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(03-31-2018 10:33 AM)bearcatlawjd2 Wrote:  

(03-31-2018 10:16 AM)Bearcat 1985 Wrote:  I think the biggest difference between now and Huggins' run is that the regional competition is much harder today. In the 90s Xavier was a good program but not elite, more similar to Dayton than what they are now. UK was up and down. OSU was garbage for much of the decade. Louisville didn't have the P5 resource gap over us, and Crum was holding on too long. It was a unique situation where UC could be King of the block.

I have said that UC is now in the high rent district of college basketball. Outside of Indiana every other regional program has advanced their program in the past 20 years. Ohio State, Louisville, and Xavier have seen significant improvement across the board. Dayton has had its moments but might be on the way down. Kentucky continues to be elite. Even programs like NKU and Wright State are in a better spot today than they were 20 years ago.

Back in the 1990's the regional rankings went something like this:


1. Kentucky
2. Indiana
3. Cincinnati
4. Louisville
5. Xavier
6. Ohio State
7. Dayton

Today I would rank the program in their current state as

1. Kentucky
2. Louisville
3. Ohio State (Big Ten Money)
4. Cincinnati
5. Xavier (before Mack left they would have three)
6. Indiana (Still a mess)
7. Dayton

The big difference is the gap between the top 2 and everyone else is huge. Ohio State has so many structural advantages it is hard to put them behind the other regional schools no matter what their final record is. Xavier is really one bad hire away from dropping back to where they used to be or worse. Cincinnati continues to be steady, not elite, always good.

20 years ago, Cincinnati, Indiana, and Kentucky were borderline elite programs. Only Kentucky is still in that group. Now, Louisville has joined them and Ohio State has been close at times.

Cincinnati is an all time top 15 program that is currently producing season is in the 12-25 range. In my view this is right where Cincinnati should be based on the regional and national landscape in the sport.

where does cincinnati stack up against middle of pack p5 teams? we should be getting recruits equal or better than these teams every year. No way Vandy in region should ever out recruit UC in basketball.

BiG10
michigan
ohio st
indiana
purdue

acc
syracuse
virginia
nc state
florida st

sec
vandy
auburn
miss st
alabama
georgia
texas am

big12
wvu
Oklahoma
ok st
texas
iowa st
Kansas St

pac12
usc
oregon