Frontcourt
How many teams are deep enough to consider redshirting a skilled freshman center who was a top-100 recruit? Not many, of course. UC is so rich in big men it could afford to do without B.J. Grove, but playing with him will make the Bearcats that much deeper.
The strongest part of this front line, though, is talent rather than depth or experience.
Kenyon Martin and Pete Mickeal were selected to compete on the U.S. team in the World University Games, which featured 10 other players who will contend for All-America honors this season. Both have added skills that can expand their influence on games.
At small forward, Mickeal is significantly improved as a jump-shooter, meaning teams no longer can play him strictly for the drive. He is one of the best man-to-man defenders in college basketball. He shut down such talents as Lamar Odom of Rhode Island, Mark Karcher of Temple, Shawn Marion of UNLV, Chris Carrawell of Duke and Galen Young of UNC Charlotte last season.
Martin has improved his jump shot and ballhandling and promises to be more assertive on offense. The issue with Martin is whether he’ll function more as a center or a power forward, and who ultimately will join him inside.
Last season
|
Rhode Island 70-53 W
x-Southern Utah 76-63 W
x-Iowa State 60-52 W
x-Duke 77-75 W
OAKLAND 106-78 W
S.W.LOUISIANA 91-65 W
NICHOLLS STATE 82-48 W
Minnesota 62-61 W
UNLV 86-73 W
HOUSTON 115-78 W
Dayton 53-51 W
UNC WILMINGTON 81-52 W
MARQUETTE 75-56 W
DePAUL 87-64 W
Southern Mississippi 54-52 W
UNC Charlotte 60-62 W
OKLAHOMA 72-59 W
Louisville 81-55 W
SAINT LOUIS 55-44 W
XAVIER 87-77 W
UAB 73-60 W
TULANE 82-63 W
DePaul 60-61 L
Marquette 58-62 L
Saint Louis 57-69 L
UNC CHARLOTTE 82-69 W
LOUISVILLE 91-78 W
South Florida 54-53 W
Memphis 89-64 W
South Florida* 76-56 W
UNC Charlotte* 52-55 L
George Mason** 72-48 W
TEMPLE** 54-64 L
x-Great Alaska Shootout
* C-USA Tournament
** NCAA Tournament
|
Ryan Fletcher and Jermaine Tate shared the position last year; Fletcher was more effective consuming space and keeping pressure off Martin, but Huggins liked Tate’s quickness and rebounding and shifted him to the starting job. It’s still a matter of taste who is the better fit in the lineup, although both can be strong rebounders, and Fletcher stretches the defense with his perimeter jumpshooting.
Backcourt
In college basketball, young has come to be a relative term. As first-year players, Kenny Satterfield, DerMarr Johnson and Leonard Stokes are young. With a year’s experience, Steve Logan is not.
Logan’s composure, scoring ability and knowledge of the offense will make him difficult to dislodge as the Bearcats’ regular point guard. They can use the direction he brings to the operation. Logan will need to be more energetic and adventurous than last season, however. He was too reluctant to push on fast breaks and so worried about turnovers that he was hesitant to pass into the post.
Logan could be an outstanding deep shooter; between an 0-for-13 start and 5-for-20 finish last season, he shot better than .380 from 3-point range. He gets his own shot as well as any point guard in the nation. Given his body type, he is surprisingly effective slipping into the lane and finishing shots. He is not as good at drawing defensive attention and slipping feeds to teammates inside, but that seems partly because defenses don’t take him seriously when he gets loose.
The Bearcats are looking forward to the slashing style Johnson brings to the shooting guard position. Melvin Levett last season could sustain no more than a one-dribble move; Johnson handles well enough to be a point guard and will be a constant threat to defenses.
He also shoots comfortably from 25 feet and beyond. He needs to be a little more consistent with his shot, but teams will not ignore him on the perimeter.
Bench
The Bearcats have more players than they can use on the inside, which beats having fewer players than they need. If it’s Ryan Fletcher who opens on the bench, he needs to go back to the blue-collar mentality he maintained at the start of last season and not try to hang onto playing time by scoring points. That’s not to say he shouldn’t shoot; he just doesn’t need to average more shots a game as a reserve than some of the Bearcats starters.
If it’s Tate, he needs to be more active defensively than last season, when he blocked 25 shots.
Redshirt freshman Donald Little could take time away from both if he could improve his attention to detail. Little has great skills and astonishing athletic ability but has not practiced well enough to force Huggins to look past his seniors.
Wing Leonard Stokes arrived expected to be forced to wait a year to get serious time but has shot the ball too well and caught on too quickly not to make a contribution. He will back up Mickeal and Johnson.
Kenny Satterfield naturally plays the point with the abandon and creativity UC is seeking and shoots the ball well enough to be a complete offensive player. He needs to grow more comfortable in the system and to improve defensively before he can seriously contend for Logan’s job. It would not be a shock if that were to happen this season, even early this season. Satterfield may be the best transition point guard UC ever has employed.
Logan and Satterfield each will play abundant minutes and frequently will play together.
Coaching
The frequent criticism you hear regarding UC coach Bob Huggins’ job performance may seem unusual given his record and accomplishments, but it’s nothing new to college basketball fans who have watched many coaches judged strictly on their NCAA Tournament performance — their recent tournament performance.
Jim Calhoun was torched by Connecticut fans before last season even though he had led the Huskies to the regional finals three times and to three 30-win seasons. Now, he’s coach of the defending champions.
Huggins would love to be saying the same at this time next year. To do that, he’ll need to be as aggressive on offense as the preseason has suggested he will be, and he’ll need to persuade the Bearcats to finish off any opponents that look to be in trouble.
The coaching staff is at full strength for the first time in three seasons. The addition of former Youngstown State coach Dan Peters gives UC an extra set of eyes in practice and another voice Huggins trusts.
Intangibles
It wasn’t 15 minutes after UC lost to Temple in last season’s NCAA Tournament second-round game that Mickeal declared a team will go only as far as its seniors will carry it. He meant that as a knock against last year’s upperclassmen but also as a promise to drag the Bearcats farther this year.
Mickeal is a leader the way Bobby Brannen was; teammates respected Brannen too much to fool around. Martin has become a vocal player who recognizes teammates’ mistakes almost as quickly as the coaches and is not reluctant to point them out.
Chemistry is about more than this. It’s also about how the components fit together on the court, whether the players complement one another. This is difficult to determine early, but the key is the Bearcats have so many more weapons than in previous years. There is not the same lack of dimension to their offense. They have scorers now, rather than just athletes.
With so many young players, it may take a while before the Bearcats defend at the level to which they are accustomed, but here’s the hidden truth: It almost always does. In the first half of last season, four teams shot better than .400 against UC, with a high of .471; in the second half, only four topped .400, and no one shot better than .444. It takes a while to learn all the nuances of Huggins’ defense and for the Bearcats’ customary conditioning advantage to take full effect.
This team is better positioned to make a run at the Final Four than any UC has fielded under Huggins, including the one that did get that far in 1991-92. That could be the only problem. There will be pressure on this team to succeed in the tournament. Will it subside if the Bearcats get past the recent second-round jinx?
Games to watch
• Dec. 4 vs. Gonzaga at Gund Arena in Cleveland: Most of the players who reached the Elite Eight last season return, and they’ll present a serious challenge to the Bearcats.
• Dec. 8 vs. North Carolina at the United Center in Chicago: Playing in the Great Eight against one of the elite programs presents the Bearcats’ best opportunity to make a national impression.
• Dec. 18 at Xavier. The Bearcats were beaten by 20 in their last trip to the Gardens. They are 50-10 since that game. Think it didn’t make an impression?
• Dec. 22 at Oklahoma. The Bearcats’ difficult December takes them into one of those pre-Christmas road games that few teams enjoy playing and few teams play well.
• Feb. 3 at UNC Charlotte. Few cities hate the Bearcats with such passion, and fewer still have backed it up on the floor.
• Feb. 20 vs. Temple. This is the one chance Bearcats fans will get to see their team at home against a national power. And there’ll be the chance to avenge last year’s NCAA Tournament loss.
