Busting Brackets
Fansided

March Madness: Top takeaways from 2019 NCAA Tournament Round of 64

By Brian Rauf

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 22: Evan Leonard #14 of the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrates a three-point shot with Max Hazzard #2 in the second half against the Kansas State Wildcats during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at SAP Center on March 22, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 22: Evan Leonard #14 of the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrates a three-point shot with Max Hazzard #2 in the second half against the Kansas State Wildcats during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at SAP Center on March 22, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 9
Next
COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 22: Head coach Mick Cronin of the Cincinnati Bearcats reacts during the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 22: Head coach Mick Cronin of the Cincinnati Bearcats reacts during the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

5) New season, same Cincinnati

While Virginia got past some March demons, Cincinnati fell victim to theirs yet again.

Despite winning at least 22 games in each of the last nine seasons under head coach Mick Cronin, the Bearcats failed to advance out of the first weekend for the eighth time, including the seventh time in a row.

Every loss is virtually a carbon copy of the loss that came the previous year, too. Cincinnati will get out to a solid lead thanks to their defense, but will then see it dwindle throughout the remainder of the game until the lose it late in the second half and don’t have the offense to get it back.

Every. single. time.

This year’s Cincinnati team was supposed to be the one that broke the mold with American Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland and a number of other offensive weapons, and they validated that by winning the AAC Tournament. But it was only fool’s gold.

At which point do we consider that Cincinnati needs to move on from Mick Cronin? He’s a quality coach who wins at a high level in the regular season and has them at the top of the American, yet the success in March has never followed.

I’m not suggesting Cincinnati should make a change this offseason but this loss does put his tenure and status in a different light for the first time since he took over.

Home/March Madness