The school's sports teams are known as the Bearcats. Cincinnati competes in NCAA Division I sports (I-A for football) as a member of the Big East Conference since July 1, 2005. The school's Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets best-known athletic alumni are Baseball Hall of Fame Sandy Koufax, all-time basketball great Oscar Robertson, and International Tennis Hall of Famer Tony Trabert Baseball Hall Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets of Fame Miller Huggins. Cincinnati's oldest football rivalry, begun in 1888, is with Miami University and symbolized by a Victory Bell awarded to the winner each year. This is, Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets reportedly, the fourth oldest rivalry in college football.
Cincinnati also plays Xavier University in the Annual Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout., and UC also plays Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets Louisville, they battle for the Keg of Nails in Football every year. The school also has an on and off again (albeit lopsided) rivalry with Ohio State University in football.
When the schools' men's basketball teams meet in the John Wooden Classic in Indianapolis in 2006, it will be first meeting since the 1962 NCAA men's Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets championship game for the Ohio neighbors. The school's best known program, however, is the men's basketball program. Cincinnati has an all time record of 1517-865 (.636), Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets compiled over 105 seasons.
While UC has consistently been a contender in this sport, it has been marked by several high and low points. The most Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets notable era in Bearcats basketball was during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Bearcats posted five consecutive Final Four appearances. Unanimous 3-time All American Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets Oscar Robertson led the Bearcats and the nation for 3 consecutive years in this period, and posted a career average of 33.8 points, which ranks third all-time in the NCAA. Ironically, Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets Cincinnati was to win its two national championships in the 1961 and 1962 seasons, without Robertson, under rookie coach Ed Jucker. Cincinnati fell out of prominence during the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets early 1970s.
After a brief resurgence in the mid-1970s, the program fell on hard times in the 1980s, but was revitalized under head Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets coach Bob Huggins after his hiring in 1989. Under Huggins, the Bearcats compiled a 399-127 record in 16 seasons, and posted 14 straight NCAA tournament appearances. Most Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tickets notable among teams during the Huggins years was the 1991-'92 team, which lost to Michigan in the Final Four