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Tuesday, November 28, 2000
Cincy playing with chip on shoulders
By Pat Forde
Special to ESPN.com
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CINCINNATI - This should be a season Bob Huggins enjoys.
He won't often show it, of course. At least not on the sidelines during games, when we get to see him rage like King Lear over blown plays and blown calls. But inside and in private, I'd predict a smile or two from Mr. Sunshine.
His Cincinnati Bearcats are off the kingpin's perch they occupied all last year, until Kenyon Martin's snapped leg ended a great run. There once again are doubters. There are tepid predictions to wave in his players' faces.
There are chips aplenty for the shoulders. There is "A Cause".
These are the Cincinnati teams that seem to mesh with Huggins' personality. Tough guys who love to be unloved, searching for slights and turning them into motivational fuel.
And here came a perfect test drive for the No Respect season, rolling right into the Shoemaker Center. Here came Marshall, this year's early nominee for the Dangerous Team From The Underrated Conference. (See in past years: Detroit, Gonzaga, Chattanooga, Murray State, Tulsa -- the last of which should resonate with the Bearcats, since the Golden Hurricane eliminated them last March.)
It may sound like a back-breaking stretch to bring a Mid-American Conference team into your gym and turn it into a Quest For Respect, but there was a hook here: Sports Illustrated picked the Herd 23rd in the nation in its preview issue -- one spot ahead of the Bearcats.
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All week I've been hearing about VanHoose, VanHoose. They hyped him up. That's why I was very excited coming out. ” |
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— Donald Little,
Cincinnati center |
Naturally, copies of that were circulated in every player's locker.
"It was a big motivator for us," power forward Jamaal Davis said.
So Cincinnati exploded out of the box like a pack of wild dogs, blitzing furiously to leads of 8-0 and 21-6. Center Donald Little did his Kenyon-On-Training-Wheels imitation, racking up 10 points and eight rebounds in the first 10 minutes as he overwhelmed touted Marshall junior J.R. VanHoose in the paint.
"All week I've been hearing about VanHoose, VanHoose," Little said. "They hyped him up. That's why I was very excited coming out."
How does Cincinnati do it? Little was hotly recruited coming out of high school, while VanHoose was snubbed by his home-state Kentucky Wildcats and went to a low-profile MAC school. But Little wound up being the Player With A Cause Tuesday night.
But say this for Marshall: The Herd will be heard from all season. A savvy switch to a 1-3-1 zone defense helped a team with nine juniors and seniors calmly come back and turn this game into a mettle-testing thriller.
This boiling, rollicking, better-than-expected November game went into the final seconds before Cincinnati pulled it out 79-75, in part thanks to a startling off-the-ball whistle with 31 seconds remaining and Marshall up one.
The officials said they were serious about cleaning up hand-to-hand combat in college basketball. This game showed how serious.
Twenty feet away from where the ball resided, official Tom O'Neill spied silky Marshall star Tamar Slay -- think: this year's DerMarr Johnson -- grabbing hold of Cincinnati's Leonard Stokes.
Stokes stepped to the line with 31.4 seconds to play, sank two foul shots, and the Bearcats never again trailed. Asked if he were surprised by the call, Marshall coach Greg White smirked.
"Were you surprised?" he asked.
Sure.
"End of discussion."
Actually, it's just the beginning. Expect to hear a lot more about this topic this winter.
"They called something, I don't know what it was," Slay said, shaking his head after a 28-point game. "I guess it's going to be like that all year."
Expect Cincinnati to be steadily improved all year.
The Bearcats are nowhere near the hurricane force they were last year, but neither are they going to give up their Conference USA primacy without dispute.
Cincinnati's front court is missing the familiar faces, but not the athletic prototype: tail-kicking, shot-blocking, rim-attacking brawlers. But point guard Kenny Satterfield will be the hub of this team.
Speaking of imitations, Satterfield appears to be well into his Allen Iverson Starter Kit. From the braids to the tattoos to the slim moustache and skinny build, he bears a marked physical resemblance to The Answer.
And even in an off-shooting night (4 of 18), Satterfield stepped forward in a late crisis, burying two 3s within a span of 41 seconds, with less than three minutes on the clock.
"Kenny plays with a lot of heart," Huggins said.
Cincinnati will play this season with ears cocked, listening for any disrespect it can turn into motivation.
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Games of the Week
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Austin Peay at Tennessee
Monday
This looked like a typical early-season rout on the schedule, until the Governors shockingly won the Top Of The World Classic last week by beating Jackson State, Colorado and Utah State for the title. Suddenly Peay is 3-0 behind senior swingman Trenton Hassell, who averaged 24.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists.
Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati
Sunday
The Wooden Tradition
(Indianapolis)
With Troy Murphy and transfer Ryan Humphrey, Mike Brey brings in a team that can match biceps with the Bearcats. The bigger question might be whether the Fighting Irish backcourt can keep pace with Satterfield. This would be a validation game for Brey, who took over in South Bend when Matt Doherty left for North Carolina.
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Vols carrying SEC torch
Surprise losses have been the theme to date: A shrimpy Auburn team lost to Mercer, which won 12 games last season. South Carolina lost to Tennessee Tech, coached by former Eddie Fogler assistant Jeff Lebo. The Hogs lost to Southern Miss. Kentucky started 0-2, nearly triggering state-wide panic.
But Tennessee has been rock-solid -- an attribute it has not always had. The Volunteers have started off like the Top 10 team they are, ripping Chattanooga and East Tennessee State, and beating 2000 Final Four team Wisconsin Tuesday night by 10. The Badgers figure to be exactly the kind of team the Vols hate, forcing a deliberate pace and putting a premium on patience.
That win not only helps the power rating, it helps make believers of those who still think Tennessee must prove its basketball IQ.
Of course, the jury will remain out on the Vols until they do something memorable in March.
Around Conference-USA
It was a big weekend for Charlotte and Southern Mississippi, both of which took down teams from the leagues that overshadow them.
Charlotte went into North Carolina State's arena and whipped the Atlantic Coast Conference Wolfpack in the final of the CoSIDA Classic. Freshman Rodney White, a star 6-9 recruit from Philadelphia, led the 49ers in scoring and served notice that Charlotte and its underrated coach, Bobby Lutz, should not be dwarfed by the ACC giants in its midst.
"I think in North Carolina, this wakes people up a bit," Lutz said.
Southern Miss shocked Southeastern Conference royalty Arkansas in the final of the Black Coaches Association tournament on the ranked Razorbacks' home court for what might be the biggest win in coach James Green's five seasons.
Southern Miss won 17 games last year, yet was snubbed by the NIT; and won 22 in 1997-98, but was passed over by the NCAA Tournament. The reason: few, if any, quality wins. This one could help the Golden Eagles immensely come March.
Southern Miss got the usual production from pure scorer David Wall in winning two games in Fayetteville, but the new impact player was juco-transfer guard Brad Richardson. He scored 34 points in the two games.
In beating UNLV, 86-85 in overtime, in the Maui Classic, Louisville will be outmanned but not outfought. The Cardinals were scorched inside by the Rebels' Kaspars Kambala -- and by Maryland's Terence Morris and Lonnie Baxter the night before -- but found a way to win against UNLV. The Cards have no player taller than 6-8 on their roster and have only nine scholarship players available.
Shawn Finney is off to a 2-0 start at Tulane, playing at an 80-point tempo, heading for the Big Island Invitational.
Marquette rebounded from a disappointing Preseason NIT loss to South Alabama by bumping off Massachusetts, 68-64, in an intersectional game that will help power ratings down the line. The Golden Eagles haven't scheduled many gimmes this season.
Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com
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