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Bearcats Nation is back up and running. The site was fine but I was having major computer issues this morning. I know you’ve been just dieing for a UC post so without further ado…
This was an intriguing tweet yesterday from Jeff Goodman who covers college basketball for CBS Sports:
While the immediate news is somewhat of a shocker, when you step back and look at the situation the Bearcats are in this season, redshirting either Mbodj or Ellis wouldn’t be a bad idea. UC has been flourishing in the 4-guard offense. Taking a page out of Marquette and Villanova’s books, Mick Cronin has opted to ideally have 1 big-man on the floor at any given time. Some of this is due to the nature of essentially only having two players to fill that role (Jackson, Gaines) while the rest were suspended but even he admitted that moving in this direction has been in the works since the offseason. So when the suspensions of Yancy Gates, Mbodj, and Ellis are lifted, it’s unlikely that the Bearcats will return to the stagnant 3-2 offense that was starving for points in the first quarter of the season.
Therefore, there won’t be enough minutes to go around between Gates, Mbodj, Ellis, Jackson, and Gaines. The players that are immune to a redshirt are Gates, who is arguably the best big-man on the team, Gaines, who has already been redshirted, and Jackson, who has played too much to be allowed to redshirt. That leaves Mbodj and Ellis. Mbodj while a JUCO still has 3 years to play 2 and is technically eligible to take a medical RS because of his injury. Ellis is in the same boat but only a true freshman. He could certainly stand to tack on some extra lbs in the weight room despite performing pretty well in only his first few weeks of collegiate play. For this reason, Ellis is my candidate to take a medical redshirt if Mick decides to go that path.
In the 4-guard offense, Gates will likely be the big man getting most of the minutes at his position with Mbodj and Gaines giving him a breather and Jackson providing energy off the bench. If motivated, and that’s a justifier, Gates should thrive in this offense as he will have more room to maneuver down low. Everyone in the country knows he a physical presence and on most nights can simply outmuscle the guy guarding him near the rim with the ball in his hands. He should also be able to gobble up more rebounds with only one or two other players around him near the basket. So if I’m Yancy Gates, I’m overjoyed about the prospects of playing in this offense.
We could also be getting a glimpse of the future Wednesday night as the Bearcats might go with a single dominant post-player complimented by pure shooters on the outside. Cronin has already snagged some sharpshooters like Sean Kilpatrick and Jermaine Sanders who are only a sophomore and freshman respectively. In addition, Shaq Thomas lit up the scoreboard in high school and will be eligible to play next season. Finally, the fact that Mick hasn’t landed any bigger Centers in this year or last year’s recruiting classes means that he’s opting for speed over brute strength. While Mbodj is huge, the commitments of the lankier and lighter Jackson, Gaines, and Ellis proves this transition and is a sign of where how he will hit the recruiting trail in the future.