July 1st Jump Off

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.

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Bearcat News

Ten Potential Breakout Players in College Basketball - Jon Rothstein - MSG.com
Rothstein loves Sean Kilpatrick, and expresses it here by saying he will be among the 10 players to have a breakout year in 2011 in college basketball. I think it was obvious that Cronin was holding the leash pretty tightly on Kilpatrick last season. You're not going to hear an argument from me as I think him coming off the bench and learning from the starters helped in his development to the college game. But this year, Mick will likely let Killa loose by giving him starts. No doubt he's earned it. Kid's constantly in the gym and proved last year the kind of scoring threat he really is. He's also been working on his defense this offseason which the staff can really appreciate.

Big East position rankings: Tight ends - Big East Blog - ESPN
Cincinnati's drop to 6th on this list is probably due to the fact that Ben Guidugli is gone. Don't kid yourself, while Ben's numbers the past few seasons weren't overwhelming, he was one of the fastest, most reliable tight ends in the Big East during his career at Cincinnati and fit the offensive system perfectly. As for his successor, it will be a choice between Adrien Robinson, Travis Kelce, and Blake Annen. Robinson is the veteran of the group, has a huge body, and is a great blocker. But Annen is TE-1 at this point and I don't see him losing that status. As for Kelce, I think he slides into a backup role at either TE or even defensive end, where the staff had hypothesized he go.

The Ten Games That Will Determine the Big East in 2011 - #4 Cincinnati at Pittsburgh - Big East Coast Bias
No doubt last year's Cincy-Pitt game was scheduled at the end of the season in an attempt to replicate the 45-44 shootout that the Bearcats won in 2009. Unfortunately, like most games in 2010, it didn't replicate the prior year's match up at all, as the Bearcats lost the game with turnovers and poor execution (I know, AGAIN?!, right?). As #4 on BECB's list, the Bearcats should be a much more formidable opponent in the coming season as the entire defense is back, there is more depth everywhere, and the offense is more accustomed to Coach Butch Jones's scheme. Hopefully last year was just karma from going undefeated the year prior. I mean, Murphy's Law can't work two seasons in a row, right? Right?!

Recruiting

Guest Post: Deveroe's Summer League Report by Bucky Cooper | June
Great analysis from guest poster Bucky Cooper on the BearcatsBlog, who goes through each freshman's performance at DSL so far along with Yancy Gates. Starting off with Gates, he seems to have continued his hard work from the second half of last season. While the DSL is nothing like full college play, his dominance of the league so far is encouraging. As for the freshman, each one is giving us a taste of what we can expect out of them as Bearcats. Guyn, Davis, and Thomas continue to impress while Jermaine Sanders seems to look out of place in the DSL. According to Bucky, he will fit in nicely in the organized system of UC as well as playing in standard college basketball games.

Around the BEast

Pitt Football: The Risk In Hiring Mike Haywood - Cardiac Hill
Initially the hiring of Mike Haywood seemed like a great one for Pitt, in spite of the actual hiring process taking WAY too long for some Pitt fans. What Haywood did at Miami was impressive: He got the Redhawks to believe in themselves, established a strict strength and conditioning program (I didn't see as many football players up at Qdoba eating 2-3 burritos each since he was hired), and was winning with a very young team. He was also bringing over the exciting spread offense from Miami that he learned at Notre Dame from Charlie Weis. But since he was fired, his legacy and his relationship with the University of Pittsburgh has been tarnished, especially since news broke of his request to see a review of his termination. The guys I really feel bad for are his coordinators who left Miami to join him at Pitt!

Seton Hall Basketball: JP's 5 Thoughts- 2011-12 Big East Schedule RELEASED - South Orange Juice
South Orange thoughts on the Big East basketball schedule that was released yesterday. Rebuilding in the BEast is tough (we've seen it here at UC), but with the schedule Seton Hall has, they could very well crack the middle of the Big East standings next season. First, their mirror games are DePaul and Rutgers. Everyone likes 2 easy wins in their schedule (DePaul) and Rutgers, while improving, could still drop 1 of the 2 games to the Pirates. On top of that, the rest of the away schedule isn't too bad, at least compared to the home schedule (which looks brutal). They have USF and Providence on the road which the Pirates can win.

Around the Nation

White Sox bring in minor-leaguers to pitch to Adam Dunn
I've never heard of this before, as the Chicago White Sox are attempting to salvage Adam Dunn's deal by bringing in minor league pitchers to somehow sort out his swing. Maybe the Chi-Sox should get with the program like the Cincinnati Reds did and realize that Adam Dunn has a long swing, is fat, slow, and lazy, and has no inclination to improve himself. The faster they dump his ass the better.

TERRELLE PRYOR TO TAKE HIS TALENTS TO OHIO STATE - Every Day Should Be Saturday
This is probably how Terrelle Pryor's signing day probably went down 3 years ago, had there not been an NCAA or compliance offices. Just check out Big East Coast Bias's 'article'. Not one.. not two.. not three.. not four..!