early prediction

well its mick 3rd year this year and it will be the first with all the players he has brought in. i dont count the first 2, because his first year he put a team together in like a month, and then last year none of his recruits got to much playin time, besides alvin.

so i thought it might be fun to try and predict 5 things for the upcoming year. plz leave your 5 and when the year is over i will dig this up and see who was close and who was way off. really, let just get some bearcat talking going.

1. d vaughn will win big east player of the year.

2.yancy gates will be on the big east freshman team and on the all big east 2nd team.

3.mike williams will be on the all big east 2nd team.

4. cincy will win 10 games in the big east, will have a winning record, and make the ncaa as a 9 to 12 seed.

5. a riot will break out at the shoe during the wvu game, between huggs fans and uc fans. someone will shank mick in the back during the unrest, and they game will be called and move to indy for a netural court. when the game is over mick will have win number 2 over mr. huggins.

let me hear yours

Great thread cincyj.  Here are my gems...

1. I hate to repeat you but Vaughn WILL be the player of the year in the Big East.

2. Bearcats will win at least 20 games, one of which will be against XU...11 maybe 12 wins in the conference. 

3. Bearcats will be on the bubble come tourney time and will squeak in as a low seed because they have quality out of conference wins (lets hope).

4. Gates will be in the running for freshman of the year!!

5. Branden Miller will come off the bench in only 2 games.  lol  I love the guy but we will finally have quality bench players who will deserve playing time.

GO CATS!!

Ok I'll take a stab at it

1. UC will win the tournament its playing in, in Las Vegas.

2. Yancy Gates will win Big East Freshman of the Year.

3. UC will go to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament

4. Vaughn will average over 20 points per game.

5. Bob Huggins will not wear his mustard suit against the 'Cats this year.

those are great guys

i c im not the only one with high hopes this year.

whodey13, i hope you make more post this year then last.  i really enjoy them.

natifan, thanks 4 the props on the thread.

im ready to play balll right now!!!!

1. The Bearcats win 18-22 games this season, and enter the Big East Tournament as a 3 seed.
2. Yancy Gates and Deonta Vaughn contend for Big East Rookie and Player of the year.
3. Cincy makes it at least to the Big East semifinals with Gates looking like a young K-Mart.
4. We make the NCAA Tournament, no CBI this year.
   
5. We beat Xavier and Huggins pleads to get his old job back, with WVU at the bottom of the Big East.

Gates looking like a young K-Mart.

................................................................

thats sounds great, but i think he will b alot better then kmart as a freshman.

he will get his chance thats for sure.

Alvin Mitchell will have a  strong season (8 or 9 points per game) , and we'll finally start to understand some of the hype that surrounded him after his senior year in high school.
....................................................................................................................................................................

that would be really nice,if he is back on the team.

i haven't heard anything about him.have you?

lunvit2,kid bearcat, i want to hear your guys prediction!!!

My guess is that Alvin's probable return may have had something to do with Varez Ward backing out of his commitment, though that's only speculative.  
.....................................................................................................................................................................

PLZ TELL ME THIS IS A JOKE

when did tthis happen? im going go to rivals and check after i get done with my post.

why did he back out? he look like a really nice player.

has he said where he is going?

i agree with you on everything you had to say about alvin. they went 1-6 when mick gave him the boot. he has so much talent, as you said, we saw a little bit of it last year.but not enough.

he could be a great player. i hope he does whatever mick wants him to do.

Ward backed out of his commitment over a week ago.  To tell you the truth, I don't even know why Mick pursued him to begin with.  From what I understand, he's a "defensive specialist," which usually means he's a liability on offense.  Mick proved last year that he can get his guys to play defense, so i'm not worried about the defense.  UC's biggest concerns are:  the offense was horrible last season (save for Deonta Vaughn) and aside from Cashmere Wright, UC has no true point guard, which is the key to any team that wants to compete for a national championship. 

I'm hoping that Dion Dixon (they claim he can handle the ball well), or maybe even Larry Davis, can step it up as a back-up PG.  Deonta has been called a combo guard, but he's more of a shooting guard, and I think he works best coming off of screens behind the line.  He's not a penetrator, though.  The counterargument is that he lead UC in assists for two seasons, but that doesn't mean he's a qualified PG.  A PG does much more than pass the ball.  In Deonta's case, he was the focus of the opponents' defenses, so it's only natural that off of double teams, he would find open players and would obtain a good number of assists. 

It seems that Cashmere may be in the mold of a Devan Downey (imagine if we still had him), a smaller, quick PG who can score at will, if need be.  He went to a smaller school, so his statistics are unknown really, but some estimates are that he averaged 40 points per game - I only hope Mick can make it clear to him that he doesn't have to do that at Cincy, he only has to create shots for other good players, though he will get his kicks in too. 

Ward is now considering offers from a number of schools, like Texas, Kansas State, Arkansas, and Marquette.  Texas is only offering him a scholarship, though, because of the mass exodus of guards to the NBA draft, and it's late in the signing period.  He may turn out to be a good player, but he won't immediately impact the college game, and he's not what UC needs, in my opinion. 

Just as a side note, with Steven Toyloy now committed (6'10", 255), UC has to have one of the biggest frontcourts in the Big East. Toyloy (6'10", 255), Gates (6'9", 255), Belton (6'8", 245), McClain (7'0", 250), Mike Williams (6'8", 245), Nick Aldridge (6'7, 240).  I'd love to see some old-fashioned Bearcats basketball (circa Huggins era), where foul trouble wasn't an issue and every player was afraid to enter the paint.

Just as a side note, with Steven Toyloy now committed (6'10", 255), UC has to have one of the biggest frontcourts in the Big East. Toyloy (6'10", 255), Gates (6'9", 255), Belton (6'8", 245), McClain (7'0", 250), Mike Williams (6'8", 245), Nick Aldridge (6'7, 240).  I'd love to see some old-fashioned Bearcats basketball (circa Huggins era), where foul trouble wasn't an issue and every player was afraid to enter the paint.

....................................................................................................................................................................

amen to that.

so since toyloy has signed, and ward backed out, how many scholarship do we have left?  is it 2?  have you heard anything on mackey?  the rumor i have heard is that he gave a verbal to mick ,but they are keeping it quit till they find out what will happen to him.

i love how ther cats are looking on paper, and i have confidents in mick, that he will get the most out of these players.

as of right now i think this is how the starting 5 will look

pg. wright

sg.vaughn

pf.gates

sf.williams

c.mcclain and belton. depending on who is playing better.

with aldridge as the 6th man and if mitchell is back he will also come off the bench and get alot of playing time.

davis, at the end of the season look really good. we have talent this year. we will be young, but i belive this team will do great things this year. 

1. The Bearcats are in the top 3 in the conference in rebounding per game, both offensive and defensive.

2. Cashmere Wright, not Yancy Gates, has the most impact on our team as a frosh (not a bash to Gates here, but if Wright can play good, he'll start and lead our offense to success)

3. Biggie McClain is 2nd Team Big East while at the top of (if not leading) the conference in rebounding and blocks.

4. UC wins games against Xavier, Louisville, and Memphis in the same season

5. UC enters the NCAA tourney somewhere between a 6-8 seed

And if you'd like a REALLY early prediction, you've heard it here first. 2009-2010 Cincinnati Bearcats in the Elite Eight!

...................................................................................................

this would be very nice.

he has the talent too do it, he just needs to learn to move his feet faster and get better postion under the basket.