2005 Ad

Though it has been a while, Bob Huggins knows how it feels to have Cincinnati ranked No. 1. He has coached consensus All-Americans--two this decade, in fact. He can tell you right now what it's like to have finished every season since 1992 in the NCAA Tournament, a streak that Connecticut, Duke, North Carolina and Indiana can't match.

So the answer was inevitable when somebody asked Huggins, in so many words, if he was pleased to see his Bearcats fight back from a perilous deficit and come so close to defeating Wake Forest: "We're way past moral victories, I think."

Of course, he had to say that. Moral victories are for Savannah State, right? Probably. Every coach wants his team to improve, though, and this was a huge step forward from Cincinnati's previous game against a top five team. Against Illinois on New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, the Bearcats played scared. There's no other way to say it.

Against Wake Forest, even with Eric Williams powering inside for 29 points and point guard Chris Paul snapping off outrageously perfect passes, the Bearcats did not retreat. They kept charging until star forward Jason Maxiell missed a 6-foot baseline jumper that would have tied the game with 10 seconds remaining.

At this point, the only proven formula for beating Cincinnati is to bring in one of the country's 10 best teams--Illinois, Wake and Louisville have left the only marks on the Bearcats' record. Huggins is coming off the most difficult offseason of his career--he was found guilty of drunken driving, suspended by the university and nearly fired--and is back doing what he does better than most.

He has the Bearcats talking about what he believes to be a reachable and worthy goal: one more Conference USA championship before leaving next season for the Big East. Cincinnati has won or shared every regular-season title except one (2003) since C-USA completed its first season in 1996.

Louisville is the league's only genuine Final Four contender. If the Cardinals get healthy and wing Francisco Garcia continues to advance toward dominance, they will be the equal of more celebrated teams. It's unlikely C-USA can manage another six-bid year, but Charlotte will make it to the NCAAs, and there probably will be room for at least two of a group that includes Marquette, UAB and DePaul.

Although their schedule turns harsh in February, the Bearcats will extend their NCAA streak to 14. They the strangest top 20 team, but they're making a convincing case that they belong.

Maxiell, their tallest inside player, is listed at 6-7 but might be an inch shorter. His frontcourt partner, Eric Hicks, is 6-6. But with their length, leaping ability and timing, the Bearcats are blocking 7.6 shots per game, more than the 1999-2000 team that featured Kenyon Martin.

Junior Jihad Muhammad is the most agonizingly unpredictable point guard in Division I, capable of handing the ball directly to the opponent and tossing in a barrage of 3-pointers in the same game. "He's sort of erratic. He's all over the place," Paul says. "So it's really hard to size him up."

These Bearcats are not bigger and stronger than their opponents. The program's maniacal devotion to weight training now seems to have been replaced by a commitment to the South Beach diet. Whereas a Bearcat might have been pulled a few years ago for missing one weakside rebounding assignment, such an offense occasionally goes unpunished now. Huggins simply has fewer options on his bench.

The one player who could make a greater difference is 6-8 forward Armein Kirkland, who has NBA-level skills but a curious arrogance in his approach that makes him a challenge for coaches and teammates. If he'd empathize more with them, there'd be more reason to sympathize with Cincinnati opponents.

"We're different. We're not as tough as we were," Huggins says. "I want to say we don't have the same kind of resolve, but we were down 21 against Northern Iowa and could have packed it in, and we didn't. We had plenty of chances to pack it in against Wake and didn't. There's some inner strength there.

"I think our other guys showed it more. These guys, they're too cool to show it. But it's there."

More hype than help for mid-majors?

One of the most important games of Southern Illinois' season is scheduled for February 19. Any day now, we'll find out who the Salukis play.

SIU is one of 64 teams that will compete in ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday. The matchups will be revealed Sunday; 11 of the 32 games will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and the network's Full Court pay package.

This event originally was promoted as a means of showcasing mid-major programs for possible NCAA Tournament at-large berths. Selection committee members admit they spend the day taking advantage of the opportunity to see less-exposed teams. But the Bracket Buster has not led to an appreciable rise in bids for participating teams. Last season, the Missouri Valley got one at-large bid, and the WAC got one.