If there was ever a time the University of Cincinnati might get caught looking past an opponent, this is it.

        The Bearcats, who moved up one place to No.4 in the Associated Press poll Monday, play tonight at DePaul, the last-place team in Conference USA's American Division.

        UC's next game, Friday night at home against Marquette, very well could decide the C-USA regular-season championship. Both teams are tied at 11-1 in league play.

        “I think DePaul knows that,” UC senior Steve Logan said. “This will make their whole year if they beat us. We've got to go in there and play those guys like they're Duke or Maryland. If there's one thing this team does not do, it's overlook games.”

        Marquette, which plays host to Charlotte tonight, is ranked No.9. This is the first time since Feb.3, 1997 that two C-USA teams are in the top 10.

        “It's going to come down to us and Marquette now, providing we do what we're supposed to do,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “Friday doesn't matter if you lose Tuesday. Our guys have been pretty good at coming to work every day. They haven't looked ahead to anybody in particular. Most of my teams at this time of the year, I don't worry about that much.”

        Over the past five seasons, the Bearcats are 19-2 in regular-season games played Feb. 19 or later. Only one of the those was a conference loss (March 1, 1997, Memphis); the other was to Temple (Feb. 20, 2000).

        DePaul (9-15, 2-10) has dropped six of its last seven and is struggling just to make the conference tournament, Only 12 of the 14 teams will participate, and right now the Blue Demons would be eliminated.

        That's not the only problem for coach Pat Kennedy's club.

        He suspended three players — Imari Sawyer, Sam Hoskin and Lance Williams — Feb.2 for violations of athletic department academic policies. Williams was suspended for one game (TCU, Feb. 6). Hoskin and Sawyer were suspended indefinitely.

        Hoskin sat out two games, returned against East Carolina (Feb. 9), then injured an ankle against Louisville. He has missed a game and a half but is expected to play against UC. Junior guard Marlon London also has missed three games with a knee injury but is expected to play tonight.

        Sawyer, a sophomore point guard and two-year starter, has not played since Jan.29 against Charlotte, and he is not practicing with DePaul.

        In addition to all this, during the East Carolina game, roughly 50 fans walked out in protest of the state of the program, an action organized on the internet.

        “That really wasn't a whole lot of anything,” Kennedy said.

        On ChicagoSports.com, there is a poll question asking whether Kennedy should be fired.

        “I've been here before,” Kennedy said. “We've had teams in the Sweet 16 and the Final Eight (at Florida State), and we've had teams that are struggling as we are now. I think we've got a terrific nucleus of kids. We signed three kids early; two of the top 10 JUCOs in the country.

        “We still live with obviously having replaced a lengendary situation (Ray Meyer), like the guys who tried to replace (Jerry Tarkanian) at Vegas or the people who tried to replace Louie (Carnesecca) at St. John's. In those situations, people didn't withstand any test of time, and here we are in year five going on year six.”

        This season looked a little brighter back in December after DePaul pulled off back-to-back upsets over Temple and Missouri and stood at 7-4. The Demons are 2-11 since.

        “To have such a fallout after that was the most difficult thing to handle,” Kennedy said.

        And here is how his team finishes: Against Cincinnati tonight, at Memphis (Saturday), against Saint Louis (Feb.26) and at Marquette (March1). Kennedy figures the Blue Demons will have to win at least two, maybe three games, to make the C-USA tourney field. And they face three of the best teams in the league.

        UC has beaten DePaul five consecutive times and 21 of 22.

        “We're going to have to play a near-perfect game,” Kennedy said. “We need like a super-human effort, but that's what we're going to try to get out of our guys for all of our remaining games. We're going to approach each one of these games as a major upset.

UC wary of upset UC notebook

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