By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

If it seems like forever since the University of Cincinnati Bearcats last played a basketball game, it seems even longer to the players.

By the time they take the floor Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena to play Clemson, 4-3 after beating East Tennessee State 100-86 in overtime Monday, the 16th-ranked Bearcats (4-0) will have been off for 15 days since they beat Valparaiso on Dec. 2.

Since then, they've practiced a lot, completed final exams and enjoyed a three-day break during which many of them went home.

They also did some thinking about how much this team can accomplish if it remains focused.

"We sit around in the locker room all the time and say we've got a chance," said senior guard Tony Bobbitt. "We see all these teams getting knocked off."

This is not the same Clemson team that beat the Bearcats 58-51 a year ago in Anderson, S.C., a few days after UC's stunning upset of Oregon in the Jimmy V Classic.

Coach Larry Shyatt has been replaced by former Dayton coach Oliver Purnell, and guard Edward Scott, who scored 20 second-half points in the Tigers' win last year, is gone.

But the UC players haven't forgotten the frustration of losing.

"We were just off a big win against Oregon," said sophomore forward Armein Kirkland. "Everybody was excited about going on a run. Then we lost our next game to Clemson and it kind of defeated the excitement and enthusiasm of beating Oregon. It kind of hurt us."

All of the Bearcats' weaknesses were exposed in that game. They were outrebounded 39-31, and shot just 34.5 percent from the field.

None of which surprised UC coach Bob Huggins, who responded to the win over Oregon by proclaiming UC still wasn't very good.

But Huggins, who was proven right as the season unfolded, expects things to be different this time. UC has added some muscle in 6-10 center Robert Whaley to take the pressure off forward Jason Maxiell, and with Bobbitt starting strong, the team has more offensive weapons than it did a year ago.

UC had hoped to have Florida transfer James White available for this game, but White must sit out one more game because of his participation in an unsanctioned exhibition last summer and won't make his UC debut until Saturday against Middle Tennessee State.

The Clemson game will be UC's first this season against a team not considered a so-called mid-major. They'll step up into the Atlantic Coast Conference, where, as they discovered last year, expectations can come crashing down in a hurry.

"That was last year," Bobbitt said. "We're ready to go."

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com