Sabel's Haus

If UC doesn't make the 64-team NCAA Tournament come March, it can look back at the past two games and see why it was left out.

All I've heard since last night's 52-50 loss against St. John's at Madison Square Garden is how terrible of a coach Mick Cronin is. Newsflash: Mick Cronin wasn't the reason his team missed all 12 of its 3-point shots.

Cronin didn't turn the ball over 21 times that led to 25 points for St. John's.

Cronin didn't tell Deonta Vaughn to go out and shoot 1-7 from the field including 0-4 from beyond the arc.

Cronin didn't tell Lance Stephenson to heave the ball to half-court and have it stolen with five seconds left while UC had the lead. Yes, you read that right. They had the lead and the ball with five seconds left and Stephenson chucked the ball to mid-court on the inbound play.

You see what I'm driving at. But Mick isn't getting out of it that easy.

I don't like the way he coaches. He can't get this team ready to play. A lot of the time these players are playing hard against ranked teams but act deflated anytime they play someone unranked. It's unreal.

You'll never hear Mick give credit where credit is due. If someone does something great, Cronin will never praise them. If they do something wrong, they might as well start walking to the bench because it's a certainty that Mick will pull them from the game.

I feel like Cronin tries to be like Bob Huggins but it doesn't work for him. Huggs' players respected him because he made them respect him and he earned it. Cronin's players don't seem like they even want to listen to him and why should they. All he does is jump their case at the smallest mistakes.

This team goes as Stephenson and Vaughn go. Yancy Gates is good and played well last night (6-9 for 12 points in 22 minutes) but it has been proven he can't carry this team ... not this year at least. Deonta and Lance were a combined 4-16 last night for 11 points between them both. They were a combined 0-6 from long-range too.

If you can't tell, that's not going to get it done. As far as I can tell, this team doesn't have the talent to overcome Mick Cronin.

The Cats are 11-6 now and 2-3 in the Big East. They play Notre Dame at home on Saturday.

Haven't blogged in a while. My deepest apologies to my fan. UC on a two-game win streak heading into tonight against Jim Calhoun's 10th ranked Huskies. We're at halftime now at Fifth Third Arena and UC has a one-point advantage (36-35).

Of course a lead against a top-10 team is always good but considering that UC had an 11 point lead at one point makes it a little less attractive. UC has done an exceptional job at the free throw line going 8-for-9 in the first half. Lance has 13 points and Deonta has 10. UConn's Jerome Dyson has 14.

This place went nuts at one point when Deonta Vaughn hit back-to-back threes to give UC an eight-point lead. Lance Stephenson aka Born Ready has hit a couple of shots that are making some UConn players look like they haven't played basketball before.

Hopefully UConn's run at the end of the half doesn't deflate UC but it very well could. UC has given UConn a lot of second chances by not keeping the Huskies off the offensive glass. Fortunately for UC, UConn hasn't converted those chances. If they keep offensive rebounding the way they have been it could mean a lot of trouble for UC.

This one will be exciting to watch. Postgame blog to follow with comments from Cronin, Calhoun and some players.

For the second straight night UC has beat a ranked team in the Maui Invitational. Tonight it was Maryland going down 69-57 and last night Vandy was the victim. The biggest thing I've noticed with this team is they are starting to play together very well. Lance Stephenson had 11 points and 9 boards in the win and is really starting to gel with Yancy Gates who had 17 points and 13 boards on 7-of-10 shooting.

And what I like most is the depth this team has. Sure Lance and Yancy had big nights but then you have Deonta Vaughn who has led UC in scoring the past three years. That's three very very good players. Deonta had 16.

And the teams the past two nights have pressed UC hard and the Cats have done a tremendous job at breaking it. Having usually up to three guys on the floor at once that can all bring the ball up court is huge. Then Yancy waiting on the other end got UC so many fast break points tonight.

And I love the way Mick Cronin left his starters, for the most part, on the floor for most of the game. He let the guys play tonight and they started, as I said, to play well together. And they have done a tremendous job defensively and of getting the ball down low to Yancy. Maryland shot 44 percent tonight from the field.

Just one week and a day ago this team played its first game of the season and looked terrible. They have done a complete 180 and its going to be very exciting to watch this team grow. Even Mick sounds happy right now and that's saying something.

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

-According to this story, the University of Cincinnati has added Lance Stephenson to the men's basketball team for the 2009-10 season. The shooting guard is 6-foot-5 and averaged over 30 points per game and was a McDonalds All-American. There are drawbacks though. He is awaiting trial for allegedly "groping" a girl outside of his high school. The rivals.com 4th best shooting guard in the nation was projected as a late lottery pick for the NBA Draft but the age restrictions in the NBA will make him play in college. Cincinnati sports talk show host Lance McAlister talked with a former coach of Stephenson's who said Stephenson is, "a risk...a chemistry killer...and his dad is a lunatic."

-Sounds like a one and done type player to me. He'll be a great player and maybe one of the best recruits that has come to UC in a while but he will be here for one year and then go to the NBA. That is of course if he doesn't go to jail for up to six months. UC has a scholarship open and Mick won't find a better player this late in the game to use it on. With Cashmere Wright doing nothing but running the point this year, UC will now have to legitimate threats to score from the perimeter in Deonta Vaughn and now Stephenson.