Tonight at 7 on ESPN, the Cincinnati Bearcats head to the XL Center to play the Connecticut Huskies. I don't think I need to tell you how big a game this is for the Bearcats. Connecticut is a very solid team. They have won big games at home. They beat Syracuse. They also lost to Villanova at home. Cincinnati has been pretty bad lately in terms of results. They've dropped 3 of 4 and they've lost 2 of their last 3 road games. Cincinnati hasn't had an impressive road win in the calendar year. The time to get one is tonight. 

Connecticut has sandwiched 2 losses on top of 2 wins in the their 4 games. Even though the Huskies are not going to the Big East tournament or the NCAA tournament, they are embracing the role of spoiler. They have a chance to spoil Cincinnati's night. Due to an odd scheduling quirk, this is the first meeting in 9 days between the Bearcats and the Huskies. I don't remember Cincinnati playing a conference team in this short a span. Especially this late in the season. It's rather odd. 

I talked to Andrew Porter from the UConn Blog earlier. He also asked me some questions on their site. Check both of those out. 

Record: 19-7, 7-6 

Road/Neutral: 8-2

RPI (from Real Time RPI): 41

Vs Connecticut: 3-7

At Connecticut: 2-2

Last Meeting: 70-67, January 18, 2012

Spread: Cincinnati by 1

Minutes

• Sean Kilpatrick 35.5
• Cashmere Wright 30.9
• JaQuon Parker 30.8
• Titus Rubles 23.1
• Cheikh Mbodj 22.4

Scoring

• Sean Kilpatrick 17.1
• Cashmere Wright 12.6
• JaQuon Parker 10.3
• Titus Rubles 5.5
• Cheikh Mbodj 5.2

Field Goal % (Min 15 attempts)

• Cheikh Mbodj 46
• JaQuon Parker 42
• Justin Jackson 41
• Shaq Thomas 39.1
• Sean Kilpatrick 38.4

Free Throw % (Minimum 15 attempts)

• Cashmere Wright 85
• Sean Kilpatrick 76.5
• Cheikh Mbodj 71
• Titus Rubles 68
• JaQuon Parker 56.1

3 Pointers Made (3 point %)

• Sean Kilpatrick 35 (31%)
• Cashmere Wright 21 (26.6%)
• JaQuon Parker 15 (39.5%)
• Jermaine Sanders 8 (27.6%)
• Titus Rubles 3 (18.8%)

Rebounding

• Titus Rubles 5.6
• JaQuon Parker 5
• Sean Kilpatrick 4.8
• Justin Jackson 4.7
• Cheikh Mbodj 4.2

Assists

• Cashmere Wright 38
• Titus Rubles 27
• Sean Kilpatrick 22
• JaQuon Parker 19
• Justin Jackson 18

Turnovers

• JaQuon Parker 28
• Sean Kilpatrick 26
• Cashmere Wright 21
• Titus Rubles 20
• Justin Jackson 20

Steals

• Cashmere Wright 18
• Sean Kilpatrick 11
• Titus Rubles 10
• JaQuon Parker 6
• Justin Jackson 6

Blocks

• Cheikh Mbodj 33
• Justin Jackson 16
• David Nyarsuk 9
• Sean Kilpatrick 4
• Kelvin Gaines 4

Record: 17-7, 7-5

Home: 11-2

RPI: 34

Minutes

• Shabazz Napier 36.9
• Ryan Boatright 36.1
• Omar Calhoun 31
• DeAndre Daniels 27.3
• Tyler Olander 24.1

Points

• Shabazz Napier 16.1
• Ryan Boatright 15
• Omar Calhoun 11.8
• DeAndre Daniels 11.4
• Niels Giffey 5.7

Field Goal %

• Tyler Olander 64.1
• DeAndre Daniels 46
• Shabazz Napier 45
• RJ Evans 41.7
• Ryan Boatright 41

Free Throw %

• Niels Giffey 88
• Omar Calhoun 80
• Shabazz Napier 78.2
• DeAndre Daniels 75
• Ryan Boatright 74.6

3 Pointers Made (3 pt %)

• Shabazz Napier 28 (38.4%)
• Ryan Boatright 22 (41.5%)
• Omar Calhoun 21 (34.4%)
• DeAndre Daniels 5 (29.4%)
• Niels Giffey (30.8%)

Rebounding

• DeAndre Daniels 5.5
• Shabazz Napier 4.5
• Niels Giffey 4.3
• Omar Calhoun 3.8
• Tyler Olander 3.7

Assists

• Shabazz Napier 67
• Ryan Boatright 46
• Omar Calhoun 13
• Tyler Olander 12
• DeAndre Daniels 11

Turnovers

• Ryan Boatright 41
• Shabazz Napier 29
• Omar Calhoun 22
• DeAndre Daniels 17
• Niels Giffey 13

Steals

• Shabazz Napier 22
• Ryan Boatright 21
• Niels Giffey 15
• Omar Calhoun 10
• DeAndre Daniels 8

Blocks

• DeAndre Daniels 12
• Tyler Olander 8
• Omar Calhoun 6

Enosch Wolf is suspended and is therefore not listed. 

The last time Cincinnati played UConn, this happened. 

Connecticut plays one of the faster paces in the Big East at 68 possessions. Cincinnati is one of the slowest at 63. Things will probably settle near the slow end. 

The Huskies have one of the better offenses in the league scoring 1.04 points per possession. That's the same as Georgetown, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Cincinnati is at 0.99. Defense is a different story. Cincinnati is moving towards the top at 0.95. Connecticut is towards the bottom at 1.01. 

UConn is one of the better shooting teams in the league. They hit 44% from the field, 4th best in the league. They are second in effective field goal percentage, which weighs 3s, and 3rd in true shooting percentage. Cincinnati is the worst shooting team outside of South Florida. 

Defensively, both teams give up about the same percentages. So that's a wash. 

The Huskies are the second best free throw shooting team in the league at 75.3%. They are in the middle of the pack in free throw rate. They don't really take advantage. Cincinnati has the 3rd highest free throw rate. They are making 67.5%. On the flip side, Cincinnati gives up the 3rd lowest free throw rate. UConn the 5th lowest. 

These teams will let the 3s fly. Connecticut is 5th in attempts and makes, but 3rd in percentage at 36.6%. They have their good shooters attempt a lot. Cincinnati is 3rd in attempts and makes, while being the 4th worst 3 point shooting team at 29.3%. Yes, there are 3 teams worse. 

The Huskies and Bearcats lock down the 3 point line. UC has given up 198 attempts, UConn 215. Those are 2nd and 4th in fewest attempts allowed. 

Connecticut is the second worst rebounding team in the league. They are getting 46.2% of all the rebounds. They get 29.1% of the offensive rebounds and 63.2% of the defensive. They are lucky USF is in the league otherwise they would be last. Cincinnati is the best rebounding team by getting 53.3# of the rebounds. They are the best defensive rebounding team at 71.5%. 

The Huskies don't turn it over a ton, 18.6%. That's what happens when you have 2 point guards. The Huskies don't really force turnovers, only 19%. I don't expect a ton of turnovers tonight. 

UConn use to be the best shot blocking team in the league. That's Cincinnati's claim to fame. UConn gets blocks on 6.2% of possessions, which is ok. 

The Huskies get steals on 10.8% of possessions, which is 4th in the league. The Bearcats get the ball stolen from them the least. 

It's huge to get the advantage on the glass. UConn has won by rebounding poorly, but that's a risk you have to be willing to take. 

I think you can safely say that if Cincinnati doesn't get more than 4 three pointers to fall, they are going to be in some trouble. 2 of the last 3 games have seen them make 4 threes. That's just not good enough. 

Getting to the foul line could turn this game. UConn is not deep by any means. If the Bearcats can get into their bench, it would be a huge advantage. Especially if it was one of the guards. Their trio is as important as Cincinnati's trio. Having one of them on the bench would hurt a lot. 

I'm a little worried about who tries to guard Shabazz. Cash is hurt. I don't think the other guys have the speed to guard him. There is definitely no one as fast as Boatright. UC's guards have the size advantage though. They need to use that to their advantage. 

Big games in late February. Gotta love it. Even if our hearts don't. 

Prediction

This is going to be a close game. I don't think any of us would dispute that. It will be in the 60s. Again, who can dispute that with how this team plays? I think things are going to work out for Cincinnati. Of course I do, I write a Cincinnati blog. I wouldn't be surprised if things fell the other way. I just believe that this team is too good for a slide at this time of year. 

Cincinnati 65 Connecticut 63

Cincinnati plays 2 of the next 3 games against Connecticut. That starts tonight. To get a crash course on the Connecticut Huskies, I talked to my good friend Andrew Porter from the UConn Blog. The guys at the UConn Blog are awesome on twitter, so you should give them a follow ahead of the game. You should also check out their site because there might be something on it involving me. 

Andrew and I talked about a lot of things. Things such as Kevin Ollie, Shabazz Napier, Ryan Boatright, depth, the ACC and more. Questions are in bold. 

We are nearly through with the first season of the Kevin Ollie era. How has it been?

It's been great so far. Sure, the postseason ban is a drag, and that's probably turned off some casual fans, but for the hardcore, the Kevin Ollie era has been a blast so far. He's a great motivator, very likable and a good coach to boot. Expectations weren't high with UConn's roster this year, but the Huskies have more than lived up to them and pulled off a few marquee wins (against Michigan St. to open the season, Syracuse last week) along the way.

UConn has some trouble rebounding. They were out-rebounded by 31 I believe in one of their wins. Have the Huskies found a way to work around this, or is it something that bites them in the ass?

It's a constant problem and easily UConn's biggest flaw. Things didn't get any easier when junior center Enosch Wolf was suspended either, and I don't think anyone expects him to return to the team this season. UConn can mitigate the problem by outhustling opponents for every loose ball and using their speed to cause a few extra turnovers, but if the Huskies match up against a team that's strong inside they're almost certainly going to get outrebounded.

Shabazz Napier was good last year and he's turned it up a notch this season. He's improved all of his shooting percentages, his rebounding and his steal percentage. What has he done to get better? Besides be naturally gifted at basketball.

I think part of it is just the natural maturation process. Last year was Shabazz's first chance to really run the show (he played behind Kemba Walker his freshman season) and with it came the usual headaches. He'd make a great play one second, then do something equally boneheaded the next. The loss of Jeremy Lamb in the backcourt has probably done a bit to boost his scoring (because he's relied on more), but more than anything else he's simply embraced the role of team leader and welcomed his larger role.

Ryan Boatright is awesome and one of my favorite players. How awesome is it watching him every game?

It's almost always great -- last Saturday's game against Villanova may have been the rare exception. He's almost always the smallest player on the court, but he's also the fastest and he uses his incredible motor to his advantage. He's a solid outside shooter and he's also got some fantastic leaping ability. They don't break it out every game, but he and Napier have gotten into a pretty solid alley-oop rhythm (with Boat as the dunking half), which is a blast to watch.

Boatright and Napier are joined by Omar Calhoun in the backcourt. What does Calhoun bring to the table?

He got off to a slow start this year, but over the last month he's really come into his own as an outside shooter, and he hit some really crucial 3s to spark the break that broke open UConn's game with Syracuse last week. Napier and Boatright can both get into the lane more or less at while, which usually sets Calhoun up for some good looks on kickouts. He's also got a good deal more size than Napier and Boatright, which helps on the defensive side of the court.

DeAndre Daniels is the only frontcourt player for UConn it seems. Considering all the hype he had when he came to campus, how would you rate Daniels' tenure?

I'd say it's been slightly disappointing, but only because every few games Daniels will have a run where he looks like an all-conference talent. He's really UConn's X-factor, if he gets going early and is shooting well it makes everything fit together much easier for the rest of the team. The problem is that he can disappear, especially if he misses a few shots early.

UConn doesn't go deep. That's even more true with Enosch Wolf suspended. Is a deep rotation overrated?

I'm not sure it's a requirement to succeed, and UConn's conditioning is pretty solid, which helps. The lack of depth is a big problem if UConn gets in foul trouble though. If any of the five starters pick up two fouls early in the first half it'll wreak havoc on the rotation.

If last year's team played as hard as this year's team, would that squad have had a chance at repeating instead of getting ingloriously dumped in the first round?

Certainly, though I'm not willing to pin all of last year on effort. It was a really flukey season for the Huskies: Boatright was suspended by the NCAA twice (including a ludicrous mid-season suspension that had him miss most of January), Calhoun missed two separate stretches, Andre Drummond broke his nose to start the season which hindered his development, etc. That's not to say last year's team didn't under perform -- it did -- but sometimes you just get a year when nothing goes right.

What would you rather do than talk about realignment? Will it ever end?

Mostly I'd like to talk about UConn's luxurious new home in the ACC. I don't know if it'll ever end, but I do know that I want it to keep going until UConn is out of the Big East.

Thanks a lot, Andrew. 

Be sure to follow the UConn Blog on twitter and check out their site. There is a lot of good stuff on there just like there is in this little interview. 

The cheerleader photo is from SI

There is a book out called 'Outside Shot' by Keith O'Brien. O'Brien ingrained himself in with the Scott County Cardinals during the 2009-10 season. That was Ge'Lawn Guyn's high school team. Here is a pretty cool video about the book. 

Guyn is one of the main characters of the story. The book had a very nice write up in the New York Times. I'll try to get a copy to give away. The book is in stores now if you don't want to wait. 

I love books like the Blind Side and Friday Night Lights where people take in the whole story for a long period of time. I would say that basketball in Kentucky is like football in Texas. The Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena is a very big deal. This book seems like it's worth checking out. What better way to root harder for Ge'Lawn Guyn than getting caught up on his back story? I can't think of one either. Check this out. 

The loss on Friday night dropped UC to 19-7, 7-6 in the Big East, but it did more damage than just that. UC is 7-7 since December 27. 5 of those losses are home games. All of them are to potential NCAA tournament teams. 3 of them were very winnable games. Pittsburgh and Notre Dame pulled away from Cincinnati. The Bearcats had their chances to win against St John's, New Mexico and Georgetown. They clearly did not. Losing at home is something that great teams don't do. Cincinnati isn't a great team. You could probably say they have been a disappointment. The Bearcats can still finish strong, but right now they are in 10th place. 

The notion of good loss and bad loss is an interesting thing. There are games like Presbyterian from last year. That was a horrible, horrible game, but at the end of the season that loss was forgotten about and UC got a 6 seed. A 6 seed was appropriate for a 24-10 team. This season, the bad losses have come at the hands of very good teams. Teams like New Mexico, Syracuse and Georgetown. Cincinnati had a chance to win all 3 games. They couldn't finish. The Bearcats left losses against the Realtime RPI 3, 9 and 16 teams on the table. Add any one of those to the RPI 14 win against Marquette and Cincinnati has a sparkling resume. Instead, UC has nothing but Ls and home Ls to show for it. Their RPI has dropped all the way to 41. Those losses are seed line drops. With how weak the middle of the tournament field appears, you don't want to end up a 7, 8, 9, or 10 seed. You want to avoid the big boys as long as you can. That's what UC isn't doing on the bracket projections. Glockner at SI and Lunardi at ESPN have them as a 9 and a 8 respectively. They both have UC playing Indiana in round 2. Or round 3 technically. That is not ideal. Things change all the time in this sport. UC has their fate in their hands. A 4-1 finish can be in the cards. The Cats have to go get it. 

The huge issue around the team has become the offense. For good reason because they can't score. I don't know what about it can be fixed. I would play much faster than this team currently does. There was a time when Cashmere Wright said he had to get the ball across halfcourt in 4 seconds. That doesn't happen much these days. If it does, the Bearcats churn out a 20 second halfcourt set anyway. Some urgency is needed. 

Urgency is needed and so is the ability to make shots. UC was 17-54, 31.5% on Friday night. Georgetown is a damn good defensive team. They lead the Big East in every field goal percentage stat. UC took some bad shots. They took some good shots. The thing those shots had in common is that they did not go in the basket. It's not like it's a difference between UC shooting a ton of 3s because while they do, they were also 13-30 from 2. They can't score inside. They haven't all season. They had trouble scoring from the free throw line. They had trouble scoring from 3. 

The lack of inside presence is letting teams push the shooters back and crowd them. Jackson, Mbodj and Nyarsuk had 4 field goal attempts. Georgetown didn't respect them. What everyone is doing is making the guards beat you. That's really hard to do every night in a league like this. They need help. None is coming, it appears. 

The offense being so poor right now is not being helped when the defense gets lit up like UC was in the first half. The Hoyas hit 12-26 from the field after starting 1-8. 8 of the Georgetown misses were from 3. Cincinnati's defense played great in the second half, but it wasn't enough to overcome the shaky first half. It sounds harsh to talk about a defense that gave up 62 points, but hey, it wasn't that good. 

UC needs to force turnovers to get the offense going, but they are too over aggressive and it bites them. UC forced 6 turnovers in the first half. They forced 4 in the second half, but the Hoyas were 8-22. I would take the trade off. 

Georgetown made 1 shot the last 5:36. It was the 3 that Markel Starks drilled from the Hoya bench with a defender draped over him. 

Justin Jackson matched his career high in free throw attempts in the first half. He's been better at the line this year, but on Friday he was 3-8. Jackson was 1-3 from the field for 5 total points. He rebounded very well. He led the team with 8. 5 of those were offensive. Jackson had 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He also had 2 turnovers because hey, it's still Justin Jackson. Outside of the horrid foul shooting, it was a good game for Jackson. 

Cheikh Mbodj had 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. He was 3-4 at the foul line for 3 points. He attempted 0 field goals. Despite his 4 offensive rebounds, he had 0 field goal attempts. Despite getting the ball off a miss 3 feet from the basket late in the game and UC needing points, he had 0 field goal attempts. He had 1 brutal turnover passing out on that play. It iced the game for the Hoyas. UC was down 5 at that point, it's not like he gave the game away. He needed to turn and shoot that though. He's 7 feet tall. Try and score. 

Cashmere Wright broke the tie atop the leader board for steals. He's now the all time steals leader in UC history with 192. He had 3 of the 5 UC steals on Friday night. Congratulations to Cashmere on a great accomplishment. 

The rest of his game was in line with his production lately. He was 3-6 from 2 and 2-8 from 3 for 12 points. He didn't attempt a free throw. I don't know how your point guard doesn't attempt a free throw. Wright had 3 assists to 2 turnovers. He needs 40 assists to get to 500. I'm not sure he is going to get there unless UC goes deep. He's had his lowest assist total in his 3 years of starting. He's had his lowest assist/turnover ratio as a starter. It's not like he's turning it over more, he's turning it over at a career low rate of 17%. He's just not getting assists. His assist numbers miss Yancy Gates. 

Sean Kilpatrick was 5-6 from the foul line and had 4 assists along with 6 rebounds. Those were the positives. His shooting went back into a funk after a big game against Villanova. He hit 3-13, 1-7 from 3. He plays hard. He plays nearly the entire game. He just can't get shots to fall. 

JaQuon Parker had a second big game in which he led the team in scoring. He scored 15 on 4-9 shooting, 1-3 from 3 and 6-9 from the foul line. Parker had 6 rebounds and nothing else on the box score. No assists, no turnovers, no blocks and no steals. Parker getting more involved in the offense is huge. The man Paul Dehner Jr covered it this morning. Parker stepping up is huge. Keep it going, Park. 

Titus Rubles had 6 field goal attempts in his 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure all of them came like this: 

If Nate Lubick was on him, Rubles was going to the basket. Rubles was 2-6 with 2 turnovers. Probably not the best of plans. Rubles was 0-3 at the foul line, which hurt. He racked up 3 fouls in his short time on the court. The big guys can't play without foul trouble. 

Ge'Lawn Guyn played 2 minutes, but he packed a lot into it. He was 0-2, 0-1 from 3, had a rebound and 2 turnovers. Bang for your buck. 

Jermaine Sanders played the crunch time minutes in an interesting development. Sanders was 0-5 from 3 and just 1-6 from the field. He attempted a couple of 3s late. I didn't like the first shot he took. The one that turned into the Parker miss. I thought Parker had a very good look and just made a very bad attempt. Sanders shooting the ball 6 times is a welcome sign. 

David Nyarsuk played 3 minutes and had a dunk. Kelvin Gaines didn't play. Shaq Thomas played 2 minutes and did nothing. 

The free throw shooting, as you might have noticed, was brutal. 17-30. This team can't leave points on the floor. Not like that. What was worse is that UC should have attempted way more than 30 free throws. Georgetown was in heavy foul trouble and put UC in the bonus halfway through the second half. UC attempted 9 free throws the last 18 minutes. Justin Jackson attempted 8 in the first half if you remember. 

Dan Cronin says all the time on twitter that you win games with your stars. Georgetown certainly did that. Otto Porter had 16 points and 7 rebounds. He was 7-7 at the foul line. Markel Starks had a game high 17 points. D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera is the 3rd banana in that group and he had 14 points on 5-10 shooting. This is a team that can make a run in March. Their offense can get rolling. They have good passers. They have a go to star. They have a great defensive team. Georgetown is leading the Big East for a reason. They are very good. 

Photos from Cincinnati.com. Parker photo via Go Bearcats

This article features one piece of actual, relevant news and 1 piece of talk. The real news is that the university board of trustees approved the 2 million dollar design phase for Nippert Stadium. That should kick off the 70 million dollar renovation for the stadium. The renovation is expected to be finished by 2015. It will add 1,200 box seats, 44 loge boxes and 28 private suites. That information is from this article. 

The kicker to that story is that UC is using it as a push to join the ACC. A conference which could be losing members in the future. According to Jeff Ermann of Inside Maryland Sports, the Big 10 is looking at Virginia and Georgia Tech, along with North Carolina, as possible additions. He, and his site, were all over the Rutgers and Maryland to the Big 10 talk before that went public. 

My reaction to this is

For the first part. Renovations to Nippert Stadium need to happen. This is a positive step for everyone involved. In 3 years, the new looking stadium will be a great draw for the next Cincinnati head coach. That was a 3 year stop joke, not a Tuberville sucks and will be fired in 3 years joke. 

As for the ACC news

And

Wake me up when something actually happens. If you want to talk about it all the rumors and scenarios, be my guest. I have lost interest in realignment. I'll believe something when it happens. I'm Doubting Scott. 

Edit: Corrected the minor error.