NCAA Basketball: North Carolina the worst preseason No. 1 team of all time
By Joey Loose
12. 1996-97 Cincinnati
Bob Huggins built quite the program at Cincinnati back in the 90’s and the preseason expectations were at an all-time high in 1996. After a 28-5 season and a trip to the Elite Eight, the Bearcats brought back three of their top players and had even higher expectations after an impressive season. While things started great, you won’t be surprised to hear that they didn’t defend that top-ranking for long.
On the court, Cincinnati ran through junior forward Danny Fortson, who’d spent 10 years in NBA frontcourts. He averaged 21.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and was clearly the Bearcats’ best player. He was far from the only talented member, as both Darnell Burton and Ruben Patterson averaged at least 13 points a game. Senior point guard Damon Flint (8.9 points, 4.0 assists per game) ran the offense and helped make this one of the best programs in Conference USA at the time.
An early home loss to rival Xavier knocked the Bearcats off the top spot and was the first of seven regular season losses they’d accumulated. They’d win the CUSA regular season title before falling in the conference tournament and settling for a 3-seed in the Big Dance. After an impressive performance against 14-seed Butler, the Bearcats saw their season end in the second round, dropping a tough 1-point contest to 6-seed Iowa State. Fortson had an efficient 16 points but they just didn’t stop the Cyclones and saw it all come undone.