This season has been beyond turbulent for the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team.
There was the eight-point loss to crosstown rival Xavier, Cincinnati's second straight defeat in the series, the five-game losing streak, the program's longest since the 2007-08 season, and the 38-point drubbing at Houston, the Bearcats' worst loss in a decade.
Four players have opted out, with one, Mamoudou Diarra, rejoining the team after a few weeks.
And all of that has happened while the global pandemic forced the team into isolation and away from the court for 25 days.
"We always talk to our guys about not playing the victim role," UC head coach John Brannen said. "We're not going to do that."
While the team as a whole has had its struggles, senior Chris Vogt has encountered his own issues during the past few months.
After leading the American Athletic Conference in field goal percentage (.648) last season and testing the NBA waters during the offseason, the 7-foot-1, 260-pound center entered his senior campaign as a preseason second-team All-AAC selection. But inconsistent play, foul trouble and a nagging shoulder injury, the same injury that hampered Vogt during the second half of conference play a season ago, has forced the Mayfield, Kentucky, native to see drops in nearly every statistical category this season, including his amount of starts and minutes played.
"Everything has been different about this year," Vogt said.
But Vogt emerged from the 25-day pause (Jan. 10 to Feb. 4) a different player, a player much like the one that helped lead Cincinnati to a share of the regular-season AAC title last year.
"I think the time off was kind of a blessing in disguise for everybody," he said. "It was a good time for everybody to get rested and regrouped, me especially. I kind of tweaked my shoulder a few times and reinjured it, so that was good to be able to give me a little time to rest that shoulder up and go recover it."
In the first four games after the break, Vogt saw his numbers increase, including an 11-point, seven-rebound effort in a win against UCF and a career-high six-block performance in a victory over Temple.
"That was one of our main emphases over the break," Vogt said. "Just locking in on half-court defense and becoming a better half-court defensive team, and rim protection was definitely a part of that."
With Vogt back in the starting lineup, the Bearcats rattled off four straight wins. The combined margin of victory during the streak was a whopping nine points.
"We certainly enjoyed the four-game win streak to its full extent," Vogt said. "Just looking through what other teams have gone through, quarantines and shutdowns in the middle of the season, I think we're one of the only ones that went through a four-game winning streak coming out of a lockdown. It's not a light accomplishment. We just gotta keep on moving from there."
Cincinnati's streak come to an end on Sunday when the Bearcats ran into an athletic buzz saw in then-No. 6/5 (Associated Press/Coaches) Houston, which has embarrassed all but three of its opponents this season.
But for a team in Cincinnati that has started two true freshmen (Tari Eason and Mike Saunders Jr.), two sophomores (Mika Adams-Woods and Jeremiah Davenport) and a walk-on (Rob Banks) at different points of the season, Vogt has made it his mission to be the senior emotional leader for a young Bearcats team.
"My biggest strategy is just trying to make sure all the younger guys are getting through this too, because being a freshman is usually the hardest year for any college basketball player, and then add the whole pandemic on top of that, I just would imagine makes it 10 times harder. So I just try to talk them through it and make sure that they're mentally where they need to be and make sure they know that this isn't a normal year and things, I hope, will get better from where they are right now."
Vogt knows all about tough freshman years on the basketball court. He averaged less than a rebound and just more than a point per game as a freshman for Brannen at Northern Kentucky University. But Brannen saw something special in Vogt and brought the 7-footer with him when he accepted the job at Cincinnati in April 2019.
"For Chris, I think he gets a lot of unfair criticism amongst our fans a little bit," Brannen said. "The bottom line is he impacts the game a great deal. What I mean by that is he knows where to be and he's in the right position. ... Do I think he's playing with more confidence? I do. But more importantly, I think he's playing with way more aggression and way more toughness."
One of Vogt's most difficult challenges this season, one he shares with his teammates, has been playing on courts inside empty arenas, especially on Ed Jucker Court inside Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats' home arena, which is formally named Fifth Third Arena at Myrl H. Shoemaker Center, has quietly been one of the most underrated homecourt advantages in college basketball through the past 30 years. That was no doubt the case last season, Brannen's first at Cincinnati. The Bearcats were 13-2 at home a year ago, with a 5-2 record in games that were decided by seven points or less. Having no fans in the stands, or about a limited number of 300, has been just another hurdle UC has had to climb this season.
"It's still weird sometimes running out of the tunnel and there's no fans out there," Vogt said. "Just overall, there's not the same energy in the crowd as what you're used to as a basketball player. From me playing in little league all the way up until now, I just can't remember a time when I've never seen hardly anybody in the stands. But it's just something I guess we've gotten used to as the season's gone on. It's gotten a little easier to adjust to."
That 300 fan count will grow to around 1,135 for each of Cincinnati's final three home games, as the state on Tuesday granted the university an attendance variance to allow 9% capacity inside its 12,012-seat arena.
Brannen and his players are hoping the increased amount of supporters will translate to a successful and smooth end to what otherwise has been one of the most challenging years of their basketball lives.
"I would urge all 1,135 people to be as loud as possible this weekend," Brannen said.