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Already faced with back-to-back road games against Pittsburgh (Dec. 8) and Notre Dame (Dec. 12), the Crusaders will now play the Bearcats on Dec. 21. 

That makes three straight Big East road games before heading to San Diego for the Surf N' Slam tournament where Auburn and possibly Wake Forest awaits.

How the Cincinnati game came to be on the schedule is anyone's guess, but I'm going to take a shot. According to a news release sent out by the Valparaiso media relations department, the game against the Bearcats replaces a home game that was to be played against UAB. The release states that the UAB game was dropped due to a scheduling conflict.

Looking at UAB's roster last season, West Side grad Erica Simpson was a member of the team, so one could guess that a game in Valparaiso was setup to be her homecoming game. Looking at the UAB roster this season, the senior-to-be Simpson is nowhere to be found and coincidently, neither are the Blazers.

The Crusaders played at Cincinnati in the fall of 2007 and fell 96-69. The Bearcats had two players with 20 or more points and out-rebounded Valparaiso 45-20.

The advantage to traveling to Ohio this year is that the Bearcats will come to the Athletics-Recreation Center next year, along with both Pittsburgh and Notre Dame. Can you imagine the men's team bringing all three of those teams to the ARC in one year? Can you imagine the men's team bringing anyone of those teams to the ARC? -- Paul Oren