A Bitter Bearcat Pill

U.C. fans are ready to march on the Lindner Center with torches and pitchforks. The pitchforks appear to be aimed for the backside of the head basketball coach and the torches set to burn anything remotely resembling an invitation to the B.C.I. Bearcat backers should be upset. When a team goes from the NCAA bubble to the N.I.T. bubble in the course of 3 games, something is wrong. After the loss to Seton Hall coach Cronin cited rebounding and defensive statistics as evidence his team had not quit. He could not point to those statistics after the DePaul loss. DePaul is 15th in the Big East in rebounding margin, yet the Blue Demons had more boards than the Bearcats. After the South Florida loss Mick commented how the players seemed to bounce back in a hurry and were having a great time at practice the next day. That didn't sound too good to me. When you add it all up it points to a team that lacks the inner fire to grind out wins late in the season, even against struggling teams like DePaul. Mick needs to get that fixed, and I'm guessing he has at least another year before the pitchforks start hitting their target.