By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati forward Jason Maxiell watches his dunk above a Florida A&M defender during the second half Tuesday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

The decision was easy last year. When the time came for the University of Cincinnati coaching staff to decide how to defend Xavier's David West, they simply told senior Jamaal Davis to take care of it.

At 6 feet 8, 235 pounds, Davis was big enough to muscle the 6-9, 240-pound West around the basket, and agile enough to follow him outside when West tried to utilize his perimeter game.

West, XU's center last season, was limited to just 23 minutes by an ankle sprain in UC's 75-55 victory. He scored only nine points, with five rebounds and five turnovers.

Davis is gone now, and figuring what to do about the All-America West, who now plays power forward for the Musketeers, is a bit more complicated this year. His expanded game has made him even more difficult for opposing teams to match up with.

"Jamaal was pretty good on the perimeter and he was pretty good in the post," said UC coach Bob Huggins. "We don't have that now.

"If you have a bigger guy on (West), he takes him out on the floor. A smaller guy he takes in the post. He can do a lot of things."

Jason Maxiell, UC's 6-7, 235-pound sophomore forward, would seem an obvious choice to guard West. But that's a little too obvious for Huggins, who says Maxiell will not be assigned to West, at least not for an appreciable amount of time.

Maxiell, UC's only low-post scoring threat, is prone to foul trouble and is too valuable to risk having him guard the savvy West.

"I'd like to keep Max in the game," Huggins said.

Maxiell, who averaged 8.1 points and 6.8 rebounds last year as a freshman, was the Conference USA freshman of the year and sixth man of the year. He's loaded with potential - averaging 9.8 points and 4.8 rebounds a game this season - but has a long way to go to achieve West's stature, according to Huggins.

"Max is a kid," Huggins said. "Max has got a lot to learn. He's not as versatile because he can't step out like West can step out."

If Huggins is serious about not letting Maxiell guard West, UC could choose to use a zone, which Stanford did successfully in its Preseason NIT upset of the Musketeers.

Or the Bearcats could use a committee of their four big men - Rod Flowers, Kareem Johnson, Derek Hollman and Eugene Land - against West, figuring those players, each of whom is expendable offensively, give the Bearcats 20 fouls to burn against West.

"Last year, we just didn't let him get to spots where he was comfortable," said UC forward Leonard Stokes. "We tried to force him out on the perimeter. This year, it seems like he's on the perimeter more, but he's making plays out there. We're going to have to counteract that.

"Jason is going to be Jason. He's going to block some shots. He's going to rebound and he's going to be aggressive. Jason isn't going to go out to the perimeter and try to do some of the things that Dave does."

How the Bearcats handle West figures to be one of the determining factors in this game.

But it won't be the only one.

"Sometimes, you key so much on one guy and the other guy kills you," Huggins said.

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com