Tuesday, February 08, 2000
C-USA NOTEBOOK
League suffering from acute Bearcat hangover
There's little debate that teams facing the Cincinnati Bearcats in Conference USA games spend a lot of emotion on that particular night, especially when they play UC at home.
The question is whether that effort is well-spent.
No one has beaten UC in a conference game. Although Tulane, Louisville and UNC Charlotte presented admirable efforts, and Saint Louis, Marquette and UAB refused to surrender, none has really come close.
Those teams left so much energy behind that four lost their next game, and Tulane won by a point on a miracle shot over Southern Mississippi. UAB has yet to play its next game.
“When you're playing the No.1 team in the country, you're going to put more emotion into that,” said Louisville coach Denny Crum. “It's a normal reaction from the player and coaches' standpoint, and the fans. Sometimes when you play two or three games in a week and you get really sky-high for a team, you're going to come down from that and be flat.”
It happened to UNC Charlotte in Sunday's game against DePaul, which probably was the most important game of the season to the 49ers' chances of making the NCAAs. The 49ers lost, 80-66.
“We challenged them with how important a game it was,” coach Bobby Lutz said. “I think our guys really wanted to give the effort, but we were just a half-step slow in a lot of ways.”
GRAND KENYON: Ordinarily, player-of-the-week announcements are rather routine, but the selection of UC's Kenyon Martin as Conference USA player of the week for Jan. 31-Feb. 6 is a bit out of the ordinary.
Martin became the first player in C-USA's five-year history to be chosen for that honor four times in a season. He was picked for averaging 25.5 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in road wins over UNC Charlotte and UAB.
Former UC forward Danny Fortson was player of the week three times in two separate seasons, as was former Louisville guard DeJuan Wheat. Larry Hughes of Saint Louis and Sean Colson of UNC Charlotte won the award three times each in 1997-98.
SETH SEETHES: South Florida coach Seth Greenberg bristled when he heard ESPN analyst Tim McCormick talk through a list of potential NCAA Tournament teams from C-USA without mentioning the Bulls.
USF is 13-8 and 4-4 in C-USA, but is it possible McCormick did his homework? The Bulls are only 97th on the Ratings Percentage Index computer and 2-6 on the road.
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Tulane has the second-best overall winning percentage in Conference USA (.714, 15-6) but faces a huge week for its NCAA ambitions in playing Memphis at home Wednesday and then visiting UAB Saturday.
• Since being outrebounded at UAB, DePaul has won its past two games and won the rebounding battle by a combined 34 boards.
• In losing Saturday to Louisville 74-59, Memphis saw its perimeter attack of Keiron Shine, Marcus Moody and Courtney Trask shoot 1-of-23 from the field. Take out center Kelly Wise and forward Shannon Forman, and Memphis was 5-of-40.
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 C-USA NOTEBOOK
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