With the season wrapping up, I thought it would be cool to see if we could find out what the voice of the Bearcats Dan Hoard had to say about the season. Surprisingly, Mr Hoard thought it was a great idea as well and answered a few of my questions. As part of the agreement to get him to do this, I have to say that Mr Hoard is very handsome, incredibly talented and despite what it seems, not bald. That was a joke, he answered them without a qualifier. I can't believe it either! Anyway, let's see Dan Hoard's answers to my questions.
Everyone has noticed that Deonta Vaughn has struggled with his shot and has maybe deferred too much to the other guards. Do you think it's more the game plans of other teams, or was he did play was well as he possibly could have 2 years ago?
Vaughn's drop-off is a huge mystery to me. But when you look as his career, he only had a high shooting percentage as a sophomore -- maybe he just had a great year. Also, the 3-point line was moved back by a foot after that season, so that was probably a factor. He also played with a solid point guard in his first two seasons in Jamual Warren who looked to get him shots and that hasn't been the case for the last two years.
The Bearcats have stumbled lately losing 7 of 10, do you think that they just aren't there from a talent standpoint yet? Or is it a case of them not knowing how to win close games?
They have a glaring weakness from a talent standpoint -- they don't have good shooters. Some of the close games that they lost were blown at the free throw line. While UC's offense needs more movement (ball and player) in my opinion, the single most valuable skill in basketball is putting the ball in the basket and UC needs more guys that can do it (plus improvement from the players that are already on the roster).
Lance Stephenson has gotten back into form as of late, what do you think his ceiling is?
He's a great ball-handler and passer for his size and plays with great intensity. But he needs to become a much better shooter to have a significant NBA career. The good news is that he knows it and will work at it. For a guy who has received all of the hype that Lance has received, he seems very realistic about his strengths and weaknesses.
Chuck Machock, as we all know, is pretty awesome. Your twitter background is a picture of him getting tossed in the Gonzaga game. How crazy a moment was that?
It was embarrassing for Chuck and UC at the time, but we've had a ton of fun with it since. I have two claims to fame: A character was named for me in The Simpsons (http://danhoard.mlblogs.com/
Have you had the chance to meet with Butch Jones? Do you think he's as good a hire as I do? I think he's very good.
I've talked to Coach Jones on several occasions and spent about an hour in his office last week. He's got huge shoes to fill, but I'm very optimistic. The players that I've talked to really like him -- despite the fact that they're working harder than ever. And the fact that UC held on to Kerry Coombs was huge -- not only in recruiting but in helping the new staff learn everything they need to know about Cincinnati.
100,000,000 thanks to Dan Hoard for taking time to do this. He is a very nice man. In fact, here's a Dan Hoard story. When I worked at UC as an usher, there was a football game and basketball exhibition on the same day. My job was to check id badges at some point where I couldn't see either game. Needless to say, it was incredibly boring, and I kept walking far away to watch the football game. Suddenly, an awesome moment happened. Dan Hoard came walking down from the basketball game. He chatted with me a couple minutes about the team, and maybe the football team. I think he said something and then I followed him as far as I could go. I think he asked me the football score, I don't remember. All I do remember, is that is was awesome. I'm sure that conversation like 9 years ago is what made Mr Dan Hoard agree to answer my questions. Even though I asked him through the Bearcats Blog twitter. Don't ruin the moment. Thanks Dan Hoard.
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