9. Cincinnati
So far during the Sochi Olympics, Bob Costas has said “Pussy Riot†multiple times on air, become the butt of Internet jokes for having pinkeye that spread to both eyes, taken a shot of vodka with Mary Carillo on national television, and been replaced by Matt Lauer. And still his week wasn’t as eventful as the Cincinnati Bearcats’ week. After coming from behind at home to beat a UConn team that had completely outplayed them for the first 30 minutes, the Bearcats trailed again at SMU — only this time, they stayed behind and lost by 21.
If you’ve been following Cincinnati this season, you knew a loss like this was inevitable, mostly because Cincinnati’s offense can sometimes be laughably bad. Case in point: Only twice this season have I seen a player shoot an unmolested seven-foot baseline shot, hit the corner of the backboard, and watch the ball bounce into the third row. Both instances happened to Cincinnati players in the first half of the UConn game. Down the stretch, Cincinnati shut down UConn, got some easy buckets in transition, and escaped with the win. But like nearly every other game this season, Cincinnati struggled to score and had to muscle the ball into the basket so often that I was left wondering if the Bearcats basketball team was the best football team in Cincinnati.
So when Cincy shot 35 percent and had more turnovers than made field goals at SMU, I wasn’t terribly surprised. Besides, even if Cincinnati had played well and held a late lead against SMU, the Mustangs fans would’ve turned the Moody Madness up to 11 and willed their team to a win. Arkansas and Nebraska have been duking it out all season for the title of the team that experiences the most drastic swings in performance when playing at home and on the road, and while I don’t think SMU is quite on their level, the Mustangs certainly deserve consideration. When you consider SMU’s great home-court advantage, Cincinnati’s offensive struggles, and the Bearcats’ narrow escape against UConn less than 48 hours earlier, the loss to the Mustangs doesn’t raise much concern. I trust Mick Cronin will get Cincinnati back on track over the next couple games, and the Bearcats should hit the Louisville-UConn-Memphis gauntlet at the end of the season with a full head of steam.
Link: http://grantland.com/features/tituss-to ... e-florida/
