December 13, 2024 • 6 mins
Chad Brendel of Bearcat Journal joined us to discuss the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, after the Georgia Tech game, I think everybody
was feeling like, oh boy, here we go. This team's
going to take off. This team could run through the
non conference undefeated. This team might be even better than
we thought. And since then, the air has come out
of the balloon. Why is the air come out of
the balloon?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Not having Dan Skillings, I think would be the primary reason.
And they didn't have him against Georgia Tech. But one
of the things that you know was a strength of
this team was that you had, you know, three or
four guys you felt like could really carry the load.
(00:39):
And with Dan out, that drops down to three, and
you know, it changes the math quite a bit. And
I also think Dan is just such a rare talent
and that he plays on the wing, but he's an
elite rebounder, and you know, he's kind of like to me,
it reminds me like the Tasmanian Devil. He just swirls
(01:00):
in and all of a sudden you're like, where did
Dan come from? And not having that on the floor,
I think makes this team a lot less dangerous and
it is going to be a very good thing to
get him back in the flow. I think that is
going to help this team get back to what we
thought they could be.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
What can I expect to see from him on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I mean I would expect According to west Miller, they
had another rotation for him set up in the Howard
game where he probably would have gotten the closer to
twenty minutes, but then they get up by twenty six
and they decided against that. I would guess somewhere in
that twenty twenty two minute range I would think would
(01:44):
probably be around the right spot for Dan. But you
also have to consider that, you know, there are two
variables there. What if his knee doesn't feel great and
you have to use them a little less, or what
if he feels fine and you've got the opportunity to
use him for twenty five plus. So you know, I
feel comfortable probably saying we'll see him in that twenty
(02:07):
minute or so range, And honestly, I would be surprised
if he isn't back in the starting lineup. If you've
got him and you're going to use him, their most
effective starting lineup is Jizzl, Dan Siemos, Dylan Mitchell and
his ease. I would think that's especially with the propensity
to be down six, eight, ten points by the second
(02:29):
media timeout. You want to start well and Dan is
a big part of that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So you just spoke to my biggest fear so in
this game. Now it sounds like an obvious statement because
they've lost the last five. Clearly, Xavier has led the
majority of time. But it's remarkable if you look at
these games in recent years how little the Bearcats have
played with the lead. This is typically Xavier jumps ahead
and stays ahead. Now, that didn't quite happen last season.
Bearcats did take I think at one point of forty
(02:56):
three to forty lead early in the second half last
year because of Gigsel James, but more often than not, five, six, eight,
ten minutes into the game, xaviers ahead. U see, he's
got to play catchup. Most notably two years ago. Right,
UC's team was not as good as this year's, but
you know, fervent atmosphere places on its head. It's awesome,
(03:17):
it feels like, all right, there's no chance they lose.
And then three and a half minutes into the game,
it's thirteen to one in favor of the Musketeers. I'm
fearful of something similar this year.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, we kind of saw it in a way
versus Villanova, right like you come out and the other team,
even though I think they got Villanova to take the
shots that Cincinnati wanted them to take, Villanova made some
shots early and then Cincinnati was fighting from behind, and
you know, I think ultimately it's a focus thing early
(03:53):
in games. I don't think Cincinnati has ever come out
and not played with intensity. In fact, I think the
problem at time might be they came out a little
over uh, you know, over hyped, and and that allows
the offense to to be wonky or shots to be
myths that that normally would be made, and then you
(04:14):
start pressing and then it's snowballs, and then all of
a sudden, it's the undertime eight time out and you're
down twelve, and you spend the rest of the game
digging out of a hole. I think they there's a
there's a balance you have to find between playing with
intensity and playing with confidence, and I think that's really
(04:34):
when you start losing in a series regularly. I think
that confidence is the difficult part, and this team's going
to have to figure out a way early in this
game to play with some confidence and and to be
the team that throws the first punch and not the
team that's you know, on the mat, seeing the the
(04:56):
the official count to ten the early in the game,
and you know that I think is something where you
have to be relaxed, but the intensity has to be
there as well. That's a very fine line that the
team across town has done a much better job walking.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Where do they have a clear advantage over Xavier and
where does Xavier have a clear advantage over them?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think obviously Zach Fremantle is Xavier's biggest advantage. Ryan
Tomwell is not far behind, but I think Cincinnati has
some answer more answers for defending Tomwell than they do
defending Freemanel Overall, I think, you know, Xavier is not
(05:41):
a super athletic team, so defensively they are, you know,
a team that can struggle getting stops at times. I think,
you know, there's a lot of talk about both of
these teams wanting to play fast, and they do. Both
teams want to get out and run and score and transition.
I think the key for Cincinnati is being more effective
(06:02):
in their half court offense. Again, you go back to Villanova.
Villanova did some things that Cincinnati maybe didn't expect. Early
in that game, we saw them switching a lot of
ball screens. We also saw them go into that kind
of matchup zone. Look that through Cincinnati off Cincinnati has
got to execute in the half court. This is not
(06:24):
going to be just both teams flying up and down
the floor getting layups. If they struggle in the half court,
that's advantage to Xavier. They have to take advantage of
Xavier's I don't want to say lesser than, but Xavier's
not shouldn't be as good defensively as Cincinnati. Cincinnati's half
(06:46):
court offense has to take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Awesome stuff. I can't wait. We'll see you Saturday.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Thank you as always, fregetam
You know, after the Georgia Tech game, I think everybody
was feeling like, oh boy, here we go. This team's
going to take off. This team could run through the
non conference undefeated. This team might be even better than
we thought. And since then, the air has come out
of the balloon. Why is the air come out of
the balloon?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Not having Dan Skillings, I think would be the primary reason.
And they didn't have him against Georgia Tech. But one
of the things that you know was a strength of
this team was that you had, you know, three or
four guys you felt like could really carry the load.
(00:39):
And with Dan out, that drops down to three, and
you know, it changes the math quite a bit. And
I also think Dan is just such a rare talent
and that he plays on the wing, but he's an
elite rebounder, and you know, he's kind of like to me,
it reminds me like the Tasmanian Devil. He just swirls
(01:00):
in and all of a sudden you're like, where did
Dan come from? And not having that on the floor,
I think makes this team a lot less dangerous and
it is going to be a very good thing to
get him back in the flow. I think that is
going to help this team get back to what we
thought they could be.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
What can I expect to see from him on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I mean I would expect According to west Miller, they
had another rotation for him set up in the Howard
game where he probably would have gotten the closer to
twenty minutes, but then they get up by twenty six
and they decided against that. I would guess somewhere in
that twenty twenty two minute range I would think would
(01:44):
probably be around the right spot for Dan. But you
also have to consider that, you know, there are two
variables there. What if his knee doesn't feel great and
you have to use them a little less, or what
if he feels fine and you've got the opportunity to
use him for twenty five plus. So you know, I
feel comfortable probably saying we'll see him in that twenty
(02:07):
minute or so range, And honestly, I would be surprised
if he isn't back in the starting lineup. If you've
got him and you're going to use him, their most
effective starting lineup is Jizzl, Dan Siemos, Dylan Mitchell and
his ease. I would think that's especially with the propensity
to be down six, eight, ten points by the second
(02:29):
media timeout. You want to start well and Dan is
a big part of that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So you just spoke to my biggest fear so in
this game. Now it sounds like an obvious statement because
they've lost the last five. Clearly, Xavier has led the
majority of time. But it's remarkable if you look at
these games in recent years how little the Bearcats have
played with the lead. This is typically Xavier jumps ahead
and stays ahead. Now, that didn't quite happen last season.
Bearcats did take I think at one point of forty
(02:56):
three to forty lead early in the second half last
year because of Gigsel James, but more often than not, five, six, eight,
ten minutes into the game, xaviers ahead. U see, he's
got to play catchup. Most notably two years ago. Right,
UC's team was not as good as this year's, but
you know, fervent atmosphere places on its head. It's awesome,
(03:17):
it feels like, all right, there's no chance they lose.
And then three and a half minutes into the game,
it's thirteen to one in favor of the Musketeers. I'm
fearful of something similar this year.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, we kind of saw it in a way
versus Villanova, right like you come out and the other team,
even though I think they got Villanova to take the
shots that Cincinnati wanted them to take, Villanova made some
shots early and then Cincinnati was fighting from behind, and
you know, I think ultimately it's a focus thing early
(03:53):
in games. I don't think Cincinnati has ever come out
and not played with intensity. In fact, I think the
problem at time might be they came out a little
over uh, you know, over hyped, and and that allows
the offense to to be wonky or shots to be
myths that that normally would be made, and then you
(04:14):
start pressing and then it's snowballs, and then all of
a sudden, it's the undertime eight time out and you're
down twelve, and you spend the rest of the game
digging out of a hole. I think they there's a
there's a balance you have to find between playing with
intensity and playing with confidence, and I think that's really
(04:34):
when you start losing in a series regularly. I think
that confidence is the difficult part, and this team's going
to have to figure out a way early in this
game to play with some confidence and and to be
the team that throws the first punch and not the
team that's you know, on the mat, seeing the the
(04:56):
the official count to ten the early in the game,
and you know that I think is something where you
have to be relaxed, but the intensity has to be
there as well. That's a very fine line that the
team across town has done a much better job walking.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Where do they have a clear advantage over Xavier and
where does Xavier have a clear advantage over them?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think obviously Zach Fremantle is Xavier's biggest advantage. Ryan
Tomwell is not far behind, but I think Cincinnati has
some answer more answers for defending Tomwell than they do
defending Freemanel Overall, I think, you know, Xavier is not
(05:41):
a super athletic team, so defensively they are, you know,
a team that can struggle getting stops at times. I think,
you know, there's a lot of talk about both of
these teams wanting to play fast, and they do. Both
teams want to get out and run and score and transition.
I think the key for Cincinnati is being more effective
(06:02):
in their half court offense. Again, you go back to Villanova.
Villanova did some things that Cincinnati maybe didn't expect. Early
in that game, we saw them switching a lot of
ball screens. We also saw them go into that kind
of matchup zone. Look that through Cincinnati off Cincinnati has
got to execute in the half court. This is not
(06:24):
going to be just both teams flying up and down
the floor getting layups. If they struggle in the half court,
that's advantage to Xavier. They have to take advantage of
Xavier's I don't want to say lesser than, but Xavier's
not shouldn't be as good defensively as Cincinnati. Cincinnati's half
(06:46):
court offense has to take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Awesome stuff. I can't wait. We'll see you Saturday.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Thank you as always, fregetam
Mo Egger News
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