The Rutgers win was HUGE. Not only did it end our losing streak and get us back to over .500 in conference, Rutgers is a quality win. They have a solid RPI and a good record and of course have played and will play quality teams. That's the difference between C-USA and the Big East, even the mid to lower tier teams can help your SOS and RPI and NCAA Tournament profile. Anyway, the key now is the win the game you SHOULD win. If we beat South Florida, Providence and Seton Hall like we should then that gives us 17 wins. The next chore is to try and scoop up 2 wins. You have to take care of business at home. Louisville at home is winnable, especially since Dean might not be back for that game. We have to steal a game at home against two VERY good squads, West Virginia and/or Villanova. 18 wins probably gets us into the NCAAs since we would have a strong OOC SOS and quality wins and profile. Stealing a game on the road would help. Seton Hall is on the road, we HAVE to win that because we're supposed to. Louisville is winnable on the road, and we could catch someone like West Virginia or Pitt napping. Or get West Virginia on Senior night. It's also possible to win at least one game in the Big East Tournament, and from there anything can happen in a tournament setting. Just get to 18 wins and I think we'll find ourselves in the NCAAs with somewhere between a 8 to 10 seed.

I could not agree more. UC desparately needed a win and they got it. Coach Kennedy said nearly the same thing during his postgame comments.

chadd stepped up in the clutch.

An absolutely gutsy effort by the Cats.

That was fun to watch.

Anyone notice how many times Chad dove or got knocked to the floor hard today? He is going to need some Doans pills for that back in the morning.

Either other coaches can't coach or this team is just special for overcoming the adversity of not having any size down low (forget about depth). Those two galoots just leaned on Hicks and crew all game long. I am tired from just watching them. They were slow but damn it would be nice to have some beef like that to roatate in.

We got them to play ugly today. Now if we can somehow go 2-3 in the next 5 I would be really happy. 3-2 and I'll need a cold shower to temper my enthusiasm.

I was at work and checking the game on ESPN on the internet. They mentiioned Erik Murray as being #51 and playing. Can someone please put a name on the back of Conner Baldwin? Otherwise, very impressive win. I'd be surprised to see Louisville in the top 25. They have beaten nobody probably in the top 50.

It would be nice to see us get a couple of Top 25 wins by the end of the year.

BTW, that Douby kid is going to ruin the day of a few of the teams towards the top half of the BE standings before the season is through. If I were his coach I would only use Huggins' two plays he used early in his career (Herb Jones left & Herb Jones right).

The kid can just about create a shot whenever he wants to.

hammerbearcat Wrote:I was at work and checking the game on ESPN on the internet. They mentiioned Erik Murray as being #51 and playing. Can someone please put a name on the back of Conner Baldwin? Otherwise, very impressive win. I'd be surprised to see Louisville in the top 25. They have beaten nobody probably in the top 50.

It would be nice to see us get a couple of Top 25 wins by the end of the year.

speaking of names, his last name is barwin . . .

Bearcats need 5 more wins MINIMUM to have a chance to make march madness.

Jan 25
@Louisville : possible

Jan 28
@Georgetown : not likely

Jan 31
South Florida : probable

Feb 4
@West Virginia : not likely

Feb 6
Louisville : possible

Feb 12
@Pittsburgh : not likely

Feb 15
@Syracuse : not likely

Feb 17
Providence : probable

Feb 23
Villanova : not likely

Feb 28
@Seton Hall : possible

Mar 4
West Virginia : not likely

Probable: 2
Possible: 3
Not likely: 6

We will have to convert all the probables and possibles to meet the bare minimum needed. We'll need two of those "not likely's" or a win in the BE tournament to get to 20 wins.

If the BE tournament were right now Cincy would be the #8 seed and probably playing #9 St John's in the first round.

and then play West Virginia in the 2nd round ???

5-12 vs. 4
6-11 vs. 3
7-10 vs. 2
8-9 vs. 1

In any case, making it to march madness is not impossible.

But... there's almost no margin for error left.

Downey took control of that game. He got a little sloppy in the 2nd half for a few minutes. But he made some clutch shots. At the end of the first half he was scoring at will. He knew they couldn't stop him.

Don't overlook that Georgetown game, UC can win that. People are going to act crazy because they beat Duke, but that was Georgetown at their absolute best. UC can beat them. The Syracuse game is winnable as well. Remember, UC was in that Syracuse game before the they got hot. It's a payback game, Syracuse is stumbling, and UC can give them fits defensively.

CatsClaw Wrote:The Rutgers win was HUGE. Not only did it end our losing streak and get us back to over .500 in conference, Rutgers is a quality win. They have a solid RPI and a good record and of course have played and will play quality teams. That's the difference between C-USA and the Big East, even the mid to lower tier teams can help your SOS and RPI and NCAA Tournament profile. Anyway, the key now is the win the game you SHOULD win. If we beat South Florida, Providence and Seton Hall like we should then that gives us 17 wins. The next chore is to try and scoop up 2 wins. You have to take care of business at home. Louisville at home is winnable, especially since Dean might not be back for that game. We have to steal a game at home against two VERY good squads, West Virginia and/or Villanova. 18 wins probably gets us into the NCAAs since we would have a strong OOC SOS and quality wins and profile. Stealing a game on the road would help. Seton Hall is on the road, we HAVE to win that because we're supposed to. Louisville is winnable on the road, and we could catch someone like West Virginia or Pitt napping. Or get West Virginia on Senior night. It's also possible to win at least one game in the Big East Tournament, and from there anything can happen in a tournament setting. Just get to 18 wins and I think we'll find ourselves in the NCAAs with somewhere between a 8 to 10 seed.

YES IT WAS!

Agreed, great win by the Cats, last time they lost 4 in a row was 1988.