The Cincinnati Bearcats have added Sacred Heart transfer Cane Broome, who chose UC over the Creighton Bluejays according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.
Sacred Heart transfer Cane Broome has picked Cincinnati, sources told ESPN. Nice pickup for Mick Cronin and the Bearcats.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 11, 2016
The former Pioneer had been looking for a new school since Sacred Heart’s season ended with a 12-18 thud. He visited or considered no less than six teams; Providence, UConn, NC State, Seton Hall, Creighton, and of course Cincinnati. But he naturally whittled his list down to just a couple of schools, those last two, and took official visits to each.
Broome made his way to Clifton first but didn’t give the Bearcats a commitment before leaving for Omaha. Normally that’s not a good sign, as we know well enough, as it’s an indication of someone not being blown away enough by the program to have their decision made for them. But it seems Broome was simply doing his due diligence to find an opportunity that fit best his needs, such as continuous NCAA Tournament appearances which the Bearcats have in spades.
As such, the point guard opted to join Cincinnati for his final three years at college, two of which he’ll be able to actually play after sitting out next season.
Broome averaged a whopping 23.1 points per game for the Pioneers as a sophomore while shooting 44.5% from the field, 53.5% from two, and a very solid 76.8% from the free throw line. Those numbers are all very impressive in a vacuum, especially his shooting percentage from inside the arc and at the stripe. But for a point guard, it’s mildly concerning since he only shot 31.1% from three with an assist/turnover ratio of 0.8. By comparison Troy Caupain’s assist/turnover ratio is over three times better at 2.7.
Plus considering Broome took one-third of Sacred Heart’s shots last season, he appears to fit the mold of a volume shooter, which doesn’t match with Cincinnati’s low possession, high efficiency offense. But that could be a result of the team he was on and the talent around him. This was a squad that won just 11 games in a bad Northeast Conference last season. It’s very likely that Broome took as many shots as he could, and probably forced more than a handful of them, because he had to hoist the Pioneers on his shoulders to will them to victory.
That won’t be the case at UC, where Mick Cronin stresses balance across all five positions without being overly reliant on just one player. In his redshirt junior year, for example, while Troy Caupain will be gone, he’ll have the benefit of leaning on the likes of Jacob Evans and Gary Clark, both of whom will be upperclassmen. Broome will need to improve his assist/turnover ratio to fill Troy’s shoes but that should naturally occur, again, due to the talent around him at Cincinnati.
Overall, this is a great pickup for the Bearcats. Broome has areas that need improvement (what college player doesn’t?) but 23 points per game is 23 points per game. I’m sure Mick will be able to work out the kinks in his game and mold him into a key contributor at UC.