University of Cincinnati Sports: Back on the horse

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Back on the horse

I just arrived at the hotel in New York and talked with Mick Cronin. He said the Bearcats had one of their most physical practices of the year on Monday after what he referred to as the "debacle" against UConn.

“The guys have responded,” Cronin said. “Suffice it to say that (Monday) was our most physical practice of the year. We’ve got to make sure that we get our confidence back. Obviously, I was disappointed in our effort in our last game. Things kind of snowballed on us. Our focus is getting back to being physically competitive.”

UC stayed in Storrs to practice on Monday, then took a bus to New York. The Bearcats will play Pitt at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the Big East Tournament. The question is, do they have anything left in their tank after the beat-down they absorbed Sunday?

Incidentally, Pitt is 19-8 at Madison Square Garden since 2000-01. The Panthers are 2-0 there this year and have won four of their last give games.

36 Comments:

at 1:08 PM

Anonymous said...

Mick should start Vaughn and then all Freshman. The Seniors can go back to Cincy or hitchhike down to Panama City. The Freshman should have started from Day 1. UC might have only 5-10 wins but they would be ready for next year. Next year the Freshman have almost no prior game experience.

at 1:43 PM

Anonymous said...

As essentially a lifetime fan, I have a few observations on the current state of UC basketball. At this juncture, I do not even consider this Bearcat basketball. It's just a very bad situation. A joke of a team and a joke of a coach. The worst part of all is the fact that the joke is on us fans.

How long will we be relegated to the gutter? And if anyone really believes that it's going to be much better, if at all next year, then you had better think again.

Lastly, I think that MANY of us are even more upset than the number of fans that are content with the current state of BB at UC. Why do I say that? First, because ALL of the positive comments make it onto the blog and many of the negative ones do not. That causes a distorted view of the level of discontent. Secondly, because many fans have resigned themselves to the fact that this ship may never be righted or at the very least, is a coach or two away from it. Therefore, they remain silently displeased or angry.

Any which way, we are probably going to keep hearing all the excuses for some time to come.

at 1:54 PM

Anonymous said...

Bill,

I would like to give credit to where credit is due. In the past, I have been somewhat critical, to say the least, of what I have viewed as merely cursory coverage of the Bearcats. Or in one unmentioned case, worse. Your present level though has been nothing short of excellent.

Too bad we can't say the same about basketball at the U of C! Please remind us though Thurday morning that we forgot to watch the game the night before.

Kidding aside. Great job of late. Keep up the good reporting.

And no, guys, I'm not a family member or close friend of Bill K.

at 2:29 PM

Anonymous said...

the good news is Pitt is the one team UC matches up well with. can't explain it, they do. maybe cause pitt isn't a real fast team and they both try to be physical.

anyway - should be a low scoring game if UC plays defense.

I'm guessing a final score in the 50's for both teams.

go Cats!

at 2:30 PM

Cheviot Sports Authority said...

I think that the recent, shall we say, lull in performance has just been a trap set by Lord Mick to trick the upcoming opposition in the tournament.

This team can not really be as bad as it has shown. This is all a scheme to 'outsmart' the stupid coaches into thinking that UC can't beat them in the tourney.

Just you watch: UC is headed straight to the NCAA and possibly the final four. Ain't that right?
Danny.

at 4:00 PM

Anonymous said...

UC can't be any worse than they were at UCONN.

My prediction - 95 - 52 Pitt.

This team has quit and I can't understand why????

at 6:49 PM

Anonymous said...

Here's to the University of Cincinnati
Number 1 employer in Cincinnati
Educating our teachers, engineers,architects, accountants,physicians
An up year for football, a mediocre year for basketball

at 8:25 PM

Anonymous said...

Whatever, I'll still watch. I'm a fan through the good and bad times. It's better to look at the bright things than be a loser and go on blogs to complain about me team.

To having a life! Go Cats!

at 10:53 PM

Anonymous said...

Nah, Pitt will only beat UC by 20.

-Buckeye Mike

at 10:59 PM

Anonymous said...

Isn't time for CSA to point out what a genius he is? Dude, you've been right all along. I'm humbuled.

at 11:02 PM

Anonymous said...

Welcome to bottom-feeder status, Bearcats. Apparently, the other Big East schools can pencil in victories against UC. This team just up and quit on Coach Cronin 5 games ago. Isn't anybody at the Enquirer asking WHY???

Pitt by 16. Season over - thank God.

at 11:10 PM

Anonymous said...

Seriously, CSA - I'd love to know why every post you have is negative? No matter what is posted by Bill - i.e. the Vaughn comments, you turn it into a negative. What will you do with yourself when this program is back on track? What the heck did you do when Huggs and his boys won all the time? Oh, that's right, you were a fan because it's quite obvious you are a front runner. I know plenty of UC fans that think UK fans are stupid for being so diehard, but I wish more UC fans were that way - at least it would make it look like UC has a legit following of fans. Unfortunately, too many people think they are going to get back at Nancy by ripping Mick and the young men that bust their butts day in and day out. However, those individuals end up looking uninformed and uneducated when it comes to college basketball and help solidify the fact that most UC fans are not true to their team and alma mater (which I am willing to bet doesn't apply to you).

at 6:01 AM

Anonymous said...

UC is 13-12 and 8-5 in the conference and the coach talks about the NCAA tournament for the team. The team has not won a game since and has looked worse each time out. The team started to believe they were better than they were. A side effect of Cronin's comment is many players developed egos as Adam H stated after the CT loss. Perfect example of a coach that doesn't have a clue.

UC will not return to any basketball prominence with the current coach.

at 6:23 AM

Anonymous said...

1:43 " First, because ALL of the positive comments make it onto the blog and many of the negative ones do not. "

Are you sure you are talking about THIS blog?

at 6:45 AM

Anonymous said...

How humorous it is that the Mick Lovers on this blog label anyone who makes a negative comment about this team or its great coach as a loser, etc. Apparently, they would like the rest of us to only say nice things about what is about the worst UC team we have ever seen and possibly, one of the worst coaches at UC ever.

But, what a minute. Let's give him another twenty years and he'll have it all straightened out. Let's pretend that this group of D-1 wannabes have respect for Mick and haven't quit on him. Let's also pretend that they'll be playing tonight with some fire in their eyes. Finally, let's pretend that we just love Z and the BOT and all they've done to our beloved basketball program. After all of the preceding pretense, we can all write positive things to keep the Mick Lovers content.

Got to go now back to mom's basement where I live due to being such a loser. Thought I'd beat you to the punch before some of you Mick Lovers use one of your favorite, worn out clichés. Have a lovely time tonight watching our bottom feeding team and well-respected coach!

at 7:12 AM

Jason Manring said...

Do you negative posters realize that less than 2 years ago Cronin inherited a team with ONE scholarship player??? Do you realize that in the world of college basketball, recruiting often starts in their sophomore years of high school???

Mick came into a situation that neither Bob Huggins, Andy Kennedy or any other coach in the country could come in and succeed in...not to mention he's expected to do it in the toughest basketball conference in the country.

I challenge all of you know it all posters to find a team in a major conference with a better record and strength of schedule where 11 out of their 13 players are either juco's or freshman.

at 7:18 AM

Anonymous said...

If and when the Bearcats finally turn their fortunes around, what are all the vultures who post negative crap here gonna do? I guess there's always the Bengals....

at 8:28 AM

Anonymous said...

"Pencil in wins?" Ok. Take out Georgetown and Connecticut at their gym - and UC has fought through all the Big East games. No one that won came out with an easy victory.

I guess it's easier to trash a down team than to hope they might win. Why wouldn't they win against PITT? They beat them at home, played them close at their place - had a chance even to win that game. ugh

Bill: Please disable the comments function of the blog - you've turned me not only into a blog comment reader, but a blog commenter. What will happen to me next?

at 9:00 AM

Anonymous said...

I'm sick of reading these diehard "true UC fans" claim the BB players are giving it their all. Have any of you watched the games or listened to MC comments for 1+ month that his team lacks effort playing the game? How many games have they quit playing? I've lost count and interest. Glad to see the end of the BB season. Will next year be more of the same or will MC start emphasizing play discipline, commitment, and hustle for the entire game. We'll see but please stop ignoring reality.

at 9:03 AM

Anonymous said...

Wow! Isn't this blog fun? It seems as though it is updated once every 24 hours when Bill is out of town. And that's if it needs posting updating or not.

Of course, this comment won't be posted, because it is not 100% pro-Enquirer and we certainly can't tolerate that!

at 9:13 AM

Unknown said...

Bill, WLW had Cronin saying his Bearcats are "testy." Your article here reports him saying "get our confidence back."

Something is wrong in the Bearcat locker room. All the signs are there. Not one reporter is digging into it. Not one reporter has suggested that Mitchelll left because of grades, violation of team rules, legal problems, etc.

It's just that he's gone and it's on him....whatever that means.

I don't know what all these things mean for tonight's game, but, since it's Pitt, I wouldn't bet on the Cats winning. Pitt's hot and we're not.

I'll be out and will miss the entire game, but maybe that's a good thing. It was so hard to watch that last beat-down.

At the end of this season, I have absolutely no reason to be excited about next year. Average seniors are gone, this year's supposedly great recruiting class was a total waste, and there's no reason to hope that next year's will be any better, and even if they are, they are still freshmen.

I expect the 2008/9 Cats to be essentially the same as this year's Cats, plus or minus a couple of games.

at 9:15 AM

Anonymous said...

I know trolls come here to fire up people like me. I am probably the only optimistic person that bothers anymore.

Big East Wins 2006- 8
Big East Wins 2008- 8

Schedule this year=
At UAB (NCAA Bubble 22-9)
At Xavier (2 or 3 Seed 26-5)
Memphis (1 Seed 30-1)
Belmont (Conference Champs 25-8)
At Ill. State (NCAA Bubble 24-9)
At NC State (Bad year, tough early road game)

I gaurentee without looking the Bearcats are the only team in the BE that played the top 4 seeds and 6 of the top 7 seeds overall in the conference tournament on the road.

Depaul and BG were horrible losses.

Better recent powers like Arizona, Maryland, Syracuse, Villanova, Ohio State, and Florida are on the NCAA bubble right now. Let's get to the level of these programs before we put our expectations there.

Let's Go Cats!
Class of 2001

at 9:19 AM

Cheviot Sports Authority said...

Note to Danny boy. Why is every post negative? Very simple, there is nothing positive about the UC basketball program. Except for the fact that I am positive that it stinks.

It is very hard to support and/or even feel sorry for a team that is at the bottom because of a self-imposed death penalty then hires an under qualified coach just to spite the coach who had brought them back to prominence.

Go ahead look at the bright side. The season will be over by 9PM tonight and you can look forward to next year's top recruiting class.

Remember this, when all the bitching and complaining stops, that means that apathy has set in. When that happens it will be a lot harder to rebuild the program.

at 9:46 AM

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill -

set the tone for the team. are they focused? angry? ready to go?

I believe they need to run on pitt as much as possible to have a chance, pitt seems slower than uc.

hopefully uc defends well this game.

at 10:17 AM

Anonymous said...

I hope it's not an early blowout tonight...I'd rather not have to switch channels to a Tinker Keck infommercial...seriously, I think the 'Cats will respond this evening and play well and (possibly) steal this one from the Panthers.

at 10:25 AM

Monclova Steve said...

It will be interesting to see how hard the 'Cats compete tonight -- win or lose.
Pitt will probably win; they're simply a better team than UC.
But the losing streak not only washed away any positive feelings about this season, but also was a result of the 'Cats not playing hard for the most part.
For that, there is no excuse.
I can live with the current talent level and chalk it up to the way things were handled with Huggs, AK, etc. resulting in 2 years of no recruiting.
But I cannot abide a lack of effort and pride in one's performance. ANYONE can hustle and give his best effort, regardless of whether he's talented or not.
Another debacle like we saw at UConn? That would give me grave doubts, not only about the players, but about whether the coach is the right guy to lead a resurgence of Bearcat basketball.
I hope we see some pride, hustle and desire -- but color me skeptical.

at 11:46 AM

Anonymous said...

I calculate that the Cats are 6 levels up from the bottom feeder of the BEast... Several levels above last year!

NYC was the starting goal and looks to me like it has been achieved. Not pretty, but Mick got them at least an extra game this year.

at 12:32 PM

Anonymous said...

No matter the results today, this Bearcat team has overachieved for the talent level of it's players. They've had quality wins, came close to beating UConn and Memphis, and made the B.E. tournament. Was it a great year, not even close. But it was in line with "realistic" expections. Did anyone honestly believe this team was going to make the NCAA's? If so, then those people are clueless about basketball, recruiting, or college athletics in general.

We have seen a glimps of what Cronin is capable of achieving, even with sub-par talent. Imagine this years team with 1-2 more players of Vaughns caliber. Next year Vaughn will have help on the offensive end. Another solid recruiting class and this program is right back in the national spot light. And not for it's players punching horses or duct taping their drug dealer to a chair and burning him with a cig. Oh how fast we forget that the good old days were not always so good. How many of Cronin's kids have been arrested?

Bottom line, Cronin is doing the right thing in Clifton. It's a relief to open the sports page and not have to hold your breath as to what the headline will be: "Another UC player Arrested for......". I am glad those days are behind us.

at 1:44 PM

Anonymous said...

at 12:32 Anonymous said.
"Cronin is doing the right thing in Clifton. It's a relief to open the sports page and not have to hold your breath as to what the headline will be: "Another UC player Arrested for......". I am glad those days are behind us."

Everything is so wonderful in Bearcat BB land this year. Those kids on the floor that Mike and Mick gave BB jerseys to are doing everything we could ever hope for.

Who cares that they're an embarrassment to themselves and to the fans?

It's to nonfans like anon 12:32 that Nancy and I are SO grateful to. Thanks!!

at 1:52 PM

Anonymous said...

Dear 12:32,

Please don't show your convenient memory and espouse greatness for this current team. Warren had an under-the-blotter early morning wreck and left the scene of the accident, causing him to miss a few games. Luckily there was no one around to check his sobriety / impaired state. Whew!

To claim this a satisfying year, you must have extremely low expectations. 2 years of cronin's results, and nothing of substance to show for it. Vaughn and (maybe) Bishop are noteworthy returnees, and that's it. Based on this year's freshmen development, I don't expect next year's freshmen to come in and develop / contribute in any substantial amount. Do you really believe mick will discover the fountain of 'youth' and learn how to develop them? If you look at his accomplishments at Murray St, he recruited talented but character issue guys to win in a sub-mid-major conference.

His shortcomings (no pun intended) are being exposed as a coach, not his players. I truly do not ever see mick capable of being in the top 6 of this league. His RPI is even bad for a MAC team.

I have been a long, long time UCAT and started at UC during the Catlett years. The only thing that has changed now is the blogging and boards where people can express themselves.

I want the Cats to succeed, but 4 more years of this staff will not be what Bearcat basketball has grown to be.

at 2:06 PM

Anonymous said...

Look--12:32 is only echoing what Nancy wants out of this program:

1. Few wins
2. 100% grad rate
3. No negative headlines regarding off-court behavior

She's got exactly what she wants (I think all the kids will graduate from UC--except Mitchell and Crowell. Any discrepancies will be swept under the rug (such as the sex tape and Jamaul's little "accident") due to the fact that the Enquirer has a SEVERE conflict of interest, since their president sits on the UC BOT...

So...there's nothing really to complain about....

Unless you want to watch a winning program.

at 3:21 PM

Anonymous said...

To the negative posters:

What would you like UC to do now? You can complain all you want about how Bob Huggins was given a raw deal, how Andy Kennedy was let go after 'bringing UC back to prominence', and how Mick Cronin is a terrible coach.

How does that help? You'd like us to re-hire Huggins? You'd like us to get another coach? If you have *positive* suggestions then by all means please post them. If all you can do is whine then please stop trolling the boards.

By all accounts, Cronin is a tireless recruiter and worker. He had a 74.1 winning percentage at a smaller school (Murray State) with (presumably) worse players than he can attract to UC.

So, it's logical to assume that Cronin will get UC back to prominence and recruit great players to keep us there. But he can't do it in 2 years.

Many of you complainers don't like the current situation because you don't like Nancy Zimpher or you think that Cronin skipped out on Huggins in a shady way. Personally, I think Cronin helped himself by going to Louisville under Pitino but he didn't do it in the standup way that he should have. So chalk that one up to inexperience.

Bottom line -- Cronin has won in the past, has recruited well at UC, and we've gotten better than last year. If you want to complain, at least make constructive comments. The ad hominem I can do without.

at 3:42 PM

Anonymous said...

You can throw last year out the window, UC should have never fielded a basketball team. No coach could have come into a situation like this, with no recruits and won the first year in the Big East. To win the number of games they won this year is a tribute to Cronin. The win today expectations were and are ridiculous.

So we should hired another drunk and womanizer like Huggins? Gimme a break, the guy had an ego that could be seen from the moon. Huggins has to take responsibility for his action. The guy was out of control. Give it a few years and he will be the same drunk womanizing out of control ego at West Virginia.

You nor I chose Cronin for this job. But guess what, we are stuck with him for the next few years, possibly more. Stop being a ban wagon fan. Have anger towards the B.O.T. and support your team. Or are you really an X fan with nothing better to do? Better watch it, we might steel your coach.

at 5:50 PM

Anonymous said...

The anonymous attacks on a bunch of college kids and their coach on this blog would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Some of these clowns seriously need to get lives. I don't think you'd see Cronin coming to their work place and criticizing how they mop the floors or empty the trash cans. Get some perspective. If someone is this down on the program, just go away. Please.

at 8:31 PM

Anonymous said...

They never should've fired Coach Huggins. But Nancy & the boys on the BOT did...and now we're stuck with a mid-major coach who's a typical "nice guy." Of course, that didn't stop the team from quitting on Mick by the end of the season. Nice guys do indeed finish last.

I'll take Huggins even with all his baggage - I want WINS!!!

Just glad the season is finally, mercifully...over.

at 7:19 PM

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:31 PM,

This is essentially what I have been saying ALL season long. This team is at least one university president and one coach away from ever being a real factor again on the national scene. But I think that the Mick Lovers and the dreamers really believe Mick the man for the job. He is - at the midmajor level. Let's rejoin C-USA or maybe just join the MAC.

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Back on the horse

36 Comments: