Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Bearcats Future

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Now that i've had a few days to get over the loss to UConn and the end of the season for the Bearcats in the NCAA Tournament here are my thoughts on the 2010-2011 season. If I had to summarize this season for UC in a phrase, or title the season, it would be the end of the rebuilding process. College basketball teams are always rebuilding, but they don't have to consistently rebuild like Mick Cronin did when he first took over this team. Cronin came in with a whopping one player on scholarship at a division one school in the toughest conference in the nation.

No one thought the Bearcats were going to do anything this year except for Cronin. They were picked to finish 12th in the Big East and no way were they going to make the NCAA Tournament according to most. What they did was use that to come together as a team and play winning team basketball.

There were two key improvements and they were Cashmere Wright and Yancy Gates. Gates didn't come on until the end of the season consistently. Wright played well for most of the year and as he went so did the team, especially on offense. Both will be back next year and should be key components to UC being pre season top 25 and a major player in the Big East. Bearcats fans should be excited for next year as Gates coming on strong was similiar to another player who came on strong at the end of his Junior season. Kenyon Martin started to develop into the player he was the last quarter of his Junior year and then came back his Senior year and was the dominant, national player of the year we all remember. Am I saying Gates is going to be as good as Martin? No, but he could be an all big east player and carry this team to a deep run in March next season. Gates was crying at the end of the UConn game while he was sitting on the bench and that's a good sign for UC fans.

The only key player UC is losing for next season is Rashad Bishop and his defense and leadership. They will be returning Gates and Wright, who will be the two key players leading this team next season. Also Sean Kilpatrick will be another year developed and should be a dangerous player next season, especially on the offensive end. He needs to work on his defense to be a complete player though. Dion Dixon will also be back, with him and Kilpatrick in the fold I'd like to see them run more three Guard sets. Especially if Kilpatrick can improve his defense. Guard play is crucial in college basketball and Wright, Dixon, and Kilpatrick would be a deadly three Guard set. Add Gates on the interior and now you're cooking with fire. They do need to add some depth inside though.

That's where this year's recruiting class will come in. This is the best recruiting class Cronin has had since he's been here and should have UC fans excited. Especially when you add them to who is returning. The top rated player is Shaq Thomas who is a 6-6 small forward. He is the 20th ranked forward nationally and is in the ESPN top 100 overall. They also have a shooting guard in Jerimiah Davis who will be deadly from 3 point range, something that the Bearcats could use. Davis will be a good complement to the current Guards in Dixon and Kilpatrick who are more dribble drive and create their own shot Guards. Davis is a catch and shoot 3 point shooter that has deadly accuracy. The Cats also landed a 6-8 power forward who may start inside next to Gates next season if he can beat out Justin Jackson. There is also another 6-8 power forward that is considering UC and is from the same high school as Shaq Thomas and it's looking good for them to land him. With who the Cats are returning they should have a solid season next year and the recruiting classes will get back to where they were when Huggins was the coach.

I wish the Cats could've landed a Center of top notch caliber to give them more depth for next season, but they should be set to have a bigger year next season than they did this year. They are going to be a smaller, quicker, team with one dominant big man and in today's college basketball that's all you need. If Gates can carry his momentum into next year and all the young kids keep developing you are looking at a team that can compete for the Big East Championship next year and a possible Final Four run in the NCAA Tournament in 2012

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Cincinnati Bearcats Tournament Preview

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The Bearcats are returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since Bob Huggins was the coach here. Mick Cronin has done an unbelievable job getting to this point from when he arrived at Cincinnati with one scholarship player on the roster. He still isn't getting the credit he deserves, but that's another story. Right now we Bearcat fans need to enjoy the moment of being back in the tourney where we belong.

The Cats have drawn a first round match up with the Missouri Tigers in the West Region of the bracket. The Tigers are known for playing very up tempo. They are called the fastest forty minutes in college basketball. The Tigers got screwed by being given an eleven seed, which in turn screwed the Bearcats because they have to play an eleven that is much better than their seed. The Tigers are better than all the ten seeds and better than most of the eights and nines. The Cats sixth seed is kind of a joke as well. The other six seeds are Xavier, Georgetown, and St. Johns. The Cats beat Xavier by twenty, Georgetown twice by a combined thirty points, and beat St. Johns on the road. They also lost to the Red Storm at home so that cancells out, but St. Johns would've likely been seeded higher had they not lost one of their key players in the Big East Tournament. So against the teams that are supposed to be their equals they are 4-1 and blew two of those teams out.

It is what it is though and the Cats need to be ready to play come ten o clock Thursday night. If they play how they are capable of they should beat the Tigers and move on to the second round. If they get there they'll likely play Connecticut which is another BS move by the selection committee. They are supposed to try and avoid regular season match ups in the first two rounds, especially with teams in the same conference. Eleven Big East teams made it in, but there are sixteen second round games and that is enough room to avoid lining up teams in the same conference. Marquette is in the same boat with Syracuse lined up in their section of the bracket, but Marquette isn't favored to beat Xavier according to the selection committee. They seeded the Bearcats and UConn to play each other in the second round. I'm sure UConn isn't thrilled getting a 3 seed and having to play a team that familiar with them in the second round, possibly. The Huskies do have to get by Bucknell, a fourteen seed. Bucknell knocked off a very good Kansas team as a fourteen seed a few years ago so nothing is etched in stone.

This is getting ahead, but if the Bearcats can somehow get to the second weekend they could have a very favorable match up in the sweet sixteen. Their likely opponent would be San Diego State. The Aztecs have had a very good year, but they haven't really beaten anyone and I would like the Bearcats chances in that game. That would be a great story for a head coach who deserves it after what he's been through in this city. The fans have basically abandoned ship when Huggins left and they have been playing in half empty arenas for the last five years.

First things first though for Cincinnati, they need to stay focused on Missouri. We as fans need to root for Bucknell to knock Connecticut off and then root for the Cats to beat Missouri. To get the win tomorrow they need to slow things down and utilize Yancy Gates. The Cats should have a big time advantage on the boards and inside. If they can get the game into a half court game and not a game where everyone's running up and down the floor, they should win. Cashmere Wright needs to step it up and have a big game as well. When he plays well the Bearcats win. Plus the Tigers are going to press and his ball handling and ability to not turn the ball over are going to be key to getting the win tomorrow night.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

NCAA Tournament TV Schedule

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Here is the schedule for Thursday's 1st Round (not second) games.

12:15, (12) Clemson vs. (5) West Virginia, CBS
12:40, (9) Old Dominion vs. (8) Butler, tru TV
1:40, (13) Morehead State vs. (4) Louisville, TBS
2:10, (10) Penn State vs. (7) Temple, TNT
2:45, (13) Princeton vs. (4) Kentucky, CBS
3:10, (16) UNC-Ashville vs. (1) Pittsburgh, tru TV
4:10, (12) Richmond vs. (5) Vanderbilt, TBS
4:40, (15) Northern Colorado vs. (2) San Diego State, TNT
6:50, (15) UC Santa Barbara vs. (2) Florida, TBS
7:15, (14) Wofford vs. (3) BYU, CBS
7:20, (14) Bucknell vs. (3) Connecticut, TNT
7:27, (13) Belmont vs. (4) Wisconsin, tru TV
9:20, (10) Michigan State vs. (7) UCLA, TBS
9:45, (11) Gonzaga vs. (6) St. Johns, CBS
9:50, (11) Missouri vs. (6) Cincinnati, TNT
9:57, (12) Utah State vs. Kansas State, tru TV

I like how every game is on television somewhere. I've heard some people complaining about having to find tru TV on talk radio. Seriously, how hard is it to flip through the guide. I've hated in years past having to watch a one seed vs a sixteen seed blow out when Duke is playing Charlie's Barber College in the first round and winning by fifty and there's a three point game on between a seven and ten and all you get is when the cut in to those games. Now you don't have to worry about that, any game you want to watch you can. Also the games are spread out a little more this year so you'll be able to catch more games. In previous years there were four games going on at once, now only the last four games will be going on starting around the same time.

They also did a good job of spreading out some of the better games as all day long there will likely be at least one good close game going on. It starts with Old Dominion vs Butler early, then the Richmond vs Vandy game should be a good one and I think Richmond is the better team there. You likely won't see any big upsets until later in the evening, unless you consider Richmond a big upset, I don't.

NCAA Tournament Tomorrow

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Well the NCAA Tournament really starts tomorrow afternoon, I don't count these play in games. They can call them what they want, what they really are is play in games. Don't tell me this is how the madness starts is with these anti-climatic games between sixteen seeds and the last at large teams to get into the field. I'm sure these schools consider themselves in the tournament and they would rather be in these games than the NIT, but I guarantee the winners now feel like they are officially in the tournament and the losers don't get to experience playing when there's a full slate of sixteen games on in one day.

The Bearcats have a late tip tomorrow at almost ten o clock eastern time. That's fine by me as we get to experience a full day of the tournament and our team is still in it. Although if they win I'll wish that game was earlier because I'll feel a lot better knowing they advanced to play another game and can relax and watch the rest of the games instead of being nervous all day long. The Cats better not take Missouri lightly either as they are a team fully capable of beating UC. They play an up tempo style which is called the fastest forty minutes in basketball. Missouri got screwed on their seed and the Bearcats in turn got screwed because they are really playing a team that is about an eight or nine seed. Missouri is better than Penn State a ten seed, Michigan State a ten seed, Georgia a ten seed, Old Dominion a nine seed, Butler an eight seed, Michigan an eight seed, Illinois a nine seed, UNLV an eight seed and I'm sure there are more I'm leaving out.

The Cats also got screwed in that they have a potential second round match up with UConn a fellow Big East team. They are supposed to try to avoid regular season rematches in the first two rounds, especially with teams in the same conference. Even though the Big East got eleven teams in there's enough room to space them out where none of them could meet until the sweet sixteen. Especially with teams that are seeded to win, they are predicting a match up between Big East schools. Marquette and Syracuse are in the same position, but Marquette is an eleven seed an predicted by the committee to lose their first round game. That's not the case with UC and UConn. I'm sure the Huskies aren't thrilled with it either as no one wants to play someone that's familiar with them that early.

Oh well, the bottom line is the Cats are back in the NCAA Tournament where they belong and Cincinnati fans will have their most exciting game in six years come tomorrow night. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll be writing about a Cats victory and an upset of Connecticut by Bucknell, with the Bison knocking off a three seed for the second time. They beat a good Kansas team a few years ago as a fourteen seed. That's a match up I'd like UC vs Bucknell for the right to go to the sweet 16. If the Cats can get to the second weekend I like their chances to get to the elite 8 as it would likely be San Diego State. While the Aztecs have had a great year, they haven't really beaten anyone any good other than BYU without the Davies kid and I would really like their chances to beat the Aztecs. They would likely be favored in that game.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Selection Weekend

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This is one of the greatest weekends in sports, the weekend of Selection Sunday following Championship Week. It's funny how a full season of basketball and teams need one more win to get into the tournament that are on the bubble. It's exciting that teams that had no chance sweep through their conference tournaments out of nowhere and punch their tickets to the big dance. Yeah I'm talking about you Akron Zips. But that's what makes college basketball great.

No matter how your regular season went you can win the National Championship. Akron could win the National Championship if they win 6 straight games. Now will it happen? No! The point is though that this championship will be won on the court and any team has a chance by continuing to win, no matter who you are. Akron or Duke, North Carolina or Hampton, Ohio State or Alabama State. In college football that isn't the case, TCU went unbeaten and never even got to play for the title. If they were unbeaten in college basketball they would play for the title.

There were lots of great games throughout this week full of hard play, buzzer beaters, teams getting chippy, and so on. I'm sure there will be even more great games in the following weeks and that's what makes this the funnest month of the year for sports fans. This is better than the NFL playoffs and college football bowl season. In the next week people all across this country will be filling out their brackets and the most knowledgeble fans will lose to someone who picked their brackets by which mascot they like better. It happens every year and this year will be no different. There are always upsets because a team only has to get hot one day for forty minutes not a seven game series. That's what makes this the most exciting month in sports.

Top 25 Poll

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NCAA Basketball Top 25
  1. Kansas
  2. Ohio State
  3. Notre Dame
  4. Pittsburgh
  5. North Carolina
  6. Duke
  7. San Diego State
  8. Connecticut
  9. Texas
  10. Louisville
  11. Florida
  12. BYU
  13. Syracuse
  14. Kentucky
  15. Purdue
  16. Wisconsin
  17. Vanderbilt
  18. Cincinnati
  19. West Virginia
  20. Arizona
  21. St. Johns*
  22. Xavier
  23. Kansas State
  24. Texas A&M
  25. UCLA

*St. Johns would be higher if they didn't lose one of their key players.

This Top 25 is the top teams right now, not necessarily thier record but how they've been playing lately combined with their overall body of work. Right now I think Kansas is playing better than anyone. They were excellent today against Texas winning the Big 12 Championship. This will change tomorrow based on remaining games, plus the outcome of the Big East Championship between Connecticut and Louisville which is tied with 6 minutes to go.

Friday, March 11, 2011

NCAA Basketball Top 25

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College Basketball EB Poll Top 25





  1. Ohio State

  2. Notre Dame

  3. Kansas

  4. Pittsburgh

  5. North Carolina

  6. Duke

  7. Texas

  8. Purdue
  9. BYU

  10. Syracuse

  11. Florida

  12. San Diego State

  13. Connecticut

  14. Wisconsin

  15. Kentucky

  16. Louisville

  17. St. Johns

  18. Arizona

  19. Cincinnati

  20. Kansas State

  21. West Virginia

  22. Xavier

  23. Vanderbil

  24. Texas A&M

  25. UCLA
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This top 25 puts stock in recent play unlike the tournament committee, or at least they say they don't. That's why you have Notre Dame as the number 2 team and they could even be number 1 the way they are playing. They're playing better than anyone right now. This is trying to give the best 25 teams. I still consider the entire body of work as well, but I believe a poll should be who's the best right now along with the entire body of work. I'll give a revised edition of this Sunday before the brackets come out.

NCAA Tournament

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Everyone else has a prediction of who's getting in, who's on the bubble, etc. So I may as well too. To start things off here's a list of who's already in via automatic bid, either winning their conference tournament or the regular season in the case of the Ivy League.

Gonzaga, Butler, Belmont, Bucknell, Oakland, St. Peters, Indiana State, Old Dominion, Morehead State, Wofford, Long Island, Northern Colorado, Arkansas-Little Rock, and UNC Ashville.

So that's fourteen automatic qualifiers that have won their conference tournaments so far and more to come. There will be twelve conference championship games tomorrow, so for college basketball fans tomorrow should be an entertaining day full of good basketball games. There's also four championship games on Sunday with the ACC, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, and SEC all playing their games then. That will give the field of 68, thirty automatic bids leaving 38 at large bids to be decided by the committee. Here are my locks and the consensus locks for the most part.

Ohio State, Notre Dame, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Duke, North Carolina, Texas, BYU, Purdue, San Diego State, Florida, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Louisville, St. Johns, West Virginia, Connecticut, Georgetown, Arizona, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, Xavier, Texas A&M, Cincinnati, Temple, UCLA, UNLV, Missouri, Utah State, George Mason, Florida State, Illinois, Washington, St. Mary's, Marquette, Villanova

So that's 37 locks to go with the 14 automatic bids already punched. That's 51 of the 68 spots that are taken right now. There's also 8 smaller conferences that still have automatic bids to go and you have 59 spots accounted for, leaving 9 spots for the remaining at large teams. Plus these bubble teams need BYU or San Diego State to win their conference tournament and not New Mexico or another spot is gone. And some teams in the bigger conferences could steal a bid by winning their conference tournament. But for now there are nine spots for these remaining teams.

Richmond, Michigan, Clemson, Boston College, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Colorado, Georgia, Alabama, USC, Missouri State, California, Penn State, Nebraska, Memphis, Baylor, and UTEP.

That's 17 teams for 9 spots. Those 9 spots could become less than that if some teams not expected to make the tourney win their conference tournament.

Bearcat's NCAA Tournament Seeding

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Joe Lunardi of ESPN has the Bearcats as a six seed playing Colorado in the Southwest Regional and playing in Tucson, Arizona. The three seed lined up in their section would be San Diego State. While they have had a good season I would like Cincy's chances to get to the sweet 16. That probably isn't how it's going to play out come Sunday, but I would like to see the Cats get San Diego State or BYU in their section of the bracket.

I've seen the Cats seeded from fifth to seventh, but the consensus is a six seed for the most part. I don't think they will get any higher than a five seed after getting blown out last night by Notre Dame. By the way I think the Irish are going to win it all. They are the hottest team in the country right now and are the best shooting team i've seen in a long time. I usually fill out two brackets in the pool with my friends every year and I will likely have the Irish winning it all in one, if not both of them.

Lunardi has Xavier seeded ahead of Cincinnati which is a joke as the Cats beat Xavier by twenty and Xavier just lost to Dayton who Cincy beat by almost forty points. He finally put Georgetown behind the Bearcats and it was about time as they beat them by double digits twice within ten days. I'd expect Xavier to drop after today's loss to Dayton. The only way the Cats can move up with their seed is if some teams ahead of them lose today. Here's who Cincinnati fans should be rooting against today and the rest of the week. Texas A&M who crushed Missouri so it's unlikely we move up ahead of them, they play Texas tonight at 9:30. Arizona, the Cats will definitely need them to lost to have any chance of jumping up to a five, they play USC tonight at 9:10. Vanderbilt who plays Mississippi State tonight at 10:00. Mississippi State owes us as they beat us in the elite 8 one year in a major upset as they were an 8 seed and the Cats were a 2 seed in the Damon Flint days. To get a five seed the Bearcats need at least two of these teams to lose tonight.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Disappointing

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The title of this post says it all about the Bearcats performance against Notre Dame tonight. The game just ended and so did the Big East Tournament for the University of Cincinnati. UC didn't bring their A game tonight, obviously. It was embarrassing and the biggest margin of victory ever in the Big East Tournament.

I honestly thought that UC was going to win the game tonight. Not just blind optimism for my favorite team either. The Bearcats have been playing as well as about anyone in the nation lately. Their defense had been smothering up until tonight. Where did it all go? The defense was non-existent. They didn't play with any kind of confidence on the offensive end. Notre Dame was making every shot and UC's players kind of got down about it and just gave up. Once they started pulling away the Cats started playing with no intelligence and making stupid mistakes that they wouldn't ordinarily make. That just made things easier for the Irish and they started getting wide open looks right under the basket. Players just started doing there own thing out there and they quit playing as a team, which is what had them playing so well as of late. Notre Dame isn't that much better than the Cats, and we just handed them the game once they got up by double digits. There was no fight, grit, scrapyness in this team tonight.

I just hope this doesn't cause them to free fall as far as their seed goes in the NCAA Tournament. The consensus had been that they were a six seed going into tonight. I thought a win tonight would get them to a five, a win tomorrow that would've put them in the championship game would have gotten them a four, and if they won the Big East Tournament they would have earned a three seed in the NCAA Tournament. I still think they should get a five or six seed. If they fall a seven or eight seed that is wrong. There's no way they should make one off night more important than the body of work.

ESPN has them at a six while Xavier and Georgetown are five seeds and UC beat both of them by over 20 points. That is laughable. I am not a Xavier hater, but it's no coincidence that they start every season 10-6 and then go on a 14-2 run the last half of the year. They play in the Atlantic 10 which isn't a very tough conference. Xavier and Temple are the only teams in the A10 that are good with any consistency. The Cats are a better team than Xavier and beat them by 20 points. While I do think Xavier is a good team, you have to look at the opponents and not just the fact that they won more games the second half of the year. There's no way that Xavier should be seeded ahead of Cincinnati.

If any positives can be taken from tonight's game against the Irish it's that maybe it gives them the mentality that they still have a ton of work to do to get where they want to get and this helps them refocus and get ready for the NCAA Tournament. They also won't go into next week after playing four games in four days and have that wear and tear on their body. It'll give them a couple extra days to get back to Cincinnati and get to practice and work on the things that need fixed. Also they got some exposure on national television and played in the biggest and best conference tournament in the nation and made it to the third day of that tournament, getting their name out there more and more.

Okay it's now NCAA Tournament time and the Bearcats we know will be in come selection Sunday. As UC fans we should all be excited that the Cats are back in the tournament and the rebuilding process has come to an end and now it's time for the building and winning process. The Cats aren't quite back to the elite of college basketball that they were not that long ago, but they aren't that far away either. This team is definitely capable of winning some games in this Tournament next week and hopefully a game the following week. I doubt this team is ready to make a final four run, but they are ready for a sweet sixteen run and depending on the draw possibly an elite eight. So lets all get ready for Sunday and hope the tournament committee doesn't screw the Cats based on what happened at Madison Square Garden tonight against the Irish.

Big East Tournament

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It's quarterfinals day in the Big East Tournament today. I'm a little late getting this post put up. Connecticut just upset the top seed Pittsburgh on a Kemba Walker buzzer beater. The final play was defended poorly by Pitt. Kemba Walker inbounded the ball and then got it back and received a screen up top. Pitt switched and had their Center 22 feet away from the basket trying guard Walker with no help. I thought there is no way this can be happening. The shot clock was off and UConn had the ball with 15 seconds left. The entire building knew who was taking that last shot. If I'm the coach I want my quickest Guard out on Walker and my most athletic Forward with good length helping him. The Guard covers him tight and the Forward helps if Walker drives. That's not what Pitt did though and Walker drained the last shot at the buzzer. You have to make someone else take that shot, not one of the best players in the nation.

The Syracuse vs St. Johns game just started. Syracuse always fairs well in this tournament and St. Johns played tight yesterday with the pressure of being the defacto home team. Hopefully they bring their A game today or they will get blown out. I'm rooting for St. Johns, but think Syracuse will win.

The two night games are the Bearcats against Notre Dame and Marquette against Louisville. Marquette had the mini upset over West Virginia last night and pretty much assured the Big East gets 11 teams into the NCAA Tournament. Now I'd say the closest team to the bubble in the conference is Villanova with Georgetown right on their heels. I'm taking Marquette in the late game and obviously the Bearcats. In fact, with Pitt going down if UC pulls off the win over Notre Dame, I like them to win the tournament. Pitt was the only team in the Big East that plays as many guys as the Bearcats do and they're out. If Cincy wins tonight they get the Louisville/Marquette winner. They have beaten both of those teams this year already and neither game even came down to the wire. If they win tonight, I guarantee a finals appearance. With Pitt out I don't think there's a single team UC can't beat.

We should all be Marquette fans if Cincy beats Notre Dame as that would mean Marquette would be playing their fourth game of the tournament. The Bearcats would be playing their third game, but play nine players double digit minutes and only one player played more than 25 minutes last night. The Bearcats would have a distinct advantage because their players would only have played about half the minutes Marquettes have as they don't go very deep into their bench. Louisville doesn't either, but they had the double bye so as far as minutes go it would be close between the two. For now though I'm getting ahead of myself and the Cats need to go out, guard the perimeter, rebound, and beat Notre Dame tonight.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Bearcats Dominant!!!

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The title says it all, UC beat the crap out of South Florida. They dominated about every statistical category. The Bearcats came out and jumped to an early lead and once that happened I felt like they were going to dominate this game and they did. South Florida's best chance was to come out and build an early lead. Honestly I thought there was a good possibility of that happening with them playing yesterday and already having their feet wet. You see it happen all the time when a team has a bye in a tournament, they come out sluggish, while the other team is immediately into the flow of the game having played one day earlier. Usually that is made up for in the second half as the team without the bye has tired legs. Once the Bearcats jumped out to an early lead I figured South Florida was in trouble.

Yancy Gates was the star of the game and is playing like he belongs in the NBA right now. Whatever happened to turn the switch on for Yancy has ignited this entire team and they are playing like a top 15 team in the nation, if not better than that. Gates was an incredible 10 for 11 from the field with 25 points. He also had 4 rebounds and an assist. He did all this playing 23 minutes, that's barely over half the game. If you double his stats for a full 40 minutes, you're talking 50 points and 8 rebounds. That's how dominant he was tonight. If Gates keeps playing with intensity the sky is the limit for him, and he could carry this team to a Big East Tournament Championship and possibly a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Dion Dixon and Sean Kilpatrick both also scored in double digits with 21 points and 12 points respectively. Both of them shot 50% or better as well. Between the two of them they also brought down 9 rebounds with Dixon having six. The only player to play over 30 minutes was Dixon as he had 31. I've said it before, over and over again, that if UC can get by Notre Dame tomorrow they have a good chance to win this whole thing with them playing 9 players double digit minutes. They did it again tonight as 9 players had double digit minutes. If they get by Notre Dame they will be in the semifinals and by then each team will have played a game and some two or three if Marquette can beat West Virginia in the game going on right now and get by Louisville tomorrow.

The Bearcats are playing as a team better than anyone in the country in my opinion. They need to, if you aren't the most talented team the best way to beat a more talented team is through teamwork. Don't get me wrong, the Bearcats have some talent. To me, a lot of their players are underrated. That said of the teams remaining in this tournament most of them have more talent on their team. Or at least one or two players that are more talented than anyone the Bearcats have on their roster. That doesn't necessarily mean they are more talented top to bottom though and I would take the Bearcats 8th and 9th guys over about any other team's 8th and 9th guys and our top players aren't too far over matched, especially Gates and Cashmere Wright.

One team that may not be more talented than the Bearcats is Notre Dame, who is next on the checklist for UC in this tournament. They do have Ben Hansborough who is the conference player of the year. While he's a great college player, he isn't going to be an NBA star, just like his brother. I think the Bearcats are more athletic than Notre Dame and they will need to use their length and athleticism to beat the Irish tomorrow night. Everyone knows what Notre Dame is going to do, the high screen and roll. They do it all the time. The Bearcats are going to have to fight through those screens and come over the top. They can not drop below and give them open looks at the three. That's how the Irish win. There will be more on this tomorrow, but Notre Dame is a team that lives by the three. When you live by the three you die by the three.

Anyway back to the impressive win over South Florida tonight. The defense has been carrying this team all year and was good again tonight. They are now the fourth best scoring defense in the country and the best in the Big East. I'm surprised to be saying this, but this defense is better than any of the Huggin's teams that I can remember. They are smothering offenses and opponents aren't getting many good looks. Their press has been effective all year and was again tonight. It wore South Florida down and there was no chance of them making a big comeback again tonight. With the Bearcats playing 9 guys double digit minutes, the press doesn't have to create a bunch of steals to be effective. They can use it to wear teams down as other than Pitt nobody goes as deep to their bench as UC does.

The Bearcats need to go out to dinner and enjoy this tonight and then it's back to work tomorrow. Make sure they get a good nights rest. I'd like to be talking about how the Bearcats won by blowout again tomorrow night and didn't have to play their best players more than 25 minutes or so like they did tonight. If UC can keep playing as a team and smothering opposing offenses with their great defenses they can make runs this year. Forget building for the future, the time is now to win Big East Tournaments and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cincinnati vs. South Florida Preview

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University of Cincinnati vs. University of South Florida
@ Madison Square Garden
Game Time 7 pm.
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Well I Can't believe I'm writing this but South Florida overcame a sixteen point deficit against Villanova to advance to the 2nd round of the Big East Tournament. This is a big time trap game for Cincinnati and I hope they don't come in too cocky and unprepared. If they do they could be coming back to Cincinnati tomorrow night. South Florida will have an early edge, I'm talking first four minutes, due to the fact they played on Tuesday and will be into the flow of the game. That early edge though will be given back late when the Bearcats are fresh and South Florida could be on tired legs.
Mick Cronin said it best the other day, when he said if they play and lost to Villanova it's no big deal. If they lose to South Florida it's a big deal and will likely cost them a few spots in the seeding in the NCAA Tournament. That said, this is a game the Bearcats should win and advance to the Quarterfinals against Notre Dame, which should help their seed a bit. South Florida comes into this game with 10 wins and 22 losses, including a 3-15 record in the Big East regular season.
The thing that worries me about the Bulls is they have a stud 3 point shooter, Shaun Noriega. If he gets hot and the Bearcats allow him open looks on the perimeter they could be in trouble. That's the thing that makes college basketball, especially March, great. One player can get hot and carry a smaller school on a run through their conference and NCAA tournaments. The Bulls run a set of 3 Guards and 2 Forwards who are basically Centers at 6-10 and 6-11. They like to play inside out, feeding those big men to force doubles and kick it out to Noriega. Gilchrist is their best big man and Famous the other Center is a good defender and rebounder. The Bulls don't have much, really any, depth on the inside and if Gates can get their bigs in foul trouble it should be game over. The Bulls basically play 7 players, 9 got in the game tonight, but the other two were for 3 and 4 minutes. When they sub for their bigs they basically run a 4 Guard set and when that happens UC should be able to use their size to their advantage, and still have the length and athleticism to guard the smaller, 4 Guard set. The Bulls aren't a great rebounding team even with the two Centers underneath, and the Bearcats should be able to put up a lot of second chance points.
Keys to the Victory:
  • Hit the offensive glass hard
  • Dominate the glass on the defensive end
  • Feed the ball inside to Gates and get their bigs in foul trouble (if they do this it's game over)
  • Guard Noriega on the perimeter
  • Use the bench and the advantage with the bye, giving yourself fresher legs
  • With the fresher legs, press and make them run the full court
  • Get up big so we can rest players for Notre Dame

Wow South Florida With The Upset

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Is it good or bad that Villanova lost to South Florida? They squandered a 16 point halftime lead in the second half. That tells me that they were worn down, which I suspected they would be with Stokes and Fisher being hurt lately and not in top shape. That said, Villanova is clearly a better team, which is why they had a 16 point lead at halftime. The problem is they would have had even more tired legs in tomorrow's game. Likely matching up two even teams with one being worn down and the other fresher than probably any team in the Big East. South Florida wasn't the 15th place team out of 16 teams for nothing. They aren't a very good team, or very deep, so they had lots of players playing a lot of minutes which should give UC an advantage.

The problem is any team can get hot. Especially when they have a stud 3 point shooter. This would be considered a bad loss as well and if UC gets upset that will likely affect their seeding big time. They could drop from a 6th seed to a 8th, 9th, or even 10th seed. You never know with the tournament committee. Really though I'm glad they won, I think UC will take care of business as they know what's at stake. Hopefully they can get up big fairly early and keep key players rested. That is not necessary though as the Bearcats routinely play 9 players double digit minutes with little drop off coming off the bench. That should have them fresher than anyone in this conference and this tournament is set up for them to make a big run if they can get past their first two games. With the depth they play with they have a distinct advantage over about everyone, except for Pittsburgh who they wouldn't meet until the Finals.

If they do get by South Florida, Notre Dame, who is on fire, is waiting for them. Notre Dame has the double bye as well so no advantage over them which is why I said they need to get past their first two games. There are two things about Notre Dame though. They are most dominant at home and not so much on the road. Well Madison Square Garden isn't Notre Dame's home court. The other thing is they live by the three. The saying goes, "if you live by the three, you die by the three." So an off shooting night could cause Notre Dame to be in trouble and that could very well happen with them coming off the double bye. Sitting around waiting to play could give them an off shooting night, lets hope so! Anyway look out for the next article which will be a UC vs South Florida preview. I didn't get to watch the second half of tonight's game, so you can imagine I was shocked that South Florida is the opponent. When I left my house they were down by sixteen!

Time to Scout

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Okay Bearcat fans, Villanova and South Florida tip off in an hour and UC should be watching with much interest as they have the winner. It's nice to have a bye and be able to scout two teams that are playing bad basketball right now and know you play one tomorrow. Villanova is capable of beating the Bearcats, USF not so much. However Villanova's best two players are hurt and you wonder if their coach plays them sparingly to get them healed for the NCAA tournament. With Fisher and Stokes hurting, a deep run in this tournament would not be ideal for Villanova. They are going to get into the NCAA Tournament, and a deep run in the Big East Tournament would only beat them up more and give them less time to rest players.

UC plays nine players double digit minutes and gets little dropoff with players coming off the bench. That means our players are fresher right now, better equipped to run through a tournament like this, and can withstand an injury unless it's to Cashmere Wright. Anyway don't be suprised if South Florida pulls the upset tonight. Like I said, Villanova stands to gain very little by winning games in this tournament other than what their seed is in the NCAA's, and they aren't going to get a top seed regardless with how poor they've been playing lately.

Update:
Villanova is up 15 at the half, South Florida jumped out to a 10 point lead early only to see Nova end the half on a 28-7 run. I'm hopeful South Florida can at least get this thing close and force Villanova to play their starters the entire game. Especially Fisher and Stokes who have been hurt and are somewhat out of shape. That could be huge if they can stay up by double digits and sit those two the majority of the second half. If South Florida makes any kind of run and can get this thing to within seven or eight, I like UC's chances tomorrow against a Nova team with their best two Guards worn out. I still think Cincy is playing better right now and should be the favorites, but if they get a worn down Fisher and Stokes they could blow Villanova out and rest their key guys for the match up against Notre Dame on Thursday.

Allegations Against Tressel and Ohio State

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Yahoo Sports has a story out that Jim Tressel knew about players selling memorabilia as many as eight months before the NCAA suspended the five players and did not report it. These are the same people that broke the Reggie Bush scandal and OJ Mayo scandal at USC. These two guys are obviously out to go after major universities to make a name for themselves. These are two scumbags that want to go out and go after mistakes that kids made in college. Why don't they grow a pair and go after grown men who are professionals. That's because they don't want to be blacklisted by the pros and get no interviews and no stories. Instead they go after college kids who can't do anything about it.

I for one am having a hard time believing that Tressel knew about this and did not report it. This is a genuine good guy who does everything by the book. Maybe he did hear something about it, but I'm sure college coaches hear things every day about players doing this or that and if they investigated every thing they heard all their time would be spent dealing with that and not coaching football. These coaches are not babysitters and can not possibly spend the time looking into everything they hear about 100 or so players that are on their teams. This is a guy who wrote a book called the Winner's Manuel in which the premise is doing things the right way and being a winner in life as well as football. This is a guy who has players come to his school because they are known for being taught how to be better people as well as better football players. I honestly just can't believe that Tressel had real knowledge and proof that these guys were breaking the rules and covered it up. I do believe someone probably told these two D bags from Yahoo that Tressel heard someone talking about it, but never had any proof, and therefore didn't report everything. Is he supposed to call the NCAA everytime he catches wind that one of his players did this or that. If that's the case then every coach in the nation should be in trouble. Since Ohio State is a mainstay in the BCS and has more BCS bowl wins than any other school they decided to go after them. Why? It's simple they are trying to make names for themselves. The Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo stories didn't do it, no one knows who these two are. So they decided to go after the next biggest program out there and see if that would work.

There is a press conference at Ohio State tonight. I can't wait to hear what they have to say. I want to hear more to this story and I want to see some solid proof that Tressel had undeniable knowledge that these guys were breaking the rules and either didn't report it or tried to cover it up. I just think there's a lot more to this story than the two yahoos from Yahoo are saying. So far they've said Tressel knew and did nothing. They didn't offer any proof other than they heard from someone that this was going on.

Buckeyes Main Page

Ohio State Buckeyes
2010 Season: 12-1
Won the Allstate Sugar Bowl vs Arkansas
Number 5 in the AP Poll
2011 Schedule:
Ohio State vs. Akron, Saturday September 3rd
Ohio State vs. Toledo, Saturday September 10th
Ohio State @ Miami (FL), Saturday September 17th
Ohio State vs. Colorado, Saturday September 24th
Ohio State vs. Michigan State*, Saturday October 1st
Ohio State @ Nebraska*, Saturday October 8th
Ohio State @ Illinois*, Saturday October 15th
Ohio State vs. Wisconsin*, Saturday October 29th
Ohio State vs. Indiana*, Saturday November 5th
Ohio State @ Purdue*, Saturday November 12th
Ohio State vs. Penn State*, Saturday November 19th
Ohio State @ Michigan*, Saturday November 26th
Ohio State vs. TBD, Big Ten Championship Game @ Indianapolis, IN, Saturday December 3rd
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Links:

Monday, March 7, 2011

Unbelievable

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I was in the car listening to Lance McAllister on 700 WLW and I am amazed that some people do not want to give Mick Cronin any credit for the job he has done. When he became head coach at UC he took over a program in shambles. He had one scholarship player, that's not a typo, yes one player under scholarship for a division one school in the toughest conference in the nation. He took over a team that had one scholarship player and went and played against Syracuse, Connecticut, Louisville, West Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and you get the picture. So he gets this team with one scholarship player and goes out and plays against teams that are perennial powerhouses that make deep runs in March.

Now he has to go out and recruit after a season of getting his brains beat in by these schools and try to convince kids he's going to turn it around. Remember these are 18 year olds with short memories who don't know much about the tradition at UC. All they know is he had 11 wins that year and got his butt kicked in the Big East. Still he improves on his record after that first year. Then he improves again, and again, and again. Now his team is 11-7 in the Big East and 24-7 overall. Now he has a recruiting class coming in with 5 players that have grades in the 90's according to ESPN's recruiting page. Now his team is playing as well as most teams in the country and probably don't have a single future NBA on that team. And you people want to tell me he hasn't done anything yet just because he was one of 68 teams that made the tournament. Not only did they make the tournament this year, but if they don't get screwed on their seeding they should win a couple games in that tournament. To say he hasn't done anything yet is a false statement and you're ignorant if you say that out loud.

Not to mention now that the ball is rolling it's only gonna get better from here and recruiting will get easier for the Bearcats. Now that they are playing as well as they are and when they do win a couple games in the tournament the media is going to have no choice but to talk about them. I've seen a couple articles where they talk about people getting on Mick for "whining" about not getting respect. Mick is no dummy, he knows that exposure on ESPN only helps the program. UC isn't talked about as much as they should be, they are playing very well right now and a deep run in the Big East Tournament could earn them a seed as high as 4th. Who had that predicted in the pre season? Yeah right, put your hand down. Do you know who did say they were going to win this year? That's right, Mick Cronin said they were going to win. Everyone laughed at that, well look who's laughing now. So for those who still don't want to give him any credit or respect, you're not a real UC fan, you're still stuck in the past and want Huggins back, so go root for West Virginia. Don't get me wrong I'm a huge Bob Huggins fan, but before that I'm a UC fan and it's time to get behind our coach right now! It's tournament time!

Big East Tournament Preview

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It's being projected that the Big East is going to get eleven teams in the NCAA Tournament. The eleven teams are Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse, St. Johns, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Connecticut, Villanova, and Marquette. If someone other than those teams wins the Big East Tournament they will get twelve in. Either way it's going to be a record for most teams from one conference in the NCAA Tournament. That shows how loaded the Big East is and the fact that UC went 11-7 in the conference is a huge accomplishment. They were a couple of plays away from going 13-5 which would have earned them a double bye. It doesn't matter though they have earned a 1st round bye.

The tournament is held in New York city at Madison Square Garden every year and it's the best conference tournament of any conference in the country. Villanova is the 10th seed and it's ranked in the top 20 in the country, that tells you how deep this conference is. The games start tomorrow, Tuesday the 8th at noon and ends with the championship Saturday the 12th at 9 pm. There are a number of different teams that could win it all including the Bearcats who are playing about as well as any team in the conference right now. Over the past five years teams rated 6th or lower have made the Finals every year. Teams want to win here to improve seeding, but a lot of the top teams that have a high seed locked up may not play their best players as many minutes to keep them fresh for the NCAA Tournament, that's my theory of why teams from the middle of the pack and lower make it to the championship game every year. That being said West Virginia won it last year and they made the Final Four so winning this tournament will not burn your team out for the NCAA's.

Here is my reasoning why UC has a decent chance to win the toughest tournament in the nation. This tournament starts Tuesday and ends Saturday. If you win you play again the next day and so on. There are no off days. Teams that have to play the first day are at a disadvantage because some teams don't play their first game until Thursday so if you advance from the first round you will play two games before one of the top four teams plays a single game. UC doesn't play until Wednesday so they aren't at that big of a disadvantage. The reason I say Cincy has a good shot to win the whole thing is they average playing nine players 10 minutes or more per game. So if they can just win two games they will have a big advantage over the competition. In fact I think if they win their first two games they will atleast make the Finals and unless they play Pitt who also plays a deep rotation they will win the whole thing. Why two games? Well if they beat Villanova/South Florida they will play a Notre Dame team that has a double bye and will have fresh legs. If they can get by that game they will be in the semis and playing a team that played the night before. However that team will not be as fresh because other than Pitt no other team in the conference plays that many players so this tourney is set up for them to win if they can make it past Notre Dame.

So the action starts tomorrow at noon, here's a look at the first round games.

#9 Connecticut vs. #16 Depaul at 12 pm
#12 Seton Hall vs. #13 Rutgers at 2 pm
#10 Villanova vs. #15 South Florida at 7 pm
#11 Marquette vs. #14 Providence at 9 pm

Here's the schedule for the 2nd Round on Wednesday

Connecticut/Depaul vs. #8 Georgetown at 12 pm
Seton Hall/Rutgers vs. #5 St. Johns at 2 pm
Villanova/South Florida vs. #7 Cincinnati at 7 pm
Marquette/Providence vs. #6 West Virginia at 9 pm

Quarterfinals Schedule for Thursday

Winner of 12 pm game on Wednesday vs. #1 Pittsburgh at 12 pm
Winner of 2 pm game on Wednesday vs. #4 Syracuse at 2 pm
Winner of 7 pm game on Wednesday vs. #2 Notre Dame at 7 pm
Winner of 9 pm game on Wednesday vs. #3 Louisville at 9 pm

Semifinals Schedule for Friday

1st Semifinal Game winner of Thursday's 12 pm game vs. winner of Thursday's 2 pm game,7pm
2nd Semifinal Game winner of Thursday's 7 pm game vs. winner of Thursday's 9 pm game,9pm

Finals Schedule for Saturday

Winner of Semifinal number 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal number 2, at 9pm

It's Championship Week!

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As far as sports go this is one of my favorite times of the year, March Madness! This month and the beginning of Football season. A run to the National Championship starts this week. No matter what your record is if you win your conference tournament you get in the NCAA Tournament, win six games and you're National Champions. It's decided on the court, as long as you keep winning you keep playing no matter who you are, Duke or Indiana State University. The small school has the same opportunity as the blue blooded programs. Soon one of these small schools are going to win the National Championship, it's almost happened a couple times with George Mason making the Final Four and last year Butler was one shot away from winning the National Championship.

This year the Bearcats are back in the tournament where they belong. It's sucked the past five years watching the selections show early Sunday evening and knowing that you're favorite team isn't going to get into the tourney. There was the one year under Andy Kennedy they were on the bubble and got screwed and didn't get in. Now I can't wait until selection Sunday to see not if, but who and where the University of Cincinnati plays.

Right now Joe Lunardi has the Bearcats in as a 7th seed playing 10th seeded Washington in Charlotte. I wouldn't mind that match up as Washington has been an underachieving team that would have to fly across country to play the Bearcats. That being said I think the Bearcats are better than a seven seed. Right now if I was doing the seeding I would have them as a 5th seed. They are playing great basketball right now and are definitely one of the top 20 teams in the country. He has Xavier as a 5th seed and while I respect Xavier and they have been on a roll, UC crushed them by over 20 points. UC would be on just as good of a roll if they played in the Atlantic 10. Xavier wouldn't be on such a roll had they played in the Big East. Cincinnati is a better team, that beat Xavier, and is playing better basketball than Xavier right now. Also Georgetown is a 6th seed and UC just blew them out of the gym to complete a two game season sweep of Georgetown, how can he seed them higher?

Oh well, I would have UC as a 5 seed playing Belmont in the 1st round. Maybe that's being a little biased, but teams that the Bearcats finished ahead of are seeded higher than they are and I don't get that. I also believe if they make a run to at least the Semis they should be a lock for a 5 seed. IF they make the Finals of the Big East Tourney put them as a 4th and if they somehow win it a 3rd seed. That's right a 3rd seed! They have won 5 of their last 6 and 4 of those games were against teams that are in the NCAA Tournament. If you add that to winning the Big East Tournament how could you not give them a 3rd seed. That's the top 12 teams in the nation right now and if they do everything I just said they will be playing like a top 12 team in the country.

This March is going to be one of the maddest Marches in a long time I'm predicting. There is no clear cut favorite and all the top teams are vulnerable and could make an early exit. This could be a year a 4th seed or lower wins it all. Also a year no one in your office pool or your brackets with your friends picks the correct National Champion. Also I'm predicting at least five teams that are tenth seed or lower will advance past the first round inluding that twelve vs five matchup which happens every year it seems. Not only that but one 14th seed is going to upset a 3rd seed. So get ready for a fun, crazy, NCAA Tournament.

Some Thoughts on the Reds

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The other day they were talking about Aroldis Chapman's role on the Reds this year. Will he be the closer if Cordero struggles? I don't think they are going to put that pressure on him with the little amount of experience he has in the Major Leagues. Plus he has been a starter before and I'd like to see them get more use out of him. For example if they need to get out of a jam in the sixth I'd like to see them bring him in to finish out that inning and then come in for the seventh. That will set up Masset to pitch the eighth and Cordero the ninth. With those three in the back end of that bullpen the Reds will basically be shortening the game to six innings. If they have a lead after six they are going to win 95% of those games.

The Reds told Janish the job was his at Shortstop this year. He is a very good defensive SS and with the pitching the Reds have he doesn't have to put up big numbers at the plate. That being said so far this spring he has been hitting the ball well. If he can bat .275 this year that's icing on the cake with the rest of the lineup the Reds have to go with that pitching.

Homer Bailey gets the start today as he is battling for basically the last spot on the pitching rotation with Mike Leake. They say it's a four man race for two spots with Bailey, Wood, Leake, and Lecure, but I think Wood has a spot as he's a lefty in a rotation that's all right handed and he's the best pitcher of the group. That basically leaves one spot open and I don't think Lecure is going to get it. That leaves Bailey against Leake for the final spot and you would have to think Bailey is going to win that competition. I personally like Leake better, but Bailey is more experienced and has a higher ceiling. It doesn't matter though as every year pitchers miss time with injury so this is a good problem to have. I don't think they should make Leake a long reliever, he would be better served to go down to Louisville and pitch every five days that'll have him more prepared to be a starter when he does get called up.

Some of the young prospects are having huge Spring Trainings and one or more could be a suprise on the 25 man roster. I know the sample size is small but Zach Cozart is hitting .455, Devin Mesoraco .444, Yonder Alonso .417, and Chris Valaika .385. Alonso is probably going to make the team but the rest aren't expected to make it. This is also a good problem to have as all these guys are going to be pushing some of the guys on the team for spots very soon which is only going to make the team even better by individual performance and team depth. The Reds have one of the best farm systems stocked with talent in all of baseball. This is how a team that is a mid market team is going to have to compete for World Series championships. What this does is allow the Reds to not have to pay that huge third contract to a player and not get hamstrung by having to pay players 20 million plus a year. It also gives them an option if they are contenders to make a deal at the trade deadline if they need to, possibly a stud Left Fielder or an ace of a staff on the last year of his deal on a losing team.

Another good problem the Reds have is Daryl Thompson is back from injury and is throwing the ball really well. That adds another player competing for a spot in the bullpen. Some good pitchers that are throwing the ball well aren't going to make the team because there isn't enough room for them and that's an excellent problem to have. In the bullpen you have locks like Cordero, Chapman, Masset, Burton, and probably Bray. I don't know how many they are going to keep in the bullpen, my guess is seven or eight. So that leaves two or three spots, probably three. So you have Thompson, Ondrusek, possibly Maloney and Lecure, Arredondo, Herrara, and Dontrel Willis for three spots. Maloney and Lecure will likely go to Louisville and be starters, so you have five pitchers battling for two or three spots. I think Ondrusek is going to get one of those spots and if they keep eight in the pen the other two will go to Willis and Thompson. That could leave Herrera who has been in the major leagues for a few years on the outside looking in and frankly I haven't been impressed with him at all. Arredondo is young and promising and if they can get him on the 40 man it'd be good to get him in their farm system. Like I said earlier pitchers are going to get hurt and you can't have too much depth at the position. That's why I'm never high on trading a young arm unless the deal is just too good to pass up on.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

March Madness

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I love this time of year! The way college basketball determines their champion is the best of any sport in the world. Any team can win it all regardless of their record with the exception of the Ivy League. It starts with "Championship Week" and every conference holds a conference tournament, many of the smaller conferences have already started theirs. It's simple, if you win your conference tournament you are in the NCAA Tournament. Win six games in the NCAA Tournament and you are national champion. So even if you went 0-31 this year if you win your conference tournament and then run through the NCAA Tournament you win it all, no matter what school you are Cleveland State University or Duke, you have a chance if you keep winning.

It's going to happen soon too, a smaller school is going to win it all. Look at Butler last year or George Mason a few years ago, they came close. This is truely a sport where the champion is determined on the court/field of play. I also love how these smaller schools get chances to play against the bigger schools. Every year some of these smaller schools beat some of these bigger, blue blooded programs. That's what makes the NCAA Tournament the greatest sporting event on Earth. It doesn't matter who you are once that ball is thrown up you have 40 minutes to outscore your opponent and if you do you move on. Players that aren't known at all can become heros by making a buzzer beater from a school like Bucknell to beat a team like Kansas. A good player at Davidson can put a team on his back and carry them to the elite 8 of the tournament.

Next Sunday the field of 68 will be announced and Monday and Tuesday people all across this country will fill out brackets trying to pick the winner of each game. The funny part about this is the guy who watches college basketball all year long and knows the game pretty well will pick less correct games than Sue from accounting who doesn't watch at all and picks based on which mascot she likes better. It gives you a reason to be invested in every game and see if you can pick the correct 12 seed that is going to beat a 5 seed. That's almost a given that it will happen and you just hope your team doesn't get a 5 seed. This year is more wide open than ever before and could very well be a year that a 4th seed or lower wins it all. So if your national champion gets bounced in the 2nd or 3rd round don't think you are out of it this year because this very well could be a year not a single person in your bracket pool picks the correct national champion. There are literally 15 teams that could win it and all the top seeds can be beaten by an underdog.

This year more channels are carrying games and you will have the option to watch any game you want as every single game will be televised somewhere. That means you will be flipping back and forth instead of waiting for CBS to cut to another game with a look in. So in less than two weeks the NCAA Tournament starts, but remember anyone can win it all despite their record by going through their conference tournament and then the NCAA Tournament. So in reality March Madness has already begun.

Update of Big East Standings

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Just to let people know of how the Big East is going to play out in the standings. I'm not 100 % on how this is going to go but it looks like Marquette is going to lose to Seton Hall leaving a 3 way tie for 9th place. How does this affect UC, well they are the seven seed and will play the ten seed. Marquette, Connecticut, and Villanova will be 9th, 10th, and 11th place. Bigeasthoops.com has Marquette locked into the 9th spot but I'm not sure if this is accurate. I think they were assuming Marquette would beat Seton Hall and they're about to lose to them. Right now UConn is the 10th seed according to bigeasthoops.com but I think if Marquette loses UConn moves to 9 and Villanova to the 10th spot and UC would play Villanova/South Florida winner on Wednesday at 7 pm.


Update: Okay Marquette officially lost to Seton Hall. So UConn is the 9th seed, Villanova is the 10th, and Marquette is the 11th seed. So if Providence beats Rutgers then UC will play the Villanova vs. Providence winner Wednesday at 7 pm. If Providence loses and South Florida beats St. Johns then they play the Villanova vs. South Florida winner, and if South Florida loses then it's Providence regardless if they win or lose. So it's basically looking like UC will play the winner of Villanova vs. Providence. They play Wednesday at 7 pm no matter who it is and they likely will be playing Villanova. But Nova has been struggling lately and they could be a team that gets upset. I wouldn't mind seeing that one bit, hopefully Providence loses and South Florida wins as they are the weaker team of the two. Wouldn't mind UC with a bye getting to play a weak South Florida team that they crushed already. Providence is good at home but not on the road or neutral courts so I wouldn't mind running into them as well. Likely it's going to be Nova though and even though they've struggled they are a good team and are fully capable of beating UC they've done it once already. That said I think UC is playing better of the two right now. If they win that game they'll have Notre Dame on Thursday at 7 pm. If they win that game they'll play Friday at 9 pm. If they win there they'll play for the Big East Championship Saturday at 9 pm.

Mick Cronin, The Right Man For The Job

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I touched a little on this in the last article I wrote, but felt it deserved more. Mick Cronin is the right man for the job for the Cincinnati Bearcats. Yeah I was one of the ones that was pissed when Bob Huggins was fired and was frustrated with UC Basketball for the past few years. I'm an impatient fan like everyone else and wanted this team to be good. The thing is no coach on Earth could've had success the first few years taking over the team that Mick inherited.

The job he has done both this year and in the overall rebuilding process has been remarkable. This team isn't exactly loaded with talent like some of the past teams here, but they are playing as a team better than any team I can remember. I'm 29 years old so I don't remember the teams of the sixties, since I wasn't born. Anyway the way this team has come together is amazing. Right now they are playing about as good as anyone in the country, and there isn't a single team in college basketball that they couldn't beat on any given night. I was waiting for the team to fall apart coming down the stretch like most I've heard on the local talk shows, but it hasn't happened and that's a credit to Mick. He has this team playing so well that they have handily beaten Louisville, Marquette, and Georgetown twice coming down the stretch and are going back to the NCAA tournament where they belong.

It's time for this city to fully get back behind this team like it was when Huggins was the coach here. This is Mick's team now and he is the right man for the job. He is a hometown guy, a man who wanted this job, a person who has paid his dues as an assistant here and a head coach at a smaller school. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the right person to be head coach at the University of Cincinnati. He has taken this program that was in disarray and has them back to being a team that has a chance to make a deep run in March. It took five years and honestly that's about how long I expected it to take and to think otherwise really would be foolish. Players didn't want to come here right after a legendary coach had been fired and they didn't know where the program was headed.

Now I think we have the makings of another legendary coach on our hands. This team isn't exactly the most talented team, but it's playing like a top 25 team right now. I don't care if they are ranked or not, they are one of the best 25 TEAMS in NCAA Basketball. That's a credit to Mick he has gotten the most out of this team. I think it's safe to say the end of the rebuilding process is officially here. UC has a very good recruiting class coming in next year and a lot of the key players from this years team will be back. I look for this team to be even better next year and the recruiting classes are going to continue to get better and better. We are now going from rebuilding process to the winning process.

When Mick got here I remember in one of his first press confrences he said he was here with the goal of winning a National Championship. I was skeptical and thought with the condition this program was in he may be lucky to still be the coach here in six years. Well I am no longer skeptical. I'm thinking if he has this team playing this well, when he gets even more talent in here imagine how good they can be. Even with teams with average talent they have played pretty well in the Big East Tournament the past few years, advancing further than anyone thought last year. That tells me this man is a coach that knows how to win in tournament play and that has me excited thinking about what this team can do in the NCAA Tournament this year and in future years when we have even more talented players on this team. I love Bob Huggins as a coach, but there were a lot of years that loaded teams made second round exits in the NCAA Tournament. I honestly think Mick will be a better NCAA Tourney coach than Huggins was and believe he's the right man to lead this team to it's first NCAA Championship in almost 40 years.

So Cincinnati, it's time to get behind this coach and give him some props. It's time to get excited about UC Basketball once again if you haven't been for the last few years. The Bearcats are back and it's because of Mick Cronin, a hometown guy. It's only going to get better from here so get out those Danny Fortson jerseys and start wearing them proudly once again. Go down to DuBois Bookstore and get some new UC gear. Lets start filling up that arena and give this team a real home court advantage. Start hating Louisville with a passion once again. Get ready to buy some T Shirts that say Big East Champs, 2012!

UC Is On A Roll!!!!

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Well the Bearcats just kicked Georgetown's ass again and are clearly one of the top 25 teams in the nation, I don't care if they're ranked or not. Georgetown was ranked 17th going in to this game and UC is a better team than they are. The Bearcats are better than a lot of teams that are going to get a higher seed than them in the NCAA Tournament.

The depth really showed in today's game as even though UC was ahead for most of the game they really blew it open in the last seven minutes. This is the same depth that I said could carry them to winning the Big East Tournament. They regularly play nine players double digit minutes. That gives them an advantage over most teams, especially in a tournament where you play every day, no days off. The only other team that plays that many players in this conference is Pittsburgh. Playing this many players has this team fresh over a long college basketball season as well. In today's game alone you could tell Georgetown's players were wore out coming down the stretch and Cincinnati's players were fresh.

This team has a ton of momentum heading into Championship Week and the NCAA Tournament. It has won five of it's last six games and four of those games were against ranked teams, and another against Marquette who is a likely tournament team and it was Senior Night at Marquette in a game they needed. So five of those games were against quality teams and the other was against a Providence team that is tough to beat at home. This was the time of year many had UC pegged to fall apart and not make the Tournament again. They did just the opposite, dominating the competition and are guaranteed to be in. None of these wins against ranked teams came down to the wire either. They handily beat Louisville, Marquette, and Georgetown twice. They did blow a 16 point lead at Providence, but then crushed them in overtime. This team is on a roll, and is playing about as well as anyone in the country right now! There's not a single team in college basketball that UC couldn't beat on a given night, not one! That could make for a very interesting March.

With all of this happening, it's time to give Mick Cronin some credit. Things were looking down and I was about ready to write them off after the loss to West Virginia. They stepped up to the challenge and have been playing excellent lately, give the credit to Mick as well as the players. The job he has done taking this team from nothing to where it is right now over five years is a remarkable job. Yeah we would have liked to see it happen quicker, but this program was in disarray when he got the job and it was going to take time. Well he has it turned around now and he deserves a ton of credit. I have no doubt that Mick is the man for the job now and it's time for this city to embrace him. He is a hometown guy, paid his dues as an assistant, went to a smaller school, and now is the right man for this job. It's time to start filling the stands at fifth third arena again. Ladies and Gentleman, Cincinnati basketball is back! It's officially the end of the rebuilding process and now the start of being one of the top programs in the country once again!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Selection Sunday

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Selection Sunday is nine days away and for the first time in five years we know that the Cincinnati Bearcats will be listed on that tournament bracket next to a seed. If feels really good as we were spoiled as UC fans due to the fact they were a mainstay in the Tourney. How high of a seed they get will be up to them as they have a chance to sweep Georgetown tomorrow and earn a bye in the Big East tournament. With St. Johns losing to Seton Hall yesterday they have a chance to finish as high as fifth in the conference. A conference with sixteen teams that is absolutely loaded and a fifth place finish would be a great accomplishment. The media is talking about teams that could finish behind UC getting seeds as high as a 3rd seed. You would have to think if they finish fifth they have to get atleast a 5th seed and maybe even a 4th seed.

If they can get that bye one win in the Big East tournament would get them to the Quarterfinals. If they can get another they could possibly set themselves up to win the Big East tournament. I know it sounds crazy, but here is my reasoning. The Big East tournament is set up where you play every day consecutively, no off days. The Bearcats have regularly played nine players double digit minutes with not much dropoff when players come off the bench. In a tournament like this if they can get by their first game the following rounds fatigue will set in with teams that don't play as many players and that's every team in the conference besides Pitt, who with a win tomorrow for the Bearcats, they wouldn't see until the finals. So like I said, if they can get by that first game they are going to have an advantage over the other teams they play as they will have the fresher legs.

Back to selection Sunday, if the Bearcats actually win the Big East tournament or atleast make the Finals, you would have to think the committee would have to give them atleast a 4th seed. A team that finishes 5th or 6th in the Big East regular season and makes the Finals or wins the tournament you couldn't justify not giving them at least a 4th seed. Not to mention if they win tomorrow and make a deep run in the Big East tourney they are going to have a lot of confidence going into the NCAA tourney and teams are going to go in to the game knowing that UC is a very good team and they are the underdog.

I can't wait until next Sunday to see where they are going to be seeded, where they are going to play, and who is in their section of the bracket. It feels really good to be able to say that as it's been a tough five years. I think this team is close to have arrived back to national prominence and the rough phase has come to an end as far as rebuilding.

The Bengals...Argh!

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It's tough going from writing about the Reds to writing about the Bengals. This organization is a mess. The franchise player, Carson Palmer, no longer wants to play for them. In fact, he has told some friends that he will not play for them again. He is threatening to retire rather than play for this team and frankly I don't blame him.

Now they are in a position where they need a QB along with other positions. The best thing to do is to blow the whole thing up and rebuild, in my opinion. Frankly Palmer hasn't been playing that well and I don't see them making or winning the Super Bowl with him as the signal caller. What I'd like to see them do is bring in a veteran QB on a two year contract and draft the future QB either this year or next year. Preferrably next year as they need to build this team first then get the future QB. They need help about everywhere and I'm a believer in taking the best player available in the draft and not to draft for need. When you draft someone they are going to be here for several years and team needs change every year.

If Patrick Peterson is still on the board when the Bengals are on the clock I hope they take him. CB is hardly the biggest need, in fact it's probably their strongest position group. But Jonathon Joseph's contract is up and he can't stay healthy. Peterson is big for a CB, which will help him against bigger WR's, but he is just as fast if not faster than most running a 4.34 forty yard dash. He also brings value as a punt returner and to me is the best player on the board. I also wouldn't mind if they take someone on one of the lines. At number 4 there isn't an offensive lineman worthy of the pick, but there are plenty of defensive lineman that are worth that pick. If they can get a mid to late first round pick for Carson they could get a quality offensive lineman, maybe Gabe Carimi from Wisconsin. All the top NFL teams at drafting, draft for best player not need and that's because needs change but the best players in drafts don't.

The Reds Are Loaded

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This is the most exciting Spring Training for the Reds that I can remember. I was born in 1982 and I do remember the 1990 World Championship team, but I don't remember most of the season other than they went wire to wire. I have been a big baseball fan since I first went to a game at six years old, so I do remember the Reds being good and making playoff runs, just not the hype of the season and I certainly wasn't a nerd with a blog back then.

This year there are many things to be excited about. The team is coming off of a division championship with a bunch of young players that should only progress and be even better this year. There are many position battles and the battles aren't just mediocre players that the Reds are trying to plug into a major league lineup because they don't have any better options. Instead they have multiple good options and some of those options aren't going to win starting spots or even make the big league club in some cases.

They are loaded at Pitcher. Volquez, Cueto, and Arroyo are locks to make the starting lineup. After those three there is a battle between Travis Wood, Homer Bailey, Mike Leake, and Sam Lecure for the final two spots. I doubt Lecure is going to win one of those spots and I'm pretty confident that Wood is going to get one of the two spots as he's a lefty on a rotation that is going to be righty dominated. Not only that I think he's the best of those four Pitchers. That leaves Bailey and Leake for the final spot. I think Bailey is going to win the spot, but honestly he hasn't lived up to the hype and I personally like Leake better. Leake could be the long reliever, but I think he's better off going down to Louisville where he can pitch every five days. Every year pitchers get hurt so having Leake go down is a good problem to have because he more than likely will be up in Cincinnati, probably sooner rather than later. People have been calling for the Reds to package a Pitcher or two and trade them for a Left Fielder, preferrably one that can be a lead off hitter. I don't want them to do that, with how often Pitchers get injured you can never have too much depth at the position.

Speaking of Left Field, Dusty Baker said that Gomes will be the regular guy out there. That worries me because if you take away the early part of the year where Gomes was hot, his number would've been terrible. His defensive play is atrocious. I'm hoping that Yonder Alonso can learn to play Left Field in a hurry. Adding his bat to the lineup would be a big boost as he has the potential to put up numbers at the plate similiar to Votto and his defensive play can't be much worse than Johnny Gomes. If Alsonso can learn the position you're looking at a batting order of:

Stubbs, CF
Phillips, 2B
Votto, 1B
Alonso, LF
Rolen, 3B
Bruce, RF
Hernandez/Hannigan, C
Janish, SS
Pitcher Spot

That's a hell of a lineup to go with the good deep Pitching that the Reds have. It'd be a recipe for a repeat in the Central division and hopefully a deeper playoff run than last year, maybe a trip to the World Series if they can get by the Phillies in the NLCS.

What we have left is the bullpen. It's looking to be strong with the back end having Masset, Chapman, and Cordero. If Cordero is on top of his game you are looking at a team that can be playing six inning games. Have the lead after six and those three will likely shut down the opposition. Be tied or within a couple of runs and you are looking at a team that can either take the lead if the other team is unable to score and the game is tied. Or have a good shot at come from behind victories if the Reds can score in the late innings, which they did several times last season. All this without mentioning that they have Dontrelle Willis in the fold. If he can get back to anywhere close to his prime now you're talking about having two stud leftys and two stud rightys in the bullpen. In close late inning games you're able to pitch to the match ups. You also have Mike Lincoln who is no slouch. This bullpen is going to be absolutely loaded this year and if you're looking to make a trade that could be an area they have someone to spare. If you're not going to find a spot for Yonder Alonso, they could package him with a bullpen guy and make a big time trade getting a quality Left Fielder in here.

Either way the season is just a few weeks away and honestly I think if the Reds stay relatively healthy they are the favorites to repeat in the Central and probably the 2nd best team in the National League on paper. Yeah the Brewers picked up a couple guys, but the Brewers and every other team in the division doesn't have anywhere near the depth that the Reds do. That is important, probably the most important thing to have. The Brewers maybe have the edge with the top 3 of their rotation, but if they do it's not by much. Greinke had one good season two years ago and that's it, there's no guarantee he's going to be the ace they are expecting. Marcum is decent but overrated and isn't as good as any of the Reds top 3. Gallardo is a stud and if he stays healthy he can be a problem. Yeah their lineup is good, not as deep as the Reds though, and remember this Reds team led the National League in runs scored last year. Bottom line, I'm predicting a repeat and at minimum a trip to the National League Championship Series.

Work Permit

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Edinson Volquez had his work permit approved today so now he can pitch in front of paying crowds. He'll have to fly back to the Dominican Republic to get all the paperwork taken care of. He will leave on Sunday and return back to the Reds on Tuesday. Finally this is taken care of and now he can prepare to be the Reds opening day starter.

Honestly I think it's a bit rediculous that he has to fly all the way back to the Dominican Republic in today's age of technology, E-Mail, fax machines. Something can't just be sent to him through one of these sources of technology and instead he has to fly all the way back there.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

It's a Lock

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It's a lock Bearcats fans, your team is going to the Big Dance. There's no way the tournament committee can keep this team out of the NCAA Tournament. They now have quality wins against Xavier, Louisville, St. Johns, Georgetown, and Marquette with three of those wins coming on the road.

It's time to give Mick Cronin some credit for the job he has done with a team picked to finish 12th in the Big East this year. He has taken a team that had nothing when he got the job and in five years has this team on the cusp of being back where it used to be. They still aren't getting the respect they deserve in the media, but they have been beating up some of the best teams in the nation regularly lately. They finished above .500 on the road this year which is a major feat in the Big East.

This team could be getting hot at the right time. A win Sunday against Georgetown and they could finish as high as 6th in the conference. That will give them a 1st round bye in the Big East tournament and that could prove to be big. UC plays a lot of players and in a tournament where you play every day if they can get by their 1st round opponent they could make a deep run becuase they will have fresher legs out on the court than about anyone they play. Also if they can finish 6th they won't have to play Pitt or Notre Dame until the Semis, the two hottest and best teams in the Big East.

A win Sunday and a run in the Big East tournament could get the Bearcats a seed as high as 5th in the NCAA tournament. Honestly even if they get a 7th seed I wouldn't mind, especially if they can draw a number 2 seed BYU in the 2nd round without their best big man. They were pummeled by New Mexico and I'd have to think UC would be the better team there. But a 5th seed just sounds better, however then you have to battle that 5 vs. 12 curse.

Either way they are back in the tourney where they belong. I also think them playing in the brutal Big East and beating some of the top teams in the country has them well prepared to face anyone in the tournament and a sweet 16 trip is in the cards this year. That's right I'm predicting that this team will advance out of the first weekend and make atleast the sweet 16 and if they can get lucky and get some upsets in their section of the bracket maybe even an elite 8 trip. That'll get this program back on the national map and help with recruiting.