Mr. Koch covers the Cincinnati Bearcats for The Cincinnati Enquirer. You can find his work at: http://news.cincinnati.com/ucblog
Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Koch for answering a few questions on Cincinnati.
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Under Head Coach Mik Cronin, the Bearcats return 4 starters from a team was 8-10 in the ultra competitive Big East last season. In addition to those returning starters, Cincinnati added the talented Freshman Lance Stephenson. Is this a team capable of contending for a conference title?”
Mr. Koch: “I’m not sure they’re ready to compete for the Big East championship just yet. They start two freshmen and a sophomore, but they’re certainly capable of being an NCAA Tournament team.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “PF Yancy Gates returns after averaging 10.6ppg, and 6.1 boards this past season as a Frosh. Where can the 6’9, 260 Sophomore improve this year?”
Mr. Koch: “I think he needs to be more of a presence on the low block, much the same way DeJuan Blair was for Pitt the past few years. He also could improve as a shot-blocker.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “PG Denota Vaughn is coming off of a 3rd-team All-Big East season. Is it accurate to say that he is more of a score-first PG? He has always shot well from the line, but his 3point shooting % decreased nearly 6 percent last-year, while his attempts per game remained the same. Does the Coaching staff want him to reign in his shots? What are the positives and negatives of his game?”
Mr. Koch: “I don’t think the coaching staff wants Vaughn to shoot less frequently. He’s the best player on the team. What they’re hoping is that he won’t have to shoot as much because they have other weapons. The best things about his game are that he’s very good at creating his own shot and he’s willing to take the shot with the game on the line.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Junior Forward Rashad Bishop is coming off of a 20 point, 8 rebound performance against Toledo. Where have you seen the most evolution in his overall game?”
Mr. Koch: “He’s become more offense-minded. In his first two years, he passed up a lot of good shots to concentrate on playing defense and passing the ball. At times, when Vaughn wasn’t in the game, he even brought the ball up the court against pressure. If he can become a consistent force offensively, he could be a key to UC’s success this year.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Maryland made a strong attempt at recruiting Lance Stephenson. Gary Williams had visited him in NY, and Stephenson had visited MD. Stephenson’s HS teammate James Padgett was already signed to the Terps. It became clear Stephenson’s first-choice was to sign with the Kansas Jayhawks. When Xavier Henry left Memphis for Kansas, that forced Stephenson to begin looking for colleges again.
Stephenson announced he wanted to get his court-case over with (trial at the end of June) prior to selecting a college. In early June Stephenson and father spoke to Zagsblog.com, and announced Florida was eliminated, and it was mentioned Stephenson was in constant contact with the MD coaching staff, with resolution expected shortly.
Then in mid-June Maryland announced they were no longer actively recruiting Stephenson, with the rumor said to be that they did not believe he would be qualified by the NCAA.
How did Cincinnati then get involved with Stephenson? Did the Cincinnati Coaching-staff have full-confidence of him being qualified? Has Stephenson been a positive influence with the team?”
Mr. Koch: “As far as I know, UC stayed in touch with Stephenson when other schools backed off. Mick Cronin was extremely confident after Stephenson signed that he would be cleared by the NCAA. It’s hard to say what kind of influence Stephenson has been. He has played only two games and I have not been allowed to talk to him. I haven’t heard the other players say anything bad about him. To the contrary, they seem happy to have a player of his caliber to improve their postseason chances.”
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.