By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati's new American Basketball Association expansion team is slowly taking shape.

Co-owner Culpatrice Foster confirmed Wednesday that former Wright State coach Ralph Underhill will serve as general manager and coach. Cincinnati was introduced as the ABA's 15th expansion team April 15. Underhill, who coached his team to 16 of 18 winning seasons and an NCAA Division II national championship in 1983, most recently coached the now-defunct Northern Kentucky Pro Cats, also of the ABA.

"He's a mature, long-term, solid-quality individual," ABA co-founder Joe Newman said. "And he knows how to do this business."

Underhill's first order of business is to secure a venue, which he hopes to announce next week sometime. While the Pro Cats played at Thomas More College, Underhill wants to keep the team in Cincinnati, and he has looked at Cincinnati Gardens, U.S. Bank Arena and local colleges.

After that, he'll get to work on marketing and naming the team along with Foster and co-owners Sonseeahray Ross-Bigbee and Marlene Ditto. He also plans to hold two tryout camps for players, one in June and one in July or August.

"I think we have to get a niche," Underhill said. "We have to do a good job selling season tickets because I don't think we can depend on a walk-in crowd. And we have to get a good quality place to play in."

Underhill said they'll also depend on former local college basketball players to draw crowds.

The new ABA team is Cincinnati's fifth professional basketball team. The NBA's Royals of the 1960s, the Continental Basketball Association's Slammers in the 1980s and the International Basketball League's Stuff all either folded or moved. Most recently, the Pro Cats suspended play when the ABA took a break in 2002-2003, and did not return when majority owner George Spencer died. But the Cincinnati management folks aren't the only ones who think this league will work.

The new franchise is part of the ABA's extensive growth from last season's seven teams to as many as 36 teams by this coming season, Newman said. Newman has announced 19 teams so far, and plans to introduce Harlem, N.Y., as the 20th on Monday.

"We've found a business model that works, with minimal investment risk and maximum profit potential," Newman said.