Monday, 7/20/2009

It seems shameful to admit that I had never been to the Deveroes Summer Basketball League until yesterday, but it’s true.

All I’d been missing every summer at Woodward High School, is a three-dollar sneak-peek at Cincinnati’s best hoopsters playing on different teams with different coaches, learning to adjust to new roles and new referees, and, perhaps more importantly, trying not to get dunked on.

The level of competition is slightly better than I suspected. The big names playing at the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University obviously showcase the event, but it’s the obscure players that climb out of the woodwork and light up the scoreboard that make the league legitimate.

I was also surprised at the extent of the season; 10 teams play a nine-game season, and the top eight teams play in a single-loss tournament. College coaches are not allowed to attend the games, so players like Yancy Gates can fire up three-pointers all they want without worrying about being benched and screamed at for a week.

Yancy spent the day hovering around the outside, testing his range without success. No one said a word about it.

Live action.

Former Xavier legend, Jamal Walker is the MC for the event, and although he at times nearly damages his microphone from his vocal enthusiasm on breakaway dunks and big three-pointers, the man is pure comedy who could eventually make Dick Cheney crack a smile.

He was fantastic with his nicknames (Steven Toyloy was “Muscles”, Jamal Warren was “Grimey”, Sean Kilpatrick was “Killa”) and impressed me with his anecdotal tidbits about each player. He called the game well, and would at times do something else entirely, leaving the spectator to silently take in the moving poetry of the game on their own.

However, when he did eventually return to his post as public announcer, he began with, “Live action” every time, and resumed his play-by-play hilarity. The basketball makes the event, but laughing at Jamal all day is worth the three bucks to get in.

Teams are named after their sponsor which results in intriguing match-ups like Superior Cars.com versus S.I. Pool Care. Each team wears a different color of the same t-shirt which features Wolverine brandishing his metallic claws and has a dialogue bubble that reads, “Come get some Bud!”.

It seems the designer of the shirt overlooked the facts that Wolverine typically refers to his villains as “Bub”, and that a comma is necessary to indicate that he is calling someone Bud. Luckily, the confusion did not cause hordes of shaggy people to turn up hoping to procure available Wolverine bud.

Live action.

New Xavier sensation, Jordan Crawford, showed up for the season finale and dropped an effortless 31 points in 28 minutes, including a ferocious dunk on another XU newcomer, Jeff Robinson. Crawford’s style is mellow and controlled, but freakishly athletic and all-in-all deadly; players like Glen Robinson and James Harden spring to mind as comparisons.

He doesn’t appear to have a smooth, natural shooting stroke, but at the same time, he went three for six from three, highlighted by a deep fade-away as the shot-clock ran out.

Crawford’s a long-strider, getting into the lane easily and he likes to cup the ball as he swoops in for finger-rolls and runners. He showed enough handles and court awareness to use as a point guard if needed; similar to the role that Harden played at Arizona State last year. And yet, after all of that praise, Crawford’s most impressive facet is his leaping ability. It’s scary.

His team, OHC, had the best record of the regular season (8-1) and features other Xavier players, like incoming freshman guard Mark Lyons, and the freshly graduated yet still visibly sleepy, C.J. Anderson.

Lyons appeared super-quick, having no problem getting to the paint and eventually the line, but still looked very young, demonstrating freshman symptoms like poor shot selection, not finishing around the rim, and dribbling too much. With time and coaching, Lyons should become a legitimate starting point guard someday, but from the little I’ve seen, I wouldn’t trust him with the keys just yet.

For size, the squad has former Dayton Flyer forward Norm Plummer, banging around his 6'7'’, wide-bodied frame. Plummer posted season totals of 16 points and nine rebounds a game, and kept smiling the whole time—who couldn’t root for a guy like that?

At one point during the game, OHC head coach Ozie Davis III, was moved enough to cry out chants of MVP. Jamal Walker stopped his play-by-play and asked Ozie who he was referring to. Ozie emphatically announced “Norm Plummer”, and everyone laughed. That’s just the kind of place it was.

Live action.

SLATS is the other team that gets most of the attention. Its roster is composed of all UC players and is led by the bruiser, Yancy Gates. Gates is a wide and beefy 6'9"; a person that seems rooted to where he stands. It must be like boxing out an Oak tree for opponents. He certainly has an NBA body, but has only shown flashes of an NBA game thus far in his career.

In the match-up against SuperiorCars.com, Gates made defender Biggie McLean’s day easier by lurking outside and hoisting three's and long two's instead of working his college teammate in the post. Gates could dominate a league like this if he wanted to, but that may be why it doesn’t happen.

One player on SLATS who seems comfortable in his role, is UC freshman guard Sean Kilpatrick. Killa put up over 20 points a game on the season and was third in field goals. He showed a nice shooting stroke and seemed to be one of the only SLATS players to let the game come to him.

He plays with a quiet sneakiness and looks dangerous from the outside. I see enough swagger in his game to picture him in the league at some point.

One of the most impressive players of the day was Miami sophomore Vince “Captain” Cook, who helped SuperiorCars.com beat SLATS on that day. Cook was extremely active defensively and had stretches where he seemed unguardable. A bonus of Captain Cook is his very genuine pirate beard, which, in my book, makes him an immediate fan favorite.

The other game of the day featured Eddie Gray; a man I know nothing about, but in around an hour, showed me that there’s something legendary about him. Imagine a mini Chauncy Billups; an older, veteran player, who gets fired up and drops backbreaking three's each time down the floor.

Eddie Gray had 27 points, including five three-pointers in 25 minutes and he taught the youngsters playing for the Cincinnati State team (S.I. Pool Care) how to properly respect their elders.

Unlike the high-profile, Division I characters around the gym, the older guys like Eddie Gray live for these moments and take it all very seriously. It’s players like these that usually play a key role in determining who wins the whole thing.

His team, John H. Flessa Law Office, is made up of a handful of veterans, including perennial leading scorer, Paul McMillan, and a young guy; a high-flying UC swingman named Darnell Wilkes. It wouldn’t be a long shot to pick Flessa as a championship team. Their first test will be against Yancy Gates and SLATS on Wednesday.

Live action.

Nine schools have dominated the top nine spots in the Big East since the league expanded to a nation-high 16 teams.

On average, Connecticut, Louisville, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Georgetown, Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Marquette have held eight of the top nine spots in the standings over the past four years.

In only 2005-06, the year the league extended into the heartland to grab four Conference USA teams, did two of those nine teams finished outside the top nine.

In 2007-08, those nine teams ended the season holding down the top nine spots.

But, after the 2008-09 season, a season which Georgetown finished outside the top nine, this group of dominant teams suffered dramatic losses.

Of the top 30 scorers in the Big East last season, 20 played for the nine teams that have had a stranglehold on the conference. Of those 20, 15 have either graduated or skipped out on college ball to play professionally.

Notre Dame's Luke Harangody led the conference in scoring, but the team's second option and floor-spreader, Kyle McAlarney, is no longer there. Ninth-leading scorer Da'Sean Butler will be without the league's 15th best scorer, Alex Ruoff.

Marquette's Lazar Hayward, who ranked 10th in the league in scoring, won't have the trio of guards Wes Matthews, Jerel McNeal, and Dominic James to compliment him.

Finally, rising freshman Greg Monroe ranked 29th in the league in points per game, but loses fellow forward DaJuan Summers to the NBA.

Only Villanova's Scottie Reynolds returns to a team that will return enough talent to make the it a national contender. West Virginia should return enough talent to finish as well as, if not better than, last season.

Georgetown's loss of Summers is the school's only significant personnel loss.

That means six of the Big East's superior programs should be ready to step back a bit in 2010.

And that means several schools that typically call the bottom half of the standings home have a realistic chance to make some noise.

The Queen City Has a Program Ready to Compete with the Kings of the Big East

Cincinnati has essentially done nothing since the school joined the Big East. The Bearcats have notched a few upsets early in the conference slate, but overall have a 26-42 Big East record.

UC even lost in the first round of the 2009 Big East Championship to formerly winless DePaul.

But, there is hope for Mick Cronin's club.

Cronin is finally beginning to move outside of the gigantic shadow Bob Huggins left. The Bearcats won just two league games in 2007, followed by eight wins in 2008, and eight more in 2009. They managed to increase its overall win total from 13 in 2008 to 18 in 2009.

Cronin returns perhaps the league's second best rising junior, Deonta Vaughn, and one of the most under-appreciated freshman, Yancy Gates.

The majority of Cronin's '08-09 rotation also consisted of underclassman. Plus, highly touted freshman Cashmere Wright will be added to the rotation after missing the 2009 season with a knee injury.

On paper, only Villanova and West Virginia are clearly better than the Bearcats. A third-place finish for Cincinnati may be unlikely, but should be a realistic goal for a Bearcats team ready to compete and beat the beasts of the east.

Seton Hall Will Be One of the Nation's Most Improved Teams

The Pirates have one of the best scoring trios returning in the country. Jeremy Hazell (22.7 ppg), Robert Mitchell (14.7 ppg), and Eugene Harvey (12.5 ppg) will team up with two of the biggest impact transfers in the country.

Both Keon Lawrence (from Missouri) and Herb Pope (from New Mexico State) averaged 11 points per game for their former schools.

Throw in a tank in the center, John Garcia, thrifty rising freshman guard Jordan Theodore, another transfer from Memphis in Jeff Robinson, and two solid incoming freshmen Jamel Jackson and Ferrakohn Hall—and Seton Hall will potentially have a 10-man rotation when Big East play starts. 

It's a rotation that should save Bobby Gonzalez's job.

Gonzalez does face one problem—the Pirates haven't played a lick of defense since 2005, and the team lost its top defender, Paul Gause.

The guard was one of the league's best defenders and was really the only reason Seton Hall's defense wasn't completely laughable.

Rutgers Is Taking Major Strides Forward

Last year, the first male McDonald's All-American suited up in Rutgers red. That freshman, Mike Rosario, found ways to score from anywhere and everywhere on the court.

Rosario's partner in crime, Gregory Echenique, is a load in the frontcourt and could give Big East centers fits if he continues to get in shape and develop his game.

Alongside Echenique, Hamady N'Diaye is an accomplished shot-blocker who is an offensive move or two away from being a dependable third or fourth option.

Rutgers also has two incoming freshman that will help bolster the frontcourt. Brian Okam is a top-15 center and Dane Miller is a top-40 power forward.

Rutgers won't be among the Big East's best, but the improvements on Fred Hill's roster should be enough to first save his job, and second, move Rutgers into the top half of the league.

For St. John's, the Time Is Now

St. John's had been irrelevant before the league expanded in 2006, but that should change quickly in 2010.

Five sophomores filled the Red Storm starting lineup in 2009. With two more rising sophomores in the rotation and a freshman, St. John's is poised to build off a strong 4-3 finish in the conference.

Norm Roberts is also on the verge of saving his job if he gets production out of one of the more experienced lineups in the league. Paris Horne is one of the league's craftier scores while Sean Evans and D.J. Kennedy have become dependable forwards.

Horne and Kennedy are the league's 11th and 12th best returning scorers, while Evans is the seventh best returning rebounder.

If point guard Malik Boothe can be consistent, Roberts will have one of the better distributors in league.

A top-five finish in the league isn't out of the question, nor is a return to the NCAA Tournament for the Johnnies.

For more updates and stories about college basketball follow Jameson on Twitter.

According to a release by the school, Andy Kennedy is one of four finalists for the Clair Bee National Coach of the Year Award. In other news, there is something called the Clair Bee National Coach of the Year Award.

The award itself...

honors a Division I men’s basketball coach who through his actions on and off the court, makes an outstanding contribution to the sport of college basketball. The criteria for this award involves actions that inspire, motivate, coach and educate their teams to achieve their fullest potential and demonstrate outstanding character.

I don't believe the charges Kennedy faces in Cincinnati are going to stick. That whole situation reeks of inconsistencies. But the fact is that he faces charges. That's hardly making an "outstanding contribution to the sport of college basketball."

On the court, there's no argument. AK did a phenomenal job holding together a young team setback after setback. The fact that we even challenged for an NIT spot is remarkable considering all that happened.

The other three finalists are Missouri’s Mike Anderson, Radford’s Brad Greenberg, and Trent Johnson of LSU. Last season’s winner was Bob McKillop of Davidson.

And how's this for validating the award? The selection committee for the award is composed of Dan Beebe (Big 12 Commissioner), Jay Bilas (ESPN talking head), Dave Gavitt (founder of the Big East), Bob Hammel (sportswriter), Bob Knight (media whore), Pat Knight (son of a media whore), Billy Packer (ancient curmudgeon hellbent on sucking all the fun out of college basketball), Dean Smith (former UNC head coach), and Dick Vitale (somebody kill me now).

I count Dean Smith and possibly—possibly—Jay Bilas as people's whose opinions I would value from a national perspective.

That said, our basketball program could use a shot of good news, even it is a silly as this award.

This whole season, there has been high expectations for the Cincinnati Bearcats. They had a lot of young talent and great returning talent with Deonta Vaughn.

They start the season out 10-2, and everyone’s thinking they maybe can make the tournament. Then that’s when they turn like every other Cincinnati team when they lose four in a row.

After that, they were a win-two, lose-one type of ball club, putting them on top the bubble.

How did the team respond to the pressure of being on the bubble? They lost six of their last seven games. Judging that they did play Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse, and West Virginia, who are great teams they still bombed their last two chances by losing to Seton Hall and DePaul.

Losing in your conference tournament to the worst team in the conference doesn’t only guarantee you not to get in the big dance; it really diminishes your chances for the NIT.

Coach Mick Cronin said if they didn’t make the NIT they don’t want a tournament below that. After last year's embarrassing first round loss of the CBI, who could blame him. Nonetheless, the Bearcats are sitting on the couch looking a bracket that doesn’t have their name on it for the fourth year in a row.

Coach Cronin either needs to get his troops rallied or leave Cincinnati. He coached under Bob Huggins, but this is definitely not the same coaching style.

Cincinnati fans are sick of watching high hopeful teams lose win their still in the race. They need to give Cronin two more seasons and if no tournaments are happening, he needs to go.

The best thing around UC’s campuses are the football team now, let’s see how Cronin responds to that.

This is a very talented team, but this is college not high school the players need to pick up their game. Cronin needs to make it happen or take a hike.

A couple of things of note as I unveil my final bracket projection before the committee announces the field of 65 at 6 pm. First I have Ohio State and Purdue slotted and the results of there game will have no outcome on my bracket. I think their body of work is complete enough without their third game in three days meaning much.

My number 1 seeds are Louisville, Pitt, UNC and UCONN in that order. Louisville by virtue of winning the Big East regular season and tournament title has earned the number 1 overall seed. I considered Memphis for a one seed but in the end I do not think their body of work compares to the other four teams. I think they are certainly better now than early in the season, but we have nothing to compare them to the other one seeds with. With the absence of a meaningful way to evaluate them against the other 1 seeds I cannot justify putting them on the top line of the bracket.

I think Syracuse has played themselves into a 3 seed with their run to the Big East tournament finals. Syracuse has wins over Kansas, UCONN and Memphis… I don’t think any team in the country has a more impressive set of three victories. Similarly I think Florida State’s run in the ACC played them into a 3 seed.

I have never seen such a run of dwindling at large spots because of conference tournaments. The Horizon, Atlantic Ten, Pac Ten, and SEC all eliminated at large opportunities for a number of teams.

My breakdown by conference is as follows:
Big East- 7
ACC- 7
Big 10- 7
Pac Ten- 6
Big 12- 6
SEC- 3
Atlantic 10- 3
Mountain West- 2
Horizon- 2
All other leagues- 1 each

Last Four In
Dayton
Minnesota
Maryland
Arizona

First Five Out
San Diego State
Penn State
Creighton
St Mary’s
Auburn

Here are some thoughts on those last teams in and first few out.

Dayton- I am very confident they are in.

Minnesota- Also very confident they are in. Their non-conference victory over Louisville has a lot of legs and I think they did enough in the Big 10.

Maryland- I think they left the committee with a good impression and they have three of the best victories in the country beating Michigan State, North Carolina and Wake Forest. They have been inconsistent much of the year, which hurts, but they won when they had to in the ACC tournament to get a bid. I think the committee will put them in because of that.

Arizona- Here is the spot I am most likely to be wrong on. Many have Arizona out. They have been dreadful on the road going 2-9, which will hurt. In the past the committee has continually rewarded teams that scheduled and won out of conference. In their non-conference schedule the Wildcats beat Kansas, San Diego State, and Gonzaga. In the conference they beat Washington, UCLA and Southern Cal. That gives Arizona 6 RPI top 50 victories (two top 25), which is considerably better than most of the teams they are competing with. I think the committee once again will reward a team that scheduled ambitiously and beat some teams by giving them the last spot.

The Five I Have Just Out
San Diego State- They did everything that I thought they had to do in the Mountain West tournament and it might not be enough. I would have no problem with the committee selecting San Diego State over Arizona or Maryland.

Penn State- They scheduled atrociously out of conference and the committee has generally not been kind to bubble teams that scheduled poorly. They have several big wins in conference play including two big road wins over Michigan State and Illinois. The committee could put them in because of those road wins, I think they come up just short.

Creighton- Left the committee with a bad impression getting waxed in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals. Their victory over Dayton does not look as good as it once did. Their other big victories are New Mexico, Northern Iowa and Illinois State…those wins are simply not good enough. I think Creighton is out.

St Mary’s- I keep hearing the case that this team is different with Patty Mills, which is probably true. They still do not have the necessary wins to tell me they are a tournament team. I know their record with Mills is very good, but they have not really beaten anyone of significance. They lost all three to Gonzaga (including getting smoked in the West Coast Conference finals). Their best victories are over Utah State and San Diego State. I think side by side with the rest of the bubble teams that is not enough.

Auburn- They played really well down the stretch in a very bad conference. I think they needed to beat Tennessee to have a case. They did not do that. They have nothing to distinguish themselves in their non-conference play. They are out.

For my bracket i followed a true S-curve not worrying about locations (for instance Louisville will likely be sent to Dayton for their first round games). In the true S curve the top 1 seed would play in the region with the lowest 2 seed. The only shifts i made were to avoid early matchups between conference teams and to make sure protected seeds from the same conference were not in the same region. This took more work this year because 9 of the top 12 seeds in my bracket are from the Big East and ACC. All conference champions are in bold for your convenience. With all that out there, here is my field of 65:

Indianapolis Region

1. Louisville
16. Radford/ Chattanooga

8. Boston College
9. Texas A&M

4. Washington
13. Northern Iowa

5. Gonzaga
12. Cleveland State

3. Wake Forest
14. Portland State

6. LSU
11. Utah State

7. Marquette
10. Southern Cal

2. Oklahoma
15. Cornell

Boston Region

1. Pittsburgh
16. Alabama State

8. California
9. Butler

4. Missouri
13. Western Kentucky

5. Arizona State
12. VCU

3. Villanova
14. American

6. Clemson
11. Minnesota

7. Tennessee
10. Wisconsin

2. Duke
15. Stephen F Austin

Memphis Region

1. North Carolina
16. Morehead State

8. Oklahoma State
9. BYU

4. Kansas
13. North Dakota State

5. West Virginia
12. Mississippi State

3. Syracuse
14. East Tennessee State

6. UCLA
11. Maryland

7. Utah
10. Dayton

2. Michigan State
15. Cal State Northridge

Arizona Region

1. UCONN
16. Morgan State

8. Texas
9. Michigan

4. Purdue
13. Binghampton

5. Xavier
12. Arizona

3. Florida State
14. Akron

6. Illinois
11. Temple

7. Ohio State
10. Siena

2. Memphis
15. Robert Morris

NEW YORK—The debate over whether the Big East Championship should have been expanded to allow all 16 teams play ended after the very first game of the newly formatted tournament.

The lowly DePaul Blue Demons walked into the world's most famous arena and ran away with a 67-57 win over Cincinnati. It was the Blue Demons' first conference victory of the entire season. Only five times could DePaul keep a Big East regular season game within single-digits, but this was not the regular season.

"This is a new season, brand-new start for us," said DePaul's leading scorer Dar Tucker.

A brand-new start it was. DePaul took its last chance ran with it.

"It's now or never. We have to get respect now," said the Blue Demon's high scorer of the game, Will Walker.

It was clear, early and obviously, the Blue Demons wanted this game and respect more than the Bearcats. 

Rarely did a Cincinnati player jump up with emotion, beat his chest, or try to fire up the crowd. The Blue Demons did just that.

Repeatedly.

Heading into huddles for timeouts, DePaul players bubbled with pride, especially in the second half, when they could smell victory.

"At the television timeout at eight [minutes left in the game], we knew we would win the game," said Walker.

Late in the second half, DePaul showed the world why they went 0-18 in the league. Blue Demon freshman Jeremiah Kelly made as big a freshman mistake a first-year player could make as he tried to get fancy on a fast break, but turned the ball over with only a seven-point lead. His teammates quickly comforted the frosh in order to help him regain his composure

Walker says that's this team's motto, "We stick together, the losses brought us closer and we became stronger."

About a minute later, Kelly let Madison Square Garden know he didn't check himself out of the game mentally. The freshman drove the lane with the shot clock winding down. A few of Cincinnati's trees in the post blocked his path. But coach Jerry Wainwright says that didn't stop his player, "The kid came back and made a great bounce pass at the end of the shot-clock."

Kelly turned to the crowd, beat his chest, and got a slowly growing crowd of several thousand on their feet.

That's composure.

That's passion.

That's the Big East Tournament.

A tournament that rewards every team a chance to redeem itself for a long schedule designed to create failures.

"For kids to go through 18 tough games, to not go to the Big East Tournament is not what this league is about," says Wainwright.

DePaul must use this "reward of playing in the BET" to build into the next year. The momentum created by the lore of the conference tournament that willed Syracuse into two consecutive runs to Big East titles and was then squandered when the 'Cuse lost in the first round both years. Last year, Pittsburgh caught fire, won the tournament, but also made an early exit.

Chances are DePaul won't even make it past Wednesday's matchup with Providence, but the Blue Demons can still turn this win into many...next year. DePaul has weapons, three of them in fact. Junior Will Walker is thrifty through the lane and can knock down the outside shot. Sophomore Dar Tucker brings to the court one of the best scoring touches in the conference. Fellow classmate Mac Koshwal is a bruising big man with the potential to become an all-conference player by the end of his career.

Wainwright commented after the game that his players now know how to win.

Wainwright's players need to remember how to win and still show the heart that made a fairly neutral crowd give them a standing ovation as they walked off the court victors in the Big East for the first and maybe the only time in 2009.

DePaul Blue Demons (0-18, 8-23) at Cincinnati Bearcats (8-10, 18-13)

Big East Conference Tournament
Tuesday, Mar. 10—12:00 PM EST

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Preview

The 2009 Big East Tournament kicks off the new format with No. 16 DePaul and No. 9 Cincinnati at noon.

This is the first year that all sixteen teams make it to the conference tournament, and if this wasn't the format the Big East winless Blue Demons would be sitting at home with their season over.

But this year is all about change. And helping the little guy. So even though the regular season is over and DePaul wasn't able to muster up a conference win, let's still take a look at the team.

DePaul has been disappointing by all standards—they entered conference play with an 8-5 record and have since lost every game they have played.

There was a lot of hope for the Blue Demons this season, though, as their two players from the All Big East Rookie Team—forward Dar Tucker and center Mac Koshwal—returned. Their backcourt is lead by junior guard Will Walker, who has improved this season across the board.

Unfortunately for the Blue Demons, that is where their talent ends. Stats drop off across the board, and they have shown the hoops world that it takes more than three players to compete.

In the preseason, it looked like the Bearcats were in trouble. Their only true point guard, freshman Cashmere Wright, went down in October with a torn ACL. Cincinnati proved that they have the ability persevere, though, and have been impressive on more than one occasion this season.

Recently, though, the Bearcats have been struggling—in their last six games, they are 1-5. But some of those losses have come against the best the Big East has to offer, including Louisville and Pitt.

The Bearcats pulled off multiple upsets this season: they defeated Georgetown twice, and knocked off West Virginia and Notre Dame one time a piece as well.

The Blue Demons and Bearcats faced each other once this season, and Cincinnati walked away with the 59-55 win. In that game, DePaul made a late surge to come back from a 16-point deficit.

As the Big East Tourament kicks off, the question now is will DePaul be able to get their first Big East win of the season?

By The Numbers

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
DePaul	8-23	0-18	8-17	208	74	63.9	72.6
Cincinnati	18-13	8-10	9-13-1	72	32	68.7	66.3

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
DePaul	40.4	46.1	29.0	35.8	61.7	37.8	6.8	11.3	12.5
Cincinnati	42.6	41.5	33.5	32.1	66.2	41.4	5.7	14.7	13.7

Stat Leaders

	DePaul	Cincinnati
PPG	D. Tucker - 18.2	D. Vaughn - 15.3
	W. Walker - 14.0	Y. Gates - 10.7
	M. Koshwal - 12.6	M. Williams - 10.0
RPG	M. Koshwal - 9.8	Y. Gates - 6.2
APG	J. Kelly - 2.2	D. Vaughn - 4.7
SPG	W. Walker - 1.7	D. Vaughn - 1.3
BPG	D. Hill - 1.2	Y. Gates - 1.0

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Prediction

Want to see the line, the final analysis, and Ryan's FREE Pick Against the Spread? Please head over to CBBPlace.com!

I am still of the belief that Cincinnati makes the tournament if they can win their last two games and make the quarterfinals of the Big East (they'd have to likely beat DePaul and either Providence, Syracuse, or WVU to do that...the Providence game, if that happens, would likely be an elimination game).

I am still a little baffled by how anyone can distinguish between the résumés of say Kentucky and Cincinnati and put UK on top. The obvious answer is right now Kentucky beat four teams in most projected tournament brackets, while Cincinnati only beat two.

But let’s look closer, and the wins are not very different.

For both teams their best win is WVU, though it is a better win for UK because it is on a neutral site.

They both have sweeps against two fading teams who have played great schedules and have strong RPI numbers in Georgetown for UC and Tennessee for UK (I know Georgetown and Tennessee are on opposite sides of the bubble, but their profiles do not differ too much).

The Bearcats' win over UNLV on the road is a better win than Kentucky's home win over Florida.

The main difference in the teams is who they have lost to. Kentucky's worst losses are VMI, Ole Miss, Mississippi State (whom UC smoked), Vandy, and twice to a South Carolina team with one top 50 RPI win (Kentucky was smoked by South Carolina in their second meeting).

The Bearcats' two worst losses are getting swept by Providence, which is comparable to the sweep of UK by South Carolina. Other than that, their losses are to top 25 teams (and for the most part top 15): UConn, Pitt, Louisville, Villanova, Marquette, Syracuse, Xavier, Memphis, and Florida State. That is a murderers' row of games.

So UK and Cincinnati essentially have the same wins, but Kentucky has way worse losses. The quality of teams it has taken to beat Cincinnati this year is infinitely better than the teams it has taken to beat UK.

I know this is just one example...one side by side comparison, but to me it is a good one. In the end, every single Cincinnati loss could be to an NCAA team. How many bubble teams in the country can make that claim?

Syracuse, N.Y.—The Cincinnati Bearcats came into the Carrier Dome Sunday looking to make a statement for the upcoming NCAA tournament. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, it wasn't exactly the kind of statement they were hoping for.

On paper, the two teams were thought to be a close match with both coming into the game with identical 8-7 records in the Big East. But after Sunday's game, there was little question as to who was the superior team.

The Orange absolutely destroyed the Bearcats, 87-63, in front of 25,139 fans.

Syracuse jumped out to a 19-4 advantage to start the game. The Bearcats scored only two field goals in the first ten minutes and found themselves in a hole from which they would not be able to dig out.

The Orange's 2-3 zone completely baffled the Bearcats, who were out of the game down 40-17 at the break. Included in their first half fiasco was an embarrassing performance from three-point range, as they finished 1-for-17.

Syracuse was led by PG Jonny Flynn, who scored 17 points and dished out seven assists. Every Orange starter finished in double figures, with Paul Harris dropping 16, followed by 13 each from Eric Devendorf and Rick Jackson.

Syracuse reserve and crowd favorite, Kristof Ongenaet, continued his inspired play, pulling down a game-high nine rebounds and contributing seven points in 19 minutes.

The Orange played outstanding basketball from start to finish and were up by as much as 32 points late in the second half when they stretched the led to 74-42.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said after the game; " In this league you don't win games by a lot, I don't care who you play, rarely do you. You have to play tremendous defense and good offense to do that. In these two games we have played tremendous defense and really good offense, too."

Cincinnati was led by reserve guard Dion Dixon who scored 18 points to go along with five rebounds. No Bearcat starter scored more than 11 points as they finished a frigid 37.5 percent from the field.

Bearcats center Anthony McClain was charged with a flagrant foul in the first half after taking out Paul Harris on a breakaway dunk and was subsequently ejected.

In contrast to Cincinatti's dismal shooting performance, Syracuse finished a blazing 30-for-60 on field goal attempts for the game.

With the win over Cincinatti, the Orange have won three out of their last four games and improved to 21-8, 9-7 Big East.

Syracuse PG Jonny Flynn stated; " This should be a good statement for the selection committee. I think this shows how good we can be or how good we are going to be when we start playing like this on a consistent basis."

Up next for the Orange is Rutgers—Tuesday night at 9 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. The Scarlet Knights come in with a 10-19 record overall, 1-15 Big East.

Syracuse has now won their last two games by a combined 53 points after defeating St. Johns 87-58 on Tuesday.

The 'Cuse seem to be peeking at the right time and hopefully won't overlook Rutgers as they eye their season finale with a trip to Marquette. It has all the makings of a trap game, but luckily they get to play in the Dome, where they have only lost three times this season. 

During halftime of Sunday's game, Syracuse retired the jersey of Billy "The Bullet" Gabor, who played for the Orange back in the '40s. Gabor was an All-American for the Orange and an NBA all-star for the Syracuse Nationals, a team he led to a championship title in 1955. He was the first player to score 1000 points at Syracuse, and still remains in the top 30 of all-time.

His No. 17 will now hang from the rafters with former Orange greats, like Dave Bing, Sherman Douglas, Derek Coleman, Pearl Washington and Billy Owens, the latter of whom had his number retired last season.

In last Friday’s edition of Bubble Watch Review I mentioned that St. Mary’s, Maryland, Providence, and Miami (FL) needed to make their push if that wanted to be considered in the at-large discussion.

Did they listen?

St. Mary’s did. The Gaels knocked off Utah St. in a Bracketbuster matchup and then thumped Pepperdine on Thursday.

I would say Maryland did also. The Terrapins shocked North Carolina on Saturday and played Duke very tough on Wednesday before losing.

Yes, the Friars did. Providence dropped their weekend game to Notre Dame but rebounded with a huge win against top-ranked Pitt.

The Hurricanes did, too. Miami (FL) beat Boston College over the weekend and then took care of Virginia on Thursday to remain in the discussion.

Here are this week's winner and losers. As always, comments are welcome.

Note: Next edition will be published on Monday morning. All RPI and SOS numbers are taken from realtimerpi.com.

Winners

Michigan

The Wolverines continue to ride a rollercoaster down the stretch. This is their third consecutive appearance in Bubble Watch Review. In Monday’s edition, I mentioned that Michigan needed to “win out” to have any kind of chance as at-large candidate. Well, they got a big one Thursday, but their final two are on the road at Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Cincinnati

The Bearcats welcomed back Bob Huggins and then knocked off West Virginia to improve to 8-7 in the Big East. The win also gives Cincinnati a win over a top-25 RPI team, something they didn’t have.

Providence

The Friars were in dire straits a week ago. Now, with a win over Pitt, nobody can say they only beat the bottom of the Big East. Plus, the Friars are looking good for one of those first round byes in the Big East tournament.

Other winners: Tennessee, Texas A&M, Miami (FL), St. Mary’s, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Rhode Island, BYU, Oklahoma St., Creighton.

 

Losers

Temple

A lot of people thought Temple might be that dark horse bubble team that would sneak up and possibly grab an at-large spot. However, after Thursday’s loss to LaSalle, the Owls may have turned into a dead horse.

Minnesota

The Gophers have lost five of seven games and have dropped to 8-7 in the Big Ten after losing to Illinois Thursday night. They probably control their own destiny with home games against Wisconsin and Michigan to finish out the regular season.

UAB

A win against Memphis would have certainly pushed the Blazers into the bubble discussion. Now, at 1-5 against the RPI top-50 it would be a hard sell for the committee.

Other Losers: Kansas St., USC, UNLV, Maryland, Kentucky, Penn St., Nebraska, San Diego St., Georgetown, Baylor, Wisconsin, W. Virginia, Arizona.