Bracketology 2021: Arizona State and Cincinnati highlight biggest losers

Cincinnati Bearcats

Since Cincinnati is in the Bracketology losers that must mean that they were at once considered for the NCAA tournament. They opened the year projected to be one of the top teams in the American and with Houston, UCF, and Memphis that was likely to build up their resume enough to at least keep them in at large consideration if they win those games. The Bearcats have had a dreadful start to the season and they are in no way a tournament team right now, and will not get an at large bid.

As was mentioned conference play is going to be everything and even when Cincinnati starts a season off terribly they always seem to rebound in the conference portion of the season and find their way onto the bubble. That may happen this year but they are currently not playing very good basketball.

The team who was once expected in the top half of the American Athletic Conference is now 0-1 after a head-scratching loss to South Florida on their home floor. The Bulls are much improved from last year but they are not a tournament team by any means and are likely going to finish close to .500. It is a game that teams who make the tournament would win, and is a bad loss for the Bearcats.

Then came Saturday night and the Bearcats got ran out of the gym by a Georgia team that many expect to finish near the bottom of the SEC. The Georgia loss is going to sting more than the loss to South Florida as Georgia may end up with minimal wins and is lucky to finish in the top 150 overall. Cincinnati is struggling mightily right now. They are failing to play defense, and they are not built to score 75-80 points per game so they have to hand their hat on the defensive end.

Head coach John Brannen is a good coach and he can pull them out of this but it appears that the Bearcats may not be as good as some thought. Cincinnati is staring no postseason at all directly in the face.