Sabel's Haus

In it's final exhibition game UC took down the Bellarmine Knights 76-69 at Fifth Third Arena.

Darnell Wilks led the Cats with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting but the junior knows that his team doesn't need him to score the basketball.

"I don’t think that’s what this team needs me to do," Wilks said. "They need me to rebound and defensively I could have done a little bit better."

UC head coach Mick Cronin felt confident in his team's performance and said that he didn't want to show all of his offensive sets in a preseason game. That could be the reason that his guards, Deonta Vaughn and Cashmere Wright, shot just 1-of-12 tonight.

"With Deonta only having four shots, that’s a little awkward for us," UC big man Yancy Gates said. "It's just an exhibition game, as the season goes on he’ll get more shots. He still has a big part in the scoring role, he's the best at coming off the screens."

Cronin was very pleased with how his team rebounded, especially offensively but said that he worries about foul trouble, especially with Gates and Stephen Toyloy.

"That’s something I talk to Yancy and Steve a lot about," Cronin said. "We can’t be in a situation where they’re both out. If one of them is out there were fine."

The Cats grabbed 44 boards tonight (22 offensive, 22 defensive) compared to 31 for the Knights. Gates and Toyloy each had seven.

Cronin also talked about how Vaughn was becoming more of a leader on the court and that may have been a reason that he passed up some open shots.

"One thing about our guys, they all live together," Cronin said. "Our team chemistry is great. Everyone wants to win but no one wants to win more than Deonta Vaughn."

The Bearcats have had trouble working the ball inside much this preseason as well. According to Cronin that is something that comes with playing small division II teams. UC hasn't had many post-up opportunities nor have they been posted up against by opposing teams.

My analysis:

I like the way Deonta led the team tonight. I saw him talking with Lance during the game and coaching him up a little bit.

It made me wonder how much Lance really listens to Deonta but Cronin assured me that Lance listens.

"Lance is smart enough to know that Deonta’s been around," Cronin said.

Wilks was dead on too. If he's leading this team in scoring that's not good. I would like to see Deonta take more shots and I think he will. Tonight was a rare exception.

I also like the way this team rebounds. It will be nice going up against team's in the Big East and probably having the rebounding advantage most of the time.

So let the real games begin. UC takes on the mighty Prairie View A&M Monday, Nov. 16 at Fifth Third Arena. Tipoff at 7:30 p.m.

Column originally published by The News Record

Remember the time when teams would come to Fifth Third Arena and be afraid to play the Bearcats.

Back when Kenyon Martin, DerMarr Johnson and my favorite, Pete Mickeal were playing, they would run teams out of The Shoe night after night.

High flying alley oops on the reg, crossovers on the reg and blowing teams out by 20 or more points on the reg.

UC needs that back, and this is the year for it to happen.

Since the “glory days,” the Cats haven’t just lost their signature Jordan uniforms, they’ve lost their swagger in the last several years during the rebuilding process.

The blame can’t be placed on anyone in particular. Although, the case could be made that former UC president Nancy Zimpher put an abrupt end to the success of the Bearcats’ basketball program when she fired Bob Huggins.

But all that is behind us now and the 2009 Bearcats have a chance to regain their swagger.

“The whole team has a whole different attitude this year,” said point guard Cashmere Wright. “We have an attitude toward winning and embarrassing people, not just winning.”

With the addition of Jaquan Parker and a healthy Wright, UC’s leading scorer Deonta Vaughn won’t have to worry about bringing the ball up court every possession like he did last year.

And Lance Stephenson (assuming he’s eligible) is a guy that can score the ball better than Vaughn.

Stephenson is a player that probably would have gone straight to the NBA out of high school.

Instead, the league made a rule that all players had to be at least one year removed from high school before being drafted into the NBA.

But even with the addition of the new exciting players at UC, I’m probably most looking forward to watching Yancy Gates in his second season in the Big East.

With a year of experience under his belt, Gates can start being the dominating big man in the Big East. Sort of like Hasheem Thabeet from UConn last year, but better.

What I like most about Gates is his ability to rebound. Last year, UC rebounded the ball, especially offensively, a lot better than the previous season.

Remember the year before when UC’s tallest player was Adam Hrycaniuk and he didn’t even lead the team in rebounds. John Willimason, at 6 foot 7, did.

Last year, UC had 457 offensive boards with Gates compared to 405 the year before when Williamson was the “big man.”

And Gates has the ability to be better than Thabeet. The 6-foot-9 center is a bigger presence than Thabeet, who is kind of lanky.

Both players weigh around 260 pounds, but Thabeet is more than six inches taller than Gates.

Having Gates down low for the Cats isn’t the only thing that impresses me about Mick Cronin’s 2009 team.

Their bench is deep for once. Let’s say the starters to begin the year, are: Wright, Vaughn, Stephenson, Gates and Steve Toyloy. (I would say Ibrahima Thomas instead of Toyloy, but he is ineligible until Dec.13.)

That leaves UC with either Thomas or Toyloy to come off the bench and Jaquan Parker to step in for Wright. Also Sean Kilpatrick will be available to give Stephenson or Vaughn a breather as a shooting guard.

They’ll also have Rashad Bishop, Larry Davis and Dion Dixon that will be available, just to name a few.

All of the possible choices will only make Cronin’s job easier.

The one thing I seem to hear every year about UC is that they have some good players, but they’re not deep so they won’t make it in the rough and tough Big East.

This year is a different story. With all of Cronin’s options, he’ll be able to rest his guys plenty to get them through the Big East.

I’m predicting a great year for the Cats (kiss of death). I won’t predict how they’ll do in the NCAA Tournament, but I will say that they’ll be there, which is a start.

The only thing that could make this run sweeter would be a win over Xavier at the Cintas Center, Sunday, Dec. 13 – the day Thomas becomes eligible. committing to Cincinnati.

Think UC will get there swagger back this season? E-mail Garrett at sabelhgt@mail.uc.edu