Overcoming so much turmoil just made their success sweeter for Ruben Patterson and Bob Huggins.
(AP photo)
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The doors are closed, as always. The shouts - encouragement? instruction? blistering criticism? - barely squeeze through the concrete walls and steel door. Bob Huggins and his UC Bearcats are conducting business as usual.
How have they managed to survive and thrive in this basketball season, which included four major suspensions and three minor injuries? They are the only ones who really know. They will answer questions on the matter, if asked. But they struggle to fully explain.
''All of that has to get to you,'' Huggins said, ''but I don't think you can make it a big deal. The reason you have all those guys on your team is so they can help you. I think our other guys - they just kind of said they'd find a way to get it done. And the guys who weren't playing were great, because they really encouraged the others.
''They don't quit. They just keep going.''
When No. 9 UC (26-5) opens play in Boise, Idaho, in the NCAA Tournament's West Regional at roughly 3 p.m. Thursday, Northern Arizona will be dealing with a full complement of Bearcats. There are no suspensions, no injuries to remove a regular from the rotation. This has happened only 12 times in 31 games.
The word ''turmoil'' has been used by journalists to describe the season UC has experienced, and it's easy to understand how one could arrive at that conclusion. But each new development seemed all the less traumatic.
Never mind the offseason and the investigation of Charles Williams' eligibility, the paid leave assigned to assistant coach John Loyer. That was debilitating enough, but when forward Ruben Patterson came under investigation, it seemed the Bearcats never would be intact.
Once they had the Patterson situation settled, with the NCAA announcing a half-season suspension for assorted violations of extra benefits, the Bearcats became increasingly more adept at traversing the obstacles they encountered.
When D'Juan Baker and Kenyon Martin were suspended for unauthorized use of a university long-distance code, UC won three in a row. When Patterson returned from his punishment and stepped into an eight-game winning streak, he was permitted to quickly assimilate. The Bearcats were 12-2 without him, 14-3 with him.
By the time point guard Michael Horton was suspended for the final three games for an undisclosed violation of team policy, it was hardly a surprise to see the Bearcats win each of those games to close the regular season as Conference USA champions.
''I've got to do my job, and I wanted Bobby Brannen and D'Juan Baker and Ruben to go out in the manner in which they should go out. They deserve to have a heck of a year,'' Huggins said.
''I do what I believe. We've got great kids. And we've always had great kids. Have our kids done some things wrong? Sure.''
Huggins is not the only coach this season who has had to deal with crises. He just seems to handle them more effectively, in part because he has experience. But then, so does Denny Crum, and Louisville still wound up at 12-20 after returning three starters from last year's Elite Eight squad.
Michigan State has struggled (1-2) since the arrest of freshman center Andre Hutson and star guard Mateen Cleaves for underage drinking. UCLA has rapidly deteriorated since center Jelani McCoy returned from a suspension in December and found himself in trouble again a month later, eventually leaving the team with six games left on the schedule.
The crisis can be as simple as UC sophomore center Ryan Fletcher choosing to use a basket support as a release for a moment's frustration and breaking his hand upon contact. It can be as complex and involved as the examination of possible extra benefits provided to Patterson, which took nearly two months to complete.
''The truth of the matter is, virtually every year I've coached, there's been a couple crises - someone dies in someone's family, someone gets hurt, someone quits or something happens,'' Huggins said. ''And you deal with it.
''It's not a matter of if it will happen. It's a matter of how you deal with it. It's going to happen. And you've got to deal with it. Every coach does. It's not just me. Every coach.''
When the telephone code violations occurred in December, UC did not call a press conference specifically to deal with the issue. Huggins took questions regarding the suspension during a postgame address, specifically on whether he knew the source of the code that was violated.
''If I did, it wouldn't have gotten out,'' he said, and that was as expansive as he got.
''I appreciated him really not getting all into that situation,'' Baker said. ''Even though it got out into the public - being on SportsCenter and things like that, it's going to happen - but the way he handled it was a very professional way. My parents appreciated it.''
Huggins did little to publicly admonish the players, and when it was done for him by various print and broadcast commentators, Huggins defiantly proclaimed, ''We've got guys with great character . . . It's really getting old to me, people taking shots at them.''
That approach clearly has reinforced the bond between Huggins and his players.
''When somebody says you let them down, they're saying they don't have faith in you anymore,'' Martin said. ''I liked the way he dealt with it. When Ruben got suspended, he didn't say it. When Mike got suspended, he didn't say it.''
As the Bearcats celebrated their two Conference USA championships, regular-season and tournament, the embraces between Huggins and Martin or Huggins and Patterson were not of a couple joyous people exchanging congratulations on success. There was something more behind them.
''He takes care of us. On the court and off the court, he watches out for us,'' Martin said. ''A lot of us are far from home, and he takes care of us. We've got to show our appreciation for him, and I feel that's one way that we can.
''I whispered in his ear he's got one more coming.''
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