Friday, March 17, 2000
Bearcats have surprise on their side
Without Martin, UC's strategy hard to scout
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The season has lasted 31 games to this point, which means the people of their town had the opportunity to watch the Cincinnati Bearcats play about once every four days. Nineteen games were televised regionally or nationally, so UC has gotten plenty of exposure. And still we may know less about the Bearcats than about any other team in the NCAA Tournament field.
What are the Bearcats without Kenyon Martin?
Are they a pressing, trapping team or one specializing in halfcourt, man-to-man defense? Will they run their offense through the low post or screen along the perimeter to create open jump shots? Are they one of the nation's elite teams or just another early-round victim?
Without Martin, without his 19 points and 10 rebounds and intimidating presence, they are a mystery. If things go just right, they'll still be largely unsolved when today's first-round NCAA game against UNC Wilmington at the Gaylord Entertainment Center is complete.
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UC vs. UNC WILMINGTON
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• When: 12:30p.m. today
• Where: Gaylord Entertainment Center, Nashville, Tenn.
• Records: UC 28-3; UNCW 18-12
• TV: Ch.12, 7
• Radio: WLW-AM (700)
BY THE NUMBERS
• 11-2: UC's record against the NCAA field.
• 1-2: UNCW's record against the field.
• 1: Victories UC needs to tie the school record.
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“We're most definitely a more guard-oriented team than before, but our big guys can score, too,” forward Pete Mickeal said. “So we're kind of going to mix it up. You're going to see a little bit of
everything, maybe some things you haven't seen before, but we're most definitely going to pull out all the tricks we've got and use them to our advantage.”
The Bearcats (28-3), who play at 12:30 p.m. today, do not lack respect for UNC Wilmington (18-12). Coach Bob Huggins scheduled the Seahawks twice in the past five years and recognizes the commitment coach Jerry Wainwright draws from them in the areas of defense, physicality and sound offensive execution.
If UC can win its first-round game with its own defense and strength and the athletic advantages it enjoys on offense, though, it would do well to keep some of its new offensive wrinkles for later in the tournament. Lacking Martin, the Naismith Trophy winner who broke his leg in a game last week, one of the team's most significant advantages is that opponents have no idea how UC will play.
Huggins won't say whether he'll start 6-foot-11 redshirt freshman Donald Little at center or go with 6-10 fifth-year senior Ryan Fletcher in Martin's place. “I might have a premonition tonight,” Huggins said.
Using Little would allow the Bearcats to keep their rotation much as it was, with Fletcher as the first big man off the bench and freshman B.J. Grove possibly picking up the handful of minutes that previously went to Little.
You can expect UC will work to create openings along the 3-point line for guards DerMarr Johnson and Steve Logan and to seal big men away from the baseline so Mickeal can be more effective there. With practices sealed more tightly than ever this week, only the coaches know exactly how these things will go.
The Bearcats enjoyed a lighter day of practice Thursday because they had worked so hard at defending screens in the previous five days. Huggins wanted to be sure they wouldn't be too tired for UNCW.
“They now have a cause,” Wainwright said of the Bear cats. “People say they're on a mission. Our kids know from having played Cincinnati before that they're always on a mission. Every possession for them is a war.”
Huggins has done some research on the subject of playing without Martin. He points out UC performed well without him in the first half of their win at Oklahoma, again at Boise State and at home in a 40-point win over UNLV. Martin picked up two early fouls in each of those games, and Huggins brought him to the bench each time.
When he talks about that now, it's not for the public's benefit. Whatever good that information might have done in terms of UC's seeding in the tournament, it's too late. It's the Bearcats Huggins wants to convince.
“We're capable of playing pretty well,” Huggins said. “We've got a lot of guys who can make shots. It's not like we don't have any players left. Their roles have to change. I think everybody looks at the Saint Louis game and says, "Well, they're not very good without him.' It was a very traumatic thing.
“That's the first time I'd ever been through anything like that, and obviously the first time our guys had been through anything like that. If anybody thinks we don't have good players and we can't still play, they're missing the boat.”
Tournament game coverage at Cincinnati.com/madness
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