But his dream wouldn't leave him alone.

The more he thought about it during the summer, the more he knew he really wanted to play at a Division I school. So he asked NKU to release him, talked to Dan Peters, then the associate head coach at the University of Cincinnati, and arranged to join the Bearcats as a walk-on.

One week into practice, he's glad he did.

But the question persists: Why would a kid who was first-team all-Fort Ancient Valley Conference last season at Anderson High forfeit the chance to play extensively at Division II NKU to walk on at UC, where he knows playing time probably will be scarce?

"It's always been a dream to play Division I," Patzwald said. "Just because it doesn't look as likely, that doesn't mean I'm going to give up on it."

Patzwald said he had offers to play at Northwestern and Brigham Young but turned them both down to stay close to home. Now he's part of a program that's perennially among the nation's most successful.

"I think it'll be fun," Patzwald said, "working hard and making other players better. Who knows what can happen in the future?"

Patzwald, a 5-foot-11 guard who averaged 17 points last season at Anderson, has seen the crowd reaction that senior John Meeker, another walk-on, has inspired during the past few years.

"I get compared to him a lot," Patzwald said. "I wouldn't mind that shadow. He's a great basketball player.

"But I'd like to establish my own identity."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Unlike the Conference USA Tournament, which rotates among different cities, the Big East Tournament is rooted at Madison Square Garden in New York.

And Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese says that's where it will stay.

"We've got eight years left on our contract (with Madison Square Garden)," Tranghese said. "It's just an unbelievable place to play. The kids love going to the Garden. We have a neutral atmosphere.

"What you find is that fans come for the week. It's not like in your tournament where, if your team loses, they go home. That won't happen in New York."

RECRUITING FOCUS: UC's ability to recruit top players won't change much next year when the Bearcats join the Big East, coach Bob Huggins said, but it will change where the players come from.

"We've been a national program for quite a number of years now," Huggins said. "It hasn't been so much, 'Can we get in the living room?' We can get into virtually any living room we want to get into.

"I think geographics change. What will happen is that we will get into the Northeast, because that's where the interest is."

Huggins said the Bearcats will continue to recruit in Texas, where they have landed Armein Kirkland, Jason Maxiell and Nick Williams in recent years.

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com