Bearcats Pre Game

So after the bearcats go to OT against Rutgers and we come off the win against PC do we see a let down or do we continue to storm through the Big East? Do we have it in us to keep this going or just a tease?

Calm Before the Storm will be up later tonight.

So after the bearcats go to OT against Rutgers and we come off the win against PC do we see a let down or do we continue to storm through the Big East? Do we have it in us to keep this going or just a tease?

Calm Before the Storm will be up later tonight.

Hopefully this team keeps on improving, they gotta contain Vaughn. Is Mason Jr playing?

I'm going to try and pry some information on that later today I'm figuring they have practice sometime this afternoon.

I'm going to try and pry some information on that later today I'm figuring they have practice sometime this afternoon.

Put on your Tonya Harding/Jeff Gillooly impersonation!

I got banned from the Cincinnati rivals message board lol. I asked for their thoughts on the game and said I'd come back and post some info on Mason Jr. status once I posted the CBTS. Unreal and to think I pay $100 a year for that site.

i don't understand why you were banned. that's worse than redmen.

This is the biggest game all year.  If we win, we're right there in the mix.  If we lose, I feel as though you can get out the proverbial fork.

Garrett has a very very insightful CBTS coming up....I should have this up in 30-45 min for all you night owls and to the rest you'll have something to read in the morning. This game has a lot larger implications than people might think.

Sorry taking a bit longer but we will have an injury update on whether Mason Jr is playing or not.

We have to keep Vaughn off the FT line this guy makes a living there.

Who should guard Vaughn?  I was thinking Boothe should guard Vaughn...but now I'm thinking Boothe should guard Warren.  I think Boothe could really disrupt Warren.  Then we can rotate Paris/Eugene/DJ up against Vaughn.  We should try to deny the ball to Vaughn as much as possible and force Warren/others to handle it.

SJU +6, i would take the points....and as i predicted 3 games ago, we will win this tonite.

this is a must win. i can't wait.

this is a must win. i can't wait.

every game her on out is a must win....we'll see.

well this is particularly big because of the fact if we beat them we own the tiebreaker over them instead of them owning the tiebreaker over us as they beat Louisville

http://media.www.newsrecord.org/media/storage/paper693/news/2008/02/13/Sports/Red-Storm.Blows.Into.Cincy-3204878.shtml

Cincy paper's preview....they're onto Larry Wright and they want to pound the ball inside have to say Johnny Jungle got the same quote from Cronin before this paper.

the word i got on mason is he'll play in some type of capacity...I guess what we saw in LIU type of game maybe 15 min?

I don't know but he was practicing participating in full capacity on mon/tues practice. I know Lenn Robbins said he isn't going to play which perplexes me.

again I think Vaughn pretty much gets his points no matter what...so I think we need Boothe to disrupt Warren and to crash the boards all night to have a chance on the road.

I remember reading somewhere that JB's nickname was the Rim Punisher!  We need to see some of that tonight too!

Let's go St. John's!!!!!!!!!!

here's another prediction

http://bebballsju.blogspot.com/2008/02/big-east-game-preview-st-johns.html


The theme continues tonight with Cincinnati looking to avenge an early defeat on the road to St. John's. The Redstorm beat Mick Cronin's Bearcats 70-58 earlier this season in Queens and now UC will look to even the season series at home.

Here are the local media pregame previews and stories on tonight's match-up:

Cronin Finds Kindrid Spirit (Cincinnati Enquirer)


Don't look now, but Norm Roberts and St. John's blow into Cincinnati riding a three game winning streak. Two of those wins have come on the road (South Florida and Rutgers) and their last two, including a thrilling win over Providence on Saturday, have come with leading scorer Anthony Mason out with an ankle injury.

While Mason has been out, the Redstorm have seem the re-emergence of shooting guard Larry Wright. The sophomore scored 16 in the win over PC and is averaging over 14 in the three-game winning streak.

Prior to the three-game rally, St. John's only had one conference victory, and that came over the Bearcats early in January. Since that game, the Redstorm has been a team languishing near the bottom of the standing fighting for a bid to the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden while the Bearcats have stayed around the upper half of the standings. Sitting at 6-5 with home games against St. John's and South Florida in their next two games, the Bearcats can solidify their position with a win tonight.

The Redstorm have picked it up on the defensive end of the court and they have the ability to be a tough defensive team. Sometimes it takes time for a young group to learn to maintain that intensity on defense, but over the last three games they seem to be coming around.

Cincinnati is also winning games in a similar fashion. They are not going to score a lot of points on most nights and rely on Deonta Vaughn a great deal for their offense. John Williamson is a tough forward as well. This promises to be a low-scoring affair and could come down to the wire.

The Bearcats are 6.5-pt favorites and should be able to pull it out in the end, but a confident SJU squad is likely to give them a tough battle as St. John's looks to sweep the season series.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Cincinnati 64 St. John's 59