Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball

The Syracuse Orange received their second loss of the season in a big upset (68-71) courtesy of the Cincinnati Bearcats. From the start of the semifinals game, top-seeded Syracuse could not contain the fourth-seeded Bearcats. Cincinnati's win ended the 11-game win streak of No. 2 Syracuse. 

The Bearcats now advance to the 2012 Big East tournament championship game where they’ll face Louisville. 

No. 2 Syracuse trailed Connecticut by eight points Thursday, before pulling off the 58-55 win. Against the Bearcats, however, the Orange were not so lucky. 

Cincinnati pulled off another upset Thursday by defeating No. 13 Georgetown, 72-70 in double overtime. 

They will now look to pull off their first Big East tournament title since they joined the conference in the 2005-2006 season.

Syracuse and Cincinnati last met in January when the Orange beat the Bearcats 60-53.

The Big East is predicted to send up to ten teams to the NCAA tournament including unranked Cincinnati and Louisville. No. 2 Syracuse, with only one loss in the regular season, was looking to dominate in the Big East tournament securing a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed. 

Cincinnati has made a total of 25 appearances in the NCAA tournament including two championships in 1961 and 1962. 

From 1957-1964 the Bearcats went on a tear accumulating 86-home court wins, before losing at home to Bradley. That home winning streak is the fourth longest in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history. 

If Cincinnati continues to play at the level it has been in the Big East tournament, the Bearcats could be a major threat in the "Big Dance." Any doubts about Cincinnati’s position in the NCAA tournament were clearly eliminated in the Big East tournament.

In the regular season the Bearcats played eight AP Top 25 opponents, with a win-loss record of  5-3—with wins over then-No. 22 Pittsburgh, then-No. 9 Georgetown, then-No. 13 Connecticut, then-No. 17 Louisville and then-No. 8 Marquette. 

Syracuse’s only regular season loss was to then-unranked Notre Dame. The Orange won all five of their games against AP Top 25 teams. Only one of those wins (72-68 against then-No. 10 Florida) was a non-conference win.

Syracuse still stands with one of the best resumes in the NCAA, although a Big East tournament title would have been the stamp on its claim for a No. 1 NCAA seed. However, it will not be a big surprise if Syracuse ends up with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament regardless of the loss to the Bearcats.

Cincinnati’s win over No. 2 Syracuse and No. 13 Georgetown will help the Bearcats in seeding come Selection Sunday. Wins over these two ranked teams gives Cincinnati the most wins over ranked teams in the NCAA this season.   

Before the 2012 NCAA tournament Cincy will first take on the Louisville Cardinals in the Big East tournament title game. Louisville pulled off its own upsets in the Big East tournament with wins over No. 9 Marquette and No. 23 Notre Dame. Louisville last won the Big East tournament title in 2009. 

Few would have predicted the Big East tournament title game would involve these two unranked opponents who last played each other on February 23. In that game the Bearcats beat the Cardinals 60-56.

Momentum is strong with the Cincinnati Bearcats as they take on the best in conference Syracuse Orange on Friday night. I feel an upset coming. 

Syracuse looked every bit susceptible in their eventual win against Connecticut. UConn was unrelenting on defense but had trouble shooting the ball. 

On any other day, UConn may have finished the deed, but that brings us to Syracuse, who themselves had issues with getting buckets in their opener. 

They may have come away with the win, but they certainly were not unscathed, as the Orange shot 30 percent from the floor and a 3-for-14, 21 percent from three-point land. 

Syracuse was shaky and the team they face on Friday night is flourishing. This is the time of year when upsets spring up like the kid with the awkward face that has become far too visible for his own good. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDHYLL8N3KI

On the flip side, there are the Cincinnati Bearcats who came into the Big East tournament trying to prove they deserved notice and improve their seeding. They have done both. 

We may see the adulation for the program reach a record high after a night in which they dispatch one of the best teams in the nation. 

Georgetown had no answer for Yancy Gates and his huge frame, and Syracuse will find it just as hard to fight off this surging team and their big man who is on a quest right now. 

The amazing part of their win against the Georgetown Hoyas is that Cincinnati never shot well from three, and that proves they don't have to rely on such measures to stave off a deeper team like Syracuse. 

They have the size with Gates and come in with a great backcourt of Dion Dixon, Cashmere Wright and Sean Kilpatrick who will be keyed in on the defensive end as well. 

The Bearcats are playing a more versatile game and are riding high on the upset of the Hoyas. The shocks will not end there as they have a huge surprise in store for a Syracuse team that did not play like one of the best around on Thursday. 

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If you're reading this article, chances are you are like me—a big Cincinnati Bearcat fan.  But if you don't know much about UC, let's do a quick review.

You've heard of Bob Huggins, right?  He was the man who showed up at Cincinnati in 1990 after a decade of futility and built a perennial winner—starting with a trip to the Final Four in his third season at the helm and then two more Elite Eight appearances in the next four seasons. 

Huggins was big on toughness, getting every ounce of ability and heart out of his players, and controlling what you can control—defense and rebounding.  On the nights you aren't hitting shots, you've got to have constants in order to pull out the tough win.

In the late 90's, a scrawny former high school point guard named Mick Cronin, the son of highly successful coach high school Hep Cronin, landed a job as video coordinator with the Bearcats. 

Mick soaked up every last bit of wisdom and toughness from Huggins as he became a full-time assistant coach.  A few years later, Cronin had the opportunity to study under Rick Pitino, the man who has taken three different schools to the Final Four and won a national championship. 

So, if you're scoring at home, Mick Cronin grew up the son of a prolific high school coach, then studied under two of the most successful college basketball coaches of the past thirty years. 

Cronin finally got his call to run a program when Murray State brought him aboard back in 2003.  He promptly took the Racers to the NCAA Tournament two out of three years, including one season in which his shorthanded squad pushed highly-ranked North Carolina to the brink in a tough Round One loss. 

Meanwhile, Huggins was falling out of favor at Cincinnati.  We needn't go into why.  Either way, UC needed a new head coach.  Cronin was brought in for an interview and it was obvious right away that this guy was The Guy.  Cronin was a lifelong Bearcat fan, and declared that this was his dream job.  He said he would do whatever it took to get the program back to national prominence--whatever it took, no matter what. 

So, having taken the job in March with no roster, he worked two cell phones to death just to come up with enough players to field a team.  Oh, and I should also mention that UC's scholastic pedigree had been highly scrutinized, so the athletic director also tabbed Cronin with the responsibility to not only find bodies, but find bodies that would get good grades.

Well, Cronin found enough players, but as you can imagine, they weren't the most talented.  UC finished with just two wins in the Big East back in 2006-07.

Cronin wasn't deterred.  He stuck with the plan. 

And, after a few more tough-to-swallow seasons, he finally climbed the mountain last year, leading the Bearcats back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since Huggins donned the sweatsuit on the sidelines for UC.  The 'Cats even won their first round game over Missouri handily before falling to eventual national champ UConn.

Fast forward to today.  UC defied the odds to finish 12-6 in the Big East this season, earning the four-seed at the conference tournament in New York.  The reward?  14th ranked Georgetown in the quarterfinals—a team Cronin had defeated three straight times and five of six, including handing the Hoyas their lone home loss this season. 

Surely UC couldn't knock off Georgetown four straight times, right?

Wrong.  Despite connecting on only two of 21 three-point attempts, the Bearcats found a way to vanquish John Thompson III's well-oiled machine 72-70 in double overtime. 

The star of the game was senior Yancy Gates, the man whose decision to stay at home and go to UC may have just saved the program.  The same man, yes, who starred in the infamous brawl against Xavier back in December.

The bottom line is this.  While most of the nation has overlooked the job Mick Cronin has done at Cincinnati—especially considering the of-late debacles at past-perennial winning programs like Georgia Tech, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, etc.—the fact remains that a win like today's forces those pundits to take notice. 

The more big wins Cronin piles up—if he's fortunate enough to do so this postseason—he will have secured himself a spot next to some of the best coaches in college basketball.

The Big East was the powerhouse of college basketball for years, but aside from Syracuse, there is no one in the conference that really makes you stand up and take notice. 

Marquette is clearly the second best team in the conference and no one talks about them as a threat to do much of anything. 

This year's conference tournament is a wide open race, which has really become a hallmark of this. Connecticut wasn't on anyone's radar last year, and things worked out well for them. 

Here are the teams that could be this year's Connecticut. 

Louisville Cardinals

It has been a rough three weeks for the Cardinals, with four losses in their last six games. They haven't gotten blown out, but they aren't doing enough to come out on top either. 

After a 12-0 start to the season, Rick Pitino's bunch has gone just 10-9. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the Cardinals. Don't be fooled, they have the talent to compete with the best teams in the conference. 

If their shooters actually show up, which has not happened a lot lately, they have the talent to make sure they get past at least the first two rounds. 

Cincinnati Bearcats

The Bearcats have a leg up on the other dark horse contenders in this tournament because they have already beaten three of the top four teams—Georgetown, Notre Dame, Marquette. 

They ended the season on a hot streak, with five wins in their last six games and came after losing four of their previous six. 

Like Connecticut last year, the Bearcats have been searching for consistency in conference play. They are well coached and disciplined, but need to put it all together on the court for the next five days. 

Connecticut Huskies

Who better to play the Connecticut Huskies than UConn?

This was not exactly the strong follow-up season that Jim Calhoun and his staff were looking for following a national championship in 2011, but there is no time to wonder what might have been. 

A mediocre 18-12 record aside, this team is still loaded with talent. Players like Jeremy Lamb and Ryan Boatright have been bright spots, everyone else around them has to step up their game. 

They got off to a good start against DePaul on Tuesday. A matchup against West Virginia today will likely seal their fate for the NCAA tournament. 

We know they are going to have the coaching to make a deep run. Even without a Kemba Walker-type player on the team this year, they can do it again if everyone tries to play together. 

Tuesday, March 6 - First Round

Game 1: Connecticut def. DePaul, 81-67
Game 2: Pittsburgh def. St. John's. 73-59
Game 3: Seton Hall def. Providence, 79-47
Game 4: Villanova def. Rutgers, 70-49

Wednesday, March 7 - Second Round

12:00 p.m.: Connecticut vs. No. 8 West Virginia (Game 5) - ESPN
2:00 p.m.: Pitt vs. No. 5 Georgetown (Game 6) - ESPN
7:00 p.m.: Seton Hall vs. No. 7 Louisville (Game 7) - ESPN
9:00 p.m.: Villanova vs. No. 6 USF (Game 8) - ESPN

Thursday, March 8 - Quarterfinals

12:00 p.m.: Game 5 Winner vs. No. 1 Syracuse (Game 9) - ESPN
2:00 p.m.: Game 6 Winner vs. No. 4 Cincinnati (Game 10) - ESPN
7:00 p.m.: Game 7 Winner vs. No. 2 Marquette (Game 11) - ESPN
9:00 p.m.: Game 8 Winner vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (Game 12) - ESPN

Friday, March 9 - Semifinals

7:00 p.m.: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner - ESPN
9:00 p.m.: Game 11 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner - ESPN

Saturday, March 10 - Championship Game

9:00 p.m.: Semifinal Winners - ESPN

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The Big East Tournament is one last taste of pressure before the all-important big dance. The Cincinnati Bearcats have already put on their dancing shoes. 

The Bearcats played No. 8 Marquette like a team that had nothing to lose, not like a program that was trying to prove something. 

By the end of a stirring performance, they had me believing that they could indeed crack into the field for March Madness.

More than that, I was fully convinced this squad was ready to shine at the Big East Tournament. 

The Bearcats will take on Villanova in a couple of days, but it was their win against Marquette that has most people buying into Cincy, lacing up the sneakers for an even greater chance at epic upsets in the NCAA tournament. 

The Bearcats kept Marquette to 61 points and lived off a flurry of layups to get to their 72. It was all about confidence and an assertive attack that saw JaQuon Parker drive the lane for a career-high 28 points. 

If the Bearcats are going to make the tourney and do some damage, they have to play the way they did against Marquette, with an aggressive demeanor that puts even the best teams on their heels. 

The important thing is to make it to the dance on Selection Sunday. That is something that nobody can guarantee at the moment, but there is enough to think they will do just that. 

ESPN's Eamonn Brennan agrees. 

It is growing increasingly difficult to see just how the committee would justify keeping the Cincinnati Bearcats out of the NCAA tournament...Cincinnati has now picked off Marquette, Georgetown (at Georgetown), Louisville and Notre Dame. The first two are top-10 bubble teams. The latter two are safely in the tournament field. 

There are a few teams still on the bubble headed into conference tournaments, but none are more intriguing than Cincinnati. 

I see great things for them when they take on all comers at the Big East tourney. A great showing there should put little doubt as to the next step in this program's future. 

After upsetting some teams in New York, it's time to take their confidence to another level deeper into March. 

I certainly hope this is the case, because a team like Cincinnati makes the tournament far more interesting to watch. 

Not many teams can say they beat the No. 11 team in the country on the road twice in the span of 10 days. The Cincinnati Bearcats can, however.

After a thrilling 70-67 win over No. 11 Connecticut on the road Wednesday night, the Bearcats find themselves in sole possession of second place in the Big East standings.

They also won their eighth straight Big East road game.

Once again, they did it with defense and excellent guard play.

The four-guard offense now only starts the game with three, but when the game is on the line, there are usually four on the floor and they all delivered in a big way Wednesday night.

Those four guards all finished with between 12-16 points, and Cincinnati only turned the ball over five times the entire game. 

That helped them overcome a rebounding deficit of nine.

The Bearcats won in all-too-familiar fashion, hanging on in a close game against a team with more size and talent.

The grind of the Big East will not get any easier as Cincinnati will travel to Morgantown to take on West Virginia on Saturday before returning home to take on No. 1 Syracuse on Monday.

Continuing their winning ways will be nearly impossible given the games coming up, but if Cincinnati can win the games they are supposed to, they will have no trouble getting back to the NCAA Tournament. 

The win over Connecticut, who has an RPI of No. 8, moved Cincinnati up from No. 101 to No. 85 in the standings, and they will have two more big chances with West Virginia at No. 13 and Syracuse at No. 1.

Getting those two wins would not only put Cincinnati back in the rankings, but would also start chatter about the possibility of winning the Big East.

But, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here.

Cincinnati still has a lot to prove and has to continue to beat good teams, but the way they are playing now, they are extremely tough to beat, particularly when they are on the road.

That is perhaps the best quality to have in college basketball.

After starting the season losing three of their first eight games, the Cincinnati Bearcats have won nine of their last ten games, including seven-straight Big East road games dating back to last season.

That number is virtually unimaginable for any team, let alone the Bearcats.

They have been getting those wins by playing hard defense and taking care of the ball on offense.

The ball security can be pinned primarily on the new four-guard offense. An offense that only turned the ball over three times on Saturday in an 82-78 win over Villanova. That number tied a school record.

Leading the way in the four-guard offense is sophomore Sean Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick leads the team, averaging 16.2 points per game and can score from anywhere on the court.

Senior guard Dion Dixon is second on the team with an average of 14.1 points a night.

Point guard Cashmere Wright anchors the offense and averages 10.3 points and five assists a night. Wright is the key to the offense.

The final member of the four-guard offense is Jaquon Parker. Parker missed the early part of the season with a groin injury, but has come on strong in recent weeks and averages 9.3 points a game while shooting an amazing 58 percent from downtown.

The group is eerily reminiscent of the Villanova four-guard offense from 2006 and probably gave head coach Jay Wright flashbacks on Saturday of the top five team he took to the Elite Eight a few years ago.

That offense had a little more talent than Cincinnati and included the likes of Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, Allan Ray and Mike Nardi.

There was clearly NBA talent in that group which may not be the case for Cincinnati, but the basic principles are the same and Cincinnati has a difference-maker in the middle that Villanova did not.

That difference-make is senior Yancy Gates, the most talented player on the Cincinnati roster. While he averages 12 points and nine rebounds a game, he does so much on the defensive side of the ball and plays very well with the four guards around him.

Those four guards will be tested tonight when Cincinnati puts its road winning streak on the line against No. 11 Connecticut.

With the exception of No. 1 Syracuse, Connecticut has more talent and size than anybody in the conference. This will certainly be a tall order for head coach Mick Cronin and his Bearcats squad.

If they can win the game it will go a long way toward locking up their NCAA Tournament hopes, also proving that speed and quickness is sometimes hard for talent and size to match up with.

After the disgusting brawl at the end of the Cincinnati-Xavier basketball game on Saturday, Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin made a speech that made me and a lot of fans think he was an incredible coach.

He said that he was so embarrassed by the incident that he took every one of his players’ jerseys away from them and they would have to earn their way back onto his team. 

He continued with a rant about how lucky these kids were to be at the University of Cincinnati, or college in general, and that there are plenty of kids who can’t afford to go to college that would love the opportunity that these players have.

The speech was fantastic because it echoes the feelings that I have about college athletes exactly.

Unfortunately it turns out that reality set in for Cronin, and he realized that he is not as morally sound as he thought he was.

After claiming that the behavior displayed by the players is not acceptable at the University of Cincinnati and implying that these kids would not play basketball for his team, he came down on the players with a six-game suspension.

Six games in a season of over 30 games is barely a slap on the wrist and in no way reflects the crackdown that he preached about on Saturday.

This was beyond a pushing and shoving match that occasionally occurs in basketball, a physical and emotional game. 

This was an all-out street brawl in which a group of thugs rallied to inflict as much pain as they could on the other guys.

A sucker punch by Yancy Gates was just the beginning.  After the blind-siding sucker punch that dropped Xavier center Kenny Frease to the floor, Cheikh Mbodj stomped on him like a complete thug.

Anyone that has been involved with an on-court fight knows that anyone that comes in the assist should be doing only one thing, stopping the fight. 

Each team should be doing what they need to do to pull their own guy away from the fight and calm the flaring tempers.

That’s what teams with class do.  They don’t run in looking to sucker punch someone.

In my opinion, Ge'Lawn Guyn, the Cincinnati bench player who came onto the floor and started the whole ruckus, should be kicked off of the team as well as Yancy Gates, who fueled the fire by throwing the ball full force into the face of Xavier’s Tu Holloway.

Had either of them acted like civilized human beings, this would have never escalated beyond verbal sparring.

Cronin had, and still has, an opportunity to set precedence at the University of Cincinnati and in college basketball, and so far he has dropped the ball.

Suspensions have been handed out to both Cincinnati Bearcats and Xavier Musketeers players. The penalties range from missing anywhere from one to six games of the 2011-12 college basketball season.

Cincinnati's Yancy Gates received the most stiff penalty—a six-game suspension. Gates punched Xavier's Kenny Frease in the face, leaving Frease with a laceration below his left eye. Gates also allegedly struck another Xavier player during the fight.

Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said Monday that he is considering whether or not criminal charges are appropriate in this case.

This incident raises the question: should criminal charges be levied in sports fights?

When do the overly-aggressive actions of an athlete in the heat of a game cross the line and merit a prosecutor's investigation?

Scott Daniels, Esq of Markhoff & Mittman, P.C. states that "athletes who become victims of violent attacks on the playing field should absolutely seek recourse by way of our legal system, especially if they incur an injury that prevents them from playing."

But this is a separate issue. Daniels' assertion is about the individuals involved seeking action against the offenders.

The more important matter is: Should there be a legal exception for what happens on the court, field or rink in the name of sports?

The answer is no.

If something would be considered battery in the stands or parking lot for a fan then it should be for a player wearing a uniform in the context of a game.

There should be no magical line that allows for unlawful behavior of any kind within sports.

If the same incident that happened in the closing seconds of Saturday's game between Xavier and Cincinnati happened in the parking lot, there would be no question about what would take place. The police would be called and arrests would be made.

I don't think that these or other athletes, whether they be college or pro, should be held to a higher legal standard.

But, there is no logical reason why any concession should be made for actions which cross legal lines.

The University of Cincinnati has announced the additional punishments being handed down to Bearcats basketball players who participated in the brawl against Xavier yesterday.

They aren’t nearly as severe as they need to be.

Yancy Gates, Octavius Ellis and Cheikh Mbodj each are getting six-game suspensions while Ge’Lawn Guyn will be out for just one game.

The NCAA automatically suspended Mbodj and Gates for a game because they were ejected, and these suspensions roll into that rather than adding on to it.

That’s a ridiculously weak punishment, and the statement from Whit Babcock, the athletic director at Cincinnati, is a joke.

"After reviewing all available video and giving due deliberation to the seriousness of this behavior, we have decided to take these actions," said Babcock. "We want to deal with this in a prompt and direct manner and send the message that we will not tolerate this from those who have the privilege of representing the University of Cincinnati."

Is he kidding?

Did he actually watch the brawl when he reviewed the tape?

Gates was legitimately squaring up like a prizefighter well after he knocked Kenny Frease out at the start of the fight, and Mbodj kicked the Xavier center while he was down.

It was a disgusting end to a game and it turned a sport that can be as beautiful as basketball into a melee that tarnished the reputation of both Cincinnati-based schools.

Now by skirting around a real punishment for these men, especially Gates and Mbodj for their heinous acts, it reflects very poorly on the university, the conference and college basketball in general.

It also sets an awful precedent where kids can just knock someone out at the end of a blowout and know they will just sit for six games.

That’s ridiculous.

This isn't football, in which six games is half of a season. Six games is barely anything in college basketball, and it could literally be served in two weeks or less on some occasions.

Cincinnati needs to, at the very least, double these punishments and get some NCAA input before coming out with these weak sentences for students who represent their school.