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(04-06-2020 02:19 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  - Danny Manning was ready to come to UC if we would have kept Ed Badger although maybe Kansas would have gotten him anyway since they hired his dad as a coach. Or perhaps Badger would have beat them to the punch and hired his dad instead especially since they were apparently very close.

From my recollection Dennis Hopson was also a UC recruit in that same time frame that ended up changing his mind and going to OSU once Badger was let go. Manning and Hopson on the same team would have been an offensive juggernaut.

Also on the recruiting front I believe Huggins first two recruiting classes in the Big East would have included OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley and Bill Walker. That's three Top Ten 5-star players.

(04-06-2020 09:11 AM)doss2 Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 08:08 AM)BrooklynRocket Wrote:  Probably would've beat Oklahoma at Nippert if DJ Woods didn't fumble before the endzone on that long throw-and-catch in the first half.

The game was at PBS.

Thanks for playing!

(04-06-2020 09:20 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 08:08 AM)BrooklynRocket Wrote:  Probably would've beat Oklahoma at Nippert if DJ Woods didn't fumble before the endzone on that long throw-and-catch in the first half.

Or muffed the punt on the 3-yard line with less than 1:30 left in the game.

DJ had a monster game- 7/171 yards and a TD. By doing those two things he would have set us up for comfortable win.

In retrospect, that probably was football's biggest missed opportunity in the past decade against what has been a CFP caliber team.

Joe Burrow had arguably the greatest season in CFB history, won the Heisman, and will be the #1 overall pick to the hometown pro-football team. He was also extremely close to choosing UC over LSU. I know many on here down play how good Burrow would have been if had chosen UC instead...but there isn't a single player in history that could've changed our football program more than him.

Frankly, I'm surprised we don't talk about it more often. Hopefully he shows up to Nippert to support Fick at some point this season.

That second that was added on in the Texas-Nebraska game has my vote, though. If the clock runs out, Texas loses, we jump TCU (we did jump TCU anyways in the BCS rankings, not sure why that would have changed if Texas had lost) and play Bama for the championship.

Regardless of whether or not Kelly leaves, instead of a Sugar Bowl blowout loss, we're suddenly a program that has proven it can make it to the title game. How could any expansion happen in the years following that would leave out the 2009 Runner-Up? Remember, Texas lost big in that game too.

(04-05-2020 09:16 PM)GoCats1994 Wrote:  I'll change your #4 scenario. The "what if" was not about Texas kicking the field goal in '09. The question is what if the timekeepers actually played fair and did not put a mystery 1 second back on the clock after Colt McCoy floated/lobbed that ball out of bounds. The FG attempt never should have happened.

Did you know Boise went 14-0 that year. Boise and Cincy in Top 10 at end of year. Those days are long gone.

What if AD Jackson doesn't get injured in the first game of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. Does UC beat North Carolina in the Elite 8 and possible go on to win The National Championship? Alex Meacham interviewed AD Jackson for his podcast and it was very informative.

(04-05-2020 09:51 PM)Lush Wrote:  tyree and vince

Are we even sure there was ever a basketball player named vincent banks. I mean actual eyewitness testimony. He seems something akin to snipes and Kaiser Sosai.

(04-05-2020 10:56 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  What if Butch starts Brendon Kay from game #1 in 2012?

Likely go 12-1 in the regular season, have another Big East Championship, finiah in the Top 10 again, and land back in the Sugar Bowl against a depleted Florida team who Louisville beat rather easily. Could've actually ended up as the beat football season in program history.

As long as were playing, takes the Sugar Bowl away from Louisville and puts us in the ACC.

(04-06-2020 11:04 AM)Loco Bearcat Wrote:  What if AD Jackson doesn't get injured in the first game of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. Does UC beat North Carolina in the Elite 8 and possible go on to win The National Championship? Alex Meacham interviewed AD Jackson for his podcast and it was very informative.

Well that's an interesting take. Isn't Huggins on record as saying '93 was actually his best team? If so, that loss of Jackson probably did cost them against UNC as that game was a battle until the end. It was a crushing loss but UC really fought to the finish in an attempt to return to a second consecutive Final Four.

Right now, we'd be thrilled just to be in that round of eight.

Here's one...

What if the old BE tells Pitt where to go, votes to accept ESPN's offer and doesn't break up?

- Is there truly is a P6 instead of P5 with Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse and WVU still in our conference?

- Does Butchy stick around and build a contender? If he still leaves, does Babcock still panic and take Tuberville?

- What kind've program could the Mickster have compiled? Who could we have gotten that thought they were better than the AAC?

- Xavier remains in the A10 and doesn't get to fraudulently profit off the "big east" name.

- Does the B12 stay together?

- Boise St. goes away?

(04-06-2020 02:19 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  There's a lot of what-if players we were thisclose to getting but just missed out for one reason or another. To wit:
- not as sure about this one, but weren't we supposedly leading for Lew Alcindor until UCLA brought out the big bucks?
- NCAA decides to penalize LaSalle Thompson with a tourney ban or something if he went to UC because a family friend bought him a suit for a funeral and happened to be a casual UC fan/booster as I recall. So he goes to Texas.
- Danny Manning was ready to come to UC if we would have kept Ed Badger although maybe Kansas would have gotten him anyway since they hired his dad as a coach. Or perhaps Badger would have beat them to the punch and hired his dad instead especially since they were apparently very close.
- Mateen Cleaves went with MSU by a hair over UC.
- Kemba Woods similarly to UConn over UC in his final 2.
- I'm not sure how big of a difference maker he was for UK but we went all out for Dickie Beal and had a real shot at him iirc.
- Yates was in the conversation for getting the top player in the country in Marcus Liberty. He didn't fully live up to the billing but he might have opened the door for Yates to attract similar talents here.
- Huggins may or may not have held on to OJ Mayo and Bill Walker had he been brought back.
- I can't remember if we never offered Chris Lofton a scholly or if we waited too long to do it, but he was supposedly ours for the taking before he went to Tennessee and put together quite a career.
- We joke about how every new guy who sits out supposedly looks absolutely dominating in practice, but the all-timer may have been Vincent Banks and I don't think he ended up playing a minute of college ball anywhere.

On the coaching side, wasn't Rick Majerus runner-up to Huggins when we hired him. What if we would have went with him instead? What if John Loyer hadn't either screwed up or taken the fall as a UC assistant. Would he have been Mick Cronin before Mick Cronin became Mick Cronin? And of course what if we would have just given the job to Andy Kennedy rather than waiting for Cronin at the end of the season.

At least that's how I remember the above situations. Any additional insights/corrections? Who else did I miss?

Can any of the people that followed the team back then verify the Lew Alcindor info? I had never heard of that until just a few years ago. That is a big one, Obviously everyone knows number one and number two. The third title in a row and Kmart.

Lots of interesting ones on here though. I wish Huggins would’ve called a time out Against UNC Dean Smith earlier in the elite eight first half. He waited till they got all the way caught up. Then he called a timeout. And AD Jackson got hurt.

(04-06-2020 02:48 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  Turning to football...on the football coaching side, Tressel might well have ended up at OSU a few years later anyway, but the dominoes also could have fallen much differently had we hired him over co-finalist Minter. Or what if we would have identified one of Minter's assistants (John Harbaugh, Tomlin, Rex Ryan, Jimbo Fisher, etc.) as a star in the making and given them a shot earlier in their careers following Minter. Speaking of Fisher, he was probably Goin's (?) top choice to replace Minter, but he supposedly couldn't make up his mind and we got tired of waiting so we went with Dantonio. What if MSU finds a better candidate than sub .500 Mark Dantonio to take over their program or what if we had just given the job to Narduzzi when Dantonio did get the MSU job? Either one of those pretty much closes the door on Brian Kelly ever coaching here. Or what if Notre Dame had passed on Brian Kelly - was that really the one "dream job" that pulled him away? Sure he liked to flirt, but as we saw with Luke that doesn't always mean he's going to pull the trigger at any opportunity. Are there any "what-ifs" where Urban Meyer becomes UC's Head Coach?

I don't think there were many just-misses on the football recruiting side compared to basketball. Matt James (RIP) may have been one had he not had a life-ending accident. But we did have some inspiring great hope before falling short of our dreams for them and UC. Most of them were transfers who were out of our league during their initial recruitment. Gunnar Kiel comes to mind although he did some very good things for us. Demetrious Jones was supposed to be a leader and a quality QB. Mister Simpson transferred to UC and promptly quit iirc? There was an OSU WR who transferred here but left before playing a game. Then there was another OSU transfer here who had gone to Cleveland Glenville iirc. Or maybe those last two were actually the same guy?

Wait - I never knew about Jim Tressel. We hired an assistant over someone with two national titles at a lower level? Not smart.

What if Grandad Snuffy Smith Cadaverville was never hired to coach at Cincinnati? Do we still end up with BDF?

I can't do this thread. I opened it up just to respond, but I have not and will not read any of the comments. Just too painful.

(04-06-2020 06:36 PM)ZCat Wrote:  Wait - I never knew about Jim Tressel. We hired an assistant over someone with two national titles at a lower level? Not smart.

Well Minter was 39 and had two years of experience as the DC at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz when UC hired him. They went 11-1 and ranked #2 in the Final Rankings that second year and would have played for the NC had they not lost to BC on a last second FG. I'm not sure exactly where their defense ranked, but they did have shutout wins over Purdue and Pittsburgh and the loss to BC was the only time they gave up more than 27 against a pretty tough schedule.

(04-06-2020 02:48 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  Turning to football...on the football coaching side, Tressel might well have ended up at OSU a few years later anyway, but the dominoes also could have fallen much differently had we hired him over co-finalist Minter. Or what if we would have identified one of Minter's assistants (John Harbaugh, Tomlin, Rex Ryan, Jimbo Fisher, etc.) as a star in the making and given them a shot earlier in their careers following Minter. Speaking of Fisher, he was probably Goin's (?) top choice to replace Minter, but he supposedly couldn't make up his mind and we got tired of waiting so we went with Dantonio. What if MSU finds a better candidate than sub .500 Mark Dantonio to take over their program or what if we had just given the job to Narduzzi when Dantonio did get the MSU job? Either one of those pretty much closes the door on Brian Kelly ever coaching here. Or what if Notre Dame had passed on Brian Kelly - was that really the one "dream job" that pulled him away? Sure he liked to flirt, but as we saw with Luke that doesn't always mean he's going to pull the trigger at any opportunity. Are there any "what-ifs" where Urban Meyer becomes UC's Head Coach?

I don't think there were many just-misses on the football recruiting side compared to basketball. Matt James (RIP) may have been one had he not had a life-ending accident. But we did have some inspiring great hope before falling short of our dreams for them and UC. Most of them were transfers who were out of our league during their initial recruitment. Gunnar Kiel comes to mind although he did some very good things for us. Demetrious Jones was supposed to be a leader and a quality QB. Mister Simpson transferred to UC and promptly quit iirc? There was an OSU WR who transferred here but left before playing a game. Then there was another OSU transfer here who had gone to Cleveland Glenville iirc. Or maybe those last two were actually the same guy?

Wait - I never knew about Jim Tressel. We hired an assistant over someone with two national titles at a lower level? Not smart.

(04-06-2020 09:41 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 06:36 PM)ZCat Wrote:  Wait - I never knew about Jim Tressel. We hired an assistant over someone with two national titles at a lower level? Not smart.

Well Minter was 39 and had two years of experience as the DC at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz when UC hired him. They went 11-1 and ranked #2 in the Final Rankings that second year and would have played for the NC had they not lost to BC on a last second FG. I'm not sure exactly where their defense ranked, but they did have shutout wins over Purdue and Pittsburgh and the loss to BC was the only time they gave up more than 27 against a pretty tough schedule.

Thanks!!

(04-07-2020 09:39 AM)ZCat Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 09:41 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 06:36 PM)ZCat Wrote:  Wait - I never knew about Jim Tressel. We hired an assistant over someone with two national titles at a lower level? Not smart.

Well Minter was 39 and had two years of experience as the DC at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz when UC hired him. They went 11-1 and ranked #2 in the Final Rankings that second year and would have played for the NC had they not lost to BC on a last second FG. I'm not sure exactly where their defense ranked, but they did have shutout wins over Purdue and Pittsburgh and the loss to BC was the only time they gave up more than 27 against a pretty tough schedule.

Thanks!!

Yep. Minter was THE hot assistant out there when we got him.

And, that was back in the day when ND actually did play a tough schedule... unlike now.

(04-06-2020 06:32 PM)ZCat Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 02:19 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  There's a lot of what-if players we were thisclose to getting but just missed out for one reason or another. To wit:
- not as sure about this one, but weren't we supposedly leading for Lew Alcindor until UCLA brought out the big bucks?
- NCAA decides to penalize LaSalle Thompson with a tourney ban or something if he went to UC because a family friend bought him a suit for a funeral and happened to be a casual UC fan/booster as I recall. So he goes to Texas.
- Danny Manning was ready to come to UC if we would have kept Ed Badger although maybe Kansas would have gotten him anyway since they hired his dad as a coach. Or perhaps Badger would have beat them to the punch and hired his dad instead especially since they were apparently very close.
- Mateen Cleaves went with MSU by a hair over UC.
- Kemba Woods similarly to UConn over UC in his final 2.
- I'm not sure how big of a difference maker he was for UK but we went all out for Dickie Beal and had a real shot at him iirc.
- Yates was in the conversation for getting the top player in the country in Marcus Liberty. He didn't fully live up to the billing but he might have opened the door for Yates to attract similar talents here.
- Huggins may or may not have held on to OJ Mayo and Bill Walker had he been brought back.
- I can't remember if we never offered Chris Lofton a scholly or if we waited too long to do it, but he was supposedly ours for the taking before he went to Tennessee and put together quite a career.
- We joke about how every new guy who sits out supposedly looks absolutely dominating in practice, but the all-timer may have been Vincent Banks and I don't think he ended up playing a minute of college ball anywhere.

On the coaching side, wasn't Rick Majerus runner-up to Huggins when we hired him. What if we would have went with him instead? What if John Loyer hadn't either screwed up or taken the fall as a UC assistant. Would he have been Mick Cronin before Mick Cronin became Mick Cronin? And of course what if we would have just given the job to Andy Kennedy rather than waiting for Cronin at the end of the season.

At least that's how I remember the above situations. Any additional insights/corrections? Who else did I miss?

Can any of the people that followed the team back then verify the Lew Alcindor info? I had never heard of that until just a few years ago. That is a big one, Obviously everyone knows number one and number two. The third title in a row and Kmart.

Lots of interesting ones on here though. I wish Huggins would’ve called a time out Against UNC Dean Smith earlier in the elite eight first half. He waited till they got all the way caught up. Then he called a timeout. And AD Jackson got hurt.

I was very young then and you got most of the recruiting rumors then from the Enquirer and Post but I remember that we were very much in the running for Alcindor. Very definitely we were very close to signing Cazzie Russell; Jucker and others many times said our loss to Loyola preventing our three-peat hurt us in his decision.