Dayton 81 Cincinnati 66

(Enquirer/Gary Landers)

This is a late recap of the final game of the Cincinnati Bearcats season. As so, I will spice up the action with personal stories of my experience at 5/3. It was the first game of the season that I had the pleasure of attending. The night got off to an ominous start. I met up with one of my friends and his parents at Mecklenberg Gardens only to find out that it was a UD alumni gathering. Sure, there was a UC side on the other half of the top level, but I was surrounded by Dayton fans. I did get a towel and basketball necklace, which was nice. Mecklenberg Gardens 2 meat dish should come with a paddles for the heart attack you are going to suffer later by the way. After the nice dinner, we took a bus over to the big fraction. I snapped this photo from section 209.

That was during warm ups obviously. Shout out to section 209. Not only was I there being handsome, but there were a couple of guys behind me who knew their shit, and there was a foxy lady sitting next to me that was also very knowledgeable. I bought a Deonta Vaughn jersey before the game. I think my not wearing it until about 3 minutes left was cause for the loss. Let's see how we got to the loss.

Yancy Gates scored the first basket of the game. It was the only thing Yancy would do positively all night. He got in foul trouble like 3 minutes in, and vanished the rest of the night. Kurt Huelsman, not liked by my friend Justin, but apparently loved by 2 kids wearing Huelsman jerseys, got a tip in for UD, before Chris Wright dunk made it 4-2. Jaquan Parker drilled a trey for UC's last lead. Rod Lowery connected for Dayton, starting an 11-2 run. Wright made a jumper, Stephenson a lay up for UC, and Paul Williams and Mickey Perry made 3 pointers. Deonta Vaughn added to his 3 pointers made number by netting one to make it 15-10 as we hit the under 12. The Flyers pushed the lead to 10 on a Williams jumper and a Luke Fabrizius 3 that brought out a Luuuuuuuuuke from the UD fans in attendance. The crowd was roughly a 1/4 UD fans. UC was putting up a ton of three point shots to no success, but Jaquan Parker connected on his second to bring the lead to 7. Huelsman scored inside, inciting a "That's his career high," from my UD friend Justin. Vaughn answered with free throws to make the score 22-15. That's when the Dayton 3 point party started. Lowery hit one, Stephenson drew a foul making both for the Cats, Perry made another, Lowery another, and Paul Williams another. From my recollection, they were all wide open. Dayton went up 34-17. The lead stayed at 15 to the under 3 timeout, with a Wilks jam, 2 Cashmere Wright free throws, a Marcus Johnson tip, a Thomas dunk, and a Wright jumper for UD. I should point out that Lance Stephenson got banged up and went down for a few minutes. Then, Jaquan Parker got hurt at the 7:30 mark or so, and didn't return. With the score 38-23, Cincinnati made a run. Larry Davis hit a pair of free throws after the break, and then Deonta Vaughn took over. Vaughn hit back to back 3s to cut the lead to 7, before Chris Johnson hit a 3 to push it back to 9. With 1 minute to go, Lance Stephenson was intentionally fouled by London Warren. Vaughn filled in, iced both foul shots, and on the subsequent UC possession, hit a jumper to make the score 41-36. That stayed the score though halftime.

The second half started with Stephenson getting to the basket, drawing a foul, making a free throw and cutting the lead to 2 a minute in. It was a very loud crowd for 6,300 or so. We can thank Dayton being our opponent, and their traveling fans for that. Anyway, UD got their first point on a Wright free throw, but UC cut the lead to 1 on a Thomas dunk from Stephenson. Chris Wright got it back for Dayton on a wide open dunk off an inbound play. The Bearcats cut the lead to 1 once again, when Cash got a steal, and passed to Stephenson for an emphatic dunk. Stephenson had a shot blocked by Wright for the lead, that turned into a Lowery lay up to push it back to 3, and started a 6-0 UD run. Matt Kavanaugh scored on a lay up, as did London Warren. All 3 lay ups were after UC missed 3 pointers. The Cats kept it close after a 3 minute draught with another Thomas dunk. Marcus Johnson answered that with a jumper, but UC got a 5 point spurt on a Cash lay up and a Vaughn 3 to make it 52-50. Paul Williams hit a 3 off an offensive rebound for the Flyers. Yancy Gates was stripped by Wright, which lead to a missed 3 by Marcus Johnson, but a rebound by Paul Williams, who found Devin Searcy, who in turn, dunked on Ibrahima Thomas' face. It was pretty impressive. Deonta drew a foul while shooting a triple, made all 3, cutting the lead back to 4. Cincinnati would go another 3 minutes without scoring, setting up a 6-0 UD run. Marcus Johnson hit a pair of 2 point jumpers, and Luuuuuuuuuuuke Fabrizius one for himself, causing a UC timeout with 6:24 left. There was no scoring until the 5 minute mark, when Stephenson scored a lay up. Off another UD offensive rebound, Chris Johnson scored a lay up. Ibby Thomas fought hard in the post, the only UC player who did, got 2 offensive boards and a bucket to cut the lead to single digits for the last time. Wright hit 2 free throws, got a steal, made another free throw to make it an 11 point game. After a Cash miss, Marcus Johnson made 1. Vaughn drew a foul and made both. London Warren made 1 of 2, Cash missed a lay up attempt, Warren ended up with the ball and made 1 of 2 again. It was all free throws late, Marcus Johnson 2, Wilks 1 for UC, Marcus 2 more, Vaughn 2, and Chris Johnson 1. The free throws stopped when Stephenson scored a lay up, Vaughn got a steal and a lay up, and UD a Marcus Johnson lay up, but continued when Marcus Johnson made 1, and Lowery 2. Before Lowery's second, Deonta Vaughn checked out of the game for the last time in his Cincinnati career to a standing ovation. It was not the way he, and all UC fans, wanted him to go out, but at least he got a big reception. The Lowery free throws were the last points, making it 81-66 Flyers for their biggest win over UC in 15 years.

Dayton was 28-58 48%, 10-29 from deep, 15-24 at the stripe with 39 rebounds, 11 offensive. Marcus Johnson had 16-7-4 assists, Lowery 13, Wright 11-5-3 steals, Williams 11, Chris Johnson 7-7, Perry 6, Luuuuuuke Fabrizius 5, Huelsman 4-5, Warren 4-8, Searcy 2, and Kavanaugh 2. Cincinnati shot 20-60 33%, 6-31 from 3, 20-23 at the stripe, with 31 boards, 9 offensive. Vaughn lead the way with 28 points, 4 assists, 4 steals. He got 12-13 at the stripe, while shooting 6-18, 4-15 deep. But, Deonta Vaughn moved into third place all time in points in Cincinnati history, passing Danny Fortson. Congratulations on your achievement 5, and thank you for the great career. Stephenson had 13-6-4 assists, Thomas 8-9, Parker 6, Cash 4, Wilks 3, Gates 2.

A couple of bullet point thoughts to close this out.

• Thanks for nothing Yancy Gates. I know you were in foul trouble, but c'mon son. UC should have dominated inside, but got nothing from everyone not named Ibrahima Thomas. 
• Hey Darnell Wilks, stop shooting the 3.
• Hey Larry Davis, I like you a whole lot, more than section 209 did, but please work on that jump shot this summer. I don't think anyone, you included, had any faith in any of your shots falling. You d up hard, but you need to score.
• Lance Stephenson said after the game that UC took Dayton lightly. I don't understand how this team, who was favored to lose on the projections I saw, could take anyone lightly. That's on the players, and on the coaching staff. This is a rival who had a better record. UC shouldn't take Arkansas Pine Bluff lightly, let alone a 21 win team. 
• It's performances like that, that make it hard to be one of the people not disappointed that Mick Cronin isn't getting fired. 
• I was kinda surprised how many Dayton fans were there. I know there are a lot of transplants in the area, but they represented very well. It was a nice atmosphere. 
• This was one game where UC could have used Rashad Bishop. I was wrong on that one. 
• The bus taking us back to Mecklenberg Gardens smelled like shit. Plus, it was crowded and I had to stand. There was one point where the bus driver seemed to just gun it, and I stared at a car coming directly at me. Luckily, it stopped short instead of ramming into us. I had visions of that State Farm or whatever commercial where the car does crash. 
• Where do we go from here? Good question. I'm going to break down the season, the players, memorable games, and all that jazz starting in the next week. There will be an NCAA Sweet 16 breakdown tomorrow, and Friday, and Saturday and Sunday. There will be a Final 4 preview the following Friday, and a National title preview that Monday. 
• Also, there will be spring football news as it comes.

Since this is the last recap of the season, I want to thank you for reading. This season wasn't the best, wasn't the worst. It was fun at times, nerf basketball wall throwing times as well. It had memorable games, all nearly memorable losses though. More importantly, it had me and you. I hope that you enjoyed the basketball coverage. I enjoyed writing it. Thank you.

Cincinnati v. Dayton Flyers NIT Preview

The NCAA tournament has been going crazy, but there is another tournament running wild. It's called the NIT. And it features the Cincinnati Bearcats. Since only 2,200 showed up to the Weber St game, I'm guessing that a little more care about the game tonight at 9, as the Bearcats play host to the Dayton Flyers. Bearcats Blog will be in the house tonight. I'll be the guy sporting the Field Williams autographed hat. I know there are so many of those going around, but think of it as a where's Waldo. The Bearcats and Flyers haven't played in a couple years. The last time they played was in Las Vegas in the 05-06 season, and the Bearcats won by 18. They played earlier that season as well, with Dayton winning at 5/3. But, I'm going with the story that the Flyers haven't beaten Cincinnati in nearly 5 years. How do the Dayton Flyers and the Cincinnati Bearcats match up in the battle of 1-75 as Go Bearcats calls it? Let's hit it.

KenPom Offense/Defense Rank: 111/52
Notable Stats: 29.6 Three Point Percent (322), 63% Free Throw Percent (330) 38.5 Offensive Rebounding Percent (18)

Minutes

1. Deonta Vaughn 30.3
2. Lance Stephenson 28.2
3. Yancy Gates 25.7
4. Cashmere Wright 18.1
5. Ibrahima Thomas 17.9

Points

1. Lance Stephenson 12.3
2. Deonta Vaughn 11.2
3. Yancy Gates 10.6
4. Ibrahima Thomas 5.7
5. Cashmere Wright 5.5

Rebounds

1. Yancy Gates 6
2. Lance Stephenson 5.3
3. Ibrahima Thomas 5.3
4. Deonta Vaughn 3.5
5. Steve Toyloy 3.4

Assists

• Deonta Vaughn 3.5
• Lance Stephenson 2.4
• Cashmere Wright 2

Steals

• Deonta Vaughn 1.1

Blocks

• Yancy Gates 0.9

KenPom Offense/Defense Rank: 110/9
Notable Stats: 27.5 Opponent Offensive Rebound Rate (13) 45.1 Opponent Effective Field Goal % (32) 43.8 Two Point % Defense (33)

Minutes

1. Chris Wright 28.4
2. Marcus Johnson 24.3
3. Chris Johnson 24
4. Kurt Huelsman 21.5
5. Paul Williams 20.5

Scoring

1. Chris Wright 14
2. Chris Johnson 11.5
3. Marcus Johnson 8.6
4. Rob Lowery 7.5
5. Mickey Perry 5.7

Rebounding

1. Chris Wright 7.2
2. Chris Johnson 6.8
3. Kurt Huelsman 4.3
4. London Warren 3.3
5. Marcus Johnson 3.1

Assists

• London Warren 4.2
• Rob Lowery 3.6

Steals

• London Warren 1.2

Blocks

• Chris Wright 1.5

The big key to this game is going to be rebounding. If Cincinnati can crash the offensive glass, they have a great shot at winning. Cincinnati has really been playing solid lately, while the Flyers have been up and down. They swooned to the finish in the A-14, but they have a lot of quality players. Chris Wright stole James White's nickname, but he's a tremendous player. The Dayton defense, like most other A-14 defenses, is very solid. The Cats are going to have to earn their points tonight. A prolonged scoring slump is to be expected. It's to be expected in every game, but especially in this case, where Dayton can really put the clamps down. The Bearcats playing at home gives them the advantage in my eyes. I don't know how much of an advantage it will be now that I think about it, but I will be in the house, and that's more than enough.

Prediction: Cincinnati 73 Dayton 67

Cincinnati 76 Weber State 62

(AP/Al Behrman)

Since you didn't go to the game, you missed out on history. Deonta Vaughn powered UC in their first round NIT game with a win over Weber State. Vaughn got assist 505 to become the all time leader in assists. In the second half, Vaughn drilled a 3 to pass Darnell Burton and take the title of most 3 pointers made in a career. It was a special night for #5. Vaughn needs 26 pass to pass Danny Fortson for 3rd place all time in scoring. Congratulations to Deonta. Monday night, Cincinnati plays host to Dayton at 9 pm. Will Bearcats Blog be there? Maybe. It won't be hard to get a ticket apparently. Let's get on to the recap.

The game started off slowly, as we only had 2 baskets made the first 4 minutes. They were 3s from Ibrahima Thomas, and Lance Stephenson. Damian Lillard hit a 3 for the first points for the Wildcats, followed by a Steve Panos lay up. Darnell Wilks hit another UC 3, answered by a Nick Hansen triple. The Wildcats took a 10-9 lead on a Trevor Morris lay up. Cincinnati took the lead after the under 12, as Dion Dixon hit a couple of free throws. The half started off incredibly sloppy. Lots of missed shots and turnovers. The free throws started a 7-0 UC run, with a Thomas dunk, and a Jaquan Parker steal, lay up, foul and free throw. The Wildcats went on a 9-4 advantage to cut the lead to 20-19. Morris hit a jumper, Ibby made a pair for free throws for UC, Lindsey Hughey scored a lay up, Thomas was stripped for a Morris layup, Stephenson hit a pair of free throws and Hughey drilled a 3. UC would respond with a monster run, thanks to their press the last 6:30. Lance hit another 3, Vaughn got a steal, passed to Cashmere Wright for a jam. Another turnover on the inbound pass led to Vaughn hitting Stephenson for a lay up and the assist record. On another turnover, Vaughn hit Cash for 3. Things slowed down for the next minute, until Cash picked Lillard and threw ahead to Wilks, who threw down a reverse pump jam. 

Weber State turned the ball over yet again into the under 4, leading to a Stephenson jumper. A minute later, a Gates steal turned into a Wilks miss, a Cash rebound and assist to Vaughn for 3. The 17-0 run ended on a Lillard 3. He made another trey to cut the lead to 12, but at the end of the half, Vaughn hit Larry Davis for 3. The 20-6 run gave UC a 40-25 halftime lead. Weber St had 15 turnovers.

Steve Panos got the second half scoring started with a 15 footer. UC's first points came on Vaughn's record breaking 3. Weber St took a timeout after the make, allowing the crowd to acknowledge Vaughn's assist and 3 point record. Wilks showed off his athleticism in the next sequence. He blocked a shot from behind, and followed that by slamming down an alley oop from Lance, with a foul. Lillard and Gates traded lay ups, then Lillard and Vaughn traded 3s, and we went to the under 16 with UC up 50-32. The lead went to 20 on a pair of Vaughn free throws. Panos and Gates traded a layup and a wide open dunk respectively. Hughey drew a foul, and missed the first 2 free throws for Weber State of the game. They came at the 13 minute mark. Morris scored a basket with a foul, making the free throw to cut the lead to 17. Lance Stephenson made a lay up, and that kicked Weber State into a run. Mahoney made a layup, Lillard a scoop layup, Mahoney 2 free throws, Hughey a lay up, foul, free throw, and Bullinger was fouled, making 1 of 2. Cincinnati settled for jump shots, going 0 for 8, highlighted by an airballed Lance Stephenson 3, in which he was wide open. The 11-0 run ended when Vaughn found Jaquan Parker for 3. Hansen answered right back though. Cash scored a lay up at the 7 minute mark to push the lead to 10, but ended up hurting his hip. Weber kept the lead close. After Larry Davis made a pair of free throws, Lillard scored a lay up and 2 free throws to cut the lead to 8. UC would put the smack down to close things out though. Ibrahima Thomas hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to 10. Yancy Gates blocked Panos, who was falling away. Coach Rahe of the Wildcats thought it was a foul. He argued his case poorly and received a technical foul. Vaughn stepped up and made both. Gates got another block, leading to Larry Davis hitting a jumper to make it 69-55 at the under 4. Gates pushed the lead to 16 after he pulled down an offensive rebound, looked to pass out, but turned around and scored. Deonta Vaughn drilled a 4th triple, making the UC total 11, a season high. Lillard and Gates traded layups, before Hansen made a pair of free throws. Eddie Tyree and Alex Eppensteiner got some run the last minute. Eppensteiner got a trillion without touching the ball, but Tyree was stripped, leading to an alley oop to Tyree, who was fouled and made the free throw to end the scoring. 

Cincinnati shot 25-64 39%, 11-28 39%, 15-16 at the stripe, with 33 rebounds, 11 offensive. UC had a whooping 21 assists on the night, probably a season high. Deonta Vaughn had a great game with 16-5-7 assists-2 steals, Lance Stephenson 14, Ibrahima Thomas 9-5, Yancy Gates 8-6-3 steals-2 blocks, Larry Davis 7, Cashmere Wright 7-5 assists, Darnell Wilks 7, Jaquan Parker 6-5, and Dion Dixon 2-4. Weber State was 21-47 44.7%, 7-18, 13-17 at the line, with 30 rebounds, 4 offensive. They turned the ball over 22 times. Damian Lillard went for 26, Trevor Morris 9-4, Lindsey Hughey 8-6-4 assists, Steve Panos 6-4, Darin Mahoney 4, and Kyle Bullinger 1. 

Cincinnati was pretty energetic considering they had no one show up to watch them play. 2,200 was the attendance according to the Enquirer. The Cincinnati Enquirer, not the tabloid paper. It's all about winning, and that's something that the Bearcats did tonight. That's the good thing. Up next, it's the Dayton Flyers. Dayton hasn't won a game in Cincinnati since 1834. Let's see that streak continue. It's March people, get up for this. 

Quick NIT results: 2 Rhode Island 76 7 Northwestern 64, 1 Virginia Tech 81 8 Quinnipiac 61, 3 Dayton 63 6 Illinois St 42, 4 Kent State 75 5 Tulsa 74, 2 Mississippi 84 7 Troy 65, 3 Memphis 73 6 St John's 71, 6 Nevada 73 3 Wichita State 70, and 1 Illinois 76 8 Stony Brook 66. 

Cincinnati v. Weber State Wildcats NIT Preview

For the first time a few years, the Cincinnati Bearcats are ready to play in a post season tournament. It's the NIT, but hey, it's better than nothing. At least, I'm guessing that it's better than nothing. After last week's run in the Big East Tournament, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this team, so the extra game(s) should be fun to watch. Unless Cincinnati pulls an Arizona State and doesn't care, then it would be no fun. The game tonight is at 7 pm on ESPN2. Also, Rashad Bishop is still suspended for this game. He may return later in the tournament. Before we hit the preview, let's run down the NIT action from last night.

• 4 Connecticut 59 5 Northeastern 57
• 6 North Carolina State 58 3 South Florida 57
• 2 UAB 64 7 Coastal Carolina 49
• 5 Texas Tech 87 4 Seton Hall 69
• 1 Mississippi State 81 8 Jackson State 67
• 8 Jacksonville 67 1 Arizona State 66

KenPom Offense/Defense Rank: 111/57
Notable Stats: 19 in Offensive Rebound % (38.8), 297 in Free Throw Rate (32.3), 330 in 3 pt % (29), 332 in FT % (62).

Minutes

1. Deonta Vaughn 30.2
2. Lance Stephenson 28.4
3. Yancy Gates 25.6
4. Cashmere Wright 18.3
5. Ibrahima Thomas 17.7

Scoring

1. Lance Stephenson 12.3
2. Deonta Vaughn 11.1
3. Yancy Gates 10.7
4. Ibrahima Thomas 5.5
5. Cashmere Wright 5.4

Rebounding

1. Yancy Gates 6
2. Lance Stephenson 5.4
3. Ibrahima Thomas 5.3
4. Steve Toyloy 3.5
5. Deonta Vaughn 3.5

Assists

• Deonta Vaughn 3.4
• Lance Stephenson 2.4

Steals

• Deonta Vaughn 1.1

Blocks

• Yancy Gates 0.8

KenPom Offense/Defense Rate: 74/160
Notable Stats: 271 in Opponent's 3 pt % (36.2), 263 in Opponent's FT Rate (263).
Also Notable: They are the team that blew the 20 point halftime lead in the second half to Montana.

Minutes

1. Damian Lillard 34.3
2. Franklin Session 31.4
3. Nick Hansen 29.5
4. Kyle Bullinger 25.9
5. Steve Panos 21

Scoring

1. Damian Lillard 19.7
2. Steve Panos 10.8
3. Franklin Session 10.6
4. Nick Hansen 9.2
5. Kyle Bullinger 8.9

Rebounds

1. Franklin Session 6
2. Steve Panos 5.3
3. Kyle Bullinger 4.2
4. Damian Lillard 4.1
5. Darin Mahoney 3.7

Assists

• Damian Lillard 3.7
• Franklin Session 2.8
• Lindsay Hughey 2

Steals

• Franklin Session 1.8
• Damian Lillard 1.1
• Nick Hansen 1
• Lindsay Hughey 1

Blocks

• Franklin Session 0.9

The Wildcats have a very short bench. Only 7 men have played every game, and only 8 have played 28. They only go 8 deep, so if Cincinnati can get them in foul trouble, one would think that it would pay off for the Bearcats. I expect UC to try and press this team, but it might not work that well with Weber St's good passing. The conference tournaments ended poorly for both teams, with Weber St getting bounced after blowing a huge lead, and Cincinnati getting beat on an infamous turnover and a buzzer beater against West Virginia.

The esteemed Ken Pom computer rankings have Cincinnati winning by 12. I think that's probably going to happen. Maybe that's a little arrogant, but I think UC should have little problem putting the Wildcats away. I say that knowing full well that Cincinnati has put no one away, but after what we saw in the BET, I think the Bearcats have turned a corner. With Rashad Bishop out, Darnell Wilks and Jaquan Parker should get some more run. Wilks was impressive in New York, and Parker continued to play solid. I would like to see Dion Dixon, my best friend, get some kind of redemption after his blunder, but that may be wishing too much. Should Cincinnati advance, they would play the winner of the Dayton/Illinois St game, also being played tonight. If Cincinnati loses, this is the last you'll hear of the NIT besides the game recap. I don't think the Bearcats run ends tonight though. I'm looking for Lance Stephenson to play on the higher level he's been, Yancy Gates to want the ball inside, and I'm going out on a limb and saying Ibrahima Thomas has a big game.

Prediction: Cincinnati 70 Weber State 57

Cincinnati a 2 seed in the NIT

Cincinnati drew a 2 seed in the NIT tournament. The Bearcats face off with 7 seed Weber State Wednesday night at 7 on ESPN2. The Bearcats are in the same bracket as 1 seed Illinois, and 3 seed Dayton. Illinois plays at Stony Brook because the Illini booked their arena already in a hilarious side note. The 4 seed is Kent State, 5 seed Tulsa. Dayton, as noted, is the 3 seed and they play 6 seed Missouri State. I would give out the rest of the bracket, but my caring level is as low as yours. I'll preview this tournament more Wednesday. There will be a huge NCAA tournament preview unleashed either tomorrow and Tuesday, or Tuesday and Wednesday. Considering UC plays Wednesday, it will probably be tomorrow and Tuesday.