They would go ahead and win two of the three games giving everyone hope that this team could make their 10th straight NCAA Tournament. Soon as the hope came boom, they dropped a game on the road against Tulane. After that loss they stayed away from the terrible fades until a mid February loss to UCF in double overtime. They did lose to UConn, but that loss wasn’t on the same level as the UCF loss it made the bubble real for this squad. Before I talk about more of the season I wanted to highlight the magnificent play of senior forward Tre Scott in the month of February. Scott had one of the best months I’ve seen by a Bearcat ever, slapping up double doubles like it was a normal thing, he also had the first 20-20 game since the great Kenyon Martin, yes we witnessed a 20-20 game in person this season. With the Bearcats backs against the wall Scott was the one who wouldn’t let him team go out like punks on a nightly basis.
The team battled injuries from Cumberland, Williams and Vogt, but with four games left they found themselves with a change to win a share of the AAC. They won three of the four games playing one without Cumberland and it turned out to be a career game for Williams scoring 30 points in a come from behind win against USF on the road. Now we head to Senior Night against Temple where it was a game that Cincinnati looked out of it most of the game, but down 1 in the winding seconds Cumberland drove left and kissed it off the glass and went it bounced off Scott was there to save the day. It was a fitting way for Scott to finish the game, struggling on the offensive end, but being their when his team needed him most. What we didn’t know is that would be the last time the Bearcats would play this season.
Fighting and clawing themselves to get a share of the AAC Title and earning a No. 1 seed in the AAC Tournament. With the abrupt ending I feel like we didn’t get to appreciate the season. Cumberland fought and battled through the season, Scott went to another level, Williams continued to ascend, Mamoudou Diarra made a huge jump, Jaevin Cumberland provided great outside shooting, McNeal provided defensive toughness, Vogt proved to be a well rounded big man before injuries and minutes slowed him down and the freshman proved they will be a very solid class for this program in the future.
So many questions will go unanswered, could this senior class be the first class to get to second weekend since the early 2010’s, how many more big games did Cumberland and Scott have left in them? Would Brannen be able to get his first win in the NCAA Tournament? We won’t get these answers, but everybody involved deserves to accolades for a memorable season.
