Yes friends, the Bearcats Blog is not dead (un)fortunately. Computer problems really kicked in on Wednesday night through Saturday. Then, nothing went wrong. I have no idea what happened, but things seem to be working well now. What’s not really working well is the blog flow. I got thrown off balance. That off balance kept going through the weekend, where I couldn’t see the basketball game. That carried over to no one having a good recap of the basketball game. That’s not going to stop me from telling you about it, among other things, but that’s not going to be all of this post. This is a multi layered post disguised as a game recap. It’s the Inspector Gadget (wooo hooo) of posts on this Monday.
First things first, last Thursday was the 1 year anniversary of me having a blog. I know I wet my pants thanking god knows how many people when I moved to Bloguin, but I’m still going to do that now. Blogs come, and blogs go. I’ve seen some that I really like die. I’ve seen some I like turn to shit. I hope you haven’t seen either of those things happen with this blog. It couldn’t really turn to shit, because let’s face it, it’s all been shit. There was a void in UC blogs at this time last year, and I just wanted to be a small part of it to fill a void that people like me had. I’ve been a small part of it, and I think that I’ve done a decent job at filling the void. I’ve gone on my soapbox a few times. I’ve taken it to the man. I’ve gone deep stat nerd on everyone. I’ve tried to keep things interesting. I want to do a better job of keeping things interesting though. I don’t want this to feel like something I have to do. It’s been a year, and besides the month I moved to Bloguin, I’ve done it nearly every day and it’s been a thing I’ve wanted to do. I got really excited when people like Dan Hoard and DeJuan Gossett, people that I watched and liked, let me ask them stupid questions. DeJuan especially, because I bombarded him much more than Dan Hoard. Dan was gracious enough to get the word out on the interview, which was one of the coolest moments ever.
I’d like to thank everyone who got the word out on the blog. Whether it was retweeting something that I wrote on twitter, joining the facebook group (join the facebook group!), telling your friends facts that I wrote here and claiming them as your own (I do it too), that’s so much appreciated. I really can’t explain how cool it is seeing that happen with other people that I read, and then it happening to me. It’s just cool. There have been a lot of blog friends that have really helped me out. There is Sean from Nunes, Mike from Card Chronicle, Mark from Collision Course, Matt from Down the Drive, the guys at Voodoo 5, Blackburn Review, Casual Hoya, the UConn Blog, Mike from UC Huskies, Paul from CNati and now of Go Bearcats, Pico from East Coast Bias and Brian from Orange 44 to name a few. I’d also like to thank Tim Starks from the Queensbury Rules for being very good at writing his blog, and for being the person that pushed Bloguin to me. To be honest, I would have loved to join SB Nation, but I couldn’t say no when Bloguin asked me to join. It’s good to be wanted, and especially good to be wanted by people who are as good as the guys who run Bloguin. I’ve bothered Derek and Ben with so much stupid shit that they probably wanted me to go back to blogspot. It’s all been very good, and I’ve found some blogs that I didn’t know of, or wouldn’t think of reading. Like Metstradomis. I didn’t really think that I would be accepted into the blogging community that I read from a distance for so long.
Most importantly, I wouldn’t blog if no one read the things I write. That’s why the biggest thank you is for the people that read this. Thanks to snowball gate, I’ve had my best month ever with the blog. That’s part to the audience slowly growing as more people google Cincinnati Bearcats Blog, which I appear near the top in, which is so amazingly awesome, and to people like you, who read this and retweet it and email it to your grandma and tell your friends, and tell your enemies. The people that read this to their partner during sex aren’t thanked, because that’s weird Michael. Stop doing it. I haven’t seen a 0 appear on page views yet, and as long as that happens, I’ll continue to try and be better for everyone.
One thing that is trying to be better for everyone, is Bearcats basketball squad. The team improved to 8-0 with another dominating win over a garbage opponent. The Bearcats once again jumped out early, this time 17-2. The Bearcats hit 7 of 9 in that stretch, powered mainly by the man pictured up top, Rashad Bishop. Utah Valley decided to read the preview where I said that UC couldn’t shoot the outside shot. That turned out to be a very dumb thing of them, and so far, of me. The Bearcats bombed 28 three pointers on the night, and canned 14 of them. Bishop hit 3-3, all in the first half, but the star from deep was Cashmere Wright. Cash hit 5-9 from downtown, for all of his 15 points. Dion Dixon, my best friend, hit 2-4 as the only other Bearcat to make multiples. Yancy Gates, yeah Yancy Gates, Sean Kilpatrick, Darnell Wilks and Larry Davis made the others.
Even with the big start, the Bearcats let Utah Valley hang around, mainly because they let UV shoot 52% in the first half, and 55% from three. The lead was cut to 10 late in the half, before the Bearcats had a little run to push it back up to 18 at the half. The second half saw the Bearcats push the lead even more, up to 26 at one point. It went as low as 15, which is not really low. The Bearcats could have scored more, but their poor second half shooting and poor free throw shooting reared their ugly heads again. UC followed a 56% shooting first half, with a 39% second half. They were 8-14 from three, to 6-14. The free throw shooting started off well, 8-12, but devolved into 6-13. Thomas went 1-4, Wilks 1-3, Parker 3-5, while Dixon went 5-6 and Gates 3-4. The Bearcats continue to be one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country. Thomas can shoot the outside shot, but he can’t shoot from anywhere else really. Wilks we know can shoot, and not hitting free throws is unacceptable. Same with Parker, point guards need to make foul shots. Those were the only two negatives in the game though. The Bearcats are 8-0, and should get win 9 tomorrow night.
The stat leaders in the Utah Valley win were Rashad Bishop with 17 on 7-7 shooting, Cashmere Wright with 15-4 steals, Dion Dixon 15-4 assists, Yancy Gates 14-2 blocks, Ibrahima Thomas had a double double with 11-12, Darnell Wilks 6, Larry Davis 5, Sean Kilpatrick 4, JaQuon Parker 3 and Justin Jackson 2. Justin Jackson had 3 fouls in 10 minutes. I love Justin Jackson, but dude needs to stay on the floor.
I’ll save the third part of what I wanted to talk about for the game preview tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Also, thanks for the photo AP
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