Kirkland’s Greatest Victory

Senior Forward Armein Kirkland completed his forgettable career in grand fashion. In fact, I did not know that he had it in him. But he managed to destroy the Bearcats one last time and leave a lasting imprint on the 2005-06 Bearcat basketball season that will outlive his meager basketball accomplishments.

Kirkland’s tenure with the Bearcats has been a curious one stained with unfulfilled promise. A Texas product, Kirkland is a long 6’ 8” with large hands and larger strides. He gets up and down the court effortlessly and has great leaping ability. He has the quickness of a guard, with excellent lateral movement, and his ball handing is so adept that he has played point guard in prolonged stretches. He presents match up problems for every team for he is too swift for most forwards and too big for even taller guards. Kirkland’s court awareness is strengthened by his height advantage which allows him to see the court without distraction. His pinpoint passing skills are best displayed in traffic once he has penetrated the lane and elevated above his defender.

Kirkland looks like a young Scottie Pippen. He even wore Pippen’s #33. And considering his unique skills, there is no reason he should not be playing at that level on a consistent basis.

But Kirkland has not played like Pippen. In fact, the mere suggestion of that comparison is laughable. Kirkland was averaging a pedestrian 9.7 points and 3.4 rebounds before he ripped ligaments in his knee against Connecticut. Below average numbers for a Senior forward getting 28 minutes a contest. Putrid statistics when you factor in his NBA talent and physical advantage over all his opponents.

Kirkland faded in big games. Any time a good team put a solid, aggressive defender on him he would slink into the stands. Kirkland avoided contact like it was a dead animal in the road. Chest to chest defense ended his drives to the basket. He would settle on long range jump shots and essentially removed himself from the offense. Kirkland went 0 for 9 from the floor against Kentucky in last year’s 2nd round NCAA Tournament loss. All jump shots.

Kirkland’s psyche was fragile. You could see the wind suck out of his gut after missed jumpers. He let his scoring woes cripple the rest of his game. He refused to follow his shot or hustle for rebounds. He would pile up cheap reach-in fouls if he missed a foul shot. He would let smaller guards bully him to the basket. He would take stretches of the game off. Without instant success, in any given game, Kirkland would up and quit on his teammates.

Kirkland was either a coward or a complete fraud. And I don’t know which is worse.

Kirkland was headed for a disastrous season. He lost his starting job, and did not seem to care. He regained his spot for the DePaul game and responded with a 1 for 6 night totaling 2 points. 2 points from a Senior starting forward? Howls rained down from the rafters. Kirkland was ripped on Bearcat basketball websites while his brother defended him. Nothing could go right.

And then came Marquette. Kirkland rose from his own filth and delivered his best game of the season. In 37 minutes, he totaled 14 points on 5 of 9 shooting, snatched 5 rebounds and added 3 assists. More importantly, he contained Marquette forward Steve Novak who was coming off a 41-point explosion against UCONN. Novak ended with 17 points, but 9 of that came when the Bearcats switched to zone. It was an inspired effort.

And then came Connecticut. Armein found his range and injected three 3-pointers to keep the Bearcats in the game. He was already at 14 points in 12 minutes when he landed awkwardly in the lane on a fast break and concluded his days as a college basketball player. What appeared to be a routine ankle sprain soon began to take on the appearance of something serious. Bearcat coach Andy Kennedy, recipient of 4 knee surgeries himself, knew only too well after he heard the quick prognosis from the Connecticut trainers. Kirkland was done.

So here we are. 3 weeks removed from Kirkland’s final appearance in a Bearcat uniform. Gone but far from forgotten. Kirkland’s 49 minutes of brilliant basketball have turned him into a martyr. What he could have never accomplished on the hard wood, he has done sitting in the stands with crutches and a knee brace. He has become legend.

Kirkland’s injury has become the turning point of the season. Every announcer refers to it and the 10-game winning streak the Cats were riding prior to knee bending in the wrong direction. Without a hint of irony, generic announcers are indirectly accrediting Kirkland for Cincinnati’s 13-2 start to the season. His face fills the screen, now hobbled and in street clothes. He was the hero. The glue. The straw that stirred the drink. This prevailing theme has been hammered into our skulls so much this January that Bearcat fans are starting to believe it. All of Kirkland’s sins have been forgiven. We throw our hands up now in frustration and wonder ‘if we only had #33!”

Even Kennedy has referred to this period of the season as ‘After Armein’. He’s become a basketball deity. The bridge between mediocrity and Final Four dreams.

I ask you, for one moment, to remember. REMEMBER. Remember Kirkland’s sporadic defensive effort. Remember his low rebound numbers despite being one of the tallest men on the team. Remember him settling for 18-foot fade-away jumpers against 6’ 4” small forwards. Remember his eyes glazing over in spotlight games. Remember him disappearing against tough opponents.

The Bearcats might have beat Xavier with Armein Kirkland. They still get smashed by Syracuse, Louisville and Georgetown. He would not have made the difference. The Cats are 15-6 and still fighting for their tournament life.
However, I cannot prove that. And that is the beauty of Kirkland’s injury. My hat is off to him. He always found new and interesting ways to kill the Bearcats on the court, but this one tops them all. He managed to weaken an already thin team and become a saint in the process. Congratulations, Armein Kirkland. You win.

Andy Kennedy's New Order

During the Bearcats 10-game winning streak, the Bob Huggins hangover finally started to shake off. At least, from the muddled heads of Bearcats nation who refused to accept the ugly end to Huggins’ career. Meanwhile, Andy Kennedy has been in firm command of the basketball program since the ‘interim’ crown was placed on his head. More rather, the position was thrown in a hump on the ground. But Kennedy picked it up, dusted it off and has led this team with pride and passion. He may have even coached himself right out of Clifton and into another program. This would be a travesty.

The Bearcats, under Huggins, were always prepared to play big time basketball. They were in shape and physically imposing. They were mentally tough and carried a swagger that won them a lot of games before the tip off. They worked hard and could impose their will on weaker teams. That was the mark of Huggins' teams and his legacy.

The Huggins’ Bearcats were a first-half team. They would routinely streak to big first-half leads before squandering them in the second half. After the break, I often referred to the period of time between the 16-minute and 4 minute mark as the Bearcat '2nd half malaise'. The team would become disinterested and kick the ball around. Wild three pointers would be launched and easy transition baskets allowed. 20-point leads shrunk to 6. You could set your watch to it.

Huggins was never a good in-game coach. The offense resembled an NBA set, with four guys standing around on the perimeter while one man posted in the lane. At the end of close games, when the contest became possession basketball, the Cats always seemed a little clueless. If the Cats had the final shot, Huggins would call for a clear out to isolate the point guard. Every time. I remember Kenny Satterfield's last season when he missed at least 6 shots at the end of regulation that would have won games. The same play was called every time.

Andy Kennedy's Bearcats are a second half team. They make adjustments during intermission. The Cats overcame a 10-point half time deficit on the road to beat a Marquette team that had just crushed Connecticut. They outscored Ohio University 47-20 in Act II to destroy a rising team.

Andy Kennedy's Bearcats have a half court offense. Despite not having a serious post threat that stands over 6" 6' and using a true freshman point guard, the Cats have been effective in their offensive sets. They can adjust when defenses toggle man-to-man and zone. Their motion offense actually has motion and guys are getting open looks. The Cats look like they practice.

Huggins had reached that grumpy, despondent point in his career in which he was coaching almost out of spite. He had succeeded and had become an icon so he was going to coach his way, no matter his personnel or opponent. He was no longer willing to adapt or adjust. And his temper tantrums no longer got any play. You can only scream at an 18-year kid so many times before he simply shuts down his ears. His players stopped listening.

Kennedy is new blood. He is young and hungry. (he is an athlete too and can actually run up and down the court with the players, for whatever that is worth). He has a commanding presence on the sideline. The players listen to him. He speaks candidly about his team and the challenges they face. And he can coach.

Kennedy's performance against 4th ranked UCONN this past Monday night was nothing short of masterful. UCONN was coming off a humbling loss on the road to Marquette and barely escaped a home game against LSU. This team was not about to go 0-2 in the conference on their home floor. The Cats did not get a call the entire night. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas disputed four different, crucial whistles that went against the Bearcats including a charging foul against James White with 7 minutes to play that gave the Senior four fouls and led to a crippling 4-point swing (The Cats, being one of the new kids on the block in the Big East, will not get a call on the road all season. Get used to it). When you top these conditions with the loss of Senior Forward Armein Kirkland, the Bearcats were faced with incalculable odds.

The Bearcats trailed only by 6 points with three minutes to play. And they had the ball.

Kennedy employed a weave offense, taken out of the Harlem Globetrotters playbook, to eat time off the shot clock and shorten the game. He switched to a 1-2-2 zone to save his players legs, pinch down on the Husky big men and force them to shoot jump shots. He gave the Bearcats a fighting chance and he did it all with seven undersized men, on the road. The Cats should have lost by 30. But they did not.

The season rages on and the one question is: how long can the Bearcats hold up? Here are the top minute eaters from the Connecticut game:

Hicks – 36
White – 35
Downey – 35
McGowan – 31
Moore – 26

The Big East season is a grind. Can these men possibly hold up until March with this kind of work load? Chadd Moore’s back is going to go – it is just a matter of time. After that you have 5 players with extended Division I experience. Then comes juco Ronald Allen who is shaky at best and Dominic Tilford who is not ready. Kennedy was forced to recruit two bodies from the football team just so the team could run a full practice. One of the players, Freshman tight end Connor Barwin (complete with a no. 51 jersey that appeared to have the name of another player recently unstitched off the back), played 8 minutes last Saturday against perennial power Syracuse.

Kennedy refuses to make excuses for his team. But I don’t mind. Consider the following litany of events that have crippled the Bearcat program:

· In May, Roy Bright was dismissed from the team after being arrested for a felony charge of attempting to carry a conceal weapon. Bright is currently averaging 20.5 ppg for Garden City (Kansas) junior college.
· In August, Bob Huggins was fired from his head coaching position at Cincinnati.
· Following the Huggins dismissal, 6” 8’ forward Ivan Johnson decides to renege on his commitment to UC and signs with Oregon. Johnson is averaging 8.2 ppg and 3.3 rpg in a sporadic season for the Ducks. He was recently suspended indefinitely for having an attitude detrimental to the team.
· Freshman guard Tyree Evans was not allowed to enroll in the school after being indicted for statutory rape in Massachusetts.
· Assistant coach Keith LeGree resigned after being arrested for DUI in late November.
· 6’ 6” freshman forward DeAndre Coleman leaves the team in mid-December because he was unhappy with his role in the program.
· 6” 10’ freshman center Abdul Herrera is ruled academically ineligible for the season. Herrera, from Panama, was penalized for taking an English course as a second-language class. His appeal was denied December 19.
· 6” 8’ Senior Forward Armein Kirkland suffered a season ending ACL injury against Connecticut on January 9. Kirkland was enjoying his best offensive game of the season, scoring 14 points in 12 minutes.

The Bearcats stand at 13-4. It’s a steep road to 20 wins and a tournament birth. But if I could pick a coach to lead this team to that plateau, with this ensemble, it would be Andy Kennedy. Imagine what he could do with a full roster?

Bengals v Steelers

Five weeks ago, the Bengals were favored by 2.5 points playing at Pittsburgh. The Bengals won that game by a touchdown and it could have been worse.

This Sunday, the Bengals are playing at home against the same Steeler team. The Bengals are healthier now then they were then. Did I mention they are at home? Regardless, the Bengals are 3-point underdogs.

Has the NFL always been like this? Opinions on teams are seemingly changing play by play. It’s unbelievable. And it is not even the pundits. Cincinnati fans are already calming themselves with statements like ‘well, whatever happens, it has been a great season’. What a miserable thing to say. That’s like a general marching into a suicide mission with overmatched troops. ‘Whatever happens men, it has been an honor to serve with you.’ Good lord, since when did the orange and black become lambs being led to slaughter? Where are those ‘we’ll be back here in February’ signs I saw in Detroit last month?

The Steelers defense, who gave up 38 points to Cincinnati, has not gotten any better. They beat Chicago, a team who at the time was steered by Kyle Orton. They shut down Minnesota and Cleveland – both these teams are near the bottom in every offensive category. They outlasted Detroit, who still managed to negotiate three touchdowns. They will be scored on.

The Steelers can run the ball. That has not changed. The Bengals will struggle to contain it. But they will, at a price. Fortunately, it will be at a price they can afford.

The Bengals can contain the pass. The Bengals can contain the run. Unfortunately, they cannot do both at the same time. Whatever. Against Pittsburgh, the Bengals are going to chose to load up on the run. 8 men in the proverbial box every down. Make them throw.

And they will throw with success. Therefore the game turns into an aerial contest. So take your pick. Would you rather have Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmanzadeh, Chris Henry and Chris Perry or Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Antwaan Randle El and Heath Miller? That’s not even a debate.

The Bengals are going to score early and win the turnover battle. The Bengals are going to win. And that bandwagon is going to fill back up in a hurry.

Cincinnati – 33 Pittsburgh - 31

*I spelled TJs name correctly without looking it up. I should get a free soda or something.