To have a good time SLAM’s thirtieth anniversary, we’re spotlighting the 30 most influential males’s school groups from our previous 30 years. Stats, information and chips aren’t the principle issue right here, it’s all about their contribution to the sport’s cultural material.
For the subsequent 30 days—Monday by Friday— we’ll be unveiling the complete checklist right here. We’ve additionally obtained an unique retro collegiate assortment, out now, that pays homage to every squad’s threads. Store right here.
On the flip of the century, the Cincinnati Bearcats have been the crew that struck an ideal stability of old-school toughness and flash and flare.
Led by the legendary Bob Huggins, a training maestro well-known for his relentless pursuit of excellence, the 1999-2000 Bearcats epitomized hard-nosed basketball. Huggins, a grasp tactician, instilled in his gamers a defensive prowess and a tangible thirst for victory.
Their mantra was easy: outwork, outlast, outplay. And so they did so with ferocity, leaving opponents quaking of their kicks. But it surely wasn’t simply their on-court prowess that captured the creativeness of followers throughout the nation. It was the colourful solid of characters of this storied crew. From the towering presence of Naismith Participant of the Yr Kenyon Martin to the sharpshooting finesse of DerMarr Johnson, the Bearcats boasted a roster brimming with expertise and character.
Martin and Johnson would finally declare for the NBA draft. The New Jersey Nets picked Martin with the primary choose, and Atlanta scooped Johnson with the sixth.
On the courtroom, the dynamic duo and the remainder of the crew donned white and purple jerseys that drooped under their knees, repping the style traits of the occasions with gusto. Stamped with the Bearcats’ iconic bear claw brand, headbands and ankle socks accompanied the crew’s ensemble on the flip of the century. But it surely was the reserved attract of the Jumpman brand and the litany of Air Jordans that catapulted Cincinnati to cultural prominence. The Bearcats have been one in every of simply 4 applications to introduce Model Jordan to the collegiate ecosystem. Of their outsized jerseys, the gamers strutted, oozing confidence, reflecting the swagger and confidence of gamers who appeared destined for greatness.
And greatness they achieved.
With a powerful regular-season report of 29-4, together with a Convention USA regular-season title, the Bearcats bulldozed their manner by the competitors, leaving a path of defeated foes of their wake. The crew’s hardest problem would come close to the top of the season when Martin broke his leg within the C-USA Match quarterfinal recreation towards Saint Louis.
Regardless of the heartbreak of shedding the nation’s then-biggest school phenomenon, the Bearcats rallied collectively, sending out a transparent message: even with out their prime performer, the crew has what it takes to offer any crew a run for its cash. They marched into the NCAA Match because the second seed, nonetheless decided to succeed in the promised land.
The Bearcats stomped into the primary spherical of the event, blowing out UNC Wilmington. Their championship hopes, nevertheless, could be lower brief in heartbreaking trend by Tulsa. The Golden Hurricanes upset the Bearcats in a detailed recreation within the event’s second spherical.
It was a bitter capsule to swallow, however the crew’s legacy of resilience and willpower would endure for generations to come back. Over 20 years later, persons are nonetheless left questioning how a lot larger this crew may have been if it weren’t for Martin’s ugly leg harm.
As the ultimate buzzer sounded on the ‘99-2000 season, the Bearcats could not have ended the season the place they needed to, however they’d received the hearts of followers nationwide. Theirs was a season crammed with triumph and adversity, highs and lows, however by all of it, they nonetheless loved a 29-4 season, going undefeated in Convention USA. And when Martin was wholesome, they boasted the No. 1 rating within the AP ballot for 12 weeks through the season.
Steeped in a wealthy custom of tenacity and ferocity on the courtroom, this crew etched its identify into the hearts of followers and the historical past e-book of hooping legends.
Images through Getty Pictures.
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