OhioCat Fan et al; didn't Rick Pitino say we could be a Final Four team after we nearly beat Kentucky in late November 1994, which followed us getting 3rd place in the Preseason NIT Tournament beating Ohio State and a host of other teams during that famous run?
I don't recall his exact words, but he said he was very impressed, and as a result wanted to schedule a game in Athens, which UK did. Unfortunately, he was gone by the time the game was played, and OHIO managed to have its weakest team in several decades that year.
UpSan is correct. We were #14 after winning the 1994 Pre-Season NIT and the close 5 pt loss at UK (I still have the USA Today newspaper clipping with the polls). If we pulled the last 3 minutes out in Lexington we would have been Top 10 for sure. How that team didn't even win the MAC or make the NCAA (ultimately losing to Iowa in the 95 post-season NIT) is still baffling to me. Damn Eastern Michigan and Jeff Boals knee. Of course, then Trent left.
As for the return game in 1997 - Pitino and Trent had both moved to the NBA by then with Pitino coaching the Boston Celtics. And yes, we got to endure the Wilderness Campaign. The beginning of the end of the Hunter era at Ohio IMO.
Jim Peterson and Chet Feldman say hi!
#ThreadDrift - did any group of Ohio recruits ever come with more national ranking / hype, yet do so little in their tenure than the trio of Sanjay Adell, Corey Reed and Diante Flenorl?