Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the D fifty called Austin Elmore this morning.
You often here on Cindy Brees. Keegan Nixson covers UC
sports right now, obviously primarily basketball for Bearcat Journal dot com.
And I said, uh, what are you guys doing on
the show today? And he goes, we're Joe Daniman and
I got not not doing Keegan today? And he said,
(00:22):
you know, no, not today, And I said, awesome, because
because I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna have Kegan on
because I need someone to talk to. Uh. So he
is here. It's been a while since he has joined
our show. Chad joins us on Thursdays. I I I
borrowed their guy. I appreciate you doing this, Keegan, because
I I need someone to talk to. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm doing excellent? Yeah. I love Tony and I love Austin,
but I gotta come on with the legend every now
and then.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Wow, it's it's me, it's mo. I don't know who
you're referring to. This is like a generic sort of
broad question. What's the game last night in the vacuum?
What's what's your biggest takeaway?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I think last night was kind of it was a
realization of this is not a slumping team, this is
just a bad team. I think through the stretch there
was a lot of poor performances where you think, you know,
they they can play better than this. They're just in
a bad stretch. Last night they just could not take
(01:32):
advantage of any opportunities they were given by Utah, and
there were plenty of them. So I think last night,
seventh straight game they lost in the rebounding battle, offense
still looks pretty bad. I think that was the realization of, Okay,
this is this is now a season where you have
(01:52):
to make the best out of it and you have
to get the best possible season out of it, and
kind of the pressure of trying to make an intake
tournament is gone.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, I would I would agree with that. You know,
folks will say, well, they still have more than than
half of their Big twelve games remaining, and I would
say to that, they still have the likes of Houston
and Iowa State, and a good West Virginia team on
their schedule twice, a Baylor team that beat them by
twenty five points. Heck, they play Utah again for Waltsworth.
But like I certainly do expect them at times to
(02:24):
play better. I think whatever their efforts are collectively are
not going to add up to it being enough to
even put this team close to the bubble, much less
in the NCAA tournament. And so we're dealing with the
inevitability of almost the unthinkable a month ago and this
team being on the outside looking income in March.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, and I think that's the that's the craziest part.
I mean, when you think about all the Cincinnati teams
and the preseason expectations like red Zo Central favorites, Bengal
is one of the hottest Super Bowl pigs, and then
somehow the Cincinnati basketball team had topped all of it
by just how bad they've been. It's truly one of
(03:04):
the more confusing things that I've ever covered, and just
the start contrast between you know, last year's team had
a legitimate chance, if the ball goes a different way
just a couple of times, to be in the INTA
Tournament with a pretty less superior team compared to this year.
(03:24):
Like they're supposed to be better in almost every aspect,
and they've been worse in almost every aspect. So it
truly is mind boggling. It's something that we're gonna have
to look into and get some more information out of
in the in the coming months and coming weeks. But yeah,
I really I have no idea what to make of it.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
What's been from your perspective the most there's there's lots
of disappointments, right, But what's at the top of the
list for you.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's got to be rebounding. I mean, I know I
probably sound like a broken record, and you know Wes
Miller has said, and all the press conferences and a
lot of the stuff, it comes down to defense and
rebounding because that's stuff you can control a lot of time.
The ball is not going to go through the bucket
and that that's going to happen as a basketball player,
(04:15):
and you can acknowledge that as a coach. But a
lot of rebounding and a lot of defense is just
effort and it's it's not being seen. And I really
really think a message has to be sent that this
is it's not going to be tolerated and that this
is not the standard of Cincinnati basketball that is supposed
(04:35):
to being played. So, you know, that's something that they
were able to hang their hat on last year. They
did not go two consecutive games last year where they
were beat on the boards, and now they've lost seven
straight games. That's unheard of. Like, if you had to
ask me today if that has ever happened in the
history of Cincinnati men's basketball, I very confidently say no,
(04:58):
it hasn't. Knowing the quality of coach and knowing the
standard that has been set with this program, that that
that just can't happen. And that's the signal for if
you can't do the thing that you're supposed to be
best at, and it's probably the easiest thing to control.
That's where I don't I don't see any positives or
(05:18):
any momentum coming out of the rest of the season.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What has happened to Dan Skilling?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That's a great question. I truly have have no idea.
You know, there was a start of the start of
the second half yesterday he kind of took it upon
himself to initiate the offense almost and just kind of
drive to the hoop. I think it was like two
or three consecutive possessions where he just tried to do
that crazy layup where he's kind of twisting and contort
(05:50):
in his body. It was multiple misses and it went
the other way for Utah down the court and pretty
sure they scored a bucket on multiple of those possessions.
The shot has not developed like he said it was
going to when he first came back, and early in
Big Twelve play it was, but that's kind of fallen off.
But again, it's the rebounding. I mean, he is the
(06:13):
best rebounder on this team. Him and Dylan Mitchell are
up there like going they're good. They're going head to
head for the best rebounder on this team because that's
what he did so good last year and ever since
he came back from the injury, that's just been something
he's really struggled with. And I asked Wes Miller about it,
and he said, you know, it's kind of a part
of him developing as a player and turning into a
(06:34):
more well rounded basketball player and taking your lumps in
some areas and trying to improve others. And I just
don't know why we're taking this kid out of his
identity and just being an extremely athletic and aggressive rebounder
and getting the ball down the court and transition. I
really think that has sat Cincinnati back.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
A lot in their last five games, Dan's posted a
rebounding total of one in three of them. And that's again,
that's not something I thought that I would have said,
you know a month ago, was there a point and like,
I'll admit to you this. They beat Xavier, they beat Dayton,
(07:16):
and you know, the Xavier game comes with this wave
of emotion because of how long it had been since
the Bearcats beat the Musketeers and the Dayton when at
the time felt like a really impressive neutral court victory.
The Flyers have had their own issues since then. And
you see, defended really well that night, but there was
this underlying concern that a lot of us had that
(07:36):
you know what, offensively, they're not shooting it really well.
And it was kind of this like, well, boy, wait
till they do start shooting it. If they continue to
defend a boy here look out. And I can't help
but wonder if if maybe we should have been talking
about some of those issues a little bit more. Has
there been a moment where you go, you know what,
this is where we should have or I started to
(07:56):
suspect that maybe this team was gonna fall way short
of its potential.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Ooh, that's a good question. I think I think the
Texas Tech game was the most glaring one when they
gave up what was it, twelve or thirteen threes and
that was the first time that had happened since Indiana
State last year. That was to me where this team
was the most out of its identity that it had
(08:23):
been in a very long time. Again, I go back
to the rebounding. You're one of the best rebounding teams
in the country last year, you say it's your standard,
you continue struggling. You go into that game, I think
you were a top five three point defense team in
the country, and you give up thirteen threes and then
I think you give up twelve to BYU and you
(08:45):
slide somewhere around fifty spots in the country and three
point defense in two games, in two games that happened.
That is one. It speaks to how good the big
twelve can be. But it also speaks to there's a
standard that isn't being lived up to, and I guess
there's stuff being tolerated that really can't be tolerated anymore.
(09:07):
So I would just say the continual doing bad things
of what you're supposed to be really good at. That's
where I get that's where a lot of people get
the most frustrated. I think a lot of people can
deal with being bad at free throws if you're defending
and rebounding and shooting it at a decent clip and
being in games late. Because everyone expects Cincinnati basketball to
(09:31):
be really, really bad at free throws. I don't know
if there will ever be a coach that'll come in
here and figure that out. But when you're doing the
gritty stuff, the blue collar Cincinnati basketball stuff really poorly,
that's where people are going to start to lose their patients.
And that's where I kind of see this team go ahead.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
No, Well, what I was gonna say about the free
throws is, you're right, but there's a difference between being
middle of the pack and the entire country and free
throw shoot and being three hundred and fiftieth. Like I've
watched a lot of UC basketball teams that I wished
were better at shooting free throws, and you know, they
ranked in the you know, somewhere in the mid one
hundreds of the high one hundreds, or sometimes in the
(10:12):
two hundreds. It's one thing to be not great, it's
something else to be terrible. So that's that's frustrating to
me one more And you've been awesome with your time,
so you know your roster is what it is. They're
not going to make a trade deadline acquisition, right like
the NBA. So if you're gonna find a fix for this,
(10:34):
it's got to come from within. I know before the
game last night, Wes talked about, well Rayvon Griffith may play.
That didn't happen. He's tried, you know, for a while. CJ.
Frederick was the second guy off the bench. I don't
think he came off the bench last night. He's given
Josh Reid extended playing time. I think he played seventeen
minutes last night. Is there someone you go you know
what I like. I'd like for them to try to
(10:56):
see what this dude could do who's maybe not getting
a lot of playing time, if really any.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, to go back to your trade deadline question, I
don't know for that far away from that. With how
the landscape is moving in college athletics, that's that might
be a thing of the future, which would make stuff
really interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But are they buyers or sellers of the deadline? I
can't wait for that to be in in college Sports.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Will his credits transferred more at five. I think my
thing is Josh Reed. I mean, when you look at
it last night, he played the hardest out of anyone,
and there were three to four possessions where he's making
a concerted effort to be aggressive. I'm the defensive end,
and he's getting steals, getting turnovers and then going the
(11:44):
other way and converting for points on offense. My thing
about the rest of the season, you kind of know
it's not going how it's planned, so in the back
of your head, and I think Bill self said this
after he lost to Cincinnati in the Big Twelve Tournament.
He kind of said, look, I've been thinking about next
year for the past three weeks. I think you inevitably
(12:05):
have to get to that point and you have to
send a message about the standard that needs to be
lived up to. I think starting Josh Reed over one
of your established starters sends a pretty good message. Maybe
starting Dayda Thomas and I know we talked about this,
but the flagrant too sucks and it's a bonehead play.
But I'm sure a lot of fans like seeing that
(12:26):
passion and just being like, you know what, no, I'm
shoving you out of bounds and I'm not letting you
just get in an easy basket. So dumb, bone headed play.
But you know, good on day day to show some
passion and some aggressiveness maybe start day day. And I'm
not saying that you switch around the starting lineups and
that's the way you win. It's obviously about who plays
the most minutes on the floor. But I just think
(12:49):
putting Josh Reed or and or Dayda Thomas and the
starting lineup can send a pretty clear message to the
rest of the players because right now a lot of
people are playing poorly and they're being rewarded and not
being punished. Like Dan Scalings comes in after Josh Reed
fouls out and immediately fouls Gabe Madson on an inbound
their best Reefroir shooter, and then they go and get
(13:09):
points on the other end, Like that's inexcusable that that
can not happen. So I think just playing those guys
who are going to play aggressive, defensively and try to
rebound that's starting them sends a good message.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I appreciate it. As always. We'll do it soon, man,
thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I appreciate it. Now, I'll see you You're.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
The best keithon Nickoson covers u SE Sports for Bearcad
Journal dot com. A team headed in the exact opposite direction,
the Xavier Musketeers hitting the road tonight for obviously a
tough one against Creighton's simple question for Rick Brooring Coming
up in ten minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the uc Health
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you back to being you visit UCHealth dot com. Westbound
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