Cash Still Hurting

Two years ago the Bearcats had the eventual National Champion Connecticut Huskies on the ropes in the third round (second game) of the NCAA Tournament. Late in the game, Cashmere Wright drove to the bucket and had what appeared to be an easy layup that would have brought the Bearcats even closer to knocking off the hottest team in the country at the time. The details of that game are not important right now. What is important is the reason Cashmere missed the layup. During that season (and seemingly ever since he stepped on campus) Cash has been bothered by knee and shoulder injuries. It perhaps kept him from being anywhere near 100%, but he battled as Bearcats do.

Fast forward to now. Coming off the injury in the DePaul game that sent all Bearcats fans into panic, Cash still says he's not 100%. He may never fully heal. And this is where UC fans have reason for concern. Despite who you think the most valuable player on this team is, Cashmere is the X factor. He's the one with the ball in his hands the most so he runs the offense. In addition, he's also capable of "going off" like he was well on his way toward doing in the DePaul game before his injury. A scoring point guard is so much more important especially on this team that has little to no front court scoring. A threat like Yancy Gates would take the sting off Cashmere's injury a little. But losing another scoring option on a team with - let's be honest - not many scoring options is going to sting. So while Cash might not be the MVP, he certainly is the most important. How you want to argue MVP vs. MIP is up to you.

I think everyone can agree on the fact that the Bearcats need Cashmere Wright to be on the court for the team to have any chance of a deep March run.