Thursday, February 10
Thursday, January 13
UC Basketball: Back in buisness?
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.
Wednesday, December 22
Friday, December 17
Rough start
Cats crushed in conference opener
By Hunter Tickel | Senior Reporter
If Tuesday's Big East opener for the Cincinnati women's basketball is an indication of what awaits them in conference play, the Bearcats are in for a long season.
Projected to finish 15th in the Big East this season, the Bearcats were bested in every facet of the game by the Cardinals: fundamentals, style, athleticism and cohesion as they lost 78-40 at Fifth Third Arena.
"We wasted people's times today, said head coach Jamelle Elliott. "We wasted the [referee's] time, we wasted the fans' time and we wasted Louisville's time. We didn't show up today. We might as well have stayed in the locker room with the performance we put on today."
UC committed a season-high 31 turnovers and shot worse than 32 percent from the floor.
A reoccurring theme throughout the night was Cincinnati settling for jump shots or giving the ball away, while the Cardinals took high-percentage shots and scored 38 points in the paint to the Bearcats 12.
"We need a post player," said freshman guard Kayla Cook. "When we get in the Big East, we are going to be facing 6-4, 6-5 and our tallest player is barely pushing 6-1. They don't have any experience in the Big East either, so I think we are slacking in the post."
Point guard Shareese Ulis is the only returning player that garnered significant playing time from last year's squad that finished 4-12 in the league. UC is inexperienced, returning just 27 percent of minutes played and 28 percent of scoring from last season.
"I just told them when I walked into the locker room, ‘Welcome to the Big East,' " Elliott said. "That's what they signed up for. They came to Cincinnati to play against these teams. I've got to hope that they are ready to do that."
The Bearcats appeared rusty after having ten days off as they prepared for their exams last week.
"[I told them] you guys have five minutes to get that out of your system and then we have to be ready to play," Elliott said. "Five minutes turned into 40 minutes. It's just one of those games where nothing went our way."
Ulis entered the night averaging a team-leading 15.7 points per game. She drew double teams on the perimeter from the outset and never found a comfortable flow against UL. The senior finished with 14 points and just two assists.
"I feel like I have to get these guys involved in order for us to be a great team," Ulis said. "If I can't get them to be with me, we don't have a chance at winning. Tonight I didn't play as good as I normally do and it carried over to everyone else."
Ulis scored the team's first basket after nearly eight minutes had surpassed as they struggled in their half-court sets.
By the midpoint of the first half, the contest was all but finished with UC falling behind 21-2. The Bearcats got on the score sheet for a second time with 8:06 remaining in the opening half.
The Bearcats totaled a season-low 40 points and allowed the Cardinals to shot better than 58 percent as they scored 18 points in transition.
After its Big East opener, the Bearcats step out of conference play again at 2 p.m. Saturday against Wright State at Fifth Third Arena.
Monday, November 29
Huskies Halt Cincy
By Hunter Tickel | Senior Reporter
Following consecutive BCS appearances the past two seasons, the Cincinnati Bearcats became bowl ineligible Saturday after a 38-17 loss to Connecticut at a sold-out Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.
"[Missing a bowl is] very disappointing, it's one of our program goals," said head coach Butch Jones. "We have to keep building. There are a lot of kids that hurt. We all hurt."
The loss dropped the Bearcats to 4-7, clinching a losing season and ensuring an end to Cincinnati's streak of four-straight bowl appearances.
Turnovers — after plaguing UC all season — were fatale again as the Bearcats committed five against UConn, including four interceptions of Zach Collaros.
Collaros had an opportunity to pull the Cats to within four points before halftime inside Connecticut's 10-yard line, but his pass took a costly bounce after being tipped by UConn's Kendall Reyes. The interception gave the Huskies possession inside the Cincinnati red zone.
UConn running back John Todman put his team ahead18 points with a one-yard touchdown run just seconds before halftime.
The Bearcats orchestrated an 88-yard drive — capped with a three-yard touchdown scamper by Collaros — to pull within a one possession with less than nine minutes to play.
But five snaps later, Todman ceased the Bearcats' comeback with the second of his game-high three touchdowns.
With nine receptions for 107 yards against the Huskies, Cincinnati wide receiver Armon Binns surpassed 1,000 yards for the season. The wide out became the ninth receiver in school history to reach the milestone.
"He has had a great senior season," Jones said. "He's played like a senior should play. He's provided great leadership. He's created a model for our younger players at the receiver position for years to come."
The Bearcats will take the field for the final time in 2010 on Senior Day at noon Saturday against Pittsburgh at Nippert Stadium.
"It's [about] going off as winners, sending our seniors off as winners," Jones said. "[Having] momentum going off into the winter and into our strength and conditioning program. For our younger kids, they have to continue to learn about critical plays and get back to work tomorrow."
Monday, November 22
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
