In a matter of 24 hours the Cincinnati Bearcats’ front court went from being a major question mark to an area of stability and optimism for the next three seasons. Truthfully, UC is rather loaded down low in the 2015-16 season.
The Bearcats return the best four and five combo in the AAC in Octavius Ellis and Gary Clark. The duo combined for 18.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per game last season. Clark especially was impressive in his first ever collegiate season, displaying the patience and aggressiveness around the rim of a seasoned veteran. Not to be outdone by the freshman, Ellis too turned heads in his second stint with the Bearcats. His outside jumper complimented Clark’s inside presence and overall the two played off of each other’s skills very well.
Cincinnati will also have back the hulking Coreontae DeBerry. UC’s first big man off the bench, the 6’10” 270 lbs center played very well in his first year in Clifton, notching 4.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. Those numbers on their own don’t look impressive but when Ellis ran into foul trouble or was outright ejected from games, Cincinnati’s front court didn’t miss a beat. That was 100% due to DeBerry’s efforts to step up his game in critical situations to guide the Bearcats to victory (see: Purdue).
The challenge for Mick Cronin heading into this offseason was replacing Ellis and DeBerry. The former could very well be a double-double man in 2015-16 and the latter, well.. you just don’t find 6’10” 270 lbs centers with hands the size of tires walking down the street.
And up until the evening of June 30th, Cronin had nary a committed player to replace them. Then center Nysier Brooks pledged to be come a Bearcat and NC State transfer Kyle Washington followed suit the next day. All of a sudden Cincinnati was set at the four and five through the 2017 season.
The onus is now on the coaches as well as Brooks and Washington to develop into seamless replacements for Ellis and DeBerry. They won’t see the floor in the upcoming season; Washington will have to accept a redshirt since he’s a transfer and Brooks will be playing his senior year of high school. But come 2016 they’ll be thrown into the fire.
My suspicions are Washington will have an easier go of it in his first season in red and black. He did of course average 17.8 minutes as a sophomore at NC State last season, displaying experience and knowledge of the collegiate game. Plus his position will be shared with Gary Clark, who will likely be a starter. So the pressure won’t be fully on Washington to shoulder the load when he first steps on the court.
Brooks, however, will probably be asked to bear the responsibility of an upperclassmen when he arrives at Cincinnati as a true freshman. Again, DeBerry will have graduated and the only other “center” on the team is Quadri Moore, who was shaky at best last season. I have confidence the Linden, New Jersey product will develop over the next two years such that he will provide stability to the five but if not the coaches will need Brooks to be that guy.
At the end of the day, it’s clear Mick Cronin has set the Bearcats up for success in the low post for the near future with the additions of Nysier Brooks and Kyle Washington. But it’s up to his coaches and UC’s new big men to rise up and fill the gigantic holes that Octavius Ellis and Coreontae DeBerry will after the upcoming season. Cincinnati basketball’s stability and continued success from 2016 and beyond depend on Brooks and Washington elevating their games as Bearcats.