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Battle Of I-71
East preview: Ohio State vs. Cincinnati - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
The paint: With a much smaller lineup, Cincinnati is going to have to be very careful inside. Yancy Gates will have his hands full with Sullinger and Thomas, and can’t allow the two to dominate on the boards or in the scoring column.
Rob Oller commentary: Buckeyes, ’Cats rarely play, but rivalry bitter | Buckeye Xtra Sports
There is more to the friction between the programs than two games played a half-century ago. Among the suspicion and mistrust, it long has been rumored that then-UC coach Bob Huggins was the source who reported potential Ohio State violations to the NCAA that resulted in Buckeyes recruit Damon Flint ending up at Cincinnati in 1993. It is further hinted that current Bearcats coach Mick Cronin was the Woodward High School assistant coach who accompanied Flint on his visit to Columbus, where the free meal occurred. After Flint landed at UC, Huggins brought in Cronin as video coordinator.
Thats a bullshit timeline. Cronin didn't join Bob Huggins staff until the start of the 1997-98 season. Also known as the year after Flint moved on.
"Me being gone gave everyone else an opportunity to step up in big situations and have to handle adversity," Gates said Sunday after Cincinnati’s 62-56 victory over Florida State. "Now in games like this, any one of us can step up at any time because during that period, any one of them had to step up. It made us better.
Xavier and Cincinnati Regrouped and Found Postseason Success - NYTimes.com
And the wild brawl has become, if not forgotten, then certainly a secondary chapter to the teams’ seasons. The Bearcats, seeded sixth in the East, will play No. 2 Ohio State in Boston on Thursday night. The 10th-seeded Musketeers will play No. 3 Baylor in a South Region game in Atlanta on Friday.
UC out to make history, not study it | Cincinnati.com | cincinnati.com
"Any time you win a game like that (Florida State), it gives your team confidence," Cronin said. "Hopefully it validates to them what I keep telling them what we’re capable of, and their belief that going to Boston, we may be the highest seed, but not in our mind. All that means is we get to wear black, which is our predominant school color."
Column: Why Cincinnati area doesn't care about Ohio State | Buckeye Xtra Sports
Doc brings his extra special brand of hackery to the masses
Video: Can Cincinnati beat Ohio State? - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
Yes
The Sweet 16's most indispensable players - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
#6 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes By The Numbers | Bearcats Nation
Princeton’s Sibert struggling for playing time | UC Athletics Blog
Catching up with Paul Keels | UC Athletics Blog
What Ohio State fans are saying about UC-OSU | UC Athletics Blog
Bill Koch is surfing the internet. Hide yo kids, hide yo wife
Other Bearcat News
Baseball Topped By No. 2 Kentucky, 10-7 - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site
Freshman left fielder Taylor Schmidt Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, but it was not enough as the University of Cincinnati baseball team fell to No. 2 University of Kentucky 10-7 Wednesday afternoon at Marge Schott Stadium. Trailing 7-0 in the sixth inning, Cincinnati (8-11) crept back into the ballgame with two runs in the sixth and four runs in the seventh to make the score 7-6. However, Kentucky (22-0) scored once in the eighth inning and added two insurance runs in the ninth to make the game 10-6.
Signs of progress for the Bearcats
Cincinnati Women’s Basketball Poised for a Bright Future | Bearcats Nation
Looking forward it’s clear Coach Elliott has laid a solid foundation at Cincinnati much like her fellow UC coach Mick Cronin on the men’s side. She brought a championship mindset to women’s basketball and it’s clear her players are buying into that. Finally she has a surplus of players who understand how to win and, most importantly, win in the Big East. The core has been building for quite some time. Now, Elliott is adding key pieces to improve the talent level of this team like Lovett and Chandler. The Lady Bearcats basketball program is obviously trending upward. Don’t you want to be a part of that ride? Get out to 5/3rd and support this team next season.
Big East News
Eye On College Basketball - CBSSports.com The buzz on Buzz: sooner or later, Williams will get to his 1st Final Four
I know I am probably in the minority here. But I like Buzz Williams. I find him to be extraordinarily interesting. But I also was a huge fan of Jimmy Johnson at Miami (even though I was 1 in 1986), Pete Carroll at USC and Rick Pitino everywhere. Generally the more colorful (read: dickish) you are the more I like you. And no one trolls harder than Buzz Williams
Eye On College Basketball - CBSSports.com UConn's Alex Oriakhi requests transfer from Huskies
Weird
Rutgers’ Biruta to Transfer | ZagsBlog.com
Really weird
Opening spring: USF - Big East Blog - ESPN
Opening spring: Louisville - Big East Blog - ESPN
Opening spring: Syracuse - Big East Blog - ESPN
Stories of General Interest
Top 10 Lessons of the Iraq War - By Stephen M. Walt | Foreign Policy
Lesson #1: The United States lost. The first and most important lesson of Iraq war is that we didn't win in any meaningful sense of that term. The alleged purpose of the war was eliminating Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, but it turns out he didn't have any. Oops. Then the rationale shifted to creating a pro-American democracy, but Iraq today is at best a quasi-democracy and far from pro-American. The destruction of Iraq improved Iran's position in the Persian Gulf -- which is hardly something the United States intended -- and the costs of the war (easily exceeding $1 trillion dollars) are much larger than U.S. leaders anticipated or promised. The war was also a giant distraction, which diverted the Bush administration from other priorities (e.g., Afghanistan) and made the United States much less popular around the world.
Really really hard to argue against that point. Not in light of the Arab Spring which basically served to mock everything about the Iraq war and the reasons given for getting into the quagmire in the first place. No one can argue with a straight face that the war in Iraq was worth it.