Major CBB Voice Places Bearcats Among Bottom-Half of Big 12 Teams With Ice Cream on the Line

Jerrod Calhoun has brought in a completely new team and coaching staff to Cincinnati in pursuit of national basketball relevance for the first time this decade. UC is looking to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in that stretch, and CBS Sports voice Jon Rothstein just threw down a fun challenge if they make it happen.

He ranked the Bearcats 12th out of 16 Big 12 teams as we barrel closer and closer to the 2026-27 season. Rothstein needs to see it happen to believe it, and if Cincinnati does make the NCAA Tournament in a 76-team field next March, he's going to buy Graeter's for fans in downtown Cincinnati.

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do, because I am not somebody who hides from this," Rothstein said on Inside College Basketball Now. "I just gave you my two cents, and if you hold up your end of the bargain, Cincinnati and Jerrod Calhoun, I'm going to give you more than two cents.

"There is a Graeter's Ice Cream in Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati, and if Cincinnati makes the NCAA Tournament in 2027, before the 27-28 season, I am going to fly to Cincinnati, and I am going to put my credit card down at that Graeter's Ice Cream in Fountain Square, and I'm buying ice cream for all Bearcats fans in downtown Cincinnati for one hour to celebrate this achievement, because now there's nowhere to run. Now I'm invested, just like you have been invested, and I told you what was going to happen seven years ago, and I believe that this program under Jerrod Calhoun will be different moving forward, but the facts are the facts."

Rothstein is still hesitant about MJ Collins officially playing for the team this winter and will likely adjust his ranking if that court case injunction gets through the system.

With Collins' star impact murky, Rothstein just can't buy into the online hype.

Still, Cincinnati should make the dance this coming March as the 40th-best team on Bart Torvik's preseason rating system.

"Jerrod Calhoun, who is a brilliant offensive coach who did a great job at Utah State, is campaigning for more," Rothstein noted. "I hear from him all the time. 'Why aren't we in the Rothstein 45? Why aren't we getting more respect? Why aren't we getting more attention?' This, to me, is a match made in heaven, because the DNA--not necessarily the coaching style--but the DNA of Jerrod Calhoun being a fighter, somebody who's going to push and fight and fight windmills every single day-to me, DNA-wise, much resembles that of Mick Cronin and Bob Huggins, guys that he worked with and worked for before he became a very successful Division I coach.

"But I look at Cincinnati's roster, and obviously that will change if MJ Collins is eligible. But I look at Cincinnati's roster, and I see a roster to me that's hard to give the benefit of the doubt to over a program that's coached by Grant McCasland (Texas Tech), over a program that's coached by Scott Drew (Baylor), or over a program like Arizona State that's coached by Randy Bennett."

Check out the full comments from Rothstein below:

Will Cincinnati end its lengthy NCAA Tournament drought in Year 1 under Jerrod Calhoun?https://t.co/c9JLel3odd (Apple) https://t.co/EsZxIkcHSA (Spotify)https://t.co/jVLx9D04VT (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/y5jdgWHxxO
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 20, 2026

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