The University of Cincinnati basketball program has long been a difference maker in the field of college basketball on a national level. Although the Cincinnati Bearcats have recently experienced a surprising shift in which their football program has grown more successful than their basketball program the 40,000 student college and its hundreds of thousands of supportive alumni continue to consider the University of Cincinnati to be a basketball school. Over the last two years the football team has achieved unprecedented success going 23-4 while at the same time the University of Cincinnati basketball program has not participated in the NCAA Tournament since 2005.
Despite a dearth of recent post season appearances the University of Cincinnati basketball program has experienced a tremendous amount of success throughout its rich history. Among the many notable achievements are:
University
24 NCAA Tournament appearances (combined record of 44-12) 13 NBA Draft picks 6 NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances 2 NCAA Tournament National Championships (1961 and 1962)
As a proud member of the Big East Conference the University of Cincinnati plays their home basketball games in the curiously named Fifth Third Arena (the result of the merging of Fifth Bank and Third Bank) which seats over 13,000 people comfortably. The city of Cincinnati has professional football and baseball franchises in the Bengals and Reds but does not have a professional basketball team to its name. As a result of the lack of an NBA franchise the University of Cincinnati basketball program has become the marquee team for its sport in a large metropolitan area in much the same way as the USC Trojans football team fills the void in Los Angeles that is created from not having a NFL team.
Despite having not won a national championship in decades the University of Cincinnati basketball team was extremely success for much of recent history. During the past thirteen seasons the Cincinnati squad has completed the season in a top 10 polling position in a majority of those years. The recent vanishing act from the top 25 standings largely dates back to August 2005 when University of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher fired then head basketball coach Bob Huggins. Mrs. Zimpher justified the termination by primarily siting the fact that the two did not see eye to eye in terms of her vision for improving the academic reputation of both the school and more specifically its athletic programs.
Huggins, who now coaches at West Virginia University, enjoyed a tremendous amount of success during his 16 years in Cincinnati which ended with 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Former assistant coach Andy Kennedy replaced Huggins but neither Kennedy nor his successor Mick Cronin have had anywhere near the same level of success with the University of Cincinnati basketball team that was once enjoyed by Coach Huggins. Exactly how the University of Cincinnati basketball program will fair in the second decade of the twenty-first century remains to be seen but fans around the world are optimistic that their alma mater will return to prominence.
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