Experts Say: Cats Are In

It looks like the Bearcats have gone from being "in the conversation" to being in the field of 64.  That is according to some of the "experts" out there.   None of these experts will have a say on selection Sunday, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have the team mentioned as part of the field.  Here are some links to a few of the different brackets we found.  

ESPN Bracketology:  Click Here

Hoops Report:  Click Here

The Bracket Project:  Click here.

R P I Report:  Click here.

CBS Jerry Palm:  Click here.

There is some consistency with putting UC as an 11 or 12 seed.  A close loss Sunday at Syracuse is thought to have no damage to UC's resume and a win on the road would help greatly.

Continue the Locker Room Lock Out

With the win Thursday night the team earned their way back into the players locker room.   Following the Louisville loss Coach Mick Cronin locked the door on the players locker room and moved the team to a different locker room on the second floor of the Lindner Center. Deonta Vaughn like the lessons they learned, and wants to stay there.

Willliams Sore Knee Still Questionable

Thursday night the Bearcats went into battle with out one of their team leaders.  Mike Williams was side lined with a sprained knee.  How's he doing and will he play Sunday at Syracuse? 

In his absence freshman Yancy Gates stepped up his game and poured in 22 points wile grabbing 11 rebounds.  

The Day After, Still a Big Win

UC assistant athletic director Mike Harris summed it up best Friday when he said, "it's a great day to be a Bearcat fan".  It's the day after a big win against West Virginia and the players are not caught up in the celebration, instead they are looking back at it with appreciation.

It was a sign this team is maturing.  The youngsters are growing up.  Thursday night they went into a must win game without one of their senior leaders, Mike Williams was on the bench with a sore knee.

Deonta Vaughn said the teams recent confidence helped them, but so did following the game plan and playing defense.

Press Conference Today: Main Topic, Basketball ?

Friday afternoon before practice Coach Cronin and a few select players will address the media.  Bearcat Sports Page will be there and should have comments up and available later this afternoon.   Since Mick Cronin has no obvious "relationship" with Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim the focus of the discussions should be on basketball.  After the past 10 days that will certainly be welcomed by both the coach and his players.   After last nights game odds are the team earned their way back in their own locker room.  We'll let you know later this afternoon.

Big Time Basketball Returns

Thursday is the way it used to be on campus in February.  A big game that night, ESPN trucks outside of 'The Shoe", and students talking about going to the game.  Ironically the man who brought this atmosphere to campus many years ago was partly responsible for it's return Thursday.  Bob Huggins brought  people back to UC basketball last night and the current team certainly did enough to make them want to stay.  Saturday March 7  12 Noon  Seton Hall @ Fifth Third Arena.  Plenty of tickets available, at least for now.

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