Cats...to stay ranked this week....I say yes.

[JeromyM]

I have to admit, I was a little shocked to see the Bearcats win at St. Johns on Saturday...but that's just what they needed to get some confidence back. Pretty boring game overall....but didn't matter as long as we win.
Will we stay ranked...I say yes...some teams lost ahead of us, plus teams behind us lost as well....I say we get another week at #25 and make a come back into the ESPN Poll at #25 as well.....any thoughts??

 

[TheLivingLegend]

I dont think they will be in the top 25.

 

[JasonS]

They'll stay in the top 25 in the AP and probably drop in the ESPN/Coaches poll because coaches don't have time to watch other games and that poll is a farce anyway.

 

[swg]

Probably should be ranked somewhere between 35-45, to be honest.

 

[psax889906]

Probably should be ranked somewhere between 35-45, to be honest.

Strongly disagree. There resume to this point is deserving of a top 25 ranking.

 

[swg]

Resume aside, I'm judging by what I see on the court. Way too much inconsistency on offense.

 

[psax889906]

Resume aside, I'm judging by what I see on the court. Way too much inconsistency on offense.

Possibly... but all I can go by is results. They've won 17 of 20 games. Their three losses are on the road to 3 top 20 teams.

I will agree without a doubt there are serious deficiencies on offense that need addressed- there are serious deficiencies in all facets of their game that need addressed. But I will not crucify a team for winning, even if they do so in an ugly fashion.

 

[SlamJam]

Have they beaten an at-large tournament team yet? Maybe Xavier?

 

[BearcatAlum1]

Have they beaten an at-large tournament team yet? Maybe Xavier?

Maybe.

You raise a valid point. HOWEVER:

We're 17-3 (4-3).

We've crush some good teams: Dayton an Xavier.

We've won a road game against a solid foe: St. John's.

There are tons of teams that are ranked that we can play with, if not beat.

We stay ranked. It's bull$hit if not....

We will be around #22-#24 AP. UR coaches.

 

[anbuc88]

Maybe.

You raise a valid point. HOWEVER:

We're 17-3 (4-3).

We've crush some good teams: Dayton an Xavier.

We've won a road game against a solid foe: St. John's.

There are tons of teams that are ranked that we can play with, if not beat.

We stay ranked. It's bull$hit if not....

We will be around #22-#24 AP. UR coaches.

Completely agree. They may not look like a Top 25 team at times, but they have beaten some of the good teams on the schedule so soundly, that it seems to detract from the victory. Even the Wright State win is a good win. Wright State is solid and beat Butler last week. Saturdays win against St. Johns was what Top 25 teams do. Even when they struggle, especially on the road, they stay within striking distance and come winning time, they close the deal. The importance of Saturdays win cannot be discounted. It takes the road monkey off their back, shuts up the detractors, and builds momentum for the next 7 games, all of which are winable, save at Pittsburgh.

 

[Thegreatone]

I think we fall out. 27 in AP and 30 in Coaches

 

[BoKnows]

Resume aside, I'm judging by what I see on the court. Way too much inconsistency on offense.

So Judging by what you see on the court, UC is on par with the 35-45 ranked teams (St. John's, Utah St., Missouri St., Southern Miss, Wichita St) but not as good as 25-35 ranked teams (Florida, Colorado, temple)? Those last three teams by the way lost games to Jacksonville, San Francisco, Harvard and Duquense

Is the 35-45 range just some numbers you threw out there? or are you actually comparing what you see on the court from UC versus what you have seen from the teams around that range.

It kills me when fans arbitrarily say the Bearcats aren't a top 25 team without considering the teams that you would have to rank ahead of UC to put them outside the top 25.

I'll take UC's schedule and how they performed in each game up against any team outside the top 20 on a game by game comparison

No one can tell me that either of those teams ranked in the 25-35 range is as good as UC.

 

[CincyCat1]

a lot of it depend on what other teams did throughout the 20's

AP #25
ESPN/USA #27

 

[bearcat jeff]

Cincinnati should be ranked. Much is made of their soft schedule, yet many teams have been beated by teams that would fit this criteria. The only losses are to teams that play great at home.

I say St. Johns and Xavier will be at large teams and they are both top 26 rpi wins. Cincinnati destroyed Xavier and Dayton.

Do they always pass the eye test? No they don't. But they've won and many teams in front of them can't say that. If you don't penalize a team in the top 25 for a bad loss till they have 4-5 of them you shouldn't penalize UC for losing on the road to teams that rarely lose at home or an ugly BEast road win.

 

[Kingsley Court]

So Judging by what you see on the court, UC is on par with the 35-45 ranked teams (St. John's, Utah St., Missouri St., Southern Miss, Wichita St) but not as good as 25-35 ranked teams (Florida, Colorado, temple)? Those last three teams by the way lost games to Jacksonville, San Francisco, Harvard and Duquense

What part of the last game did you not see? Seemed pretty on par with St. Johns to me. I'm kind of surprised you went off there, you seemed pretty upset to be compared to a team UC just barely beat in the last seconds.

 

[BoKnows]

UC won on the road against St. John's and will beat them again at home. Yes I am taking issue with being compared to a team that lost to UC at home and has also lost games to St. Bonaventure and Fordham.

Just like I take issue with being told that UC is worse than teams like Florida, Colorado, and Temple. UC has lost three games to top 15 teams on the road. For all the talk of our "soft schedule" Those three teams each have a glaring bad loss on their resume whereas UC has zero bad losses.

To base your argument of where UC should be ranked by what you see on the court means that you have also been able to watch the teams that you are comparing them to play.

I doubt that is true but even if you have seen those teams play regularly, Each has struggled in certain games this season. UC has struggled in certain games this season. But what makes UC better in my opinion than any of the teams outside the top 25 is that UC has been able to overcome their struggles and beat EVERY single team they were "supposed" to beat. The same thing can not be said of many of the teams in the top 25

 

[anbuc88]

What part of the last game did you not see? Seemed pretty on par with St. Johns to me. I'm kind of surprised you went off there, you seemed pretty upset to be compared to a team UC just barely beat in the last seconds.

You are right in a sense that they are on par with SJU based on Saturdays game. However, this was at SJU, in a hostile environment, and when the Jonnies shot 26 free throws to 8 by UC. Some of this disparity is from SJU being more aggressive than UC, but not to a 26 to 8 free throw difference. Lets see what the result between UC and SJU is at FTA. After that game, we will likely say that UC is a better team than SJU.

 

[Kingsley Court]

You are right in a sense that they are on par with SJU based on Saturdays game. However, this was at SJU, in a hostile environment, and when the Jonnies shot 26 free throws to 8 by UC. Some of this disparity is from SJU being more aggressive than UC, but not to a 26 to 8 free throw difference. Lets see what the result between UC and SJU is at FTA. After that game, we will likely say that UC is a better team than SJU.

UC won the game and was better, but it was a very close game and to be upset because one would think they are pretty equal with that team is surprising to say the least.

 

[Kingsley Court]

So Judging by what you see on the court, UC is on par with the 35-45 ranked teams (St. John's, Utah St., Missouri St., Southern Miss, Wichita St) but not as good as 25-35 ranked teams (Florida, Colorado, temple)? Those last three teams by the way lost games to Jacksonville, San Francisco, Harvard and Duquense

Temple beat Gtown and lost to two top ten teams, Villinova andTexas A&M by 3 points each. Where as UC lost to Villinova by double digits.

 

[anbuc88]

UC won the game and was better, but it was a very close game and to be upset because one would think they are pretty equal with that team is surprising to say the least.

I think BoKnows and you are both right, for different reasons.