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Bill Koch offers the latest on the Cincinnati Bearcats


Bill Koch is a sportswriter covering the University of Cincinnati's athletics.

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Monday, May 05, 2008

No UC-Miami at U.S. Bank Arena this year

The days of UC and Miami playing each other in basketball at U.S. Bank Arena appear to be over.

Jermaine Henderson, Miami’s associate head coach, confirmed today that U.S. Bank Arena officials have alerted the RedHawks that “they’re going to drop the game.”

“They’ve informed our people the game will not happen,” Henderson said.

UC coach Mick Cronin said the Bearcats have offered Miami the chance to continue the series, which began in 1904, but only if the RedHawks agree to play at Fifth Third Arena on the UC campus.

Bob Arkeilpane, UC’s deputy director of athletics, said the school has offered to pay Miami the same financial guarantee to play at Fifth Third Arena that the RedHawks received to play at U.S. Bank Arena. That guarantee is believed to be in the $35,000 to $40,000 range. UC was paid a $200,000 guarantee.

If Miami agrees, it’s conceivable that the game could still be played this season.

“We’re actually holding a spot to do that,” Arkeilpane said.

The RedHawks want to keep the game on their schedule, said Miami AD Brad Bates, but he said ultimately that's up to coach Charlie Coles.

Cronin said it’s unlikely that the Bearcats will ever play Miami again in Oxford.

“I would doubt it,” he said. “I don’t see where it would ever be in the best interest of ours to play that game in Oxford. I don’t see Ohio State going to Oxford.

“For us to play a non-league road game it needs to be against a nationally-ranked or that type of opponents that’s beneficial to us from a recruiting standpoint, from an RPI standpoint. You have to remember we’re not in Conference USA anymore. It’s not the old days. We already have 18 (league) games that are extremely tough so the rest of our schedule has to be tailored to be in the best interest of our program.”

Henderson said Miami would be open to playing UC at Fifth Third, but lamented the fact that the Bearcats will not consider playing in Oxford.

“Win, lose or draw, we’ve never seen the negative to the game,” Henderson said. “It’s the unwritten rule that Big East teams just don’t come to the (Mid-American Conference) gyms. But UC and Miami are bigger than the Big East or the Mid-American Conference.”

Henderson emphasized that Miami officials have a lot of respect and admiration for the UC program and understand that this is a business decision.

“We enjoyed going down there,” he said. “We’ve never won (vs. UC) at U.S. Bank Arena, but when you’re on a neutral site it gives you the feeling of being neutral. When you’re in Bearcat country, now it’s always a home-court advantage.”

The two teams have played at U.S. Bank Arena for the past six seasons, with UC winning every game. UC leads the series with the RedHawks, 91-53. The last Miami win occurred on Dec. 1, 1990, at Miami’s Millett Hall. The last meeting between the two schools at Miami was on Feb. 1, 1993.

According to Ray Harris, the CEO of the Nederlander Group, which owns and operates U.S. Bank Arena, the UC-Miami game was discontinued because of declining ticket sales.

“We were hoping early-on when we started the concept that we could build the Miami game into something close to what was happening with UC and Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout,” Harris said, “that we could get that rivalry going back and forth and that would boost attendance levels. That never seemed to take off in that vein.”

Harris said U.S. Bank Arena is pursuing the possibility of having UC play other games at its venue and that he would also be interested in having Miami’s nationally-ranked hockey program play in the facility.


9 Comments:

at 3:13 PM Blogger IndyCat said...

There is no advantage to UC to traveling to Oxford to play Miami in Millett hall. None. If they win, it is because they are supposed to. If they lose, they play Goliath to Miami's David. No way they should do that. Miami is not Xavier.

It is easy to understand why Jermaine Henderson can't "see the negative" of UC playing in Oxford - he is paid to see things from Miami's point of view. But Mick Cronin put it succinctly in the article.

I hope they will continue to play - but never in Oxford.

 
at 7:14 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well if UC/MU games at US Bank area are no more and Miami doesn't want to play at UC and UC refuses to play at Miami.

How bout a neutral site like the Cintas center - not exactly the cross town shootout, but place would be filled with X/MU fans on one side and Bearcat's on the other.

 
at 8:00 AM Blogger Jonimp9 said...

If they really wanted to turn this into a rivalry like the crosstown shootout, they should have started by not having the game played during winter break. Then they could have at least let students into the game for free or even had X number of free tickets available through the UC ticket office for students.

Instead, they play the game when few students are around, host it far enough away from campus that students living near campus have to find a way to and from the game, and then make them pay to enter. Seems like it was setup to fail.

 
at 9:31 AM Blogger Bmuskie said...

It's unfortunate if this series does not continue. There are nothing but positives coming from a rivalry game such as this. UC of course in the Big East will get better. With Charlie Coles being in his final year at Miami they have the opportunity to get a good up and coming coach to improve their program. Rivalries, win or lose, also help to build toghness and strength in both teams. That improvement does nothing but help both teams later in the conference season and the postseason. It also helps to excite both fan bases and the general sports fan population in the city. ie. Imagine UC loses to Miami. The fan excitement in oxford would be huge and may mean bigger ticket sales for Miami. At the same time the UC fans would be irate and want to see revenge which would help drive ticket sales the next year for the game. It means more interest in each program which could mean more revenue for all involved. It would be unfortunate for either team to be short sighted and end the series b/c it might mean one loss in a 27 game schedule. I hope it continues and I hope that both parties do the right thing to make sure the series continues.

 
at 12:11 PM Blogger 'WLMNMW' Prez said...

Rivalry with Miami? Maybe in the past. Even the energy of the crosstown shootout has decreased substantially since the demolition of the UC basketball program. And that's against X, our true crosstown rival. Any rivalry that existed between Miami and UC has to now be considered as a has-been one. This is essentially a business decision (a quite sound one) first and foremost, but also a good move for UC on the basketball front. UC is now at BCS level and should always look to improve its programs and non-conference schedules. Miami is stagnant, at best, and playing them would likely not be very beneficial in basketball for UC, or even in football for that matter.

Games scheduled at UC, possibly. Playing them away should not even be considered.

Just one last thing. I'm not anti-Miami, at least not anti-Miami of Ohio, and I have quite a bit of respect for Charlie Coles. Yet, UC needs to move on and up at this point.

 
at 1:58 PM Blogger ewad said...

The reason the series failed at Riverfront Coliseum is pretty simple.
UC fans haven't been interested in seeing the Bearcats play in their weakend state.
Also the memories of miserable years downtown still make it a place of bad memories.

 
at 7:15 AM Blogger Ironmike said...

Mediocre records the last couple of years with Huggins-Kennedy and consecutive embarrassingly poor performing seasons since have shown UC's basketball program to be far from big-time. The comments coming from UC refusing to travel to Oxford used to appear arrogant. Now they appear just silly. Perhaps after UC has won a few conference championships and consistently packs their own house, they will be in a position to look down their nose at someone else. They aren't now and haven't been for awhile.

I stopped going to the game at the US Bank Arena because the Bearcats haven't been worth paying to see.

 
at 8:56 AM Blogger kylemack said...

There is no compelling reason for UC to play Miami at a neutral court every year. If you need to schedule a mid major and do a 2-1 or even a 1-1...schedule Drake, S. Ill, Ill St. etc. Almost no Miami fans go to the game at US Bank, so just play it at the Shoe. Miami fans were given an opportunity to support their team but they just don't do it. The only average a few thousand fans, per game, on Campus at Millet. That is weak.

 
at 10:22 PM Blogger bearcat1984 said...

Xavier vs UC would be an appropriate game for US Bank Arena. Why not hold the Crosstown Shootout at a neutral court on the Riverfront with downtown and the bridges all lit up for the national TV audience?

 
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