The Baha Mar Summer League is in full swing this week and the Cincinnati Bearcats are in the heart of the action! A schedule change means UC will be playing Tuesday and Wednesday at 2:30 ET. You can catch all of the action on FloSports. View the schedule and sign up here.
Injury
With Tylen Riley out, we won’t get to see the full complement of Bearcats, but we should get to see the remaining group touch the court.
PG
The player with the most to gain out of Riley’s injury is Elijah Perryman, who will be the starting point guard for the Bearcats this week. Expect Trevian Carson and Akai Fleming to back him up, though both are more combo guards than true PG’s.
SG
I expect to see MJ Collins and Carson get most of the minutes at the SG spot for the Bearcats. I believe either could be the “starter”, and you will see Fleming get some run here as well. Fleming is really interesting as I believe we’ll see him also slot in at the 3 a good bit.
SF
Myles Colvin is my pick for starting small forward, and at 6’5″, he’s another extremely versatile piece. Expect him to take a ton of threes, and he should make a ton of those shots. Fleming, and Eric Mahaffey will factor into the backup minutes for the Bearcats.
PF
Tyler Tejada will take the starting PF spot. He was brought in to do exactly that, and he has looked like a beast in practice. The former CAA player of the year has high expectations this season in Clifton, and fans will get a glimpse of why this week. Adlan Elamin will get the backup minutes here.
C
The center position is truly a wildcard. Allenspach and Hastings are both capable of starting, and both will be expected to show off their strengths this year. Hastings will bring rebound and physicality to the paint, but will not bring as much of an offensive punch. Allenspach will bring increased length (6’11”), and an explosive offensive game. He will help stretch the floor and ball spacing with him in the game will be beautiful. Iweze and Vaden are both developmental/reserve types of guys who I do not expect to see much in the rotation, though you might see them play some this week.
Bench Depth
Sixth Man: This is tough. I’ve been debating Adlan Elamin and Trevian Carson for that role, and expect them to be 6/7 in the rotation right now but I’ll give the edge to Carson who will be asked to fill extra roles with Riley out. When Riley returns, expect to see Perryman slide back down to the 8/9 spot in the rotation. This team is incredibly deep, so being “8/9th” isn’t really a negative connotation, more a testament to just how many impact ready guys are on this roster.
What to watch for
Bearcat fans should be incredibly excited to see an offensive first Bearcat team take the court this week. They are going to be playing teams nowhere near as talented as them, and you should expect these games to be blowouts.
If you’re looking for specifics to call out, fans should expect to see great communication and rotation on defense. Coach Calhoun has emphasized both consistently. This team is going to let the threes fly, and will make the game fun to watch.
I’d recommend just sitting back and enjoying what is going to be a refreshing sight for many.
Rebounding is a bit of a question mark, which is going to look different for UC fans who have been used to the defensive and rebounding strengths over the last 10 years or so. This team should play a beautiful brand of hoops.
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