Bob Huggins was asked about facing a hungry, desperate team in need of a victory.

        “Who are you talking about — us or (Memphis)?” the University of Cincinnati coach wanted to know.

        The Tigers (22-7) come into Shoemaker Center for Sunday's game against the fourth-ranked Bearcats (26-3) trying to lock up an NCAA Tournament bid regardless of what they do in next week's Conference USA Tournament.

        “I think we're in already,” Memphis coach John Calipari said.

        Their RPI of 64 — fifth-best among C-USA teams — would indicate the Tigers are on the NCAA bubble.

        Cincinnati isn't worried about getting into the NCAA Tournament. But its seeding is a bigger question mark in the wake of Wednesday's loss at Louisville. Could the Bearcats still get a No.1 seed? Could they drop to a No.3?

        “I think you've probably got two teams that are pretty desperate,” Huggins said. “We've busted it all year, and we didn't do that to lose a couple games at the end and have everything fall through the cracks that we've worked hard for.”

        UC can be no worse than a No.2 seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday at Firstar Center. If it loses to Memphis, there will be more pressure to do well in the league tournament to achieve a No.1 or 2 seed in the NCAA.

        The Bearcats are No.5 in the RPI, but their strength of schedule (43) is the worst among the top 11 teams.

        They have a solid record against the RPI's top-100 teams (13-3) and against top-50 teams (6-2). They are 2-1 vs. Top 25 teams and have no losses to anyone above 100. UC has lost to Oklahoma State (15), Marquette (26) and Louisville (71).

        Memphis will be the top seed in the C-USA tourney if it wins Sunday and could end up the fourth seed if it loses and Charlotte defeats Louisville today.

        Memphis has lost three of its last five games, but the defeats came when 6-foot-10 senior Kelly Wise had a strained right knee. Since his return, the Tigers are 2-0. Memphis and C-USA are making the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee aware of that.

        Wise was named the league's player of the week Monday after averaging 17.5 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in two games.

        “When (former Bearcat Kenyon) Martin went down (during the 2000 C-USA tournament), they took away the 1 seed from Cincinnati,” Calipari said. “And their comment was, "You're not as good without your best player.' And you know what, they were absolutely right. In the same sense, you've got to look at us and say, wait a minute, it's not the same team without Kelly Wise.

        “But let me say this: We've got to take care of business these last 10 days. We've got to go in (Sunday) and play well. Now, we may not be able to beat them, but we've got to play well. And then we start our tournament. We've got to win that first game and then the next game's going to be against another top-10 opponent. Do we have to beat them? No. But people have got to look and say, "If that team's top 10, this team's top 20.'”

        After taking off Thursday, the Bearcats returned to practice Friday to get ready to bounce back from the loss to Louisville.

        Senior Steve Logan took the 74-71 defeat particularly hard considering he made just seven of 22 field goal attempts and missed three shots and one free throw attempt and had a turnover in the final two minutes.

        “The loss, I take full responsibility for that,” he said Friday. “I didn't knock any shots in. I struggled the second half. I didn't play up to my potential and it kind of feeds off to the other players. Big-time players come to play every game. Even though I had an off night, I've got to find ways to win the game.”

        He finished with a team-high 18 points but didn't get much help from his fellow starters. The reserves scored 34 of the team's 71 points. The only other starter in double figures was Immanuel McElroy (11 points).

        Jamaal Davis and Donald Little, who had combined for 21 points against Marquette, totaled eight points at Louisville.

        Leonard Stokes, UC's No.2 scorer (12.1 ppg), was 0-of-3 from the field, 0-of-4 from the foul line and went scoreless for the first time in 39 games. In the Bearcats' three losses, Stokes has averaged 6.0 ppg.

        “It tends to put more pressure on me, to pressure myself not to ever have a bad game,” Logan said. “Because you don't know who's going to step up. But we've got to keep believing in one another. That's the bottom line, keep having confidence in one another and go out there and play.”

Bearcats, Tigers playing for position

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