Hope and Despair in the Queen City

Cincinnati’s men's basketball team has a better chance of postseason success than their undefeated football team, one of the many reasons why college basketball is best.

November 09, 2021

Tipoff

The College Football Playoff committee dealt a serious blow to the Queen City when it placed the undefeated Bearcats 6th in their initial rankings. Despite a road win over Notre Dame and an unblemished record, the Group of 5 power seemingly can’t do enough to earn a spot in the coveted playoffs. Stats website Five Thirty Eight predicts that, even if they win out, there is only a 62% chance that Cincinnati can reach the playoffs. There are 1-loss teams from the Power 5 like Ohio State ahead in the rankings. Bearcats fans have been told that, sorry, there’s almost nothing you can do to reach the hallowed ground of the playoffs. Meanwhile, first-year head coach Wes Miller of the men’s basketball team is preparing for a matchup this evening against Evansville with the faint glimmer of hope of participating in the best postseason in all of sports.

The stats website barttorvik.com currently gives Cincy a less than 5% chance of earning an automatic bid to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. If they do make it, they could be an 11 seed and have to play in a First Four matchup before the opening round. Wes Miller can look to one of his predecessors, Mick Cronin, for inspiration. The former Cincinnati head coach just took an 11-seed UCLA team from First Four to Final Four. No matter that Cincinnati will not be ranked in the preseason polls - and may not ever be ranked during the season - there is a chance. Even if they finish with a losing record in conference, there is still hope to earn an automatic bid through the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

Today is the first day of the college basketball season. It is a day full of hope. For Cincinnati football fans, there is growing despair over being denied a coveted spot in the playoffs. Perfection on the field is not going to be enough. The fortunes of other teams will have to be dashed before football glory can be bestowed on a team outside of the Power 5. For college basketball, hope is eternal and shared with everyone until the last buzzer sounds.

The Mixtape 

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

  • The Field of 68 continues its rundown of the preseason top 50 team. Each preview includes an interview with the head coach and insiders that follow the team. The countdown concluded with the top five, including #5 UCLA, #4 Villanova, #3 Kansas, #2 Texas, and #1 Gonzaga. Over the course of the series, the team from Field of 68 conducted interviews with 47 head coaches, dozens of journalists that cover the teams, current and former players, and more. It was a heck of an undertaking to help you get prepared for the season.

  •  It’s prediction season! Noted Kentucky fan Jeff Goodman and Purdue legend Robbie Hummel give their predictions for the Final Four. The pair are both fans of Robbie’s Purdue but wonder how their pair of talented centers will split minutes. They also take a look at the controversial decision by the NCAA to ban Oklahoma State from postseason play.

  •  Following the Muss Bus stop in the Elite 8 last season, tickets are hot in Fayetteville for the Hogs. On the season premier of 30 Minutes of Hell with Pat Bradley, sophomore breakout candidates Davonte “Devo” Davis and Jaylin Williams login to discuss the season that was and the one that will be.

The Field of 12

The college football season is in high gear and the Field of 12 is on the scene. Here is a brief sample of the new network from the makers of Field of 68.

Four Point Play 

Each newsletter throughout the summer, we’ll check in with one of our podcast hosts and see what they’re up to besides producing compelling content for us at The Field of 68.

This week, we checked in with Jim Root, writer at Three Man Weave and co-host of the BRAND NEW Field of 68 podcast, Best Bets!.

  1. I would like to begin with you and your background. You were, according to your bio, the 6th man on a championship high school basketball team in Wisconsin before going to a trendsetting school that left the Big 12 for the SEC before it was cool (Missouri). How did you get into writing for Three Man Weave and about college basketball?

  • It happened in a roundabout way. When I went to Missouri, I was thinking about journalism. However, I had a financing focus but retained a love of college basketball and have been doing bracketology for over 15 years. I was an accountant for a few years after college. Just to flex my creative side, Ky (McKeon), Matt (Cox), and I started the website. We thought “why not?” When I moved to Chicago where Ky and Matt were, we started the podcast. It started as a hobby and an outlet for college basketball. We have been able to grow in popularity and here we are today with a podcast for Field of 68, all from an amateur blog.

  1. You and your compatriots have built a passionate fanbase writing about men’s college basketball and now lead the Best Bets! podcast for Field of 68, which focuses on the betting side of things. For the lay people, what is the difference between analyzing a matchup from a pure X’s and O’s perspective compared to looking for good odds for betting the sport?

  • The betting thing was never really our goal, to be betting oriented. It’s the turn it took to monetize what we were doing. We worked with a professional bettor. This guy, he helped us look more at the numbers, finding value in the number instead of the spread. We have a rating on every team, all hand done and not an algorithm. We are looking for a numerical edge on the spread. Basketball wise, I enjoy watching the games for the coachs’ chess match. For betting, I have come to view it as a numbers game rather than ‘one team has a rebounding edge,’ as an example.

  1. Let’s focus more broadly on the landscape of college basketball. This season really has it all, from ranked mid-majors like Gonzaga and St. Bonaventure to resurgent blue bloods to experienced teams to promising freshmen to retiring and brand new coaches. Most important, the fans should be back in the stands throughout the country. What excites you the most about this season?

  • The fans is a big part. I remember watching the Houston-Texas Tech game last year. The state of Texas allowed in like 2,000 fans at a neutral site. Even that was a huge tease. That was like, “that is why this sport rules.’ Feeding off of that atmosphere is the essence of what makes college basketball so wonderful. The NBA started to get fans back last year, but college ended while COVID was still so prevalent. I think the fan aspect is what gets me most excited. There’s no way to replicate that crowd experience. Hearing the crowd swell for the first time will be very warming to my heart

And one!

  1. You are a native of Wisconsin, home of the NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks. Congratulations on making “Fear the deer” a legitimate slogan. I can’t think of a less fear-inducing animal, to be honest. Let’s play a game where you get to keep two brands that are strongly associated with the state, but the third has to go. The brands are Culver’s (a fast food chain, for those not from the Midwest), Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company, or New Glarus Brewing Company (a Wisconsin-only brewer). Which has got to go, and why?

  • Oh man, I am going to get in trouble here, but I am going to say Harley-Davidson. I don’t ride motorcycles. In fact, they kind of terrify me. I love Culver’s, the butter burger and crinkle-cut fries. I can’t get enough of New Glarus beers, like Spotted Cow. Every time I visit home, I try to pick up some. If I had to pick one, it’s got to be Harley-Davidson.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of the Best Bets! podcast with the Three Man Weave group, Jim Root, Matt Cox, and Ky McKeon. They will be livestreaming most weekdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern / 12:00 p.m. Central and on select weekend dates throughout the season.

Around the Rim

This section highlights some of the best writing on college basketball to hit the web. Consider these your extra credit assignments for fall semester.

The moment before the season begins is primetime for predictions. To be more accurate, the moments right after the last season ends is when the predictions begin for the upcoming season. This is just the moment when the final predictions can be logged. Then again, we haven’t even seen the brackets yet. How could we possibly know who can make it to New Orleans in April? Don’t worry, the CBS experts have you covered. Gonzaga is a popular choice for what should be obvious reasons. Don’t sleep on Purdue, either. Kyle Boone and Matt Norlander have the Boilermakers winning the whole thing while Indiana native Jerry Palm has train-loving neighbors losing to Gonzaga in the National Title game. 

We’re not just picking winners here, we’re picking the whole field! Andy Katz has his final preseason bracket up and it is glorious. It’s not just the bracket. Katz provides a full seed list, first four out, and the First Four matchups. Katz is bullish on the Big Ten this season, placing 9 teams in the field. Some of the fun potential matchups include a cat fight between Kentucky and Villanova in the Sweet 16, a Lake Erie melee in the opening round between Ohio State and Cleveland State, and a potential second round tilt between longtime foes Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski.

Admit it to yourself, you’ve got a dollar burning a hole in your (digital) pocket. The challenge is finding the right opportunity. There are so many choices. Everyone is going to put money down on the blue bloods playing in Madison Square Garden. Ian Mumm has sifted through the rest of the slate to help you find value on Tuesday night. For example, the Alabama-Louisiana Tech matchup features two teams that relied on their defense first last season. Mumm suggests betting the under. Not only will it be fun to feel the juice of being invested in the outcome, you’ll also have the joy of watching Kenneth Lofton, Jr. play. The star of the FIBA U19 National Team is one of the best low-post scorers in the country at a sturdy 6’7” and 275 pounds.