After the Cincinnati Bearcats fell 79-74 to the Xavier Musketeers in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout, a lot of fans are starting to feel like the season is over before Big 12 play has even started, and for good reason. The Cincinnati Bearcats are 6-3 with losses to Louisville, Xavier and worst of all, Eastern Michigan. The Bearcats currently sit at 78th in the KemPom and 128th in the NET Rankings, both bottom 3 in the Big 12.
The Bearcats have four games remaining until they open up the Big 12 regular season playing Houston on the road. Of their 4 games nonconference games left, 2 of them are against Quad 1 opponents who are both also top 25 in KenPom and top 30 in NET.
The Bearcats take on the Georgia Bulldogs on December 13th as part of Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta, Georgia. They also play the Clemson Tigers on December 21st as part of the Greeneville Winter Classic. The Bulldogs currently sit at 8-1 with their only loss coming against Clemson by 3 points. Clemson sits at 6-3 with their losses coming by 5 on the road against Georgetown, by 6 on the road against Alabama, and by 3 against BYU off a buzzer-beating three-pointer. Both teams have quality wins and losses, and both are more battle-tested than the Bearcats at this point in the season.
If the Bearcats can somehow manage to bear both Clemson and Georgia at "neutral sites" in their own states, along with victories over Alabama State and Lipscomb, bringing the Bearcats to 10-3, then the season is back on. But for a team that sits near the bottom is the majority of offensive statistics this is a big ask.