For the Cincinnati Bearcats the season can be summed up in one word – Presbyterian. As in the Bearcats of the Big East lost to Presbyterian 56-54 a couple of weeks ago. <\/p>\n
Saturday December 10 CIncinnati<\/strong><\/p>\n No one was expecting this team to push Syracuse or Connecticut but it was a woeful and embarrassing effort. \u00a0This team does have some talent but it really hasn\u2019t beaten anybody yet. \u00a0Some will point to their loss at Marshall as another red flag but that is a team that will challenge in Conference USA.<\/p>\n Last year Cincinnati spanked the Muskies in the Crosstown Shootout, winning by 20. \u00a0\u00a0Yancy Gates had one of his best games showing the promise we have been hearing about since he arrived by putting up 22 points and 14 rebounds. \u00a0This year he has been solid but a guy with his physical strength should be more dominant. \u00a0The Bearcats are solid in the backcourt with Sean Kilpatrick and Dion Dixon but that is the Muskies strength too.[soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n Xavier<\/strong><\/p>\n The Xavier Musketeers are looking to build on recent success and are off to a great start. \u00a0They have handled all comers to date and wins over Vanderbilt and Purdue were pretty impressive to me. They are looking for revenge in this rivalry and are clearly the better team this season. \u00a0They have another tough non-conference game when they host Gonzaga at the end of the month. \u00a0They are the favourite in the A-10 this year and it wouldn\u2019t shock to see this team with a gaudy record come March (perfection perhaps.<\/p>\n Guard Tu Holloway is going to get some pub for player of the year as long as Xavier is a top team. \u00a0He has support from his backcourt mate Mark Lyons with both players averaging 17ppg and 4 rebounds. \u00a0Not bad for a couple of 6 foot guards. \u00a0Don\u2019t worry though, the Muskies have plenty of muscle inside to thwart a team like Cincinnati. \u00a0Kenny Frease may be enigmatic but he is a legit 7 footer to lean on Gates, who can also draw him away from the hoop.<\/p>\n Spread Pick: Xavier -7 Cincinnati Bearcats (5-2) vs #8 Xavier Musketeers (7-0) For the Cincinnati Bearcats the season can be summed up in one word – Presbyterian. As in the Bearcats of the Big East lost to Presbyterian 56-54 a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":36075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1415],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46420,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46413\/revisions\/46420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCintas Center – Cincinnati, OH
\n12:30
\nMoneyline:
\nSpread: Xavier -7
\nO\/U: 124<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nO\/U Pick: Over
\nScore Prediction: Xavier 75 – Cincinnati 65<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"