THE University of Cincinnati

[kramer1]

Better recognize!

20-2! Undefeated in conference play after knocking off the defending national champion Louisville Cardinals at their place tonight!

This team is good folks. They've beat Pitt, Memphis, and Louisville all on the road or neutral sites (Pitt neutral). The AAC is solid with 5 tourney teams as a lock.

Yet, Cincinnati get no respect. Why is that?

 

[CatsTopPac]

Better recognize!

20-2! Undefeated in conference play after knocking off the defending national champion Louisville Cardinals at their place tonight!

This team is good folks. They've beat Pitt, Memphis, and Louisville all on the road or neutral sites (Pitt neutral). The AAC is solid with 5 tourney teams as a lock.

Yet, Cincinnati get no respect. Why is that?

Because they really haven't played anyone. They have only played one RPI top 25 team (albeit they won), four teams rated 26-50 in RPI and they are 2-2, and 3 teams 5-100. Other than them, they have played 14 teams with a worse RPI than 100, and half of them have a worse RPI than 200. Their SOS is in the 90s.

All of that being said, if they beat USF this weekend, they will be ranked #11 at worst, and knocking on the door to the top 10. And Lunardi has them as a #3 seed before tonight's game. I'd say that they are getting the respect they deserve. What else are you looking for? If they want anything more than what they have, they are going to need to play (or beat) a top ten team, to make up for their losses.

 

[john01992]

#2 cuse
#9 nova
#12 ville
#13 cincy
#18 pitt

uconn at 26. lets assume the BE replaced wvu with memphis for #16

man what could of been this year.......

 

[H2S]

This team is good folks.

they sure looked good tonight.
fun team to watch...street hoops...tough kids.

 

[podsox]

they are good. the scoring droughts they go on would scare me come tourney time though

 

[Runeman]

Got to see some of that game; think they were up by 17 or so and actually lost that lead to a fired up Louisville team and then pulled it out in the end. I thought Cincinnati looked very good and controlled the boards. Beating Louisville at the Yum is no small task and what a beautiful venue for basketball.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Cincy is solid. They play great defense.

But as mentioned they haven't played a whole lot of good teams and the lack of offense(scoring droughts) is not good come tourney time.

 

[tshirt]

in the preseason polls, Cincy didn't get a single vote in the coaches poll (47 teams did), and just one single vote in the AP (45 teams got more votes). Louisville was preseason #3 in both

 

[tshirt]

a look at Cincy's Big 4:

#23 RS Senior G Sean Kilpatrick of New York -- 19.5 ppg (vs UL: 28 pts)
--2013 2nd Team All-BIG EAST
--2012 2nd Team All-BIG EAST
--2011 BIG EAST All-Rookie Team
--3-star recruit (Rivals, Scout), NR by ESPN or 247
--offers to Auburn, Kansas St, Oregon St, etc

#5 Senior F Justin Jackson of Florida -- 11.1 ppg, 7.0 rbg, 3.3 bpg (vs UL: 11 pts, 9 rb, 2 blk)
--4-star recruit (ESPN/#86 on ESPN100), 3-star recruit (Scout, Rivals), NR by 247
--offers to Cincy and Mizzou

#2 Senior F Titus Rubles of Texas -- 7.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg (vs UL: 8 pts, 8 rb)
--2012: JUCO honorable mention All-American
--3-star recruit (Rivals, Scout), 2-star recruit (ESPN), NR by 247
--offers to Cincy and Mizzou

#3 RS Sophomore F Shaquille Thomas of New Jersey -- 7.4 ppg (vs UL: 11 pts, 6 rb)
--4-star recruit (Rivals/#81 on Rivals100, 247/#95 on Top 247, Scout/NR on Scout100, ESPN/NR on ESPN100)
--offers to Cincy, Syracuse, Boston College, Seton Hall, etc

Sean Kilpatrick

Justin Jackson

Titus Rubles

#3 Shaquille Thomas

 

[tshirt]

remaining schedule:
USF (CBS Sports Network)
UConn (ESPN)
@SMU (ESPNU)
Houston (ESPNU)
@UCF (ESPNU)
Louisville (CBS)
@UConn (ESPN)
Memphis (ESPN)
@Rutgers (ESPNews)

 

[tshirt]

#5 Senior F Justin Jackson of Florida -- 11.1 ppg, 7.0 rbg, 3.3 bpg (vs UL: 11 pts, 9 rb, 2 blk)
--4-star recruit (ESPN/#86 on ESPN100), 3-star recruit (Scout, Rivals), NR by 247
--offers to Cincy and Mizzou

Sports Illustrated today:

Justin Jackson is soaring for Cincinnati

Justin Jackson has an on-court scowl of ferocity -- eyes staring, jaw jutting forward, arm muscles tensed. In addition to uncounted chills down opponents' spines, Jackson's "mean face" has generated a hashtag -- #justinjacksonmeanface -- cardboard cutouts that Cincinnati students wave at games and a Cincinnati Enquirer photo gallery surveying the best "mean faces" in history

Jackson the basketball player has so many facets he can't be captured in the box score. But Jackson's numbers are important, because they represent an astonishing leap in performance that has been critical to the 13th-ranked Bearcats' surprising 20-2 season. Jackson leads the team in rebounds (7.0), steals (1.8) and blocks (3.3), and is a major reason the Bearcats are holding opponents to just 57.3 points a game and are fifth in the nation in defensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com. He is second on the team in scoring behind Sean Kilpatrick's 19.5

Jackson had always been a talent on defense, able to guard any player and any play. The roster of opponents he has personally slowed ranges from former Connecticut star Kemba Walker, a 6-1 point guard, to Pitt's burly 6-11 former center, Gary McGhee.

as a high school junior, Jackson was overshadowed on an AAU team that included future Duke signee Austin Rivers and future Kentucky Wildcat Brandon Knight. But Jackson was the main focus for says coach Mick Cronin, who loved how hard he played and whose 7-year-old daughter, Samantha, calls Jackson her favorite Bearcat. Cronin remembers sweating out Jackson's games, hoping the other Division I coaches sitting in the stands to scout Rivers and Knight didn't notice what a diamond in the rough their gangly teammate was. "I was so paranoid about people starting to jump on Justin that I'd sit there hoping he'd turn his ankle," says Cronin.

After last season, Cronin invited Jackson into his office. "I told him, there's a path to greatness for you...You gotta be (former Bearcats) Kenyon Martin or Jason Maxiell. Those guys aren't that tall, and they make millions of dollars."

Jackson says that conversation "unleashed the dragon." He spent the summer packing on nearly 20 pounds of muscle. He cut down on junk food, learned how to cook and forced himself to go to bed before 1 a.m. He honed post moves. He learned how to finish. He became powerful. "You can't move me the way you could move me two years ago or last year," says Jackson. "My strength used to be my weak point. Now I have no weak point on defense."

Cronin agrees. "You can't exploit him on defense, and that makes us so hard to play against," he says. "Most shot blockers struggle out on the floor in pick-and-roll defense. Justin can defend big guys, he can defend guards, he can defend power, he can defend the pick and roll."

Jackson now shows up at home games 2 1/2 hours before tipoff to shoot and run through drills. His energy level, which has always been high, is now off the charts. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say he's a 30," says Kilpatrick. "On those days when you think practice is going to be a drag, he's one of those guys whose energy lifts you up."

Jackson's game still has flaws: His free throw rate is a lowly 49 percent. But his impact is so undeniable he has already earned three American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors.

 

[tshirt]

Sports Illustrated:

Heading into Thursday night’s showdown at Louisville, Cincinnati looked like the team to beat in the American Athletic Conference. The Bearcats were 19-2 overall and 8-0 in the conference, owning wins over Pitt and at Memphis.

Still, with the defending champion Cardinals 6-1 in conference and riding a four-game winning streak, some doubt had started to build as to which team was the AAC’s best.

Consider that doubt erased. The Bearcats let a 17-point, second-half lead slip away, but they scored eight of the game’s final 10 points to remain unbeaten in AAC play. At 9-0, Cincinnati is now 2.5 games ahead of both Louisville and Memphis, and has defeated both teams in their respective gyms, taking command of the AAC.

Cincinnati ranked No. 5 in adjusted defense efficiency on kenpom.com before the game, thanks in large part to the country’s second-best two-point field goal percentage against (40.2) and seventh-best steal percentage (13.2). The Bearcats looked every part the dominant defense in the first half, holding high-powered Louisville to 20 points on 8-of-26 from the floor while forcing nine turnovers.

While the Bearcats were the defensive aggressors in the first half, it was the Cardinals, who have the fifth-best defense according to KenPom and fourth-best steal percentage who ultimately forced 20 turnovers, reliably getting easy buckets in the second half.

After leading for all of 18 seconds in the game’s first 35 minutes, a 28-foot three from Russ Smith against the shot clock gave Louisville a 64-61 lead with five minutes left in the game. At this point, a lesser team may have folded. The KFC Yum! Center was rocking and the Bearcats seemed to have lost all composure. Cincinnati gave the ball away on four consecutive possessions and 10 of 18 leading up to Louisville tying the game.

That’s when Kilpatrick and Justin Jackson took over. Trailing by three, Kilpatrick calmly knocked down two free throws, then snatched a long rebound. After Kilpatrick missed a jumper, Jackson flashed his athleticism with an acrobatic tip-in to put the Bearcats back in front by one. On the other end, Smith blew by Kilpatrick and appeared to have an easy layup, but a strong challenge from Jackson forced Smith to put the ball high off the glass, and what looked like a gimme rimmed out. Louisville had another empty possession, but Jackson stripped Montrezl Harrell, forcing Louisville into a situation where it had to foul. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Cincinnati was able to get the ball in Kilpatrick’s hands on each of the next two possessions. The 85-percent free throw shooter knocked down all four of his attempts and a Hancock prayer at the buzzer went begging, putting the Bearcats on a perch in the conference.

Mick Cronin has to be on the short list for National Coach of the Year. Largely considered the fourth team, at best, in the conference heading into the season, it would now be a major surprise if the Bearcats do not win the regular season conference championship.
This is a team that can make a deep tournament run in March.

 

[tshirt]

The Cincinnati Enquirer:

Sean Kilpatrick favorite for AAC player of year

With nine conference games remaining, Sean Kilpatrick has to be considered the favorite to win the first American Athletic Conference player of the year award. The senior guard leads the league in scoring

When Kilpatrick announced at the team banquet last spring that he planned to return to UC for his senior year, one of the first things UC coach Mick Cronin talked about was the potential for Kilpatrick to be one of the best players in the new league. That’s exactly how it has played out.

 

[tshirt]

Cincy coach:

"Justin (Jackson) is the most valuable defensive player in the country because of his ability to block shots, switch screens and do all the things he does."

"We’re not going to beat a team like Louisville on the road without Justin Jackson,” Cronin said. “It’s just not going to happen because it’s a tough matchup for Jermaine (Sanders) in this game. They would have put him in pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll so strategically we would have had to play zone if Justin wouldn’t have played."

 

[dcZONAfan]

tshirt are you a cincy fan or a northwestern fan? i can't figure you out

 

[tshirt]

Sean Kilpatrick favorite for AAC player of year

"Justin (Jackson) is the most valuable defensive player in the country"

ESPN:

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said he told Rick Pitino before the game that “I’ve got three guys like Peyton Siva,” referencing the senior leader who guided Louisville to the NCAA title last season. When the game threatened to spin out of control, Cronin said his best coaching move was simply to make sure he put Kilpatrick, Jackson and Rubles on the floor.

“They’re the best three senior leaders in the country, period,” Cronin said. “They’re why we have the record we have.”

 

[tshirt]

tshirt are you a cincy fan or a northwestern fan? i can't figure you out

i don't really know much about either. But they are doing great and deserve praise. Looking it up, I see Cincy has only made the Sweet Sixteen twice in the last two decades: 2001 and 2012, but failed to advance to the Elite 8 both times. They have only been to the Final Four only once in the last 50 years (1996)

 

[tshirt]

ESPN:

In a place where so many other teams had wilted under the Cardinals’ pressure and big runs, Cincinnati senior guard Sean Kilpatrick's steady hand and unflappable free throw stroke carried the No. 13 Bearcats to a 69-66 road win over No. 12 Louisville on Thursday night.

Kilpatrick went 11-for-11 from the foul line, all in the second half, including four in the final nine seconds. Other than muttering to himself before each shot, his free throw stroke was an artwork of minimalism, with no wasted movements and hardly any rim involved.
Kilpatrick said he has made as many as 22 in a row during practice, but he stopped trying to count free-throw streaks because it took too much time away from other drills.

Louisville might be the defending national champions, but Cincinnati showed more mettle during crunch time. A prototypical Russdiculous moment gave the Cardinals their first lead since the opening minute, when Russ Smith drained a 28-footer with several ticks left on the shot clock to make it 64-61.

But the Bearcats’ defense didn’t allow a field goal the final five minutes. Justin Jackson, who gritted through an ankle injury, made the key stop of the game by stripping Montrezl Harrell near the basket with 38 seconds left.

“A killer mentality is all I have,” Jackson said.

People didn’t think much of the Bearcats coming into this season, but with an eraser like Jackson in the middle a scorer like Kilpatrick, the Bearcats can keep this streak going for a while and angle for a top seed in March.

But their floor leader says respect can wait. “We’d rather keep that chip on our shoulder,” Kilpatrick said. “That lets us stay humble as a team and stay focused.”

Good things tend to happen when Cincinnati keeps an even keel.

 

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"You can’t understand the fortitude of Titus, Justin and (Kilpatrick),” Cincinnati coach Mike Cronin said. “I know what those guys are made of. That’s why we have the record we have. You know what they say in a fight: everybody’s tougher when they got tough guys around them, and I got three of the toughest guys in the country."

 

[tshirt]

CBS Sports:

Cincinnati puts nation on notice with Louisville win

The time for Cincinnati to fly under the radar has officially expired. The Bearcats went into Louisville and came out with a 69-66 victory, moving to 9-0 in the AAC and 20-2 overall. Cincinnati has won 13 games in a row and hasn't lost since December 14. Moreover, they now have road victories over Memphis and Louisville in conference play, which really puts them in the driver's seat for the AAC regular-season title.

The story of this game was defense and toughness. Cincinnati is as tough as they come in college basketball and the Bearcats play some of the most stifling half-court defense in the country.

Cincinnati isn't going to be a trendy Final Four pick, but with Kilpatrick capable of going for 25 every night and Jackson and Titus Rubles finishing inside, the Bearcats can get the requisite 65 points it needs to win games. That's all they need – because they aren't going to give up more than 60 points too often.