NCAA Basketball: Overrated Kansas, dominant Virginia, and more takeaways

3) We need to stop pretending Cincinnati is good

Every year we do this dance with Cincinnati.

Their defense is excellent and they have athletes to do well in the American. But is their offense good enough to make them a legitimately good team?

Every year, that answer is no. And it’s still no this year. And I’m sick of hearing otherwise.

The Bearcats are 12-3. That’s a good record and their defense is worthy of that record, especially considering the level of competition they’ve played. However, unlike Virginia, they still revert to being the same team as always when they face other teams that are actually good.

Cincinnati has played two games against ranked teams this year (Ohio State, Mississippi State). Coincidentally, they’ve failed to score 60 points in two games this year. Can you guess which games those came in?

Saturday’s loss to ECU only highlighted those offensive struggles even more. The Bearcats shot just 15.8 percent from three and went just 8-18 from the foul line in the loss.

And it’s not like ECU is a good defensive team, either – they rank just 130th in adjusted defensive efficiency. They’ve also never gone better than 6-12 in the AAC in a single season.

If someone on TV or one of your friends tries to tell you that this year is different for Cincinnati or that they’re a really good team, don’t listen to them because they’re lying. This is the same Cincy team who will meet the same fate – losing in the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend.