Tickel yer Fancy
By Hunter Tickel | Senior Reporter
Following Cincinnati's dominating, 20-point blowout of rival Xavier, the question I found myself begging the answer for was: is Bearcats basketball back?
Throughout the course of the past three seasons, UC has been in a college basketball abyss, failing to even reach the conversation for garnering an NCAA tournament berth since the departure of former head coach Bob Huggins.
Meanwhile, less than five miles from the UC campus, a blue empire was born — Xavier, Cincinnati's most-despised rival. The Musketeers have reached three consecutive Sweet 16's at the tournament and qualified for the big dance five consecutive years.
Times have been hard for the UC fan base to say the least; Thursday's win eased some of the pain.
The victory shed light on one distinctive advantage Cincinnati had throughout the Shootout: depth. This was typically an Achilles' heel for the Bearcats in recent seasons while head coach Mick Cronin was rebuilding the program.
"Like coach [Cronin] says, ‘We've got a lot of players on the bench that could be somewhere else and start,' " said senior forward Darnell Wilks. "With the talent we have coming off the bench, it's hard for other teams to compete with."
Xavier's Tu Holloway entered the rivalry game pacing Xavier with 21.3 points per game and drawing comparisons to one of college basketball's leading scorers.
"Holloway is playing as good as anybody in America not named Kemba Walker," Cronin said.
But after 2-of-13 shooting and a five-point effort against UC, he might be regarded as one of the biggest choke artists in college basketball.
Cincinnati wore him down with size, physicality and depth on defense. Guards Dion Dixon, Larry Davis and Sean Kilpatrick all have at least three inches on Holloway and took turns putting a hand in his face.
Sunday's 72-61 loss at No. 7 Villanova might elicit a blunt "no" to my opening question, but that's illogical to me.
The Bearcats fell behind by 21 points in the second half against the Wildcats while facing the fiercest full-court pressure they have seen to this point in the season. They also had to deal with poor officiating.
Despite all the adversity for the then-undefeated Bearcats, they managed to fight and claw their way back into the game, trimming the deficit to seven points before falling short.
"Nobody was giving up on each other," Wilks said. "We still have fight. There was a time in my freshman year when that lead could have kept building and building."
The current squad has an X factor that Cronin's teams have lacked up to this point in his five-year tenure: heart.
No Cincinnati team since the Huggins era has played with as much grit and dedication as this season's group.
The main factor for this is the veteran leadership the Bearcats have this season. With rebuilding the program like he has had to, Cronin has yet to have that before this year.
Six seniors and two juniors provide the glue for Cincinnati. Two of those seniors, Wilks and Davis, have humbly and willingly welcomed coming off the bench to provide a spark.
"Me and Larry, being seniors, we know our roles," Wilks said. "We accepted that. Personally, it really doesn't matter to me as long as I can come in and contribute mostly defensively and rebounding."
These Bearcats are the most unselfish team I've seen in years. They all know their duties and are content regardless of how much playing time they receive. They fully grasp just how scarce minutes are on this talented team.
Only the rigors of the upcoming daunting Big East schedule will determine if Cincinnati garners elite status in the nation's best and deepest conference.
