Bearcats Headed To Philly, Xavier Staying Home

Selection Sunday has come and gone for another year. For the third year in a row the Cincinnati Bearcats are headed to the NCAA tournament. The 10 seeded Bearcats are headed to Philadelphia to face the 7 seeded Creighton Bluejays in the Midwest bracket.

Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Cincinnati heads into the tournament after a third round loss to the Georgetown Hoyas. Creighton comes into this matchup hot off a Missouri Valley Conference championship. The Bearcats have a lot to prove in this game, Creighton wants to show it can beat a team from a power 6 conference. The winner of this matchup will move on to face the winner of the Duke (2)/Albany (15) game, so more than likely Duke unless Albany becomes the goon squad from Space Jam overnight.

Cincinnati faces a powerful offensive team in Creighton at the hands of junior Doug McDermott. McDermott averages 23.1 points and 7.5 rebounds a game, Cincinnati’s defense is going to have to work this friday. The Bearcats defense has been their only bright side this season and by bright I mean a dull 20 watt bulb from 1935.

The Bearcats need a great game from their offense, mainly senior Cashmere Wright and junior Sean Kilpatrick. Cincinnati made it to the Sweet Sixteen last season, in 2011 they made it to the second round. Both Wright and Kilpatrick were on those teams, the tournament experience should be immensely helpful this year.

In news across town the Xavier Musketeers were snubbed from the NIT, then turned down an invite to the CBI

in a surprise move. So in other words Xavier is done, they will be watching every tournament from the couch.