UC’s Williams: Indications are that Shootout will be played next year
02/20/12 at 1:11pm by bkoch

UC president Greg Williams said Monday that a final decision has not been made on whether the men’s basketball game between UC and Xavier will be played next season, but “Every indication is that we are going to play next year.”

Williams said he has a group of advisors looking at “what the game should look like going forward” and that the group will make recommendations to him.

The Dec. 10 game between UC and Xavier, won by the Musketeers at XU’s Cintas Center, resulted in a bench-clearing brawl, with players from both teams getting suspended.

Williams said there’s no rush to make a decision.

“We’re looking at it,” he said. “(XU president) Father Graham and I have talked about it a number of times.”

Asked if any possible changes to the rivalry might include moving it to a neutral site, Williams said, “There’s been a lot of issues that need to be considered. I don’t want to pre-empt any recommendations that a committee might make.”

UC athletic director Whit Babcock said he has talked with Williams five or six times about the future of the game.

“We presented all the options and the pros and cons of it,” Babcock said. “It’s not something that we wanted to rush into, so we’ve just taken a little time. We need to work with Xavier on it. I think we’re getting to the point in the next month or so where we’ve got to make a decision and move forward from a scheduling standpoint. We’re looking to bring some more marquee opponents into Fifth Third (Arena). If Xavier was one of them, it would impact our schedule.”

Ultimately, Babcock said, the decision from UC’s standpoint will be made by Williams.

“We just talked about the need to bring some closure to this before too long,” Babcock said. “But there’s no deadline, no drop-dead date.”

If the game takes place next season, it’s due to be played at UC’s Fifth Third Arena unless it’s moved to a neutral site.

http://news.cincinnati.com/ucblog

I wouldn't move the game to a neutral site until after we get out home game next year (depending on how the contract is worded).

Since it is at the Shoe next year and our fans know how to behave I think we can/should play the game. After that it's on a year by year basis…

If the fans are out of line at Cintas (vulgar chants, inappropriate costumes, or taunting UC players before, during or after the game) or their players start jawing anytime after that, it's canceled.

Just like dealing with small children, we'll give them one more chance to see if they've learned how to behave themselves.

I think if someone too the time to look back over the history of the SHootout they'd find that most if not all of the problems during games have occurred when XU hosted.

Play once more at the shoe, then tell them to "go screw".(any rhyming unintended.)

I expect a much stronger non-conference schedule next year and the following years after that.

If we assume the shootout is on we have Xaver, Wright State, @Marshall, and Vegas Tournament to start with. Add a high profile home game and few other solid mid-majors and we are on our way.

Yet another terrible decision by UC's administration.

Why in the world they continue to try to play nice with XU is beyond me. It's the same thing over and over, the media continues to $hit on UC in this city, makes them out to be the bad guys and the thugs, yet when XU starts acting that way UC's adminitration refuses to stand up for their own school and takes part in covering things up that would reflect badly on XU.

I can't believe they are continuing this game after what happened. Not only that but I cant believe they went out of their way to cover up what Kenny Frease did to the wife of a UC employee in the stands. It just pisses me off so much that this administration operates the way they do. In turn it continues to make XU look like the good guys and UC the bad guys. Would XU's administration cover up what happened had as UC player struck a coaches wife? Hell no. It would have been front story in the paper's, national news, etc...

I just cant believe they are continuing this series with the behavior through the years we see from the Xavier players and especially fans. Nothing good comes from it other than XU getting their Super Bowl every year and having the media in this city drool over what a great program they have.

Chuck Machock and Byron Larkin on with Bill Cunningham on WLW right now.

Larkin doesn't know what the big deal is. Thinks the Shootout is just fine as it is. Machock keeps saying something has to change but he keeps tap dancing around the reason why.

(02-21-2012 02:26 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Chuck Machock and Byron Larkin on with Bill Cunningham on WLW right now.

Larkin doesn't know what the big deal is. Thinks the Shootout is just fine as it is. Machock keeps saying something has to change but he keeps tap dancing around the reason why.

Which is exactly what is pissing me off. Every UC fan knows what the problem is but NOBODY at UC will stand up and say what the problems are. The whole politically-correct act from UC's side is sickening. Just say what the problem is.

1. XU players are trash-talkers and act like a bunch of thugs and they play dirty.

2. XU's fans are the some of the worst fans you will ever come into contact with. Just nasty as a whole and have no clue on the definition of class. Their students act like a bunch of rich snobby white collar tards who have had everything handed to them in life and have obviously had every excuse in the book made for their behavior all throughout their lives.

3. The media in this city has a built in image of UC being thugs and XU being choir boys, so UC can't win for anything. They have been and always will be looked on by the media in this city as the bad guys. (Another example of this is you know it would be all over the media in this city had a UC player punched an XU coache's wife). Those are the reasons why UC should drop this game and end XU's yearly Super Bowl and the media's yearly love affair with all things Xavier during that week.

Those are the problems with this game and why it should be dropped. UC continually loses everything and gains nothing from this worthless game.

(02-21-2012 02:15 PM)Marcus Wrote:  Yet another terrible decision by UC's administration.

Why in the world they continue to try to play nice with XU is beyond me. It's the same thing over and over, the media continues to $hit on UC in this city, makes them out to be the bad guys and the thugs, yet when XU starts acting that way UC's adminitration refuses to stand up for their own school and takes part in covering things up that would reflect badly on XU.

I can't believe they are continuing this game after what happened. Not only that but I cant believe they went out of their way to cover up what Kenny Frease did to the wife of a UC employee in the stands. It just pisses me off so much that this administration operates the way they do. In turn it continues to make XU look like the good guys and UC the bad guys. Would XU's administration cover up what happened had as UC player struck a coaches wife? Hell no. It would have been front story in the paper's, national news, etc...

I just cant believe they are continuing this series with the behavior through the years we see from the Xavier players and especially fans. Nothing good comes from it other than XU getting their Super Bowl every year and having the media in this city drool over what a great program they have.

Pretty sure that Whit knows exactly what happened in the first row with the coaches wife. He was sitting right there!

I also feel confident that if Freese would have actually struck a coach's wife that further action would have been taken, including eliminating the game in the future.

In the video I saw, I did not see any contact with Freese and anybody in the front row.

(02-21-2012 02:45 PM)BearcatOtto Wrote:  

(02-21-2012 02:15 PM)Marcus Wrote:  Yet another terrible decision by UC's administration.

Why in the world they continue to try to play nice with XU is beyond me. It's the same thing over and over, the media continues to $hit on UC in this city, makes them out to be the bad guys and the thugs, yet when XU starts acting that way UC's adminitration refuses to stand up for their own school and takes part in covering things up that would reflect badly on XU.

I can't believe they are continuing this game after what happened. Not only that but I cant believe they went out of their way to cover up what Kenny Frease did to the wife of a UC employee in the stands. It just pisses me off so much that this administration operates the way they do. In turn it continues to make XU look like the good guys and UC the bad guys. Would XU's administration cover up what happened had as UC player struck a coaches wife? Hell no. It would have been front story in the paper's, national news, etc...

I just cant believe they are continuing this series with the behavior through the years we see from the Xavier players and especially fans. Nothing good comes from it other than XU getting their Super Bowl every year and having the media in this city drool over what a great program they have.

Pretty sure that Whit knows exactly what happened in the first row with the coaches wife. He was sitting right there!

I also feel confident that if Freese would have actually struck a coach's wife that further action would have been taken, including eliminating the game in the future.

In the video I saw, I did not see any contact with Freese and anybody in the front row.

I think almost every big wig involved with UC had to have seen what happened. They were all sitting around it.

Can you imagine the uproar had a UC player done that to an XU assistant's wife though?? Good lord, the media would have had that as their lead story for a month and everyone in XU's administration would make darn sure the story got out into the public, not covered up like's UC's administration has done. By doing so UC is just hurting themselves. It continues the perception the media in this city has about UC and XU. UC is thugs, XU is choir boys.... Same old crap.

I'm just angry this administration is backing down to Xavier once again.

Surprised to see a prime seat wasted behind the UC bench for Cunningham Saturday. Mick is good to tolerate that after Bill's remarks about UC, post-brawl. Regarding the report about Cunningham's show: of course Byron Larkin doesn't "get it." And Machock is being polite. I'm sure he remembers all too well the bottle hurled toward the Big O by an X fan more than 50 years ago. Why should we think their behavior and condescending attitude will change now?
I too am disappointed that the series isn't at least being suspended. Would any other power six conference teams with national championship tradition tolerate this for a non-conference game? Think not.

(02-21-2012 02:45 PM)BearcatOtto Wrote:  

(02-21-2012 02:15 PM)Marcus Wrote:  Yet another terrible decision by UC's administration.

Why in the world they continue to try to play nice with XU is beyond me. It's the same thing over and over, the media continues to $hit on UC in this city, makes them out to be the bad guys and the thugs, yet when XU starts acting that way UC's adminitration refuses to stand up for their own school and takes part in covering things up that would reflect badly on XU.

I can't believe they are continuing this game after what happened. Not only that but I cant believe they went out of their way to cover up what Kenny Frease did to the wife of a UC employee in the stands. It just pisses me off so much that this administration operates the way they do. In turn it continues to make XU look like the good guys and UC the bad guys. Would XU's administration cover up what happened had as UC player struck a coaches wife? Hell no. It would have been front story in the paper's, national news, etc...

I just cant believe they are continuing this series with the behavior through the years we see from the Xavier players and especially fans. Nothing good comes from it other than XU getting their Super Bowl every year and having the media in this city drool over what a great program they have.

Pretty sure that Whit knows exactly what happened in the first row with the coaches wife. He was sitting right there!

I also feel confident that if Freese would have actually struck a coach's wife that further action would have been taken, including eliminating the game in the future.

In the video I saw, I did not see any contact with Freese and anybody in the front row.

The video on channel 19 didn't show any physical altercation, however Frease and a couple others were definately standing on chairs throwing F bombs towards our AD and some 60 year old women. That's enough for me.

Father Graham can placate Williams all he wants. Series needs to end. Hostile environment is one thing. To act like a bunch of D Bags is another. Completely classless institution. Maybe they can go coverup more sexual assualts/rapes over there.

(02-21-2012 02:51 PM)indycat Wrote:  I too am disappointed that the series isn't at least being suspended. Would any other power six conference teams with national championship tradition tolerate this for a non-conference game? Think not.

Cunningham is such an insufferable turd and he hates UC with a passion. But again it's UC that is giving in to these clowns. They always back down and try to make nice even if it hurts UC in the long run (which it does IMO).

Absolutely no other school in any of those conferences would give a second thought to keeping Xavier on the schedule had something similar happened. They'd have dropped them like a bad habit and wouldn't have thought twice about it.

I just for the life of me can't figure out why UC's administration acts like such cowards when it comes to Xavier. They have no backbone whatsoever and are always catering to them. It's just idiotic. And they are absolutely wrong if they think the majority of UC fans want this game to continue.

(02-21-2012 02:53 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  

(02-21-2012 02:45 PM)BearcatOtto Wrote:  

(02-21-2012 02:15 PM)Marcus Wrote:  Yet another terrible decision by UC's administration.

Why in the world they continue to try to play nice with XU is beyond me. It's the same thing over and over, the media continues to $hit on UC in this city, makes them out to be the bad guys and the thugs, yet when XU starts acting that way UC's adminitration refuses to stand up for their own school and takes part in covering things up that would reflect badly on XU.

I can't believe they are continuing this game after what happened. Not only that but I cant believe they went out of their way to cover up what Kenny Frease did to the wife of a UC employee in the stands. It just pisses me off so much that this administration operates the way they do. In turn it continues to make XU look like the good guys and UC the bad guys. Would XU's administration cover up what happened had as UC player struck a coaches wife? Hell no. It would have been front story in the paper's, national news, etc...

I just cant believe they are continuing this series with the behavior through the years we see from the Xavier players and especially fans. Nothing good comes from it other than XU getting their Super Bowl every year and having the media in this city drool over what a great program they have.

Pretty sure that Whit knows exactly what happened in the first row with the coaches wife. He was sitting right there!

I also feel confident that if Freese would have actually struck a coach's wife that further action would have been taken, including eliminating the game in the future.

In the video I saw, I did not see any contact with Freese and anybody in the front row.

The video on channel 19 didn't show any physical altercation, however Frease and a couple others were definately standing on chairs throwing F bombs towards our AD and some 60 year old women. That's enough for me.

Father Graham can placate Williams all he wants. Series needs to end. Hostile environment is one thing. To act like a bunch of D Bags is another. Completely classless institution. Maybe they can go coverup more sexual assualts/rapes over there.

Totally agree with everything you said. Just end the series and leave it at that. If the media in this town makes a big deal out of it just ignore them and it'll die down within a week. It would be a win-win situation for UC and might actually wake the people in denial up a bit about what XU's basketball program is really all about. UC has plenty of fuel to point to on cancelling the series. They should just tell everyone to look at the Purdue and Butler games in the last 2 years. It's idiotic to play a renegade basketball program like that when nobody is holding them accountable.

I want to end the game too; however, I never thought that most of the hardcore fans on Bearcat Banter would agree with me on this issue.

With the game scheduled to played at UC next year it does buy the University of Cincinnati some time because the real issues bubble u when the game is at Xavier.

bearcatlaw - I agree that next year will not be the issue. UC fans know how to behave. However, 2013 we are back to playing at Thunderdome.

As I wrote earlier, I think the game can happen next year at the Shoe. The UC fanbase is BETTER BEHAVED by miles over the XU fanbase.

The issue is the next year. This is where I think UC can win public opinion by playing that game.

Host them at the Shoe next year. Behave appropriately and beat the snot out of them.
Agree to the return trip to Cintas. If their fans behave the series can continue. This is made known upfront.

If they don't — no vulgar or non PC chants (i.e. Catholics vs. Convicts), no disrespectful costumes, no berating players before during or after by XU fans and no over the top trash talking — we cancel then and there at the presser right afterward.

People outside of Cincinnati will be tuned in to the game next year and the following year to see what happens. They behave and the series continues...they don't and we show the world that the XU fanbases' behavior during the Brawl wasn't an isolated event and why we have every right to cancel. It's no risk and all reward.

If we cancel now we get labeled chicken FOR ETERNITY.

(02-21-2012 03:11 PM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  I want to end the game too; however, I never thought that most of the hardcore fans on Bearcat Banter would agree with me on this issue.

With the game scheduled to played at UC next year it does buy the University of Cincinnati some time because the real issues bubble u when the game is at Xavier.

Almost every UC fan I know wants the series to end. I think the perception the media "created" and the perception UC's administration has is that UC fans dont want it to end, but I think the complete opposite is the actual truth.

(02-21-2012 02:53 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  

(02-21-2012 02:45 PM)BearcatOtto Wrote:  

(02-21-2012 02:15 PM)Marcus Wrote:  Yet another terrible decision by UC's administration.

Why in the world they continue to try to play nice with XU is beyond me. It's the same thing over and over, the media continues to $hit on UC in this city, makes them out to be the bad guys and the thugs, yet when XU starts acting that way UC's adminitration refuses to stand up for their own school and takes part in covering things up that would reflect badly on XU.

I can't believe they are continuing this game after what happened. Not only that but I cant believe they went out of their way to cover up what Kenny Frease did to the wife of a UC employee in the stands. It just pisses me off so much that this administration operates the way they do. In turn it continues to make XU look like the good guys and UC the bad guys. Would XU's administration cover up what happened had as UC player struck a coaches wife? Hell no. It would have been front story in the paper's, national news, etc...

I just cant believe they are continuing this series with the behavior through the years we see from the Xavier players and especially fans. Nothing good comes from it other than XU getting their Super Bowl every year and having the media in this city drool over what a great program they have.

Pretty sure that Whit knows exactly what happened in the first row with the coaches wife. He was sitting right there!

I also feel confident that if Freese would have actually struck a coach's wife that further action would have been taken, including eliminating the game in the future.

In the video I saw, I did not see any contact with Freese and anybody in the front row.

The video on channel 19 didn't show any physical altercation, however Frease and a couple others were definately standing on chairs throwing F bombs towards our AD and some 60 year old women. That's enough for me.

Father Graham can placate Williams all he wants. Series needs to end. Hostile environment is one thing. To act like a bunch of D Bags is another. Completely classless institution. Maybe they can go coverup more sexual assualts/rapes over there.

Classless...yes. But far from striking another person.

My point for Marcus' statement that there never was any contact with anyone in the stands. That is the basis of most of his argument about whether UC should continue to schedule any upcoming games with X.

I want this game gone now. If it's played at the Shoe next year my seat will be empty.