Monday, February 07, 2000
Flowers looking like a find for UC
UC NOTEBOOK
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Saturday was a big basketball day for Cincinnati Bearcats recruit Rod Flowers.
In the afternoon, he traveled to Birmingham, Ala., from his home in Huntsville, Ala., to watch Kenyon Martin, score 31 points and lead the Bearcats to a win over Alabama-Birmingham.
In the evening, Flowers and his Butler High team challenged one of the top prep players, Gerald Wallace of Childersburg High, in a regular-season game.
Flowers' side roared to a 16-point lead in the second quarter, but faded in the second half and lost by eight. But he showed off the qualities that led UC to offer him a scholarship.
A 6-foot-8 power forward, Flowers has long arms that should serve him well on defense and wide shoulders that will permit him to easily hold another 15 to 20 pounds on top of the 220 he weighs now.
His huge hands allow him to comfortably catch passes and snatch rebounds — he had 16, along with 23 points against Childersburg. Flowers has the sort of go-to move that makes a college player a scorer; he has the touch on his jump-hook to score off the glass if he's launching from the side, or directly into the goal if he's in the lane. He also shoots well and made one 3-pointer against Childersburg.
Flowers' only difficulty was in not going strong enough to the goal when attempting to score on Wallace, who blocked two of his shots.
UNEXPLORED TERRITORY: This is the first UC team under coach Bob Huggins to own a 22-1 record. A year ago, the Bearcats stopped one victory short, reaching 21-1 before a three-game losing streak.
That appeared to be possible when the Bearcats left for a two-game road trip to UNC Charlotte and UAB, which owned a combined home record of 17-0, but the Bearcats won both games comfortably. They've now beaten six teams that were unbeaten at home when they arrived.
RPI BREAKDOWN: UC remains No.1 in the Ratings Percentage Index standings, and its frequently criticized schedule is ranked eighth-toughest in the nation. The Bearcats are 10-0 against teams in the RPI top 50 and 15-1 against the top 100.
No other team has more than 13 top 100 wins. Duke is 5-2 against the Top 50, 11-2 against the Top 100. Stanford is 5-1, 8-1. Undefeated Syracuse is 5-0, 12-0.
NUMBERS GAME: UC has won 14 consecutive Conference USA regular-season games. With six games remaining, it is four victories short of its record for the most C-USA wins in a season.
• In his last four games, freshman guard DerMarr Johnson is 19-of-32 from the field and is averaging 14.3 points.
UC had 21 turnovers against UAB Saturday, which gave them a total of 38 on their two-game trip.
• USAT/ESPN Poll • AP Poll
Bearcats go into hibernation
Flowers looking like a find for UC
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Ohio State 88, Michigan 67
Stuff 109, New Mexico 89
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Enquirer girls basketball coaches polls
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