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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - When the University of Cincinnati basketball players were told in early January that their head coach would not be with them for the rest of the season there was no time for a long adjustment period.
The games kept coming and the Bearcats had no choice but to continue down the path that Mick Cronin had set for them, even though he wouldn't be there anymore.
"It's an adjustment not having a guy who's big over our program, the man that we listen to every day, all of a sudden not being able to be here," said sophomore guard Kevin Johnson. "It's just the instant change that we all had to get used to. We had to adjust fast. It just got to a point as a team where we all had to bond together and understand our circumstances this year and figure it out."
That the Bearcats have soldiered on nicely without their head coach is a tribute to Cronin for the tone he set in the program, to the players themselves, and to associate head coach Larry Davis, who has run the team in Cronin's absence. As they prepare for Wednesday's game at Tulsa, they've gone 13-7 under Davis, 20-9 overall, and are positioned to make their fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance if they can close the deal over the next two weeks.
The players say there's not much difference between Cronin and Davis. Their philosophies are the same and although they might use different approaches in how they get their message across, the transition has been as close to seamless as could be expected.
"It wasn't a big adjustment because the message was still the same," said sophomore guard Troy Caupain. "We've still got to play hard on the defensive end. We've still got to force deflections, force turnovers and execute on the offensive end.
"(Coach Cronin) still makes the final call on anything we do as an organization, so he's not really gone. He's still around wherever we go. I talk to him every once in a while. Me and him text here and there. He's still the head man. He still makes the final call and that's what makes us successful. They've both very high-energy guys with a lot of enthusiasm. It's still the same message and it's still preached the same way."
Cronin coached his last game of the season on Dec. 17 against San Diego State. He told the players a few hours before the next game on Dec. 20 against Virginia Commonwealth that he was undergoing tests to determine what was causing the severe headaches he started having on the way back from Nebraska on Dec. 13. On Jan. 2, the school announced that Cronin had an arterial dissection in his brain and would not coach for the rest of the season.
When the news first hit, said senior forward Jermaine Sanders said there was an emotional reaction among the players, but they quickly put that behind them and moved on with the business at hand.
"After awhile we got used to Coach Davis and over time we've been able to deal with it," Sanders said. "That was pretty much the main part, just accepting Coach Davis as being our head coach and not looking at him as an assistant coach. They're both two aggressive guys that coach and get after it. I feel like they're kind of the same person, really."
It may seem that way to Sanders, but Davis, who was the head coach at Furman for nine years before he was hired by Cronin at UC, made sure when he took over that he did not try to do things exactly the way Cronin did them. He knew that wouldn't work.
"Mick from day one," Davis said, "as far as helping me, one of the best things he did was, he said, 'They've got to listen to your voice, they've got to get used to your voice and the staff's voice. Our philosophies are the same. I'm going to help you every way I can. I'll give you every suggestion that I can, but at the end of the day you've got to go with your instincts and what you think is best.'
"He said, 'You have to do it your way. You can't try to be me.' I wouldn't try to be him. When you try to be somebody else, you're going to a bad them and they'll know it. When you are yourself, they'll know it and that's your best chance. I can't be Mick. They would recognize it anyway and I'd be a bad Mick."
Davis has put his stamp on the team with his motivational pre-game speeches that sometimes include history lessons. On the sidelines during games, he has been every bit as fiery as Cronin was. He admits he has enjoyed the ride.
"I hate the circumstance in which it happened," Davis said, "but I've dreamed my whole life of coaching at the highest level of Division I and I'm getting the chance to do it. What's there not to like? There's headaches, stress, all that, but at the end of the day, you've got to enjoy it."
Cronin's story has been national news all season and figures to be even bigger news if the Bearcats make it to the NCAA Tournament. The players want to get there for their head coach, but also for themselves and everyone connected with the program.
Sanders, the only senior on the roster, said he would love to go out with his fourth NCAA appearance in four years and he'd love to do it for the man who recruited him and has been with him every step of the way until this season.
"It was kind of crazy knowing that he was not going to be able to coach me for the rest of the season," Sanders said. "I didn't think it was going to be that serious or that long that he was going to have stay out. It was kind of sad to know that he won't be coaching me my last year, but I try to make him happy by making it to the NCAA Tournament."
Bill Koch covered UC Athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com in January, 2015 as featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter @bkoch.
The Bearcats travel to play at Tulsa on Wednesday, March 4 (9 p.m. ET - CBS Sports Network) before returning home to conclude the regular season with Memphis on Sunday, March 8, at Fifth Third Arena (Noon). For tickets to the home finale or the 2015 American Athletic Conference Tournament (March 12-15 in Hartford, Connecticut), call 877-CATS-TIX or visit BearcatsBasketball.com.