When Will UC Return To Dance?

1. February 2009  - Published by Brandon Saho
Comments (1)

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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Comments

Jeff Gentil
Jeff Gentil
2/2/2009 8:16:25 AM #
Nice breakdown....but Mick has 5 years no question.  He couldn't be more safe at UC right now.  He'll get them there.  It just takes time to build a DI program from scratch.  You can do it in CUSA or the A-10, but you can't build a team that makes the NCAA in just 3 years in the Big East.  Not happening.  

People need to be patient and not compare everything to Huggins.  Yeah, he won games, but he did in CUSA.  But, I'd say it was a stretch to say UC was successful in March.  

Huggs is gone.  UC will be better off in the long run for it.  Making the tourney is great, but the image of the program was terrible locally and nationally.  It was past time to clean it up.  Believe it or not, you actually can have success and be clean at the same time.  Let's hope Mick can do it.  
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