They won 102-60 tonight. Should be fun game when we play them. Campbell gets up and down the floor as well.
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They won 102-60 tonight. Should be fun game when we play them. Campbell gets up and down the floor as well.
Future opponent Florida Gulf Coast beat Miami 63-51 tonight. Former Cyclone Eric McKnight had 14 points and 8 rebounds (4 off) in 15 minutes (foul trouble). Should have redshirted him.
Right now I think we'll lose by 8-10 against Cincy. They look really good. We can make it really close or win by a small margin if we improve at the free throw line and stop silly, hurried turnovers. Until we show we can do those 2 things I can't predict a State victory.
Living in Cincinnati, I follow UC sports a good deal and watch their games whenever possible. There's a lot of buzz around the city that this COULD be a Final Four team. I don't know if they're that good, but they definitely have a lot of potential as a basketball team.
Cincinnati is definitely led by their backcourt. Their best offensive weapons have been dubbed "The Three Amigos" (cheesy, I know). The Three Amigos consists of PG Cashmere Wright, and wings Sean Kilpatrick and Jaquon Parker. All three are a threat to shoot - especially Kilpatrick- and all three can take their guy off the bounce. ISU will need to play stout defense on these three guards to have a chance of winning. The guys behind those three on the depth chart are all unproven but very talented. The backup perimeter players are three true sophomores and one RS Freshman. All of these guys have the potential to fill up the stat sheet, but have yet to do it consistently.
In the post, Cincinnati doesn't have a dominating guy who can consistently score with his back to the basket. What they do have, are some long and (very) athletic guys who can run the floor and finish in transition. The starters are Justin Jackson and Cheikh Mbodj. They go 6'9" and 6'10" respectively but their true value is their long arms and jumping ability. Both of these guys are shot blocking machines and will give ISU's post players fits offensively. Behind Jackson and Mbodj are two JUCO transfers: 7'1" David Nyarsuk and 6'7" Titus Rubles. As can be expected, Nyarsuk is yet another big time shot blocker. Rubles is a match up nightmare because he can shoot and is actually at his best taking his guy off the bounce.
The thing that scares me most about this team is the leadership. All 5 starters are veterans (3 Srs and 2 Jrs) who have played in the NCAA Tournament multiple times. This is gonna be a tough game for the Cyclones but I think ISU can play with these guys.
I agree that they are beatable, but I don't think the comparison with Iowa State is very evident, at least to me. For one, they are altogether more experienced than ISU, especially in the post. Also, their defense appears to be much better than ISU's. Cashmere Wright is a terrific on ball defender at the Point and will give a turnover-prone point guard fits (Lucious). On top of that, Cincy is MUCH more athletic than Iowa State in the post, and much bigger. Another thing to consider is that while ISU has some upperclassmen, they haven't played together as long as some of Cincinnati's guys so they won't have had as much of a chance to gel. All in all, it's definitely a winnable game, but not one I'll go into extremely confident or expecting a win.