EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jonathan Mitchell and Rashad Bishop aren’t on any mock draft boards and probably won’t be in the NBA next season.

In fact, before Thursday the two local players hadn’t even participated in a single NBA draft workout.

“People here probably don’t know my name today in the beginning of the workout,” the 6-foot-7 Mitchell said after he, Bishop and former Seton Hall standout Jeremy Hazell worked out for the Nets. “Hopefully at the end they kind of said, ‘Who was that kid?’” (more…)

Cheikh Mbodji, a 6-foot-9, 253-pound power forward from Dakar, Senegal by way of Denison (Texas) Grayson County College, has signed with Cincinnati and will have two years of eligibility remaining in the Big East.

Grayson coach Pat Rafferty, a former Louisville assistant under Denny Crum, said they playfully refer to him as “Shaq.”

The Co-Conference Player of the Year, he averaged 16 points and eight rebounds per game. Mbodji also considered San Diego State, but chose Cincinnati in part because of the efforts of Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin and assistant Darren Savino. (more…)

The man with the best name in college basketball has schedule two more visits.

God’s Gift Achiuwa will visit Washington this coming weekend and St. John’s over Easter weekend. The 6-foot-8 power forward from Nigeria by way of Erie Community College has already visited Cincinnati.

“I don’t know if he’s going to take five [visits],” Erie coach Alex Nwora said Wednesday by phone. “It depends. We’re going day-by-day. (more…)

God’s Gift is planning visits.

The 6-foot-8 Nigerian forward from Erie (N.Y.) Community College will visit Cincinnati April 8.

After that, he has tentative visits set for Washington (April 15) and St. John’s (April 21).

“The only visit that is definite is Cincinnati,” said Erie coach Alex Nwora.

Nwora said Kentucky was also interested in God’s Gift, but that the Wildcats were obviously busy with their run to the Final Four. (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With Pittsburgh having been bounced from the NCAA Tournament by Butler, UConn may represent the Big East’s best chance of reaching a Final Four.

Behind a game-best 33 points, six rebounds and five assists from Kemba Walker, the red-hot Huskies won their seventh straight game in a 12-day span by knocking off conference rival Cincinnati, 69-58, in a third-round West Regional game at the Verizon Center.

UConn’s victory followed Butler’s dramatic 71-70 victory over top-seeded Pitt in a Southeast Regional game in which two foul calls were made in the final 2 seconds. Butler’s Matt Howard won the game with a free throw with. 8 seconds left.

“I think all of us root for each other,” Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said, referring to the other Big East teams. (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When Mick Cronin got the Cincinnati job in early 2006,  one of the first things he did was to approach two of the top high school coaches in the New York area.

“I went to Danny Hurley at St. Benedict’s and Moe Hicks at Rice High School, two of the best coaches in the country, but two of the winningest programs in high school basketball on the East Coast,” Cronin recalled as No 6 Cincinnati is set to face No. 3 UConn in a third-round West Regional game here.

“And I said, ‘Look, I gotta rebuild this program and I know I’m not getting your best player. But I want a player. I need a player. I need a guy from St. Benedict’s. I need a Rice Raider.’” (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Darren Savino was headed to Fairleigh Dickinson to become an assistant coach when his old friend Mick Cronin called him last June.

The Cincinnati head coach needed a new assistant because Tony Stubblefield was leaving for a larger salary and greener pastures at Oregon.

“I was going to Fairleigh Dickinson. I was going to be Greg Vetrone’s assistant,” Savino, 39, said Friday as No. 6 Cincinnati (26-8) was preparing to meet Big East rival and No. 3 UConn (27-9) in a West Regional third-round game here. (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kemba Walker will be wearing a UConn jersey when the Huskies face Cincinnati Saturday night in a third-round West Regional game here.

But had things gone differently, he might have ended up in a Bearcats shirt.

“If UConn didn’t come in it would’ve most likely have been Cincinnati,” Walker said Friday. “It was pretty close.

“Me and Coach [Mick] Cronin had a great relationship. He did a great job recruiting me. He had a great relationship with my parents.” (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With 11 Big East teams in the Big Dance, it was only a matter of time before two of them squared off.

Now the tournament will get its first All-Big East matchup after No. 6 Cincinnati routed No. 11 Missouri, 78-63, in a second round Southeast Regional game before 17,706 at the Verizon Center.

The Bearcats (26-8) will face No. 3 UConn (27-9) Saturday night at approximately 9:40 p.m. No. 1 Pitt will face No. 8 Bucknell at 7:10.

Three of the four teams remaining here are from the Big East. (more…)

By ALEX KLINE

For years, Kaison Randolph has been watching high school basketball games, waiting for his chance to play on the big stage.

This year, he started right off the bat as a 14-year-old freshman at The Pennington School, a small private school in New Jersey. After 20 games, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound combo guard has already established a name for himself and Saturday afternoon proved to be the biggest moment yet.

While watching a game, Kaison got a phone call from his AAU coach Matt Pauls of Team NJABC. Cincinnati had offered the freshman a scholarship. (more…)