The Classic

[TheLivingLegend]

Thoughts on the game?

My biggest concern is fouls... This game is going to be called tight as is. Add in the fact that their best player simply puts his head down and runs into people.

Saw tonight semaj got to the line 17 times. That cant happen for UC.

I expect UC to win this game, they are the better team imo... But with this rivalry you never kno what is going to happen.

 

[JumpinJack5]

The big key is to not let up on the press. I think if we can press well the whole first half, Semaj, Dee Davis, etc. will start to cramp up again. We should try to get Semaj in foul trouble and while I don't want him to go to the line 17 times, it is okay to foul him sometimes since he has had past struggles at the line.

 

[#BearcatNation]

I don't know much about their team (other than Semaj and a couple others), but I do know they were already getting cocky chanting "BRING ON CINCY!" tonight. You'd think after losing 3 games in 3 days, then squeaking past a couple garbage opponents at home, they'd be a little more humble. Then again, we are talking about X fans.

I love this rivalry. I can't wait to be downtown all day bar hopping (don't worry, I won't be that drunk belligerent fan making us look bad) then walking over to US Bank. If we win, we'll have taken 3 in the last 4 years, which when compared to the last 20 years, is really good. Yeah, its just a rivalry, but there's nothing I'd love more than for UC to start taking control of it. This city is UC's. You ask fans across the country where Xavier is, and they'll say "Uhhh, no idea. Philly?"

 

[Robert]

It's too early to call this a "must-win" game, but when I look at our schedule and search for tournament resume wins, I see a top-heavy AAC, Xavier, and Pitt. Unless we improve dramatically, I don't see us stealing many wins from Louisville, Memphis, and UConn, and SMU looks like the only other team in our conference that might be worthy of the big dance. These next two games are about as important as a 2-game non-conference stretch could be. If we lose the next 2 games, we're going to have to go 3-3 against the top of the conference and not slip up against the rest to be considered for an at-large bid, so it's very important we win these games.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Xavier has struggled with Bowling Green and now Evansville. For some reason, I expect them to play their best game of the year on Saturday. Cincinnati is definitely the better team but Stainbrook and Philmore do kind of worry me inside. I think that New Mexico game was a nice wake up call to the weak defensive rebounding, UNM missed 22 shots and got 11 offensive rebounds.

As good as Christon is (I think pretty highly of him), I am not as worried about him. Cincinnati has good enough perimeter defenders to make it difficult for him to score.

On offense, Xavier is going to pack it in like last year and they always do a good job of helping off the ball. Cincinnati is going to have to stick to running offense as opposed to the one-on-one stuff we saw last game.

Overall, the score should be fairly similar to last years game. I'll say Cincinnati wins 61-52.

 

[Scheids21]

Yeah I couldn't believe they were chanting that either after being down a dozen to Evansville. I hope we shut them up. Its like last year though: We are a better team right now. It all comes down to whether we play like it.

 

[UCalum08]

I think everyone is on point with their assessment of the game. I hope UC takes care of the ball. We must win the turnover battle. I have seen 2 X games this year, one was the Iowa game in which X did well in transition mainly bc of semja. I think X plays good help defense but I also think they foul every time on defense lol. We should def win this game but we got to enforce our style of play on them.

 

[#BearcatNation]

Anyone know what the line is?

 

[coachpipe]

well stupid me planned a ski trip this weekend to snow shoe. Does anyone know if this game will be on Iheart radio? and watch station? And does anyone know if fox sports 1 is available around that area?

 

[Bearcat22]

Thoughts on the game?

My biggest concern is fouls... This game is going to be called tight as is. Add in the fact that their best player simply puts his head down and runs into people.

Saw tonight semaj got to the line 17 times. That cant happen for UC.

I expect UC to win this game, they are the better team imo... But with this rivalry you never kno what is going to happen.

I'm hoping SK and TC can draw some fouls of their own to balance out the FT total. I wouldn't mind seeing KJ get a chance to defend semaj.

JL could do some good things in this one, X doesn't have anyone like him. Shaq would be the same, but you don't know what to expect from him.

My prediction is this one is close at halftime and UC wears them out in the 2nd half. 64 - 50 Cats win.

 

[Bearcat Rob]

Xavier honestly is not a good team at all. I watched some of them in Atlantis and against BGSU and Evansville and they looked awful. We are definitely the better team, with more talent, far superior athleticism, and better coaching. We need to use that to our advantage and press them for 40 minutes they simply cannot handle our pressure. Sean killpatrick is a fifth year senior and hands down the best player in the city, he will have a huge game and carry this team to a big win, he has that warrior mentality and wont loose this one. With this said i understand that this is a rivelry game and as usually Xavier's biggest game but UC is just better, I expect another double digit win

 

[coachpipe]

My take on this game is the same I have for every game this season. Can we stop their bigs and will our bigs be effective in the paint. If those things happen we can hang with most anyone with the way we play D and run the floor

 

[Scheids21]

Shannon Russell says about 10,500 tickets have been sold so far; last years game sold 14,528. Presumably last year sold more tickets because UC was ranked top 15 and the intrigue of the first game at US Bank, but I'm still surprised by the discrepancy.

 

[Bearcat22]

Shannon Russell says about 10,500 tickets have been sold so far; last years game sold 14,528. Presumably last year sold more tickets because UC was ranked top 15 and the intrigue of the first game at US Bank, but I'm still surprised by the discrepancy.

I wonder what % breakdown of the final total will be UC & X fans. I think it will still favor UC even though they are technically the away team. X fans seem to hate the downtown location more than UC.

 

[UCalum08]

I wonder what % breakdown of the final total will be UC & X fans. I think it will still favor UC even though they are technically the away team. X fans seem to hate the downtown location more than UC.

I heard a lot of X fans are boycotting going to the game because they want to make a statement by saying it should be at the Cintas. Classy. Typical.

 

[Bearcat22]

I heard a lot of X fans are boycotting going to the game because they want to make a statement by saying it should be at the Cintas. Classy. Typical.

Dan Hoard referred to New Mexico's "Pit" as a bucket list arena to want to take in a game. I think that's what X believes Cintas is. The difference is places like the Pit can be rowdy, loud, and the visitor rarely wins - but still a cool atmosphere. With Cintas, personal safety becomes an issue - That's not a home-court advantage, it's a leadership problem.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

Interesting point that I had not heard is that UC was only allowed to sell tickets to season ticket holders while X could sell to all its fans before tickets went on sale through US Bank Arena and the general public. This was part of the agreement to give the "home" team the advantage in early ticket sales. Last year UC had this advantage. I guess they assumed the game would sell out early. This was according to my ticket guy in the UCats office. It's a shame that only 10,500 have sold, especially sice it's a Saturday game. If X fans want to boycott the game then great, we'll have the crowd advantage and it will entice us even less to return to playing on campus.

 

[Scheids21]

Interesting point that I had not heard is that UC was only allowed to sell tickets to season ticket holders while X could sell to all its fans before tickets went on sale through US Bank Arena and the general public. This was part of the agreement to give the "home" team the advantage in early ticket sales. Last year UC had this advantage. I guess they assumed the game would sell out early. This was according to my ticket guy in the UCats office. It's a shame that only 10,500 have sold, especially sice it's a Saturday game. If X fans want to boycott the game then great, we'll have the crowd advantage and it will entice us even less to return to playing on campus.

Haha great point David. As much as we whine about OSU, we have the power in the Xavier relationship. If we say we're not moving to campus, its not moving to campus.

Also that is an interesting point to the ticket sales I did not realize. I would think price is a major factor on these tickets. We Cincinnatians are a cheap bunch and I remember last year how unhappy people were when the cheapest tickets (after fees) was $44. If it continues next year, I say drop it to $20, and get people excited about the game again. Then, you can raise prices.

 

[UCBearcats]

Cincinnati is definitely the better team but Stainbrook and Philmore do kind of worry me inside.

Stainbrook looks like Mrs Doubtfire and Isiah Philmore is the softest sounding name I've heard. Neither of these two squids worries me one bit.

 

[Scheids21]

Stainbrook looks like Mrs Doubtfire and Isiah Philmore is the softest sounding name I've heard. Neither of these two squids worries me one bit.

Based off their names and appearance?