Fun. Genuinely fun. This Bearcats team was so fun to watch because they weren’t supposed to accomplish all that they did this season. A 28-7 final record, second place in the American Athletic Conference in the regular-season, a conference tournament championship captured with a dominant win over the 11th-ranked Houston Cougars in the championship game, Jarron Cumberland being named AAC Player of the Year and, of course, a win in the Crosstown Shootout; these were all so fun to be a part of and watch throughout the season.
What I’ll miss most throughout the season are the games themselves both home and away. Why? Because every game, I felt like, was another chance for the Bearcats to show how good of a team they really were. As close as most of the games were throughout the season, that, I think, actually made them fun, especially because the Bearcats won most of them. Playing this season as the defending conference regular-season and tournament champions, the Bearcats were going to get tested every game because every other AAC team had both titles the Bearcats won last year. Defending two titles plus overachieving expectations made this season fun to be a part of.
After the way last year ended, I was honestly concerned that fans wouldn’t go to the games even in newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena. After all, we’ve seen what’s happened at Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park. But to be a student at a university whose basketball team averaged 11,256 fans per game this season is pretty special. And it wasn’t just at Fifth Third Arena. To see all of those a part of Bearcat Nation in Memphis for the conference tournament was also incredible, and there were a lot of Bearcats fans there. The seats behind the benches during the championship game all had to be filled with Bearcats fans. The Bearcats may not be a tournament team, but that doesn’t stop Bearcat Nation from showing up in full force throughout the regular season. I hope Bengals and Reds fans take note of that.
I’ll remember all the raucous home crowds in the first season at newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena, especially during the games against high-quality opponents in Ohio State, UCLA, UCF, Memphis and Houston. I’ll remember all the the come-from behind victories on the road when it seemed like the Bearcats had no chance to pull out a victory and, yet, they did. I’ll remember, personally, cranking up for every game doing 28 sit-ups, push-ups and squats to Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever.” I’ll remember penning the result of every game, especially wins, on the schedule that’s on my wall in my dorm room at UC. I’ll remember listening to the Journey Greatest Hits album after most of the seven losses. I hate it when the Bearcats lose as much as anybody, but losses are as much a part of the journey through the season as wins.
The Bearcats loss against Iowa yesterday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament shows that they may not be a tournament team, and I can’t be naive to that. But this team wasn’t supposed to be as good as they were, which doesn’t make this season’s end as painful as last year’s. On the bright side, the Bearcats have won 111 games in the past four seasons plus a regular-season title and back-to-back conference tournament championships. The great thing about college basketball is that there are other opportunities to win championships prior to the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats are a winning basketball program. It’s just that this era of Bearcats basketball does not feature a lot of winning in the big dance.
I’ll also say this: if Jarron Cumberland returns next year, that means 80 percent of the starting lineup will be returning for the 2019-20 season that includes a rematch with Iowa in Chicago and a home game against Tennessee. The window may be opening again, and Cumberland returning means the Bearcats could be very good next year.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 