Thursday, November 25, 1999
No. 1 Bearcats still a work in progress
UC must deal with limelight
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
From now until the day they are no longer the nation's No.1 college basketball team, the Cincinnati Bearcats will have to deal with regular assessments of whether they are playing like the No.1 team.
This is what happens when you rule the polls: Your team is checked for flaws after every public appearance. Even though their next three outings will be thousands of miles off the mainland in Hilo, Hawaii, against a nondescript field in the low-profile Big Island Invitational, the Bearcats (1-0) will get that treatment.
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BIG ISLAND INVITATIONAL
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(all times EST)
Friday
1: Cincinnati vs.
Cleveland State, 5 p.m.
2: Rhode Island vs. Santa Clara, 7:30 p.m.
3: Arkansas vs. Mercer, 10 p.m.
4: Iowa State vs. Hawaii-Hilo, 12:30 a.m.
Saturday
5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 5 p.m.
6: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner,
7:30 p.m.
7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 10 p.m.
8: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 12:30 a.m.
Sunday
9: Game 5 loser vs. Game 8 loser, 1:30 p.m.
10: Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 4 p.m.
11: Game 6 loser vs. Game 7 loser, 6:30 p.m.
12: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 9 p.m.
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After two weeks of being ranked first in the Associated Press poll, the Bearcats have dealt comfortably with most of the pressures associated with being ranked No.1.
It really does not matter whether UC is, today, the best team in the country. What matters is whether it will improve enough between now and March 26 to perhaps be one of the four teams still standing after the NCAA Tournament's regional finals.
To reach that point, UC needs to address several major areas in the next month, starting in Friday's 5 p.m. tournament game against Cleveland State at the 3,000-seat Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium:
• COHESION: Shouldn't the Bearcats first look like a team before anyone decides how that team ranks against the competition?
The Bearcats haven't been selfish so much as self-absorbed. Players wondering how they fit into the offense think more about that than making sure the offense functions properly. It isn't just freshmen like DerMarr Johnson and Kenny Satterfield, who are new to coach Bob Huggins' system. It's also senior Pete Mickeal, who isn't getting shots he ordinarily might because the plays are breaking down.
“You can't have five guys running around out there hunting shots,” Huggins said. “There's a whole bunch of them. Pete, DerMarr, Kenny — if they'll just let the game come to them, they'll be fine.”
If UC runs its offense as it should, both in transition and in the halfcourt, there will be plenty of shots for those qualified to take them, and they'll be better shots more likely to connect.
• CHEMISTRY: Huggins has focused on establishing center Kenyon Martin as a threat inside. If teams fear his ability to score enough they're forced to double-team him, that will create open shots for Johnson, Satterfield and Steve Logan and driving lanes for Mickeal.
“That's kind of where we are,” Huggins said. “We just don't throw it to him enough, and he doesn't try to get it enough.”
When Satterfield gains experience, Huggins may become more comfortable with allowing him to create plays with penetration.
• STRATEGY: Do the Bearcats want to be a pressing team that mixes in zone defense or a team that concentrates on playing rugged, halfcourt man-to-man? Do they want to run at every opportunity or ensure they can win when they walk?
Does Huggins know what he wants this team to be when it matures?
“We've got to be able to do everything,” he said. “When we're good, we do everything.”
Huggins has taken very good teams with very specific limitations into the NCAA Tournament in the past three years and had those weaknesses exposed before anyone with UC ties might have liked.
“In the tournament, you get all those different styles of play,” Huggins said. “We could have gone to the Final Four three or four times if we had run into people who played the style of play we were good at playing.”
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