Bearcats still believers

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Say NCAA bid's not out of reach despite tough remaining schedule



Many fans have given up on the University of Cincinnati Bearcats' prospects for making the NCAA Tournament this year in the wake of three losses in their last four games.

But the players still believe they can right the ship in time to earn the school's first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005.

You want optimism? Listen to junior forward Ibrahima Thomas.

"This team's not ready to quit," Thomas said Thursday. "We still believe in each other. We still believe in our capacity to compete with anybody. That's what we saw last Sunday (against Syracuse). We just didn't finish the game."

UC (14-9, 5-6 Big East) embarks on a two-game road swing this weekend, beginning at Connecticut (14-10, 4-7) on Saturday, followed by a trip to Tampa to face resurgent South Florida (5-6, 15-8) Tuesday.

Like the Bearcats, who were listed as No. 52 by CollegeRPI heading into Thursday's games, both of those teams are striving to prove they belong in the postseason. And waiting down the line for UC are No 4 Villanova at home and road games at No 5 West Virginia and No. 7 Georgetown.

"We're not afraid of nobody," Thomas said. "It's not a matter of playing the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country. It's just a matter of how hard we're going to play and how well we're going to play."

UC coach Mick Cronin said his players were "distraught" after Sunday's 71-54 loss to Syracuse. The Bearcats were outscored 28-5 in the final 12 minutes after leading by six against what then was the No. 3 team in the country.

"They believed they could win," Cronin said of his players. "They went out and played extremely hard and went cold at the wrong time. They were down because they wanted to win that game, but that's a good thing. They feel the pain, but that's got to strengthen your resolve."

Both Thomas and sophomore Yancy Gates displayed a resilient outlook Thursday.

"I think we've got a good team and we can beat those teams that are ahead of us," Gates said, "even though it's the toughest part of our schedule ... Hopefully we can put together and play a full 40-minute game the way we started off the Syracuse game. That makes us believe we have the ability to make the tournament."

But confidence and a positive attitude alone won't get the job done - especially on the road, where UC is 1-4 in conference play this season. That's why Cronin had the Bearcats in the gym Tuesday and Wednesday morning to work on individual skills.

"Our guys understand that we gave a few away," Cronin said. "They also understand that that we can play with anybody on our schedule."

That's assuming they take care of business on the boards and play solid defense for 40 minutes instead of 30.

"When we're able to defend and rebound, we're successful despite times when we haven't shot the ball well," Cronin said.

As far as UC making a run to an NCAA Tournament berth, it's hard to argue with skeptics who point to the Bearcats' record and their remaining schedule and say it's unlikely.

But the players say something else.

"Everybody's focus is on trying to pull together a stretch of games to where we can still make the tournament," Gates said. "We feel that we're just as good as anybody."

 

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Cincinnati, UConn both skid into matchup


It was a tough assignment, but one that George Blaney has handled before. His charge was to fill in as interim head coach for a struggling Connecticut basketball team while Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun was on medical leave.

"I've done it before," said Blaney, UConn's associate head coach.

"He (Calhoun) has had some issues before. I've been a head coach. It's not like you don't know what to do."

Blaney spent 30 years as a head coach, including a three-year stint at Seton Hall, but he's not Calhoun, who returns today to coach the Huskies against the University of Cincinnati at noon at the XL Center.

The Huskies (14-10, 4-7 Big East) lost four of their seven games in Calhoun's absence and find themselves in the uncharacteristic position of hitting the stretch run of the regular season badly in need of victories to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

"When you think about Connecticut basketball, you think about Jim Calhoun," UC coach Mick Cronin said. "I'm sure for a while it affected their team."

Blaney, perhaps more than anyone, knows what Calhoun's return can mean to UConn's players during this critical juncture.

"He's the architect of the whole program," Blaney said. "He's taught them from day one how to play and what to do in certain situations and how to respond to him. It's a much easier type of response from the players. I was the caretaker."

UC (14-9, 5-6) has lost two games in a row and three of its past four. The Bearcats are 1-6 in true road games this season as they begins a two-game trip that will end Tuesday at South Florida.

The Bearcats, who beat UConn 71-69 on Dec. 30 at Fifth Third Arena, have shot 40.8 percent and averaged 63.1 points on the road compared with 48.4 percent and 77.6 points at home. They've shot an abysmal 24.6 percent from 3-point range on the road and have committed an average of 14.9 turnovers per game.

UConn was picked to finish third in the league in the preseason poll and was ranked as high as 10th nationally, on Dec. 28.

"We're a win away from being really good," Blaney said. "We think we have heart. We think we have talent. You can get caught in this league in a spin cycle. It's very easy to lose games and very difficult to get yourself out of that."

Blaney said when Calhoun, who has 816 career victories, left the team on Jan. 19, doctors wanted him to keep his distance from the program.

"He was like a caged animal," Blaney said. "As the days went along, we talked more. He was good about being objective about the team. I think he knows exactly what we need. We need to play full possessions. We need to play full games."

UC has had the same problem, which is why the Bearcats have allowed at least six games to slip from their grasp after being in position to win.

"My job is to get us to where we're a 40-minute team," Cronin said. "That's the biggest thing for us. I have got to get some of our young guys, our freshmen and sophomores, to the point where they can play 40 whole minutes defensively."

Playing the Huskies on the road has not gone well for UC in the Big East. The Bearcats' previous game at UConn, in 2008, resulted in a 96-51 blowout loss for the Bearcats at Gampel Pavilion on campus in Storrs.

Now the Bearcats will play the Huskies when they're desperate for a win, on a day when they figure to benefit from the emotion surrounding Calhoun's return to the sideline.

"I always love his passion," Blaney said of Calhoun. "I always love his teaching ability and I always love his ability to motivate. I'm excited that he's here for the stretch run."