1)  The freefall continues, and it's getting ugly.


I drove four hours to South Bend on Saturday afternoon, and four hours back yesterday evening, all to see arguably the most embarrassing UC effort in years.  41 freaking points.  Forty. One. Points.  Not only did the Bearcats produce their lowest point total in two decades, but they looked shockingly disinterested from the minute they took the floor for pregame warm-ups. 

There's so much from yesterday's loss to sort through, but that one thing stands out.  I was fortunate enough, working on the broadcast, to have a courtside seat directly opposite the UC bench.  I watched the team warm up, I watched during pregame intros, I checked the team out as they took the floor, and I watched the bench during the early minutes of the game.  They never seemed anything but lifeless, completely bereft of emotion, and collectively and individually looking like they'd rather be doing anything other than playing basketball yesterday.

That might be most disappointing, especially given the stakes and importance of yesterday's game, that Mick Cronin's team looked like it lacked any enthusiasm to play what many thought was their biggest game of the season to date.

Even when the Bearcats made a rare basket, the bench reacted as is someone had ripped a fart.  That might have been appropriate, because UC laid a stinker in South Bend.

Quite simply, this team has no chance if Cashmere Wright and Sean Kilpatrick are no good, and yesterday, both were awful.  I think I've seen about 95% of the shots Cash has taken during his UC career.  None have ever missed as badly as the three he air-balled by 18 inches in the second half.  When he wasn't lifting airballs, he was trotting around the Joyce Center gym looking like a 74 year-old man that was trying to get used to his new artificial hip.  Cash is trying despite clearly being limited physically, but this team is going nowhere until he turns back into Cashmere Wright.  The more I watch him here down the stretch, the more I wonder if A) they should have rested him after the Pitt game and B) if we'll ever see him look remotely like himself again.

Kilpatrick was bad too, but so was the gameplan.  Dan Hoard said this on the radio yesterday, and he's right - to paraphrase UC's play by play voice, UC gets a lot of heat for shooting too many threes, but for better or worse, that's what they are, so forget driving to the hoop or throwing it inside, shoot the three.

They live and die by the trey, yet with almost no inside offensive presence, the Bearcats insisted on taking the ball to the basket, even while facing a double-digit deficit.   A team reliant on threes, with no hope of getting back into the game except with the outside shot, only attempted 12 yesterday.  Doesn't make sense.

A lot didn't make sense yesterday, including how Cheikh Mbodj could catch a ball two feet from the basket and throw up a shot that nearly hit the shot clock, and how many UC players insisted on driving right into double teams before almost blindly chucking the ball up at the rim.  It didn't make sense how lifeless the Bearcats looked, even before tipoff, and neither did Mick's statements about officiating in the postgame ("I thought the game was unfairly officiated, and that is all I'll say on that.")

The Bearcats looked dead yesterday, and because of it, their NCAA chances are dying.

The bracket dorks still have UC in the dance, which would be great if the tournament field was announced today.  Problem is, UC is significantly trending downward, with the losses getting progressively worse, the team failing to score more than 55 in four of its last six, and little hope remaining that besides Cash getting a new pair of knees, much will improve between now and Selection Sunday. 

The committee puts weight on how well a team does down the stretch.  Those results, right now, speak for themselves.  And there is an "eye test" component too.  If you watched that game yesterday, if you've watched UC these last three weeks, then you're only giving them a passing grade on the eye test if you're somehow reading this in Braille.

But forget Tournament metrics.  Throw away bracketology, RPI, or even the now seriously in doubt goal of even making the NCAA Tournament.  How about finishing higher in the Big East?  In two months, UC has gone from being ranked eighth in the country to occupying tenth place in their league.  How about the idea of matching, and maybe even improving upon, last year's Big East and NCAA Tournament success?  Forget winning consecutive games in March, I'd just like to see them score on consecutive possessions.  The mere idea that UC wouldn't even make the tournament seemed laughable as recently as ten days ago, now it seems like they need a minor miracle to just qualify for the field.

They have the benefit of this year being a bad year in college basketball.  They have a beatable UConn team coming here Saturday, an awful USF team coming to town to end the regular season, and as unlikely as a win seems, a chance for a loud statement victory at Louisville a week from today.  They have players who have been through a March run before and they could certainly benefit from nearly a week between games.

But there is almost nothing to like about this team right now, and what's most disturbing is that right when you want a college basketball team to start peaking, the Bearcats seem to be bottoming out.

2) Xavier's collapse against VCU.  They Musketeers need to win the A-10 Tournament to make the NCAAs, that's been accepted for weeks.  And given how good the league has been near the top, that's going to be an extraordinarily uphill battle.  So these last few regular season games realistically, mean little aside from conference tournament positioning.  Still though, when you've got a good team down by 17 in your own gym, you need to win that game, even if attrition continues to take its toll.  Dee Davis leaving the game certainly didn't help, but the meltdown was underway well before he took an elbow to the grill. 

You need to win that game when you're up 17 at home, regardless of opponent, and regardless of circumstance, but you need to win that game especially when the schedule is as tough as what the Musketeers have in front of them these next four games. 

Also, XU needs to wear the 1986-'87 throwback uniforms for every game, forever.

3) Kentucky won, and is likely NCAA-bound.  I still assert, even without Nerlens Noel, that you don't want to play a team that still has three likely first round picks in March.  And you certainly don't want to play the UK team that played with the grit and toughness - often unseen this season - that was on display yesterday. 

4) Manti Te'o v. Alec Ogletree.  One guy spoke at the Combine and it was a circus.  The other guy spoke, and barely anyone paid attention.  One guy had to address things that will never be repeated and while embarrassing, don't compromise availability to his team.  The other guy talked about things that are more likely to be repeated, and if they are, do compromise availability to his team.  Why are we more interested in the guy who had the fake girlfriend than the guy who had the real positive substance abuse test and the very real DUI arrest?

5)  The Reds are 0-3 this spring.  I don't care.  I got to listen to baseball on the radio, complete with Marty and Jeff being puzzled by who was in the game, on the way to South Bend on Saturday.  I'm 17 days away from going to Goodyear, and that trip can't get here soon enough.

There will be more later, including a preview of today's radio show. Our friends at Fox Sports 1360 have Daytona 500 stuff for you to check out, so go here, here, and here.  I'd put something about the Oscar's here if I cared about them.  The UC game put me in a salty mood and I wasn't up for watching it, or anything really.  Maria Menounos was there, so here.