Things to Be Thankful for as a UC Fan

As John Oliver pointed out in the season finale of Last Week Tonight, 2016 has been a particularly bad year. It certainly has been from a Cincinnati Bearcat perspective. It started with the brutal two-game stretch that ended the men’s basketball season last spring and continued with the dismal and offensively-inept football team this fall.

Even before the football team sputtered, 2016 (and the fall of 2015) had already featured a number of excruciating setbacks and disappointments.

But even with all the storm clouds, there has been plenty to be thankful for as a Bearcats fan. Here are some things to cheer you up and remind you to believe in the red and black.

UC Volleyball is Really Good

We spend a lot of time talking about basketball and football on this site, but the UC volleyball team has been outstanding this season. Led by sophomore Jordan Thompson, who will undoubtedly be earning all-conference honors, the Bearcats are 21-9 overall, including a 16-3 record in American Athletic Conference play. They have won five straight and swept their last four opponents. Just a game back of first place SMU, the Bearcats will take on Memphis tomorrow to wrap up the regular season.

Sean Kilpatrick is Making a Name for Himself in the NBA

We already covered this, but its worth repeating. The former Bearcat second-team All-American fought long and hard to get to the NBA and he appears to be there to stay. In 14 games with the Brooklyn Nets, Kilpatrick is averaging 14.1 points per game with an effective field goal percentage of .447.

UC Men’s Swimming

Last weekend, the men’s swimming team registered nine school records at the Bearcats Midseason Invitational. The team also won its first two meets of the year and came in first at the National Collegiate Open Water Championships back in September.

Soccer Programs Continue to Improve

Although it was unable to defend its conference tournament title from 2015, the UC’s women’s soccer team posted an 11-5-4 overall record this season, marking its third-straight campaign with a winning record.

On the men’s side, the Bearcats finished 9-7-1. That may not seem like much to cheer about, but it was a nice improvement from the 2015 season (7-9-3) and makes it two years running in which they have increased their record from the previous season. As our own Clayton Trutor pointed out earlier this week, things are looking up for UC soccer.

UC Men’s Basketball

Let us not forget the Bearcats on the hardwood. Despite a 76-71 disappointment against Rhode Island last weekend, the Bearcats are off to a 4-1 start to the season and are getting incredible production from Jacob Evans and Kyle Washington while still employing the services of talented contributors Troy Caupain and Gary Clark.

Obviously, there is no reason to despair if you are a Bearcats fan this Thanksgiving.

One last thing. We at Down the Drive would like to show some appreciation ourselves and thank every reader we have had in the last year. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.