bearcat jeff
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To this day, UC coach Mick Cronin still believes that if the Bearcats had found a way to beat Connecticut in the third round of the NCAA Tournament last year, they would have had a chance to win the national championship that the Huskies claimed.
“I told the team before the game when we beat Missouri in the locker room that UConn is the best team we’ll play the rest of the tournament and if we can get by this next game, we can win the national championship,” Cronin said today. “ We’re going to the Final Four and we could win the whole thing if we can get by UConn.”
As it turned out, the Bearcats did not get past UConn, which beat UC, 69-58.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me,” Cronin said. “I don’t feel like I was going out on a limb. All you had to do was watch them in the Big East tournament. They beat four ranked teams in a row in four consecutive days and they had the best player in the country (Kemba Walker) on their team with the ball in his hands.”
The fact that UC lost to the eventual national champion provided no solace to the UC players.
“I guess you would always want the team that you lost to, to win it because it makes you feel better,” said point guard Cashmere Wright. “But I still didn’t like it. I didn’t like the whole situation. I felt like that should have been us, not them. I felt like whoever won that game was going to go far.”
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2012/01/16/cronin-uc-could-have-won-national-title-last-year/
“I told the team before the game when we beat Missouri in the locker room that UConn is the best team we’ll play the rest of the tournament and if we can get by this next game, we can win the national championship,” Cronin said today. “ We’re going to the Final Four and we could win the whole thing if we can get by UConn.”
As it turned out, the Bearcats did not get past UConn, which beat UC, 69-58.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me,” Cronin said. “I don’t feel like I was going out on a limb. All you had to do was watch them in the Big East tournament. They beat four ranked teams in a row in four consecutive days and they had the best player in the country (Kemba Walker) on their team with the ball in his hands.”
The fact that UC lost to the eventual national champion provided no solace to the UC players.
“I guess you would always want the team that you lost to, to win it because it makes you feel better,” said point guard Cashmere Wright. “But I still didn’t like it. I didn’t like the whole situation. I felt like that should have been us, not them. I felt like whoever won that game was going to go far.”
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2012/01/16/cronin-uc-could-have-won-national-title-last-year/