Friday, January 19, 2001
Who can hang a name on UC?
Bearcats trying to find identity
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There is typically a reputation that accompanies each Bob Huggins-coached University of Cincinnati basketball team.
Opponents have feared the Bearcats' full-court defensive pressure one year, their imposing frontline the next.
This season? Well ...
“The Bearcats of old used to be rough and tough bad boys or whatever,” assistant coach and former player Keith LeGree said. “But we've got a different generation.”
UC, which plays at Saint Louis on Saturday, is more than halfway through its reg ular season and has no consistent characteristic.
Tough inside? On occasion.
Swarming pressure defense? In spurts.
Dangerous from the perimeter? On and off.
One go-to player? Not really.
Unselfish? Not often enough. When the Bearcats (12-4, 3-1 C-USA) make the extra pass — give up a good shot for a better one — they are tough to defend.
“Until they find out what they do good and are able to come out and do it every night, you don't have an identity,” LeGree said. “Some guys feel like if they do this one night, they want to try something else the next night. We've got to make them understand that this is what you do well and we want you to do this for us.
“We're still trying to get guys to understand what we need from them. This team hasn't gotten the picture yet.”
Said Huggins: “The thing we've always had was we played hard. I'd just like for them to play hard every time — and share the ball a little bit. Then we're not bad.”
A few things that are clear: The Bearcats are guard-oriented and rely on good shooting. That said, they need to rebound to win. They also take care of the ball better than any other team in Huggins' 12 seasons at UC.
Cincinnati averages just 11.4 turnovers a game — tied for seventh-lowest in the country. Huggins' next best UC team averaged 13.2 turnovers in 1991-92, the Final Four season. This is Huggins' second-best team in assist-to-turnover ratio behind the 1995-96 squad.
UC players say they want to be known for playing hard and playing good defense.
“We're going to miss shots and we're going to make shots, but defense always wins games,” junior Steve Logan said. “I don't know what our identity is; we just go out and play. We want to play hard and come out and compete every night. We've got a little ways to go.”
“We're working toward something, and that's playing good defense,” sophomore Kenny Satterfield said. “You never know who you're going to get your points from. As long as you play good defense, the points will come.”
Though this UC team may not have established its own identity yet, junior Jamaal Davis said it is perceived a certain way by opponents because of the program's recent history.
“I think going by the past years that most teams are looking at this team as being similar to the other teams, which is a bit difficult, because we don't have the great guys who were here before,” Davis said. “But just because (we're) the University of Cincinnati, they always think we're going to come out and play hard.”
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