 4-4 with 2 Big East tourny wins should do it as well.