TicketsMay 12, 2011
The University of Cincinnati men's basketball team is already garnering admiration on the season ahead. Sports Illustrated college basketball writer Luke Winn ranked the Bearcats eighth in the nation in his power rankings released on Wednesday.
Winn credited the Bearcats' strong returning team- highlighting Yancy Gates and Sean Kilpatrick - in justifying UC's lofty ranking. There were four BIG EAST teams in the top eight (No. 5 Syracuse, No. 6 Louisville and No. 7 Pittsburgh), Connecticut was ranked 13th and Marquette, West Virginia and Villanova rounded out the list of 34.
The Bearcats finished the 2010-11 season with a 26-9 record and reached the third round of the NCAA national championship tournament. UC was a perfect 16-0 against non-BIG EAST competition and currently stands as the only team from a major conference to have improved its wins total in each of the last five seasons, all of which were under head coach Mick Cronin.