Players to Watch in Big East Tournament: Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati

Added by Greg Rappaport on March 8, 2013.

With the Big East Tournament kicking off in just a few days, we here at Double G Sports are going to be profiling some players to watch out for during the tournament and beyond. High flyers, dime finders and post grinders—you name it—we got your full coverage here.

Sean Kilpatrick - Cincinnati

Sean Kilpatrick — Guard – Junior – 6’4”, 221 Ibs – Cincinnati Bearcats

A Gunner Seeking Ammunition

After starting off the season 16-3, the Bearcats have been fallen off the beaten path in a big way.  At 20-10 (8-9 in conference play) for the season, they’re still likely to make the NCAA Tournament, but their seeding will be very much determined by what type of output they put forth in the Big East Tournament.

As has been the trend all season, Cincinnati will run their offense through sharpshooter Sean Kilpatrick, a 2-guard with the capability of playing the 3 as well. Kilpatrick is not just a versatile scorer, but also a capable ball handler whose teammates look to him to dictate the offense in late game situations.

Kilpatrick’s scoring abilities have landed him 4^th overall in the Big East with 17.5 points per game; however, his shooting percentage has been sinking in harmony with Cincinnati’s winning percentage. Out of their last 13 games, Kilpatrick has only been over 40 percent from the field in five of them— the Bearcats are 5-0 in those games (6-7 overall). It should come as no surprise that the Bearcats go as their leading scorer goes, yet it’s troublesome how strong the correlation to Kilpatrick’s shooting is with Bearcat victories.

One interesting knock on Kilpatrick is that he has actually digressed each season of his collegiate career—most notably suffering a regression on his three-point shot.

Sean Kilpatrick                    Field Goal %                             Three-Point %

These downward trends should be undoubtedly be a concern to Bearcat fans; yet March is a month wrought with unpredictability, and should the basketball Gods be kind enough to repair the ailing jump shot of your promising gunner, then the sky is the limit. Cincinnati has the interior tools—they rank 4^th in the nation in rebounds per game—to make a run in both the Big East and NCAA tournament, what’s missing is consistent offensive output. Not all of the blame should fall on Kilpatrick for this, but the Bearcats have already set their offensive identity in stone, and be it for better or for worse, that identity requires Kilpatrick to fire away.

It could be ugly, awe-inspiring or a multitude of adjectives in between. Still, regardless of where your basketball allegiances may lie, Sean Kilpatrick is a player to watch in March.