What's Next? Bearcats March Madness Hopes End, But Season Not Over

The Bearcats were creeping back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble following their blowout win over Kansas, but they had to beat Baylor to have any real hope of getting in and they fell 12 points short on Thursday.

Head coach Wes Miller made the case for his team, and the Big 12, to get as much respect from the selection committee as possible.

"I believe I have an NCAA Tournament team," Miller told reporters on Thursday. "I believe this league deserves 10-11 teams in the tournament, no doubt about it. I don’t know how this league doesn’t get a massive amount of bids there is nothing like this in college basketball right now."

The math just doesn't work for a Cincinnati team that went 7-11 in conference play with a horrid non-conference strength of schedule (323rd nationally) and seven combined Quad 1/2 wins.

Still, their season won't end here if they don't want it to. The Bearcats made a nice run in the NIT last season and will get one of the two Big 12 automatic bids as the highest-rated Big 12 team in the NET not to make March Madness.