I have to say that I hope people don’t call for a new arena to replace the Pete as quickly as they are the Fifth Third Arena for Cinci. Seventeen years and already a “dump.”

The local theme about going to face the Bearcats: who are these guys?

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats have a new coach, four new starters and an overhauled roster that includes a back-up tight end from the football team and a reserve whose old school got wiped out by Hurricane Katrina.

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The starters are three junior college transfers, forward John Williamson, center Marcus Sikes and guard Jamual Warren, along with McGowan and guard Deonta Vaughn, who is averaging 13.6 points and having the best season by a Cincinnati freshman since Shaler’s Danny Fortson in 1994-95.

The biggest problem is depth. The Bearcats have one of the shortest benches in the Big East.

Among all the backups, only junior guard Marvin Gentry, another junior college transfer, averages more than nine minutes per game. Four of the five starters average at least 30 minutes per game, and the fifth logs 28.9 minutes – the same amount that Pitt leader Aaron Gray averages.

The other backups include Ronald Allen, the displaced Katrina victim; Connor Barwin, a tight end on the Bearcat football team; and two walk-ons.

Not surprisingly, the team has been inconsistent. The Bearcats play at Fifth Third Arena, but it might as well be called One-Third Empty. Only one game has attracted more than 10,000 fans to the 13,176-seat venue, against cross-town rival Xavier. The average attendance is about 8,600.

I guess the funny thing about stories discussing how Pitt will face a totally different team — the fact that there was only one meeting with the previous incarnation. How familiar was Pitt with them to start?

Cinci is a team that has struggled to generate enough offense. Shot selection has been frequently questionable. Especially early in the game.

Cronin points to poor shot selection and a lack of patience as the main reasons for the Bearcats’ penchant to fall behind early in games.

“You can’t overstate the importance of shot selection, especially in our predicament,” Cronin said. “It’s definitely been the No. 1 cause of us falling behind.”

What happens, Cronin said, is that the opponent starts to pull away early in the game, which in turn causes the Bearcats to panic and fire up ill-advised shots in an attempt to keep things from getting out of hand.

More often than not, though, they end up contributing to the very thing they’re trying to prevent.

“Sometimes guys are trying to step up and get us a basket because they see the other team score, so we try to answer right away instead of showing patience and not getting caught up in the score,” Cronin said. “It almost seems like it takes us a certain time to forget about the score and just play basketball. Once we’re able to do that, we start playing good basketball.”

Cinci is not a particularly big team. Okay, they are downright small. Their starting Center is 6′ 9″ with no size to back him up on the bench. Now here’s the part that still makes me nervous Sikes — the Center is one of those guys who can shoot from outside. Yes, that’s right, Gray will be dragged outside on defense once again.

Granted on offense, Gray should do well. Greg Oden had a double-double in just 27 minutes against Cinci earlier this season. The Bearcats are well aware that there is Gray and a host of other offensive threats.

“They know how to move without the ball when they get the ball inside to Aaron Gray,” freshman guard Deonta Vaughn said. “A lot of teams look to trap down on him, and he can pass the ball outside, because they know how to move around him. You just try to make them take tough shots and make it hard for them to get the ball inside to Aaron Gray. That would help a lot.”

It likely will be tough for the Bearcats to play much zone defense against the Panthers. The team makes 49.3 percent of its shots from the field and 39.5 percent from the 3-point line. Both numbers rank second in the conference, and if UC plays much zone to keep the ball away from Gray, Pitt will take – and probably make – more outside shots.

“They can shoot it, there’s no doubt about that,” UC coach Mick Cronin said. “That causes problems. You can’t just go zone, because the way Ronald Ramon and Graves shoot the ball. And they pass over the zone. That’s a problem. The problem with Gray is that he’s just so big. We have to find a way not to give him layups.”

Game starts at 8pm.