This is a list of seasons completed by the Cincinnati Bearcats men's college basketball team.
Seasons
Notable seasons
1959–60 Oscar Robertson scored a school record 62 points in an early-February game vs. North Texas State and in the process became the NCAA's all-time leading career scorer. Robertson claimed national player of the year honors for the third straight year while Cincinnati won its third straight Missouri Valley title. The Bearcats made their second trip to the Final Four. California again turned back UC's title hopes as UC finished third. George Smith stepped down as head coach to become athletic director, capping a career in which he posted a 154–56 record in eight years. 1960–61 Largely an unknown team, without Robertson, and with a new head coach, Ed Jucker, in command, Cincinnati stumbled to a 5–3 start. The Bearcats then won their next 22 contests, garnering a league title, a third straight trip to the Final Four, and a national championship. In the first-ever championship game matchup of two teams from the same state, UC defeated Ohio State in overtime, 70–65. 1961–62 Cincinnati fashioned a 28–2 record, but the Bearcats had to defeat Bradley in a league playoff game to defend their national title. UC won the Midwest Regional to earn its fourth straight trip to the Final Four. After edging UCLA, 72–70, in the semifinals, Cincinnati became a repeat champion with a 71–59 win over Ohio State. Paul Hogue was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. 1962–63 UC breezed to its fifth straight Missouri Valley Conference crown and, after winning the Midwest Regional, a fifth straight trip to the Final Four. An 80–46 win over Oregon State in the semifinals put the Bearcats in position to win a third straight national title. Cincinnati held a 15-point lead over Loyola (Ill.) in the second half of the championship game, only to have the Ramblers come back to win, 60–58, in overtime. Cincinnati led the nation in defense. 1991–92 The Bearcats opened play in the Great Midwest Conference and marked their debut in this new league by sharing the regular season title and winning the tournament crown. Cincinnati made its first appearance in two decades in the Top 20 rankings. The Bearcats were seeded fourth in the Midwest Regional. UC defeated its four regional foes by an average margin of 20.8 points to make its sixth appearance in the Final Four. Michigan's "Fab Five" edged UC, 76–72, in the semifinal. 1999–00 Cincinnati was the nation's top team and Kenyon Martin was college basketball's top player. UC was ranked No. 1 in the national polls for 12 of 18 weeks and Martin made a clean sweep of the national player of the year awards (Naismith, Wooden, Rupp, Robertson, NABC). The Bearcats tied a school record for victories with a 29–4 record and won their fifth straight Conference USA regular season title. UC seemed poised for a run for the national title until Martin suffered a broken leg in the Conference USA tournament. Martin was a unanimous first team All-American with Pete Mickeal earning honorable mention honors. Cincinnati went from the #1 team in the country to a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament, and fell to Tulsa in the 2nd round. 2001–02 Unranked in the major polls at the start of the season, the Bearcats posted a 31–4 record—setting a new standard for victories—won a seventh consecutive Conference USA regular season championship, captured the C-USA tournament crown and earned their first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Steve Logan earned his second straight Conference USA Player of the Year award, was a consensus All-American and a finalist for every national player of the year honor. The Bearcats were upset in the 2nd round to 8-seed UCLA in a double-overtime thriller. 2011–12 After starting the season 5–3 with bad losses and dealing with the aftermath and suspensions from the Crosstown Shootout brawl, UC's season was already on the brinks halfway through December. The Bearcats then went on a run against fantastic competition and wound up beating 8 ranked teams, the most ranked wins in any Cincinnati season in history. The biggest win came against the 31–1 and #2 Syracuse Orange in the Big East tournament semifinals. The Bearcats went on to the Sweet 16 where they lost to Ohio State. The latter half of this season is considered by many to be a big turning point in Mick Cronin's coaching career. 2017–18 Cincinnati began the season with high hopes, featuring a team hallmarked by four "1000 point career scorers" (Gary Clark, Jacob Evans, Kyle Washington, and Cane Broome). They spent the entire season in the national polls, peaking at #5 - this was fueled by their defensive prowess which ranked second overall nationally. They earned their first outright American Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships and tied the school record for wins, going 31–5. Their season ended with a second round NCAA tournament upset to Nevada who tied the record for the 2nd largest NCAA Tournament comeback- surmounting a 22-point deficit to win by 2.
Notes