Cincinnati Bearcats Up To #7

Feb 2, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin reacts to a call in the second half against the South Florida Bulls at FifthThird Arena. Cincinnati defeated South Florida 50-45. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Monday afternoon brought much delight to the University of Cincinnati and their fans. The Cincinnati Bearcats jumped from #13 up to #7 this week, their highest ranking in the Mick Cronin era. A six spot jump is a gigantic jump but it comes after beating defending National Champions Louisville, and the Bearcats are in the midst of a 14 game win streak.

During the Mick Cronin era the highest the Bearcats have been ranked was #8 last season. The Bearcats would slide after that week. This year though the team seems stronger, more determined and grittier than that of seasons past. The American Athletic Conference also got good news this week as four teams are now in the Top 25. #7 Cincinnati, #14 Louisville, #22 Connecticut, #24 Memphis are all in the Top 25 now with SMU knocking on the door. For comparison the almighty Big10 has only three teams in the Top 25 and ESPN loves to say the Big10 is the best conference this season.

In other news that means nothing at the moment but is cool to look at the Bearcats are up to a #2 seed in some mock brackets. That would be the highest seeding for a Cincinnati team since the Huggins/Maxiel era.

Also someone at ESPN has been watching Cincinnati, “I haven’t seen a team play harder than Cincinnati all season long.” said Jay Bilas Monday night. That is huge for Cincinnati, one to gain respect nationally and two maybe the world wide leader will pay attention, probably not but maybe.

The Bearcats return to the court Thursday against Connecticut in Fifth Third Arena at 7pm on ESPN.