Current record: 12-6, 2-5 in Big 12 play
The skinny: As has been well-documented, Cincinnati is in scalding hot water offensively. This is the worst offense in the Big 12 and every stat paints a sickening picture. In retrospect, pairing two non-shooting bigs like Aziz Bandaogo and Dillon Mitchell with a point guard in Jizzle James who hasn’t taken that next step to become a high-volume 3-point shooter probably was not the best roster-construction gameplan. But there’s still time for the Bearcats to get things back in some semblance of order.
Leaning on a defense that can turn stops into buckets is the top priority. Even amid the ice-cold shooting, Cincinnati can still give teams lots of trouble with its rim defense, but the Bearcats have to run at every opportunity. Almost every turnover has to be converted into a bucket in transition before the defense can get set. Any long jumper has to be a runout, too, because this halfcourt offense is not pretty. That’s how it found success against Arizona State, and that’s the recipe that has to be utilized as much as possible moving forward.
Wes Miller will keep tinkering. He’s tried two-point guard lineups with Day Day Thomas and Jizzle James. He’s tried getting Dan Skillings and Simas Lukosious on the floor next to Bandaogo to get added spacing. Maybe freshman Tyler Betsey can earn more burn. There are options here, but the clock is ticking for a team that had sky-high expectations.
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