Mick Cronin didn't exactly inherit a talented roster when he took over as head coach at Cincinnati before the 2006-07 season, and his 10-24 record in Big East play over that period of time reflects that. But the trend is definitely going in the right direction.

The Bearcats went from 2-14 in Cronin's first season of conference play to 8-10 a year ago. With an influx of new talent, he's hoping to sneak into the top half of the league standings and contend for an NCAA Tournament berth.

To do that, he'll need another All-Big East season from Deonta Vaughn. The 6-1 junior led the team with 17.3 points a game, including a 34-point effort against UConn, and knocked down 97 threes. Larry Davis is the leading candidate to begin the season alongside Vaughn in the backcourt, but he''ll be pushed by the new guys -- freshmen Dion Dixon and Cashmere Wright.

The frontcourt is a little less certain, but the talent is there. Texas transfer Mike Williams missed last season because of an injured Achilles, but should start right away this season. Rashad Bishop started most of last season at forward, and Kenny Belton is hoping to take a big step forward as a sophomore. Freshman Yancy Gates will be in the rotation from his first day on campus. Nick Aldridge will miss the first semester because of NCAA transfer rules, but the former Western Carolina star hopes to provide the type of offensive skills that the Bearcats lacked a year ago.

Anthony McClain is also back in the paint, and juco transfer Steven Toyloy is capable of playing right away, but another newcomer who's expected to make an instant impact is John Riek, a 7-2 center from Sudan -- if, that is, he's cleared to play. Riek is recovering from an offseason knee injury, and has yet to be cleared academically to play in 2008-09. But if he recovers enough to be ready for the start of the Big East season, and if the NCAA rules him eligible to play, he could be the X-factor the team has lacked in recent years.

The mess caused by Bob Huggins' exit didn't leave the Bearcats with much to work with for a couple of years, and the talent gap between UC and the rest of the league was significant when he took the job. That's no longer true, and the Bearcats may surprise in 2008-09 if they get the contributions from the newcomers that Cronin hopes to see.

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