Cronin Undecided on Bishop
 

CINCINNATI - University of Cincinnati junior forward Rashad Bishop, who was suspended for the Big East tournament for breaking team rules, will remain suspended for the Bearcats’ first-round National Invitation Tournament game Wednesday against Weber State.

UC coach Mick Cronin said Monday that Bishop is not necessarily suspended for the entire tournament.

Bishop started 20 games this season and averaged 8.4 points with 4.4 rebounds. He was also regarded as one of the Bearcats’ best defensive players, but Cronin said he doesn’t think UC is “really much different” without him.

“Our rebounding and defense were excellent in New York,” Cronin said. “Those are things he did really well. I think Jaquon Parker is capable of giving us toughness and Ibrahima (Thomas) and Darnell (Wilks) both rebounded the ball. Those are the guys that took up most of his minutes.”

The Bearcats said they’re excited about playing in the NIT. “It ain’t the tournament that I wanted,” said senior guard Deonta Vaughn. “But what can we say? We lost a tough one (to West Virginia). That kind of hurt us deep down inside. But the NIT is better than the CBI.”

UC played in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational in 2008, losing at Bradley, 70-67, in the first round.

The UC players believe that playing well in the NIT would be one more step in the process of rebuilding the UC program.

“It would mean that we made a lot of progress,” Vaughn said. “First we got the CBI, now we got the NIT, then hopefully next year they’ll go to the NCAA.”

“The NIT will help us build on what we’re going to be next year,” said junior forward Ibrahima Thomas. “Our next season is going to start with the NIT.”

UC’s last NIT appearance was in 2006 under interim head coach Andy Kennedy. The Bearcats beat Charlotte and Minnesota before losing to South Carolina by three points.

Minutes after the loss to South Carolina, UC announced that Cronin had been hired as UC’s new head coach. Kennedy was hired the same day to become the head coach at Ole Miss.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...or+entire+NIT?

Good read. I hate that Deonta never saw the NCAA tournament. It will tell me a lot about this team if they come out and play great ball even with the dissappointment.

but Cronin said he doesn’t think UC is “really much different” without him.

Ouch. Not exactly a show of support from your coach. Bishop just got 'bused'.

Agreed. I think Ibra is a very good leader for this team. We can play with just about anyone if we have energy and are motivated. I think Ibra helps add maturity to the situation.

Yeah. Not looking good for Bishop. We'll see what happens.

Bottom line: bad attitude = get gone son!

Agreed.....get gone son!

Really confused by Cronin. He is either trying to get rid of Bishop and doing damage control, or he just threw a starter on his bball team under the bus.

Or a starter on his bball team needed an attitude adjustment, and Cronin's obliging.

Talking about a kid's attitude and his production are two different things. The message is sent through not playing in the tournaments. This IMO is damage control bc I think he is gonna relieve Bishop of his scholarship to UC.

Validity to this viewpoint, IMO.

I would love to have Bishop back if he "buys in." If not, get gone! No one person is bigger than the program. I'd rather lose every game than place anyone on a pedestool.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else leaves the team.

We already have 3 in this recruiting class, so adding one more would be nice. No more than 4.

That would relieve pressure on our 2011 class, thus needing 4-5 instead of 5-7.

I think people may be looking a little too far into that quote. I think Mick was just trying to say that the team doesn't play a different style without Bishop since they are able to plug in Parker, who has a reasonably similar game, and Wilks has stepped up, especially with how he attacks the glass.

Throughout Bishop's 3 years, Mick has always been very supportive of Rashad publicly. There are obviously issues that need to be resolved (and if they aren't Bishop will be gone) but I don't think that comment was an indication that the staff has suddenly soured on Bishop's game....

Validity to this argument as well.

I would like to have Bishop back, but if the issues cannot be resolved, get gone.

Bishop is replaceable, that's how I interpreted the article. Every person on this team is replaceable.