At a glance
Seed: No. 2
Region: West
Site: Boise, Idaho
Opponent:Northern Ariz.
Tickets: 350.
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It is safe to say few of the Cincinnati Bearcats interrupted the celebration of their Conference USA tournament championship to watch the Big Sky title game between Northern Arizona and Montana State.
''What? Big Sky? I didn't catch that,'' said UC senior forward Bobby Brannen. ''I wouldn't have minded seeing that now.''
The No. 14-ranked Bearcats (26-5) were not entirely prepared for all that was presented to them Sunday evening. They were pleasantly surprised by the decision of the NCAA Tournament selection committee to award them a No. 2 seed. They were unpleasantly surprised to be shipped off to Boise, Idaho, rather than a site closer to home.
And thus they did not expect to find themselves opposite Big Sky champion Northern Arizona (21-7), the West Regional's No. 15 seed, in the tournament's first round Thursday.
Point guard Michael Horton said ''the whole team was excited'' when it learned it would be a second seed, which ranks a team among the top eight in the nation, but they weren't thrilled about their destination. ''But we're not going out there to meet anybody. We're going there to do some business.''
This is the second time in three months UC is transacting postseason athletic business in Boise, having sent its football team there to play in the first Humanitarian Bowl. Somewhat ironically, UC agreed to play a basketball game in Boise next season as a condition of being invited to the bowl.
Whereas the football team accomplished all it wanted by winning its game in Boise, that would only be the start for the basketball Bearcats. If they are able to defeat Northern Arizona, one of the nation's most dangerous three-point shooting teams, they will play the winner between seventh-seeded Temple (21-8) and 10th-seeded West Virginia (20-8) in the second round.
This is the third time in the past four years the Bearcats and Temple have been set up to meet in either the first or second round. Both those teams might have been higher seeds without hitting extended slumps: Temple's came in late December and lasted into January, and WVU's occurred in the season's last two weeks.
''You play for a seed because the whole idea is the higher your seed, the easier it is to advance,'' coach Bob Huggins said. ''I didn't think we were a three, but with what happened Saturday, some of the top teams getting beat, I thought we had a chance at a two seed.''
This is UC's seventh consecutive trip to the tournament under Huggins and its third as a No. 2 seed. The Bearcats were in this position in 1993 and 1996 and both times reached the regional final.
How do you pick 'em?
If you're not basketball saavy, but you participate in an office pool, we want to hear from you. Do you have an unusual way of picking the winners of the tourney's 63 games? Team uniform colors? Flip a lucky coin 63 times? School location?
We may include your comments in our story. E-mail to gnoble@enquirer.com by 9 a.m. Tuesday. Include your name, age, neighborhood (if Greater Cincinnati) and daytime phone.
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Huggins believes this team is comparable to the one in 1993 because of its defensive ability. ''The scary thing about this team is that we can go a long period without scoring.''
From a historical standpoint, playing their way out of the No. 3 range improves UC's chances of making a tournament run. UC knows the difficulty of playing from the No. 3 position. The Bearcats were part of the carnage last season, when all four third-seeded teams failed to reach the Sweet 16. Since 1990, a total of 15 No. 3 seeds have advanced that far. They've failed 17 times.
There have been 11 first-round upsets for No. 3 seeds since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. That means those teams still win 79 percent of the time. But No. 2 seeds have lost only three times in the first round: Syracuse in 1991, Arizona in 1993 and South Carolina in 1997.
In addition, more than twice as many No. 2 seeds have reached the Final Four (12) since 1985 as have those seeded third (five).
Should the Bearcats play all the teams as they are seeded, their game against Temple would be followed by a Sweet 16 matchup against Utah, No. 5 in last week's poll but buried at 33 in the Ratings Percentage Index standings. The top seed in UC's region is defending national champion Arizona.
''There are good teams in the bracket we're in,'' said UC sixth man Melvin Levett. ''The two seed didn't do anything for us. It's just a high seed. The talent level is pretty high.
Bearcats guard Brent Petrus, a wide receiver with the football team, was in Boise for the bowl game and has told teammates he knows ''all the hot spots.''
''I didn't think there was anything hot there,'' Brannen said. ''I don't think we'll see them, anyway.''
Tickets
UC has an initial allotment of 350 tickets that will be made available to UCATS members, faculty and students. If any tickets are left over, they will be made available to the general public.
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