College
Bearcats are who they are
By Paul Dehner Jr., CNATI.com Posted February 21, 2010 6:45 PM ET
Ibrahima Thomas sat in the lane. Frozen.
Cashmere Wright lifted his shirt up in disbelief. Lost.
Yancy Gates and Lance Stephenson did what they had done for the final 12 minutes of the most critical home game of the season: They sat on the bench. Helpless.
In the seconds after Deonta Vaughn's game-tying 3-point attempt bounced off the mark to close overtime, a wild two hours of intense basketball slammed to an immediate halt.
A cold reality set in underneath the 79-76 final in favor of Marquette.
The NCAA tournament dream is all but out of reach.
"I thought it was going to go in," Vaughn said. "It hurt me. It hurt me deeply."
The dream subsides for the same reasons the last month has been a nightmare. In the fourth loss in the last five games, the Bearcats team who misses too many free throws did so again. The Bearcats team who struggles to close out games saw Lazar Hayward bury a cold-blooded 3-pointer near the end of regulation to tie it.
And the Bearcats team who shifts from ugly to unsettled on offense scored only 28 second-half points and failed to break free an open look with one possession to win at the end of regulation.
At the point the calendar rolls into March, you are who you are in college basketball. On Sunday, the Bearcats were who they are this season - a team owning too many flaws to evolve into an upper tier program in the Big East.
Cincinnati now moves forward with a confidence as tattered as its NCAA tournament hopes.
"Obviously (our psyche) is a concern," Cronin said. "One thing I told the team, even if you win today you still have to beat DePaul. What you have to do is get a group of guys to turn off the TV, turn off the Internet, get back to practice and go win Wednesday."
Only, a win Wednesday may begin a final stretch of too little, too late. Barring a rally of Frank Reich proportions, Cincinnati (15-11, 6-8) will be on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble for the fifth consecutive season.
With three games remaining against teams ranked in the top 10, opportunities to impress the committee are in reach.
"We knew we needed this game right here," Vaughn said. "We have to just fight. We can get right back here on the bubble."
The Vegas odds lean more toward a third consecutive season where the Bearcats fade down the stretch. Each of the past three years UC passed Valentine's Day with at least a .500 record. In the games after Feb. 14 they are 2-12, including 0-2 this season.
As easy as chalking up losses to No. 8 West Virginia, No. 3 Villanova and No. 10 Georgetown would be, Cronin warns of attempting to predict victories in a league where Louisville upsets Syracuse and Rutgers upsets Georgetown.
"It's a misnomer to say they will win this game, lose that game," Cronin said. "It never goes like that."
Unfortunately for Cronin, the same unpredictability can't be attached to his team's free throw shooting.
UC entered Sunday's game 34 of 62 from the line over the past three games, for 54 percent. They are at 62 percent for the season, good for 310th in the country.
On Sunday, it was more of the same as the Bearcats hit just 8 of 16. That includes Ibrahima Thomas missing the second of two which would have made it a four-point game with 47 seconds remaining in regulation and Rashad Bishop missing the second of two which would have kept the game at one possession in overtime.
"You can point to a lot of things," Cronin said. "Yeah, we chances to get some crucial stops. This game comes down to one stat: Marquette 16 of 17 from the foul line, Cincinnati 8 for 16."
In the month of February, you are you are.
The Bearcats were 8 of 16 from the line. They were a senior leading scorer who another 0-fer from 3-point range. They were a freshman "phenom" tied to the bench, ineffective, playing only 11 minutes.
And the Bearcats were three points shy of a win they had to have.
As Thomas, Wright, Gates and Stephenson stared into the distance in disbelief after the clock hit zero, those are the truths they were forced to digest on Sunday. Devastated.
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, University of Cincinnati Bearcats
Tags: Bearcats, Deonta Vaughn, Mick Cronin
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