UK will go how Jake 'Magic' Toppin manages to perform over the full 4o mins, as he has a maddening tendency to disappear for a half and if his fadeaways and flip shots at the basket aren't fluking in. This whole team is one of the weakest I've ever seen at the rim, throwing bricks, floaters and aberrant English off the backboard either hoping it will go in or #34 will clean up their mess with an OR. They're also among the most maddenly nonchalant ever STILL at ball security team too, as well as prone to missing double digits in free throws. If Oscar wants to counter the wrestling and 1o fouls given (frequently dirty with baiting and flopping) bully game teams routinely employ against him in the post, the least he could do is hit ALL his resulting FTs making teams pay dearly for doing so. He's not the most 'bb smart' player and is constantly exploited defensively by the pick & roll, especially when paired on the floor with Wheeler at the point. Which SW hasn't played any in nearly a month from injuries but may find some PG2 minutes in this game vs the smallish KSU floor general that won't just shoot 3s over him. Cason Wallace who took over for Wheeler is a wonderful 'preying mantis' type defender from the 1G role. UK needs him streaking from 3 and he's also their best 2ball % shooting G as well. Reeves is not the greatest ball handler and an errant passer
Princeton shows Missouri why "combined" 2+3 bb shooting stats must go! How do these wily wizards accomplish such wondrous winning feats? Per usual, the first thing we examine will be the shooting stats, which stats narrative will tell you PU shot 42.9% 27/62 from the field with 36.4% 12/33 being from 3 ... um ok. Where's the magic in that, you ask? If you've been following along,* right away you'll note 3 x12 3s = 36 pts from 33 shots taken for 54.5% eFG 2pts scoring equivalence (half again the % = 36.4 + 18.2 = 54.6) = quite good shooting despite missing 21 shots and creating 4-5 extra offensive rebounding situations than is from 33 from 2pt land. Plus it's obvious they featured favoring the long range shooting from 33 vs 29 2s taken for the game. Most teams are never this balanced and usually 2s are shot more 2/3 to 1. Now how easy was that? Versus how irrationally unfathomable being given 42.9% and 36.4% and 27/62 like that was some thing? Albeit they are true numbers, but what do they really tell without back engineering differential mental calculus trying to deduce concrete numbers from a mixed variably incompatible ratio %? If there was any logic or justice in the world, the first shots column, instead of making you subtract the 3s numbers, would just tell you 15/29 2s = 51.7% 3o pts from 29 shots with the lesser 2ball inside the arc game obviously pretty dang close to the 54.5% eFG 3balling in favorably avoiding the Missouri bigger defenders. Just by glancing first at 2 separate columns for 2s versus 3s accounting, an easy and simple yet revealing analysis can be begun
Norse kept me up past my bedtime last night. So proud of the way they pushed. Looked like the legs and lungs were going at the end. Yeah, some more makes on those threes would have been nice. Should have gotten notice from all the eyes on the game. Norse Up indeed.
X frustrated me today. Gave up a little into second half and took myself to Kroger. Corned beef and cabbage already happily cooking in crock pot. Happy to learn they came back to win.
I had visions last year of Joe calling his friends and them calling their friends. How Bengals would build the team around him. Glad to see the Fam lay out for LT protection. I'm ready for the Burrow dynasty myself.
Excellent effort today, Doc. Better you betting on games than me. I wouldn't even put a dollar in the pot for NCAA back in the day. Took my tiny compliance role very seriously. We were Division 2.
Fair notice: I've had a cigar and a ceremonial drop of Woodford Reserve. But I've come to the conclusion that your writing has actually improved in retirement. To improve on what was already superb is worthy of a toast 🍻☘️
I think it is folly to continue to view the Bengals through the prism of pre-2020. People change, why can't organizations? I think they have shown the past three off seasons that they are willing to act like other NFL teams. Even though he is not calling the shots (but still taking them from the fans), MB saw his future and it looked like that of Ebeneezer Scrooge with people celebrating his death. Instead he decided he has a limited time to win and is trying to do that rather than "compete."
Either way, I thought the reactions to guys leaving were overwrought. They still have 21 of their 25 starters (including ST). Hurst was on a prove it deal and was likely gone the minute he could make it through the season.
See the comment from Burrow after hanging with Montana? "He's had all the success I plan on and want to have in my profession." Gotta love that attitude from the QB.
I agree with everything you said about The Men, Doc. But I must add my own slant on the Lost Decades. The NFL is a game and a business that depends on the game and the first rule of business is that the customer is king. Only a monopoly on customer loyalty in a hotbed of football (Ohio, for goodness sakes) allowed MB to get away with his indifference to making an adequate commitment to winning.
The Brown Trust got richer every year while the customer (those of us dumb enough to put up with his cheapness) paid the price. If loyalty is a virtue, he made a fortune off his inheritance by twiddling his thumbs while the fandom burned at the stake. If MB is arrogant enough to put the community through some kind of drama in a few years over relocation to another city because he can, it will be further proof of his indisputable lack of good judgment. OK, sorry for the rant, you gave me too good an opportunity to let the frustration of the past out.
As for your hero Paladins dispatching the alma mater’s four seed, I must point out that the errant pass intercepted to set up the winning basket was thrown by the same kid that saved the march to the 2019 crown by heaving a bullet to a teammate for a basket that led to the Elite Eight W over Purdue in the Yum Center. It was the first of three certified miracles necessary to walk off the floor with the NCAA championship. I forgave him on the spot. March Madness requires Lady Luck on the bus for every game.
X played in panic mode...lost control of their rhythm. Pressed too hard...going back to see the End, I fear. Nice to hear football is in the air when BB & BB are mediocre. Thanks for a gasp of hope in River City this year. Good tune. ('Scuse me X, while I eat my words. Nice finish.)
X is stinkin' it up as I type. Down big in 2nd half, 10 minutes from Doom. Zero toughness. FreeMantle was the only enforcer on the team. Like him or not, X was nowhere near as good without him. X has been an overrated team after he went down. They need his street ball attitude.
Jonah wants out. Figures. Bengals Lovefest is no more. Guys leaving left and right lately. How long till new guy Brown rips a knee? I say 5 games into 1st year is the over/under. This is the Bengals. It's their way. Doc, quite kiddin' yerself. This is STILL just the Bengals. They will always be the Mike Brown Bengals. That means guaranteed folly, lunacy, and unexplainable disasters year after year.
X still down big. 8 mins from Doom. Announcers clearly rooting for the upset. Show some professionalism, jerks. Turning it off. No need to see more carnage.. Miller continues to struggle as a tournament coach.
PS Well, X got super lucky to pull it out. KennState went ice cold for the last 8 minutes and still nearly won. You gotta hope it was just jitters for X and they got all of them out. They played extremely bad, sloppy basketball. Bad defense, miss free throws, guy playing tight. Announcers still throwing a microscope and lots of shade on blocked shot by Nunge in last seconds. Geezee Deezel, would you jerks just give it a rest? Game's over. Go home. Shaddup.
O-Line depth is key, especially after late last season. As much as I hate losing Perine (and probably Mixon), you can win with an average-to-borderline-nonexistent running game these days.
This is indeed a strange time to be a Bengals fan. It's great, but the doubt and anticipatory heartbreak is always there for those of us who've followed this team for any length of time (and who remember the 1990s).
Since half my family lives on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, we're all pulling for UK. My dad, an NKU alum was hoping they'd be in the play-in. He figured at least then they'd have a chance to win a game which would help with awareness and recruiting.
I love NKU’s attitude yesterday. I wish UC had done the same against Alabama in the CPS. No reason not to repeatedly go for the throat against a vastly superior opponent.
Doc, you may have left your idea points at the end of today’s TML.
That’s a Top 5 Van composition for me as well, and I have 22 or so of his albums. Morrison said in an interview that it is the most personal and favorite thing he has done in his career.
I was looking at Nick Scott’s stats for last season and they are definitely competitive with Bell or Bates-88 tackles, more than either departing Bengal, but only 2 interceptions, less than Bell or Bates. Not so worried about the FS position, especially if they pick up another FA or draft one early. What do we know about Cody Ford?? Could not find much data on him. Can anyone shed some light on it?
I very much agree with you, it certainly looks like Bengals management is now aiming for the rafters in the NFL. What a change! I wish them all the luck possible.
If NKU shoots even a modest 30 percent from 3, they win. If they shoot an acceptable 40 percent, they win going away. But I bet the new exhibition at Museum Center (thanks Hey Michelle for a point of reference) doesn't have as many bricks as the Norse chucked up there last night. Too bad. That was a fun one to watch.
On the gaming front, I didn't indulge but for curiosity, my BIL checked - Houston giving 20 at the tip, so at least NKU covered. The adjusted line at the half? 8.5 points, which Houston covered.
Why do players always publicly ask for a trade? Just to screw the current team they’re pissed at? Because the public request robs the current team of whatever tiny leverage they have… who would offer any more than a 6th for Jonah now, esp at that salary? The only value for JW might come in training camp after another team loses a tackle.
I think I saw on Facebook that you got a new gig doc. Still going to do TML I hope.
UK will go how Jake 'Magic' Toppin manages to perform over the full 4o mins, as he has a maddening tendency to disappear for a half and if his fadeaways and flip shots at the basket aren't fluking in. This whole team is one of the weakest I've ever seen at the rim, throwing bricks, floaters and aberrant English off the backboard either hoping it will go in or #34 will clean up their mess with an OR. They're also among the most maddenly nonchalant ever STILL at ball security team too, as well as prone to missing double digits in free throws. If Oscar wants to counter the wrestling and 1o fouls given (frequently dirty with baiting and flopping) bully game teams routinely employ against him in the post, the least he could do is hit ALL his resulting FTs making teams pay dearly for doing so. He's not the most 'bb smart' player and is constantly exploited defensively by the pick & roll, especially when paired on the floor with Wheeler at the point. Which SW hasn't played any in nearly a month from injuries but may find some PG2 minutes in this game vs the smallish KSU floor general that won't just shoot 3s over him. Cason Wallace who took over for Wheeler is a wonderful 'preying mantis' type defender from the 1G role. UK needs him streaking from 3 and he's also their best 2ball % shooting G as well. Reeves is not the greatest ball handler and an errant passer
Princeton shows Missouri why "combined" 2+3 bb shooting stats must go! How do these wily wizards accomplish such wondrous winning feats? Per usual, the first thing we examine will be the shooting stats, which stats narrative will tell you PU shot 42.9% 27/62 from the field with 36.4% 12/33 being from 3 ... um ok. Where's the magic in that, you ask? If you've been following along,* right away you'll note 3 x12 3s = 36 pts from 33 shots taken for 54.5% eFG 2pts scoring equivalence (half again the % = 36.4 + 18.2 = 54.6) = quite good shooting despite missing 21 shots and creating 4-5 extra offensive rebounding situations than is from 33 from 2pt land. Plus it's obvious they featured favoring the long range shooting from 33 vs 29 2s taken for the game. Most teams are never this balanced and usually 2s are shot more 2/3 to 1. Now how easy was that? Versus how irrationally unfathomable being given 42.9% and 36.4% and 27/62 like that was some thing? Albeit they are true numbers, but what do they really tell without back engineering differential mental calculus trying to deduce concrete numbers from a mixed variably incompatible ratio %? If there was any logic or justice in the world, the first shots column, instead of making you subtract the 3s numbers, would just tell you 15/29 2s = 51.7% 3o pts from 29 shots with the lesser 2ball inside the arc game obviously pretty dang close to the 54.5% eFG 3balling in favorably avoiding the Missouri bigger defenders. Just by glancing first at 2 separate columns for 2s versus 3s accounting, an easy and simple yet revealing analysis can be begun
*check wed/15 comments for more details
This Sunday ,Adams County, Big Basketball game,,,Think it’s Eagles v Hawks,Sheriff Rogers & his minions v Adams co DD led by Liz Lafferty
Norse kept me up past my bedtime last night. So proud of the way they pushed. Looked like the legs and lungs were going at the end. Yeah, some more makes on those threes would have been nice. Should have gotten notice from all the eyes on the game. Norse Up indeed.
X frustrated me today. Gave up a little into second half and took myself to Kroger. Corned beef and cabbage already happily cooking in crock pot. Happy to learn they came back to win.
I had visions last year of Joe calling his friends and them calling their friends. How Bengals would build the team around him. Glad to see the Fam lay out for LT protection. I'm ready for the Burrow dynasty myself.
Excellent effort today, Doc. Better you betting on games than me. I wouldn't even put a dollar in the pot for NCAA back in the day. Took my tiny compliance role very seriously. We were Division 2.
Fair notice: I've had a cigar and a ceremonial drop of Woodford Reserve. But I've come to the conclusion that your writing has actually improved in retirement. To improve on what was already superb is worthy of a toast 🍻☘️
I think it is folly to continue to view the Bengals through the prism of pre-2020. People change, why can't organizations? I think they have shown the past three off seasons that they are willing to act like other NFL teams. Even though he is not calling the shots (but still taking them from the fans), MB saw his future and it looked like that of Ebeneezer Scrooge with people celebrating his death. Instead he decided he has a limited time to win and is trying to do that rather than "compete."
Either way, I thought the reactions to guys leaving were overwrought. They still have 21 of their 25 starters (including ST). Hurst was on a prove it deal and was likely gone the minute he could make it through the season.
See the comment from Burrow after hanging with Montana? "He's had all the success I plan on and want to have in my profession." Gotta love that attitude from the QB.
Have a good weekend.
I agree with everything you said about The Men, Doc. But I must add my own slant on the Lost Decades. The NFL is a game and a business that depends on the game and the first rule of business is that the customer is king. Only a monopoly on customer loyalty in a hotbed of football (Ohio, for goodness sakes) allowed MB to get away with his indifference to making an adequate commitment to winning.
The Brown Trust got richer every year while the customer (those of us dumb enough to put up with his cheapness) paid the price. If loyalty is a virtue, he made a fortune off his inheritance by twiddling his thumbs while the fandom burned at the stake. If MB is arrogant enough to put the community through some kind of drama in a few years over relocation to another city because he can, it will be further proof of his indisputable lack of good judgment. OK, sorry for the rant, you gave me too good an opportunity to let the frustration of the past out.
As for your hero Paladins dispatching the alma mater’s four seed, I must point out that the errant pass intercepted to set up the winning basket was thrown by the same kid that saved the march to the 2019 crown by heaving a bullet to a teammate for a basket that led to the Elite Eight W over Purdue in the Yum Center. It was the first of three certified miracles necessary to walk off the floor with the NCAA championship. I forgave him on the spot. March Madness requires Lady Luck on the bus for every game.
X played in panic mode...lost control of their rhythm. Pressed too hard...going back to see the End, I fear. Nice to hear football is in the air when BB & BB are mediocre. Thanks for a gasp of hope in River City this year. Good tune. ('Scuse me X, while I eat my words. Nice finish.)
X is stinkin' it up as I type. Down big in 2nd half, 10 minutes from Doom. Zero toughness. FreeMantle was the only enforcer on the team. Like him or not, X was nowhere near as good without him. X has been an overrated team after he went down. They need his street ball attitude.
Jonah wants out. Figures. Bengals Lovefest is no more. Guys leaving left and right lately. How long till new guy Brown rips a knee? I say 5 games into 1st year is the over/under. This is the Bengals. It's their way. Doc, quite kiddin' yerself. This is STILL just the Bengals. They will always be the Mike Brown Bengals. That means guaranteed folly, lunacy, and unexplainable disasters year after year.
X still down big. 8 mins from Doom. Announcers clearly rooting for the upset. Show some professionalism, jerks. Turning it off. No need to see more carnage.. Miller continues to struggle as a tournament coach.
PS Well, X got super lucky to pull it out. KennState went ice cold for the last 8 minutes and still nearly won. You gotta hope it was just jitters for X and they got all of them out. They played extremely bad, sloppy basketball. Bad defense, miss free throws, guy playing tight. Announcers still throwing a microscope and lots of shade on blocked shot by Nunge in last seconds. Geezee Deezel, would you jerks just give it a rest? Game's over. Go home. Shaddup.
O-Line depth is key, especially after late last season. As much as I hate losing Perine (and probably Mixon), you can win with an average-to-borderline-nonexistent running game these days.
This is indeed a strange time to be a Bengals fan. It's great, but the doubt and anticipatory heartbreak is always there for those of us who've followed this team for any length of time (and who remember the 1990s).
Since half my family lives on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, we're all pulling for UK. My dad, an NKU alum was hoping they'd be in the play-in. He figured at least then they'd have a chance to win a game which would help with awareness and recruiting.
I love NKU’s attitude yesterday. I wish UC had done the same against Alabama in the CPS. No reason not to repeatedly go for the throat against a vastly superior opponent.
Doc, you may have left your idea points at the end of today’s TML.
That’s a Top 5 Van composition for me as well, and I have 22 or so of his albums. Morrison said in an interview that it is the most personal and favorite thing he has done in his career.
I was looking at Nick Scott’s stats for last season and they are definitely competitive with Bell or Bates-88 tackles, more than either departing Bengal, but only 2 interceptions, less than Bell or Bates. Not so worried about the FS position, especially if they pick up another FA or draft one early. What do we know about Cody Ford?? Could not find much data on him. Can anyone shed some light on it?
I very much agree with you, it certainly looks like Bengals management is now aiming for the rafters in the NFL. What a change! I wish them all the luck possible.
If NKU shoots even a modest 30 percent from 3, they win. If they shoot an acceptable 40 percent, they win going away. But I bet the new exhibition at Museum Center (thanks Hey Michelle for a point of reference) doesn't have as many bricks as the Norse chucked up there last night. Too bad. That was a fun one to watch.
On the gaming front, I didn't indulge but for curiosity, my BIL checked - Houston giving 20 at the tip, so at least NKU covered. The adjusted line at the half? 8.5 points, which Houston covered.
Slainte, Mobsters.
Why do players always publicly ask for a trade? Just to screw the current team they’re pissed at? Because the public request robs the current team of whatever tiny leverage they have… who would offer any more than a 6th for Jonah now, esp at that salary? The only value for JW might come in training camp after another team loses a tackle.
Just Lovely with a chaser of Into the Mystic.........ahhhh. 😊🍀💚