Cincinnati Basketball Will Get Oppurtunities Early

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Last year the Bearcats had some chances early to get key wins, but lost to them.  This year they will get that chance again as they play in an early season tournament and play a tough non conference schedule

Last year Cincinnati fell to Butler, Iowa State, and rival Xavier all in the non-conference.  Mick Cronin and his crew will look to flip the script this year.  Cincinnati will be playing in the Naismith Hall of Fame tip-off.  They will play host to Albany who won 24 games last year and went to the NCAA tournament the three previous years.  Next they get Rhode Island who comes in at #23 in the AP Poll.  The winner of this game will take on the #1 team In the nation, the Duke Blue Devils.  Both Rhode Island and Duke is at neutral sites.

After that tournament wraps up the Bearcats still have tough games left before conference play.  They will be traveling to Aims to take on the #24 Iowa State cyclones who beat them 81-79 last year in Cincinnati.  Once they come home they will hit the road again to take on Butler who beat them 58-56 on a buzzer beater in Cincinnati as well.

All in all Cincinnati looks like an NCAA Tournament team, but come tourney time these games could make the difference between a 7 seed and a 3 seed.  All in all Cincinnati has 5 ranked teams on the schedule and they could add another one if they end up facing Duke in the Naismith Tournament final.