ESPN Article - Picks Cincy as most likely AAC team to reach Final 4

[amory]

Taken from an Insider article.

American

Team with the best shot in 2016: Cincinnati
Most recent Final Four appearance: Connecticut 2014

Give us a moment to flip a coin because we're not comfortable with any of this. Cincy, like its colleagues in the AAC, remains tethered to the bubble, but Saturday's home win over Connecticut helped its cause. Our colleague John Gasaway's Tuesday Truths slotted Cincy as second in the conference behind SMU in efficiency margin (the difference between a team's offensive and defensive efficiency marks) and first among the league's postseason-eligible squads. There is nothing overwhelming about Cincy, but its AAC opponents have scored just .94 points per possession, and the team is second in the league in turnover rate (16 percent). We pick Octavius Ellis and the Bearcats -- also the name of a little-known 1960s Motown group -- to make the league's deepest run ... if Cincy makes the cut.

Kinda weird to pick a bubble team who could very well be left out of the tournament entirely as the most likely to make a run.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Well they beat us twice, would've been weird to pick us too if that's what you wanted to see

 

[amory]

UConn's not a solid choice either, but the general consensus is that we at least have a better chance of an at-large bid than Cincinnati right now.

I'm thinking more and more that this is going to be a 1-bid league.

 

[gtcam]

After watching the AAC teams - I'm surprised they feel any will last after 1st round
I'd be surprised if it's a 1 team league

 

[don356]

Well they beat us twice, would've been weird to pick us too if that's what you wanted to see

It's also interesting he has Cincy as first four out and kept us as a 9 seed even though they swept us. They're losses really aren't that bad, not to mention how close they were.

 

[1999.2004.2011]

It's also interesting he has Cincy as first four out and kept us as a 9 seed even though they swept us. They're losses really aren't that bad, not to mention how close they were.

That Memphis loss is pretty bad

 

[champs99and04]

It's either UConn or Cincy. I'd be really surprised if anybody else won a game much less put a run together.

It's just so hard for Cincinnati to score that you wonder how they win four straight against top competition. Caupain would have to get hot.

 

[kobe]

I don't know when our season will end but I can guarantee it will be in a 2 point loss. SMH.

 

[August_West]

Cincinnati has no shot at the final four......

Unless somehow the ncaa finds a way to reseed UConn as their opponent in every round. In that scenario I pencil in the Bearcats as National champions.

 

[auror]

Well they had to pick somebody. We can't even beat above average teams in our crappy conference so it shouldn't be us...

 

[willie99]

there's only one AAC team that ever makes a deep run, and that's the same team that has the potential to go deeper

I'm pretty sure that's the same team that has the only quality OOC wins for the entire conference

Cinci's best OOC win? GW
Temple? they embarrass us in every big OOC game they play, same as Memphis
at least SMU beat MI

Tulsa beat Witch St in the 2nd game of the season

 

[auror]

Tulsa beat Witch St in the 2nd game of the season

They were home and Fred VanVleet played hurt in that game, I wouldn't give them much credit for it.

 

[KemBuckets21]

It's either UConn or Cincy. I'd be really surprised if anybody else won a game much less put a run together.

It's just so hard for Cincinnati to score that you wonder how they win four straight against top competition. Caupain would have to get hot.

hard for them to score against their opponents other than UCONN!

 

[UConn990411]

I don't think Cincy will ever make a Final Four under Cronin - they're basically a worse, less talented version of those good Pitt teams. But this UConn team won't sniff the FF either.

Unfortunately for the AAC (and its reputation), the only team with a good chance at a deep run is banned this year.

 

[EBonz30]

I love this article!!

Extra motivation for our Huskies!!

Get angry, get tough, get mad!!!

Fight, fight, fight, like we know you guys can!

A reason, why you are a top 3 defense!!

ESPN always doubts us, want the same thing!

They look up and all of sudden, UConn is back in the final four!!

Adams force the nation to use your name!

 

[amory]

I don't think Cincy will ever make a Final Four under Cronin - they're basically a worse, less talented version of those good Pitt teams. But this UConn team won't sniff the FF either.

Unfortunately for the AAC (and its reputation), the only team with a good chance at a deep run is banned this year.

I agree with you, but you just never know with UConn. Like @willie99 said above, there's only one team in this conference that makes final 4 runs with any degree of regularity.

If it's seen as a coin toss between us and Cincinnati, then I go with the team with 4 championships in under 2 decades.

 

[UConn990411]

I agree with you, but you just never know with UConn. Like @willie99 said above, there's only one team in this conference that makes final 4 runs with any degree of regularity.

If it's seen as a coin toss between us and Cincinnati, then I go with the team with 4 championships in under 2 decades.

This year's team has nothing in common with any of those title teams - notably, they don't have great guard play, nor have they shown much ability to close games out on a regular basis. I'm not forgetting about the struggles those title teams all had at points, but they all had stretches of playing elite basketball that this team hasn't come close to achieving.

 

[EBonz30]

This year's team has nothing in common with any of those title teams - notably, they don't have great guard play, nor have they shown much ability to close games out on a regular basis. I'm not forgetting about the struggles those title teams all had at points, but they all had stretches of playing elite basketball that this team hasn't come close to achieving.

I agree, but choosing Cincy over the UConn pedigree is outrageous.

Also, UConn has so much more talent than Cincy it is not that close, they are almost better at every position.

 

[amory]

This year's team has nothing in common with any of those title teams - notably, they don't have great guard play, nor have they shown much ability to close games out on a regular basis. I'm not forgetting about the struggles those title teams all had at points, but they all had stretches of playing elite basketball that this team hasn't come close to achieving.

Again, I agree. But the point of the article was to pick one team from each conference with the best shot of making the final 4.

There aren't any teams in the AAC that have a good chance at the sweet 16, let alone the final 4. Not UConn, not Cincy. In that case, I think you have to go with the only program with championship pedigree and the coach with the ring.

 

[auror]

Also, UConn has so much more talent than Cincy it is not that close, they are almost better at every position.

Again, I agree. But the point of the article was to pick one team from each conference with the best shot of making the final 4.

There aren't any teams in the AAC that have a good chance at the sweet 16, let alone the final 4. Not UConn, not Cincy. In that case, I think you have to go with the only program with championship pedigree and the coach with the ring.

Swept.

 

[6thBoroBro]

http://www.barstoolsports.com/barst...r-and-podcast-with-former-uk-player-jon-hood/

Not a conventional source, but Reags does a good job, and seems to know what he's talking about a lot of the time. Picks us as the best tournament team in AAC. Later states he feels Ollie isn't a good coach, yet.

 

[EBonz30]

http://www.barstoolsports.com/barst...r-and-podcast-with-former-uk-player-jon-hood/

Not a conventional source, but Reags does a good job, and seems to know what he's talking about a lot of the time. Picks us as the best tournament team in AAC. Later states he feels Ollie isn't a good coach, yet.

Yea, but in the same article he says Bill Self is a good coach.

I mean c'mon, I get all the conf. championships, but I believe he is one of the most overrated coaches in America, he gets top 3 talent every year.

He is an awful in game coach.

It was what we call a system coach, once the other team breaks it during the game he has no where to go, which equals a lot of first and second round exits in the tourney.

Only one final four, the championship was given to him on a silver platter, should of never won that game, Memphis gave it to Kansas.

Sorry don't like people hating on Ollie, their is a reason all these big time NBA jobs want him each offseason and I am sure their are big college programs too.

He is a top 4 young coach in the nation.

Ollie
Shaka Smart
Gregg Marshall
Sean Miller