NO NAME HT WT POS CL EXP Hometown High School
32 Kenny Belton 6-8 245 F SO 1L Salem, Va. Dudley (N.C.)
22 Rashad Bishop 6-6 220 F SO 1L Newark, N.J. Kennedy
11 Larry Davis 6-3 180 G SO 1L Houston, Texas Alief-Hastings
3 Dion Dixon 6-3 180 G FR HS Chicago, Ill. Crane Technical Prep Common
34 Yancy Gates 6-9 255 F FR HS Cincinnati, Ohio Withrow
30 Anthony McClain 7-0 245 C SO 1L Trenton, NJ National Christian Academy
20 Branden Miller 6-4 195 G SR 3L (NS) Cincinnati, Ohio Indian Hill
23 Alvin Mitchell 6-5 215 F SO 1L Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Cardinal Gibbons
50 John Riek 7-1 255 C FR HS Sudan Winchendon School (Ma.)
42 Steve Toyloy 6-8 255 C JR Tr. West Palm Beach, Fla. Palm Beach Lakes
5 Deonta Vaughn 6-1 195 G JR 2L Indianapolis, Ind. Harmony Community
15 Darnell Wilks 6-7 195 F SO 1L Nashville, Tenn. Pioneer Christian Academy
21 Mike Williams 6-7 240 F SR 1 Sq. Camden, Ala. Wilcox Central
1 Cashmere Wright 6-0 170 G FR HS Savannah, Ga. Urban Christian Academy
Coach Mick Cronin
2008-2009 SCHEDULE
( Click on an event for complete event information )
Date Opponent / Event Location Time / Result
Sat., Nov. 1 vs. Carleton University (Exh.) Fifth Third Arena 1:00 p.m. ET
Tue., Nov. 11 vs. Northern Kentucky (Exh.) Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Sun., Nov. 16 vs. South Dakota Fifth Third Arena 12:00 p.m. ET
Tue., Nov. 18 vs. Texas Southern Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Global Sports Classic
Sat., Nov. 22 vs. Western Illinois Fifth Third Arena TBA
Mon., Nov. 24 vs. Coastal Carolina Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Fri., Nov. 28 vs. Florida State Las Vegas, Nev. 10:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 29 UNLV or California Las Vegas, Nev. TBA
Sat., Dec. 6 vs. UAB Fifth Third Arena 12:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Dec. 13 vs. Xavier Fifth Third Arena 8:00 p.m. ET
Mon., Dec. 15 vs. Charleston Southern Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
SEC/BIG EAST Invitational
Thu., Dec. 18 vs. Mississippi State Cincinnati, Ohio (U.S. Bank Arena) 6:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Dec. 20 vs. Eastern Kentucky Fifth Third Arena 6:30 p.m. ET
Mon., Dec. 22 vs. Arkansas - Pine Bluff Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Mon., Dec. 29 at Memphis Memphis, Tenn. 9:00 p.m. ET
Sun., Jan. 4 at Marquette * Milwaukee, Wis. 2:00 p.m. ET
Wed., Jan. 7 vs. Providence * Fifth Third Arena 7:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Jan. 10 vs. Connecticut * Fifth Third Arena 4:30 p.m. ET
Wed., Jan. 14 vs. Rutgers * Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Jan. 17 at DePaul * Chicago, Ill. 2:00 p.m. ET
Mon., Jan. 19 at Providence * Providence, R.I. 8:00 p.m. ET
Thu., Jan. 22 at St. John's * Queens, N.Y. 9:00 p.m. ET
Wed., Jan. 28 vs. Georgetown Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Sun., Feb. 1 at Villanova * Philadelphia, Pa. 12:00 p.m. ET
Wed., Feb. 4 vs. Notre Dame * Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Feb. 7 at Georgetown Washington, D.C. 12:00 p.m. ET
Wed., Feb. 11 vs. St. John's * Fifth Third Arena 7:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Feb. 14 at Pittsburgh * Pittsburgh, Pa. 4:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Feb. 21 vs. Louisville * Fifth Third Arena 2:00 p.m. ET
Thu., Feb. 26 vs. West Virginia Fifth Third Arena 7:00 p.m. ET
Sun., Mar. 1 at Syracuse * Syracuse, N.Y. 2:00 p.m. ET
Tue., Mar. 3 at USF * Tampa, Fla. 7:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Mar. 7 vs. Seton Hall * Fifth Third Arena 12:00 p.m. ET
BIG EAST Conference Championship
Tue., Mar. 10 BIG EAST Conference Championship New York, N.Y. TBA
- I'm really excited about our team this year. We finally have a roster full of talent that is ready to compete each night in the Big East. This is the first full team that we've had since the year that Andy Kennedy coached us right after Huggins was fired. Last year Mick beat Boeheim, Wright, Huggins, and Pitino with a roster full of JUCO players that he signed to fill the roster that he inherited that had about 3 players after he was hired and the '07 freshman class. This year he has so much more talent at his disposal and it will be very interesting to see what he is able to do with it.
-Everyone knows that Deonta Vaughn is our go to guy and he has shouldered the load since his freshman year. I expect his scoring numbers to go down a little bit since he won't have the ball in his hands as much as he was forced to in years past, and also due to the fact that he will have a lot more weapons around him.
-Having Mike Williams this year is going to be big for us. He hasn't really lived up to the All-American hype that he had coming out of high school when he signed with Texas, but I feel like his game is much more well rounded now and he has really matured as a player. He is very fundamentally sound around the basket and has nice mid-range jump shot. Physically, he is still a monster and pairing him with Yancy Gates could be a nasty combo. Mike and Deonta will be the leaders of the team and I think they are very well respected by their teammates.
-Yancy Gates- Yancy has so much talent that it is ridiculous. He is 6'9 260 with an NBA body, and NBA athleticism. He has a 40 inch vert and can handle the ball very well for someone that size. He also is a good shooter. He can knock it down from mid range with consistency, and even step out and hit a few threes. However, the problem with Yancy is effort. You don't know which Yancy Gates is going to show up on each particular day. He should be dominant on the boards, but he really isn't. He also shouldn't veer out to the three point line but he seemed to do so all through his high school career. This is where Mick Cronin comes in. If he gets the most out of Yancy then we will be a tournament team, but if Yancy plays up to his potential then he also could be 1 and done with the weak draft coming upon us in 2009.
-Dion Dixon will be a All BE player before the end of his career. He's from Chi-Town coming out of the same high school that Sherron Collins went to (Crane). I really do not understand how Depaul or Illinois let this kid leave the state. His game is really disgusting he can score from anywhere on the court. He also plays hard defense. I can see him being a big addition to the team.
- The other 2 Wild Cards for the team are Cashmere Wright and Anthony McClain. Cashmere will have the reins at PG handed to him from Day 1 and it will be interesting to watch how he adjusts to BE play. A lot of how quickly he adjusts will determine how successful we are this year. I think that Cashmere will be fine though and just the physical nature of the BE will be the main difference for him because he has all of the tools that you look for in a PG. Anthony McClain struggled a lot last year with bone spurs in his feet he was never able to get consistency and he was in excruciating pain throughout the whole year. Over the offseason he put on over 40 pounds and worked on his footwork. He has developed a nice little mid range jump shot and I think he really solidifies the depth in our backcourt. He came into last year at 6'11 and he is looking like he is about 7'1 to 7'2 right now.
-Also look out for : Steven Toyloy, Darnell Wilks. Both could give us solid minutes
-Mr. Solid :Rashod Bishop
- Instant Offense off the bench: Alvin Mitchell
-The icing on the cake for the 'Cats is that we should be adding John Riek in January.
In a nut shell I'm very excited about UC Basketball being back on the map.
My prediction for the team is 20-11, but I think they could be better or worse depending on how they mesh and some of the freshman that are key to the team adjust. 22-9 is the best that I think that we'll be, but that's a long shot.
