25 College Basketball Teams in 25 Days: No. 12 Cincinnati Bearcats

Integrating Cane Broome is the key to Cincinnati’s 2017-18 season.

Offseasons in every sport are all about breeding optimism and college basketball’s no different.

The skinny guys show up to practice with added muscle and the hefty fellas have cleaned up their diets to get into the best shape of their lives. Coaches are always excited about their rebuilt rosters. 5-star recruits destined to be top 10 picks are hinting at staying for two years instead of one. Oh, and everyone wants to be just a little bit more like the Golden State Warriors.

The offensive scheme of the Warriors has become a gold standard in the pace-and-space era largely because of what it represents: ball movement, plenty of 3s and playing up tempo.

The Cincinnati Bearcats under head coach Mick Cronin haven’t exactly embraced the philosophy. Sure, there’s plenty of ball movement in a system built to shift the defense from side to side and open up angles for entry passes down to Kyle Washington and Gary Clark — two of the most efficient post scorers in the country — but the Bearcats hoist up 3s at a rate that’s pretty consistent with the Division I average and play at a glacial pace.

Last season, Cincinnati ranked 330th nationally in adjusted tempo, on average using up 18.7 seconds of the shot clock on offensive possessions, per KenPom. The Bearcats have never finished higher than 216th in adjusted tempo under Cronin and each of the last four seasons, they’ve been one of the 25 slowest teams in college hoops.

But, this is the offseason and everyone is changing.

The arrival of Sacred Heart transfer Cane Broome, the 6-foot point guard expected to replace Troy Caupain in the starting lineup, has Cronin singing a different tune. “We’ve spent all offseason playing at a much different pace offensively than the last few years,” the 46-year old head coach told The Athletic earlier this offseason. If true, it would represent a pretty significant philosophical change; one that would likely prove beneficial with Broome now running the show.

As a sophomore with the Pioneers, Broome was the team’s offensive focal point. He posted a 31.2 percent usage rate while averaging 23.1 points per game en route to winning Northeast Conference Player of the Year. Speed is a critical aspect of his game, something that differentiates him from the bruising Caupain. Broome uses his skinny frame aggressively in transition to find slashing lanes capable of generating easy baskets. With him running the show, Sacred Heart finished 43rd in adjusted tempo in 2015-16 and averaged just 16.3 seconds per offensive possession, per KenPom.

Certainly, Cronin would do well to take advantage of Broome’s pace by unleashing him in transition. It won’t change much about how Cincinnati operates its offense other than generating quicker shots on a few hundred possessions over the course of the season, but integrating him into the team’s halfcourt operation could prove trickier.

Broome was the star of the show for the Pioneers, but in Cincinnati, Caupain was more of a best supporting actor nominee for the Bearcats. The senior guard’s 18.8 percent usage rate was the fourth highest among regular rotation players last season while most of his scoring chances came on spot ups off of ball movement or kick outs from the post. Sure, Caupain got involved in plenty of ball screen actions, but they were mostly designed to get the defense moving so the offense could find an angle to get the ball to Clark or Washington on the block. It looked something like this:

Track Caupain after he runs off the ball screen to start the play. Then, watch as every subsequent player who touches the ball immediately looks for an angle to feed Clark down low. The Bearcats finished 12.1 percent of their possessions with a post up last season, the 37th highest mark in the country, per Synergy. Meanwhile, at Sacred Heart, Broome used ball screens to run the offense.

While 32.6 percent of Caupain’s offensive possessions last season were spot ups, just 12.5 percent of Broome’s were in 2015-16, per Synergy. Instead, he finished a full 28.8 percent of them as the pick-and-roll ball-handler. Possessions often looked like this one. Here, Broome gets the ball on the wing, waits for his big to set a screen and evaluates. In this instance, he turns down the pick and uses a rip through move to nail a 3-pointer:

Where Cincinnati waits on its bigs, Sacred Heart waited on Broome. The Pioneers were often rewarded. The 6-foot point guard is dangerous when he can take advantage of the mid-range space that defenses often give up when defending pick-and-rolls and he’s very comfortable shooting off the bounce, averaging 0.957 points per possession (84th percentile) on jumpers off the dribble in 2015-16, per Synergy. Broome is also great at getting to the rim in these situations. He’s not necessarily super shifty with the ball, but he accelerates quickly and can use his change of pace to blow by defenders. At the rim, he has excellent body control, allowing him to avoid the outstretched arms of bigger defenders:

Even if high pick-and-rolls don’t become a go-to action for the Bearcats, Cronin will be happy to have someone in addition to Jacob Evans who can get their own shot in late clock situations. Broome can also fit into much of what Cincinnati already does.

Although he’s shot just 32.0 percent from behind the arc during his short college career, Broome is a capable catch-and-shoot option, which will allow him to receive outlet passes like the one we saw above. In fact, Broome’s efficiency on catch-and-shoots as a sophomore (1.095 points per possession) was actually better than Caupain’s last season (0.932), per Synergy. Broome’s jumper looks much smoother when he’s in rhythm:

Broome can also add some additional wrinkles to Cincinnati’s offense. He’s an incredible cutter off the ball, ranking in the 88th percentile in terms of efficiency on those plays as a sophomore, per Synergy. Caupain on the other hand logged just five possessions as a cutter last season. Given that both of the Bearcats’ bigs — and Clark, in particular — are capable passers, Cronin might have an opportunity to flash some new looks like this high post action featuring a quick pass to a slashing Broome:

Cronin is going to have to adjust defensively as well. The Bearcats were one of the top defensive units in the country last season in large part because the head coach has already embraced the modern principle of versatility. Cincinnati’s bigs can guard on the perimeter and its guards could handle themselves on the block. At least, Caupain could. Broome’s 160-pound frame probably won’t be able to switch onto opposing bigs with much success, so keep an eye out for how the Bearcats choose to navigate ball screens when the point guard is involved.

Next: Florida's changing of the guard

Given how cliche offseason quotes have become, it’s easy to give Cronin guff about the idea of playing faster when his Cincinnati teams have never really done that, but the head coach has the tools to make the adjustments in his 12th season at the helm. Genuinely one of the most enjoyable things about watching college basketball is figuring out how new pieces like transfers, freshmen or new rotation players fit within the framework that already exists.

Broome’s case will be no different. The Bearcats return plenty of frontcourt experience and have Jarron Cumberland to take over at the shooting guard spot for the departed Kevin Johnson, but the point guard position is a unique one because of how often that player has the ball in his hands. Broome will offer Cronin some new looks and should be able to largely fit into old ones, at least offensively.

Let’s just hope he’s in the best shape of his life.