Off The Bench by Chatterbox Sports

MARCH MADNESS! NIT Bids! What Next for the Cincinnati Bengals!?! | OTB presented by UDF

They call it March Madness for a reason and if the conference tournaments are a preview of the upcoming NCAA tournament, this is going to be complete and utter madness… Think of all the number one seeds that lost over the weekend…north carolina, houston, tennessee,and arizona, just to name a few. Even powers like Kentucky and Duke lost before ever getting to the tournament finals. That means that bids were gobbled up in many cases by teams that went into the weekend with very little chance to make the big dance….and we know those other teams are still going, right? So of your St johns, or providence, or oklahoma, or seton hall…youre out. Six teams forms the Mountain West Conference are in this tournament and some of those teams arent? Dayton is in as a 7 seed in the werst regions amd will play thursday against nevada at 4:30. A win and they probably meet the two seed arizona. Kentucky is in as a three seed in the south and takes on horizon league champion oakland thursday night at 7:10. There is enormous pressure on UK in this tournament. They’ve not been to the elite 8 since 2018, and havent been to a final four since 2014. We know that UC, Xavier and Ohio State will play in the nit. Xavier is on thew road at georgia tomorrow night. UC will host san francisco wednesday night and the buckeyes will host cornell tomorrow night. Lots more on the ncaa tournament coming up. Speaking of ohio state….all the talk about season miller or dusty may as their next head coach can be put to bed as the interim tag on jake diebler can be lifted. He got a five-year deal yesterday after leading ohio state to 7 wins in 9 games to close the season. Good for him. Soccer, FC Cincinnati won 2-1 yesterday at new england. FCC is 2-0-2 in the year. As for the reds…i gotta tell ya..im a little concerned about some very specific things with this team as we are less than two weeks from opening day. Lets focus primarily on the pitching. Its seems like every time we turn around, someone is coming up injured and for thse that arent, they’re just not pitching well. Montas, hunter greene and graham ashcraft have been average at best. ANdrew abbott was scratched from his start yesterday, son that meant a golden chance for brandon williamson. He wllaks three straight batters, hits another, while allowing four runs in two innings. As for nick martinez? He’s looked fabulous….when he’s pitched. Theyare telling nus he has a dispacled rib……..for a guy who’s a pitcher, do you believe for a second that sounds like it’s a day to day sort of thing. Bullpen lefties sam mole and alex young are hurt. Nick lodolo wont start the season on the opening day roster. Then the position players……devastating news on saturday when centerfie;der tj friedl broke his wrist diving for a ball in the outfield. Will Benson and stuart fairchild are expected to replace him in center. Then there’s matt mcclain……..I don’t get to unwrapped up in stats during spring training, but he doesn’t have a hit since returning from an oblique injury over a week ago.

Will The Cincinnati Bengals sign Teair Tart and Mekhi Becton? Thom Brennaman! | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. Lets begin with the Cincinnati Bengals, they’ve been busy…. A new Tight end, a new running back, Vonn Bell is coming back to join Geno Stone at safety. They’ve sgigned sheldon Rankins to shore up the run defense and get more pressure on the quarterback…..and they arent finished yet. The team hosted another defensive lineman and a former 11th pick in the draft offensice lineman to potentially replace jonah williams who signed a 30 million dollar deal in Arizona. We will talk all about this bengals off-season later in the show. On to hoops……..the madness of march. UC won their first two big 12 tournament games this week but the run ended last night in a 68-56 loss to baylor…. A third game in three days caught up with the cats as they ran out of steam in the second half. With three minutes left in nthe game, three starers, day day thomas, simas lucocious and aziz bandago had a combined three points….thats not gonna cut it in the big 12. Now thew question is, do they have a shot at the ncaa tournament? 20 wins in the best conference, by far, in college basketball? We find out Sunday. Xaviers season is over….no ncaa…in fact, its the schools first losing season in 26 years…gping back to the late 1990’s. X jumped out t5o a 10-0 lead against defending champion UCONN but was out scored by 37 points the rest of the way in a 27 point loss in round two of the big east tournament. Sean Miller has lots of work to do but should be very encouraged about the return of both zach fremantle and jerome hunter next season. Miami lost top akron in the mac tournament yesterday. That sets up a 2 versus 3 showdown in the semi-finals tonight in Cleveland. The Zips face the hottest team in Ohio…..THE OHIO UNIVERSITY BOBCATS, who have won, 11 of 12, after blowing western michigan out last night. Tip off tonight at 6:30. Ohio State is making a bid to make the tournament. The Buckeyes have won 7-8 under interim head coach jake diebler after beating iowa in the big ten tournament last night 90-78. The Mighty Buckeyes face number 13 Illinois tonight at 6:30. If they win are they in? Indiana is playing it’s best basketball of the season….they advance to the big ten quarterfinals with their fifth-straight win, a 61-59 decision over penn state. The hoosiers face nebraska tonight at 9 o’clock. The winner faces the winner of Ohio State-Illinois in the semis. Is Dayton a tournament team? Yes, they are ranked 24th…..yes, they have wins against Cincinnati and another tournament team, Oakland…. But they were a third place team in the A 10, and have lost three of their last nine. Only st. marys and gonzaga have played an easier schedule among the top 45 rated teams in the kenpom rankings…. Number 9 Kentucky opens play in the SEC tournament tonight against texas am . Tip off set for 7 o’clock. On the baseball front, The Reds lost to The defending world champion Texas Rangers last night 7-4. They host kansas city today in goodyear at 4 o’clock.

Cincinnati Bengals Sign Sheldon Rankins! Vonn Bell back? Bearcats on a roll! | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. The Cincinnati Bengals signed Sheldon Rankins to a 2-year deal worth 26 million dollars. This more than likely spells the end for DJ Reader. We are holding out hope for a miracle. Where does that leave the rest of the position group? Vonn Bell is rumored to be coming back to Cincinnati this year on a low deal that would help bolster the Safeties room. Where does that put Dax Hill? Mekhi Becton is coming in for a visit to play Right Tackle/ Swing Tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals. Not many options left in this Free Agency period what does Duke Tobin have up his sleeve? The Cincinnati Bearcats got a major win against Kansas yesterday. The win now puts them in a position to win one more to make it to the finals and potentially a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Xavier also comes out with a win over Butler they unfortunately play UCONN.

The Cincinnati Bengals are in TROUBLE! DJ Reader to Detriot?! NFL Free Agency | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. The Cincinnati Bengals have been very quiet after yesterday's show. They have yet to address our two biggest holes on the team Right Tackle and Defensive Tackle/Nose Tackle. DJ Reader is hopping on a plane Thursday to go to Detroit... Are the Bengals in Trouble?

Goodbye Joe Mixon. Cincinnati Bengals Next Big Move. NFL Free Agency Reaction | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. Lots of News regarding the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday! The day started with Tee Higgins requesting a trade right before the day began. We covered this on Monday but will touch more on it today with possible scenarios. The Bengals would then resign some key components to the team like Drew Sample, ADG, and Trayveon Williams. Bengals then signed an exterior free agent Geno Stone Safety from Baltimore Ravens. Played great last year with 7 INTs one coming from Joe Burrow. Later on in the evening, we learned that the Bengals were given a 3RD ROUND COMP PICK! Big for their draft and potential trades in the future. Finally late last night we learned that the Bengals had finally parted ways with Joe Mixon and signed Zach Moss a younger more explosive running back for the Cincinnati Bengals.

TEE HIGGINS WANTS OUT?! NORSE MEN! CINCINNATI REDS GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS WEEKEND | OTB presented by UDF

Off The Bench begins with the College Basketball in Cincinnati. Cincinnati Bearcats beat West Virginia 92-56 over the weekend they will play them again in the Big 12 Tournament tomorrow to advance. If they do they play Kansas... Free agency doesn’t officially begin until weds at 4pm BUT teams can begin speaking to agents of free agent players TODAY. Things just got a whole lot more interesting in the AFC north as Russell Wilson is going to sign a one-year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last season, the nine-time pro bowler and super bowl champ[ion with seattle, threw for better than 3000 yards with 26 touchdowns against just 8 interceptions. He was benched for the final two games of the season. Baker Mayfield is rewarded by the team with a three-year, 100 million dollar contract with 50 million dollars guaranteed. Chiefs Defensive tackle Chris Jones isn’t going anywhere. He gets five years for 159 million dollars, 60 million guaranteed. The cap hit this year is only seven million bucks. On the business side of things, the Bears are spending 2 billion dollars to build a new, domed stadium next to Soldier Field in downtown Chicago. For Xavier, they lose on Saturday to number 8 Marquette 86-80. The Muskies play in the Big East tournament as the 9 seed against number 8 Butler, a team they split with during the regular season. That game is Wednesday at 4 o’clock. A win would mean a date with number-one seed UConn on Thursday night. Xavier has to win three games in New York this week to avoid ending a 27-season streak with a winning record…. Miami got beat by The Ohio University on Friday night. Dayton is the 3 seed in the A10 tournament in Brooklyn. The Flyers play Thursday night at 7:30. Kentucky got a huge win on Saturday at number 4 Tennessee. With that, the Cats are the two-seed in this week's SEC tournament in Nashville. They will play the winner of the Texas am/Ole Miss matchup Friday night at 7 Eastern. Northern Kentucky is looking for back-to-back trips to the big dance. Tonight the Norse play in the Horizon League semis against number 6 Milwaukee. The teams split their season series at a game apiece. A busy weekend for the Reds… Nick Lodolo made his first appearance since early last season and pitched two hitless, scoreless innings against Cleveland yesterday. Second baseman Matt McClain was in the lineup for the first time since injuring his oblique. Off the diamond, the team's number 1 Rated prospect just two years ago, Jose Barrero, was placed on waivers and was immediately swooped up by the Texas Rangers. The move was a little confusing considering the team wasn’t facing any 40-man roster issues and the kid is only 25. Of course, all of this was just white noise when compared to the news of Noelvi Marte. He’s the current number one prospect in the reds organization and was expected to be the teams opening day third baseman. Well…..we wont lay eyes on him until the end of june or early July…at least, after he was suspended for the first 80 games of the season for a banned substance. But here’s the kicker….not only does he miss the first three months of the season, if the reds make the playoffs, he can’t be on the post-season roster.

NORSE UP!!! Cincinnati Bearcats Preview. Reds Trip check-in. Thom B Hosting! | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. Today we have Thom Brennaman in the host chair filling in for us. NKU had an unbelievable game against Wright State tying the game up at a buzzer-beater shot to send it to OT. They would win 99-97. The NFL had plenty of cuts and signings yesterday as the Free Agency period starts to ramp up. The Cincinnati Reds and Cubbies got together last night in Goodyear, Arizona. That one ended in a 2-2 tie.

XAVIER IS D-U-N DONE! Is Joe Mixon out the door?!? Reds Trip check-in | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. Today we talk about Joe Mixon rumors AGAIN as the media outlets and other figures have said that it is likely to happen this time around. Xavier lost last night to Butler effectively ending any hopes of making it to the tournament... We discuss if Sean Miller is staying or if he is hitting the road after this year. We have Jacob Tissot on the program to talk all things NFL and College football. Reid talks about his top 15 NFL quarterbacks in today's game.

FRUSTRATING BEARCATS LOSS... Marty and Thom Brennaman! Reds Trip check-in | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. Today we talk about why Russel Wilson is the Best QB option for most teams that need a QB. We also discuss the Bearcats and how frustrating the season has been for fans this season. We have Marty and Thom Brennaman on the show. Paul Fritschner joins the show to preview Xavier. We get in touch with the guys on the road trip as they cover whats been going on thus far.

Cincinnati Bengals Biggest Needs. Cincinnati Bearcats. Reds Trip check-in | OTB presented by UDF

Off the Bench for TWO weeks will be hosted by Reid and Casey. Today we talk about crafting sports opinions and the right and wrong way to do so. We talk about one of the Cincinnati Bengal's most underrated Free Agency needs at the DT position. We touched on the Russel Wilson cut yesterday. We have Austin Elmore for the Cincinnati Bearcats preview versus Oklahoma and Cincinnati Bengals offseason talk. We get in touch with the guys on the road trip as they cover whats been going on thus far.