Though no one wants to admit it, Mick Cronin's UC Bearcats have their backs against the wall as they wind down the regular season. They're 14-9 with seven yet to play. And, seeing as its the Big East, none of the remaining opponents are pushovers.

“We've got seven games left, six of them are against NCAA tournament teams or at least a team squarely on the bubble,” said Cronin this week at practice.

If they win them all, they're probably “in”. Winning four to six may land them on the proverbial “bubble”. Losing more than four more than likely places them at the mercy of the NIT selection committee.

Most coaches know where they stand, but won't publicly admit it.

“I'm worried about having a good practice today and getting ready to beat UConn on Saturday,”

said Cronin on Thursday. “It's all irrelevant, in our business you punch your ticket, you don't buy it. It's not luck of the draw. Winning games goes down to defense, execution, doing little things—things you can control. All of that other stuff takes care of itself.”

In the back of Mick Cronin's head though, he must be aware of how the Bearcats have faltered down the stretch. In '08, UC lost their last seven games. Last year, they lost six of their last seven and at this point in the schedule, they had 17 wins (three more than their current total).

Despite the record, this is a team that has beaten three ranked opponents (Vanderbilt, Maryland and Connecticut) and had opportunities to knock off two more (Pitt and Syracuse).

“Our guys were distraught about the Syracuse game,” said Cronin. “I think they believed they could win. They went out and played extremely hard and went cold at the wrong time. That's got to strengthen your resolve. You can use it in two ways: you can hang your head, or you can use it to square your jaws and be more focused. That's life in the Big East unless you're a couple of teams at the top.”

UC is not alone in this predicament. Marquette, South Florida and Connecticut are in UC's ballpark in wins. Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Rutgers aren't far behind. From that list, UC has beaten USF, UConn, Providence and Rutgers and lost to Seton Hall and St. John's. UConn gets another crack at the Bearcats Saturday.

“You can play well and not win games, the Connecticut Huskies have not won a road game this season,” said Cronin. “They've got two NBA draft picks. For the majority of our conference, you've got to be able to have resiliency.”

Rest assured, Connecticut will be dangerous this weekend, they've dropped a string of games.

They also get their coach, Jim Calhoun, back on the sidelines. Calhoun's been on a medical leave of absence and his presence was clearly missed by the Huskies.

“When you think about Connecticut basketball, you think about Jim Calhoun,” said Cronin.

“ I'm sure for a while there, it affected their team. It does look to me like their team went through a stretch (where) they looked like they were looking for him.”

Now they've found him, as the man with 816 coaching victories will be courtside for the Huskies and Bearcats. After beating them at Fifth Third Arena, UC now will face a hungry UConn home crowd fired up over their coach returning.

The strategy remains the same....

“UConn—you've got to play great transition defense, you've got to blockout,” said Cronin. “They rebound against everybody. For us, my job is to get us to where we're a 40-minute team.

I have got to get Deonta Vaughn playing better. I have got to get some of our young guys to the point where they can play 40 whole minutes defensively.”

Saturday looms as a game that will give one of the teams some direction. For one, it'll be a big step in playing their way into the NCAA tournament. For the other, it might mean that it's time for a reality check as the uphill climb could be too much to make up for games that slipped from their hands.

“Our guys understand that we gave a few away,” said Cronin. “They also understand that we can play with anybody on our schedule. When we play good defense, when we stop people—we win.”