TicketsBusy, busy day around the Bearcats athletics offices. We've got UC Pro Day going on all morning with the bubble filled with NFL scouts and probably a few stopwatch salesmen. Then UC basketball will hold a media availability at 11:45, their last before departing for Philadelphia and the game against Nova this weekend.
I'll be down there all morning, remember to follow on Twitter (@pauldehnerjr) for updates as they happen or send me an email (pauldehnerjr@gmail.com) if you have any questions you'd like answered.
Let's eat...
--- Big day for JK Schaffer. Top among the combine snubs, Schaffer earns his opportunity today to show his size/speed combo belong on the next level. Nobody can doubt his instincts. Three consecutive years over 100 tackles prove that. NFL scouts want to see that 40 time, though.
Best of luck to him. As I've said many times, JK will land in camp with somebody next year. Today will go a long way to determining where.
--- Combine guys Isaiah Pead, Derek Wolfe and John Hughes should be in the house, but I wouldn't expect any of them to do anything after performing well in Indy. I'm hoping to catch up with them and relay back some of their observations of the experience to you.
--- It was odd yesterday not hearing the voice of Kerry Coombs booming through the bubble during practice.
For the Bearcats football mic'd up series, his departure is akin to Michael Jordan retiring.
Here's my story on Butch Jones' perspective of his leaving.
--- On to basketball, where Villanova scored a victory last night in their final game prior to hosting UC for Senior Day on Saturday.
The Wildcats have been the kings of finding ways to lose recently, but are in almost every game -- especially at home.
Take a look at their home results since the last time these two played (82-78 UC win Jan. 14).
Seton Hall W 84-76
Marquette L 82-78
Providence W 74-72
Notre Dame L 74-70 OT
Georgetown L 73-70 OT
That's right, the closest thing to a runaway win was Marquette's four-point triumph. That's no slouch slate there, either. Those are three of the current top four teams in the league, losing two in OT and all three by a combined 11 points.
Toss in Senior Day and the bandbox of The Pavillion and you've got a difficult task ahead.
--- The Bearcats could still earn the double-bye in the Big East tournament depending on Saturday's results. They, of course, would need to win in Philly.
There are three teams one game ahead of them battling for the final two tourney spots.
Georgetown (12-5) at Marquette
Notre Dame (12-5) vs. Providence
USF (12-5) vs. WVU
If the Hoyas and Notre Dame both lose, UC will go in as the No. 4 seed. Now, even as bad as the Irish have been playing, losing at home to the Friars is a pretty big long shot.
If all three of the teams lose, UC would actually go in as the No. 3 seed by virtue of winning the four-way tiebreak.
The most likely scenario would be ending up in a three-way tie with GT and USF for the final spot. All three teams split the season series with each other and UC would win the three-way tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed.
Other than that, UC would go in as a five or six seed, but no lower than that.
--- Bearcats Nation wrote about the attendance figures for the season. The Bearcats averaged 7,878 per game, but brought in 10,907 a night in Big East play, including two sellouts.
Those are up from last year.
Fifth Third Arena was louder and crazier than I have ever heard it the last two games. From opening tip through final buzzer the place was wild. Remember, Rick Pitino called it the toughest home-court advantage they'd played against all year.
"Tremendous home-court advantage here for us late in the year," Cronin said. "It's a big factor in our wins, so big thanks to our students and all our fans. Our goal, obviously, is to get that advantage on a nightly basis. It affects winning, A, and it affects recruiting."
I'm also personally delivering a thank-you to all the fans from the UC Marketing Department. The turnout and responses to the various promotions and theme nights were incredible and really flipped Fifth Third into a special place.
Plus, I spotted a Vinny and Pauly D Big Head Wednesday night, and that pretty much made my night. Oh yeah, Big Head, yeah.
--- While Mick Cronin wasn't afraid to state his opinion on UC's inclusion in the NCAA tournament, his players were still holding back a bit after the game Wednesday. Probably a good attitude to have considering how tough Saturday at Nova will be.
"Who knows (if we are in)," Dion Dixon said. "Win this game Saturday. Hopefully then we are in."
UC's RPI moved up to 68 now, it's high point in the season. While everyone knocks the Bearcats schedule, it should be noted in the BPI (ESPN's new college basketball metric), they rank 44 overall and their BPI SOS is 61.
That SOS is better than Kentucky, North Carolina and Missouri among many others.
For the record, KenPom now has UC all the way up at No. 33.
All I will say is this, if UC ends up in that 7-10 game, some 7 and 2 seed is going to be pretty angry when a team that beat Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville and Notre Dame shows up in their pod.
--- I never got a chance to link to Mike DeCourcy's column from Wednesday night. Here it is. I highly recommend it.
--- After stating he thought the Marquette win solidified his team's spot in The Dance, Cronin went on to talk more in depth about where they are at.
"It's like I told the players, because of those five losses at the last seconds, you don't want to be playing on Tuesday," Cronin said. "Of course, they didn't know what that was."
Too funny, but playing in Dayton in the First Four wouldn't be a fun trip up I-75.
"Saturday is a big game for us," he said. "Our RPI is an issue. I'm not smart enough to figure all that stuff out, so I'll just stick to trying to coach a little ball and make sure I keep (JaQuon Parker) in the game."
--- Earlier this week, Cronin was talking in regards to Yancy Gates staying and being loyal to UC all four years, that what happenes nowadays is if the top recruits struggle early, they transfer and blame the coach.
Basketball Prospectus published this data showing 4 of the top 100 recruits transfer every year.
--- Lance McAlister posted this today and I can't help but follow his lead. This is from 12 years ago today. Kenyon Martin. Man, was that team ever fun to watch.
I'll be down there all morning, remember to follow on Twitter (@pauldehnerjr) for updates as they happen or send me an email (pauldehnerjr@gmail.com) if you have any questions you'd like answered.
Let's eat...
--- Big day for JK Schaffer. Top among the combine snubs, Schaffer earns his opportunity today to show his size/speed combo belong on the next level. Nobody can doubt his instincts. Three consecutive years over 100 tackles prove that. NFL scouts want to see that 40 time, though.
Best of luck to him. As I've said many times, JK will land in camp with somebody next year. Today will go a long way to determining where.
--- Combine guys Isaiah Pead, Derek Wolfe and John Hughes should be in the house, but I wouldn't expect any of them to do anything after performing well in Indy. I'm hoping to catch up with them and relay back some of their observations of the experience to you.
--- It was odd yesterday not hearing the voice of Kerry Coombs booming through the bubble during practice.
For the Bearcats football mic'd up series, his departure is akin to Michael Jordan retiring.
Here's my story on Butch Jones' perspective of his leaving.
--- On to basketball, where Villanova scored a victory last night in their final game prior to hosting UC for Senior Day on Saturday.
The Wildcats have been the kings of finding ways to lose recently, but are in almost every game -- especially at home.
Take a look at their home results since the last time these two played (82-78 UC win Jan. 14).
Seton Hall W 84-76
Marquette L 82-78
Providence W 74-72
Notre Dame L 74-70 OT
Georgetown L 73-70 OT
That's right, the closest thing to a runaway win was Marquette's four-point triumph. That's no slouch slate there, either. Those are three of the current top four teams in the league, losing two in OT and all three by a combined 11 points.
Toss in Senior Day and the bandbox of The Pavillion and you've got a difficult task ahead.
--- The Bearcats could still earn the double-bye in the Big East tournament depending on Saturday's results. They, of course, would need to win in Philly.
There are three teams one game ahead of them battling for the final two tourney spots.
Georgetown (12-5) at Marquette
Notre Dame (12-5) vs. Providence
USF (12-5) vs. WVU
If the Hoyas and Notre Dame both lose, UC will go in as the No. 4 seed. Now, even as bad as the Irish have been playing, losing at home to the Friars is a pretty big long shot.
If all three of the teams lose, UC would actually go in as the No. 3 seed by virtue of winning the four-way tiebreak.
The most likely scenario would be ending up in a three-way tie with GT and USF for the final spot. All three teams split the season series with each other and UC would win the three-way tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed.
Other than that, UC would go in as a five or six seed, but no lower than that.
--- Bearcats Nation wrote about the attendance figures for the season. The Bearcats averaged 7,878 per game, but brought in 10,907 a night in Big East play, including two sellouts.
Those are up from last year.
Fifth Third Arena was louder and crazier than I have ever heard it the last two games. From opening tip through final buzzer the place was wild. Remember, Rick Pitino called it the toughest home-court advantage they'd played against all year.
"Tremendous home-court advantage here for us late in the year," Cronin said. "It's a big factor in our wins, so big thanks to our students and all our fans. Our goal, obviously, is to get that advantage on a nightly basis. It affects winning, A, and it affects recruiting."
I'm also personally delivering a thank-you to all the fans from the UC Marketing Department. The turnout and responses to the various promotions and theme nights were incredible and really flipped Fifth Third into a special place.
Plus, I spotted a Vinny and Pauly D Big Head Wednesday night, and that pretty much made my night. Oh yeah, Big Head, yeah.
--- While Mick Cronin wasn't afraid to state his opinion on UC's inclusion in the NCAA tournament, his players were still holding back a bit after the game Wednesday. Probably a good attitude to have considering how tough Saturday at Nova will be.
"Who knows (if we are in)," Dion Dixon said. "Win this game Saturday. Hopefully then we are in."
UC's RPI moved up to 68 now, it's high point in the season. While everyone knocks the Bearcats schedule, it should be noted in the BPI (ESPN's new college basketball metric), they rank 44 overall and their BPI SOS is 61.
That SOS is better than Kentucky, North Carolina and Missouri among many others.
For the record, KenPom now has UC all the way up at No. 33.
All I will say is this, if UC ends up in that 7-10 game, some 7 and 2 seed is going to be pretty angry when a team that beat Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville and Notre Dame shows up in their pod.
--- I never got a chance to link to Mike DeCourcy's column from Wednesday night. Here it is. I highly recommend it.
--- After stating he thought the Marquette win solidified his team's spot in The Dance, Cronin went on to talk more in depth about where they are at.
"It's like I told the players, because of those five losses at the last seconds, you don't want to be playing on Tuesday," Cronin said. "Of course, they didn't know what that was."
Too funny, but playing in Dayton in the First Four wouldn't be a fun trip up I-75.
"Saturday is a big game for us," he said. "Our RPI is an issue. I'm not smart enough to figure all that stuff out, so I'll just stick to trying to coach a little ball and make sure I keep (JaQuon Parker) in the game."
--- Earlier this week, Cronin was talking in regards to Yancy Gates staying and being loyal to UC all four years, that what happenes nowadays is if the top recruits struggle early, they transfer and blame the coach.
Basketball Prospectus published this data showing 4 of the top 100 recruits transfer every year.
--- Lance McAlister posted this today and I can't help but follow his lead. This is from 12 years ago today. Kenyon Martin. Man, was that team ever fun to watch.