The Bearcats look to continue their undefeated ways in the Cayman Islands Classic starting Monday. With a game against Buffalo, followed by likely matchups against Richmond and Iowa, these will be important early quizzes for the ‘Cats as they prepare for the daunting stretch to start December.

As you may have heard, viewing these games won’t be simple. College basketball holiday tournaments tend to be a grimy business. They’re very political and shady, and tend to be dictated by just a few behind-the-scenes power players. They’re all about profit and prestige. As such, a brand new event like the Cayman Islands Classic doesn’t have any of the established connections larger tournaments do. While Cincinnati gets a few solid opponents, they won’t be playing these games on ESPN, Fox Sports Ohio, ESPN3, CBS Sports Network, or even Fox Sports 1.

Here’s the deal:

The Bottom Line:

Your ticket is College Sports Live. Go to the website, open an account, and pay $9.95 for the month. Cancel it when you’re done. It’s owned by CBS, so it’s a legitimate website. It’s the cleanest way to watch these games. Win or lose, Cincinnati will be playing three times. If you really care about watching the ‘Cats, you’ll pay $3.32 per game for an account. That’s less than a beer at the bar. Just do it. It’s annoying, but not really that big of a deal. (College Sports Live has apps available for iPhone, iPod, iPad, the Google Play Store, and Roku.)

Other options:

If you feel like paying $29.95, you can get a FloHoops account. Do not do this. Originally this was believed to be the only way to watch the games. We’ve since discovered College Sports Live. I’m only putting this here to clear up any confusion and misinformation. (FloHoops is a branch of FloSports. FloSports has apps available for mobile devices, Apple TV, and Roku.)
You can try to go to a bar, but I’d discourage this idea. Again, the game is not on television on any channel regardless of cable package. If you go into a bar and ask for the game, they will not have it unless they’ve paid for an account on one of the aforementioned websites. (They probably didn’t.) Having said this, Cincinnati fans love to complain about UC games not being on at a bar, so maybe try your local B Dubs if you need to scratch that itch.
If you’re dead broke and like to rely on the nefariousness of others, there are always options like the college basketball streams subreddit. (Google it.) For widely-available games televised on ESPN and the like, this can be a good option for those who are aren’t averse to watching low-quality streams while sitting neck-deep in pop ups. But since, again, these games are not on television and are thus much less accessible, I’m certainly not counting on somebody to bootleg them for me. Try this at your own risk. You’ll likely get left out in the cold.
If you’re satisfied with updates and GIFs, stay locked into the OhVarsity Twitter page. I’ll have full coverage of Monday, Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday.

Watch party:

My good friend Brian Fox of Bearcats Sports Radio is playing with the idea of hosting a (free) watch party for UC fans. If you’re interested, there is some information in the tweets below. It sounds like Brian is soliciting DMs from those interested in attending. RSVP with him via Twitter.

[embed]https://twitter.com/BearcatsRadio/status/931921830042062850[/embed] [embed]https://twitter.com/BearcatsRadio/status/932387399879090177[/embed]