Our schedule certainly gets tough in the next couple of weeks with home games against New Mexico and Notre Dame, and a road game at Pitt, but I am fairly confident in all of these games. Notre Dame scares me the most out of the three, they have at least beat somebody this year, unlike Pitt. But we have them at home, and they tend to be a different team when on the road. New Mexico is clearly good, but I like that we have them at home also, and I doubt they have seen pressure like we will dish out. They have a stud guard but that happens to be our strength, so I like the matchup.

With our defense, we can play poorly on the offensive end and still be in every game, as evidenced by the Alabama game, and the first halves of both Marshall and Xavier. I'm going to go out on a limb and say we stay undefeated all the way up until the Syracuse game, which would put us at 19-0. Yes, I may be dreaming, but why the hell not, we are a better team than New Mexico, Notre Dame, and Pitt. Just need to take care of business against the other teams like Marquette and St. John's and we can do it.

Hey I'm bullish on this team too and like your 19-0 prediction. Still, I think the 5 minute scoring droughts will catch up with them in at least some BE road games. At this point, they're as good as any team in the country with the exception of a half dozen at the top that have offensively gifted post players (Indiana and Duke for example). That's saying a lot really and it means that a good draw in the NCAA could mean an elite eight or even a final four run if they remain healthy...and the brackets are favorable.

If we get past Pitt I think we make it to Syracuse . All the tougher games are at home . Road games against DePaul and Rutgers.

I just dont have a good feeling about Pitt on the road. Which would blow because that will make us 0-1 in league.

I think we lose on graduation day.

I don't think we lose the Wright State game. We could lose the New Mexico or Pitt games. I'm hoping that we don't come off of the Crosstown Sh...Classic thinking, as Mick said, we accomplished something. I'm not too concerned about Wright State, although they can't overlook them. New Mexico will be a challenge...and then we have Pitt. We could lose to either.

I'd really like to make it through the non-conference schedule unscathed as that would give us a pretty nice non-conference RPI with a few nice quality wins, especially New Mexico.

Pitt will be tough on the road, but for some reason we could fall into a trap of looking ahead and lose one of those road games at Rutgers or Depaul. At that point, we will likely be getting close to the top 5 if we are still undefeated and you can bet we will get both of their best shots and both teams have the talent to knock us off if we don't come out playing hard.

We don't

Never, undefeated run to the championship.

Paul Dehner Jr. ‏@pauldehnerjr

None of the #Bearcats five major opponents have reached closer than 12 points of their season scoring average.

I had us finishing 28-3 in the regular season, going undefeated non-conference and losing 3 in the BE.

New Years Eve

(12-20-2012 11:13 AM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  I think we lose on graduation day.

Very nice point. I agree.

I've watched New Mexico twice now. Although they have some bigs inside, the team isn't very athletic and appears to lack speed. I think Cincy will run them ragged.

(12-20-2012 12:06 PM)UCEE73 Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 11:13 AM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  I think we lose on graduation day.

Very nice point. I agree.

Meh...I don't think it will be that bad. What do we lose...Cheikh, Parker and Cash? Cash will hurt. Parker might defensively, but his scoring can be replaced by Thomas and Sanders. Cheikh is a nice to have, but Nyarsuk/Jackson/Rubles easily fills that void. It all depends on what SK decides to do. Personally, I don't think he is ready for the league. His ball handling is still questionable and he is not one of those guys that if he is left wide open his shot is money. At this point in the season, definately not a lottery pick.

(12-20-2012 12:18 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 12:06 PM)UCEE73 Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 11:13 AM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  I think we lose on graduation day.

Very nice point. I agree.

Meh...I don't think it will be that bad. What do we lose...Cheikh, Parker and Cash? .........

I wasn't thinking about losing games because of graduation. My sense was more poetic. We'll lose fond associations with players we've grown to love.

I'll miss 'em .... that's all.

(12-20-2012 10:28 AM)bearcats23 Wrote:  When will we lose?

Pretty soon if our offense doesn't improve.

I think we lose on New Year's to Pitt. Not that Pitt is anything special this year. I just think it's a trap game.

We beat Xavier. Wright State should be easy. And I see the players getting up for New Mexico. Which means they'll have a letdown vs. Pitt.

I am more worried about New Mexico than Pitt. The best time to play a road game is between 12/24 and 1/3 while students are on break and the rest of the world is on vacation. Pitt hasn't beat anyone good but they played Michigan close. Games at Cuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, and UConn scare me.

(12-20-2012 12:18 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 12:06 PM)UCEE73 Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 11:13 AM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  I think we lose on graduation day.

Very nice point. I agree.

Meh...I don't think it will be that bad. What do we lose...Cheikh, Parker and Cash? Cash will hurt. Parker might defensively, but his scoring can be replaced by Thomas and Sanders. Cheikh is a nice to have, but Nyarsuk/Jackson/Rubles easily fills that void. It all depends on what SK decides to do. Personally, I don't think he is ready for the league. His ball handling is still questionable and he is not one of those guys that if he is left wide open his shot is money. At this point in the season, definitely not a lottery pick.

I was meaning we do not lose until graduation day.

Undefeated, baby!

(12-20-2012 12:58 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 10:28 AM)bearcats23 Wrote:  When will we lose?

Pretty soon if our offense doesn't improve.

Last two games with slow starts have been away from our home court. Wonder how much it has to do with different shooting background/rims with subsequent adjustment and improvement in the 2nd half?

US Bank Arena defiinitely has some weird sightlines. I've never seen so many shots that were that far off. You could tell when some shots were in the air that they had no shot of going in.