A detail view of the throwback jerseys the Cincinnati Bearcats wore against the South Florida Bulls in the first half of a men's NCAA basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. South Florida Bulls At Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball 040 — © Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

We're Conditioned To Think The Bearcats Are Going To Blow Big Leads, Crucial Games

Blown double-digit leads in the last three road games is enough of a trend to have that mindset

Author:
Alex Frank
Updated:
Feb 17, 2023 9:59 AM EST

In this story:

DAYTON — I remember my eighth birthday for a lot of reasons, none more so than what happened in the Cincinnati Bengals game that day. The Bengals led the then-San Diego Chargers 28-7 at halftime. No way they were going to blow it, right?

Wrong! The Chargers, led by that year's NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson, stormed back for 42 second-half points to beat the Bengals 49-41. And it was from that point on that I was conditioned, as a Bengals fan, to think about how they were going to blow big leads, crucial games, etc.

The same mindset can now officially be applied to the Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team. They have now blown double-digit leads in their last three road games.

Watching the game at East Carolina Wednesday night, I felt good when the Cincinnati Bearcats were up by 16 points with 10 minutes to play. Then as the lead dwindled, I thought about how they might blow another road game. And by the time ECU took the lead, it wasn't that the Bearcats might blow the game. It was that the Bearcats were, in fact, going to blow the game.

Ask yourself this question: has the Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball program had any cathartic breakthrough since they beat Memphis in the 1992 Elite Eight? They haven't reached the Final Four since that year, they've been to the Elite Eight twice and none since 1996, and only four Sweet 16 appearances.

But the big thing is thinking about how many crushing losses the Cincinnati Bearcats have suffered in the NCAA Tournament. From losing on a buzzer-beater to West Virginia to Kenyon Martin breaking his leg to the double overtime loss to UCLA to blowing a 22-point lead against Nevada, whatever can go wrong for the Cincinnati Bearcats on the big stage has gone wrong since 1992.

Now, it's happening in the regular season. Against teams the Bearcats may not ever see again unless they're scheduled as lay-up nonconference games once the Bearcats join the Big 12. Then again, is there a such thing as a lay-up game nowadays?

We all know about the Cincinnati sports curse.

The Bengals spurned it with a cathartic breakthrough to Super Bowl LVI. You could even count the Bearcats going to the College Football Playoff in 2021 as a breakthrough. The Bearcats men's basketball program has not had a breakthrough since 1992.

Barring something drastic changing over the next three weeks, they will go into the Big 12 31 years removed from their last Final Four appearance. More importantly, there's a firm belief that on the big stage, whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

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