Monday, March 13, 2000

Huggins fumes at No. 2 seed

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UC opens South Region with UNC-Wilmington

BY JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer

Bob Huggins speaks with reporters. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Coach Bob Huggins called Cincinnati's slide to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament a ridiculous, crazy and historic development. He also wondered aloud why the Bearcats seem to get such disappointment on selection Sunday.

        “Why are we always the ones that have to make history?” Huggins said with an edge to his voice and a set of keys twirling around his left hand. “That's what I don't understand.”

        In the past, the Bearcats have fumed about repeatedly being sent to Utah for the tournament, getting paired with Temple and winding up with a lower seed than expected.

        Huggins was incredulous Sunday that the NCAA selection committee stripped the Bearcats of the No. 1 seed in the Midwest because they lost All-America center Kenyon Martin to a broken leg while losing their first game in the Conference USA tournament three days earlier.

        Instead, the Bearcats became the No. 2 seed in the South and will play North Carolina-Wilmington (18-12) on Friday in Nashville, Tenn.

UNC-WILMINGTON

• About the school: Location—Wilmington, N.C. Nickname—Seahawks. Colors—Teal green, gold and navy.   • Record: 18-12 (8-8, Colonial Athletic Association).   • How they got here: Automatic bid, won CAA tournament.   • Coach: Jerry Wainwright, 6th year at school, 94-81 record (same overall).   • Key players: G Brett Blizzard (6-3 Fr.), 15.9 ppg; G Barron Thelmon (6-1 Jr.), 9.4 ppg; G Raymond Perrine (6-3 Sr.), 7.8 ppg, 3.1 apg; F Victor Ebong (6-8 Sr.), 7.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg; C Oleg Kojenets (6-11 Sr.), 6.4 ppg).   • Notable: Wainwright, 53, broke into college coaching as an assistant to Bob Staak at Xavier in 1984-85. He was at XU one year, then followed Staak to Wake Forest.

        “I didn't think there was any question,” he said. “We're No. 1 in the Ratings Percentage Index. Tell me the last time a team that was No. 1 in the RPI hasn't had a No. 1 seed. ... I mean, it's crazy. I don't understand that. I don't understand the rationale.”

        Craig Thompson, chairman of the NCAA selection committee, said the committee considered what the Bearcats will be like without Martin, who broke his leg three minutes into a 10-point loss to Saint Louis.

        “They played one game — 37 minutes — without Kenyon Martin,” Thompson said. “Those are the things that are very hard to project or predict because we base it on who will be playing this weekend.”

        Huggins said it shouldn't matter.

        “How do they know how good we are without Kenyon?” Huggins asked. “From what the guy just said, they judged what we were for 37 minutes without Kenyon. Did they take into (account) the fact that our guys just sat there and watched a very traumatic experience? Did they take that into consideration?”

        The committee apparently gave UC's No. 1 seed to Stanford in the South. Other No. 1s are Duke in the East, Michigan State in the Midwest and Arizona in the West.

Injured Bearcats center Kenyon Martin rests his broken leg Sunday at the Bearcats Lounge in the Shoemaker Center on the UC campus. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Martin, who watched the selection show with teammates, predicted UC's fate.

        “He called it,” forward Jermaine Tate said. “He said we were going to go South and get a No. 2 even before it came down.”

        The reaction when he turned out to be correct?

        “We were shocked but not surprised,” Tate said. “It was kind of an insult, but Kenyon's hurt. We just have to go out and prove that we're still a good team.”

        Forward Ryan Fletcher, who will move into the starting lineup with Martin hurt, understood the selection committee's reasoning.

        “You can kind of justify it either way,” Fletcher said. “I can see them giving us a No. 1 because of the regular season we had. But at the same time, there's the fact that we lost the opening game of our conference tournament and we lost our best player. I can understand that they're giving us a No. 2.”

        Huggins couldn't.

        “We fulfilled all the criteria they said to fulfill,” Huggins said. “They said to play a great nonconference schedule — we've done that. We've gone through our league undefeated. We're No. 1 in the RPI. It's not like we haven't done what we're supposed to do.”

Pete Mickeal listens to questions about UC's seeding. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Looming ahead for UC, a second-round game against Tulsa (29-4) or Nevada-Las Vegas (23-7). Martin and UC crushed UNLV 100-66 on Jan. 2. And if the Bearcats can get past their second-round jinx, a potential third-round matchup with Ohio State in Austin, Texas.

        UC fans might want to wait a little before talking about playing Ohio State. If the Bearcats have learned anything during the past three tournaments, it's not to look past any opponent.

        In each of the past three years, the Bearcats have been seeded third or better yet still eliminated in the second round. UC is the only school to be that highly seeded and fail to make the round of 16 in three consecutive seasons.

        This is the ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament for UC, which ties Kentucky for the seventh-longest current streak of appearances. North Carolina, which holds the longest streak at 26 years, barely squeezed into the field and was named the No. 8 seed in the South.

        Kentucky, a No. 5 seed in the Midwest, opens with St. Bonaventure at Cleveland.

        Indiana, a No. 6 seed in the East, opens with Pepperdine at Buffalo, N.Y.

        Dayton, a No. 11 seed in the West, opens with Purdue at Tucson, Ariz.

        Three conferences had six teams selected — Big 10, Big 12 and Southeastern — and the Big East had five. Conference USA and the Pac-10 had four teams each, while the Atlantic Coast Conference had only three teams selected for the second straight year.

        Among the teams which did not get at-large bids were Virginia, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Notre Dame, Brigham Young and Southwest Missouri State.

        North Carolina-Wilmington, Central Connecticut State, and Southeast Missouri State — are making their first appearances in the tournament.

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