G'Town Game on CinCW

The men's game at Georgetown Saturday at noon will be televised locally in Cincinnati on The CW.  For those on Time Warner this is channel #20.  We had earlier reported that it was going to be on WKRC-TV.  

Great Player, Even Better Student

Jill Stephens has once again been recognized for her accomplishments away from the basketball court.  Jill was named to an Academic All District team that is voted on by College Sports Information Directors.  Last spring Jill completed her undergraduate degree in communications sciences and disorders with a 3.98 grade point average.  She got her degree a year early.  Now she is pursuing a PhD in audiology.  In her first quarter of grad school she posted a 3.8 GPA.  By the way she's a pretty good basketball player too.   She's the teams second leading scorer.  Jill is now eligible for Academic All American Status. Congratulations to this great representative of the University of Cincinnati

Bearcats @ G'Town Saturday WKRC-TV

Saturday afternoon the Bercats will go into Washington D.C. and attempt to sweep the season series with the Georgetown Hoyas.  About 10 days ago UC knocked of the Hoyas 65-57.  At the time Georgetown was ranked in the top 25, that was toward the end of a 5 game loosing streak that ended earlier this week against Rutgers.  With a win the Bercats would continue their March toward making the NCAA Tournament.  Right now the team has an even 5-5 conference record with hopes of finishing out 4-4 or better yet 5-3.  Due to a mandatory NCAA day of Thursday and an early morning flight, the team was unavailable for interviews.  

Saturday:  At Georgetown  12 Noon  WKRC-TV and ESPN 360

How Do You Recruit When Snow Cancels School?

Recruiting on the collegiate level is a difficult enough process without outside influences getting in the mix. For the past few weeks ice and snow storms have closed schools throughout the Ohio Valley, and when that's where you do most of your recruiting it can be a problem. Wednesday at the "signing day" press conference we asked the assistant coaches how the snow days effected their daily job out on the road?

Quite a few high schools were closed in the Cincinnati area on Wednesday but it had no effect on the staff at UC. What it did do was delay some of the "pageantry' that goes on at the schools when the students sign the letter in front of school officials, parents and the media.

Follow Connor to the NFL

The NFL combine is rapidly approaching and six Bearcats have been invited to participate.  One of those players, Conor Barwin, will be sharing his experience through a diary on one of the more popular sports blogs in the Cincinnati area.    Lance McAlister, the afternoon talk show host on 1530 Homer, has joined forced with Connor to make regular diary entries on his blog, as well as appearing on his show.  Here is a link to Lance's blog," The Lot D".

Earlier today we caught up with Connor in the weight room and talked to him about a number of different topics including the Senior Bowl and the upcoming combine.  However, started the conversation talking about what it was like 5 years ago when Connor was signing his letter with UC and was going through the recruiting process.

Obviously he's happy with the decision to come south from Michigan to Cincinnati.

We read in his first diary entry that he felt weird referring to his agent as "my agent".  What else has been "weird" about this last month and a half?

We will have more of this interview with Connor as the combine draws near.  Until then you  continue to follow the Bearcats journey to the NFL on Lance McAlisters blog.

Signing Day: Part 2

This is part two of our press conference coverage from signing day at UC.  After going over each of the 27 young men they signed one by one Coach Kelly gave this quick synopsis.

One of the over riding themes was that the staff had seen the kids at their summer camp and that gave them the in depth evaluation you can't get just from watching game film.  The success the program has helped attract good high school talent to campus.

Success has also helped land the Bearcats on television.  This allows kids from all over the country to see UC football, and they like what they see.  

Being on television certainly helps with the junior college kids.  Years ago they would not have been exposed to UC football they way they were this past season.  One of those Juco's is a Cincinnati native, Jamar Howard.  Here is Coach Kelly talking about his new wide receiver as well as another Juco that can help next year on the defensive side of the ball.

So along with these two guys, who else out of the 27 could have an impact as early as next season?

With the 2009 class now in place the staff gets a few days, then it's back to work defending their Big East title.

Bearcat Sports Page.com would like to congratulate Coach Kelly and his staff on the class of 2009.  It was mentioned during the press conference, but the amount of time put in by the entire staff is amazing.  During his presentation at US Bank Arena Coach Kelly said that one day while he was out recruiting he found himself on Broadway and 57th in the morning then later that evening he was once again on Broadway and 57th.  Morning was New York, evening was Los Angeles.  Also of note, this was all done on commercial airlines, no private jet like some use.

We would like to thank Coach Kelly, his staff, Ryan Koslen, and the rest of the UC administration for all of their help, support and cooperation during the season and beyond.

Signing Day: Locals, Wide Outs and Defense

Wednesday afternoon head coach Brian Kelly stepped to the podium and announced his 2009 recruiting class. 27 young men that will help form the future of UC football. According to experts this class has one 4 star recruit and a hand full of three star recruits, but how many 1,2 and three star guys helped with the Big East? Interestingly enough the Big East championship and the Orange Bowl had very little influence on this class. They were already on board.


A complete list of recruits can be found at gobearcats.com. When you see it you will notice a great "local" flavor.






When Coach Kelly took an over view of the class he compared it to an NFL teams draft. Each class contains top draft picks that will play sooner, and some will have to be developed.

Looking at the team needs. Wide receiver has been addressed.

It's well known that the "Orange Bowl Bearcats" were full of seniors on defense. How will this class help fill that void?



Bearcat Sports page.Com will have more comments from Coach Kelly tomorrow. Other topics discussed were the influence being on TV had on some of the recruits and how the summer camp at UC helps strengthen the recruiting process.