TicketsEvery great season enjoys great moments. Trimming this year down to 10 was more difficult than I imagined, but anybody who enjoyed it since Day 1 understands why. Much thanks to Tom Gelehrter, Mo Egger, the good folks at BearcatLair and, obviously, the UC basketball team for helping me put this together. Enjoy the season. Again.
Here are Nos. 5-1. I posted 10-6 yesterday. Please feel free to send me emails (pauldehnerjr@gmail.com) or leave comments on the bottom with any disagreements, snubs or random quotes from Karate Kid II. All are welcome.
5 - Selection Show
When: March 13, 2011
Where: CBS/Montgomery
The instant analysis: It was difficult not to look back at how far this team had come. Paul Daugherty had this excellent reflective column.
Moment inside the moment: Listening to Mick Cronin stand in the hallway outside the Montgomery Inn banquet room and talk about returning to this moment being like climbing was pretty memorable.
My take: The moment lacked luster because UC extinguished any dramatics of the night during the previous weeks. Still, the excitement and sense of accomplishment in that moment were unparalleled and UC was officially back on the map.
Mo's take: Felt like a coronation. All those years waking up on Selection Sunday, knowing "" wouldn't appear on the screen.....
Highlights: Mick Cronin talking about returning to the NCAA tournament at Montgomery Inn on GoBearcats.com
4 - NCAA tournament win against Mizzou
When: March 17, 2011
Where:
The instant analysis: Monumental. Groundbreaking. Brutally efficient. Pick your phrase, they all applied to the most publicized victory in the Mick Cronin era. Here was Dana O'Neil talking about Mick Cronin, who she said on Twitter always reminds her of a "pocket-sized Jeff Garcia."
Moment inside the moment: Yancy Gates pulling up and burying 3-pointer No. 2 just made you realize this was going to be that kind of night for Bearcats. As he would say afterward, "I was hot." Good enough for me, Yancy.
My take: Even winning one game went a long way to disproving the critics. Critics of UC, the Big East, Mick Cronin, you name it. All those who claimed Mizzou would run the Cats ragged were proved wrong. Fitting that their final win of the season and only victory in the NCAA tournament came as Vegas underdogs. Counted out all season, they flipped the script one last time.
Fan's take: "Watching the 'Cats in person in DC during the second and third round of the '11 Men's tournament. CHEER CINCINNATI!!!"
- Michael Hammond
"Watching Cats in D.C. beat Mizzou."
- Elizabeth Hess
Tommy G's take: Loose, yet focused, the Bearcats proved they weren't just happy to be there. After a slow start, maybe due to nerves, the Bearcats dominated a team ranked in the top-25 all season long. Everyone picked the Tigers, some called it a bad draw. UC didn't let it affect them and took care of business is convincing fashion.
Mo's take: You could argue that this was their most well-played NCAA game since beating Georgia Tech in 1996. I never felt nervous once UC took the lead.Hightlights:
Here are the game highlights off GoBearcats.com.
And the postgame locker room conversation with Yancy Gates, Rashad Bishop and Dion Dixon.
3 - Win at
When:
Where:
The instant analysis: The first significant road win against an elite Big East team playing its best basketball. went downhill after this game, but had been on fire. Here was my postgame column urging credit where its due.
Moment inside the moment: Mick Cronin walks into the locker room after the game and everyone is dancing. He can barely get a word in, so he tells them "nice defensive effort," and moves on. Fantastic scene.
Moment inside the moment, Part II: The Bishop bank. Enough said.
My take: The first road win against a ranked team in seven years. 's worst shooting performance in 15 seasons. Those are accomplishments of elite teams. Others may have felt better, but this was the one that returned UC to the Big East elite conversation.
Mo's take: The signature win of the Cronin era. Just a defensive clinic.
Highlights: Here are two minutes of game highlights from Big East Network.
2 - Xavier victory
When:
Where: Fifth Third Arena
The instant analysis: Mike DeCourcy wrote about how this was just business for a Bearcats team that was developing a keen focus on Big East play.
Moment inside the moment: Yancy Gates hit two fallaway jumpers, the second of which placed him almost squarely in the lap of Nick Lachey - unfortunately just missing Lachey's girlfriend Vanessa Minnilo.
My take: It was monumental toward learning how good this team could be. It was monumental toward learning how good Yancy Gates could be. It earned respect on a national level. All that was nice. It finished a distant second to placing the second-worst Crosstown Shootout margin on a Xavier team that had won three years in a row.
Fan's take: More than any other game, this one was rated the top moment of the season for UC fans. No matter the achievements, some things will never change. Beating Xavier trumps all:
"The blow out of Xavier of course" - Casey Seibert
"Favorite moment of the #Bearcats season was def the #Xavier game. Yancy hitting the deep fadeaway jumpers." - Nate Buchanan
"Blowout win against Xavier is No. 1," - Neal Slaton
Mo's take: There's the obvious, a long overdue win against the Crosstown Rival, but considering what the Muskies would do right after this game (lose one more game til the postseason) and how good Tu Holloway was all season, the effort, especially on defense, was pretty remarkable. And Yancy Gates channeled Darnell Burton, hitting jumper after jumper.
Tommy G's take: (Placed at No. 2 overall) Another game that may have got UC more credit had they won a close game they "gutted out." However, Xavier proved afterwards they were a good game as they became one of the hottest teams in the country following the loss. This game was prime example of how good this year's UC team could be when they played together and determined. They fed off the energy in the building, Yancy was exactly the player everyone dreamt of and after three years of losing to the Muskies, bragging rights returned to .
Highlight: Here's the highlight video with plenty of atmosphere, including celebration with the reclamation of the Crosstown trophy.
Game highlights from ESPN with some love for the 15-0 start:
1 - Senior Day vs.
When: March 5, 2011
Where: Fifth Third Arena
The instant analysis: Everybody was smiling. Especially Mick Cronin. Here was my postgame column about the state of euphoria surrounding the Bearcats.
Moment inside the moment: There are too many to mention, but the players circling the arena and exchanging high-5s with all the fans at the game was pretty close to priceless.
My take: You can't write a better script than this. Beating by 22, all six seniors playing a major role, Eddie Tyree entering the game, the victory lap around the arena. Yeah, the perfect culmination and celebration of the return of Bearcats basketball to the bigtime. A day nobody close to the program will soon forget.
Fan's take: "My favorite moment was during senior night against this year. The Bearcats had just started to make a run in the 2nd half and the crowd was pretty amped. I believe the sequence was that Yancy had made two free throws, then got a block on the other end on defense. The Bearcats pushed the ball up the court and SK was in the corner. When he hit that 3 pointer, that was the loudest I had heard The Shoe in a long time. Words can't describe how amazing that moment was. If this program is finally turned around, and things are only going to get better from this point on, I will always look to that 3-pointer as my favorite moment."
-- James Freeman
"Kilpatrick's fast break 3 versus in the corner. Loudest Shoemaker has been since the comeback versus #2 Villanova game in 2006. Also, a capstone to a great year re-establishing basketball."
-- Dan Palermo
Tommy G's take: Truly a storybook ending for Mick's first true recruiting class. Of the six guys that came in together, four made it to the end together. One was medically disqualified (Belton) and the other dismissed (Mitchell) but considering the circumstances I think it's pretty remarkable that these four stuck together, never missed considerable time (i.e. medical redshirt) and can say they were part of bringing the Bearcats back to the NCAA Tournament. Combine that with the dominant win and contributions from all of the scholarship seniors and playing time for Eddie Tyree, you could not have drawn it up any better. While none of the 6 will be remembered in the record books, they all played an important role in bringing UC basketball back and for one night, everything fell into line as a result of all of their hard work.
Mo's take: You couldn't have planned it better. There was the win, what it meant in the context of the season, but the scene afterward stood out. After all those years watching UC play bad games in empty gyms, to see these guys bask in the crowd's response was special. For a day, no one was complaining about what had happened 5-6 years ago, it was just a celebration, that team deserved that crowd, but that crowd deserved that team.
Highlight: Postgame celebration thanks to the good folks at BearcatLair.
Game highlights from ESPN: