Huskers sign Cincinnati Bearcats to Home and Home Series

Pretty good little pick up right there... I am excited!  Another road win will be nice

Damn you beat to posting this.

Love it.  Miles actually knows what he is doing with scheduling.  It's nice to see Nebraska playing teams like this. 

It's another game against a quality team from a power conference, so that will likely be an ESPN option.  It's against a quality team that will boost the RPI if Nebraska wins, but a loss on the road won't kill the RPI.  Plus, it's against a team within the Big Ten footprint, so that's another plus. 

And again, like FGCU, this is an athletic basketball team, so it should be another game that will be fun to watch.

Love it!

Last time they played them was in Puerto Rico...I think I still have that game on VHS...Break out the black unis again for that game.  Cincinnati was pretty good that year if I remember and had some big dudes in the frontcourt.

Nebraska and Cincinnati have agreed to a home-and-home series in men's basketball, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Thursday.

The newspaper said that no contracts have been signed, but that the schools have a verbal agreement. Nebraska will visit Cincinnati this season, and the Bearcats will play in Lincoln in 2014-15.

Cincinnati was 22-12 last season and lost to Creighton in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. It marked the third straight 20-win season and third straight NCAA Tournament appearance for Cincinnati.

The Bearcats return two starters, including leading scorer Sean Kilpatrick, who averaged 17 points per game. Kilpatrick was a second-team All-Big East selection last year as a junior and ranked fifth in the league in scoring.

Cincinnati, 13-5 in the Big East last season, will play in the renamed American Athletic Conference next season.

Cincinnati leads the all-time series with Nebraska 3-0, with the most recent game an 84-73 Bearcat victory on Dec. 31, 1996 in Puerto Rico.

Nebraska, which has home nonconference games with Florida Gulf Coast and Miami, plus an appearance in the Charleston Classic, will announce its complete schedule later this summer.

http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/life-in-the-red/cincy-nu-hoops-agree-to-home-and-home/article_8d61e1b2-cf0f-11e2-af7f-0019bb2963f4.html

Great non-conference opponent!

I bet we insisted on playing at home 2014-15...I bet Miles is already planning the run for that year.

Last time they played them was in Puerto Rico...I think I still have that game on VHS...Break out the black unis again for that game.  Cincinnati was pretty good that year if I remember and had some big dudes in the frontcourt.

Didn't Lue get hurt in that game?

This is cool.  Hopefully we can hang this year.  Miles' has his eye on our RPI.

The difference between Miles' and Doc's non-conference scheduling philosophy is staggering.

The difference between Miles' and Doc's non-conference scheduling philosophy is staggering.

+1,000,000,000   That is why attendance and interest in NU hoops dropped off dramatically under Sadler.  He never wanted to play any decent opponents unless he thinks Maryland Eastern Shore is a quality team.

I was woke up last night by a text from a friend of mine informing me of this. I couldn't be happier. As a semi-follower of Bearcat basketball this should be a pretty good game to watch. They play tough defense and rebound and like to get up and down the court. Last year they were fairly guard centric. I think, at least on paper and in my mind, we match up pretty well.

The Cincinnatti team that Creighton beat in the second round of NCAA tournament last March was uber athletic, ultra physical (probably the most physical of all the teams Creighton played last season, and that includes Wisconsin and wichita St) and they had multiple interchangeable parts (every guy was seemingly 6-6 or 6-7).  They hang their hat on defense and chart deflections in practice.  They will turn you over as well.

Despite all of their athleticism, they don't really run an uptempo offense, nor do they attempt to really use their athleticism to get to the rim, choosing inexplicably to settle more for outside and mid range jumpers.  Also, they are a pretty bad shooting team, but make up for it by crashing the boards hard, regularly dominating the rebounding stat.  Often times, their best offensive play was to jack up a shot, but score off the rebound. 

I don't know how many guys return from last years squad, but Cronin's teams have all had the same characteristics.  My suggestion: schedule one of your cream puff opponents after the Cincy game as win or lose, they will beat you up (personally, I blame the horrible shooting by Creighton's guards in the Duke game on the physical pounding that UC laid on them).  Good luck!

PS - feel free to use up all of the fouls you have on your bench; UC was one of the worst FT shooting teams I've seen.  Some of the guys had comically funny/ugly form.

The Cincinnatti team that Creighton beat in the second round of NCAA tournament last March was uber athletic, ultra physical (probably the most physical of all the teams Creighton played last season, and that includes Wisconsin and wichita St) and they had multiple interchangeable parts (every guy was seemingly 6-6 or 6-7).  They hang their hat on defense and chart deflections in practice.  They will turn you over as well.

 

Despite all of their athleticism, they don't really run an uptempo offense, nor do they attempt to really use their athleticism to get to the rim, choosing inexplicably to settle more for outside and mid range jumpers.  Also, they are a pretty bad shooting team, but make up for it by crashing the boards hard, regularly dominating the rebounding stat.  Often times, their best offensive play was to jack up a shot, but score off the rebound. 

 

I don't know how many guys return from last years squad, but Cronin's teams have all had the same characteristics.  My suggestion: schedule one of your cream puff opponents after the Cincy game as win or lose, they will beat you up (personally, I blame the horrible shooting by Creighton's guards in the Duke game on the physical pounding that UC laid on them).  Good luck!

 

PS - feel free to use up all of the fouls you have on your bench; UC was one of the worst FT shooting teams I've seen.  Some of the guys had comically funny/ugly form.

The Bearcats return two starters, including leading scorer Sean Kilpatrick, who averaged 17 points per game. Kilpatrick was a second-team All-Big East selection last year as a junior and ranked fifth in the league in scoring.

I've never posted on here before, but have been a lurker for a while.

I started following Cincy basketball back in the days of Nick Van Exel, prior to Danny Fortson and K-Mart.

I've been a season ticket holder for the Huskers for the last few years and this is going to be a tough match up for Nebraska, especially inside.

Cincy last year got almost all  of their scoring from Sean Kilpatrick, JaQuon Parker and Cashmere Wright.  They are a very streaky shooting team  and are definitely not afraid to launch 3's, more times than not settling for an early 3 when they could get that same shot later.  Especially Titus Rubles who is a great rebounder and defender, but a terrible 3 point shooter who can't pass it up.

The players they have returning inside are not a threat to score other than garbage buckets or wide open shots, but with that being said they are extremely physical and athletic.  They prefer to play physical basketball and hope the ref's let them.  If the game isn't called close they can be very very tough.  They are also very deep.

They have 5 recruits coming in with the cream of the crop being Jermaine Lawrence a 6'9 PF who is a 5 star recruit.

If Lawrence can make an impact this team will be much better than last year.  The Huskers are going to have major problems with how physical they are, especially with the lack of inside depth the Huskers have.

Hopefully, Lawrence is one-and-done and we don't see him next year in Lincoln.  HaHaHa, haha, uh heh hmm. 

Hopefully, Lawrence is one-and-done and we don't seem him next year in Lincoln.  HaHaHa, haha, uh heh hmm. 

Very good chance that could happen.  The last 5 star Cronin had was Lance Stephenson.  He left after one year, when he should have stayed.  Pacers took him in the 2nd and he is now in their rotation, but if he had stayed another year he would probably have found his way into the 1st round.  

 

The difference between Miles' and Doc's non-conference scheduling philosophy is staggering.

 

+1,000,000,000   That is why attendance and interest in NU hoops dropped off dramatically under Sadler.  He never wanted to play any decent opponents unless he thinks Maryland Eastern Shore is a quality team.

 

Someone please help me out with average home attendance figures for 2007-2008 season and 2006-2007 season.  Couldn't find them.

KLDM, I know you didn't like Doc but let's at least be honest when criticizing him.  YOUR interest in NU hoops might have dropped off dramatically under Sadler, but, well, there are actual numbers that we can look at before you go speaking for EVERYONE.

Year  Avg. Home Attendance¹

2013  10352

2012  10019

2011    9395

2010    9964

2009  10286

2008

2007

2006    9418

2005    8235

2004    8037

2003    8079

2002    8128

2001    8757

I'm sorry, KLDM, but the trend line just doesn't back up your claim that NU hoops interest and attendance "dropped off dramatically under Sadler."  It just isn't so.

^{1  Data obtained from Huskers.com season box score for each respective season.}

You are wrong about one thing Norm is that I did like Doc and wanted very badly for him to succeed here but it after a few seasons, it didn't appear he was the guy that was going to take us where we wanted to be.  I can still like Doc but be critical of the job he did here at NU.  My assumption is the T.O. also realized that fan interest was dropping during Doc's last season as well and that was one of the factors that lead to his dismissal.  How is it that my comments somehow "speak for everyone" and comments you or others don't have the same effect.  Everyone posts comments based on their own personal reaction or feelings about the situation.  I still believe fan interest was dropping off during Doc's last season as people were tired of the boring style of play and losing.

One question I would have about your attendance numbers are if those are based on number of people who actually attended the games vs. number of tickets sold?  Just curious

"How is it that my comments somehow 'speak for everyone' and comments you or others don't have the same effect."

I suppose sometimes my comments do have the same effect.  But, saying that "fan interest dropped off dramatically" is speaking for everyone.  By definition.  You're asserting as fact what you think represents the thoughts of an entire category of people and you haven't based that statement on any measurable evidence. 

Now, when you say, "In my opinion," or "my guess is," then you're not asserting your guess as fact and therefore not speaking for everyone.  Not that it matters.  And, really, the only reason I made the comment about you speaking for everyone is the fact that the actual data suggest a different conclusion.  You could look at the attendance figures and come to the exact opposite conclusion.

Now, for what it's worth, I agree that fan interest had probably stagnated and we weren't positioning ourselves to leverage the opening of the new arena by keeping Doc around.  People know that I was a big fan of Doc's and have attributed thoughts and beliefs to me that I didn't hold.  Such as the assumption that I was opposed to letting him go.  I was absolutely opposed to people dancing on his casket but if you look back on the old board when the discussion first came up about Tom Osborne evaluating where we were at the end of the season, I was the one saying that such an evaluation needed to include what our prospects were for the following year and, in my opinion, those prospects weren't good enough. 

So, as early as January 2012, I was suggesting that it was probably time to make a change.  And I don't oppose criticising Doc, either, but I will still defend him if I think the criticism isn't either fair or accurate.  In this case, attendance hadn't gone down.  And I don't know the answer to your question as to whether those figures represent actual butts in seats or paid tickets.  But I will assume, unless someone else can say different, that a uniform measurement was applied for each average attendance number posted on Huskers.com.  So, I'm going to assume apples-to-apples until someone can tell me that the measurement changed somewhere along the way.

Good stuff craig 102m.  And as always welcome to the board.

You are wrong about one thing Norm is that I did like Doc and wanted very badly for him to succeed here but it after a few seasons, it didn't appear he was the guy that was going to take us where we wanted to be.  I can still like Doc but be critical of the job he did here at NU.  My assumption is the T.O. also realized that fan interest was dropping during Doc's last season as well and that was one of the factors that lead to his dismissal.  How is it that my comments somehow "speak for everyone" and comments you or others don't have the same effect.  Everyone posts comments based on their own personal reaction or feelings about the situation.  I still believe fan interest was dropping off during Doc's last season as people were tired of the boring style of play and losing.

 

One question I would have about your attendance numbers are if those are based on number of people who actually attended the games vs. number of tickets sold?  Just curious

This looks like tickets sold to me>

Just some actual attendance figures I track myself from the last few years, not including exhibition games:

2012-13  8,744

2011-12  7,532

2010-11  7,646

2009-10  7,037

2008-09  8,148

2007-08  8,171

2006-07  8,436

2005-06  6,594

 

 

So, as early as January 2012, I was suggesting that it was probably time to make a change. 

That was quite the limb you were out on, Norm. 

Obviously, that wasn't my point, cip.  Wasn't saying I was the first to say it, but I've had people try to claim that I was such a Sadler apologist that I opposed his firing all the way to the bitter end.  And that just isn't true.  What I opposed to the bitter end was people who seemed to believe it was their purpose in life to rub his nose in getting fired.