What about the Game, It's a BIG one

Last year when UC beat West Virginia the Bearcats were able to hold Bob Huggins to o points, but Mick Cronin was also scoreless in his teams win.

Enough with the coaches, neither of them will hit the winning shot Thursday night.    The Mountaineers come into the game in a much better position for the NCAA Tournament than UC is, that's why this is a must win game for the home team.

Coach Cronin knows that West Virginia is a very good basketball team, here is his view of the Mountaineers.

On Tuesday when we spoke with the team they were just about to look at film of their up coming opponent, but they already know what WVU is all about.

That's a look at the opponent in this very important game.    As for the degree of "importance", it must be big.  ESPN is sending the team of Brent Musburger and Bob Knight. Which leaves one very big question.  UC has only played Ohio State once in the past 50 years, how will Brent work the Buckeyes into the conversation?

Game Time:  7:30   TV:  ESPN   Radio:  WLW

Who Needs 5 Star Players

Wednesday is national signing day across America.  The day high school seniors commit to what college they will play for.  UC is holding a press conference later today to discuss the class Brian Kelly and his staff are bringing in.  Before that ESPNU will be devoting hours of analysis talking about all of the 5 star players and rating the recruiting classes.   Tuesday evening in a signing day preview show even recruiting expert Tom Luginbill admits that ratings for high school kids don't mean a thing.

It's not so much the players, it's what the coaches get out of the players.  Brian Kelly said that last year and will probably say it again today.  The class that is sending 6 seniors to the NFL combine later this month was looked upon as the worst in the Big East 4 years ago, according to the experts and the rating system.  That last place class helped this football program finish first in the Big East this past season.  Bearcat Sports page.com will have complete coverage of the press conference later this evening.

Ugly Game, Pretty Results

A couple of weeks ago Mick Cronin said that to win in the Big East you have to win ugly. Thursday night at St John's was the ever popular "pig with lipstick". Meet the pig: an 11 point deficit at half time, only 1 for 11 three pointers in the first half for UC, Rashad Bishop getting ejected early in the second half and a combined 53 foul shots. It wasn't pretty but it was a 71-60 win when the smoke cleared. Here is the ESPNU recap of the first half before the second half got started.

As we said earlier, Rashad Bishop and St John's D.J. Kennedy were ejected early in the second half. No punches were thrown, no pushing, just some jawing. Apparently that was enough.

After Bishop was gone the team began to turn things around. Deonta Vaughn was definitely the team leader down the stretch. He had 20 of his 23 points in the second half. Trailing by 11 with just over 13 minutes to go UC outscored St Johns 31-9 from that point. Deonta Vaughn was a major part of that run.

On the road trip the Cats won 2 out of 3. Now it's back to practice and some time off. The next game is at home next Wednesday when Georgetown pays a visit to Fifth Third Arena.

Best In Ohio?

On ESPN U "Inside the Polls" last week the experts discussed the best team in Ohio.  In a segment called "Pop Quiz" Tom Luginbill and former UC head coach Mike Gottfried are asked ,"Who is the beast team in Ohio?"  They had some fun with it and of course Mike Gottfried picked his Bearcats.  Check it out.

Bearcat Sports page.com hopes to see Ohio State selected for a BCS Bowl game Sunday.  It's not a matter of what's the best conference in college football, it's what is the best state in college football.  With both UC and OSU in BCS Bowl games, that settles that argument quickly!!!!  By te way did you catch Gottfried's comment that his answer includes both the Bengals and Browns.  Of course this video clip is courtesy of ESPN U and the ESPN family.