We’ve all had this feeling before as sports fans, especially in Cincinnati. Our team loses a big game, and it’s a feeling you have trouble describing. Frustration, anger, drained,etc. Those are words I can think of for how I feel, and they relate to today’s Bearcats loss at No. 12 Houston in a game for sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference. But regardless of how we might feel, I think we all can breathe tonight as Bearcats fans.
The Bearcats didn’t have to win this game. Would it have been nice for them to win? Absolutely. But they didn’t have to. I’ll be honest, as good as I thought this team could be early on I didn’t think they would be 20-3 (9-1, AAC), ranked No. 25 in the country and be in a tie for first place in the AAC coming into today with the team they have. This team can honestly make a run at the Final Four. Call me crazy, call me delusional, call me whatever. I stand by the statement I just made.
Now, obviously this loss drops the Bearcats out of first place completely. It sucks. This is just like at SMU two years ago this Sunday. You know why it sucks? Because the Bearcats weren’t the better team today. What I found out today is why Houston is in first place and ranked just outside the top 10, and the Bearcats now have an uphill battle to win at least a share of the regular-season title.
This was a really fun game to listen to on the radio with Dan Hoard and Terry Nelson and watch for the first 34 minutes. Now about the number 34 and who wears it for the Bearcats which made the final six minutes were brutal to watch. Jarron Cumberland is still my pick for AAC Player of the Year, but he needed to be Jarron Cumberland down the stretch. He simply wasn’t. The Bearcats go as he goes. If you think about it, the Bearcats didn’t score one single point in the final six minutes of the game. Cumberland needed to be who he has been down the stretch in so many games prior to tonight. He wasn’t tough enough to be that guy. Houston was the tougher team when the game was on the line.
Cumberland’s been so good throughout this entire season. He’s been great, actually. I even posed the possibility on Sports; “Any Way You Want It” last Wednesday that he has been special this year. However, the biggest concern I had this week was would he shy away in this game today and in March. Sure enough, that’s what happened today.
It’s frustrating, yes. But at least it happened now and not in March like last year. That’s why this loss, as frustrating as it is, comes at a good time. Like I mentioned, the Bearcats didn’t have to win today’s game. They played like they wanted to, which is great. Houston, though, played like they needed to win and they did. One month from today, Cincinnati will play Houston in about a five-minute walk from where I sat writing this. That game, I’ll say it right now as I have before, will be for a regular-season championship. Mentally prepare yourselves, but expect the Bearcats to win. Yes, I said it, expect them to win. The Bearcats will, I think, win every game leading up to March 10 and the game on that day. In other words, as Aaron Rodgers famously proclaimed in 2016, “I think we can run the table.”
I’m a different man when the Bearcats lose. It’s like something in me gets ignited when the buzzer sounds and the Bearcats have fewer points than the opposition. I noticed it today.
Walking out of Taft’s Brewporium just about two hours ago, I walked to my car faster and with more of a purpose than most other times. While I was walking to the car, I said to myself that I was going to go to the gym and let it all out. I did that one time after the Bengals lost, and it worked. Then I remembered I have a lot to do tonight for my classes. There’s a test due at 11:59 – that’s been assigned the whole week and I haven’t done it yet – and I have a paper due tomorrow anytime between 1:25-2:20. I have written the draft of the paper, in case you’re wondering.
If my mom read this, I don’t know what she’s thinking but she understands me as well as anybody. So, she’s probably thinking okay, I know he’ll do what he needs to do. If my dad read this, he’s probably screaming in his head for me to get my school work done. If my sister read this- congrats to her and the Springboro High School Competiton Cheer team for winning nationals today in Orlando- she’s probably applauding me for doing what I want, which is to write this while listening to the Journey’s Greatest Hits album, and for living my best life. As for whoever else read this, I hope you enjoyed it.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 