BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

I might have said D'Juan Baker made a ''silly'' foul Sunday when, with 1:09 left in UC's loss at South Carolina, Bearcats up six points, Baker grabbed B.J. McKie and tossed him down like a load of laundry.

Being that Baker is a 21-year-old young man not being paid for his work, I might have suggested his foul was, I don't know, ''careless.'' Bob Huggins didn't see it quite that way.

''You're going to push a guy out of bounds because he grabbed your jersey? To me, that is inexplainable. That is such poor mental toughness,'' the coach volunteered on his post-game radio show.

Then with four seconds to play and UC still ahead by a point, Bobby Brannen squared up under the South Carolina basket and dipped a shoulder into the Gamecocks' Antonio Grant. Offensive foul.

Brannen was acting on instinct, I say. That close to the basket, with a smaller man guarding him, Brannen is money. The better play would have been to pull the ball out and make the 6-foot-5 Grant foul him. What Brannen did wasn't smart, but mainly because he committed the foul. If Brannen had scored, we'd be praising his aggressiveness.

Being that Brannen is a 22-year-old young man who has poured his soul into the UC program, I might have given him the benefit of the doubt. Huggins said, ''Why in the world with four seconds to go, up by one, do we need to make a play? I don't know what went through our minds. I wish I had an explanation.''

Last-minute letdown

UC messed up royally in the last minute Sunday. Beyond Baker's shove and Brannen's bump, Brannen threw away a pass in the face of full-court pressure. Baker stepped out of bounds while dribbling. South Carolina won the game at the buzzer because nobody guarded Grant at the top of the key, as he was launching his game-winning three-pointer.

A 65-59 lead became a difficult 67-65 loss. It wasn't the end of the world. Or maybe it was.

''It's impossible to do more things to lose a game than we did,'' Huggins decided. ''We just do stupid things. (It was) a whole calamity of errors on our part.''

Actually, for at least the first 20 minutes and arguably the first 35, UC was terrific. The Bearcats played defense as well as they have in years, especially close to the basket. Kenyon Martin lets no one get away with anything, and Brannen is a permanent elbow in the back.

Against the 13th-best team in the land - a team that has won its last 19 at home - UC showed it was worthy of top 25 mention. Given what has happened with this bunch this year, they've played pretty well.

Or maybe not.

''It was going to take 40 minutes to win'' a questioner said to Huggins.

''How about 40 minutes of just acting like you've played a game before?'' Huggins said.

Keep criticism private

How about giving these kids a break?

They're an NCAA tournament team. Given the watered-down state of college basketball - name a great team, or even a very good one, after Arizona, Duke and North Carolina - they're possibly a Sweet 16 team.

If the Bearcats had better guards - beyond Mel Levett, who improves daily - they'd make a nice run through March. They may, anyway.

So what's the big deal? Why must the coach rip the players publicly? Maybe they get better in this sort of crucible. Maybe that's the thinking.

I've always appreciated Huggins' candor. It fills my notebooks. It sets him apart from lots of ''media darling'' coaches, who are mainly experts at manipulation. But he has never minded dogging his players. It seems a shame.

I didn't see 40 minutes of stupid on Sunday. I saw 69 seconds. The rest was worth applauding.

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Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.

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