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. 

Running back Jameel Poteat is going to transfer. Poteat has been retweeting people offering their support all night. Poteat was a Pitt commit until he de-committed and then picked Cincinnati. In 2 seasons, he ran 57 times for 227 yards and 2 TDs. He had 1 catch for -1 yard. That's probably the lowest total in Cincinnati history. Jameel Poteat was a record breaker. 

I always liked Poteat, so I'm a little disappointed he will no longer be a Bearcat. I thought he could be good. He showed flashes of his talent. Ultimately he didn't show enough. He was clearly the 3rd banana last season. With Tion Green looking good last season and guys like Deionte Buckley and JUCO recruit Hosey Wililams coming in, Poteat wasn't guaranteed much playing time. 

I hope Jameel Poteat finds success wherever he ends up next. I don't think he can transfer to a Big East school. Best of luck to him. 

Another loss has come to our doorstep with a 62-55 defeat at the hands of the Georgetown Hoyas. Georgetown moves into first place all by their lonesome with the win. Cincinnati is now 19-7, 7-6. They've lost 3 of 4 and 4 of 7. 

I really don't know what to say besides teams that shoot jump shots almost exclusively will miss jump shots and when they do, they will lose. Cincinnati made 1 field goal the last 7 minutes. UC attempted 4 three pointers from the time they were down 12 to the time they were up 1. From the 2 minute mark to the 38 second mark, they attempted 4. In a time where you think they would try to extend the game by going to the basket, UC attempted ONE two pointer. It was a meaningless layup. They should have had 2 attempts. Cheikh Mbodj pulled down an offensive rebound 3 feet in front of the basket. Instead of turning and trying to score, he attempted a panic pass outside. It was stolen and that was pretty much that. 

The problem with this team is execution. Flat out. Defensive execution was lacking in the first half. The Hoyas shot nearly 50% and carved up the UC defense to build a 6 point lead.

Offensive execution down the stretch was 

• bad jumper
• offensive foul
• bad 3
• good look at 3 but a horrible actual shot
• forced 3
• bad 3
• turnover

UC had Georgetown in the bonus pretty much halfway through the second half. The Hoyas were crippled by foul trouble. UC attempted 9 free throws the last 17 minutes. Georgetown had just 1 player foul out. And that was on a double foul. The free throws themselves were poorly executed. UC went 17-30. Jackson was 3-8. Parker was 6-9. Rubles was 0-3. Georgetown knew who they were fouling. 

I don't know what else to say. If you are going to attempt 3 pointers on half your field goals, you damn well better make more than 4. If you don't, you aren't going to beat anyone. Sean Kilpatrick and Cashmere Wright were 3-15. Sanders was 0-5. Parker was 1-3. 

Maybe the upcoming road trip is just what this team needs. Maybe playing 2 good teams will get them focused on the task ahead. There is the story from the Louisville game last night where Dieng, Siva and Hancock made the team practice during the time they couldn't be with the coaches. Dieng said they weren't going to lose again. Something like that needs to happen now. Cash, Kilpatrick and Parker need to grab the team by the scruff of their neck and get things in line. Cincinnati shouldn't lose 5 home games in a season. Not with this talent. At UConn, At Notre Dame, Connecticut, At Louisville, South Florida. Those are the next 5 games. It's time for someone to put their foot down and demand perfection. The season is running out. This is the time to come together or the time we watch the Bearcats bounce out of March early. I don't feel as negatively about the team as that sounded, but something has to be done. You are who your record says you are. Cincinnati is 8th place team in the Big East. They are better than that. Have to play like it. 

More on Monday. Photo via ESPN/AP. Box score from SI

GEORGETOWN(19-4)

	MIN	REB (O/D)	AST	FG-A	FT-A	3P-A	PF	ST	TO	BLK	PTS
Starks *	36	1 (0/1)	3	5-10	6-8	1-3	3	3	5	0	17
Lubick *	34	7 (1/6)	4	3-7	0-0	0-0	4	0	2	1	6
Porter Jr. *	32	7 (2/5)	1	4-8	7-7	1-2	4	1	0	0	16
Trawick *	30	4 (1/3)	0	1-7	1-2	0-3	4	1	0	0	3
Hopkins *	17	4 (0/4)	1	1-4	2-2	0-0	5	0	1	0	4
Smith-Rivera	33	4 (0/4)	2	5-10	3-4	1-3	0	0	2	0	14
Ayegba	10	0 (0/0)	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	2
Bowen	8	0 (0/0)	0	0-1	0-2	0-1	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	0	27 (4/23)	11	20-48	19-25	3-12	21	5	10	1	62
				41.7%	76.0%	25.0%
* Starters

CINCINNATI(19-7)

	MIN	REB (O/D)	AST	FG-A	FT-A	3P-A	PF	ST	TO	BLK	PTS
Kilpatrick *	38	6 (1/5)	4	3-13	5-6	1-7	2	0	2	0	12
Wright *	35	3 (0/3)	3	5-14	0-0	2-8	4	3	2	0	12
Parker *	31	6 (2/4)	0	4-9	6-9	1-3	3	0	0	0	15
Mbodj *	31	7 (4/3)	0	0-0	3-4	0-0	3	0	1	5	3
Jackson *	21	8 (5/3)	2	1-3	3-8	0-0	2	1	2	3	5
Rubles	20	3 (1/2)	1	2-6	0-3	0-0	3	1	2	0	4
Sanders	17	2 (0/2)	0	1-6	0-0	0-5	2	0	0	0	2
Nyarsuk	3	0 (0/0)	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	2
Guyn	2	1 (0/1)	0	0-2	0-0	0-1	1	0	2	0	0
Thomas	2	0 (0/0)	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	0	36 (13/23)	10	17-54	17-30	4-24	20	5	11	8	55
				31.5%	56.7%	16.7%
* Starters

Tonight at 9 on ESPN, the Cincinnati Bearcats bring in the Big East co-leading Georgetown Hoyas. This the type of late season game that makes this sport special. A top team coming into town for a big road test against a team that could use a statement. The Bearcats and Hoyas have played some great games the last 2 seasons. The games in DC have been close games that saw UC grind out wins. In the Big East tournament, the Bearcats made a late comeback to force overtime. The game needed 2 of them before the Bearcats pulled it off. Outside the senior day beat down in 2010, the teams have played evenly matched games. 

An evenly matched game is what I expect tonight. Georgetown is excellent on offense. Cincinnati's defense has figured them out. Cincinnati has won 4 in a row against the Hoyas. Pulling off #5 will not be easy. The Hoyas have my front runner for Big East player of the year Otto Porter. He's one of my favorite players to watch. He passes, he rebounds, he can shoot the 3, he can drive, he does it all. Slowing him down is going to be a giant key for the Cats. This is a game where we need Justin Jackson and Titus Rubles to put on their defensive shoes and guard. Porter had 14-7-4-2 steals-2 blocks in the Big East tournament game. Porter is coming off a 21 point, 7 rebound game on Monday night. 

I am very excited for this game. There are only 3 home games remaining. This is the best opponent remaining on the home slate. 5/3 needs to be rocking. If Cincinnati is the basketball school that we claim it to be, the fans need to show out. This is why we watch. This is why we are fans of college basketball. It's a big time game. Get pumped. 

Stats are conference numbers only. 

Record: 19-6, 7-5 

Home: 11-4

RPI (from Real Time RPI): 35

Vs Georgetown: 6-5

In Cincinnati: 2-1

Winning Streak: 4

Last Meeting: 72-70 2 OT, March 8, 2012

Spread: Cincinnati by 3.5

Minutes

• Sean Kilpatrick 35.3
• JaQuon Parker 30.8
• Cashmere Wright 30.5
• Titus Rubles 23.4
• Cheikh Mbodj 21.7

Scoring

• Sean Kilpatrick 17.6
• Cashmere Wright 12.6
• JaQuon Parker 9.9
• Titus Rubles 5.6
• Cheikh Mbodj 5.4

Field Goal % (Min 15 attempts)

• Cheikh Mbodj 46
• Justin Jackson 42
• JaQuon Parker 42
• Sean Kilpatrick 40
• Shaq Thomas 39.1

Free Throw % (Minimum 15 attempts)

• Cashmere Wright 85
• Sean Kilpatrick 75.8
• Titus Rubles 72.3
• Cheikh Mbodj 70.4
• Justin Jackson 63.2

3 Pointers Made (3 point %)

• Sean Kilpatrick 34 (32.1%)
• Cashmere Wright 19 (26.8%)
• JaQuon Parker 14 (40%)
• Jermaine Sanders 8 (33.3%)
• Titus Rubles 3 (18.8%)

Rebounding

• Titus Rubles 5.8
• JaQuon Parker 4.9
• Sean Kilpatrick 4.7
• Justin Jackson 4.4
• Cheikh Mbodj 4

Assists

• Cashmere Wright 35
• Titus Rubles 26
• JaQuon Parker 19
• Sean Kilpatrick 18
• Justin Jackson 16

Turnovers

• JaQuon Parker 28
• Sean Kilpatrick 24
• Cashmere Wright 19
• Titus Rubles 18
• Justin Jackson 18

Steals

• Cashmere Wright 15
• Sean Kilpatrick 11
• Titus Rubles 9
• JaQuon Parker 6
• Justin Jackson 5

Blocks

• Cheikh Mbodj 28
• Justin Jackson 13
• David Nyarsuk 9
• Sean Kilpatrick 4
• Kelvin Gaines 4

Record: 18-4, 8-3

Road/Neutral: 5-3

RPI: 19

Rank: 15 in both

Minutes

• Markel Starks 36.4
• Otto Porter 35.1
• Nate Lubick 29.1
• Jabrill Trawick 26.9
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 25.9

Scoring

• Otto Porter 17.2
• Markel Starks 13.6
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 8.5
• Nat Lubick 7.6
• Jabril Trawick 4.9

FG %

• Nate Lubick 63.6
• Otto Porter 50
• Markel Starks 44.4
• Mikael Hopkins 40.8
• Jabril Trawick 39

FT %

• Otto Porter 79.3
• Markel Starks 71.4
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 70
• Jabril Trawick 69.6
• Nate Lubick 63.6

3 Pointers Made (3 Pt %)

• Markel Starks 23 (41.1%)
• Otto Porters 17 (44.7%)
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 10 (24.4%)
• Jabril Trawick 6 (30%)
• Aaron Bowen 3 (27.3%)

Rebounding

• Otto Porter 8.1
• Nate Lubick 5.3
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 4.1
• Jabril Trawick 3
• Markel Starks 2.4

Assists

• Markel Starks 36
• Nate Lubick 28
• Jabril Trawick 25
• Otto Porter 21
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 21

Turnovers

• Otto Porter 25
• Markel Starks 22
• Nate Lubick 20
• Mikael Hopkins 19
• Jabril Trawick 19

Steals

• Otto Porter 17
• Markel Starks 17
• Jabril Trawick 12
• D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 10
• Mikael Hopkins 7

Blocks

• Mikael Hopkins 16
• Nate Lubick 9
• Otto Porter 7

Cashmere Wright needs 1 steal to break a tie and become the all time steals leader. 

Cash is also going to tie Keith Gregor for 5th in games played at 131. He's going to be 4th in games started. 

Georgetown and Cincinnati are 2 of the slowest paced teams in the Big East. The Hoyas play 61 possessions, UC plays 63. 

The Hoyas are averaging 1.02 points per possessions and giving up 0.93. The offense is middle the pack. The defense is the 3rd best. Cincinnati is not quite as efficient, 1 ppp, or stingy, 0.95. 

The Hoyas are the best team from the floor at 45.6%. They lead the Big East in effective field goal %. They share the lead in true shooting percentage. They can shoot the basketball. 

The Hoyas have the best field goal percentage defense at 38.1%, the best effective field goal % at 42.8% and the best true shooting % at 47.2%. 

What the Hoyas don't do is get to the line a lot, middle of the pack. They make around 68%, which is not that good. 

The Cats should get to the line against Georgetown. 

Georgetown has the 3rd fewest 3 point attempts in the league. They get the right guys shots because they make the 3rd best percentage. 

The Hoyas give up the 3rd fewest 3 point attempts and the 3rd lowest percentage. That's rather odd. 

Cincinnati rebounds the ball better offensively and defensively than the Hoyas. Georgetown is 5th in defensive rebound percentages at 67.6%. 

The Hoyas assist on 65% of their baskets. That's right up there with Notre Dame. 

What the Hoyas do a lot, is turn the ball over. they turn it over on 22% of possessions. Cincinnati is only forcing them on 18.5% of possessions, but they have been better lately. The Bearcats pressure defense has given Georgetown fits the last 2 seasons.

Georgetown gets steals on 10.3% of possessions. Cincinnati's opponents have only recorded steals on 8.3%, second lowest in the league. 

We've seen Ge'Lawn Guyn and Jermaine Sanders play well on this home stand. They have to keep it up. They can do it. 

I really hope this is the game that Cashmere Wright gets it going. This is going to be a tight game. It's going to be a matter of possessions. He's got to break the cold streak sometime. Why not tonight? I believe in you, Cash. 

If you aren't excited for this game, I don't want to know you. 

Cincinnati 61 Georgetown 56