Yesterday, I came under slight fire by not totally disagreeing with a piece on Ballin is a Habit that stated that UC wasn’t a tournament team. I didn’t really agree with the author’s take on how UC was mediocre. That kind of statement seems pretty rash considering how this team has performed against the above decent teams they have played. I certainly didn’t think that they looked mediocre against Villanova. I don’t think they looked good, but I also don’t think they looked bad. Maybe mediocre seems like a harsh word, but is it really that different than saying they looked alright or kinda good? Probably. The defense played well for the most part, so mediocre is not the right word. That actually brings me to something else I want to talk about.
The national reaction to the Villanova game is one of the reasons I was not very pleased with playing such a terrible non-conference schedule. I think a lot of people who haven’t, or didn’t closely, followed UC basketball took a look at the schedule after they were 10-0, and said “yeah, let’s see what happens when they play someone.” Their eyes opened a little for the Crosstown Shootout, but if you read recaps and analysis about the game, there were quite a few people who were quick to point to Xavier’s injury problems as pretty much the defining reason that UC won by 20. That’s a fair point, but Xavier still hung with Florida the game before that, and Cincinnati absolutely dominated them. The Musketeers hadn’t be beaten on the road at Gonzaga. Even by destroying their rival, the Bearcats didn’t get a ton of national respect.
That brings us to the Villanova game on Sunday. The Bearcats hung with Nova early, then absolutely collapsed for the rest of the first half, finishing down 16. The lead got to 20, then the Bearcats stormed back. They played most of the second half with Villanova within 10 points. The Bearcats missed chances to cut the lead to 5 or 4 a few times, as Nova eventually moved the margin up a few more scores to close out the contest. The big takeaway from the game, well judging from a few articles, is not so much that Cincinnati couldn’t quite come back, it’s that they fell behind by 20 points. Fairly or unfairly, UC was judged by their worst 10 minutes of the season. Unfortunately for UC, it came against their best opponent in their biggest test. It also came when the national perspective about them was starting to get written. The people who didn’t believe in the Bearcats still don’t. They weren’t supposed to go to Nova and win, and they lost by double digits. The people who believed in the Bearcats, they point to the fact that UC’s offense was ice cold and that they had a big comeback and for most of the game, they were Nova’s equal. They can also point to the horrendous non-foul called on the Parker jump shot, and how that was a potential 6 point turnaround, because that’s when the Mick Cronin tech happened, and Nova got a 4 point possession. Like it or not, the Cincinnati Bearcats early season dominance was seemingly written off nationally because they lost to Villanova.
I certainly don’t like the last sentence. I think that the Bearcats have been impressive, and I think they have showed a whole lot more than just the Nova game. I think that they can hang with anyone in the Big East. Almost luckily for all of us, the Bearcats are getting a huge chance to show the nation what they are made of coming up. Judging by some of the talk and general things that I’ve heard, the Bearcats are going to need 10-12 Big East wins to have a pretty good shot to be an at large bid for the NCAA tournament. That’s the only ranking that matters. I still don’t know why Mick Cronin is so obsessed with the top 25. He really should be obsessed with bracketology and say “hey guys, that stupid asshole Lunardi has us as a 10! A fucking 10! Can you believe that disrespect? Let’s shove it up his pretty clueless for a person who is paid to guess the brackets ass.” Instead, his vitriol is saved for some dude in Tulsa who didn’t vote the Bearcats in his top 25. Hating Lunardi will get you a lot further Mick. What was I talking about? Oh yes, the chances UC has to turn heads. The Bearcats are kind of luckily because their major chance to turn a lot of national heads will be in road games. UC plays South Florida tomorrow, and then it’s off to Syracuse, Notre Dame and St John’s. A winning road trip would go a long, long way. As we’ve seen with other teams around the league, road wins don’t come easy. Virtually no one seems to win at Syracuse and Notre Dame, and I think the Bearcats could play with both of those teams. Last season in South Bend went pretty horribly now I think of it, but this squad isn’t that squad. That brings me to my final point.
I think much of the national stance on UC has been cast as negative because the Bearcats don’t have a superstar. It seems that everyone in the Big East circles are waiting for Yancy Gates to become that man, and I think that’s happening. He’s averaging 15 and 8 the past 5 games. He’s also blocked 7 shots in that span. While people are waiting for Gates to become a double double monster that runs the Big East, I think that light is starting to turn on. One of the disadvantages for the ‘everyone can be the star’ team, is that there isn’t someone for the public at large to latch on to. Look at Connecticut. While they have some very nice wins, I don’t think anyone would say they are one of the 3 best teams in the conference. Yet, with the way they are talked about because of the great Kemba Walker, people assume they are part of the conversation. I think UC got a lot of benefit of the doubt in getting ranked early in the season because they had superstar freshman Lance Stephenson and 4 year stalwart Deonta Vaughn. The presence of those two kept UC on bubble watches and in the at large discussion, even though they shouldn’t have been considered. This Cincinnati team is better than that team. I wish the rest of the nation would take notice.
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