By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It's two weeks into basketball practices, and Eugene Land has yet to have that moment when he feels like his old self.

"I'm waiting on that," he said.

The Roger Bacon graduate is back with the University of Cincinnati basketball team two years after dropping out of school. He was one of three players held scoreless in Saturday's intrasquad scrimmage.

Understanding basketball concepts during practice and knowing what coach Bob Huggins wants have been the easy parts, Land said. The challenge has been coming back from a knee injury that was supposed to end his basketball career more than two years ago, as well as being away from the game for so long.

"It's all about my legs - getting the legs to respond to my mind," Land said.

Said Huggins: "Gene never was the best runner. It's just going to take him a while. I think he wanted it to happen overnight; we certainly wanted it to happen overnight. But it's not going to happen.

"He's going to have to work and play his way into physical condition. He's got no legs right now. It's hard to play this game with no legs."

Land, a 6-foot-7 forward, said he feels himself making "definite progress."

"I'm not going to say it's slow, but it's gradual," he said. "I know I'm not stagnant. But right now, it's an uphill battle constantly."

E-mail: mperry@enquirer.com