Louisville holds off Cincinnati to win Big East title
The seventh-seeded Cardinals withstood a closing run to beat the Bearcats 50-44 for their second Big East tournament title in three years.
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Louisville vs Cincinnati: Analysis, Twitter Reaction and Grades
The Louisville Cardinals survived a hideous game against Cincinnati, winning 50-44 to reclaim their throne atop the Big East.
The game was almost as unwatchable as Basketball Wives, but the Cardinals will be the first to point out that a win is a win, regardless of how it looked.
Chris Smith, Peyton Siva and Kyle Kuric all scored in double figures, leading Louisville to their second Big East Championship title in four years. The Cardinals will now enter the NCAA Tournament on a wave of momentum, as they’ve slayed three big time opponents in just as many days.
Tweets of the Night
First of all, we have to acknowledge Siva’s sick spin move late in the second half, which was definitely the play of the game. Jarred Hill knows just how sweet it was.
Peyton Siva’s spin move was incredible. This kid is the truth.
— Jarred Hill (@jarred_hill) March 11, 2012
But as dope as Siva’s move was, it couldn’t overshadow the fact that this game was hideously boring. Reva Friedel has the right idea.
Who needs sleeping pills when you can just watch the Big East Championship game?
— Reva Friedel (@revafriedel) March 11, 2012
Unfortunately for hoops lovers everywhere, this game signals the end of the Big East as we know it. ESPN’s Howard Bryant was upset going in, as the championship featured two non-traditional Big East teams.
Louisville-Cinci is NOT my idea of a Big East Final. Yeah, I’m bitter about this. Thanks, college football, for ruining college basketball
— Howard Bryant (@hbryant42) March 11, 2012
Bryant’s colleague Dana O’Neil decided to get all witty and compare the low scoring game to Big East football.
It is 24-14. Fittingly. Big East wanted to expand for football. It’s got itself a football score at the half. Congrats on that.
— Dana O’Neil (@dgoneil1) March 11, 2012
The Tweet of the Night, however, goes to Chad Withrow, who pointed out that Peyton Siva’s dad does not look like a dude you’d want to mess with.
Rick Pitino should hire Peyton Siva’s father for security when he decides to make late night trips to Italian restaurants.
— Chad Withrow (@withrowzone) March 11, 2012
Grades for Louisville’s Key Players
Peyton Siva: B-
The Cardinals’ flashy point guard was far from perfect, but he still churned out a solid performance. He racked up 10 points, five assists and four rebounds. He also pulled off the play of the game, with his dope spin move serving as the cherry on top of the victory.
Chris Smith: A-
Smith was one of the only players who could knock down shots on Saturday. While Louisville shot just 35.4 percent as a team, Smith splashed 6 of his 10 shots, including 3 of 6 three pointers. His ability to hit buckets was a key part of Louisville’s narrow victory.
Grades for Cincinnati Key Players
Yancy Gates: C-
Gates was a monster during the season, averaging 12.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, Gates came up short in the title game, putting up just nine points and six boards.
Cashmere Wright: B
Wright was the only offensive force for Cincinnati, scoring 16 points on 7-12 shooting. However, he had an uncharacteristic five turnovers, and dished out just two assists on the night.
Deciding Factor: Louisville’s Defense
Louisville shut down the Bearcats, holding them to 39.2 percent shooting for the game, including an awful 3 for 14 performance from behind the arc.
Siva and reserve Russ Smith forced Wright into five turnovers, and Louisville did an incredible job of playing physical defense without fouling. The Cardinals only committed 11 fouls in the game, resulting in just seven free throw attempts for the Bearcats.
Game MVP: Peyton Siva
There wasn’t a runaway winner for this award, but we’ll give it to Siva because of his balanced performance.
His leadership and productivity, both on offense and defense, was the key to Louisville’s run through the Big East tourney. He’s a threat to drop a triple-double on any given night, and if the Cardinals are going to make some noise in the Big Dance, it will be because Siva rises to the occasion.
What’s Next?
Despite their loss tonight, Cincinnati will be a dangerous team in the NCAA tournament. As they proved by taking down No. 2 Syracuse on Friday, they’re good enough to beat any team in the country.
Louisville, meanwhile, is a legitimate threat to reach the Final Four. With their coaching, experience and stifling defense, they will be a tough out in the tourney.
Bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has Louisville as a four seed, while projecting the Bearcats as an eighth seed.
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Big East Tournament 2012: Gritty Cincinnati Will Top Louisville in Finals
When Cincinnati and Louisville square off for the Big East title, the game will be won in the paint. That will work in the favor of the Bearcats, who will claim the conference title.
It is physically painful just watching the Bearcats play. They have an incredibly physical style that works beautifully in the Big East. There is absolutely nothing fancy about watching them play, but Cincinnati sure is effective.
It all starts with Yancy Gates. The 6’9″, 260-pound senior is just an impossible matchup down below. In the modern game of college basketball, you can count the amount of players that can stand up to him on one hand.
In their semifinal game, there were times when Syracuse couldn’t stand up to Gates. Just to refresh your memory, the Orange came into that game 31-1 and will easily be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Gates dominated that team; he will do the same against the Cardinals.
But Gates is not the only reason that Cincinnati will win this game. The Bearcats just have an incredible toughness that works incredibly well in the Big East, especially in the conference tournament.
Gates is the team’s leading rebounder, which is expected. What’s not expected is that the team’s next best two players on the glass, Jaquon Parker and Sean Kilpatrick, are both guards. Even the little guys on the floor play gritty and tough basketball.
You can’t really match up with a team like that. In the Big East, you win by dominating the inside. Other conferences have better guards, but the nature of this conference is that everything shifts to the inside.
When it goes there, the Bearcats will just be too much to deal with. Even their guards play well on the inside, and it’s based around a player who’s completely physically dominant. That will be too much to overcome in this conference.
While we’re on the subject, if Cincinnati faces teams that don’t shoot well in the NCAA, they’re going to go a long way. But the Cardinals don’t, as they are not even in the Top 200 in the country in shooting percentage. That is going to make them too reliant on winning on the inside, which won’t be done against this team.
Prediction: Cincinnati 62, Louisville 55
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Cincinnati boots Syracuse in Big East semifinals
No. 2 Syracuse was stunned by Cincinnati in the Big East semifinals Friday night, falling 71-68 to the Bearcats.
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Cincinnati stuns No. 2 Syracuse 71-68 in Big East (Yahoo! Sports)
Cincinnati didn’t spend much time celebrating its biggest win of the season. That’s because the Bearcats have one more game to go for their first Big East title. Minutes after shooting their way to a 17-point lead and then holding on to beat No. 2 Syracuse 71-68 on Friday night and advance to their first Big East championship game, the Bearcats were already thinking about what could be.
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Big East Tournament: Syracuse out Cincinnati and Louisville in Title Game
The Syracuse Orange received their second loss of the season in a big upset (68-71) courtesy of the Cincinnati Bearcats. From the start of the semifinals game, top-seeded Syracuse could not contain the fourth-seeded Bearcats. Cincinnati’s win ended the 11-game win streak of No. 2 Syracuse.
The Bearcats now advance to the 2012 Big East tournament championship game where they’ll face Louisville.
No. 2 Syracuse trailed Connecticut by eight points Thursday, before pulling off the 58-55 win. Against the Bearcats, however, the Orange were not so lucky.
Cincinnati pulled off another upset Thursday by defeating No. 13 Georgetown, 72-70 in double overtime.
They will now look to pull off their first Big East tournament title since they joined the conference in the 2005-2006 season.
Syracuse and Cincinnati last met in January when the Orange beat the Bearcats 60-53.
The Big East is predicted to send up to ten teams to the NCAA tournament including unranked Cincinnati and Louisville. No. 2 Syracuse, with only one loss in the regular season, was looking to dominate in the Big East tournament securing a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed.
Cincinnati has made a total of 25 appearances in the NCAA tournament including two championships in 1961 and 1962.
From 1957-1964 the Bearcats went on a tear accumulating 86-home court wins, before losing at home to Bradley. That home winning streak is the fourth longest in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history.
If Cincinnati continues to play at the level it has been in the Big East tournament, the Bearcats could be a major threat in the “Big Dance.” Any doubts about Cincinnati’s position in the NCAA tournament were clearly eliminated in the Big East tournament.
In the regular season the Bearcats played eight AP Top 25 opponents, with a win-loss record of 5-3—with wins over then-No. 22 Pittsburgh, then-No. 9 Georgetown, then-No. 13 Connecticut, then-No. 17 Louisville and then-No. 8 Marquette.
Syracuse’s only regular season loss was to then-unranked Notre Dame. The Orange won all five of their games against AP Top 25 teams. Only one of those wins (72-68 against then-No. 10 Florida) was a non-conference win.
Syracuse still stands with one of the best resumes in the NCAA, although a Big East tournament title would have been the stamp on its claim for a No. 1 NCAA seed. However, it will not be a big surprise if Syracuse ends up with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament regardless of the loss to the Bearcats.
Cincinnati’s win over No. 2 Syracuse and No. 13 Georgetown will help the Bearcats in seeding come Selection Sunday. Wins over these two ranked teams gives Cincinnati the most wins over ranked teams in the NCAA this season.
Before the NCAA tournament Cincy will first take on the Louisville Cardinals in the Big East tournament title game. Louisville pulled off its own upsets in the Big East tournament with wins over No. 9 Marquette and No. 23 Notre Dame. Louisville last won the Big East tournament title in 2009.
Few would have predicted the Big East tournament title game would involve these two unranked opponents who last played each other on February 23. In that game the Bearcats beat the Cardinals 60-56.
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Yancy Gates leads Cincinnati over Georgetown in double-OT
“It’s the best game he’s ever played at Cincinnati,” said UC coach Mick Cronin.
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Big East Tournament: Cincinnati Looms Large Heading into Toughest Test
The Big East Tournament is one last taste of pressure before the all-important big dance. The Cincinnati Bearcats have already put on their dancing shoes.
The Bearcats played No. 8 Marquette like a team that had nothing to lose, not like a program that was trying to prove something.
By the end of a stirring performance, they had me believing that they could indeed crack into the field for March Madness.
More than that, I was fully convinced this squad was ready to shine at the Big East Tournament.
The Bearcats will take on Villanova in a couple of days, but it was their win against Marquette that has most people buying into Cincy, lacing up the sneakers for an even greater chance at epic upsets in the NCAA tournament.
The Bearcats kept Marquette to 61 points and lived off a flurry of layups to get to their 72. It was all about confidence and an assertive attack that saw JaQuon Parker drive the lane for a career-high 28 points.
If the Bearcats are going to make the tourney and do some damage, they have to play the way they did against Marquette, with an aggressive demeanor that puts even the best teams on their heels.
The important thing is to make it to the dance on Selection Sunday. That is something that nobody can guarantee at the moment, but there is enough to think they will do just that.
ESPN’s Eamonn Brennan agrees.
It is growing increasingly difficult to see just how the committee would justify keeping the Cincinnati Bearcats out of the NCAA tournament…Cincinnati has now picked off Marquette, Georgetown (at Georgetown), Louisville and Notre Dame. The first two are top-10 bubble teams. The latter two are safely in the tournament field.
There are a few teams still on the bubble headed into conference tournaments, but none are more intriguing than Cincinnati.
I see great things for them when they take on all comers at the Big East tourney. A great showing there should put little doubt as to the next step in this program’s future.
After upsetting some teams in New York, it’s time to take their confidence to another level deeper into March.
I certainly hope this is the case, because a team like Cincinnati makes the tournament far more interesting to watch.
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Cincinnati trounces No. 7 Marquette
JaQuon Parker scored 28 points in a take-it-to-the-hoop attack on Wednesday night, leading Cincinnati to victory over No. 7 Marquette.
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Cincinnati beats No. 8 Marquette 72-61 (Yahoo! Sports)
Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin took the courtside microphone and thanked the crowd for its raucous support on Senior Night and all season long. “We’ll see you in New York,” Cronin said, referring to the Big East tournament. “Then in the NCAA tournament.” With a double-digit win Wednesday night, they’re a little closer to getting in the field of 68.
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