Via GoBearcats.com



CINCINNATI – The three former University of Cincinnati men’s basketball coaches who guided the Bearcats to NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances will be honored at halftime of Wednesday’s game against UCLA. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2/700 WLW).

Limited standing-room-only tickets can be purchased for $25 by calling 1-877-CATS-TIX or online at GoBearcats.com/tickets.

George Smith (1959, 1960), Ed Jucker (1961, 1962, 1963) and Bob Huggins (1992) guided Cincinnati to its six NCAA Final Four appearances. The families of Smith and Jucker along with Huggins himself and former players from those eras will be recognized.

Smith’s efforts first put Cincinnati basketball on the national stage, coaching the Bearcats for eight seasons from 1953 to 1960. Under Smith’s watchful eye, Jack Twyman and Oscar Robertson developed into program legends and national stars. The Bearcats won 154 games during Smith’s tenure and began an historic streak of what would be five consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances with third-place finishes in 1959 and 1960.

An alumnus of the University of Cincinnati, Smith later served as UC’s athletics director and was inducted into the UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1978. He passed away in 1996.

Jucker guided the Bearcats to three consecutive Final Fours from 1961 to 1963, winning two national titles with victories over Ohio State in the 1961 and 1962 national championship games. Jucker (113-28) won a school-record 80 percent of his games during his five seasons as head coach at Cincinnati, including an amazing 11-1 record in the NCAA Tournament.

An alumnus of the University of Cincinnati and a World War II veteran, Jucker was inducted into the UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1978. He passed away in 2002. That same year the playing floor at Fifth Third Arena was renamed Ed Jucker Court.

Huggins won 399 games during his 16 seasons as Cincinnati’s head coach from 1990 to 2005, making him the winningest coach in the rich history of the men’s basketball program. Under his direction, the Bearcats won 10 conference regular-season titles and eight league tournament championships. Cincinnati advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight in 1993 and 1996 and appeared in the 1992 Final Four.

Cincinnati was the first program in the nation to make as many as five consecutive Final Four appearances (1959-63). UCLA soon after broke that mark with 10 consecutive appearances (1967-76). Duke is the only other school to go to as many as five consecutive Final Fours (1988-92) since.