Sabel's Haus

The UC basketball team played games this year making them look like one of the worst teams in the country. Other times made it seem like they could play with anyone in the country.

The roller coaster ride of a season came to an end earlier this week with an 81-66 loss to the Dayton Flyers in the second round of the NIT. Dayton, about an hour north of Cincinnati up I-75, is one of the most athletic teams UC faced all season if not the most athletic.

They caused a lot of problems for the Cats because of that alone but the night belonged to UC senior guard Deonta Vaughn.

Vaughn started as a freshman at UC the same year Cronin started. The two have been here the past four years through all the transfer and JuCo players and, of course, all the losses. Vaughn scored 28 points against the Flyers giving him 1,885 for his career putting him third on the all-time scoring list at UC passing Danny Fortsen.

It's really quite a feat considering the two players above him on the list are Oscar Robertson and Steve Logan. Vaughn finished with four more points than Fortsen in the end but with one minute left against Dayton, Vaughn didn't have third place wrapped up.

Thankfully he got to the line and eventually took the record. Then, with around 15 seconds left and after Cronin called off the dogs, Mick pulled Vaughn, greeting him with a hug as Vaughn walked off the court in front of a standing ovation from the crowd.

I feel bad for Vaughn for the way the season went after the expectations were so high prior to the season with the addition of key players including freshman Lance Stephenson; the all-time leading scorer in the state of New York.

For that and the way things went personally for Vaughn who had an underachieving season. Vaughn averaged just over 11 points per game and 3.5 dimes per contest.

The future looks bright for the Cats though. Stephenson is coming back next season as is Cronin who was backed by Director of Athletics Mike Thomas a couple weeks ago saying he is behind the coach.

Point guard Cashmere Wright will be back with a year under his belt as will shooting guard Jaquon Parker. UC will also have redshirt freshman Sean Kilpatrick and center Yancy Gates will be a junior.

My question earlier in the year was going to be who would score next season. With Stephenson coming back he'll have to shoulder the load but should get good support from Parker and Gates.

In my opinion Rashad Bishop was a Cancer to the UC basketball team. The guy gets suspended from the team before the Big East Championship, doesn't even get to travel with the team and all the sudden the Cats win two games.

I don't want to take away from the team because they have played, inspired basketball and genuinely look like they're having fun. I would never have guessed it before but I think the junior that averages 8.4 points and four rebounds per game and was considered the most consistent player, may have actually been hurting instead of helping the team.

I don't want to spread any rumors but I will anyway. Through hearsay my guess would be Bishop was suspended for butting heads with head coach Mick Cronin one too many times. I won't speculate any more than that and I've gone on record saying I don't think Mick should be the coach here.

What I will say is, whatever the case may be, I give Mick a ton of credit for suspending Bishop. I've said throughout the year I don't think these players respect Mick but maybe the suspension earned a little bit for him. I've said he doesn't demand the respect like Bob Huggins used to.

But enough of the suspension, the real story is the run these guys are making right now. They beat defending conference champion Louisville last night in a hell of a game. They have dominated the glass against both teams they've played and its been the difference both games.

Rutgers and Louisville shot much better percentages the last two nights but the rebounding margin has been so drastic, it's allowed them to stay in the games.

True freshman Jacquon Parker has done a terrific job playing in place of Bishop and is a sure bright spot for the future. Fellow freshman standout Lance Stephenson has played better than he has all year. Thanks to my man Lance McAlister, Stephenson is averaging 18 points and eight rebounds over the last five games.

At times, UC has used three freshmen on the floor at the same time in this tournament making me think Mick isn't as bad as I originally thought.

I keep waiting for senior Deonta Vaughn to pick it up and play like he did his first three seasons but his struggles continue. He did have a huge strip at the end of the game last night not allowing Louisville to get off a possible game-winning or tying shot. I just can't help but feel great for the guy though because he really hasn't ever had the opportunity to enjoy success at UC so for him to be able to hang in New York with his team playing well at Madison Square Garden is great for him.

It's been brought up but it's still very far away. In my opinion, UC needs to get into the Big East championship game to earn a spot in the NCAA tourney. Some say they need to win the whole tournament to get in. There are two more games they would have to win to get in including facing off with Bob Huggins' West Virginia Mountaineers tonight at 9 p.m.

Mick actually has a great track record against Huggs. He is 3-2 against WVU since coming to UC which is quite good considering how bad UC has been and how good West Virginia has been. Their only other meeting this season was in West Virginia and the Mountaineers won by eight.

The Mountaineers though will come in fresh whereas UC has had to play two games in two days. I can't tell if that will help or hurt UC but we shall see.

For the first time since entering the conference in 2005, the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team won its first Big East Conference tournament game. The tournament started Tuesday night and with the No. 11 seed, UC faced Rutgers with the No. 14 seed.

The win was oddly similar to the Cats' win over UConn in December. In both games, a late three tied the game and with one second left, Lance Stephenson was fouled and went to the line in a tie game.

The main difference: in the game against UConn, Stephenson hit both free throws allowing the Huskies to get off a decent look from half court for the win. He intentionally missed the second free throw against Rutgers forcing the Scarlet Knights to shoot a full-court shot that missed.

But a win is a win. The Cats face Louisville tonight in round two of the Big East tournament. I'd say it's safe to say that UC has to at least get to the championship game to be back in consideration for the NCAA tournament's field of 65.

The Cats were still pretty bad last night despite managing to squeak out a 69-68 win. Stephenson was the bright spot on offense along with fellow freshman Jaquon Parker. Both had 13 points and Stephenson added nine rebounds and five assists to give him the edge.

Parker's night should not be forgotten though. He filled in for a suspended Rashad Bishop who didn't make the trip to New York City for violating team rules.

Bishop is probably UC's most consistent player averaging over eight points and four rebounds per game and he shoots at a 50 percent clip. Losing him is not easy to overcome.

Rebounds made the difference though and no one did it better than Ibrahima Thomas for the Cats last night. Thomas grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds helping UC out-rebound Rutgers 44-28 including 19 offensive boards for the Cats compared to four by Rutgers.

The bench stepped up too and scored a combined 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting.

The next game is against Louisville tonight. UC had a double-digit lead in the first half against the Cardinals at Freedom Hall earlier this season but ended up losing in the teams' only other match this year. Game time is set for 9 p.m. from the Garden but last night's game didn't get underway until about 9:30. ESPN has the game.

Mick Cronin is now 0-12 in games played in the month of March since he became head coach at UC four seasons ago.

That is apparently good enough though as Cincinnati Director of Athletics Mike Thomas said yesterday he liked the direction the program was going and that Cronin will be the coach next season.

Pretty bad timing for Thomas to say that yesterday because the Cats were embarrassed in Georgetown Saturday 74-47. It was a three-point game at halftime but the Hoyas went on a tear in the second half en route to the rout.

I've said before how bad this team is. Completely unmotivated, not respectful of Cronin and really just a lack of talent. I'm more speechless than anything. I never thought I'd see the day when UC basketball was in such bad shape.

Tournament hopes are completely gone at this point barring of course a Big East tourney run (which isn't happening.) Maybe an NIT appearance or even a CBI which will make it interesting to see if UC will even play in those games after deciding not to play in the CBI last season.