Little

        Donald Little wasn't planning to leave Shoemaker Center until he made 1,000 shots. But basketball wasn't all that was on his mind Thursday morning. He was nervous about going to talk to University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins about getting back his scholarship. Little, a 6-foot-11 center, was dismissed from the team in May. He has since gone to court twice and pled guilty to lesser charges, and has his hopes set on returning to the Bearcats.

        “I'm a little fidgety,” Little said. “I don't want to be turned down.”

        Will he be?

        “We certainly can't condone his actions, but they certainly didn't pan out to be as serious as what they initially looked like they were,” Huggins said Thursday. “You want to be fair to everybody involved. The penal ty has to fit the crime. (Athletic director) Bob (Goin) and I need to sit down and decide what direction to go with this.”

        Goin is out of town on business until Monday.

        Here is what they must review:

        • Little, 23, faced a misdemeanor assault charge after a May 3 incident at In the Woods Tavern; he was accused of kicking a female employee in the ribs. On Wednesday, Little pled guilty to a lesser charge of persistent disorderly conduct, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. “It made it sound really bad to say I kicked a lady,” Little said. “I did not kick her.”

        • Little was charged May 19 with speeding in a work zone, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving under a suspended license and possession of marijuana. Later that day, Little was dismissed from UC's program for conduct det rimental to the team. On July 19, he pled guilty to lesser charges of reckless driving, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle and not having his driver's license in his possession when he was stopped by police. He was punished with minor fines. The marijuana charge was dismissed as unfounded.

        “The things I was accused of, I didn't do,” Little said. “I

        was mad at myself, really. I put myself in bad situations. I made a mistake. I dealt with it. Now it's time to move on. I really, really want to apologize as far as this program, the university and to Bearcat fans.

        “Coach Huggs, he's gone to bat for a lot of guys and he's gotten to the point where he's tired of it. He's tired of everybody looking down on the program. I want to apologize to him. Everybody's going to beat him up now for what I did.”

        Little averaged 6.0 points and 5.6 rebounds last season, starting 13 of 35 games. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

        For Huggins, reinstating Little is less of a basketball decision than it is trying to “do the right thing for Donald and for the basketball program,” he said.

        “The easiest thing to do is say, "Go, get out.' That's not hard,” Huggins said. “And contrary to what some of those folks out there think, my job hasn't depended on wins and losses. Generally, when you sign a 10-year contract, it's not about wins and losses. It's about doing the right thing.

        “All those people who make decisions about people they don't know, if it were their kids, they wouldn't make those decisions. You do discipline people, but you don't overdiscipline people ... when you're dealing with people's lives.”

        Little has no Plan B should Goin and/or Huggins reject his request to rejoin the team. He was approached over the summer by Division II programs such as Northern Kentucky, Kentucky Wesleyan and Southern Indiana, and a few Division I schools, including Kansas State.

        But Little couldn't envision himself anywhere but UC. So he paid for his own summer school classes, worked at Montgomery Inn and occasionally played pickup games with Bearcat players.

        “Worst summer ever,” Little said. “Very stressful. I really didn't know what I was going to do. I thought about transferring, but I didn't want to leave here.”

        Little said he has been scared straight. He said he has been keeping to himself more, playing more video games, staying out of trouble. He said he has a chance to earn his degree by next June.

        “This whole thing has changed me,” Little said. “I've learned a lot. With me in the limelight, I can't go where everybody else is going. I've got to watch what I do.

        “... My name's on the negative side right now, and I've got to pick it up and do something positive.”

Huggins, Goin hold Little's fate

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