By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The best advice University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins could offer Derek Hollman last year after Hollman dislocated his right shoulder during the first week of practice was to remain patient.

It wasn't much to cling to for a player whose first season of major college basketball had ended before it even began, but it was all Huggins had to offer.

"Next year is when we'll really need you," Huggins told the frustrated junior-college transfer.

Hollman took his coach's words to heart. He watched his new teammates produce a school-record 31 victories without him, went to class and waited for this season to arrive. Now that it's here, Hollman has learned that Huggins wasn't kidding when he said the Bearcats would need him this season.

With Donald Little's legal problems removing him from UC's roster and B.J. Grove's excessive weight eliminating him as a possibility, the Bearcats are hoping to locate a center from among the trio that includes Hollman, junior Rod Flowers and junior-college transfer Kareem Johnson.

Five days before Saturday's season opener against Tennessee Tech, UC's coaching staff doesn't know who that might be.

"They're all kind of even," said assistant Andy Kennedy, who works with the Bearcats' front-line players. "It depends on which day it is."

Last week against Athletes in Action, it was Hollman's turn.

"He's our biggest post guy," Kennedy said. "We need to get some productivity out of him, so we put him in the starting lineup to give him a vote of confidence and to see how he would respond."

Hollman, a 6-foot-8, 255-pound junior from Itta Bena, Miss., and Panola (Texas) College, didn't do anything to make UC's coaches believe they had found their man. He scored two points, pulled down two rebounds and blocked a shot in 15 minutes.

Hollman's competitors weren't any better. Flowers scored two points with three rebounds in 11 minutes, and Johnson added four points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.

In fact, during the Bearcats' two exhibition games, their three centers have been virtually interchangeable, which isn't necessarily a good thing. They have averaged a combined eight points and 8.5 rebounds.

"He played like it was his first time, which it was," Huggins said of Hollman's performance. "He was overanxious. He went too fast. But I liked his energy."

After last season, Hollman says he's not concerned about starting. He's just happy to be playing again.

"It was horrible," Hollman said, "seeing those guys go hard every day and knowing I was supposed to be out there helping them."

Hollman's injury occurred when he went up for a rebound and a teammate inadvertently yanked his shoulder out of its socket.

"The rotator cuff kept slipping out of place," Hollman said. "It kept happening over and over. It came to a point where I couldn't even sleep at night. It would pop out while I was asleep. I would wake up and think it was a nightmare."

He underwent surgery to stabilize the shoulder, and a year later, it feels fine.

Not regarded as a prolific scorer, Hollman's strengths are defense and rebounding. He averaged 12 points and 12 rebounds two years ago at Panola. If he can approach that rebounding figure this year, play solid defense and score when the opportunity arises, he could help fill UC's glaring need at center.

DAVIS ARRESTED: Former Bearcats forward Jamaal Davis was arrested on two outstanding warrants for check deception Friday night after playing for a touring Nike-sponsored team in an exhibition game against Purdue, according to the Journal and Courier in West Lafayette, Ind.

Davis, who completed his eligibility at UC last season, began his college career at Purdue, where he played during the 1998-99 season before transferring to Barton County (Kan.) Community College and from there to UC in 1999.

Davis was recognized by a West Lafayette police officer who was working the game and remembered the outstanding warrants.