Living in Big East country gives me the unique ability to get multiple looks at the Cincinnati Bearcats from many different national and home announcers, translation: no Cincinnati bias. (Can you honestly think of one media outlet or personality outside of Cincinnati who actually likes Cincinnati basketball except for Digger Phelps, is like the anti-Duke) Anyway, what I have found is the ‘Cats are poised to regain their former glory. The only thing against them right now is youth, which has admittedly lost them 8 games this year, but look out.
Here is their case.
1. COACHING: They have an up and coming coach in Mick Cronin, who is from the Huggins and Petino coaching tree. Huggins was great, but everyone knows it was time for a change, and Kennedy was done before he even started. Cronin is just the type of hard nosed, energetic guy that works best in Cincinnati, and he is by far the best recruiter Huggins ever had. He is inexperienced in coaching big games, and the more Big East games he plays, the better he gets.
2. YOUNG TALENT: Their best player (Vaughn) is a sophomore, but not good enough to go pro. They have 5 other Freshmen who all contribute, including a legit scorer in Alvin Mitchell, and a true Center in 6’11” Anthony McClain. And they have a talented power forward and true point guard coming next year.
3. YOUNG MISTAKES: All the mistakes they make are for 2 reasons, either their freshmen are stupid, or their veterans are bad. The amount of lay-ups and open jumpers the veterans have missed is astounding (Hrycaniuk cost us the Uconn and Xavier games) Next year, those are gone…. Theoretically.
4. GOOD HOME FANS: Cincinnati fans know how to cheer, and know how to create a home court advantage. As a visitor, ‘The Shoe’ is one of the worst places to play in the country, and now that the huggins hangover is past, I am positive it will regain its former glory.
5. RECRUITING: Cronin was Huggs best recruiter, and in Cronin’s first real recruiting class he already has 2 top flight recruits coming in, including the top player from Cincinnati, Yancey Gates. One of Huggin’s biggest recruiting strengths was his ability to get the best players from the city and state year in and year out, and since he left Xavier and OSU have been wining. But with the arrival of Gates from Withrow, the flood gates will be reopened. That, coupled with the success of the Football team, and their national TV contract with the Big East, players will want to come to the Queen City again.
I may be a crazy UC supporter, but I have watched 10 games this year, and in every game they have looked better, and every announcer and opposing coach in the conference has had nothing but good things to say. Although I am not sure I will now how to react when my team isn’t the most hated group in the conference. I will just have to call Stan and have him refer to them as the convicts again.
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I do worry though. Clearly the Cats are coming in as underdogs in each of their Big East matchups this season. As a result, everyone is looking past them, which has enabled them to surprise some people.
I was at the Louisville game, and the Cardinals lost that game. Pitino refused to play his best two players at the same time (that would have created a huge size disadvantage for UC), because he probably thought he could get by without them. He was easing a guy back in from injury, and punishing another for team rules violations. If UC is a credible threat, there is no way he does that.
That being said, I love Vaughn (the first true scorer in a long time). Still waiting for someone else to step up if defenses shut him down (which has been done). But, Flip's right...here they come.
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