By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LOUISVILLE - When Tony Bobbitt walked into Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins' office Monday afternoon to tell him he was leaving the program, Huggins was meeting with associate coach Dan Peters.

Tony Bobbitt scored 29 points against Oregon. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"We were trying to figure out how to get him more playing time," Huggins said Wednesday before UC's game with Louisville.

Huggins said he had not heard from Bobbitt since, but he did not close the door on the possibility that Bobbitt might be permitted to return.

"He could show up tomorrow and be playing Sunday," said assistant coach Andy Kennedy, who recruited Bobbitt out of the College of Southern Idaho. "But the longer things drag on, if he hasn't shown back up by (today), for all intents and purposes, he's gone. Huggs would probably close the door."

Bobbitt contacted his stepfather, John Albright, Wednesday afternoon, told him he was OK and that he planned on talking with Huggins today.

Albright said Bobbitt didn't expressly say he would ask Huggins if he could return, but Albright said he got that impression.

"He told me he was going to talk to the coach tomorrow," Albright said. "He realizes what he did. I hope he comes back. I hate to see him lose his career and lose his chance to go to school."

Bobbitt is the second UC player to leave the team this season. Freshman Eric Hicks did not return on time after the Bearcats' brief Christmas break but was reinstated when he showed up two days later. He was benched for the Miami game Dec.28.

Whether Bobbitt will have a similar opportunity remains to be seen.

"You handle everything individually," Huggins said. "You look at how it affects your team."

Kennedy said he was "stunned" by Bobbitt's decision to leave the program and doesn't know what triggered it.

The last time Kennedy saw Bobbitt was after UC's loss to Marquette on Saturday afternoon. Bobbitt, a 6-foot-4 junior guard from Daytona Beach, Fla., scored 16 points in 11 minutes in that game and was largely responsible for the Bearcats' late comeback.

After the game, he appeared in the Shoemaker Center interview room with teammate Leonard Stokes and talked about the frustration of losing.

Kennedy boarded a 6 a.m. flight Sunday for a recruiting trip. When he retuned Monday afternoon, he was told by Huggins that Bobbitt had quit.

"He came into my office at 1:15 and quit," Kennedy quoted Huggins as saying. "He walked out at 1:30."

Kennedy said Bobbitt mentioned a lack of playing time as one reason he had decided to leave. Bobbitt played in 17 of UC's 18 games before Wednesday's, averaging 12.3 minutes.

His best game was Dec.17 against Oregon, when he scored 29 points. He was averaging 7.2 points a game.

Kennedy, who said he believes Bobbitt is still in Cincinnati, said he left messages for Bobbitt through his teammates and other friends, but that Bobbitt has not responded.

A UC press release Wednesday said Bobbitt was still enrolled in school.

"He's just in hiding," Kennedy said. "I don't know what's happened. It's strange to me that he's acting the way he's acting.

"There's nobody in Cincinnati who knows him better than I do. I recruited him. I talked to him on a daily basis about what he's got to do better. I told him: `Don't be frustrated. Stay ready. Your time will come.'"

Albright said Bobbitt has been frustrated by a lack of playing time but that he thinks there was more to his decision to leave.

"The only thing I know is that I don't think playing time is his biggest problem," Albright said. "He said he wasn't getting the playing time he thought he should, but that doesn't give him a right to quit."

Kennedy said he would not try to talk Bobbitt into returning.

"I'm going to lay out his options for him," Kennedy said. "The reality is that the timing doesn't help him. The kids are frustrated. If you don't want to be at Cincinnati, then you can't be successful. Then by all means, leave. But the timing kills you.

"If he leaves now, he's got to sit out a year and a half just to play a year."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com