July 1, 2009

(4:58 p.m.): It was billed as a mid-summer news conference with UC basketball coach Mick Cronin and senior-to-be Deonta Vaughn, and though Mick started off his statement talking about what the rest of the Bearcats were doing this summer, it was pretty clear why the media turned out today.

The Tuesday signing of Lance Stephenson, the reasons why UC went after him, and what, if any concerns, Mick has with getting him eligible.

Here’s the lede I wrote for the AP:

CINCINNATI (AP) – University of Cincinnati men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin sounded confident Wednesday that newly-signed recruit Lance Stephenson would emerge from his court case later this month unscathed. He downplayed the criticism that Stephenson might have an attitude problem on the court.

But asked if he expected Stephenson – who, until signing with the Bearcats on Tuesday, was the last elite basketball recruit from the class of 2009 – to play next season, Cronin said he was unsure.

“We’ll see,” Cronin said Wednesday. “I hope, just like every other freshman, he can get through the (NCAA) Clearinghouse. … The first step is getting him admitted into school. Obviously Lance made a late decision. Getting him into school is the first step of the process. Our compliance department will check with the NCAA, like we do with any recruit, to see if there are any other issues. There’s a lot of talk about potential issues, but to our knowledge, there are none.”

From a news perspective, I thought the most important question I asked was whether he expected Stephenson to play. Obviously, as detailed in the AP story, the answer is unknown.

But I found something else interesting that I didn’t write about for the AP. For most of the news conference, Mick seemed to go out of his way to downplay how big a get this could be for the Bearcats (considering some are saying this is the most important recruit in school history). In fact, I flat out asked him the importance of the signing.

“Whenever you add a great player to your team, it’s a big get,” Mick said. “With Lance, the one thing he can do is he can make other people better. The biggest thing is his strength for a young guy. Its something that will surprise people – how physically strong he is for a guy who just gradated high school and a guy who’s never really lifted weights. That’s usually the biggest adjustment, but when you’re coming into the Big East, you’re going to have to come in with a physical strength, size and toughness.”

Somebody else asked him about some of Stephenson’s issues (the court case later this month on his sexual abuse charge, the potential problems his role in the documentary “Born Ready” could give him with the NCAA, his reputation for having a bad attitude).

“For every recruit, the same issues are usually there,” Mick said. “For a guy like Deonta Vaughn, he was known as a tough guy. His nickname was ‘Knuckles’ (Ed. note: When Mick said this, Vaughn broke out into a huge grin.). With Lance Stephenson, everybody knows every time he went to the bathroom. People thought Dermarr (Johnson) had a bad attitude, but he was the nicest guy on our team. I’m interested in two things for every recruit we bring in – does he play hard and does he want to win? The answer with Lance Stephenson is a huge yes and a huge yes.”

And as far as the court case is concerned:

“I think that will be resolved pretty soon,” Mick said. “It’s one thing Mike Thomas and I spoke about to Lance’s family and the people who represent him. It’s not something we’re overly concerned with.”

Vaughn knows Stephenson a bit. The two played on the same team a few years ago at the ABCD camp in New Jersey, and he said the two connected as teammates there. On Stephenson’s visit last weekend to UC, Vaughn said they connected again.

“I’m very excited to play with Lance and the other guys we have coming back,” Vaughn said. “I’m a senior this year, and I’ve been here with the rebuilding process. I know this is a big deal for (Cronin) to get a highly-rated recruit. Practice is going to be more competitive. Everybody is going to make each other better. He can play the 1, 2, or 3. He can create his own shot and he can get other people open shots.”

Also, a few other updates on the rest of the team.

Ibrahima Thomas has a soft tissue issue with his foot, and he’s at home in Dakar, Senegal … Sean Kilpatrick arrived at UC on June 20 … Mick hopes freshman-to-be Jaquon Parker will be at UC by July 16, the start of the next summer session … Yancy Gates has been serving as a counselor in the Amare Stoudemire camp.