THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

UC and Xavier both play pivotal games Sunday. In UC's case, it's whether or not it can win on the road in the Big East. UC has proven it can win conference games at home. It should've won the other night, but blew a 15 point second half lead to UConn. Now, the Bearcats have to take the next step and prove they can win away from home. Seton Hall is not a great team by any stretch of the basketball imagination. But a win there would do wonders for UC credability.


Xavier plays Sunday at UMass, another winnable road game for the Muskies. Here's their problem: the Muskies have to prove they can win AFTER playing and winning an emotion filled game. In December, Xavier beat UC, then went on the road and got waxxed by Arizona State. Thursday night, Xavier demolished number 16 Dayton. Now, can the Muskies parlay that win, with another at UMass. If they do, it will be a major step for Xavier, a team that seems to have the components to play deep into March.


I don't know what I'm more impressed with, Ohio beating Ball State at the horn Saturday OR over 10,000 fans watching it go down at the Convocation Center in Athens. That attendance figure is very impressive. This current Ohio team has shown a propensity to fall behind in games it should win and then rally late to do so. It can't become habit for the Bobcats, as the season gets more difficult as it gets later. But with Jerome Tillman and Leon Williams, these Bobcats have an excellent chance to win the MAC and get the automatic bid to the NCAA. But 10,000 plus for a MAC game in rural Ohio is pretty impressive.


I'm talking sports, as always, Sunday morning on 700 WLW in Cincinnati. You can listen on line, if you're outside the greater Cincinnati area on http://www.700wlw.com/ And if you have an XM Radio, WLW is on channel 173. Among my guests will be former Cincinnati Bengals lineman Max Montoya and former UC basketball coach, Bob Huggins. His West Virginia Mountaineers play UC this coming week in Morgantown (after WVU plays a tough Georgetown team at home tonight).



Sunday night at 11:35, it's another round of Sports Rock! on Cincinnati's WLWT channel 5. Our guests include former Bengals Eric Thomas and Dave Lapham.

Did you see where Odell Thurman was given the OK to begin practicing with the Bengals again?
Here's the foxsports.com article. Sounds to me like Thurman's complete reinstatement is going to happen. Marvin Lewis issued a statement that Thurman will have to earn his way back on to the team. Lewis had to say that at this point. But the Bengals will take him back. They've got bonus money they're obligated to pay Thurman and Thurman has litigation pending against the NFL that says, in essence, he has a disease and can not be denied a chance to make a living at his chosen profession. The bigger issue is, when he comes back, can the team count on him? Years ago, players like Thurman were deemed 'coach killers', in the sense that you game planned for an opponent fully believing you'd have the services of a player. When that player couldn't (or wouldn't in some cases) play, a coach had to substitute other players and take plays out of his playbook. Ultimately, it caught up with the coach, who usually lost his job.

Thurman is a terrific talent, when sober. Unfortunately, there are a lot of stories like his in professional sport. I'm hoping he's got his act together now, for his sake, and the Bengals.