Rashad Bishop wasn't sure if he would ever make it back to the Cincinnati basketball team.
Head coach Mick Cronin suspended the 6-foot-6, 219-pound forward on the eve of the Big East tournament last March, and Bishop had to watch the games alone in his room.
"I was in my dorm just sitting there," Bishop, who starred for coach Jim Ring at Paterson (N.J.) Kennedy and later for Dan Hurley at St. Benedict's Prep, said Thursday by phone from Cincinnati.
"It was frustrating. It was hard watching the games but I had to."
Cronin, whose unranked Bearcats (13-0, 1-0 Big East) are currently unbeaten entering Friday's Big East home game with Seton Hall (7-6, 1-0), said there was no specific incident that triggered the suspension.
Rather, it was a string of things related to Bishop's behavior as the team lost games and failed to make the NCAA tournament after a strong start.
"There was no incident," Cronin said. "It was a series of things. I just feel like he struggled to handle some of the bonehead plays that either he or some of his teammates made in the tough losses we had."
Said Bishop: "It was just I wasn't handling the situation good when we was losing close games."
After the Bearcats lost to Dayton in the second round of the NIT, Cronin and Bishop finally had a sit-down that the player said lasted about 20-25 minutes.
"He said I was going to have to build my trust back up with him and show that I was committed," said Bishop, who averaged 8.4 points and 4.4 rebounds last season on a team that included Lance Stephenson and Deonta Vaughn.
So far, so good.
Cronin says Bishop has been a tremendous leader, especially in terms of teaching younger players like White Plains native Sean Kilpatrick -- averaging 9.8 points per game -- and true freshman Justin Jackson.
"He's literally coaching guys during practice," Cronin said. "He's making sure the guy are guarding. Instead of trying to exploit the guys -- 'SK' or Justin Jackson - even though they're on defense and he's on offense, he's literally coaching them, trying to get those guys ready to win."
Bishop has started 11 of the team's 13 games, averaging 8.0 points and 3.8 rebounds. He considers himself the ultimate glue guy.
"Just go out there and do whatever the team needs," he said. "If they need to me score, I'll score. If they need me to play defense and rebound, that's what I do."
Without Stephenson, who is sitting on the Indiana Pacers' bench, and Vaughn, who is playing overseas, junior guard Dion Dixon leads the Bearcats in scoring at 13 points per game, while junior forward Yancy Gates averages 11.7 points and 6.6 rebounds.
Bishop says the offense flows more smoothly without the departed players.
"We have better chemistry with our offense and we're moving the ball better," he said. "We're just on the same page more than we was last year. Some people more was on the other page. But this year everybody's on the same page."
And that has translated into Cincinnati joining Syracuse (14-0) as the lone unbeaten Big East outfits, even though the Bearcats were picked 12th.
"I've had a high opinion of our team all summer," Cronin said. "Nobody was listening. Our league's so big and everybody's focused on the Hall of Fame coaches and all the big-name teams. We lost our big-name players so now we're the forgotten team but that's OK."
Cronin is well aware of the team's RPI rank of 76 and strength of schedule rank at 331, according to RealTimeRPI.com, but he won't apologize for his team's record.
"Our average margin of victory is over 20 points per game and we called off the dogs on more than one occasion," he said. "We've played three road games and a neutral game. How many other Big East teams have played three road games?"
Cronin believes his team can continue to win if it remains "tough" and "down and dirty" in the Big East.
And coming off his suspension, Bishop is the key to that game-plan.
"He's going to be huge for us," Cronin said. "If we got one guy that has no reservations about getting physical and getting the dirty work done, he's by far our best guy at that."
FREE THROWS
Seton Hall is coming off a 64-55 victory over USF on Tuesday...The Seton Hall-Cincinnati game (8 p.m., ESPN2) will feature three players who played high school ball in Paterson. Bishop played for Kennedy and Seton Hall's Jordan Theodore and Fuquan Edwin played for Paterson Catholic. "That means we got some hoopers," Bishop said.
http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101231&content_id=16377870&oid=2&vkey=21
Head coach Mick Cronin suspended the 6-foot-6, 219-pound forward on the eve of the Big East tournament last March, and Bishop had to watch the games alone in his room.
"I was in my dorm just sitting there," Bishop, who starred for coach Jim Ring at Paterson (N.J.) Kennedy and later for Dan Hurley at St. Benedict's Prep, said Thursday by phone from Cincinnati.
"It was frustrating. It was hard watching the games but I had to."
Cronin, whose unranked Bearcats (13-0, 1-0 Big East) are currently unbeaten entering Friday's Big East home game with Seton Hall (7-6, 1-0), said there was no specific incident that triggered the suspension.
Rather, it was a string of things related to Bishop's behavior as the team lost games and failed to make the NCAA tournament after a strong start.
"There was no incident," Cronin said. "It was a series of things. I just feel like he struggled to handle some of the bonehead plays that either he or some of his teammates made in the tough losses we had."
Said Bishop: "It was just I wasn't handling the situation good when we was losing close games."
After the Bearcats lost to Dayton in the second round of the NIT, Cronin and Bishop finally had a sit-down that the player said lasted about 20-25 minutes.
"He said I was going to have to build my trust back up with him and show that I was committed," said Bishop, who averaged 8.4 points and 4.4 rebounds last season on a team that included Lance Stephenson and Deonta Vaughn.
So far, so good.
Cronin says Bishop has been a tremendous leader, especially in terms of teaching younger players like White Plains native Sean Kilpatrick -- averaging 9.8 points per game -- and true freshman Justin Jackson.
"He's literally coaching guys during practice," Cronin said. "He's making sure the guy are guarding. Instead of trying to exploit the guys -- 'SK' or Justin Jackson - even though they're on defense and he's on offense, he's literally coaching them, trying to get those guys ready to win."
Bishop has started 11 of the team's 13 games, averaging 8.0 points and 3.8 rebounds. He considers himself the ultimate glue guy.
"Just go out there and do whatever the team needs," he said. "If they need to me score, I'll score. If they need me to play defense and rebound, that's what I do."
Without Stephenson, who is sitting on the Indiana Pacers' bench, and Vaughn, who is playing overseas, junior guard Dion Dixon leads the Bearcats in scoring at 13 points per game, while junior forward Yancy Gates averages 11.7 points and 6.6 rebounds.
Bishop says the offense flows more smoothly without the departed players.
"We have better chemistry with our offense and we're moving the ball better," he said. "We're just on the same page more than we was last year. Some people more was on the other page. But this year everybody's on the same page."
And that has translated into Cincinnati joining Syracuse (14-0) as the lone unbeaten Big East outfits, even though the Bearcats were picked 12th.
"I've had a high opinion of our team all summer," Cronin said. "Nobody was listening. Our league's so big and everybody's focused on the Hall of Fame coaches and all the big-name teams. We lost our big-name players so now we're the forgotten team but that's OK."
Cronin is well aware of the team's RPI rank of 76 and strength of schedule rank at 331, according to RealTimeRPI.com, but he won't apologize for his team's record.
"Our average margin of victory is over 20 points per game and we called off the dogs on more than one occasion," he said. "We've played three road games and a neutral game. How many other Big East teams have played three road games?"
Cronin believes his team can continue to win if it remains "tough" and "down and dirty" in the Big East.
And coming off his suspension, Bishop is the key to that game-plan.
"He's going to be huge for us," Cronin said. "If we got one guy that has no reservations about getting physical and getting the dirty work done, he's by far our best guy at that."
FREE THROWS
Seton Hall is coming off a 64-55 victory over USF on Tuesday...The Seton Hall-Cincinnati game (8 p.m., ESPN2) will feature three players who played high school ball in Paterson. Bishop played for Kennedy and Seton Hall's Jordan Theodore and Fuquan Edwin played for Paterson Catholic. "That means we got some hoopers," Bishop said.
http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101231&content_id=16377870&oid=2&vkey=21
