When Yancy Gates, Cheikh Mbodj and Octavius Ellis were suspended for their roles in the Dec. 10 fight against Xavier, University of Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin was faced with the prospect of playing the next six games without three of his five big men.
He decided the best course was to open the floor with a four-guard offense and give his players the green light to fire away at will from the perimeter. It was unlike anything the Bearcats had shown in Cronin’s five years as UC’s head coach – unless you were at practice early in the preseason.
“We practiced this way early in the year with JaQuon (Parker) at the four,” Cronin said. “Then he got hurt. It was something I had thought a lot about.”
The results have been dramatic. In the four games since UC changed its offense, the Bearcats have averaged 94 points, twice exceeding the 100-point plateau.
Cronin said he considered two options after the suspensions. He could try to pack it in on defense and play a zone to try to keep players out of foul trouble or he could go on the attack offensively and defensively.
It was a no-brainer.
“I’m just more comfortable playing aggressive,” Cronin said. “I’d rather play that way. The way we played last year was the way we needed to play to win games. Looking at our team this year with (Sean Kilpatrick) in the lineup and with a better offensive team that we’re showing now, we probably should have gone to this from the start.”
He wouldn’t have received any argument from his players, who have enthusiastically embraced the new style.
“We went into practice one day, and he just said, ‘We’re going to play four guards. That’s the way we’re going to do it,’ ” said senior guard Dion Dixon. “Everybody loved it. It made everybody play that much harder. It’s just the dribble weave basically. We all just work off each other and get each other shots.”
What’s not to love when you’re scoring close to 100 points a game and own a four-game winning streak?
The four-guard offense was effective from the first time the Bearcats played it against Wright State on Dec. 14. Since then, the UC players have appeared more comfortable and more confident with each passing game.
But both Cronin and his players know the verdict is still out on how effective this approach will be against a quality opponent. After winning those four games against Wright State, Radford, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Chicago State, the Bearcats will face a more strenuous test Thursday night at U.S. Bank Arena when they play Oklahoma (9-1).
“I’m looking forward to it,” Dixon said. “They’re a high-major team so I want to see what we’ve got with this offense and how we’re playing. It’s a good challenge for us.”
Cronin proclaimed Tuesday that the Bearcats will have their hands full against the Sooners under their first-year coach, Lon Kruger, calling the matchup a “tall order” because UC has only nine scholarship players and only two players over 6-foot-5 against a team that outrebounds its opponents by 10.8 per game, which ranks first in the Big 12.
“You have to throw out the scores of our last four games,” Cronin said. “We did not play teams that could match up with us. This is a whole different animal.”
That’s true, but then so is the UC offense.
