2007-2008 BIG EAST PREVIEW: 13) CINCINNATI

September 29, 2007


CINCINNATI BEARCAT ESSENTIALS:


Official Website of the Cincinnati Bearcats

Official 2007-2008 Cincinnati Roster & Bios

Meet Coach Mick Cronin

Fifth Third Arena

2007-2008 Cincinnati Bearcats Schedule




OVERVIEW:

Mick Cronin enters his second season as head coach of his hometown Cincinnati Bearcats, the school he graduated from in 1997 and where he launched his coaching career under Bob Huggins as an assistant coach. For the second consecutive year it will take some time learning about his club as they will have eight new faces on the floor, but they still return a very high percentage of their scoring and rebounding from last year’s club.

Cronin is a high-energy coach on the sidelines that spent time learning his craft under both Huggins and Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. Regarded as one of the nation’s top young recruiters, Cronin showed he could run a program successfully by compiling a 69-24 record during his three seasons as head coach at Murray State, directing the Racers to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances as one of the nation’s youngest coaches. Now Cronin must show he can rebuild a program in the ultra-competitive and mammoth Big East.



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2006-2007 SEASON:

With six new faces hitting the floor for new coach Mick Cronin, including five junior college transfers, among their eight scholarship players, the Bearcats found it tough going last season. Finishing with an 11-19 record, that included home losses to Woffard and UAB as well as a neutral floor loss to Ohio at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, it was a tough initiation for Cronin as a high-major coach. Being completely destroyed (88-55) at the hands of Memphis on national TV and finding themselves down, again on national TV, 42-14 at the half against Ohio State, certainly illustrated the challenges that the Bearcats faced. They went into the season deprived of depth and size and those shortcomings were exposed often, even before conference play began.

There were some highlights last season, again, mostly coming prior to conference play, with wins over Temple, Xavier and North Carolina State in December. However, it was more of the same once conference play started as they lost at home to Rutgers, 54-42 and then followed that off with a 15-pt loss on the road at South Florida.

In their six conference games against NCAA opponents, UC lost all six, being outscored by an average of 72-58. With four of those six contests being on their home floor, it only illustrates how much distance was between them and the teams challenging near the top of the conference. Cincinnati became VERY close to going 0-16 as both wins (WVU, SHU) came in overtime. However, the Bearcats did not help themselves either by letting possible wins slip by at Syracuse and Providence. The PC loss was especially frustrating as the Bearcats blew an 8-pt lead with 1:41 remaining in the contest.

The Bearcats do have some impressive returning numbers as Deonta Vaughn averaged 14.8 PPG in conference play last season. The freshman guard evoked memories of past Bearcat star and fan favorite Steve Logan with his build and ability to score points. John Williamson was an athletic forward who contributed 12.5 PPG and nearly 7 rebounds in conference play and before his season was slowed by injury, Marvin Gentry showed the ability to score as well, putting up 32 in their win over West Virginia and 22 in a loss to Louisville.

However, the Bearcats will be best remembered as a group who could not shoot straight, hitting just 39% from the floor and 32% from beyond the arc in conference play. This is a problem that could continue into 2007-2008, although, there is more depth and scoring ability up and down the roster.

THE BACKCOURT:

As mentioned, sophomore Deonta Vaughn returns as one of the exciting young players in the Big East conference. As a freshman, Vaughn averaged 14.5 PPG which included a 33-pt outburst against Wofford and 25 points in their win over NC St and 24 in the win over Xavier, making him an early fan favorite. Vaughn had his struggled, too, going 8-34 in a four-game stretch in which he tried to shoot his way out of in a loss to USF, going 7-22 from the floor and 3-16 from the arc. From there on, Vaughn became a high volume shooter and spent a good portion of his time on the floor with the ball in his hands.

Providing support in the backcourt is a pair of returning JUCO transfers, now in their senior seasons. Much was expected from Jamual Warren, a tough and mature point guard that had bounced around the prep and JUCO ranks before landing in the Big East with UC. The Bearcats tried to fit Warren into the point guard role, but it was not which much success as Warren is not a true playmaker as a lead guard, he is more of a scorer. His assist to turnover ratio did improve during conference play, but for the Bearcats to gain some consistency, someone needs to assume the role of distributor first and scorer second. Marvin Gentry also returns as a senior and post-season surgery should return the 6’3 wing to full health. After a slow start last season, Gentry showed the ability to put up some points in the open floor and the Bearcats definitely need some offense. Cronin was recruiting Gentry to Murray State and continued to recruit him when he landed at UC.

Larry Davis is an incoming freshman that fits the mold of a Bearcat recruit with athleticism and the ability to play both ends of the floor. The Houston (TX) native will push for early playing time in the backcourt and should emerge throughout the season as a valuable part of their future.

On the wings UC adds a pair of exciting athletes in Rashad Bishop from Newark (NJ) and Alvin Mitchell from Ft. Lauderdale (FL). Both players are exciting athletes in the 6’5 range that excel at getting to the basket and scoring points. Once they learn to complement their exciting athletic ability with experience and the nuances of the team game, they both have the potential to thrive in Cronin’s system.


THE FRONTCOURT:

The area that caused Cincinnati to be the league’s punching bag last season was their thin frontcourt. Using John Williamson and Marcus Sikes as their ‘post’ players gave most opposing big men free reign inside against the Bearcats. The frontcourt gets immediate help with Texas-transfer Mike Williams and Polish JUCO Adam Hrycaniuk becoming eligible. Williams was a McDonalds All-American out of Wilcox Central HS in Camden (AL) before signing a LOI with Texas. The powerful 6’7, 240 lb forward is built for the Big East, but needs to play with that power mentality consistently. As a sophomore at Texas, Williams averaged 2.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13.6 minutes of playing time following a solid freshman campaign of 3.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 15.0 minutes of action. He will be asked to possibly carry the load at power forward for the Bearcats this season, moving John Williamson to his more natural position on the wing.

Hryanciuk was ruled ineligible by the NCAA last season for participation in leagues in Europe prior to enrolling at Cincinnati. At 6’10 and 230 lbs he adds the needed size in the post that UC desperately could have used last season. As a JUCO sophomore, Hryanciuk averaged 11.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks at Trinity Valley Community College. As a freshman he played at Barton Community College.

Along with Williamson, Marcus Sikes is the other returning player in the frontcourt. Sikes played one season at Georgia as a freshman and one season of JUCO ball at Jan Jacinto where he averaged 13.1 points per game as a sophomore and was the third-leading junior college rebounder in the state of California with his 11.3 average. Last season in the Big East, the 6’8 Sikes found a liking to playing around the 3-pt arc and he went 31-69 from the arc (45%). To illustrate how much time he spent at the arc, the 230 lb forward attempted just 34 free throws (19 made) and averaged only 4.4 rebounds a contest in conference play.

In an attempt to add Big East-level size and talent to the frontcourt, Cronin hit a recruiting coup with the addition of 6’11 Anthony McClain from National Christian Academy. McClain, a New Jersey native, has great upside and potential with his ability to get up and down the floor for a player his size. McClain is likely to see significant time as a freshman and that was a main consideration in his selection of the Bearcats in the recruiting process. He still needs to develop offensively and gain strength to battle underneath in the Big East, but he represents the hope of the UC future. Also coming on board this season are freshmen Kenny Belton and Darnell Wilks. Belton is a physical inside player that is ready, physically, for the Big East, but needs time to develop the skills to produce consistently. Wilks is ultra long and thin and arrives at UC a year ahead of schedule. A redshirt season is not out of the question and could help him add strength and weight to his frame.


2007-2008 PREDICTION:

It is pretty much the same story for the Bearcats as last season with up to eight newcomers trying to work their way into the mix. This is a MAJOR step-up in competition for many of them, however, they do have the benefit of five players returning that accounted for the vast majority of their production last season. Unfortunately, all that production managed was two conference wins, but their biggest weakness of front court depth is improved greatly through recruiting with the addition of McClain and the eligibility of Williams and Hrycaniuk. Their deeper frontcourt gives them the edge over the other teams ranked below them, but they will still need to find someone to consistently distribute the ball as well as finding some improved perimeter shooting, however, those issues can be said for other teams as well. Once the newcomers begin to adjust to the competition, look for UC to give some teams fits towards the end of the season, but there is still a long ways to go.


BIG EAST PREDICTION: 5-13