After everything we’ve come to expect as Cincinnati sports fans, was there ever any doubt that half court shot by Jarron Cumberland was going in? I knew as soon as I saw the red light go off and the ball still in his hand that he would make the shot. That is the kind of heartache everyone in UC country felt as the Bearcats lets another overtime game slip away, and that was one they simply could not afford to lose.
It is somewhat hard to fully crush them when putting into context what the last month has been like for them, it has been exactly how I would explain it as a fan…exhausting. Think about the Bearcat’s February run up to this point 2 point win after a 15 point late second half deficit to Houston, 1 point win on the road against Wichita St., 1 point loss in overtime on the road to UCONN, 6 point overtime win against Memphis (another game where they trailed late and storm back), 3 point overtime road victory at ECU, and then a 2 point double overtime defeat Wednesday night to UCF, all of those things happened in a 20 day span. THAT IS A GAUNTLET FOLKS. Oh yeah, they did all this while Jarron and Jaevin (Cumberland) have each been banged up, the backup center up and left the team to go back overseas and everyone being asked to fill big time roles are freshman. The fact that they had the fight to even win the games they did this month, in the fashion they won them, has been amazing. With that said they now have put themselves into a very bleak position for an at large bid. Losses to Bowling Green, Colgate, Tulane, and now UCF are absolute resume killers. The Bearcat’s have four games left on the season before the American Athletic Conference Tournament and you can’t reasonably say any of them will be easy, but UC is going to need to find a way to win at least 3 of them and if the loss is at Houston then I still feel they have a chance. So, now lets dive into the final four.
HOME – Wichita St. 2/23
What’s that? You are tired from the five overtime periods over the last four consecutive games? Well suck it up because Wichita St. comes to town in a few short days and they have no sympathy to give. UC HAS to have to keep at large hopes alive, a loss Sunday and they might as well rest Jarron and Chris Vogt until the conference tourney because they would have to win it to get in anyway. They beat this team on the road, this is a winnable home game, but UC must cut out the turnovers, self inflicted mistakes, they have to get back to guarding people in space and not giving up free runs to the hoop all game like UCF got.
Prediction: Win – UC guts out a back against the wall win on Sunday, Cumberland/Scott/Vogt/Williams all go for 15+ points
