University of Cincinnati Bearcats
Top 25 spot not altering Bearcats' attitude
By Paul Dehner Jr., CNATI.com Posted November 30, 2009 11:08 PM ET
Four years after joining the
The Bearcats were last ranked in January of 2006.
"We earned it," said Vaughn, averaging 12 points a game. "We showed we can play with some top teams in
Following the announcement this team had cracked the prestigious poll, the question was how they would handle it. You could look back at history to find an answer except, with this group, there is none.
No player on this team has ever been ranked in the Top 25. In the mind of junior Rashad Bishop, his team's reaction could go one of two directions.
"It is (kind of good) because it gets you more exposure, like more games on TV," he said. "It kind of hurts us where some people would take it the wrong way, like, we are better than this team so we don't really have to show up. I don't think this team has that attitude."
Cronin doesn't plan on letting them as they return to the floor tonight against
Sure, the Bearcats showed progress in beating then No. 24 Vanderbilt and No. 21 Maryland. Sure, the team without the relevance to earn even one preseason poll vote has now garnered respect across the country. And sure, the added exposure won't hurt this program returning to the forefront of the minds of the major high school recruits in the country.
But in a season where Cronin hopes to pass many milestones for his tenure, this is only the first step.
"I think our players are well aware our season is still young," he said. "You are always a loss away from dropping out of the Top 25."
Cronin is quick to point out he has been ranked here before, though he was only an assistant under Bob Huggins. An arrival in the poll appears to be the diminutive Cronin peaking ever so slightly out from considerable shadow cast by his former boss.
It has not been any easy journey.
"I took this job 3 ½ years ago and everyone says it is going to take you five years," Cronin said. "It is going to take you a long time; there is so much work to do. Then after about six months, everybody forgets that. That is just the reality of the situation. If you are a coach you need to have toughness, you got to put your blinders on and keep doing your job."
For Cronin that meant staying up during his final day in paradise and looking at pictures of his daughter to "keep me off the ledge of the cliff in
"Welcome to coaching," Cronin said. "Everyone is excited about the wins; I am upset about the loss."
His players took notice. When considering if this team would let its new recognition create overconfidence, redshirt freshman point guard Cashmere Wright merely smiled and shook his head in immediate dismissal.
He's been in Cronin's practices the last few days, he already knows better.
"I really don't see that happening no time soon," Wright said "He is still on us since we came back, we had practice as soon as we came back from
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, University of Cincinnati Bearcats
Tags: Bob Huggins, Cashmere Wright, Deonta Vaughn, Mick Cronin, Rashad Bishop
Comments (1)
its going to be fun to watch this team and how it responds to getting some props. The Bearcats will be a very good team once they learn how to run a half court offense
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