The final five have been revealed in the Down the Drive Ring of Honor voting. You have until the season opener against Austin Peay to vote.
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Bearcat News
deveroes part 3.wmv (via NU8D)
Here's some video from Slats' semifinal game against Goodies Barbeque. I'm posting these clips as the Bearcats really turned it on in the second half and quite frankly looked horrible in the first half of the game. If you want to check that out, here's part 1 and part 2. Anyways, Slats ultimately won 84 - 75 because of the great second half and will play in the finals this Saturday against the #1 ranked Clovernook. This is the most recent video I've seen of the future Bearcats and overall I came out impressed. Gates looked strong and Cheikh played really good defense, which will only earn him more playing time. It looked like Guyn and Thomas are still absent but it was good to see a glimpse of Jeremiah Davis running the offense as he could be behind Cash at PG this fall. In case you can't tell which player is which, here's a list of their numbers and stats.
Bearcats Breakdown: Yancy Gates | July
Scott and the Bearcats Blog's breakdown of Yancy Gates heading into next season. Clearly he will be the cog in the Bearcats basketball machine next season. His career at UC has been a roller coaster ride of excitement, disappointment, and redemption. He's a senior leader on this team, could be an NBA draft prospect, and has people excited about next season because of his play during the last third of the year. He's had an impressive summer and looks focused heading into next season. That's a word we haven't usually associate with Yancy but it feels really good to say. Mick will try to run the offense through Yancy as his size can dominate the paint. Overall, look for him to have a big year.
Bearcats Breakdown: Dion Dixon | July
Last year Dion Dixon was kind of in limbo as a player. Sometimes he played backup point guard to spell cash and sometimes he spent time as a 2/3 hybrid. Overall, he wasn't comfortable popping around to different roles and his sporadic stats reflected that. However, Dion is extremely talented and will likely not be asked to spell Cash this season. That role will hopefully fall on the shoulders of incoming freshmen GeLawn Guyn and Jeremiah Davis. Therefore Dixon can focus on one area (likely the 2/3) as a starter next to Sean Kilpatrick. He's a fine scorer and could have a very solid year as a senior.
Recruiting
Latwan Anderson Commits to The Cincinnati Bearcats - Down The Drive
The biggest news of the day is that former five-star recruit Latwan Anderson has agreed to play for the Bearcats this season via this tweet. Unfortunately, according to this tweet, he will be in a prep school this year and join the Bearcats in 2012. Anderson's recruiting process last year was crazy to say the least. He had initially committed to Miami (FL) but inexplicably left the football team and reopened his commitment considering Cincinnati and West Virginia among others. He was a classic example of a headcase recruit. Well, it appears he has turned his life around and is interested in getting his free college education. Good for him. This was a surprise pickup as no one had really heard much from him since the beginning of last season. You have to think that the commitment of Shaq Washington last season is already paying dividends on the recruiting trail as he has already influenced Jeremy Graves (2012) and now Latwan Anderson to join the Bearcats.
Brewster's Christon commits to Xavier - Boston High School Blog - ESPN Boston
I'm never too upset when a recruit commits to Xavier over Cincinnati (See Sim Bhullar who Xavier fans will find out is going to be a bust), but when a high quality talent like Semaj Christon decides for the 'hometown' Musteteers over the Bearcats, that does bother me some. Christon is a point guard and will be one in college. UC is already set there with Cash for two more years and Guyn/Davis behind him. What the Bearcats need are big-men, PF and the like. Xavier, however, will need to replace Tu Holloway and can offer Christon immediate playing time.
Around the BEast
What is your favorite BIG EAST Stadium? (via @BigEastFB)
Vote for your favorite Big East stadium here. Obviously Nippert got my vote but if I had to rate the other stadiums in order, I'd say Mountaineer Field, Papa John's Stadium, the Carrier Dome, Rentschler Field, Rutgers' Stadium, and the two NFL stadiums would be last.
Hoyas Unlimited Experiences Seventh Consecutive Year of Increased Funding - GUHoyas.com
Good for the Hoyas drawing in so much donor funding. I'd be curious to see if, with this increase in revenue, the school doesn't seriously pursue upgrading their football program and trying to bring in more wealth that way. I'm not saying they should push for a BCS invite like Nova has, but Georgetown could maybe try to upgrade their stadium, at least.
Around the Nation
Sooners president to push for ban of televising high school content | CollegeFootballTalk
This new Longhorn Network isn't going down well with the Sooners, either. I mentioned last week how Tex-AM held a board meeting supposedly in reaction to the details of the coverage of this network. Now Oklahoma wants a word with the Big XII about these supposed high school games that could be on the network. The objection by both the Sooners and Aggies was so powerful that talks were temporarily suspended the negotiations for these games. Airing high school football games on Texas's own network is a HUGE advantage for them since they can sell this to prospective recruits. It's clear that the divide between Texas and the rest of the Big XII isn't getting smaller any time soon.
Deal for North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Michigan State Spartans November aircraft carrier game signed - ESPN
This might be the coolest venue for a sports game I've ever heard about. Probably the only thing that would make this cooler is if they were sailing the carrier and were landing planes on it during the game. Needless to say, only about 7,000 people can actually attend the actual event and I'm sure tickets are pricy. Hell, they probably would be no matter where it was played because you know UNC-MSU is going to be an amazing game.