Taj79 Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 When the five "big boys" of old CUSA took off running for the Big East .... Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette adn South Florida .... I seriously believed that of them, DePaul, Marquette and South Florida would get their heads handed to them over time. Hats off to Crean and Company for not only holding Marquette upright, but for being downright competitive in that league. Out of the others, I think what shocks me most right now is that its our beloved boys to hate, the BearCats, that have achieved low-man-on-the-totem-pole ranking in the new Big East. C'mon ... who on here thought that possible what with the scum Bulls of South Florida always available to kick around? I would have never thunk it possible but the 'Cats are below the Bulls! What a stunner. I guess it will be tough for all those hordes of BearCat fans in NYC early next month at the Big East tournament. They won't have anyone to cheer for what with the bottom two league dwellers left at home for even that post season. Condolences to gruehls, NatiCat and UCTom. Its got to be killer time in the Queen City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SluSignGuy Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Huggins may have been sketchy at times, but UC was stupid for getting rid of him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 signguy, depends on what you want. if all you want to do is "just win baby", then sure huggy being gone is huge right now in cincy. however if as a university you are tired of "the black hat" image and want to try to erase that, huggy had to go. the fact the first thing huggins did at kstate was 1. steal a charlotte assistant coach and the high profile verbal that went with that coach and 2. somehow get an academically challenged 5th year high school senior eligible for college in a semester you have to believe that huggins hasnt exactly "cleaned up his act". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SluSignGuy Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 It seemed the reason that huggins had to go was the University President wanted to assert her power in her new position. Also, Huggins in his later years at Cincy seemed to be graduating more players and there were less thugs than in the early days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 UC is on its 3rd coach in 3 years...they will be back in time. Last night they blew a big road lead and had shot around and out at Providence, who is playing some good ball...etc...In a few years they will be good again, too much tradition and support there. Huggins had two DUI's near the end, and one was all over the internet of him stumbling around drunk...looked very bad. That didn't help his cause. S Florida is in the Big East for football reasons, and are improving a lot in that area rapidly. They are not good in hoops, but have had a few nice games lately. (Somebody has to be at the league bottom, and anybody is dangerous in conference as SLU knows). The league likes it when the bottom teams are the football schools. Seton Hall hired a winner in Bobby Gonzalez, so they will be good in a few years...we'll see if Norm Roberts is the right choice at SJU...etc... Louisville and Marquette doing well...UC and USF struggling for now, but I see UC as turning that around...not so much for USF in near future. If anything, speaking of USF...I never was much of a Seth Greenberg guy, but he is having a nice season at Va Tech. Huggins will win at K-State and is already doing it...like or hate him. Louisville...monster game tonight at home vs Georgetown...for their dance ticket. I was reading a UK board a while back with all of the Tubby haters...and they wanted a new coach etc...and nobody mentioned Pitino until one guy did...and the guy literally said, we want NCAA Final Fours not NIT...not kidding...as if one he forgot what Pitino did for UK...and two Louisville was in the 2005 NCAA Final Four. Wow, you talk about what have you done for me lately. And, Marquette has reached another level on their ladder as a program. Crean is all powerful there and happens to be pushing all the right buttons on and off the court, and most importantly getting players and developing them. Recruiting has elevated, and Crean's coaching ability, and improvement, is underrated. If anything it shows that the city school and the state school can be intense rivals and be very good at the same time in a normal Midwestern State(meaning doesn't have to be Chicago or a big fertile ground). As long as the hoops schools can do well in hoops and football schools get better in football...Big East seems happy. Signed a $30 million tv deal, only the ACC has a bigger one.(and double the old one) All of their games will be on some form of ESPN or CBS.(wish SLU had that one) and they are going to 18 game league schedule next season, so every team gets to play at least once v another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Looking at what Huggs has done at KState this year really shows that the guy can coach. So, Cincy was going to have a hard time replacing him. I will say that Rammer has no respect for the guy - not sure why or what caused it but he was very uncomplimentary of him the other day on the radio when a guest was talking highly of Huggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Area Billiken Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 What about DePaul? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Cinci. has not always been a basketball powerhouse. While they had many great years back in the Ed Junker days of the 60's they had some very tough years back in the Metro confrence days. Who was the guy Tonny Yates? and the guy Catlett? Those were not great teams. Huggins made them a power,not the school itself. I'm not so sure they are going to the top of the Big East any time soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 >What about DePaul? Woops I forgot about DePaul. Leitao leaving for UVA didn't help them...however while there, he helped them a lot, elevated recruiting, winning and expectations, doing it the right way). (and it was a better situation for him in many regards to leave.) ...Wainwright, imo was a good choice. He brings some stability as somone who is going to be there a while. He has a lot of contacts and successful stops...Chicago native...Lots of talent in his backyard too...He is off to a very good start in recruiting for this year, 07 and 08.(better than I expected) DePaul is a tricky fit...and I think he is a good one there. I think they will be very competitive in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 >Cinci. has not always been a basketball powerhouse. While >they had many great years back in the Ed Junker days of the >60's they had some very tough years back in the Metro >confrence days. Who was the guy Tonny Yates? and the guy >Catlett? Those were not great teams. Huggins made them a >power,not the school itself. I'm not so sure they are going >to the top of the Big East any time soon. I agree that UC struggled in part of the 70's and most of the 80's until Huggins arrived and his 16 years there speaks for itself... You don't think Mick Cronin will succeed? Why not? Cincy native, dad was big time Cincy area coach...7 years on Huggins staff recruiting all of those star players and 5 NBA players...was named Recruiter of the year and assitant coach of the year at Louisville when he recruited part of the 2005 Final Four group there, Garcia etc.. Had a stop as Murray State head coach and was pretty dominating in short time there. I like his chances to be competitive in a few years when given a chance. 3 coaches, 3 years, he just started, and will have some growing pains, first couple of season in that tough league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdolwick Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I agree that Cronin will be successful w/in the BEast in ~2-3 years. He'll probably never measure up to Huggins in the eyes of some UC fans in that no school will ever be able to dominate their current conference as UC dominated C-USA. I don't see Huggins lasting 5 years at K-State. (Not a local ... past baggage ... burnout potential ... probation potential ...) Pat D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SluSignGuy Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Forgot about the DUIs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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