Bracketology 2020: North Carolina, Michigan headline this week’s losers
CINCINNATI
This past offseason, Bearcats head coach John Brannen made the short trip up to Cincinnati from Highland Heights, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River, where he spent the past four season coaching Northern Kentucky. And though his job relocation may have been simple and smooth, his first year at the helm for UC has not gone so swimmingly.
Brannen wasn’t the only gem coming over from the Horizon League; Oakland transfer Jaevin Cumberland, the cousin of Cincinnati star Jarron Cumberland, joined the program, too. Add in big man Chris Vogt, and this was a team that looked like it would challenge Memphis for a spot at the top of the American.
Forget about the league—the Bearcats are struggling to stay above water in their out-of-conference schedule.
On Saturday, Cincinnati lost to Colgate, the Patriot League’s NCAA Tournament representative a year ago. And while the Raiders do have some studs in Jordan Burns and Rapolas Ivanauskas, this is not the type of game that the Bearcats should be losing.
Especially not at home.
Even worse, they had a great chance to get a last-second shot to win the game, but a massive mental error by Jarron Cumberland cost them that opportunity:
That loss, coupled with the Bearcats’ seeming inability to beat other Ohioan schools, puts their at-large hopes in extreme danger. They can be forgiven for losing to Ohio State since the Buckeyes look to be the best team in the nation right now. But some frustration seems to be setting in after losses to Bowling Green and crosstown rival Xavier. The loss to Colgate makes their resume even worse.
Worse still, the AAC is going to be rocky terrain this season. There are not many great wins available, and there’s a bevy of bad losses lurking around every corner. Up to this point, Cincinnati hasn’t done enough to give themselves much breathing room during league play, especially with the recent surge of Wichita State. If there’s any silver lining here, it’s that Houston has also struggled in the early season.
Like Cincinnati, our next Bracketology Loser—one of the Bearcats’ old Big East compatriots—recently learned a thing or two about coming up short in their home state.