Cincinnati Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Bearcats

After back-to-back 30+ win seasons, Cincinnati Basketball loses several key players. What should the expectations be for this upcoming campaign?

The Bearcats program is in the midst of a golden era, having won 61 games in the last two seasons, including a program tying record 31 wins last year alone. Cincinnati not only won the American Athletic Conference Regular Season title but also the conference tournament as well, thanks to a clutch play from Conference Player of the Year Gary Clark.

The winning was accomplished through the defensive end, where the Bearcats ranked second in the country in points allowed (57.5 ppg) and first in overall efficiency.

The 2018 NCAA Tournament was supposed had gone differently for the team, after being given the No. 2 seed in the South Region. There were even Final Four hopes after the No. 1 seeded Virginia Cavaliers made history after falling in the first round.

Unfortunately for Cincinnati, their participation in March Madness didn’t last much longer. In a heartbreaking matter, the Bearcats fell themselves to the 7-seed Nevada Wolf Pack in the last seconds of the game. But still, it doesn’t change the accomplishments of what they did or the fact that the program had ascended themselves to the very top of the AAC.

It’ll be a much tougher task for Cincinnati to remain at the top, with three key players gone from last year’s team. Not only is Clark not around but the other starting frontcourt Bearcat Kyle Washington is gone as well. The biggest loss may have been Jacob Evans, considered to be one of the best two-way players in the country a season ago.

That doesn’t mean that there still aren’t talented players around the program for this season. However, will it be good enough for the Bearcats to go back dancing? Or are the departures just simply too much to overcome?