I thought that didn't go into affect until the 2008-09 Season.... I could be wrong though.

^You may very well be right, but all I know is that the rule has changed.  As for the time table for it to go into effect...I'm a little more hazy.

Got clarification today... top 12 BEast teams go to MSG. Next season, all 16 go.

 

Wow shocking win today over the 19th ranked team.

That was sweet.  Bearcats basketball is officially intensely watchable again.

Another great win for the Bearcats today!  We are now 4-2 in the Big East with wins over Louisville, Villanova, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh...and losses to St. Johns and Notre Dame.

 

If we would have been clicking like this early in the year and avoided some of those embarrassing losses, then we would probably be ranked right about now.  I'm just glad we are competitive this year...I didn't think this kind of play would emerge until next season.  My hopes for that have now been officially upgraded.

I agree Rando. Mick now has two top twenty five wins this season, which is better than either Huggins or Kennedy in their last years.

 

For about 3 or 4 seasons before the Huggins thing finally went down, I felt he needed to go, not because he's an inveterate 'bag, though he is, but because of the team's performance. He got very little out of some talented squads late in his tenure, like the 03-04 and 04-05 teams with Max and White, unless you count beating the piss out of a sorry league. It all started far earlier, actually, probably when we lost to Miss St in Lexington.

 

Nothing is weaker than these so-called fans who venerate Huggins, who is a slimeball nonpareil. I remember going to opening day and Huggins was there holding court on the silly boat party deck thing. Everyone was shouting, "we love you Bob" and so forth, so I shouted, "Go UC! Forget about Huggins, we'll be better without him" and whatnot. People looked at me like I had two heads.

 

At any rate, I'm glad to see that the program might now fully turn the corner, and earlier than I expected.

I was checking at the RPI index. UC was ranked #110 at 8-8 at the time of the poll. The strength of schedule was #25. With this latest win both numbers should go higher.

Nothing is weaker than these so-called fans who venerate Huggins, who is a slimeball nonpareil. I remember going to opening day and Huggins was there holding court on the silly boat party deck thing. Everyone was shouting, "we love you Bob" and so forth, so I shouted, "Go UC! Forget about Huggins, we'll be better without him" and whatnot. People looked at me like I had two heads.

 

I have run into this consistently for the past few years without Huggs and the couple years prior to his departure.  It's as if you don't out-and-out support Huggs that you are some mutant.  Then again, this same thing goes when I say I'm from Ohio, and that I'm NOT an Ohio State fan.

Seeds of upsets planted

Cronin instilled philosophy at UC

BY BILL KOCH | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

January 21, 2008

 

UPTOWN - As the losses accumulated last year, University of Cincinnati basketball fans probably got sick of hearing coach Mick Cronin talk about laying the foundation for the future.  All they saw was a string of losses followed by another string of losses with no end in sight.  "Coaches say a lot of things that fans kind of don't believe," Cronin said.

 

But in this case, Cronin was speaking the truth.  He had a plan all along and now that plan is beginning to bear fruit, with the Bearcats having pulled even at 9-9 overall, 4-2 in the Big East Conference, and with two victories over Top 25 opponents in an eight-day span.  The latest ranked victim was No. 15 Pitt, which fell to the Bearcats on Saturday, 62-59, at Fifth Third Arena.

 

Damn, we almost had UConn last night...should of had the win.  The youth definitely showed through...and some spotty calls by the refs (UC shot ZERO free-throws in the 1st half, UConn had double the attempts from the line, and there were 2 questionable calls late in the game that hurt UC).

Cats throw down Mountaineers

Cronin gets best of Huggins in first battle of old friends

BY BILL KOCH | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

January 31, 2008

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Bob Huggins won 399 games coaching the University of Cincinnati Bearcats for 16 seasons, but he's 0-1 coaching against them.  In his first game against UC since he was forced out as the Bearcats' head coach in 2005, Huggins saw his West Virginia team blown out 62-39 Wednesday night before 10,082 at WVU Coliseum.

 

It was another signature victory for UC coach Mick Cronin, a former Huggins assistant at UC, who has now beaten both of his mentors - Huggins and Louisville coach Rick Pitino - on the road this season.  And it might have bolstered his stock in the minds of those UC fans who still haven't gotten over Huggins' departure.

 

Wow I can't believe they are getting beat by 50.

we suck

Report: Chane Behanan to UC

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blog06&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3ade3ab7e7-5e43-4e32-8612-155786b59a09Post%3a08e874d7-f323-4a3f-8023-4fd7b70e1f47&s

 

Aiken basketball star Chane Behanan has given an oral commitment to the University of Cincinnati. Behanan, a 6-6 forward entering his sophomore year at Aiken, averaged 20.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game for the Falcons' varsity last season.  He was first team Enquirer Division I all-area and all-Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference.  Ohio High magazine rates Behanan the No. 1 sophomore prospect in Ohio.

 

FS Ohio turns off Bearcats, upsets fans

http://www.urbancincy.com/2008/12/fs-ohio-turns-off-bearcats-upsets-fans.html

 

The Bearcats basketball team had a thrilling come from behind victory over Eastern Kentucky University on Saturday night to improve to 9-2 overall. Unfortunately though the only people to see the late rally and win, by the Bearcats, were the roughly 7,000 fans in attendance as Fox Sports Ohio decided to cut away from the game with 1:20 left in regulation.

 

FS Ohio cut away for a Columbus Bluejackets NHL game. As a result the thousands of TV viewers missed the late rally and last second alley-oop dunk (Vaughn to Gates) to tie the game and send it into overtime. The Bearcats controlled the extra session and won by eight, and it was a truly thrilling end to see in person.

 

The many fans who missed the finish were none too happy and reportedly flooded FS Ohio's office with complaints and thoughts of the Heide Game in mind. My suggestion - show up to the games in person. Fifth Third Arena has a 13,176 capacity (filled only once this year). The average attendance is somewhere in the 6,000-7,000 range. As a result there are plenty of good seats available for a young team with lots of talent that is quickly rising in the polls.

 

The Bearcats next home game is tomorrow night (12/22) at 7:30pm. UC will play host to Arkansas Pine Bluff in their last non-conference home game before Big East play begins. It is a crucial game that the Bearcats need to win.

 

The Bearcats need to head into Big East play with a minimum of 10 wins and no bad losses. So far, so good as a win against Arkansas Pine Bluff would be win number 10 and the only two losses have come to Xavier and Florida State. If the Bearcats can then manage another 10 wins through the remainder of the season and get to the 20 win plateau then they'll be sitting pretty for a NCAA Tournament birth (see schedule/results here).

It was a technical problem:

Here's the statement from FSN Ohio:

 

    A rare, computer-generated error at Fox Sports Ohio's transmission center in New York caused the very unfortunate switch from University of Cincinnati men's basketball to other network programming at end of the UC game on Saturday, December 20th. When Fox Sports Ohio received notification, we immediately went to work to correct the problem. However, because of the amount of time left in the game, we were not able to override this computer-generated error in time.

 

    Fox Sports Ohio is proud to bring UC basketball to the fans in Cincinnati and beyond. We fully understand the strong emotions concerning this error and would like to extend a sincere, heartfelt apology to the outstanding fans that follow Bearcat basketball on Fox Sports Ohio.

 

However, because of the amount of time left in the game, we were not able to override this computer-generated error in time.

 

Even through overtime they did not have enough time to correct this?  That was ridiculous.

The dropped they ball on this and know it. I hope UC don't renew their contract with them.

^How do *you* know that?  Jesus.

 

And if UC were to not renew the contract, where do you think those games would be televised?

FSN "CYA" The computer glitch happened at excatly 8:30?  It wasn't properly confgured and switched automatically. Someone was asleep at the switch. The Blue Jackets were on FSN and FSN-HD, so that was a different statewide feed altogether, I think.

 

Rando, As far as chiding folks for not going; some of us have <very> young kids, and can't just waltz down to Shoemaker for every home game. I would have liked to seen the end of the game.

Rando, As far as chiding folks for not going; some of us have <very> young kids, and can't just waltz down to Shoemaker for every home game. I would have liked to seen the end of the game.

 

Some people just can't spend $30 to see the game, so they try to catch it on television at home or in a bar or restaurant.

This is a metro of about 2.5 million people. I think we can fill up a 13,000 seat arena. I will chide all I want. Obviously not everyone can attend the games for various legit reasons, but overall we should be able to do better than what we do.  I think Cincinnati has some of the worst sports fans in the entire country. The amount of people that leave games early is ridiculous too. There aren't serious traffic congestion problems in/around UC for these events...especially when there are only 6-7k at a game.

 

How we turn out 65,000 to the lousy Bengals games and average 31,000 at the Bearcat football games is beyond me.

Well the Bearcats have sucked for a lonnng time, so you can't expect people to just become bearcats fans over night due to one or two good seasons.  I think a win in the Orange Bowl will convince people that UC football is legit, and next year's sales will be much higher.

 

Cincinnati fans might be bad, but our sports teams have always been worse.  It's hard to be a good team when you have the shitty Reds who haven't been to the playoffs in a long, long, time, the Bengals (...no explanation needed), Bearcat football that was historically awful, and now Bearcat Basketball being in the tank.  Remember, when the Bearcats were good, the Shoe was sold out for every game.  When you have people that remember that kind of success (albeit regular season and choking in the NCAA), a team that can barely beat EKU just doesn't seem like a worthwhile investment.

^^ Years of losing for any organization, in any city breeds apathy and disinterest. Throw in the fact that much of UC basketball's fan base was alienated by the Huggins ouster and it takes some time to fill in the seats. You sound very much like the typical Cincinnati nay-sayer who chooses not pay attention to the positives. We aren't that large of a metro for the amount of sports that we support. When teams give us a little, we give a lot (see 2005 Bengals and the continued support).

 

Oh and comparing professional and college sports support is somewhat ridiculous. There are 32 professional football franchises and we have one of them. There are 342 division 1 colleges and universities. The programs that draw a ton have a history, UC does not. Conference USA was not even on the football map and the Big East is just starting to enter the conversation. Papajohns.com isn't a national championship game, the Orange Bowl is a big step and has had huge support.

 

Now i haven't been to tons of cities to attend games for teams in comparable situations but I would venture to say neither have you. I could probably count on my fingers and toes the number of people in the stands at the end of the Browns-Bengals game last weekend, things like that happen with bad teams.

Well the Bearcats have sucked for a lonnng time, so you can't expect people to just become bearcats fans over night due to one or two good seasons.  I think a win in the Orange Bowl will convince people that UC football is legit, and next year's sales will be much higher.

 

A lot of people say this, but this success didn't come over night.  Rick Minter started the whole thing and handed off pieces of the puzzle Mike Dantonio.  Brian Kelly then inherited the nice team that Dantonio left behind.  But in the end we've been to bowl games 7 out of the last 9 seasons.  People here just haven't cared about this mild success because they had their Buckeyes and why root for a 7 win team going to the Motor City Bowl when you can root for the perennial powerhouse going to BCS games.  If UC wants to maintain a decent fan base then that is what they have to compete against - OSU (they still own Ohio).

so it goes,

 

I may be negative on this front, but I don't make excuses for fans who can't sell out a 35,000 seat football stadium against a ranked opponent on a night when no other major event was going on.  Oh and btw, you can get tickets to that same game for as little as $10.  The Bearcat football team sold out 1 game this year.  That's miserable if you ask me.  I know that Pittsburgh's football team is in a similar situation as the Bearcats and they don't sell out either...but then again they're playing at Heinz Field which seats 65,000.  The two teams averaged around the same attendance for this season although the Bearcats have the Bengals and the Panthers have the Steelers.  UC's field is also on campus, UC has cheaper tickets, beer, and a better team.

This is a metro of about 2.5 million people. I think we can fill up a 13,000 seat arena. I will chide all I want. Obviously not everyone can attend the games for various legit reasons, but overall we should be able to do better than what we do. I think Cincinnati has some of the worst sports fans in the entire country. The amount of people that leave games early is ridiculous too. There aren't serious traffic congestion problems in/around UC for these events...especially when there are only 6-7k at a game.

 

Filling up the arena and the Fox Sports Ohio mess-up sound like 2 different issues to me.  Even if the arena had been full, there were still thousands of fans at home or at bars that missed the overtime. 

 

I totally agree with you about people leaving games early.  I went to the Crosstown Shootout this year, and I was surprised at how many people left early.  I think there were 5-6 minutes left on the clock.  This problem is not unique to UC.  Many people leave the XU basketball games early as well.  I rarely ever leave a sporting event early unless there is an emergency.  I don't understand why people pay for tickets and not stay for the entire game.  Besides, fans should be supporting their team.

I would actually venture to say that Cincinnati fans are some of the best around.  We crave opportunities to be fans, and every year people have extremely high hopes for our teams, only to be ultimately disappointed.  Look at the thousands of people that show up for the holiday that is opening day.  When the Bengals went 8-8, you would have thought they went to the Super Bowl, and when they went to the playoffs in 05, local TV stations had pregame coverage for like 3 hours before the game.  Even though UC only went to the final 4 in 92, they continued to sell out the shoe for almost a decade after, with nothing more than a sweet 16 (maybe one elite 8?).  I'm confident that if UC football has a few more great seasons like this year, fans will come, and continue to come until they have a reason not to.

Even though UC only went to the final 4 in 92, they continued to sell out the shoe for almost a decade after, with nothing more than a sweet 16 (maybe one elite 8?).

 

Being a preseason #1 and top ten team for several years helped as well.

Throw in the fact that much of UC basketball's fan base was alienated by the Huggins ouster and it takes some time to fill in the seats. 

 

And the fan base that was alienated by the Huggins' decade of boorish behavior.

Even though UC only went to the final 4 in 92, they continued to sell out the shoe for almost a decade after, with nothing more than a sweet 16 (maybe one elite 8?).

 

Being a preseason #1 and top ten team for several years helped as well.

Yeah, but they never did anything with it.  UC basketball has historically been one of the biggest let downs in the NCAA's.  They'll have good seasons and pre seasons, but when it came to post season, they always sucked.

Sweet!

 

I'm getting fed up trying to find their games on TV. I've seen very few games thanks to ESPN. I heard this was sellout at US Bank?

 

UC 93, ND 81 - final

UC won a close one over Georgetown today. While Xavier was unable to make a comeback against Duquesne.

 

UC 64, GT 62 in OT

 

XAV 68, DUQ 72

If the Bearcats win 4 more games they're in the NCAA tourny without a doubt.

The Bearcats win third straight against St. John's making them 7-5 in the Big East and 17-8 overall. Beating #4 Pitt this Saturday will go a long way in saying how much they deserve to be in the tourney.

 

UC 71, SJU 61

 

Hot-shooting UC topples St. John's

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090211/SPT0101/302110092/1064

1 down, 2 or 3 more to go.

I Don't know if he is right but I do think that the guy who does the Bracketology thing is either blind or just stupid. There are much better teams than what he has on his bracket. Here is a link to it if you haven't seen it. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

 

Cronin: Big East's 8th-place team would win A-10

With a 7-5 Big East record, UC coach Mick Cronin is feeling his oats a little  bit.

  One night after suggesting that a 7-5 record in the Big East is better than a 10-2 mark in C-USA, Cronin declared that Syracuse, the eighth-place team in the Big East, would win the Atlantic 10.

  When I informed Cronin that Joe Lunardi, who does the Bracketology feature on ESPN.com, currently had only seven Big East teams in the NCAA Tournament, Cronin said, “That’s ridiculous.”

  “I would tell Joe Lunardi he needs to buy the ESPN Full Court package,” Cronin said. “Are you telling me that Syracuse wouldn’t win the A-10? Does somebody want to give me that answer? I’d like to have that argument with somebody. You’re going to tell me that Syracuse, with their McDonald’s All-Americans and their talent, wouldn’t win the Atlantic 10?

  “So how many are they going to have from that conference or Conference USA? They’re eighth in our conference. That’s our eighth-place team right now. For us not to get at least eight this year is only a byproduct of us beating up on each other and being penalized for having too good of a conference.”

^I think he's pretty spot on with most of that.

5 teams from the SEC? I just don't see that happening

^I think he's pretty spot on with most of that.

 

Who? Cronin or the bracket guy?

^Cronin's comments seem pretty reasonable to me.  There's no doubt that Syracuse would dominate a conference like the A-10.

Cincy and #4 Pitt will be playing on ESPN today at 4:00. It's one of the few Cincy games to be broadcast so I'm just trying to spread the news.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBrJyh5lPU4&eurl=http://video.aol.com/video-detail/cincinnati-honors-bob-huggins/288230389989290550/?icid=VIDURVSPR03&feature=player_embedded

With the bad loss to Syracuse today it looks like NIT here we come.

^Cronin's comments seem pretty reasonable to me.  There's no doubt that Syracuse would dominate a conference like the A-10.

 

Do you mean come in 2nd? X is much better than 'Cuse this year, no question.

 

With the bad loss to Syracuse today it looks like NIT here we come.

 

How long is Cronin's leash? I'm not a UC fan but this is a looong NCAA drought for a program that once considered itself elite.

Welcome to the NIT

With the bad loss to Syracuse today it looks like NIT here we come.

 

How long is Cronin's leash? I'm not a UC fan but this is a looong NCAA drought for a program that once considered itself elite.

 

Well this is his third season I believe, and by most people's standards he is achieving success much more quickly than they had imagined.  The reason is that there was absolutely nothing left for him to build from when he arrived.  Huggins had been struggling recruiting wise for the past couple years of his tenure, and he left the cabinet empty for anyone who came after him.

 

Andy Kennedy was there as an interim which wasted away the few remaining recruits that Huggins did leave behind, but also tied the hands of the program in being able to recruit since there was no definite coach in place yet.

 

Mick Cronin came in with nothing, and this is really the first year he has his own recruits playing.  This year's recruiting class was amazing, and next year's is looking just as good if not better.  On top of all this Cronin is having to figure out how to piece together a 20-win season in the toughest basketball conference anywhere.  Huggins was able to roll through C-USA every year and get one of the few bids that they got.

 

According to the selection committee, conference affiliation doesn't matter to them.  So even though UC's losses have come against stellar competition they'll still be penalized for 1) losing the game and 2) not beating the "quality" opponent.  Since the conference's reorganization it has been shown that the selection committee is only going to take about 8 teams max from the Big East.  It's just a matter of logistics that it will probably never be more than that since everyone beats up on everyone...therefore guaranteeing a certain number of losses.

Everyone beats up on everyone else in EVERY league.  Conference games everywhere are tough, from the patriot league to the ACC, the reason is familiarity.  Memphis seems to be the lone exception to this rule, but CUSA is really AWFUL after the BE raid.

 

Now I'm not saying the BE isn't the best conference this year, but there are not more than 8 teams deserving of a bid, and there are still enough bottom feeders in that league that you can still string together a decent conference record, Pitt and UConn sure haven't had any problems.

 

I've got 7 from the BE in as of right now w/ Providence and UC on the bubble.

FWIW Huggins didn't make the NCAA's until his 3rd year. And the team he inherited was in MUCH better shape than the team Cronin inherited. The difference is that when Huggins came to UC it had been a really long time since UC made the tourney so expectations weren't quite as high