By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The University of Cincinnati’s head basketball coach Bob Huggins watches his team during practice Tuesday October 28, 2003. The Enquirer/JEFF SWINGER

M O R E   I N F O R M A T I O N REASONS THE PROGRAM IS ON SOLID GROUND • Bob Huggins has never had a losing season at UC. As long as he remains the coach, there's no reason to believe the Bearcats will not continue to be a Top 25 program. • UC has the ingredients all successful programs need - frequent national television exposure and membership in a highly regarded conference. With the Bearcats about to join the Big East, their national profile will be even higher. • The Bearcats remain a program of destination for the top junior-college players in the country. This is sometimes a double-edged sword, but junior-college players have been good for UC - from Herb Jones and Nick Van Exel to Ruben Patterson and Pete Mickeal. KEEP AN EYE ON • UC has been losing the top local high school players it used to get routinely. Matt Sylvester, Keith Jackson, Josh Duncan and Robert Hite all chose to go elsewhere. • The Big East will offer a new challenge for the Bearcats. They'll have a tough time dominating their new conference the way they've dominated Conference USA. • Having spurned NBA offers and overtures from West Virginia, Huggins appears to be at UC for the long haul. When he does leave, he won't be easy to replace. F R O N T C O U R T With the addition of junior-college transfer Robert Whaley, the Bearcats will have the scoring and shot-blocking presence they lacked last season when five different players started at center. At forward, junior Jason Maxiell no longer will be the focus of the offense, freeing him to shoot the baseline jumper. Kareem Johnson is vastly improved and will see plenty of playing time, and James White will provide a scoring threat at the other forward once he becomes eligible Dec. 20. Armein Kirkland could cause matchup problems at forward or guard but also needs to improve his shot. Eric Hicks was forced to play out of position at center last season. He'll be more comfortable at forward. B A C K C O U R T Junior-college transfer Nick Williams will be forced to carry the load at point guard with Chadd Moore struggling with a bad back. Williams is still learning the position but has the skills to be a vast improvement over Taron Barker, last season's starting point guard. If Williams can penetrate defenses and set up his teammates, he'll add a dimension to the UC offense that was missing last season. Field Williams and/or Tony Bobbitt need to rediscover the long-range shot that eluded them last season, or defenses will pack it inside again and dare UC to score from the perimeter, something the Bearcats were unable to do last season with any consistency. Williams and Bobbitt both have the ability to take over the game with long-range shooting. B E N C H Once James White becomes eligible, UC can bring Eric Hicks, Kareem Johnson and Armein Kirkland off the bench along the front line. All three gained valuable experience last season. Newcomers Asrangue Souleymane and Mike Pilgrim, who was sidelined during the preseason with a stress fracture in his foot, don't figure to be major contributors this season, and one of them probably will be redshirted. The Bearcats should have much more depth than last season, which should enable them to run and press more than they have in years, although the exhibition game against NKU had Huggins rethinking that notion. Assuming Field Williams starts at shooting guard, Tony Bobbitt could provide instant offense off the bench. ' 0 2  -  ' 0 3   F L A S H B A C K 2002-03 record: 17-12. Conference: 9-7 Conference USA, tied for third place; lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Southern Miss 63-61. NCAA Tournament: Lost in the first round to Gonzaga 74-69. Top scorers: Leonard Stokes (15.7), Jason Maxiell (11.9), Field Williams (11.6), Tony Bobbitt (8.0). Top rebounders: Jason Maxiell (6.7), Leonard Stokes (4.8), Taron Barker (4.5), Kareem Johnson (4.3), Eric Hicks (3.6). Top assist men: Taron Barker (5.0), Leonard Stokes (3.2), Chadd Moore (1.6). Highlight: The 77-52 blowout of No. 5 Oregon in the Jimmy V Classic. Lowlight: Losing to Southern Miss in the first round of the C-USA Tournament.

When Bob Huggins was hired to replace Tony Yates as the head basketball coach at the University of Cincinnati in 1989, no one would have predicted that the Bearcats would be in the Final Four within three years.

But they were. And they've been back to the NCAA Tournament every year since. Now those annual postseason trips are taken for granted.

Where will the UC program be three to five years from now? Will the move to the Big East be a boost or a hindrance? Is the foundation solid? Are there any dark clouds on the horizon?

Any discussion about the future of the UC program must begin with Huggins, who resuscitated the program and turned it into one of the most successful in the country. Not long ago, the UC coach talked about retiring. He has flirted with the NBA and says he has had chances to go to other schools.

But he's operating under a contract that rolls over for four more years every summer. Essentially, Huggins is in a position to coach at UC as long as he wants to. And at age 50, he shows no signs of taking another job or retiring any time soon.

"I think it's safe to say as long as Mr. G's here, I'm going to be here," Huggins said. "I still enjoy doing it."

Mr. G is athletic director Bob Goin, for whom Huggins has enormous respect. It's a marriage that has worked almost perfectly since the day Goin was hired in 1997. Goin's contract runs through June 2005, with the final year contingent on agreement between Goin and UC president Dr. Nancy Zimpher.

In a new league

Huggins said the move to the Big East will not have a major impact on his program, although he concedes the league is stronger from top to bottom than Conference USA. That means it will be more difficult for UC to dominate, and it might make it more difficult to reach the NCAA Tournament every year.

It also will change UC's recruiting strategy.

"We're going into basically an eastern league, so now we have to recruit the east," Huggins said. "What it does, it changes geographically where we recruit."

Huggins said the UC job is a much better job than the one he inherited 15 years ago. He recalls going to the Final Four in 1992, when then-assistant coach John Loyer had to use Huggins' BP credit card to buy a dual-deck VCR to watch tapes. Those days are long gone.

"We have resources now that we never had," Huggins said. "We have academic people now that we didn't have."

What UC still doesn't have, Huggins said, is a natural recruiting base. The Cincinnati area that yielded such players as Bobby Brannen, Damon Flint and Keith Gregor is no longer as fertile for UC as it once was. In recent years, local players such as Matt Sylvester, Robert Hite, Josh Duncan and Keith Jackson have passed on the Bearcats, although UC did land Purcell Marian's Mike Pilgrim.

"We are what we are," Huggins said. "I think the strength that we have now is that kids know if they come in here and work, they've got a great chance of being able to further their careers. I think there's ample proof of that. I think there's also proof that if you come in here and do what you're supposed to do and get your degree, and do the right things, you can lead a pretty good life outside of basketball."

A Huggins-less future?

Huggins has compensated for that lack of a recruiting base by being one of the most visible coaches on the recruiting circuit and by continuing to mine the junior-college ranks for players. But someday he's going to leave. What happens then? Will the next coach be able to keep it going?

"I think somebody else could keep it going," Huggins said, "but it's harder than everybody thinks it is."

Huggins' friend, UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour, said UC fans shouldn't assume the success will continue after Huggins leaves. No one thought North Carolina would ever be anything less than a power, but the program has slipped since Dean Smith retired.

"A lot depends on who gets hired," Spoonhour said. "I don't think it's just going to necessarily continue with business as usual. We're all aware that Cincinnati, like a great number of programs, has experienced ups and downs depending on who's there."

Goin won't talk about where he would have gone for a new coach had Huggins left for West Virginia two years ago, but he said the UC job is attractive nationally.

"I think because of (Huggins') performance it's going to be a better job," Goin said. "I think if you get the right person, he doesn't have to waste years building it. There's a good foundation and you're in a great city. You've got a rich tradition and you're in a great basketball league. It seems to me all the stars are in line for things to continue to be successful ..."

Finding that right person will be the hard part.

"I think it would draw a lot of interest," Spoonhour said. "But a lot of people are going to be reluctant to try to go in and follow Bobby. That's a tough job."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com