Saturday, February 05, 2000
Bearcats think time's on their side
UC unfazed by rush to prepare for UAB
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The plane carrying the nation's No.1 college basketball team into the heart of football recruiting territory landed well after Thursday night had turned into Friday morning.
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UC vs. UAB
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• When: 2 p.m. today
• Where: Bartow Arena, Birmingham, Ala.
• Records: UC 21-1 (9-0 Conference USA); UAB 12-7 (5-3)
• TV: Ch.19
• Radio: WLW-AM (700)
BY THE NUMBERS
• 27-2: UC's five-year record against National Division teams
• 14: UC's winning streak against National Division teams
• 15.5: Scoring average of UAB reserve guard Eric Holmes
• 10.5: Steals average for UAB, first in C-USA team statistics
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The Cincinnati Bearcats claimed their latest victory, at UNC Charlotte, just hours before they showed up here, where football signings dominated the news this week but the presence of the top-ranked basketball team will draw a capacity crowd to Bartow Arena for today's 2 p.m Conference USA game between UC (21-1, 9-0) and Alabama-Birmingham (12-7, 5-3).
The C-USA schedule mandated UC play at Charlotte, N.C., late Thursday and at Birmingham early Saturday in order for the first game to be televised nationally by ESPN and the latter to be a regional show for ESPN Plus.
That left the Bearcats with precious little time to put the rugged 70-62 win over UNCC behind them and focus on the Blazers.
“I'd rather have more time, but what are you going to do?” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “If you're going to be on TV in this league, you're going to play Thursday/Saturday. The alternative is playing on Wednesday and Saturday and not being on TV.”
Which, given the importance of exposure in the world of college basketball, is nobody's choice.
The danger for the Bearcats is as much the circumstance as the opponent. UAB is first in C-USA's National Division and 10-0 at home this season, and the Blazers are 4-2 vs. UC at Bartow Arena.
With all of that, however, the Blazers' greatest advantage may be that while UC was traveling and playing and traveling some more in the past three days, they have been at home since Thursday with the opportunity to concentrate completely on their biggest challenge of the season.
UC's game with UNC Charlotte ran uncommonly long, about 2 hours, 20 minutes, which meant the time available to prepare for Alabama-Birmingham was reduced even further.
From the moment the Bearcats walked off the floor Thursday, there remained 381/2 hours before they would tip-off against UAB. And part of that time had to be spent getting to Birmingham.
UC departed Charlotte on a chartered flight following the game rather than waiting until morning to fly commercially. Huggins reasoned that with the UNCC game starting at 9 p.m., it would have been difficult for the players to get to sleep at an early hour anyway, because they first had to be fed and still would be keyed up from the competition.
“After we started making money,” Huggins said, “we could do these things.”
The players ate on the plane. By the time their bus got to the hotel in Alabama, they were more ready for sleep and had at least seven hours before they had to wake for a team breakfast at 10:30 a.m.
UC did not abbreviate the process of preparing for the Blazers, instead choosing to compress it all into the time available.
Following Friday's breakfast was a team meeting, during which the coaching staff introduced the Bearcats to UAB's personnel and tendencies and then showed the offensive sets the Blazers generally run. UAB is a team that does not have a thick playbook, but instead depends upon executing a few sets and pounding the offensive boards.
“It's not like preparing for Marquette or Charlotte that run 20 different sets,” Huggins said.
Friday's regular practice was shorter than normal, two hours of mostly half-court work with little concentration on the running game.
The players had the afternoon to attend a study session and get some rest, then had a 30-minute shoot-around in Bartow Arena in the evening. The Bearcats looked at more tape following that session — with an emphasis on UAB's personnel — and will have a final walk-through before today's tipoff.
“It's not really difficult. I think it's more fun,” said forward Pete Mickeal of the diminished preparation time for today's game. “I think having one day makes it like a big game.
“Basically, we prepare just about the same for any game, and after 22 games, anything people run isn't going to be really new. We like to play so much. I wish we played today.”
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