Palm, Lunardi: UC still in good NCAA shape
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 12:59 p.m. EST February 15, 2015
Associate head coach Larry Davis and the Bearcats remain very much alive for an NCAA tournament bid, forecasters say. (Photo: The Enquirer/Kareem Elgazzar)
University of Cincinnati players and associate head coach Larry Davis believe their NCAA tournament hopes took a hit when UC lost 50-49 to Tulane on Saturday, but national forecasters say the Bearcats remain in good shape.
Joe Lunardi (ESPN) and Jerry Palm (CBS Sports) said UC is very much alive. The Bearcats (17-8, 8-5 American Athletic Conference) will enter Wednesday's Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout with Xavier on a two-game losing streak.
"They're currently 34th on my board, a No. 9 (NCAA) seed," Lunardi said Sunday. "They're still pretty solid."
UC has six regular season games remaining: Xavier (home, Wednesday); at Houston (Feb. 21); UCF (home, Feb. 25); at Tulane (Feb. 28); at Tulsa (March 4); and Memphis (home, March 8). Then comes the AAC tournament, March 12-15 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Palm as of Sunday morning was still figuring out his new bracket, but said UC has dropped into "the bottom half" of that group.
"The good things they've done have given them a cushion, but they keep getting in their own way," Palm said. "The things they've got going for them are they swept SMU and won at North Carolina State, which looks better every time (NC State) does something good. But you get to the bad losses and you wonder if they're still going to make it."
The bad losses include East Carolina, Tulane and Nebraska, Palm said, with all below-100 RPI teams. UC itself has been hovering in the 20s and 30s in the RPIs of the NCAA, ESPN, CBS Sports and others.
"(UC) needs to win at Houston, and they need to beat UCF, Tulane and Memphis," Palm said. "Those are teams that can hurt them if they don't win."
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