Through a noticeable but not distracting accent, Senegal-native Ibrahima Thomas typically dishes out some quality quotes. As he has become an even more viable member of this team as the year has gone along, they've even had more meaning behind them.
Thomas transformed from a liablity to a necessity in the last three months and to those that question progression of players at UC this year, he can stand as one of the exceptions.
In the last seven games he is averaging 6.1 points and, more importantly, 6.8 rebounds a game.
On Monday, he continued a line of positivity as he talked about the teams optimism through adversity being the one thing it has going for it right now. Honestly, it's a line we've heard on repeat from Thomas, so, take it for what you will.
But he also delivered some goods about his best friend, Hamady Ndiaye, a center who played for Rutgers. They are both from Senegal, both came to the US and went to the same high school.
"We grew up together. Our whole lifetime we have been together...I always talk to him on the phone and stuff."
Thomas went on to say that the first time UC played Rutgers it was the first time he and Ndiaye faced each other on the court, despite spending so much time together as basketball stars in Africa. He says even on the playground they always played on the same team.
(Sidenote, Thomas is 6-11 with a soft touch from the perimeter, Ndiaye is 7-foot....who in the hell allowed these two guys to play on the same side when they were picking teams on the court! Did nobody step up and say, 'Ugh, how bout we split up the two guys over 6-10'?)
Anyway, after admitting it is actually tough for him to go against his friend, he mentioned that Ndiaye has never blocked his shot.
Then divulged that the first time the two played something very interesting happened.
"Last game I was going to basket, I made an and-1 on him and broke his nose. I kind of laughed about it, but he was so excited I did that. The referee was laughing.
"He always looked at me as a little brother, he said 'I see that you are growing now, I see that you are growing.'"
Obviously, Thomas' shot to the nose is still on the brain of Ndiaye, who didn't waste any time getting in touch with his friend as soon as he found out they would be matched up at 9 p.m. Monday in the first round of the Big East tournament.
"Before coaches let us know yesterday morning, he called me at 5 in the morning telling me we were going to play. That just started the trash talking," Thomas began.
"He is pretty good (at trash talking). He scared me. At 5 o' clock in the morning, I thoght he had a problem or something. First thing in the morning all he says is, (Thomas slips into deep, ominous voice) "we are going to beat you."
"I am like, are you dreaming or something? He's just like, 'You have to watch TV, we are playing you guys.' I said, OK, let me go back to sleep."
"He just kept ringing my phone, I put it on vibrate, he left me like three messages: (back into James Earl Jones voice) "You have no shot.""
RELAX, GO TO IT -- Mick Cronin said he likes the draw for the Bearcats in this year's tournament. UC won't have to play the noon game at MSG, which is tough to get the team up for (see UC-DePaul 2009). They play night games and a Rutgers team they have not played in a while so don't have to worry about overconfidence because of the 65-58 win in early January.
But, hard to imagine overconfidence could possibly be an issue considering what this team has gone through of late. Cronin admits, all of the bad breaks and frustrations have worn on the this team. It has been a major factor in the snowball of losses.
"It has been an issue, Cronin said. "As bad breaks started to build up on us I think the guys started putting too much pressure on themselves. Frustration definitely set in and became a new normal almost for us to be in tough situations."
So, Monday morning, Cronin says he got the team together to 'relieve some stress.'
He never divulged exactly what the team did, (Not sure I want to know) but he thinks an ability for this team to stay competitive, but relaxed could be the difference between victory and defeat during this trip to New York.
"You feel it mounting on the guys with the bubble watch and all that stuff. It is virtually impossible this day and age. Plus you have outside influence of people putting pressure on guys to have individual success as well. You got to get them to focus on what I just talked about. We got to focus on our effort and our attitude.
"This tournament is going to be wild. You can't play with stress."
DIGGING OUT OF THE RUT -- Rutgers enters the Big East tournament having won five of its last 10 games. Not exactly the stuff of legends, but it is better than the Bearcats can so of their last 10 where they are 3-7.
Upon closer look you see two of those wins came against DePaul and another against Caldwell College (which I have to assume was founded by cool jazz legend Bobby Caldwell). Still, the Rut took down Georgetown and Notre Dame at the RAC, and that is no easy task.
Guard Mike Rosario leads them in scoring with 16.4 points a game, he dropped 24 and 33 in back-to-back wins against St. John's and Notre Dame, so he certainly can fill it up.
UC shut him down to just 12 points in the first game.
The Bearcats are still searching for their first victory in the Big East tournament, ever. UC was burned by a Gerry McNamara buzzer-beater under Andy Kenndy, lost in Cronin's second year and then was upset by DePaul last year.
Thomas said its something the team talks about, but Cronin doesn't think it will have much of an effect as the game progresses on Tuesday.
"Obviously, we need to (win) so people can quit writing about it," Cronin said.
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