I was excited to arrive at McCamish for the first time in 26 years. It was Alexander Memorial McDonald’s back then. It wasn’t for a game, although I did see Matt Harpring receive his degree at the same ceremony my son got his. Been a fan for over 30 years now. Disappointments will never result in my bashing this team publicly. I firmly believe the negative impact of fans berating their own teams will adversely effect attracting new fans, game turnout & support and in turn, team play & recruitment. Not saying this is a root cause of the awful start to the season. But it certainly doesn’t help.
My take on seeing this program live yesterday is an environment with a complete lack of confidence. Fans & players alike. It started with me. Standing outside waiting for doors to open and being surrounded by way too many fans in Bearcat gear. It changed my confidence level before even entering the arena. Watching the red shirted fans take prime seats was as disheartening as seeing thousands of empty seats & empty looks on too many faces on those who attended. They screamed low expectation. And so many fans old like me. So few in the present or next generation even though my campus visit revealed lots of students around on a sunny afternoon on their way to doing anything else but watching their school compete in sports. Athletes competing in front of a small crowd who resembles their parents & grandparents and not their fellow students. How disheartening is that? There was a really bad vibe in the air.
There are a lot of talented basketball players on this team. The coaching staff is impressive and knows their stuff. This board can pick apart & analyze players and coaches game after game until the cows come home. When you feel terrible because you lose, does it make you feel better complaining with negativity? I guess for some of you it does. Can you play better than these kids? Do you know the sport better than these coaches? Can you coach better than they can?
I didn’t see lazy or sleepy kids. I didn’t see bad coaching or awful defense. A coach who doesn’t publicly berate his players screaming at them on TV is not a bad coach. Kids are getting pulled for live turnovers and slow defense responses. That’s what I saw and that is enough to send the message.
Early on I thought, this Cincinnati team, in their second season in Big 12 is damn good and we are badly overmatched. But I think I was wrong. On offense we got plenty of open clean looks and just kept missing. Each shot weaker than the last, including at the rim in failed attempts to finish or put back despite a good offensive rebounding game. To me, repeatedly the ball was not shot with any confidence it would go in. The more misses, the more lack of confidence. It’s hard to defend a team that has multiple catch & shoot sharpshooters who release bombs without getting set and with amazing accuracy well beyond the 3 point line that we were able to defend fairly adequately. But defensely our guys caused turnovers, including clock expirations, yet Cincy alway came back, often with a mile long trey that just added to a lack of confidence.
When you look at the offense stat line we took enough good shots, both 2s, layups, 3s & FTs to have made this a competitive game if our percentages were closer to average/good than awful. Thought the makeup of this team, between returnees and newcomers would elevate offense production over last year. Didn’t know whether they entered the game lacking confidence or developed it as the game progressed, but to me it was obvious. That’s a product of losing. Playing at home is supposed to be an advantage. Looks like a disadvantage to me for these kids to play in MCCamish. I bought season seats this year knowing full well I would rarely use them, just to offer some financial support to the program. Thought of returning for Duke next month, but now rethinking that visit. McCamish is not a fun place for a Yellow Jacket fan to watch them play. No games at MSG this year. Syracuse, BC & Pitt are possibilities. I could dress in my GT colors & cap, watch them play in front of capacity crowds and be among the same number of GT fans without having to travel as far. And maybe, just maybe, road trips to neutral or opposition sites will result in a big win of both game & confidence. But if I don’t show in Atlanta next month you won’t find Duke fans in MY seats. No SeatGeek resale for Blue Devils from me. That’s total bullsh** to sell your seats for opponent fans to grab up.