Yancy Gates and Dion Dixon have been UC Bearcats for the last 1,252 days.  Sometime in the next 41 days, their college careers will be finished.

“Time flies,” said Dixon.  “I can remember my freshman year like it was yesterday.”

“We talk about how we came in together and everybody said we were ‘The Inseparables’ because we go to class together, practice together, everything,” said Gates.  “Now we’re about to be on our way out together – it’s crazy.”

Their reasons for coming to Cincinnati were different.  In Dixon’s case, the rebuilding Bearcats offered an opportunity to play right away in the nation’s best conference.

“I felt like I could come here and play, and I felt like they needed me to play right away to help the team,” said Dixon.  “I thought that I could come here and have a good career and it turned out well.”

For Gates, the former Withrow High School star, it was the opportunity to help put UC basketball back on the map after the turmoil that resulted from the ouster of Bob Huggins.

“Rebuilding the program was the main thing for me,” Gates told me.  “When Coach Cronin was recruiting me, that’s all that we talked about.  I told him that I was willing to come in and do whatever I needed to do to help, whether it was hosting recruits when they came here, or playing my game.  That’s been really big for me – especially being from here – helping to get the program in my home city back on track.”

Gates and Dixon helped the Bearcats return to the NCAA Tournament as juniors, and are determined to return to March Madness as seniors.  As much as they try to focus on the next game, it’s hard to ignore the various bracketologists that have Cincinnati listed as a bubble team.

“I know for me, that it’s kind of hard not to pay attention to it – especially as a senior,” said Gates.  “You’re constantly looking at where you stand and what you have to do to improve your status and try to make the tournament.”

“We don’t know if we are in or not right now, so we feel like our backs are against the wall and we have to win out,” said Dixon.

Their fate is in their own hands.  Cincinnati’s next three games are against teams that are currently in the Top 50 of the RPI (Louisville-21, USF-50, Marquette-8), followed by a difficult road game at Villanova on Senior Day.

“We’re looking at these games as must wins,” said Dixon.  “We don’t want to leave any doubt in anybody’s minds.”

“We feel we’re capable of pulling these last four games out, so that’s been our big focus,” said Gates.

Realistically, the ‘Cats probably need to win at least two of their last four games, and a win on Thursday night over 17^th-ranked Louisville would be great for their tournament resume.

“Nine o’clock…ESPN…it’s hard not to be excited about it,” said Gates.  “And it’s Louisville – college basketball at its best.”

“Everything is on the line…identical records…this is what it’s all about,” said Dixon.  “You work all year for this.”

By then, they will have worked for 1,254 days.

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Cincinnati’s non-conference strength of schedule has been a major topic of conversation in recent weeks, and one thing that would have helped it considerably, was if Coach Cronin had gotten his wish in the Big East/SEC Challenge.

“We were tabbed to be a road team and we were slated to play Georgia,” said Cronin.  “I lobbied and requested to play Kentucky or Alabama – the two highest-rated SEC teams that were scheduled to play at home in that challenge.  But ESPN gets to pick that, and I was upset with the Big East because I didn’t think that they fought hard enough.  They sent St. John’s to the wolves at Kentucky, and I thought that was unfair to those kids because they have a team with no experience.  I thought our league should have been stronger and never let that happen.  Especially when you have a coach 75 miles from Lexington that’s saying, ‘I’ll go down and play ‘em win, lose, or draw.’”

One way to boost the non-conference RPI is to play tough opponents in early-season tournaments and the Bearcats are scheduled to do that next season.

“Next year at Thanksgiving, we’ll be in Las Vegas playing Iowa State in our first game and then either Oregon or UNLV in the second game,” said Coach Cronin.  “So we’ll have a chance to get some decent wins early and establish our RPI.”

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JK Schaffer spent the last four years proving people wrong.

After not being heavily recruited out of LaSalle High School, Schaffer concluded his college career as a First-Team All-Big East linebacker – one of only four players in league history to have more than 100 tackles in three straight seasons.

So as far as JK is concerned, not being invited to next week’s NFL Scouting Combine is par for the course.

“I’ve always used that stuff for motivation,” Schaffer told me.  “When I was in high school, people told me that I wouldn’t play in Division I.  Now, it’s not getting invited to the combine or people saying, ‘He’s too small, he’s too whatever.’  I just take all of that stuff and think about it on that last run of conditioning drills when I’m struggling and don’t want to do it anymore.  It’s another reason to go out and prove people wrong.  I also look at it as giving me an extra week to train and get ready for Pro Day.”

While fellow seniors Isaiah Pead, Derek Wolfe, and John Hughes will be in Indianapolis when the combine starts on Wednesday, Schaffer’s opportunity to work out for NFL scouts will come on March 2^nd when UC holds its annual Pro Day.

Schaffer, an excellent student who was recently named the Big East Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, is now busy cramming for the tests he’ll get from NFL scouts.

“It’s all about Pro Day,” said Schaffer.  “About 3 ½ weeks ago, I moved up to Barrington, Illinois which is a little northwest of Chicago and is where my agent is based.  I’m living and training with two guys from Northern Illinois University while taking 15 hours of online classes because I want to be able to graduate by June.  We work out three to four times a day and at the field house where we have the weight room and the field where we do all of our position drills and running.  We have basketball courts where we do different things and there’s a pilates room which we use twice a week.  That’s basically my life right now – training six days a week for most of the day and then coming back to the house and doing a little homework.”

Schaffer, who was listed at 6’1, 227 this year, is trying to get bigger and stronger while shaving a fraction of a second off of his 40-yard dash and shuttle run times.

“I’m trying to put on a little bit of weight,” JK told me.  “I’ve never really been above 230 in my life, so I’m trying to get to 235.  Obviously, I can’t improve my height, although I would really like to.  You can’t get that much faster, but what you can improve is your technique.  I know that I didn’t understand technique, so we’re working with a lot of guys who know what they’re doing.”

While Schaffer was not invited to the combine, he was selected for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl – an all-star game in California where he played for former NFL head coach Dick Vermeil.

“The whole week leading up to the game was great, but unfortunately, I played four seasons at Cincinnati and didn’t miss a play due to injury, and pretty early-on in that All-Star Game, I took a helmet to the hip and got a hip pointer,” said Schaffer.  “I couldn’t even stand up, so I got taken out of the game.  That’s why you didn’t see much of me.  I’m fully recovered from that, so it’s not a problem.  I was sore for a couple of weeks, but it was not a serious injury.”

Wes Welker, Osi Umenyiora, and Jay Ratliff are among the current NFL players who have been to multiple Pro Bowls despite not being invited to the combine, and while UC head coach Butch Jones is not necessarily predicting Pro Bowl appearances in Schaffer’s future, he has been singing JK’s praises to NFL teams.

“The scouting process is not an exact science and they can’t measure the intangibles,” said Coach Jones.  “On Pro Day, everybody is looking at your athleticism – the way you run a 40-yard dash, your short shuttle time, your change of direction – but what you can’t measure at Pro Day is heart, and that’s what JK has.  The big thing that every coach looks for is consistency, and the great think about JK is that you know what you are going to get each and every day.  He has great competitive spirit and coachability – couple that with his physical skills and, I am his biggest advocate to say the least.”

Coach Jones says he expects Schaffer to get an opportunity in training camp to make a roster, but the senior linebacker takes it a step further by saying he expects to play in the NFL.

“There’s no doubt,” JK told me.  “I don’t know what kind of competitor I would be if there was any doubt.”

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Do you have any friends that have an uncanny ability to remember famous lines from movies?

I do.  His name is Mick Cronin.

“My memory is probably my best trait,” said the UC head coach.  “Whether it’s a player from years ago or a play that the other team runs, I think that recall is one of my strengths.  Plus, I’ve watched certain movies multiple times.”

Mick makes frequent use of his movie memory.  For example, when asked at a recent news conference about fighting through the Big East grind, Coach Cronin quoted the end of Rambo: First Blood Part II when Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) tries to comfort John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) before Stallone’s character walks off into the distance as the credits roll.

Colonel Trautman:  How will you live John?

Rambo:  Day by day.

Coach Cronin doesn’t only use movie references when dealing with reporters.  Frequently when trying to emphasize a point at practice, he’ll quote a movie line in an effort to make it resonate with the players.

“You pick out spots,” Mick told me.  “A good example would be, when a guy is trying to do too much with the basketball, I hit ‘em with General McAlister from Lethal Weapon:  ‘There’s no more heroes left in the world son.’  In other words, just play your role and take care of the ball.  During the suspensions when we only had eight guys and had to stick together, we brought out, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper,’ which is a New Jack City reference.”

“He has a lot of movie quotes and they are usually right on,” said Yancy Gates.  “It’s hard to remember them all because he has so many.  I can’t remember the movie, but one line that he uses is, ‘You’re nothing but a lot of talk and a badge.’  That’s one of his favorites after a loss.”

For the record, that line comes from The Untouchables and is used to make the point that talk is cheap.  It’s no surprise that Yancy Gates remembered the line but not the movie since the film came out two years before he was born.

“He usually talks about movies that we’ve never seen,” said Dion Dixon with a laugh.  “They’re either too old or they’re movies that we don’t watch.”

“Unfortunately, if it’s not a slapstick comedy, today’s players have not seen the movie,” said Coach Cronin.

Mick, on the other hand, prefers the classics.  What’s at the top of his all-time list?

“The Godfather, which I brought with me on the last road trip,” said Cronin.  “I have trouble sleeping, so I can always put on The Godfather 1 or 2.  I have to put those two near the top, along with Goodfellas, and Pulp Fiction.  After that, there’s another category where you go from the best movies of all-time to some really good movies that I enjoy.”

Mick actually used a line from The Godfather when talking to the players about not sharing too much inside information about the team on their Twitter accounts.

The Bearcats most recent road trip to St. John’s and Marquette even included a trip to the movies.  To break up the drudgery of going back-and-forth between practice gyms and hotel rooms, the entire team went to see the new Denzel Washington movie Safe House.

“We talked to Drew (Seidenberger, Director of Basketball Operations) about it,” said Cashmere Wright.  “We said, ‘We’re going to be on the road for so long, we have to do something.’  He said, ‘I’ll talk to coach about it.’”

“That was the movie that everybody was talking about,” said Gates.  “We were all planning to see it together when we got home, so when Drew told us we were going to go see it on the road trip, everybody was excited.  I thought it was great – another great Denzel movie.  I think he’s the only bad guy that has everybody cheering for him.”

While the Bearcats went to watch Denzel last week, the Academy Award-winning actor showed up at Madison Square Garden two years ago to watch them.  He was sitting near President Clinton when West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler beat the Bearcats with a last-second three point bank shot.

“Denzel is a big college basketball fan and his son Malcolm is a pretty good player,” said Coach Cronin.  “We have mutual friends so I’ve met him before and he’s a huge basketball fan.  He’s one of the best actors of our time, so I thought the guys would like it and it got us out of the hotel.”

There’s a scene in Safe House (it’s in the trailer so I’m not spoiling anything) where a young CIA employee played by Ryan Reynolds tells Denzel’s character that “you’re not getting into my head.”

Denzel’s character coolly responds that “I’m already in your head.”

I wouldn’t be shocked if that line is eventually used to make a point at a Bearcat practice.

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The text message from Mick Cronin to his players was sent on Monday night.  Instead of practicing the following afternoon at the usual time of 3 o’clock, everybody was required to be ready to go at 7:30 on Tuesday morning.

“When he sent us the text, everybody was like, ‘Yo, this is not looking good,’” said Sean Kilpatrick.  “Usually when a coach wants you to come in at 7:30 in the morning it means you have to get your track shoes ready.”

But Coach Cronin’s objective was not punitive.

“We don’t have class until 11 o’clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I was just trying to keep it fresh for the guys,” Mick told me.  “It gives them more recovery time until the next day and changes the routine up – which I think is important this time of year.  Also, it allows the coaching staff to get on the phone and recruit and do the things that they need to do.”

The twice-a-week early morning practices are expected to continue until the end of the academic quarter and while they are not meant to be punishment, the players have been doing plenty of running.

“It has been ‘get out the track shoes’ to be honest with you,” said Coach Cronin.  “I think that lately we’ve played too slow and as a coach, you always have to look in the mirror.  Coaching is not about telling guys what to do; it’s about getting them to do it.”

In their last two games, the Bearcats scored 53 points in their loss to Syracuse, and 54 in their loss at Rutgers.  Coach Cronin disputes the notion that they’ve changed their offensive approach from the attack that helped them win five of their first six Big East games.

“You have to get easy baskets,” said Coach Cronin.  “When we were 5-1, we were averaging 11 steals a game.  The telling stats for easy baskets are ‘points off turnovers’ and ‘second-chance points.’  If you have to rely on all of your baskets in a Big East game coming in the half-court, you’re not going to win.  You have to get second and third shots, and more importantly, you have to get easy baskets in transition.  We’ve worked really hard at practice this week on getting back to being aggressive on what we’re doing on the defensive end to get us some easier baskets on the offensive end.  We’re trying to get back to running on every possession and trying to attack teams before they can set the defense.”

Cincinnati is hardly the only team that has had low-scoring games in Big East play.  Connecticut scored 44 points in Wednesday’s loss at Georgetown, the Hoyas were held to 49 points in a victory over Providence on December 31^st, and Pittsburgh managed 39 points in a home game against Rutgers on January 11^th.  It didn’t mean that Jim Calhoun, John Thompson III, and Jamie Dixon forgot how to coach.

“Fans are entitled to their opinion, but I don’t think they realize how hard it is to score in the Big East,” said Kilpatrick.  “Every day you face something different.  Teams have scouting reports and they adjust their defenses to the way that we play and the way that everybody else plays.  Lately, the teams in the Big East have been doing a great job of that.”

“Look at Syracuse,” said Coach Cronin.  “They are number one in the country in steals, but in their last three games, they scored 58 at Notre Dame, 60 at Cincinnati, and 63 against West Virginia.  Their scoring totals are coming down because teams are not giving them all of those fast break points.”

So in an effort to get the Bearcats back to forcing turnovers and getting some easy hoops, Coach Cronin has been “cracking the whip” at the crack of dawn.

“No mistake has gone unchallenged or unpunished this week,” Mick told me.  “But the guys’ attitude has been great.  Winning will take of itself if your focus is on playing smart, having intensity, and staying together as a team.”

“You never know what’s going to happen with Coach Cronin,” said Kilpatrick.  “I think it’s been a good idea though.  We looked at the last couple of games that we played and it was embarrassing.  Everyone knows that and everybody’s mindset has been different.  The past few days have been great.”

I don’t know about you, but if I had bolted from high school in the middle of my senior year to enroll in college nine months early I would have been absolutely petrified.

Shoot, I was nervous enough when I showed up in September with the rest of the freshman class.

But nine members of this year’s UC football recruiting class that signed their letters of intent on Wednesday have been enrolled in class since early January.

Deionte Buckley, Warren Central H.S.

“It was difficult at first,” said running back Deionte Buckley from Indianapolis, IN.  “You have that heartbreak of missing your family and missing your friends – you might have a girl back home – but after the third week or so you get used to it.  You know what you’re here for and you have to grind and work hard.”

“I miss my family and I went to school with my younger sister, so I miss going to school with her,” said defensive lineman Josh Posley from Indianapolis, IN.  “I miss being part of my high school family, but I know what I’m here for and I know that this is going to help me in the future.”

By enrolling early, the nine recruits can get a jump on their academics, participate in the Bearcats’ off-season workout program, and take part in spring football.

Bennie Coney, Plant City H.S.

“That’s the best way to compete and have the opportunity to play early,” said quarterback Bennie Coney from Plant City, FL.  “I decided that if I got in early, I could learn the playbook and it would be fair game on the field.”

“It was something that I always wanted to do because I’ve always wanted to play as a true freshman,” said linebacker Errol Clarke from Miami, FL.  “So I figured what’s the point of waiting?  I wanted to get a head start on other guys and get going.  I just have to work really hard in the weight room and on the field.”

“Since my freshman year of high school, I knew that it was something that I wanted to do,” said quarterback Trenton Norvell from Daytona Beach, FL.  “Regardless of what school that I chose, I just wanted to get ahead of the competition, get into the playbook and the weight room, and have a chance to start.”

The adjustment to college life has been an eye-opener – especially the demands of strength and conditioning coach Dave Lawson.

“He’s been murdering us,” said safety Marcus Foster from Troy, OH.  “They say that it’s going to get even harder, but I’ve never been around anything like this.  The first few weeks have been kind of hectic.  It’s a lot different.  Being on your own, you have to be responsible and be where you’re supposed to be.  It’s a lot different when your mom and dad aren’t there to tell you when to get up and when to go to bed.”

“We haven’t started practice yet, but it’s already a lot of work,” said defensive back Kevin Brown from Indianapolis, IN.  “You have to have the mindset to come in and work hard because you know it’s going to be better for you in the long run.”

I spoke with seven of the nine early enrollees on Wednesday and found their reasons for choosing Cincinnati to be remarkably similar.

“The love and the atmosphere from the coaches,” said Coney.  “The players were upfront and told me how everything was.  They said that the coaches were real and really cared about the players as more than just athletes.

“I came with my mom on my visit and it was her first time flying.  When we got to campus, all of the coaches were at the bottom of the stairs and they gave me a standing ovation.  It was a real nice welcome and I felt pretty special.”

“When I first visited, it felt like a family – I felt at home,” said Buckley.  “I woke up one morning and it was on my mind.  I talked to my parents about it and they loved it.  When they first came down here, they loved it too.  It was God’s will – he showed me here and this is the best place for me to be.”

“I felt like this was my best fit,” said Posley.  “I like the environment, I like how the players interact with each other, and I feel like I have the best chance of having a good college career here.”

Trenton Norvell, Seabreeze H.S.

“I prayed to God about it,” said Norvell.  “I was committed to Marshall, but one day I woke up and I knew it was the right thing to do.  I prayed for about a week, and I woke up one day and I looked at all of the hats that I had and saw the C-Paw and it just kind of hit me.”

“We all felt like this was family and this was a home-away-from-home,” said Brown.  “Coach Jones and Coach Coombs – who recruited me – made me feel like I was a part of the family before I even got here.  That gave me the peace of mind that when I came here, I would have the family structure that I have in my own home in Indianapolis.”

This year’s class of 28 signees and two preferred walk-ons is the highest rated in school history.  Scout.com has Cincinnati ranked second in the Big East behind West Virginia, and 33^rd in the country.

“It means a lot,” said Posley.  “I love the players that were already here before us, and I’m liking this class that we have.  I really feel like we should go to a BCS bowl and compete for the National Championship sometime soon.”

“I think it says a lot about Coach Jones and what he’s been doing to get the program back on its feet after the 2010 season,” said Brown.  “If we work hard, learn the system, and be coachable, then we can be successful and eventually get to a National Championship.  That’s everybody’s goal.”

“It’s nice to be part of something that’s the best,” said Coney.  “Best school, best fans, best everything.  That’s how we want it.”

The nine newcomers are off to a fast start.

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UC freshman Shaquille Thomas is from a basketball family.  He is the nephew of former NBA first-round draft pick Tim Thomas and the brother of current WNBA All-Star Essence Carson.

But what about that first name?  Is he named for Shaquille O’Neal?

“No I’m not,” Thomas told me with a grin.  “And when you watch my game, you won’t think so.”

Unfortunately, Cincinnati fans will have to wait until next season to see Thomas in action.  The 6’7” wing player was one of four basketball recruits from NIA Prep in Newark, New Jersey that was ruled ineligible to play this year by the NCAA.

“It was the school – it was never me,” said Thomas.  “I always had decent grades and a decent SAT score, but it was the school that I went to.”

The NCAA has tried to crack-down on so-called diploma mills in recent years, but NIA Prep has had 28 athletes certified to play at Division I schools since 2006.

“When the NCAA, for whatever reason, feels that it can’t certify grades from certain prep schools, they pull the plug on those schools,” said UC head coach Mick Cronin.  “But there’s no way that Shaquille and his grandmother could have known that because the year before, his prep school was certified.  He had no opportunity to move to another school, which is why the NCAA granted him a waiver to attend the University of Cincinnati.”

The waiver allows Thomas to be on scholarship and attend classes this year, and he’ll have four years of eligibility remaining.

“Shaq did everything he could, Cincinnati did everything that it could do, and the NCAA cooperated with us as much as it could possibly cooperate,” said Coach Cronin.  “You hear people say, ‘It hurt our team.’  Well, he’s a real person and he was a nervous wreck.  You’re talking about a young kid with an uncle that played in the NBA for 15 years and a sister that plays in the WNBA – basketball is a major part of his life.  He and his grandmother were so happy when we found out that he could at least come to Cincinnati.”

Thomas was eligible to begin practicing with the team in mid-December following the fall semester.

“I think I’m doing pretty well,” said Thomas.  “I try to help the guys get prepared.  I want to help the team in every aspect of the game and I just try to go hard in practice.  That helps the team and it helps me get better too.”

“I think he’s doing a great job,” said sophomore Sean Kilpatrick of his roommate.  “It hurt him when he couldn’t practice.  It took basketball out of his life for a couple of months and when he came back, you saw a brightness on his face.”

Kilpatrick voluntarily redshirted at UC two years ago and has helped Thomas deal with the frustration of not being able to play as a freshman.

“He’s dealing with it well,” said Kilpatrick.  “He doesn’t always look at it as a negative.  I tell him, ‘You can’t look at it as a bad thing.  Coach is going through this with you.’  I think he’ll be alright.”

“(Sean) is definitely helping me,” said Thomas.  “He tells me to keep my head up and next year will be here before I know it.”

Thomas averaged 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists at NIA Prep last year, and will give the Bearcats size on the perimeter.

“He’s a big guard,” said Coach Cronin.  “You look at Syracuse and they have big guards like Kris Joseph on the wing.  6’7” guys that are catching alley-oop dunks or driving to the basket and dunking the ball over people.  Shaq can really handle the ball and beat his man off the dribble.  As he becomes a better perimeter shooter, he’ll become really tough to defend.  He has very quick feet and he’s an excellent passer.  Right now offensively, he’s a great athlete who can handle the ball and pass and he’ll fit great in our offense.”

“He’s going to be special,” said Kilpatrick.  “He has great athletic ability and he has heart that a lot of people don’t have.  He can break-down a defender.”

Saturday night’s game at Rutgers would have been a homecoming for Thomas who hails from Paterson, NJ.

“Rutgers guards Myles Mack and Eli Carter are from my hometown, so I really wish I was playing,” said Thomas.  “They beat UConn and Florida, so I’m really proud of those guys.”

Shaquille will get the chance to compete against the Rutgers duo next year, which was one of the reasons why he chose Cincinnati.

“It was definitely a good fit for me,” said Thomas.  “You get to get away from home, but you still get to play against all of your friends in the Big East.  Every team that we’ve played again, I probably know two or three people on the team.  Cincinnati is a great up-and-coming program.  I love the city, the coaching staff, and everything about the Bearcats.”

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The Mick Cronin radio show moves from Thursday to Monday next week.  Come out and join us to talk Bearcat basketball and feast on the world’s best ribs from 8 to 9 at the Original Montgomery Inn.  If you can’t make it, I hope you’ll tune in on 700 WLW.

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Butch Jones and Whit Babcock have been friends since 2006 when they worked together for nearly two years at West Virginia University.  But their relationship changed three months ago when Babcock was hired as UC’s Athletic Director and became the head football coach’s boss.

“We laugh about that,” said Babcock.  “We acknowledge that up front – there are certain things that we’re friends on, and then there are other days where I have to tell him something that he doesn’t want to hear and vice versa.   I guess that’s why I wear a tie every day – so that he knows that I’m the boss.”

“Sometimes I have to tell him to loosen that tie up,” said Jones with a laugh.  “But it isn’t difficult because we have mutual respect for each other.  We’re able to separate our personal relationship and our business relationship.”

Their relationship helped produce the contract extension that Jones signed on Tuesday.  The new pact will pay the 2011 Big East Conference Coach of the Year more than 10 million dollars – before incentive bonuses – if he stays at Cincinnati for the next six seasons.

“Whit was extremely proactive right from the very beginning and that meant more to me than anything else in the contract,” said Jones.  “The way our administration was proactive at a very early stage in our season, showed me that they really believe in the foundation that we’re building, and our philosophy for what we want in our football family.”

“If I played a small role – great – but I really think it comes down to the character of our coach,” said Babcock.  “Butch is grateful for the opportunity here and as hard as he sold me on the University of Cincinnati when the A.D. job was open, I know that he cares about it and loves it.  He wants to be a part of building this thing and finishing what he started.”

Jones has won three league championships in his five years as a college head coach, including a share of the Big East title this season.  Next week, he’s expected to sign the most highly-touted recruiting class in school history.  Scout.com currently has Cincinnati’s projected class ranked #23 in the country and #1 in the Big East.

“He’s even better than I thought and I knew he was good,” said Babcock.  “People take for granted that every team plays hard every week and they don’t.  I’m just really impressed with how hard our team plays for him.  That comes from the leader.  It’s an overused term, but they would try to run through a wall for him.”

“I’m definitely excited for the university and the program,” said quarterback Zach Collaros.  “He’s done a great job of installing what he wants in a program which is family and toughness.  I think we’ve come a long way in doing what he wants and it’s only going to get better.  I’ve read that they have a great recruiting class coming in and last year’s class was great, so it’s great that Coach Jones decided to stick around.”

“I know that it doesn’t really affect me because I’m a senior, but he’s taking this program in a good direction and I want the best for the team,” said linebacker JK Schaffer.  “I am absolutely happy that he is signing a contract extension.  I see this program over the next few years climbing even higher than it has over the last four years.”

“I thought it was time that somebody stepped up and said, ‘Hey, we’re committed to being here.’” said Coach Jones.  “I’m excited about what we’re doing in this football program.  We have a lot of things to be proud of, and we’re going to continue to grow, and build, and elevate this program into elite status.”

The contract extension also includes a $250,000 increase to the salary pool for assistant coaches, raising the total to $1.85 million.

“You win with consistency and continuity and I’m excited about what we’re building and the possibilities that we have for the future,” said Coach Jones.  “The big thing for me is being able to continue to attract the best staff in the country and keep them intact and take care of them.”

There is also a sizable increase in the buyout clause that would allow Coach Jones to take another job.  It jumps from $1.08 million to $1.75 million in year one, although Babcock admits that figure probably wouldn’t scare away big budget schools.

“There’s a balancing act there,” said Babcock.  “You want the buyout to be enough so that if the coach leaves, it can help to fund your search for the next coach.  And you want it be a number that gives some people a reason to pause.  But I don’t think you want to have it at such a level that you trap a coach.  If you ultimately have a coach that doesn’t want to be here, do you really want to handcuff him?  There’s a fine line there, but I think it needs to be enough to get people’s attention and to help you – if you do have a coach leave – to conduct the search and get things in place to hire the next guy.

“But my goodness, I look at this contract as a way to have Butch here for a long time and not to figure out what the heck to do when he leaves.  I think his loyalty and love for Cincinnati played a real big role in this contract.”

Cincinnati’s previous two head football coaches – Mark Dantonio and Brian Kelly – each spent three years in Clifton.  As Jones prepares to enter his third season, he often hears from fans who tell him that they hope that he stays at UC.

“I hear that all the time and it means a lot,” said Jones.  “We have a fan base that has been extremely loyal to me since the day that I walked in, and I can’t say enough about the amount of support when things weren’t going as well as we wanted.  To me, that means everything.  This truly is a special place.”

After hitting a jumper that helped Cincinnati build a 12-point lead before halftime, Sean Kilpatrick looked up in the stands and saw a familiar face:  Former UConn star – and Bearcat-killer – Kemba Walker, now in his rookie season with the Charlotte Bobcats.

“When I hit a three in the first half, he looked at me and gave me a little wink,” Kilpatrick told me.  “He’s a New York guy like me, and having him at the game was big – especially in the middle of the NBA season.  He’s a great player and I’m happy that I got to see him.”

The last time that Kilpatrick saw Walker, the Connecticut guard ended UC’s season by scoring 33 points in the Huskies 69-58 win over the Bearcats in last year’s NCAA Tournament.  But on Wednesday night in Storrs, CT, Sean played the hero by drilling a 3-point shot with 2.5 seconds remaining to give Cincinnati a thrilling 70-67 win.

(You can watch the video here)

“The last time that I hit a game-winning buzzer beater was at White Plains (High School),” said Kilpatrick.  “This one was big and I’m happy that I got the win for the team.”

The sophomore guard could have clinched the win much earlier at the free throw line, but twice missed the front end of one-and-one foul shooting opportunities in the final 1:30.

“It would have been a tragic loss,” said head coach Mick Cronin.  “We started missing free throws when we were up by eight with our best foul shooters getting fouled.”

“That rim did me dirty,” said Kilpatrick.  “The ball was going in and it rolled out.  Coach Cronin said, ‘Don’t worry – just run back on defense.’”

But while Sean was hustling back to guard Jeremy Lamb, the Huskies’ leading scorer didn’t get the ball down the stretch.  Instead, it was UConn point guard Shabazz Napier burying three clutch treys, with the last one tying the score with 9.5 seconds to go.

“When he hit that shot, I just rolled my eyes and thought, ‘Oh no, not again,’” said Kilpatrick.  “When I looked up the scoreboard and saw that it was tied, I was like, ‘Yo!  We have got to do something.’”

Sean took matters into his own hands.  After catching the inbounds pass from JaQuon Parker, Kilpatrick dribbled into the front court, pulled up at the three point line, and calmly sank the game-winner.

“I was going to drive and try to get fouled, but once I saw my man close the lane, I was like, ‘You know what?  I’ve got to take the shot,’” Kilpatrick told me.  “It was plain to see that it was up to me to take the shot, so I took it.”

And he made it, giving the Bearcats their seventh consecutive Big East road win, and their second over a Top 15 team in the last ten days.

“They have a great team full of All-Americans, a Hall of Fame coach, and it was a sold-out arena,” said Coach Cronin.  “When you’re able to come in here and get a win, people are going to stand up and take notice.  That’s what our players want.  They want to be a ranked team whether they say it or not.  They want to be a team to be reckoned with, and they want people to respect them as individuals.  To do that, these are the type of games that you have to win.”

“I hope it opened some eyes, but you can’t really worry about that,” said Kilpatrick.  “It’s all about the Bearcats.”

Walker was clearly impressed.  As Kilpatrick walked toward UC’s team bus after the game, Kemba was waiting by the exit to congratulate Sean and exchange phone numbers.

I asked him what he thought of Kilpatrick’s dramatic shot.

“I was mad as hell,” said Walker.  “But he’s my guy so it’s all good.  He played good, man.”

**********

It was great to see former Bearcat Kenny Satterfield in attendance at Connecticut on Wednesday.  The former UC point guard who helped lead the ‘Cats to their last Sweet 16 appearance in 2001 is still playing professionally in Japan.

Come out and join us for the Mick Cronin radio show on Thursday night from 8 to 9 at the Original Montgomery Inn.  If you can’t make it, I hope you’ll tune in on 700 WLW.

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

If you Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard

And I’m on Facebook. Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.

On the all-time list of people with magic broomsticks, you have:

A)  The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.

B)  Quidditch players in the Harry Potter books.

C)  UC assistant basketball coach Larry Davis.

Huh?

OK, so maybe Larry’s broomstick isn’t magical, but it has helped turn Bearcat guard JaQuon Parker from a guy who only made three more 3-point shots than you did last year (he was 3-for-20), to a 58% shooter from beyond the arc this season (15-for-26).

Parker had a mechanical flaw where he twisted his feet in the middle of his shot, so Davis suggested that he practice shooting with a broomstick lying on the floor between his feet.

“At first I looked at him and said, ‘Are you crazy?’  But it’s been good for me,” Parker told me.  “For the first five minutes I kept landing on it.  I never fell down, but it was close.  I stumbled a few times.  He kept telling me that it would really help my shot.  It worked.”

“I was trying to find a way a long time ago to help guys that turned their feet when they shot the ball,” Coach Davis told me.  “Once you have everything lined up in a straight line to the basket it’s easy.  I decided to put a broomstick on the floor to force them to stay in a straight line with their feet.  If you don’t, you fall on the broom so that’s how it started.”

After averaging 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 23 games last year, JaQuon is up to 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in 11 games this year.  In games where Parker has made more than one basket, the Bearcats are 8-0.

“When I came back here after the summer, I was really hitting shots,” said Parker.  “The guys were all saying, ‘He can shoot now,’ so I knew I had improved.”

Broomstick aside, there is no mystery behind JaQuon’s dramatic improvement.  It’s the result of many hours of hard work in the gym.

“I told him at the end of last year that we had to have a serious talk about whether he was going to stay at Cincinnati or not,” said head coach Mick Cronin.  “Playing at the highest level means that you have to be totally committed and you have to develop your game on offense.  You can’t just show up at practice and be a good guy and play hard on defense.  You have to be a totally committed basketball player.  He took it to heart and he did it.  You have to give him all of the credit because he did a great job in the off-season.”

“He let me know that if I worked hard, I would be an important piece next season, so I took that seriously,” said Parker.

But even before that conversation with his head coach, Parker realized that he needed to improve his work ethic.

“I think it was the second-to-last game last year,” said Coach Davis.  “We were out doing shooting drills before the game and he looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I blew it.’  I said, ‘What do you mean JaQuon?’  And he said, ‘I didn’t work last summer like I should have.  I have nobody to blame but myself.  That’s not going to happen again.  I’m going to work my butt off and when I come back, I’m going to play.  I am going to play.’”

“When I went home, I worked out with Maurice Riddick who played professionally overseas,” said Parker.  “He’s a real close friend to the family and I got a chance to work out with him every day for the month-and-a-half that I was home.”

“He definitely came back in the fall a much more confident basketball player,” said Coach Cronin.

And while Parker is not likely to remain a 58% 3-point shooter, he’s just as unlikely to go back to being the player who did not make a trey in his last 11 games last season.

“Oh man, it was really tough,” said Parker.  “I think I tried too hard to make shots instead of just going out there and shooting it.  Just seeing the ball go through the net helped me get my confidence back.  It’s a lot more fun when you’re making shots.”

**********

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

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And I’m on Facebook. Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.

As I type this sentence, it is 12:27 on Thursday afternoon – roughly 15 ½ hours since the Bearcats won their 7^th straight game by beating Notre Dame 71-55.

I wonder if Jeremiah Davis is still in the gym shooting.

After every Cincinnati home game, long after the fans have exited and the only people in the stands are members of the cleanup crew, Davis can be seen launching shot after shot after shot.

“I started doing that this year,” Davis told me after the Notre Dame win.  “Things weren’t going the best for me at the beginning of the year and I’m here to play basketball, so I might as well be in the gym.  I’ve definitely noticed a difference.”

Haven’t we all.

The freshman guard from Muncie, IN did not score a point in his first four college games and went 0-4 from 3-point range.  But in his six games since, Davis is averaging 7.0 points in 13 minutes of playing time, and has drilled 8 of 13 treys (62%).

“He loves basketball and he’s not afraid to put in the work,” said head coach Mick Cronin.  “He’s got great parents that have instilled a great work ethic in him.  In recruiting, when you get a chance to meet a kid’s parents, you know what he is going to be about, because you know you’re going to get support from home.  He understands that hard work pays off because that’s what his family is about and that’s what he is about.”

“I appreciate Coach Cronin for saying that,” said Davis.  “Coach Cronin is a great guy too.  Sometimes people misjudge him a little bit, but he’s a great guy.  He’s a coach you definitely want to play for.  That’s why I came here.”

Davis played a key role in Wednesday’s win over the Fighting Irish.  Cincinnati held an 8-point lead when Sean Kilpatrick went to the bench with foul trouble with 10:23 remaining in the first half.  Davis helped UC quickly increase the lead to 13 points by scoring eight points in the next four minutes.

“In the first half after SK got his second foul, Notre Dame went exclusively to the zone,” said Coach Cronin.  “Dion (Dixon) was struggling and Jeremiah Davis gave us a huge lift.  Their zone was effective – we only scored 31 points in the first half – but it would have been even more effective if it wasn’t for Jeremiah Davis stepping up and knocking in some shots and giving us solid defense.”

“My teammates did a great job of getting me open,” said Davis.  “I just try to be a team player and everything worked out.”

Davis is not the only Bearcat freshman who has made a big contribution during the winning streak.  Jermaine Sanders went 5-for-5 from 3-point range in wins over Wright State and Radford, Ge’Lawn Guyn scored a career-high 11 points against Chicago State, and Kelvin Gaines had 7 blocks in the same game.

“I like our mix right now because our freshman can really help, but there’s not a lot of pressure on them,” said Coach Cronin.  “It might be Jeremiah one game, Ge’Lawn another game, Jermaine Sanders another game…those guys are going to jump up and help us.  But it’s nice that they’re coming off the bench.  Three or four years ago, we were trying to win with Yancy and Dion starting in their freshman year in this league.  You just can’t do it.”

Davis knows his role and is embracing it.

“I’m having fun,” Jeremiah told me.  “I love Bearcat Nation, I love Cincinnati, I love my family and coaches.  It’s a great time right now.  After that brawl, everybody got closer together.  I think you can tell on the court.  We love each other and we’re going to do anything we can for each other.”

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

If you Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard

And I’m on Facebook. Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.