Whereas Cincinnati's lackluster non-league schedule was easy to defend a year ago since Mick Cronin's team needed a confidence-boosting start, next season it will be a bit more difficult to stomach.
The Bearcats will begin the season as a consensus preseason top 25 team, yet the lone projected NCAA tournament team on their non-league schedule is crosstown rival Xavier. The only other potential non-conference tests are rebuilding Oklahoma, Conference USA contender Marshall and a Georgia team that must replace a pair of NBA draft picks.
By no means is that schedule an embarrassment, but it's also not much of an improvement over the one that was met with derision a year ago. With Cronin eager to break a five-year NCAA tournament drought and potentially save his own job, Cincinnati started 15-0 but faced only one NCAA tournament team during that stretch.
It's important to note that it's not entirely the Bearcats' fault that next season's schedule isn't ideal.
They couldn't have known Oklahoma was about to fall off a cliff when they agreed to a home-and-home prior to the 2010-11 season. They were assigned Georgia in the SEC/Big East Challenge rather than one of half a dozen potentially more challenging opponents. And, as ESPN.com's Andy Katz notes, it's not always easy for them to find quality preseason tournaments.
There are 16 Big East teams eager to secure a spot in a marquee preseason event, but tournaments often only take one team per conference and are limited by rule to no more than two. As a result, Cincinnati often gets passed over since it is below the likes of UConn, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Villanova in college basketball's TV pecking order.
Regardless of those challenges, however, Cincinnati's schedule still feels one heavyweight opponent short. The Bearcats may again enter Big East play next season with a sparkling record but plenty to prove.
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