Cincinnati possesses the second-longest winning streak in the nation at 15 games, are 22-2 overall, undefeated in the American Athletic Conference at 11-0 and are No. 11 in the country heading to Dallas on Sunday to play No. 25 SMU (4 p.m., ESPN).
The Bearcats, however, find themselves on the outside looking in this week for a top-4 seed in the NCAA tournament after the selection committee's first release. Leaving Cincinnati off the top-16 of the rankings was perhaps the one criticism that observers had of the inaugural release. The Bearcats are a perennial NCAA tournament team and have longed embraced the image as a tough, physical and defensive-oriented style.