By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Not even a taskmaster like University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins can realistically expect a player who has never experienced major college basketball to pick up the nuances of the game all at once.

That's why Huggins is doing his best to remain patient with his young players as they endure Division I growing pains.

But as the Bearcats grapple to re-establish themselves after a school record-setting 31-win season a year ago, there are a few things that Huggins is having trouble coming to grips with.

At the top of that list is a lack of aggressiveness, especially on defense.

"We're small and we're slow," Huggins said Sunday after emerging from a two-hour film session before practice began. "We haven't been very assertive. We don't have any ball pressure. We let people throw the ball where they want to throw the ball. When you're as small as we are, you can't do that."

No.21 UC (2-1) will attempt to improve in that area and just about every other facet of the game today when it hosts Valparaiso (2-1) at 8:05 p.m. at Shoemaker Center.

The Bearcats are looking for answers after Saturday's 75-69 loss at Dayton, a defeat that ended an 11-game winning streak for UC over the Flyers and further exposed its weaknesses.

"We gave up 75 points," said UC forward Leonard Stokes. "That's way too much."

UC was also outrebounded 35-29, and allowed the taller, more physical Flyers to corral 15 offensive boards.

Normally, that's how the Bearcats win games, but it's quickly becoming apparent that won't be the case this year unless changes are made.

"We've got to block out higher," Huggins said. "We can't let people get as deep as we let people get."

Huggins was pleased with the second-half effort put forth by sophomore forward Jason Maxiell, who scored all 10 of his points after intermission, but didn't derive much solace from the 10 points that Rod Flowers produced in his first start at center.

"He didn't guard anybody," Huggins said.

Still not getting much from his newcomers, the UC coach is more upset about the production of his veterans.

"We've always gotten more from our returning guys," Huggins said. "The new guys aren't playing very well, but you expect that for the most part. You shouldn't expect that from the returning guys. You should be able to have more confidence in the returning guys."

Only Stokes and guard Field Williams have averaged double figures in the early going and neither of them has been consistent.

Stokes, for example, scored 11 points in the first half against Dayton by repeatedly slashing to the basket, but managed just two more the rest of the way.

"They didn't do anything different," Stokes said. "I just stopped attacking."

It's that lack of an attack mentality, which has always been central to UC's success, that has Huggins most concerned. Without it, especially with the personnel he has this year, the Bearcats could be in trouble.

"It's not that we're not doing things right," Huggins said. "It's that we're not doing the things we need to be successful.

"We're not taking things away from people defensively and we're not exploiting other people's weaknesses offensively. We dribble too much and pass too little. But it's our fault. We've got to make them better."

Valparaiso should present another formidable challenge for UC. In fact, the Crusaders may be better than the Dayton team that just whipped the Bearcats.

First-year head coach Scott Drew takes over for his father, Homer, who retired last spring. He inherits a team that has been picked by the league's coaches to win the Mid-Continent Conference championship.

The Crusaders opened with an 81-66 loss to Syracuse, then beat Indiana State and Northern Illinois.

Raitis Grafs, a 6-11 senior center from Riga, Latvia, is a leading candidate for conference player of the year honors. He's averaging 22 points and 7.3 rebounds on a team that also has players from Puerto Rico, Angola and Columbia and is exactly the type of big, active post players that causes problems for UC.

Valparaiso at UC

When: 8 p.m. today

Where: Shoemaker Center

TV: Ch. 19

Radio: WLW-AM (700)

Inside: Xavier gears up for return Tuesday against Purdue. D4

Tipoff: 8:05p.m. today, Shoemaker Center (13,176).

Records: Valpo 2-1, UC 2-1.

Radio: WLW-AM (700).

TV: Ch. 19

Series: 1-1.

Line: No line.

VALPARAISO

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Jo. Gomes	Jr.	6-9	14.7
Raitis Grafs	Sr.	6-11	22.0
Greg Tonagel	Sr.	6-3	5.7
Sam Ortiz	Sr.	6-3	11.0
Miguel Ali Berdiel	So.	6-6	8.3

Coach: Scott Drew, 2-1 first year

UC

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Leonard Stokes	Sr.	6-6	16.0
Jason Maxiell	So.	6-7	8.3
Rod Flowers	Jr.	6-8	5.3
Field Williams	Jr.	6-3	14.0
Taron Barker	Sr.	6-1	7.3

Coach: Bob Huggins (334-101, 14th; 502-173) overall