Xavier a 'nightmare'? Cincinnati in 'tatters'? Madness for fans!

Written By Mike Bass
UCXavier enquirer photo.jpeg

Note to Coach’s Box readers: This is my weekly column for the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati.com.

By Mike Bass
mbass@mikebasscoaching.com

Editor's note: This is a weekly column from former sports reporter and editor Mike Bass. Bass will be contributing to The Enquirer by offering advice for sports fans, athletes and youth sports parents and coaches through a weekly Q&A. You can reach him at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.


Selection Sunday downshifted into Dejection Sunday in the Queen City. No Xavier. No Cincinnati. No drama.

What is an NCAA men’s college basketball tournament without at least one of them? You had no idea, unless you could remember back 36 years, when REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight this Feeling” topped the Billboard Hot 100.

On Dejection Sunday, Cincinnati and Xavier fans could not fight theirs, either.

“Pretty bummed, but I'm old enough to know that the college sports landscape ebbs and flows,” @00havoc tweeted. “It’s been a down few years for XU and UC, and that will happen. Still surreal to see neither team in the tourney though. Then again, UK and Duke aren't either. It was an (unusual) year.”

COVID-19 sidelined the NCAA Tournament last year, and UC and XU had no chance of being selected Sunday for the return of March Madness. The Bearcats broke a run of nine straight NCAA bids. This is two straight misses for the Musketeers, who had missed only two combined of the previous 18 tournaments.

With the help of The Enquirer’s Cincinnati and Xavier beat writers, Keith Jenkins and Adam Baum, I took to Twitter to see how fans were coping with going 0-for-Sunday.

“What's frustrating is that COVID-19 has made March Madness and Selection Sunday seem rather unimportant,” @bubbacody tweeted. “It's hard to be disappointed about something that has been influenced by so many unknown factors and has affected everyone in different ways.”

“I stopped watching in December,” @cpdake tweeted. “Could never get into the sport - the first time ever. Basketball is just off when there are no crowds, worry about the pandemic, job situation, and what the new name of the Cleveland baseball team will be.”

It is understandable if some of you are sidetracked trying to process what is going on in the world.

It also is understandable if some of you are trying to process what in the world is going on with your teams, too.

* * *

Early last March, Cincinnati and Xavier looked like NCAA bubble teams entering conference tournaments.

When the AAC’s was called off for COVID-19, The Enquirer reported that top-seeded UC would have received the league’s automatic bid had there been an NCAA Tournament. Later in the day, that was canceled, too.

When the Big East’s stopped, the Musketeers already had dropped their opener, a third straight loss to finish 19-13 after opening 11-2. Sound familiar? This season, Xavier opened 11-2  and lost its Big East opener to complete a three-game skid. Selection Sunday was out.

A program that had cradled Bob Staak, Pete Gillen, Skip Prosser, Thad Matta, Sean Miller and then Chris Mack is not feeling the same love over third-year coach Travis Steele. Xavier fans are not used to feeling … this.

@TheRealBMac7: “Frustrated & sad. Expectations at X aren’t unreasonable. Make the tourney most years and advance more often than not. There was no tourney last yr but if there was X looked to be on the outside looking in.Can’t miss the tourney 3 straight years at X. Make or break next yr 4 Steele.”

@drummerboy1744: “Sucked. Given that 3 years ago we were a 1 seed and have been on the bubble since is frustrating. Cupboard was bare for Steele, but to collapse the way X did is just unacceptable for this program.

@jmccabe_SC: “What used to be one of the best days in college basketball for Xavier fans, has turned into a nightmare! I’m not popular in my dislike of Coach Steele, but he’s repeated the same failure 3 years in a row. We need to change coaches and rebuild. We can’t risk a 4th year with him!”

@PatKelseyToXav1: “I didn't watch the selection show for the first time in a decade and sat in sadness about the situation and frustrated with the coaching that brought me here.”

Frustration. Sadness. Dislike. We often lead with emotions in the moment and in the ensuing hours or even days. The team means so much to you. It wins, you feel it. It loses, you feel it. Expectations play a big part in this.

This sort of thing just doesn’t happen at Cincinnati or Xavier.

The Bearcats at least finished stronger in coach John Brannen’s two seasons. Last season, they won three of their last four and 10 of their last 13. This season, they reached the AAC Tournament final. But if 13-8 wouldn’t cut it at XU this season, imagine what 12-11 did for UC.

@hitman_meddy: “The most frustrating thing is the losing. Losses to bad teams, losing to average teams, losing to Colgate at home. Getting beat (by) 37.5ppg against Houston. How many tournaments is it acceptable to miss? No, I'm not a ‘Fire Brannen’ guy, yet. But I expected him to be better.”

It doesn’t help to lose the one game that means so much to each school’s fans each year. Brannen is 0-2 in the Crosstown Shootout.

@bearcatflea: “Losing to Xavier again just sucks, period.”

The criticism of Brannen picked up during this week. If the two players entering the transfer portal was tough on Xavier fans, a half-dozen Bearcats entering it unnerved UC followers. As The Enquirer’s Jenkins tweeted, “Now, every member of the freshman class that John Brannen was openly so excited to build around is gone.”

Which elicited this quote tweet from @TyFromTheSky: “Bruh........you can't lose an entire freshman class and keep your job. He has to go. The Bearcats are in tatters. I've never seen anything like this.”

And this from @marquesharveyNB: “This needs to be fixed now!”

And a creative array of GIFs:

@jenag13 tweeted a dumpster on fire going down the river.

@uconnfan2021 tweeted “Sesame Street” character Elmo in front of a blazing fire.

@nikgazcs tweeted: “Live look-in at Cincinnati basketball right now …” above a sinking ship.

On the other hand, @Jim25304344 tweeted this response under Jenkins’ post: “Head coach can't prevent the players using their free year option to transfer over 300 players in the transfer portal since march 1st. Know your stuff fans.”

* * *

In time, we can put all of this in perspective. This was an odd season. Xavier and UC and so many other schools were left starting and stopping their schedules because of COVID positives and contact tracing.

@redlegcraig, a UC alum and fan and a former newspaper stringer, wrote in a direct message: “As far as Selection Sunday, I figured we had no chance by January but I didn’t think we had a chance when the season started. Lost too much from last season and not enough ‘glue’ kids to bridge the years, especially with all the difficulties of the pandemic. But it wasn’t just us—look at Duke and UK. Streaks are made to be broken but after the AAC tournament I was hopeful a new streak would start next year. But with all the news … I’m not sure UC will have anything to build off of to start a new streak. I wish there would have been more games for these kids to play together.”

So how do you move on as a Xavier or UC fan?

Sometimes you can look at what helped you get past previous disappointing seasons. That idea didn’t resonate with one Xavier fan now dealing with three straight – and that is absolutely OK, especially this soon.

@jmccabe_SC: “There is nothing to help you get past not making the NCAA tourney! When you've spent 35 years rooting for a team that is a traditional winner, the sting of three straight years w/out an invite lingers. Maybe we're spoiled, but 35 yrs of success shouldn't evaporate so fast.”

There is no right or wrong answer for how or when to move on. The emotion is real. When you are ready to let it go, thinking gratitude can help. One XU fan was open to going there.

@TheRealBMac7: 1. The fact that there was a season. I love Xavier basketball so it would have been awful if they weren’t playing. 2. The team being be better than last year. Especially initially. 3. Big wins against Oklahoma and Creighton. 4. Winning the crosstown shootout.”

UC fan @redlegcraig wrote, “I’m grateful that Keith (Williams) had somewhat of a senior season. Grateful for the ability to follow them from a distance and keep me interested in the Bearcats until the Reds and Bearcat football get started back up.”

@RedsBurrowBrady: “I miss my bearcats, but it’s nice that Xavier is no longer nationally relevant.”

Check out the shift one XU fan used to get through Selection Sunday. The start, tweeted @andypic17, went like this: “A lot of depression. I couldn’t even fathom watching the show. Not because I was angry with the committee or anything just disappointed and sad my team did not perform the way we expected. Spent most of the day talking and thinking about a promising future.”

Hope can get you past hopelessness. And gratitude can emerge about there even being an NCAA Tournament.

@KeitelWill tweeted about Selection Sunday: “I mean it sucked obviously, but after not having a tournament last year it’s hard to not be excited for the tournament this year regardless on Xavier not making it!”

It is a spectacle. How can you fully enjoy it?

@00havoc: “Probably ‘adopting’ a dark horse/cinderella candidate to make some noise in the tournament. Or rooting for all of my least favorite teams to lose. Everybody has those ‘villain’ teams they can't stand, right?”

Absolutely. Just ask a Bengals fan how enjoyable it can be to watch the rival Steelers or Browns lose.

@andypic17: “Personally I just really love basketball and it’s the greatest 3 weeks in sports so I won’t let me personal disappointment make me miss that. I have friends who root for other teams in the tournament so I’ll likely watch with them and root hard for their happiness.”

Doing for others can be a powerful way to break through feeling powerless or frustrated, angry or sad.

There are others ways, but only when you are ready. If you can’t fight this feeling you have now, what if you stop trying? What if that is exactly what you are supposed to be feeling? Lean into it. Feel it. Then let it go.

Meanwhile, be nice to yourself. Whether you follow the Bearcats or Musketeers, you deserve it after Sunday.

Remember to email Bass at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com

Mike Bass https://www.mikebasscoaching.com
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