Wednesday, October 27, 1999
Who's No. 1? Cleaves' fracture may be break for UC
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When UC's Pete Mickeal heard the news of the injury to All-American point guard Mateen Cleaves, he immediately recognized the ramifications for Michigan State's basketball team — and for his own.
The Spartans, expected to be rated the No.1 team when the wire-service polls are released early next month, will be without their leader for two months or more as Cleaves recovers from surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right foot.
UC might be stuck with the preseason No.1 ranking.
“I thought about that when I saw the news,” Mickeal said. “It's too bad. I felt for someone who's worked all his life to be in that position, to be preseason No.1, who came back to school and now has this happen.”
This situation bears a resemblance to the 1996-97 season, when the Bearcats inherited the top spot in the preseason AP poll following an injury to Kansas point guard Jacque Vaughn. Kansas was considered the obvious No.1 that season. But Vaughn's broken wrist sent voters looking elsewhere, and they discovered UC. The Bearcats lost their second game that year, on a buzzer-beating shot by Xavier guard Lenny Brown, and finished 26-8.
UC coach Bob Huggins said that team wasn't ready for such acclaim and was overwhelmed by the attention. He expects it would be different this year.
“I think we have some familiarity with it,” he said. “When that happened, it was like breaking in the top 20 for the first time. We were kind of giddy about it.
But Huggins does not expect UC to be voted No.1. He thinks it will be defending NCAA champion Connecticut, and he probably will vote for the Huskies in the coaches' poll for USA Today/ESPN. UC was been picked No.1 by a few publications, in this case Street & Smith's and Ultimate Sports.
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