Wednesday, October 10, 2001
New pro basketball team coming
Home court to be in Kentucky
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It doesn't have a name yet, but the Greater Cincinnati area is about to get a new professional basketball team that will play south of the Ohio River.
George Spencer, president of Cincinnati-based Worldwide Basketball Inc., which is the controlling partner of a new American Basketball Association franchise, said Tuesday that a venue has not been finalized, but he is looking at Thomas More College and Northern Kentucky University, as well as other sites. The team will be called the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati franchise.
Its coach will be Ralph Underhill, who was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997. Underhill's teams were 356-152 in 18 years at Wright State, including 16 winning seasons. He coached his team to the 1983 NCAA Division II national championship and a Division I NCAA Tournament berth in '93. He was fired after being accused of shoplifting in November 1996; a mistrial was declared in March 1997 when the jury could not reach a verdict.
“I always thought in the back of my mind I would like to be at a pro level,” the Northern Kentucky native said. “This is a great hotbed for basketball.”
He said his style fits in with the fast-paced, high-scoring direction of the ABA, which awards extra points for baskets coming off backcourt steals.
“That's all I've done for 34 years ” Underhill said.
What kind of players might interest this team? David Shelton (Western Hills High School, Tulsa), Rick Hughes (NKU), Erik Martin (Cincinnati), Melvin Levett (Cincinnati), Tyrice Walker (Xavier) and Saul Smith (Kentucky) could be contacted.
More details may come tonight, when Joe Newman, CEO of the ABA, talks at the sixth Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at The Syndicate in Newport, Ky.
The ABA, which will begin its second season Dec.26, is expected to have franchises in Indiana; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.; Westchester, N.Y.; Anaheim, Calif.; and Phoenix. The league is waiting for Chicago and St. Louis to meet the requirements. Rosters will have 10 players who will be paid roughly between $20,000 and $45,000 for the four-month season, Newman said.
Cincinnati had professional basketball the past two seasons with the now-defunct
Cincinnati Stuff of the International Basketball League.
“The IBL team did not fare as well as it should have,” Newman said. “You are in a basketball state in every sense, similar to what Indiana is. There's no shortage of interest.
“It's up to the team to be worthy of attendance and worthy of support.”
There will be tryouts for the team within the next three weeks, Spencer said. Players will face college teams around the country in exhibition games. The ABA regular season will be 42 games.
Spencer said the team would try to avoid playing the same nights as Cincinnati, Xavier and Kentucky.
“All the investors, the administrators, the coaches and all that are going to be from this area,” Spencer said. “We're not going to have a venue like (Firstar Center), where it's going to cost (the team) $10,000 to open the door, and that won't have to be reflected in the ticket prices.
“... This area has had a lot of good basketball. If we can get 3,000 (fans), that's going to be very good. This is a late start. We were looking at going in next year. But I think the time's right, and we're going to help the league.”
Sports Stories
Bengals not scoring early, or often
Bengals Q&A with Mark Curnutte
XU's Hill puts family before basketball
Familiarity breeds success for XU volleyball
Prep football page
Cincinnati football poll
Northern Kentucky football poll
Ohio football computer ratings
Ohio football polls
No. 1 Mariemont rebounds from first loss
Cincinnati high school highlights
Cincinnati high school results
N.Ky. high school results
New pro basketball team coming
