Cashmere Wright Leads Bearcats to 4-0 Record; Indiana Survives over Hoyas, Tar Heels Dumped by Butler

College Hoops Player of the Day for Tuesday, November 20, 2012

As his name implies, Cincinnati's Cashmere Wright is a smooth operator, capable of putting up points from anywhere on the floor, as he did in Wednesday night's 91-72 victory over Campbell, the Bearcats' fourth straight win without a loss.

A 6-foot senior guard out of Savannah, Georgia, Wright tallied a game-high and career-high 28 points for the Bearcats, hitting four of six from three-point range on 8-for-14 shooting overall. Wright also canned eight of 10 free throws, distributed a pair of assists, and made five steals, making up for his four turnovers.

As usual, the Bearcats are pounding lesser opposition in their early season tune-up phase, preparing for headier days ahead when Big East play commences.

Elsewhere, various tournaments were displaying some of the best talent around. In Hawaii, at the annual Maui Invitational, Butler had an incredibly easy time defeating #9 North Carolina, leading the Tar Heels by as many as 27 points as they cruised to an 82-71 win in one of two semi-final games.
A night after topping Marquette by a point to advance, the 3-1 Bulldogs were paced by 17 points apiece from Kellen Dunham and Rotnei Clarke. They held North Carolina to 18 first half points, rolling to a 17-point lead at the break. Butler will face Illinois - an 84-61 winner over Chaminade - in the tournament final Wednesday night. The Bulldogs and Fighting Illini are both unranked.

In Brooklyn, top-ranked Indiana held off a determined Georgetown team, finally dispatching the Hoyas in overtime, 82-72, to capture the Legends Classic title at the Barclays Center.

The Hoosiers are 4-0. Georgetown dropped to 3-1, but should not be disappointed with the result of their trip to the Big Apple. The Hoyas tore up #11 UCLA in the tourney semi-final and fared well against one of the nation's best teams in the championship game. A Top 25 ranking for the youthful Hoyas, who have no seniors on their roster, is a good likelihood in the near future.

Bearcats Drop Louisville Behind 22 Points from Cashmere Wright

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, February 23, 2012

There's no telling just how big Cincinnati's, 60-56, win over #17 Louisville was Thursday night. That will be determined in about two weeks, when the NCAA tournament selection committee gets down to seeding the 68 teams in the tourney.

Suffice it to say that the win was as huge as the game played by junior guard Cashmere Wright, who scored a game high 22 points and led both teams in assists with five dimes. Wright hit just eight of 19 shots, but was efficiently 6-for-13 from beyond the arc. He also helped out on the boards in his 32 minutes of floor time, grabbing five rebounds.

The Bearcats improved to a respectable 20-8 and 10-5 in the Big East, which, remarkably, is good for only sixth place in the 16-team conference. Still, since the Big East will likely send eight or nine teams to the big dance, the win by Cincy was enormously important, not only because it was at home, but also because it came against a team, Louisville, which has pretty much assured themselves of a #4 or 5 seeding.

Where Cincinnati will be seeded will depend not only on this win, but also on how well they perform in their remaining game against South Florida, Marquette and Villanova, and in the Big East tourney.

NOTABLE: The #5 Duke Blue Devils are at it again, surprising the rest of the college hoops world by winning key games late in February, their latest a 74-66 road win over Florida State that avenged an earlier loss and has put coach K's kids on a path to a possible #1 seed in the NCAAs. Guards Andre dawkins and Austin Rivers combined for 42 of Duke's points, mostly from 3-point range. Dawkins was 6-for-9 from outside the arc and Rivers 4-for-8 as Duke nailed 13 treys against the Seminoles.

Duke is now tied with Florida State at 10-2 in conference play, both teams 1/2 game behind 11-2 North Carolina. Duke hosts the Tar Heels in their regular season finale on Saturday, March 3, a game likely will produce the AVV regular season champion.