Remember to submit your choices for the Down the Drive Ring of Honor! You can submit up to 3 players who you think should join the Bearcats elite. You have until July 10th to submit your nominees.
Bearcat News
% of Tackles Returning
Phil Steele's at it again. He places UC 2nd behind San Jose St. in the % of tackles returning in 2011. The Bearcats return 95% of the tackles made from last season. This makes sense as UC returns all 11 starters and probably lost tackles made from Collin McCafferty and Obadiah Cheatham, who have since graduated. As you know, though, returning all of those players may or may not result in a better defense next year.
Top duos in the Big East - Big East Blog - ESPN
Uhh, where were Zach, Isaiah, and D.J. on this list? Not only are they starting seniors, but all three are coming off of career years- Zach with his 2,900 yards passing and 1st-team All-Big East selection, Isaiah with over 1,000 rushing in a SPREAD offense for goodness sake, and D.J. who will be returning the most receiving yards on the team. On top of that, since already spending 1 year in the system, they can run the Coach Jones offense in their sleep. Look for a big year out of those three.
Louisville Sluggers's Freshman All-American Baseball
Bearcats DH Justin Glass was named to the Freshman All-American team and deservedly so. He hit .326 with 4 home runs, 45 RBIs, and 14 doubles. The sky seems to be the limit for this kid as he is returning with a solid group of players next season.
Track & Field Set For NCAA Championships - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site
Big props to Terrence Somerville, Eric Finan, and Kathy Klump who all qualified for the NCAA Track & Field Championships. Events run Wednesday through Saturday. You can watch them live online here.
- Addendum
- Klump Earns All-America Honors In The 800m - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site University of Cincinnati distance runner Kathy Klump (Aurora, Ind./South Dearborn) earned Second Team All-America honors Wednesday in the women's 800-meter race at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Drake Stadium.
Recruiting
Lakota East celebrates its first state champions | WestChesterBuzz.com
Congrats to LakotaEast for bringing home a state title this past weekend. More UC related, Bearcat commit Evan Hillis threw a 119-pitch complete game in the state title game. Having that kind of endurance while being so young is a great asset to have, and he will be playing for the Bearcats next season. Like most baseball teams, the Bearcats could always use more pitching and Hillis will clearly be an instant upgrade to the staff.
Around the BEast
What To Think Of The WVU Coaching Shenanigans Without The Sky Falling On You - The Smoking Musket
The Stewart-Holgorsen co-head coach forced marriage was always an awkward and confusing choice by AD Oliver Luck. But now it's just turning into a hilarious joke. Luck can beat around the bush as much as he wants but ultimately he's going to have to cut Stewart loose before this gets even uglier. Look, Stewart isn't a bad guy or a terrible coach (he guided the Mountaineers to 3 straight 9-win seasons), but he continued to lose that one critical game of the season that would cost WVU a championship or against teams that they should have crushed. He'll find a job somewhere, but it won't be anywhere near West Virginia.
Adam Adkins: USF BOT approves Sun Dome renovations - from TBO.com
This is definitely good for USF basketball and should help with both recruiting and getting some more butts in the seats down there. They still need to put a good product on the floor and they haven't been able to do that since joining the Big East. And I'd be fine if their inability to put a ball in a hoop continues.
Around the Nation
Harper blows a kiss to opposing pitcher - CBSSports.com
C. Trent (yea, you remember him!) has the video of last year's number 1 overall pick Bryce Harper blowing a kiss to the opposing pitcher after hitting a home run. Apparently, Harper's knock on him coming into the draft was that he was a cocky asshole. Well, this video proves it. I guess I would be pretty self confident if I was able to hit a baseball 600+ ft since I was a teenager, but still, show a little class, buddy.
SPORTSbyBROOKS " Exclusive: Pryor Left OSU Paper Trail For NCAA
Sports by Brooks, always good for some conspiracy theories, hypothesizes that since ESPN.com/SI.com photographer Jay Talbott publicly bought and sold memorabilia from Pryor, that the OSU administration knew what was going on since he was a photographer and had inside access to OSU football players. The fact that he paid Pryor in actual checks should be easy to track in and of itself. Gotta say, his argument is compelling.
Why the OSU case is worse than that of USC - College Football - Rivals.com
This guy takes the Sports by Brooks rumors and thinks OSU could get some of the heftiest penalties we've seen in a while. Definitely some where in between the USC sanctions and the SMU death penalty. Seriously, the shit going on at OSU is a top-to-bottom loss of institutional control- More and more facts are piling up to prove that. I'm talking bowl ban, scholarship removal, and recruiting restrictions. What OSU has done over the past decade warrants that.