American Stories – Cincinnati Shows Championship Character in Claining Confernce Title

WICHITA, Kan. — American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco presented the conference’s regular season championship trophy to Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin in the quiet of the back hallway shortly after the No. 10-ranked Bearcats defeated No. 11 Wichita State, 62-61, before a deafening, sellout crowd on Sunday at Charles Koch Arena.

The nationally-televised game on CBS was a huge advertisement for two of the best teams in The American in a gym that is gaining a reputation as the loudest venue in the country.

Cronin felt like celebrating himself. He carried the program’s first American championship trophy into locker room and emerged shortly for his radio show with his shirt soaked and a cigar in his hand.

He also made a bold prediction to the commissioner.

“He told me, ‘Both these teams could make the Final Four,’” Aresco said.

Why not?

In this wild and crazy season, anything is possible. Both teams have experience and chemistry. Wichita State has been there recently, in 2013, and had eventual champion Louisville on the ropes in the semifinals. Shockers’ head coach Gregg Marshall is one of the best offensive minds in the country, and the Shockers have enough scorers on his roster again to cause opponents who have not dealt with his half court sets problems in March. Cronin has four potential double figure scorers who have a history of playing ferocious defense.

Both teams play incredibly hard in big games and have won on each other’s courts this season.

“People talk so much about the wrong things in college basketball, about the one percent whose worried about the pro game instead of the 99 percent who dream their whole lives about playing college basketball,’’ Cronin said. “Guys like me dreamed my whole life about impacting young people.

“Today’s game great for college basketball. The environment was awesome.

“I was busy coaching, but at the under four-minute timeout, I thought to myself, ‘This is a great game for college basketball. They’re really good. We’re playing well. The coaching – they try something that works, we take it away the next time. We run something that works, then they take it away. There was so much going on. Big plays, big shots. Chess matches on the sideline. But most importantly, the kids play so hard. Hopefully, we get a chance to win two games in the conference tournament and play them again. Them or Houston, because Houston is they have been terrific the last two months. That’s what gets you ready for March.

“Nobody plays harder than Houston and Wichita State. Now, Xavier is a great team. They beat us badly But as far as playing hard, Wichita State and Houston really play hard. They made us play better.’’

This was a heavyweight fight that could have gone either way on the final possession.

“This is Ali-Frazier, Round 2. We might see Round 3 at The American conference tournament this week in Orlando,’’ Devon Smith, Wichita State manager of player development and a long-time friend of the late Howard Garfinkel, told this writer afterwards.

This was an all-hands-on-deck game. Cincinnati guard Jacob Evans, who suffered an ankle injury in the Bearcats’ 78-49 victory over Tulane Thursday, looked like a medical miracle, leading the Bearcats with 19 points. Wichita State’s sensational sophomore point guard Landry Shamet and 6-6, 280-pound senior forward Shaquille Morris each had 16.

“You got to love these games,” Cincinnati senior forward Gary Clark said. “People die to watch this. People defend, dive on the floor for every loose ball. They told me this gym would be loud. It was rocking.”

Wichita State shot an uncharacteristic 40.7 percent from the floor. Cincinnati shot 39.7. But that didn’t take away from the quality of the game. “Sometimes, in games like this, kids are playing so hard defensively and rebounding, it takes away their ability to make shots. It just wears you down at the end. It was a Battle Royal and it turned into a game of attrition,” Cronin said.

Cincinnati was clinging to a 62-61 lead, but the Shockers had the ball with 10 seconds left and one final possession. They had three shots to make a game-winning play. Shamet drove hard to the basket only to have his shot rejected by Clark.  When the ball bounded out of bounds Wichita called time out, but Cincinnati went with a big lineup, switched everything defensively and 6-11 sophomore Nysier Brooks challenged Wichita State’s Connor Frankamp, one of the Shockers best shooters, when he took — and missed a jump shot from the right wing. There was one final moment of drama when Darral Willis grabbed the offensive rebound, but the Bearcats never let him get a shot off as time expired.

“Coach told us he didn’t want to share with anyone,” Clark said. “We didn’t want to give up an easy layup or a free throw. We were just trying to make them beat us with a tough shot.”

“I just feel bad I couldn’t find a way to get one more basket for those guys,” Marshall said after the game. “We got Connor isolated on Brooks. I thought the ball was going in. I thought it was good. Then, we got the offensive rebound. I was thinking Willis will be able stick it in on the left side. He’s a left-handed player. Somehow, he got rooted out. But Cincinnati’s the second best defensive team in the country for a reason. Got to give them credit. They got the stop.”

Afterwards. Marshall made a point of going over to hug Frankamp.

“I told him this wasn’t the last one he’d take,” Marshall said.

This a fitting continuation to The American’s regular season. “We’ve had a great year in the league,” Cronin said. “But what happened to SMU and UCF, you’ve got to be kidding me. They had their seasons ruined by injuries I thought at the beginning of the year 14-4 might get you a share of the title. I’m thinking, ‘How you could to win at SMU? How are you going to win at UCF? Wichita almost lost there the other night and they didn’t have Tacko [Fall], nor Johnny Dawkins’ son, Aubrey, who is supposed to be a pro.”

This probably was a five-bid league at the beginning of the season. As it turns out, the league is virtually guaranteed to place three in the NCAA Tournament, although Tulsa, Temple and UCF, could all be considered dark horses for an automatic bid if they win the tournament in Orlando.

“If you can finish two games in front of Houston and Wichita, it’s a great accomplishment,” Cronin said. “But it doesn’t surprise me. We have great character on this team.”