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http://www.columbussports.com/content/writers/alex_callos/uc-basketball-finally-catches-a-break.shtmlUC Basketball Finally Catches a Break
Cincinnati Bearcat Basketball Finally Catches a Break
The Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team finally caught a break. News arrived Thursday that freshman phenom Lance Stephenson has been ruled eligible by the NCAA and will not miss any game action. After waiting all summer and up until a few hours before their first exhibition game, the Bearcats received the news they had been hoping for. Head coach Mick Cronin and all the Bearcat faithful can now breathe a collective sigh of relief. For the first time in what seems like an eternity, a decision went UC's way and Bearcat basketball is finally back in Clifton.
To understand what this ruling meant to Bearcat fans you have to first understand what they have been through in the previous four years. Everyone knows about the departure of Bob Huggins, but things have not been picture perfect since. After getting snubbed on selection Sunday in the first year of the post Huggins era, two of UC's best players were ruled ineligible during the NIT. Mick Cronin was hired as a permanent replacement in '05 and immediately Devan Downey, the best player on the team, transferred to South Carolina. Cronin's two prized recruits that season Hernol Hall and Adam Hrycaniuk were ruled ineligible for the '05-'06 season. In Cronin's second season, Texas transfer Mike Williams tore his Achilles tendon in the preseason and top recruit Jason Henry never got on the court as a Bearcat. Last season things began to turn around for Cincy, as they landed five star recruit Yancy Gates and one of the top points guards in the country Cashmere Wright. Wright promptly tore his ACL before the season started and was lost for the year. For some reason the Bearcats just couldn't catch a break. Enter Lance Stephenson.
"Stephenson is the most physically powerful wing to enter college basketball since - since - I'm sorry, but I can't remember a young wing with this degree of strength," said Mike DeCourcy college basketball columnist for The Sporting News.
"While Stephenson comported himself properly, he tore up the gym like few players I've seen in a Division I practice. Every offensive possession was another opportunity to do something extraordinary. Stephenson is the most physically powerful wing to enter college basketball since - since - I'm sorry, but I can't remember a young wing with this degree of strength," said Mike DeCourcy, college basketball columnist for the Sporting News.
That is high praise for a kid who has never played in a regular season college basketball game, but who can question his God given abilities. Stephenson is listed at 6'5" and 210 pounds. He is built like a brick house. Few college seniors much less freshman are put together like him. In high school he was a McDonald's All-American, a consensus top ten recruit and perhaps most impressively of all, finished his high school career as the all-time leading scorer in the history of high school basketball in the state of New York.
Even as a pre teen it was evident Stephenson was going to be a star. He challenged OJ Mayo to a one-on-one game at the ABCD Adidas Camp before his first year of high school and was featured in reality shows and movies as a sophomore. As a junior in 2008 he was named to the USA Today All-American team, the only non-senior with that distinction.
Of course, with all of the accolades comes baggage. Stephenson was suspended from high school for five days and was also arrested for groping a 17-year-old girl at school. These two allegations along with the departure of President Nancy Zimpher eventually led Stephenson to Cincinnati.
It is fairly obvious Stephenson will only be around for one season, so enjoy him while he lasts. The Bearcats may never get another player with as much raw potential as him. It has been five years since the Bearcats were in the NCAA Tournament and Cincinnati did not receive a vote in either preseason poll. There are obviously still skeptics out there. Most people believe Cincinnati will be a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. With yesterdays news they are much more than that.
Over the years Bearcat fans know they have never been a team to catch a break, except in the sad case of Kenyon Martin. But, on November 5, 2009 they were given the break they were looking for and now they are poised to run with it.