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Cincinnati vs. Xavier
The Nine Years War?
Although the series has a long history, it took the colorful personalities
of Bob Huggins and Skip Prosser, and the great UC teams of the late '90s to produce one of the rivalry's most intense stretches.
In 1996 Xavier stunned a top ranked UC program on its home court, and for the next nine years UC would produce great teams,
and every year, it seemed, they would struggle against their crosstown rivals, making the games a big deal for both teams,
and making UC wins great celebrations and XU wins great upsets.
Here, detailed, are accounts of the games during those nine intense years:
1996-97: A year earlier, Cincinnati had finished the regular season 26-4,
and was returning the base of a team of musclemen that included Danny Fortsen, Ruben Patterson and Bobby Brannon. The Bearcats
started the season #1. Xavier, meanwhile, was still a year away from having a great team, but the core of young players made
for a solid squad. The two teams met early in the season this year at the Shoemaker Center, where, as always, a packed crowd
was on hand for the annual rivalry. As expected, Cincinnati led most of the game, though not by much. In the end, though,
Xavier came back to pull off the upset of the top ranked Bearcats.
1997-98: Seeking revenge for the upset on their home turf the year before,
the Bearcats were stymied at the Cincinnati Gardens from the start. Xavier built a 50-35 lead just after halftime and won
by 20 points. The Musketeers made it as high as seventh in the national polls after the game.
1998-99: UC finally got the satisfying win it had been waiting for. With
a team dominated by impressive forwards, the Bearcats started the season 17-0. The January game against Xavier came in the
midst of a tough stretch of the schedule, and although UC was struggling, they managed to pull together an impressive second
half. After trailing 26-19 early, the Bearcats mounted a late charge and beat Xavier by 10, 87-77
1999-2000: Once again UC was ranked number one, and once again Xavier
would fell them. This time, UC was a near-unanimous choice for the nation's best team. Led by Kenyon Martin, these Bearcats
came into the game 7-0 and seemed virtually unbeatable. In fact, they would only lose one other time during the regular season.
But on this day the Musketeers looked like the team that could not be beat. UC simply could not stop Xavier in the first half,
a high-scoring half that Xavier took by eight points. Although UC mounted a second half rally, Xavier's defense bogged down
and the Musketeers held on to beat the Bearcats 66-64.
2000-01: A rebuilding year for UC was to be the final year at Xavier
for Skip Prosser. In hindsight, the UC-Xavier rivalry appears never to have been better than when Skip matched up with Huggs.
And although Skip often got the better of UC's fiery coach, the margins were usually close and the crowds quite spirited.
This was the case exactly in 2000-01, as neither squad was a national power, but both were fighting for postseason bids. A
victory over the other would prove big to either come tournament time. Led by Steve Logan, the Bearcats jumped out to a 40-33
lead, and for a while all looked as if the bitter memories of the previous year's upset would disappear in the sea of red
at the Shoemaker Center. But once again, Xavier declared it not to be. This time, the margin was again just two, but Xavier
prevailed 69-67 on UC's home court.
2001-02: In the 2000-01 season UC finished 25-10, lost to Xavier by two
points for the second year in a row, but reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in five years. The following year the
Bearcats turned what was expected to be a good team into a national number one seed. Xavier, a year away from having a great
team, was led by David West, and had a young new coach at the helm in Thad Matta. Without Prosser directing a Xavier comeback,
UC took the opportunity to pounce in the first game of the rivalry ever to be held at Xavier's Cintas Center. UC led 39-26
at halftime, but the bigger story for Xavier at that point was the sudden game-ending injury to David West. As a result, the
Musketeers lacked a dominating inside force and were unable to control the UC attack in the second half. Leading 73-55 in
the final seconds, a UC player, in the typical fashion of a Huggins coached team, darted for a layup as time expired to bring
the margin to 20. While some viewed the move as classless, it allowed UC to match the biggest margin of victory for either
team in the rivalry in recent memory.
2002-03: In 2002-03 everything seemed to align for Xaivier. For once
they had both a solid backcourt and a strong presence underneath. Consequently, the Musketeers rolled through an easy schedule
and pulled off a record more like the ones the UC teams had been producing the last several years. Following a Bob Huggins
heart attack, a mediocre UC team and the UC campus put a great deal of effort into stopping powerful Xavier at Shoemaker Center.
And they did hold the score down. Not since Huggins arrived had a UC team held Xavier to 50 points. Unfortunately for the
Bearcats, their offense, stagnant all season, could not quite keep up with Xaiver all game, and the 50-44 final meant yet
another defeat for Huggins, this time to Matta.
2003-04: For many fans, this period around 2003 and 2004 marked a change
in Cincinnati basketball, one that meant reduced intensity and importance for the Crosstown Shootout rivalry. In 2003-04,
in fact, it seemed at the time that Xavier might have difficulty eclipsing .500 for the season. As it turned out, the Musketeers
won their last seven regular season games, upset previously undefeated St. Joe's in the conference tournament, and ran off
a string of victories to reach the Elite Eight. UC, meanwhile, made the tournament and finished with a record of 24-8. The
game itself proved memorable indeed. Many felt the way the game was going it was destined to be a UC loss - the Bearcats rarely
seem to win close games against the Muskies. That inclination was indeed right, as UC's late charge could not bring them to
victory. Xavier prevailed 71-69.
2004-05: At UC, what seemed like a Shootout win that would finally give
Huggins some breathing room from the skeptics about his ability to coach teams to beat rivals, the '04-'05 matchup proved
to be his last. His Bearcats dominated the underhanded Musketeers by 11 points in a game that provided less excitement than
those in previous years. Still, for Bearcat fans, it was a major victory, and a reflection on both their team and the changing
faces on Xavier that the Musketeers could not put up much of a fight. Thad Matta had departed in the offseason for Ohio State,
leaving inexperienced Sean Miller at the helm at XU. Following the '04-'05 season, Huggins was fired for a variety of reasons,
most of which angered UC fans.
The rivalry has since not regained its glory, and in
2006-07 was not even carried on a local television affiliate. (That, of course, was due to ESPN).
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