Maui "Wow"ie!

UC beat down the 24th-ranked Commodores from Vanderbilt last night. The Bearcats outmuscled, outmanned, and outhustled the Nashvillians, and beat them at their own game: defense. Also, 23-offensive rebounds?!? Yes! Let's not dwell on this game too long, however, as we have an even bigger game tonight against #22 Maryland. The first prime-time look at the Bearcats did provide much to be thankful about. For starters, our defense came out to play in the first half and was able to hold some momentum and finish the game, even after our usual post-halftime stupor. Gates showed us he's the man, Cashmere had signs of the greatness that is to come, and most importantly, the Cats showed us they can win with Vaughn in foul trouble.

Player of the game

Yancey MF'ing Gates. Did you see his presence down low? Did you see it, son? This dude's for real. Rebounding, dunking, blocking shots, and actually playing defense? Thank you for honing some skills in the off-season, Yancey. You have set me free! I'm getting chills right now thinking of what's going to happen when Gates and Ibrahima Thomas stand on the court together.

Underrated player of the game

The easy, logical choice would be Dion Dixon with his double-double and off-the-bench-heroics. I'm going to go with Wright, though. Since I was a wee boy and watched the legendary Nicholas Van Exel run up and down the court, I promised myself that i would always be a fan of Point guards. Surprisingly, it seems that UC hasn't had that same passion, and Cashmere Wright is the first true PG we've had since. He controlled the offense. He slashed. He dashed. He played defense. He may have missed some layups, but they'll start to fall. Early choice for EFPOTT (Eric's favorite player on the team).

Non-player of the game

The rebounding numbers on the stat sheet. If you listen to almost every college basketball analyst, they'll tell you that the team with the most rebounds usually wins the game. TruthBTold.

Bummer o' the game

Turnovers - 18 to be exact. It's the same old story written again and again. Fortunately, we handled it. But, come on.

D-D-D-Defeeeennnnsee! Defense wins championships, people. And so does brawn, talent, and rebounding.

Let's bring on the Terps tonight.