http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2011/01/its-skyline-time.html

We could have just pm'd each other. And I will not tell you a single thing about Xavier until you take Skyline out of the thread title.

We probably could have just pm'd each other. No one else would notice, except for a few trolls who would tell us how bad UC is, HAHA. I take it you are not a Skyline Chili fan?

It's kinda growing on me. I like the coney's but the 3-way just isn't going to ever do it for me.

By the way did you pay attention that Canty is out for us? So now we have gone from a team with 7 guys where 1 just doesn't contribute to just 6 guys (and only 1 I would call good). Against Florida we were playing a guy that started off as a walk on his freshman and sophomore season, as well as an actual walk on.

You are going to laugh when I tell you this, but I don't like Skyline at all. I grew up a military brat and lived a good part of my life in the South. Chili to me is more Texas/Southwestern style Chili--- Spicy with beans and big hunks of meat. Absolutely no spaghetti. When I was at UC, all my friends would go to the Skyline on Ludlow and I would just hang out and eat Oyster crackers or something.

Sorry to hear about the depth issues. As you know, UC will be playing 10. That being said, this is still UC/XU and I expect you guys will overcome it and this will be a great game. Obviously this game is important to both teams and I think both have things to prove. For the Bearcats there are a few things that will need to happen for them to be able to win this game. Cashmere Wright and Dion Dixon will have to prove they can handle Holloway off the dribble. Gates will have to stay out foul trouble and Ibrahima Thomas will have to finish. UC will also need its 3pt shooting to be more like the first 12 games of the season, not the last two.

Danny, you going to be there? If so, we should meet up.

This is a chance for Gates to finally show his potential. The last few games he has shown signs, playing more aggressive and calling for the ball down low. They need to work on McClean and get him in foul trouble.

I won't be there Dave. I will be in Columbus. I plan to watch the game at a UC alumni gathering at the Dublin Montgomery Inn.

I agree with you about Gates. It is games like this were he needs to step it up a notch. Last year he tended to disappear when the team needed him most.

If he doesn't he's going to find himself on the bench a lot more. Thomas will get more minutes if he can stay out of foul trouble.

Ultimately I think that this will end up being about a 10-15 point Cincinnati win.

- Dion Dixon and Cashmere Wright are not good enough individually to stop Holloway, but a combination of the two will wear a guy down that is expected to play 39 to 40 minutes for X.
- Kenny Frease and Yancy Gates have both turned the corner and have been big reasons for any early success. I think that Frease if he stays out of foul trouble will get the better of Gates though. The only time Kenny seems to struggle is with a big guy that is really athletic i.e. Gonzaga and Florida. From what I have seen so far this year of Gates he seems to be more of a bully type player that uses his size to create his advantage. But I could be wrong. I have only watched 4 to 5 Cincinnati games.
- Thomas and McLean could potentially be an interesting match-up but it will most likely end up with McLean getting in foul trouble and him being a non factor. This is a huge reason why we struggled against Gonzaga and then against Florida as well. If McLean stays in the game our rebounding drastically improves and we will fare better.
- Whoever guards Mark Lyons will feel like they are getting destroyed off the dribble. Then when Lyons shoots they will realize that they shouldn't have guarded him to begin with. If Lyons starts hitting shots for X, X will win this game. The only impressive win this season (Albany lol) was a direct result of Lyons drastically improving his shooting from everywhere on the court. This guy on a regular basis can't even make lay-ups.
- Dante Jackson seems to step up in big games for us, but so far this season he has been a non-factor minus a game or two. What he tends to do if anything is go crazy right at the beginning of the game with 8-10 points and then disappears towards the end.
- Jeff Robinson could be an interesting guy to look at though. He doesn't really fit the build of anyone else on the court for either team. If he can survive the physicality that will be going on with Frease/Gates/Thomas/McLean then he could be the quickness that X needs down low for some points.
- X's freshmen are pretty much sitting with us in the crowd for all extensive purposes.

X will get in foul trouble. We will have to play people that I don't think should have been offered scholarships. We will lose. To be to the point lol.

This is from about 4-5 years ago, but I just watched it and it got me a little pumped for the game tomorrow. This video puts together some nice stills from the series from the past decade or so.

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I work for a franchisee of Skyline, so how dare anyone speak badly about such a fantastic place.

I'll be at the game, and having seen UC a few times this year they keep getting better and better. Being a rivalry game I expect it to be a close throughout, but I think UC is the better team and being home they will have the momentum and carry it to a 6-8 point win.

As i stated in another thread i think UC is the better team and should win tonight, but you never know with these matchups. I would really like to see this matchup get back to where it used to be.

Go Bearcats!

alwaysawarrior;627737 wrote:As i stated in another thread i think UC is the better team and should win tonight, but you never know with these matchups. I would really like to see this matchup get back to where it used to be.

I like it just fine the way it is now. X has the last 3, 4 of the last 6, 6 of the last 8, and 10 of the last 14.

I love you Nancy Zympher. You are gorgeous no matter what any UC fan says about you.

Pete is in the building for this one.

Cats put a little 7-0 together run to take the lead and X got it right back.

12-2 run for the Cats, up 4.

What a great night for Cincinnati hoops!
66-46!!!!
15-0
'Nova is next!

What a beatdown. I was right about Gates. After a somewhat disappointing season against poor competition he has picked up the aggressiveness. Crowd was pretty weak, but it has been even when UC was dominating CUSA.

Major credit to Cincinnati. They played pretty much how I would love to see X play come March. X is just pretty much hopeless right now and I'm not sure it can all be blamed on injuries which is disheartening. There really seemed like a lack of heart and pride last night which is most frustrating. It is one thing to lose, anyone can handle losing, but that looked like a team that just didn't give a damn.

As far as the crowd went, I had a pretty good time. The place was sold out obviously and it was probably 75% UC fans. But that was one of the worst environments I have been in. Students were pathetic. Fans didn't seem into the game until the 2nd half and it was looking more and more likely that UC was going to get the win. I don't know if that was because people still weren't buying the hype for the team or what.

Mick saying that they won't lose a home game if they have that type of crowd again was just laughable to me. It is obvious he has gotten a little too used to 7000 fans at his games. The kind of crowd last night is what most Big East teams have for non-conference games. Then listening to call in shows on the way back to Columbus that night it was just kind of odd to hear how beloved Mick is all of a sudden by the UC fans. The strength of schedule will climb into the high high high 200's now. But I guess I would stick to cautious optimism and not openly declare that Mike Thomas was right about sticking with Mick? There is nothing to show that UC won't fall flat on their face in Big East play. The Xavier team that they beat last night is not what a win in previous years would have meant, at least in my opinion.

CinciX12;629335 wrote:Major credit to Cincinnati. They played pretty much how I would love to see X play come March. X is just pretty much hopeless right now and I'm not sure it can all be blamed on injuries which is disheartening. There really seemed like a lack of heart and pride last night which is most frustrating. It is one thing to lose, anyone can handle losing, but that looked like a team that just didn't give a damn.

As far as the crowd went, I had a pretty good time. The place was sold out obviously and it was probably 75% UC fans. But that was one of the worst environments I have been in. Students were pathetic. Fans didn't seem into the game until the 2nd half and it was looking more and more likely that UC was going to get the win. I don't know if that was because people still weren't buying the hype for the team or what.

Mick saying that they won't lose a home game if they have that type of crowd again was just laughable to me. It is obvious he has gotten a little too used to 7000 fans at his games. The kind of crowd last night is what most Big East teams have for non-conference games. Then listening to call in shows on the way back to Columbus that night it was just kind of odd to hear how beloved Mick is all of a sudden by the UC fans. The strength of schedule will climb into the high high high 200's now. But I guess I would stick to cautious optimism and not openly declare that Mike Thomas was right about sticking with Mick? There is nothing to show that UC won't fall flat on their face in Big East play. The Xavier team that they beat last night is not what a win in previous years would have meant, at least in my opinion.

I pretty much agree with what you have said. Yeah, UC may fall flat on their face when Big East play picks up, but it is encouraging the way they are playing now. I like the fact that they have no "star" they feel they need to get the ball to. Thomas needs to realize he can't shoot a 3-pointer though.

revgat;629393 wrote:I pretty much agree with what you have said. Yeah, UC may fall flat on their face when Big East play picks up, but it is encouraging the way they are playing now. I like the fact that they have no "star" they feel they need to get the ball to. Thomas needs to realize he can't shoot a 3-pointer though.

For sure. They are a much, much, much better team.

I would even argue that what Xavier is going through this year is a carbon copy of what UC endured last year. UC had to watch Vaughn and Stephenson drive to the basket while the rest just stood around. X sure seems to have that tenfold with Holloway and Lyons.

Technically the UC players on the court have less talent than last year, but it was addition by subtraction for sure. UC knew they all had to step up and they have done it.