Jon Rothstein Picks UC 3rd In The AAC, For Some Reason

Jon Rothstein, fan of the Bearcats and fine New York City food, has for some odd reason tabbed Cincinnati third in his preseason AAC power rankings.

I just don’t get that for a number of reasons.

Rothstein has his finger on the pulse of college basketball. He’s one of those most knowledgeable people who covers the sport. So you’d think he’d know that Cincinnati returns just about every major contributor from an overachieving team from last season.

At the same time, SMU loses seven seniors including Yanick Moreira and UConn loses Ryan Boatright. Sure the Mustangs have AAC Player of the Year Nic Moore and the Huskies Rookie of the Year Daniel Hamilton but does that make UC chopped liver? Does that reduce Octavius Ellis, Gary Clark, and Troy Caupain to second class players and Mick Cronin a second class coach?

At least I didn’t think so.

That’s perhaps why I’m so frustrated about this. Obviously one power ranking from one man doesn’t automatically tab the Bearcats as finishing in third place in the conference. They have the talent, coaching, and system to make another AAC title run. But it still gets under my skin when major members of the media continuously discount this team, especially this year’s version that should be the best in a decade.

I would have thought Rothstein would understand that, considering how much he follows college basketball and UC. Maybe he still sees SMU and UConn as better teams. I don’t know. Either way, I can’t find a reason to agree with his power ranking.