Cincinnati Bearcats Get No. 9 Seed, Face No. 8 Saint Joseph’s

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats are in the NCAA Tournament and have a pretty good matchup. The No. 9 seed Bearcats will be facing off against the No. 8 seed Saint Joseph’s Hawks. The game will be played Friday in Spokane, Washington. Tip off is at 9:57 p.m. EST, on truTV.

Saint Joseph’s made their way into the Big Dance by winning the Atlantic-10 tournament. The Bearcats got in on the merits of an at-large bid. After suffering a four-overtime loss to the UConn Huskies, in the American Athletic Conference tournament, the consensus was that UC would be no higher than 11. The seeding shows a tremendous amount of respect from the Selection Committee.

“We’re just going to go out and continue to do what we’re doing,” senior forward Octavius Ellis said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Take our anger out from the last game to this game.”

UC is still frustrated over the ruling that allowed UConn to tie the game at the end of the third overtime. Coach Mick Cronin didn’t try to conceal his anger after the loss in the AAC tournament. He congratulated the Huskies on beating the Bearcats for the first time this season. It was a hard-fought battle. But, Cronin was visibly disgusted.

“I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about the conference right now, the office, that is,” Cronin said. “We try to be tough to beat, and when we make shots we’re really hard to beat. And when the clock starts on time, we’re really difficult to beat.”

After suffering five heartbreaking losses by two points, the Bearcats are determined to use the UConn game as motivation for the tournament. The Bearcats will return to Spokane for the second time in three years. In 2014, No. 5 seed UC was upset 61-57 by No. 12 seed Harvard.

“I told them, I think it was the final straw,” Cronin said of the Bearcats loss. “Let’s get all bad luck, unfairness and bad things out of the way…so the luck has already started. It’s our time to be lucky.”

Cronin is positive that things will turn around and go the Bearcats way, in the tournament.

“There’s so many things have happened to these guys. That’s a good thing. And they’ve bounced off the mat.”

The Bearcats will be getting their first look at the Hawks. Cronin admits that he hasn’t seen them play, but he knows they have a talented crew. This will be the fifth meeting between UC and Saint Joseph’s. Cincinnati holds a 3-1 advantage.

The two teams haven’t faced each other since 1969. Cronin praised Spokane and the Hawks, via Go BEARCATS.

“I do know that Spokane is a very nice city,” said UC coach Mick Cronin, “which I did not know before 2014. There’s a river running through the city, a beautiful place. And people love basketball there.”

“As far as Saint Joe’s, I haven’t seen them play. I watched them play Temple a long time ago, but I was really paying attention to Temple during the game. I do know who DeAndre’ Bembry is and (UC assistant coach) Darren Savino knows them well. He says Isaiah Miles is the most improved player throughout his career and has had a tremendous year for them.”

The Bearcats will be going into the game as the walking wounded. Cronin is hoping that his players will be able to heal quickly. If the Bearcats hope to make a deep run in the tournament, they’ll need all hands on deck. Farad Cobb, Gary Clark, Jacob Evans and Shaq Thomas are all nursing injuries. Troy Caupain, who had a career-high 37 points against UConn, also has not been 100 percent.

Making a sixth straight appearance in the tournament puts the Bearcats in select company. Only seven other teams in the country can claim that distinction (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, VCU and Wisconsin).

[Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images]