Saturday, December 29, 2001
Enquirer Tipoff notebook
Enquirer staff
ENQUIRER'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Steve Logan. This calendar year has been kind to the UC senior, who got hot right about this point last season and hasn't cooled off. He capped 2001 with a super week in the Las Vegas Shootout, averaging 29.3 points over four games, during which he shot .625 from the field, .600 from 3-point range and .906 from the foul line.
WHO'S HOT
Rollie Massimino
The Cleveland State coach got his 500th career victory on Thursday night. He'll be best remembered for his Villanova team's stunning upset of Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA finals, but he's done a nice job resurrecting the Vikings, who improved their victory totals in each of his five completed seasons in Cleveland.
Kelly Wise
With 16 rebounds Dec. 20 at Temple, the Memphis senior passed former UC standout Kenyon Martin as Conference USA's all-time rebounding leader. Entering play Friday night, he had 883 rebounds in 104 games; Martin had 869 in 116 games.
Oregon
The Ducks (9-3) blasted Arizona, the top team in the RPI, by 30 points last Saturday. That was nice payback for a 39-point loss to the Wildcats last season. The bad news for Oregon: It goes to Tucson next Friday for the rematch.
WHO'S NOT
Lynn Greer and Temple
The senior guard is America's third-leading scorer (24.6 ppg), but he is complaining about getting tired late in games, and that may be hurting the Owls. Averaging 41 minutes per game — that includes a double-OT tilt — Greer has seen his team stumble to 3-7, including five consecutive losses.
Marvin O'Connor and Saint Joseph's
The All-American candidate sat out the loss to North Carolina last weekend with a jammed toe. The Hawks say it's the third time O'Connor has jammed the toe this season -- as many times as they've stubbed their collective toe in losing to Eastern Washington, Georgia State and UNC. This was a top 10 team in preseason?
Kentucky's roster
The team's still plenty good; it's just shrinking by the day. The latest woes: Marvin Stone's dismissal and J.P. Blevins' broken wrist. Remember the offseason, when Tubby Smith had 16 players for 13 scholarships? Now there are 10 healthy scholarship players.
TOP 5 LIST
This week's topic: Best comebacks of this young season.
1. Oklahoma State. Rip its schedule if you like. But remember, this team is 12-0 in the season after a program-devastating plane crash.
2. Rick Pitino. Was Louisville really 12-19 last season? And is it really 9-1 now? And is Pitino going to (si) dare (ei) take this team into Rupp Arena today? Yep, yep and yep.
3. Afros. The bigger, the better. The 'do of Missouri's Wesley Stokes may get the most air time, but kudos locally to UC's Field Williams and Taron Barker for unveiling their afros at the Crosstown Shootout.
4. Bob Knight. Don't look now, but the General is 9-1 at Texas Tech. He gets his first Big Ten reunion game Sunday when Minnesota comes to Lubbock.
5. Tayshaun Prince, Luke Recker, Juan Dixon, Lonnie Baxter, Dan Dickau, Reggie Evans, Sam Clancy and Lynn Greer. Let's hear it for seniors! Stay in school, kids.
MUST-SEE TV
Keep an eye on these games in the upcoming week:
— San Diego State at Duke, 3:30 p.m. today (Ch. 9): SDSU (7-3) isn't a bad team. But really, you're tuning in here to watch Duke for a half-hour before switching the channel to UK-Louisville.
— Louisville at Kentucky, 4 p.m. today (Ch. 12): Don't let the Rick-back-in-Rupp hubbub obscure the fact U of L is 9-1 and could make this a very tough game for UK.
— Cincinnati vs. Akron at Gund Arena, Cleveland, 6 p.m. today (Ch. 19): Bob Huggins faces the school where he cut his teeth. Bearcats lost to Akron's Mid-American Conference brethren, Toledo, in this event last year.
— Arkansas at Memphis, 9:30 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2): You'll have had a good 36 hours to nurse that New Year's hangover. And by now you'll be tired of bowl games. Check out Memphis' frosh phenom, Dajuan Wagner, against the nation's best 6-4 team, Arkansas.
Sports Stories
It's showtime for Bearcats
Tepid Akron faces hot UC
Steelers back on track; Bengals stuck in rut
Bengals avoid TV blackout
Bengals notebook
Vikes' QB duties fall to Wynn
Baseball notebook
Loveland stops visiting Lebanon
Mom wins fight for Friday night girls' basketball
West thwarts Fairfield rally
Ohio boys basketball
Ohio girls basketball
Kentucky boys basketball
Kentucky girls basketball
Enquirer Tipoff notebook
