The UC Bearcat Rebuild

Will the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team ever recover from the loss of Bob Huggins? The hiring of Mick Cronin was a very good start. They gave a young coach, with previous time in the program, a six year deal to be the head coach. Cronin, who was an unproven coaching commodity, but a very good recruiter was given the challenge of making up a team in just a few months. He had one scholarship player, a junior college transfer that wasn't a Big East calliber player. Mick spent the next months hard on the recruiting trail, and managed to do what some thought impossible, find a team.

He assembled a recruiting class headed by Juco All American Mike Williams, and former Indiana commitment Deonta Vaughn. Vaughn, was the team's long scholarship freshman. The class also included guards Jamaul Warren, Tim Crowell, and Marvin Gentry. The other forwards were Marcus Sikes, Hernol Hall, and Adam Hrycaniuk. Hall never recieved eligibility because he played on a pro team in his native Costa Rica. Hrycaniuk lost one year of eligibility for playing on a semi-pro team in his native Poland. Since he didn't get paid for being on the team, he wasn't completly stripped of his eligibility. The team also picked up former McDonald's All American Mike Williams from Texas, though he had to sit out his transfer season. Even though Hall, and Hrycaniuk were going to make the Bearcats a fairly deep team on the inside, with neither having eligibility the team relied on 6, 8 Marcus Sikes to play center in the very tall Big East.

The first season was one to forget. The year started well, with a weak non confrence schedule. Other than early losses to Wofford and Ohio University, the Bearcats looked to atleast be putting up a very good season after what had happened. The season started going downhill with a bad loss at Memphis. After that, the Cats entered the Big East schedule, and there was no recovery. They struggled with losses to Rutgers, Seton Hall, and USF among others. The year ended with the Bearcats not earning a bid into the Big East tournament. Still, the future looked bright for the Bearcats.

That offseason, Mick Cronin finally got the time to recruit he needed. Early on the picked up the pieces that looked to be the start of a good recruiting class. They picked up some much needed shooting with Larry Davis, some muscle with Kenny Belton, and a very good commitment in Jason Henry. Later, they picked up Anthony McClain, and Alvin Mitchell, two very highly rated recruits. McClain, at seven feet, gave the Bearcats much needed size on the inside. This was the foundation for the rebirth of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

So far this season the Bearcats have been very inconsistent. They started weakly, with losses to Belmont, and Bowling Green in the first three games. Jamual Warren returned, and got the Bearcats back on track. From there on, they seemed to beat the teams that they were supposed to. The schedule wasn't built to help a young team, with one of the best strength of schedule ratings in the country. The Big East confrence schedule started with an upset over Louisville. The schedule continued with a few big upsets, aswell as a few games which the Bearcats should have won that they didn't. Even with the bad late season losses the Cats still earned a bid to the Big East tournament.

It's hard to say how the program will develop with the current players. Certainly it will take a hit with all the Juco players leaving this year. This year's freshmen have been less than impressive so far in limited playing time. I'm confident that with a tireless recruiter like Cronin, and a program with the tradition and facilities that we have, the pieces have been set in place for a major rebuild. Hopefully the investments in the facilities, and the 6 year contract that the university gave Cronin will pay off. Still, even if Cronin doesn't pan out there are certainly no shortage of coaches that would come to this university. For Bearcat fans' sake, let's hope that he does, so that we have a short rebuild, and can get back to being the greatest team in college basketball.

Ken Griffey Jr., a Reds Fan's Perspective

Why do people always rip Ken Griffey Jr.? I'll tell you why. He let Reds fans down. He let them fall the the lowest of lows, because he isn't the player we thought he was. He came in to Cincinnati, seemingly the savior of the franchise. He gave us a "hometown discount," and the blogs were exploding. The Reds were seemingly the National league's team to beat.
Well, that was 7 years ago. In 1999, the Reds had a season that reshaped people's vision of the Reds. They won over 90 games, and made it to a one game playoff with the Mets. Though they lost, it was believed that minor improvments would be all this team would need to become a World Series contender. That however, was far from the truth.
The Reds went out and traded for Ken Griffey Jr., who was quite possibly the most gifted player in baseball history. With his perfect swing, and amazingly strong legs, he seemed unstoppable. With Griffey, the Reds were sure to be unstoppable. The greatest player in baseball, and a team that was a contender even before he arrived-things were shaping up very well for the Reds.
That season Junior amassed 40 homers, 118 RBIs, but set a career low with a .942 OPS. For those who don't know that is on base percentage plus slugging percentage. Even with that production though, the Reds struggled, and didn't even come close to the playoffs.
Since 2000, Junior has suffered injuries in every season. This season, playing in 144 games was a high since his 145 in 2000. From 2002 to 2004, Junior only managed to play in 206 games. He also only hit 41 homeruns during that time. Compare that to his years in Seattle, where he managed to hit 41 homeruns in six different seasons, including two 56 homerun seasons.
What does Junior bring to the Reds? At $12,500,000 he is no bargain. He is the highest paid Cincinnati Red. Though his numbers havn't always shown in the stat sheet, they have shown at the box office. When he arrived in Cincinnati the attendence numbers hit the roof. Now that mistique has worn away, and so has Junior. In a season where he was relativly healthy, and playing in Great American smallpark, he still only amassed 30 homeruns.
Have we seen the end of Ken Griffey Jr. in Cincy? In my opinion yes. He is no longer the player he usto be, or we hoped he would be. Though he has helped this franchise, his value is no longer higher than that of Jay Bruce. So I plead with you. Reds nation pleads to you. Please Wayne Krivsky, trade Junior to a contender, so he won't go down as the greatest player to not have a World Series ring.