Cincinnati's early exit in the 2014 NCAA men's basketball tournament after an upset victory by Harvard may have been a bit shocking, but ranking the Bearcats as one of the all-time best sneaker colleges should come as no surprise. Over the year's the Bearcats have worn some of the greatest kicks the college hardwood has ever seen.
We'll first get a look at legend Oscar Robertson in the Converse Chuck Taylor, then head to the teams of the 1990's wearing Nike Basketball classics including Nick Van Exel in the Air Flight Lite II and Danny Fortson in the Air Max Uptempo. Things heat up even more in Cincinnati during the late 90's, where you'll see Kenyon Martin and company in the Air Jordan XII both before and after the school switched from Nike to Jordan Brand for the 1997-98 season, becoming one of the first schools to rep the Jumpman. Of course this meant the teams coud also wear Nike, as well, so you'll see late 90's classics like the Air Flighposite and Air Holistic Uptempo.
Cincinnati continued as a Jordan Brand school until 2007, when they signed on with adidas. They've been one of the hottest schools for adidas ever since, lacing up all the best black and red colorways of Three Stripes models like the Gil Zero, Crazy 8, and Rose 2.5, and Rose 4.5. Check out all of the best kicks worn by the Cincinnati Bearcats throughout the years below, as we continue our March Madness retrospective of the best sneaker schools of college basketball.
1.
Oscar Robertson - Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star
2.
Nick Van Exel - Nike Air Flight Lite II - 1992
3.
Cincinnati Bench in the Nike Air Maestro - 1994
4.
Damon Flint - Nike Air Maestro 2 - 1994
5.
Damon Flint - Nike Air School Force - 1996
6.
Danny Fortson - Nike Air Max Uptempo - 1996
7.
Keith LeGree - Nike Air Max 2 Strong - 1996
8.
Nike Air Flight Max - 1996
9.
Ruben Patterson - Air Jordan XII - 1996
10.
Danny Fortson - Air Jordan XII - 1997
11.
Danny Fortson - Nike Air Max Uptempo III - 1997
12.
Kenyon Martin - Air Jordan XII - 1997
13.
Kenyon Martin - Air Jordan XII - 1997
14.
Juan Baker - Air Jordan XIII - 1998
15.
Melvin Levett - Air Jordan XIII - 1998
16.
Jermaine Tate - Air Jordan XIV - 1999
17.
Kenny Satterfield - Nike Air Flightposite - 1999
18.
Kenyon Martin - Nike Air Holistic Uptempo - 1999
19.
Steve Logan - Air Jordan VINdicate - 1999
20.
Dermarr Johnson - Nike Air Flightposite - 2000
21.
Kenny Satterfield - Nike Air Garnett III - 2000
22.
Wil Logan - Air Jordan 5 Retro - 2000
23.
Air Jordan XVI, Air Jordan Shogun - 2001
24.
Kenny Satterfield - Nike Shox BB4 - 2001
25.
Steve Logan - Air Jordan 9 Retro - 2001
26.
Immanuel McElroy - Air Jordan 11 Retro - 2002
27.
Tony Bobbitt - Air Jordan XVII - 2003
28.
Air Jordan XIX, Air Jordan 12 Retro - 2004
29.
Nick Williams - Air Jordan XIX - 2005
30.
Cedric McGowan - adidas Gil Zero - 2007
31.
Lance Stephenson - adidas Clima Madness - 2010
32.
Cashmere Wright - adidas Crazy 8 - 2011
33.
Dion Dixon - adidas Crazy 8, Cashmere Wright - adidas Crazylight - 2012
34.
Dion Dixon - adidas Crazy 8 - 2012
35.
Sean Kilpatrick - adidas Rose 2.5 - 2012
36.
Jermaine Sanders - adidas Crazyfast - 2013
37.
Sean Kilpatrick - adidas Rose 4.5 - 2014
38.
adidas Rose 4.5, adidas Rose 773 2
(Images via Yahoo!)
