Oh Say Did UC?

My nephew had to have pretty serious back surgery yesterday. I say that because not only would I like for you to send good thoughts, but because it's why today there is no Memorable Bearcat Game. That could come tomorrow, but I'm pressed for time today. That means we go for the always entertaining oh say did UC link round up. Did I just google Cincinnati Bearcats and none of these things are in any kind of order? Yes

• The Bearcats baseball club played host to #22 Pittsburgh over the weekend. The Panthers took 2 of 3, with UC winning Sunday. The Bearcats are 26-27, 10-14 in the Big East. They host Georgetown to end the regular season this weekend.
• In a crazy, scary story, former Bearcat and current St Louis Ram Mardy Gilyard was robbed at gunpoint last night. It happened near UC. Gilyard was with his friend, and they had about $1,000 in chains, and $300 taken. Thank god nothing more happened and Mardy and friend left the situation relatively alright. I never trusted that BP on Corry. 
• In better news surrounding UC football, the kick off time for the Indiana State thrashing has been set. The game will be at noon. Better to get the 70-3 thrashings out of the way early so we have a whole day to enjoy ourselves. The game will be on FSN.
• Speaking of September UC football, someone on Bleacher Report ran down the tough start to the season UC faces. Bearcats Blog will break that down closer to the start of the season.
• Brad Jones, who started every game last season, was signed by the Baltimore Ravens. He participated in their rookie mini camp, and earned a contract. Congrats Brad.
• Bill Koch knows how hard it is to write about UC when nothing is happening, so he wrote about Nippert Stadium. Not in a boring way, but in how it's too small and how UC can make it bigger and stuff. Just read it.
• Vidal Hazelton has earned some attention coming into his first season at UC. The USC transfer impressed during the spring game, and has caught the attention of a couple of people. First, someone else on Bleacher Report ran down 10 transfers who will have an impact. I don't think that list is in any order, because Robert Marve is number 1. 
• Hazelton got more ink, or whatever that is for the internet, from the National Football Post. In their list of WRs who would be household names, they listed Vidal. I have to admit, I was pumped for Hazelton coming into the season, and now that we are getting closer, I can't wait. He, Binns, DJ and Thompkins are going to be a nightmare for secondaries. UC will be a ton of fun to throw with 50 times a game in NCAA 2011. 
• DJ Gallo at Page 2 wrote about livable and unlivable sports cities. He put Cincinnati on the list as livable, with the Bearcats being a strong part. 
• Finally, we wrap things up with some recruiting talk. The Bearcats added a new player for this season, DT Ty Phillips. Our pal(s) at Down the Drive wrote about him. They also write about other UC things. It's good. I read it. The Bearcats also locked down LB Robert Martin. 
• UC has 2 recruits locked down for next season. First, is OL Justin Murray. He goes to Sycamore. Second, but actually first to sign, is Patrick Coyne. Patrick is already my favorite UC recruit of all time, sorry Munchie Legaux, because he goes to my high school, Badin. Hail to the colors bright green and white. Badin's uniforms now are much cooler than they were when I went there. It was like Penn State, but green. Now they have all green uniforms with a big ass B on the side of their helmets. Just watching the video on whatever scouting site that is, takes me back to the days where I would trudge out to Hamilton High to watch my beloved Rams play. The time we beat Hamilton was awesome. It happened my sophomore year, and was still talked about at graduation. 

Oh Say Did UC?

The time for Cincinnati Bearcats links has come. This might not be your favorite bit, but it should be because it's very informative and fun for everyone.

Brian Bennett at ESPN has written a spring recap of every Big East team, or is going to, and yesterday he hit on Cincinnati. His biggest questions circle around the defense, especially the secondary.

Bennett also wrote a piece about the Big East's star being ready to shine, shine, shine. I know he said burn bright, but you can't write burn bright three times.

The Bleacher report did a slide show about the upcoming Big East football season. They put a familiar face as one of the 3 Big East Heisman candidates.

The great Ivan Maisel wrote a huge spring football recap, and at the very bottom, he mentioned Cincinnati. He said UC looked to have what it takes for a three peat. I like those words.

Mark Schlabach put up a post spring top 25. Top 5, Alabama, Boise St, Ohio St, Texas and Virginia Tech. Pittsburgh was the highest rated Big East team at 13. Cincinnati was 18. Spoiler alert.

Bengals.com did a nice write up about Mike Windt, the Cincinnati long snapper who signed to the Bengals as a free agent.

Mardy Gilyard had a piece written about him Friday by St Louis Globe Democrat about how he was wearing the great Torry Holt's #81.

There is also a more recent piece by some St Louis paper after the weekend OTAs saying that Gilyard and Sam Bradford had a nice rapport.

Switching to football recruiting news, the Bearcats have offered junior Jamire Westbrook. It's his first offer. He's actually going into his junior year, and is 16. The whole thing is kinda creepy. Recruiting is seriously getting out of hand.

The Bearcats have also made an offer to Zach Mettenberger. Zach was released by Georgia after getting charged for sexual battery.  He was expected to fight for the Georgia starting job this season. He was the 14th ranked QB by Scout a couple years ago, he redshirted last season, and is said to be a stud. I'm iffy on going after guys dismissed from teams for big things like sexual battery. Maybe Zach has turned his life around after that dark incident. He also has an offer from Louisville, and other schools are said to be interested.

Switching gears completely, let's hit up some baseball. The Bearcats are tied for 7th in the Big East, with an 8-10 record as of yesterday when the News Record wrote this. 8 teams make the BET. The teams behind the Irish and Bearcats are 5-13. The Bearcats get a tough challenge this week, as the Big East leading Connecticut Huskies prance into town. Good luck to the Bearcats. Try to make a game if you can peeps. They are free or cheap if they aren't free. I've been to one in my life. I don't remember who UC played, or who won, but it was fun.

Speaking of fun, this interview with UC 1B/Pitcher Kevin Johnson is. He may not have dunked over Hakeem Olajuwon, but he was drafted by the Florida Marlins and chose to come back to UC.

Former UC pitched Dan Osterbrock threw a 7 inning no hitter his last outing. That's great news in of itself, but he was named the Twins Minor League Player of the Week, Midwest League Pitcher of the Week, and was promoted to High A. Congrats a ton to Dan.

Moving to hoops, Bill Koch wrote a pretty alright piece about Sean Kilpatrick. Sean has a lot of pressure to take the place of not only Lance Stephenson, but Deonta Vaughn. With his admitted flat three point shot, he'll fit right in with the rest of the returning bricklayers. I kid.

I don't know much about the Cincinnati Commandos, besides the fact they have former UC players, but they are undefeated. This is a nice refresher. They are QB'd by Ben Mauk.

Also on the team is Dominick Goodman, and this is an interview with him.

We'll end with a couple of Big East links. Our good friends at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician check to see if Doug Marrone losing 29 players since taking over at Syracuse has their program going in the right direction. And our best friends at Card Chronicle react about the news Samardo Samuels hiring an agent and turning pro.

Oh Say Did UC?

With so much football news, and a little basketball news, it's time to hit the links for some Bearcats news. First some site news. Tomorrow is going to be a breakdown of the Big East. Friday will probably just be the Providence breakdown, but maybe a national look at things for the NCAA tournament. If you are nice, you will get both. Let us look at the news shall we?

It's Senior Bowl week, so let's hit those links first. Watch the game Saturday to check out the Cats.

• NFL.Com did a stock report from Day 1. They had Tony Pike as a Stock up, and Mardy Gilyard as a stock down. 
• The man Josh Katzowitz wrote about how the UC trio of players, Pike, Gilyard and long snapper Mike Windt, are trying to impress NFL scouts and coaches at the bowl. 
• Wrapping up the Senior Bowl stuff, an interview with Mardy Gilyard. It retells Mardy's story of he was off the team, came back and was awesome. 
• Mardy is also on twitter, @MardyGilyard. You can follow Bearcats Blog on twitter as well. 
• One other JK item, we linked to part I of his interview with Bearcats coach Butch Jones last week, and here is part II.
• Some recruiting news as we head towards Signing Day. First, the bad. Defensive end from Wyoming High Jibreel Black switched his commitment to Michigan. First he committed to Indiana, then UC, now Michigan.
• Winton Woods standout Dominique Brown lead his team to the State championship and was the division 2 player of the year, but he might not stay in Cincinnati. He's due to visit Louisville this week. He's also visited Ohio State as well as UC.
• Good news, QB Cody Kater is coming to UC. He was a Central Michigan recruit who decided to follow Butch Jones. Kater was the QB for 2 Michigan state champs, and is the first D-1 scholarship player from his high school. There is video on the site if you want to check him out.
• The great Brian Bennett has a Big East recruiting scoreboard. UC has only 16 recruits, 8 of which are 3 star and above.
• Dennis Dodd of CBS ranked the coaching hires. Dodd ranked Butch Jones at #7. The top 6 were USF's Skip Holtz, Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville, that new coach in South Bend, Mike London of Virginia and Charlie Strong at Louisville. 

Slow week for basketball news, as evidenced by

• The top UC basketball story being that Kahla Roudebush was named to the Big East weekly honor roll. Roudey as her friends call her, put up 20.5, 5 boards and 2.5 assists. She had 25 against Georgetown, a season high. The ladies are 9-9 (2-4) and play tonight at DePaul. 
• Former Bearcat guard Devan Downey helped South Carolina knock off top ranked Kentucky 68-62 last night by scoring 30. The Bearcats Blog curse is in full effect. Downey has stamped his name into South Carolina history according to Ron Morris. It was the first time in the 102 year history of USC basketball that they beat #1. 
• Former Cat great, and #2 best Cat of the decade, Steve Logan has backed out of the Bearcats Hall of Fame Inductions for next month. That has nothing to do with his non-existent NBA career, and more to do with the rape charges. Going into the Hall, Brad Jackson former football player. Also, a bunch of other nerds. Just kidding, they are Andrew Keen (soccer, really for soccer) and Mary Danner Wineberg (track and field mainly the track part). 

Since that last bit was depressing, here is a hilarious celebration video from Syracuse blogger HoyaSuxa after their win over Georgetown Monday. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading. Especially the person in Luxembourg.

Oh Say Did UC?

Time to hit up the Cincinnati news on this Friday afternoon. Just a quick site bit, the Louisville preview for the game Sunday afternoon will probably go up tomorrow. If it somehow doesn't, it will be up Sunday morning well before noon. Quick fact that will be be in the preview. The Bearcats have played the most, and won the most at Freedom Hall more than any Louisville opponent. Plus, the Cats won the 1962 National Title in Freedom Hall. Let's hit some news.

• I can't find anything on the status of Lance Stephenson. Since Born Ready was labeled day to day, I expect him in the lineup Sunday at noon.
• Speaking of Lance, here is an SI article that (coughhackcough) Paul Daugherty wrote. This is like a week old, but I'm pretty sure I didn't post a link and I know you get all your UC news here. Right? Say yes for my fragile ego. 
• This article from CNati questions if Jaquon Parker is the missing piece. I hope that he can step in and play the point, and that would be huge. I'm not totally against giving Cashmere Wright another look in spurts. I'm all for Parker starting Sunday.
• Louisville was taken down by Seton Hall last night in a nightmare scenario. There was some controversy at the end. Jerry Smith made a 3 with .7 remaining. As Seton Hall was set to inbound, there was a whistle and the player with the ball took 2 steps on the court. All the players turned towards their benches, so that could be chalked up to confusion. However, Seton Hall's inbounds pass was tipped back out of bounds. The inbounder would run the line, an absolute clear violation, and Seton Hall would inbound and make free throws. Youtube: here. 
• The Wall Street Journal decided to have their yearly piece about how awesome the Big East is. Worth a read, or otherwise I wouldn't have linked to it. 
• Luke Winn writes a great Power Rankings on SI every Thursday. UC isn't mentioned, but it's one of my favorite reads of the week. Good job Luke.

That about does it on the basketball news. Let's hit the gridiron.

• Another SI bit. Stewart Mandel, from Cincinnati, did a report card of the coaching hires. Spoiler alert: Butch Jones got an A-. Louisville's Charlie Strong got the best grade, A+, and South Florida's Skip Holtz received an A-. Big East AD's are hitting it out of the park this year on paper.
• Dyjuan Lewis, a 4 star receiver from Indianapolis, recommited to Cincinnati. Nice job getting him back Butch Jones. Great decision Dyjuan.
• Here is a slightly dated Big East recruiting breakdown. Lewis answers a question asked in the piece, and is UC's best recruit. 
• QB recruit Luke Massa is being wooed by Notre Dame. The St. X star said "Then (on Thursday) Notre Dame offered (a scholarship). I was definitely pretty excited. Who wouldn't be excited about an offer from Notre Dame? I'll be visiting there Jan. 30, and then make my decision after that." Great. Sounds like he might be going.
• Alex Daniels and Aaron Webster were named to the Texas vs. The Nation all star game. Good for them. 
• Mel Kiper has his rankings up. They are insider so no link. Tony Pike fell out of his top 5 QBs. Mardy Gilyard is his 4th best WR. Armon Binns is 2 on the list for next year.
• Our main man Josh Katzowitz has an interview with Butch Jones up on GoBearcats. 

Finally, Brian Bennett at ESPN's Big East blog has a shit load of UC related things. You should read his blog, but then forget about it when I link to stuff about it. The following bullets are all his.

• Big East games of the Decade: UC v. Pitt #3. UC vs South Florida from October 2007 #9.
• Coaches of the Decade: #1 Brian Kelly. Don't boo or get angry, just let the last BK mention be a good one.
• Programs of the Decade: UC #5. Top 4: Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
• Half Decade Team: WR Mardy Gilyard, OG Trevor Canfield, CB Mike Mickens and P Kevin Huber.
• Big East Game of the Year: 

1. #7 Cincinnati vs West Virginia. 
2. #5 Cincinnati vs Connecticut
3. #1. Cincinnati at Pittsburgh

That didn't end confusingly at all. Thank you so very much for taking the time to read the blog. Shout out to whoever read this in Belgium. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the Louisville preview. It won't be up in the morning, probably the afternoon. There will be the normal quick result post and the full reaction Monday. As for the rest of the week, I'm not sure. The Cats don't play until the next Saturday, so if you have any ideas for what you want me to write about, leave a comment. 

Oh Say Did UC?

Hi there and welcome to the feature sweeping the nation, Oh Say Did UC? If you missed the electric first version, it's pretty much a gathering of Cincinnati Bearcats news put in one place. It's probably the greatest thing since chocolate milk. We've had a busy couple weeks with Bearcats playing in the Sugar Bowl last Friday, and the basketball team playing 5 games in 11 days. There will probably only be a Seton Hall result post Sunday, with a write up coming on Monday. Let's do the football news first, and the basketball news second. Alright? Alright.

• The final polls of the season came out last night after Alabama beat Texas to win the BCS National Championship. There should be a playoff or a plus 1, because after watching last night, teams like Boise State could absolutely hang. But if there were a plus 1, they probably would have been left out because they were #5. Anyway, the Broncos somehow finished 4th which is bullshit by the coaches and AP. Get your heads out of your asses. They went undefeated and you have them behind Florida? Behind Texas? McCoy didn't play, but Texas still lost and Boise didn't. End rant.
• The Bearcats finished 8th in the AP Top 25 and 9th in the Coaches' Poll behind Penn State. Florida was 3rd.
• Former Bearcats defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, and passing game coordinator and receiver coach Charley Molnar are leaving the school to go to Notre Dame. This isn't surprising in the least. The Bearcats already announced new coordinators. Also going to Notre Dame are defensive line/assistant head coach Mike Elston and running backs coach and recruting coordinator Tim Hinton. Everyone else but Kerry Coombs is going to Buffalo. Most of the UC coaching staff next year will be from Central Michigan. Typical coaching change stuff. 
• Butch Jones was interviewed at halftime of the Cal State Bakersfield game. He didn't say anything really important. He said Zach Collaros will be the point guard of the offense, and the team will still attack. He said the defense at Central Michigan was good this year, and it will be at UC next year. I think he was freaked out by Michael Reghi's hair. Just go gray dude.
• Brian Bennett had these 2 nuggets of information about next year. First, he says don't be that worried about next season. He is critical of the team in the Sugar Bowl, so you can skim past the first couple of questions.
• BB also has a list of who's returning next season for the Big East so far. The Cats have 12 starters coming back, 7 offense, 5 defense. The offense also has USC transfer Vidal Hazelton to look forward to next year. 
• Someone not returning is South Florida coach Jim Leavitt. South Florida corroborated reports that he grabbed by the throat, and smacked player Joel Miller at halftime during a game with Louisville. On top of that, Leavitt lied during the investigation numerous times. Leavitt was the only coach in USF history and raised the program from the ground. He also was a gaping asshole apparently. 
• 3 Bearcats were invited to the Senior Bowl. Quarterback Tony Pike, Wide Receiver Mardy Gilyard and Long Snapper Mike Windt. The first 2 were locks, but what about Mike? Congrats big man. Don't throw one over the punter or holders head with the pro coaches watching. 
• Here is a great piece by Andy Staples that you should read about last nights game. 
• Despite the football teams success and 18,000 fans buying tickets for the Sugar Bowl, Cincinnati is facing a big deficit. The Enquirer reports the school will need $11 million a year to support being in the Big East. There is some doubt that the practice fields and bubble and basically everything Brian Kelly wanted, will be financially do-able. 

Now let's hit the basketball side of things.

• The game tomorrow will be on Fox Sports Ohio and ESPN 360.com at 6. If you are watching the Bengals game and don't have a dvr, I hope you can see it on 360. It will probably not work in Cincinnati or whatever city is unfortunate to have Seton Hall. 
• The great, great, great Basketball Prospectus ranked the Top 25 Freshmen of the year. Cincinnati's own Lance Stephenson finished 8th. It's a great list, check it out. 
• Here are where some great sites have the Bearcats ranked. Basketball State: 49. Team Rankings: 43. Real Time RPI: 52. Cal State Bakersfield killed our RPI there. Sagarin: 50 
• Basketball Prospectus has former Cat Tony Bobbitt as one of the top players in the NBDL who could get called up by the NBA soon. 
• CollegeHoops.net has a list of the top 100 players of January. The list has 2 Cats, 47 Lance Stephenson and 91 Yancy Gates. 
• Finally, let's cap the day off with some way too early bracket predictions that someone guessed. CollegeHoops.net has UC as a 11, SI a 12, playing Washington. I wish that was real. And finally ESPN's Bracketology has UC an 8 playing Texas Tech with Kentucky in the second round. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting the blog. If you have any links that you want to send, shoot an email or leave a comment. If you want me to link your blog in the blogroll, simply shoot me a link and I'll add you. The Seton Hall preview will be up either tonight, or tomorrow morning.