The University of Cincinnati basketball program has had a rough rebuilding period in the past three seasons. After hiring a hometown kid in Mick Cronin, the Bearcats record is 38-45. Cincinnati basketball fans like the improvement, but are getting impatient. They miss seeing thier team go to the NCAA Tournament year after year and winning conference titles. Fifth Third Arena used to sell out almost every game, now the basketball team is lucky to see 7,000 fans on a Saturday night. And just a few blocks away, crosstown rival No. 10 Xavier is taking over this city slowly and selling out the Cintas Center. The Bearcats are heading into a tough stretch near the end of the schedule including games against: No. 22 Notre Dame, No. 23 Georgetown, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 7 Louisville, and No. 15 Syracuse. Will UC return to the NCAA Tournament anytime soon?

Coaching: Mick Cronin has this year's team at 14-8 but gave up an eight point lead in the first half to No. 21 Villinova today and ended up losing by 21 points. Everyone can admit that it is very hard to follow in the footsteps of Bob Huggins, but the fans and university have high expectations. The NCAA Tournament is not a reality right now for the Bearcats.

Players: Deonta Vaughn is playing great as usual and he has carried the team since Cronin has been at Cincinnati. Also, Mick is recruiting great post players like Yancy Gates and Mike Williams, but the player that has really disappointed fans is Anthony McClain. He is a 7'0 sophomore but doesn't start? That is obviously a problem when he is one of the tallest players in the confernce and could be a serious threat, but is only scoring three points per game. 

Prediction: The Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team will not return to the NCAA tournament until either coach Cronin is replaced or he shows more intensity and pushes his players to the limit as all great coaches do. The Bearcats will not win the Big East until they play with more heart, effort, and excecution throughout each game. Also, if they don't beat the teams they should beat like: Providence, St. John's, Rutgers, Depaul, and USF they will never return to the Top 25. 

2009-2010: This will be the season when the University of Cincinnati will have to make a decision on whether to keep Mick Cronin or begin a new era to try and boost the Bearcats back into a national powerhouse like Huggins did. Although he has a six-year contract, most coaches only get three years to state his case, but it looks like UC will give him a fourth.

Answer: If the team finishes with 19 or 20 wins next season, Cronin will most likely take the Bearcats to thier first NCAA Tournament since the 2004-05 season. And if this doesn't happen, Cronin will most likely be out at UC.

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Both Cincinnati and West Virginia are coming off convincing conference wins last week. The Bearcats beating USF on Thursday 24-10, and the Mountaineers coming from behind to beat UConn 35-13 on Saturday. These two teams sit at the top of the Big East standings with West Virginia being 3-0 in conference and Cincinnati just behind at 2-1. Saturday’s game in Morgantown could determine this year’s Big East Champion. If Cincinnati wins they would have the tie-breaker if West Virginia would not lose another game. And if the Mountaineers win over the Bearcats, Cincinnati would most likely have to win out and hope for an upset of West Virginia late in the season. Last year, the Mountaineers escaped Nippert Stadium with a 28-23 victory over the Bearcats.

On Saturday, the top offenses in the Big East will battle it out in what could be a high scoring game. Cincinnati has an aggressive passing attack, while West Virginia has a great rushing game. But with both defenses playing well last week, turnovers could win the game. Cincinnati forced Matt Grothe into throwing three interceptions on Thursday, with the first one setting up a 2-yard touchdown run by John Goebel to give the Bearcats an early lead on USF. And the Mountaineer defense also recorded three interceptions last week plus two fumble recoveries.

 For Cincinnati to win, they must look for QB Tony Pike to find WR Mardy Gilyard, as they have hooked up for five touchdowns this season. The Bearcat defense must stop the playmakers for West Virginia, QB Pat White and RB Noel Divine from running all over field. It is not impossible for the Bearcats to beat West Virginia in Morgantown, they did so in 2003 with a 15-13 victory over the Mountaineers.

 For West Virginia to win, they must stop the explosive air attack of the Bearcats who average 260 yards per game passing. The Mountaineer’s have the best rushing offense in the Big East, but Cincinnati showed last week that they can stop the run too. The key for West Virginia is the offensive line, if they don’t block for QB Pat White and RB Noel Divine, the Bearcats’ defense will turn the game around.

Cincinnati and West Virginia will meet in Morgantown on Saturday, in what could be the decisive game for the Big East Championship.

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The Cincinnati Bearcats spread offense has been playing it safe the last two games against Marshall and Rutgers.

Brian Kelly was forced to use his third string quarterback, Chazz Anderson after the two QBs in front of him were injured.

First, starter Dustin Grutza went down in the 3rd quarter in week two at Oklahoma with a broken leg. Then, backup quarterback Tony Pike went down with a broken forearm in week four at Akron.

Lucky for Cincinnati, he broke his non-throwing forearm and with a bye last week, he will be back at the starting quarterback spot when the Bearcats face UConn on Saturday.

The last two games Cincinnati has averaged just 198 passing yards compared to 288 passing yards in the four previous games. They also went from the Big East conference's highest scoring offense to third place in that category after just scoring 44 points combined in the two games with Anderson at quarterback.

The Bearcats' offense could put up great numbers against the Huskies on Saturday with Pike returning at QB. In his two starts this year he threw for 6 touchdowns and 634 yards while completing 67% of his passes. Pike will be looking towards wide receiver Mardy Gilyard, who he found for 3 of his 6 touchdown passes this season.

On Saturday, Cincinnati will look to get back on track with their high powered spread offense that could lead them to a Big East championship. Connecticut will host the Bearcats on Saturday at noon and are currently on a ten-game wining streak at home. The Huskies last lost at Rentschler Field was against Cincinnati in 2006.

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On October 30th, Nippert Stadium will be packed with more than 35,000 fans. The Bearcats will battle it out with South Florida in a nationally televised game at 7:30pm on ESPN. Cincinnati has beat South Florida the last two years, both of those games were also nationally showcased on ESPN and ABC. The Bulls plan to rely on QB Matt Grothe and their explosive offense against one of the nation's best defenses. Cincinnati starts 10 seniors and will try to force Grothe into throwing multiple interceptions, like they did four times last year in Tampa. The great news for the Bearcats is that QB Tony Pike will be in the backfield calling plays after recovering from a broken arm suffered on September 27th at Akron. The 6'6 junior has a strong arm and the ability to scramble and run if the pocket colapses. The Bearcats have the best passing offense in the Big East, averaging 258ypg. For some reason that and many other stats dont stand out to the AP and Coach's Poll. Along with a 5-1 record, coach Brian Kelly isn't worried about not making the polls once again this week, but this seems to be a golden oppurtunity to show the nation what Cincinnati football is all about. The theme for this Big East game is a "Blackout". Fans are encouraged to "Come Early, Be Loud, and Wear Black." 

PREDICTION: UC 24, USF 10. 

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The Celtics were down 24 points in the second quarter but then they put their foot on the gas pedal and made the greatest comeback in the NBA Finals as well as the playoffs. The Celtics won Game 4 97-91 and took a 3-1 series lead in the Finals. The Lakers blew this one after having such a commanding lead in the first half and the Celtics took advantage of the opportunity. Good second half defense as well much better shooting from the Celtics put this one away after they finally managed to take their first lead in the fourth quarter.

Paul Pierce bounced back after his poor performance on Tuesday night by scoring 20 points and having seven assists. Ray Allen also had another solid game and played the entire 48 minutes of game time. He finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Kevin Garnett had another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The two key players to this game were James Posey and Eddie House.

Posey and House provided the biggest sparks off the bench the entire time that they played, even when the Celtics were down. Posey seemed to hit just about every shot that he took and Eddie shot well and brought speed and energy out onto the floor. Both players had 25 minutes of playing time and used all of them well. Posey finished with 18 points and House had 11 with four rebounds. House, however, hit the shot that finally put the Celtics on top late in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers were the team that almost came back from being down by 21 in Game 2 back in Boston, but it was the Celtics who were down by 24 but could make the come back complete. The Lakers also were just shut down in the second half after scoring 35 points in the first quarter alone and then only putting up 33 points in the entire second half. The Lakers starting lineup were really the only ones that were able to do much of anything against the Celtics tonight as their bench only scored 15 points.

Lamar Odom had a breakout night with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, and was the biggest pain in the first half for the Celtics. Kobe Bryant, who was not much of a factor early on, finished the night with 17 points, 10 assists, and four rebounds. Pau Gasol also had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Derek Fisher had 13 points and Vladamir Radmanovic had 10 points. Trevor Ariza was about the only factor (a small one at that) off of the Lakers bench tonight. He had six points and five rebounds.


GREATEST COMEBACK EVER?
Yes, because according to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team (until now) had ever overcome more than a 15-point deficit after the first quarter, and it was the largest comeback overall in the finals since 1971.


FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a great game, but quite a strange one at that. The Lakers were up 24 points in the second quarter and then up by 20 in the third, and Kobe did really contribute much during the Lakers’ run. He was there when the Lakers desperately tried to hold the Celtics back, but it was too little, too late for Bryant, who finished just 6-19 from the field.

The Celtics can close this out on Sunday because it will be difficult for the Lakers to bounce back from a game like this. Just one more win for the Celtics though and banner No. 17 will be raised to the rafters in the Garden again. Game 5 is Sunday night at 9 p.m. 

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It has been a long process, and it continues. Ben Mauk still does not know if he will be playing in 2008. The Bearcats QB was told his appeal would be looked at by the NCAA on Monday. Now it is Tuesday, approaching Wednesday, and still no ruling. It is very unlikely that he will get his sixth year of eligibility after being denied once earlier this year, but the UC faithful still have hope. Mauk threw for 3,121 yards and 31 touchdown passes to lead the Bearcats to a 10-3 record in 2007. The info on Mauk should come within the next 24-48 hours.

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Watch and listen to the sights and sounds of UC basketball.

 Videos produced by: Brandon Saho

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I had a chance to sit down with the Cincinnati Bearcats star wide-reciever Marshwan Gilyard this week. I had many questions for him and I also recieved a couple questions from UC fans too. Mardy was kind enough to answer alot of these.

I asked, "What does it feel like to be part of a top 25 program?" He replied, "To me it is the will to stick out and about being better. I want to be the best not the worst. I know how it feels to be the worst, like the year we went 4-7. Now it seems that we can turn it around from a couple years ago and be best we can be.

"What do you like most about the University of Cincinnati?" He then responded, "Being here and just playing football for the Bearcats."

Marshwan has his own fan club called "Gilyard's Gang", so i asked him, "How do you feel when you walk out on the field at Nippert Stadium, and see fans holding up pictures of you and screaming your name?" He said, "You just don't know how much those guys get me going when I run out and see that sign. It brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it. The only people I have here are my in-laws and my fiance. When I run out and see "Gilyard's Gang" I think of them as my little family, it gives me a real good home feeling!"

And finally,"What is your prediction for next year?" He answered,"I want to live up to the hype and keep working, then just do good."

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