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Hard-nosed as ever, Cincinnati and Steve Logan visit Sun Dome.
By PETE YOUNG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 26, 2002
Somehow, they nearly slipped off the national radar screen at the start of the season.
The Cincinnati Bearcats -- the big, bad bullies of Conference USA, the C-USA regular-season champions every year of the league's existence -- were supposed to be, if not vulnerable, below their standards this season.
Ha.
Like a dependable watchdog, an old standby immediately brought the Bearcats roaring back to prominence: defense. Rugged, relentless, intimidating, suffocating man-to-man defense.
With the nation's No. 1 defense and one of the most underpublicized stars in memory in guard Steve Logan, Cincinnati has won 18 straight college basketball games and is ranked No. 4 heading into today's meeting with South Florida at noon at the Sun Dome.
"They've just got a toughness about them," USF coach Seth Greenberg said. "They push you out. They're extremely physical and assertive on defense. They've branded themselves as a tough, athletic, hard-playing group.
"I think (before the season) people just underestimated how good they are."
The numbers are exceptional. The Bearcats rank first in the nation in scoring defense (56.3), first in field-goal percentage defense (35.9 percent) and first in scoring margin (plus-21.1). It's the triple crown of defensive statistics.
They don't get a lot of steals. Instead, they repeatedly force low-percentage shots.
"They're good at everything," Greenberg said. "They've got good on-ball defenders, they do a real good job of getting through screens. You don't get in the lane a lot."
Cincinnati also has a star in Logan, whose Q rating is about as low as it gets for a returning conference player of the year who has since taken his game up a notch.
A tough defender (of course), Logan, a 6-foot-2 senior, is the total package on offense. In his four years at Cincinnati, he has progressed from a role player as a freshman to a potential first-team All-American with the full range of skills.
Logan isn't particularly explosive, but he's brilliant at changing speeds and exploiting the slightest weakness. He is averaging a conference-best 21.7 points and 5.1 assists, up from 17.6 and 2.3 last season.
"He's got a Ph.D in basketball," Greenberg said. "He's as smart a basketball player as I've seen. ... He's got a Dan Marino release, in terms of quickness, and he does a great job of setting up defenders, getting them off their feet.
"He's underhyped."
Logan, who led Cincinnati to a 25-10 record and Sweet 16 appearance last season, is surrounded by an able cast of veteran role players and hard-nosed defenders. Six-foot-6 junior guard Leonard Stokes is averaging 13.6 points and scored 36 against DePaul, and 6-11 junior Donald Little is a presence inside. Freshman forward Jason Maxiell (6-7, 230) is averaging almost seven rebounds in just 18.5 minutes.
Cincinnati lost talented guard Kenny Satterfield, who declared early for the NBA draft, from last season, but Greenberg said that might have helped.
"It's addition by subtraction because you have guys buying into the system, not guys playing for an NBA contract," Greenberg said.
A soft nonconference slate has contributed to the Bearcats' dominance. Their most impressive wins were at fierce cross-town rival Xavier 75-55 and at Mississippi State 90-56. In C-USA, they have not played Marquette or Memphis, generally considered the league's next-best teams.
The driving force behind Cincinnati, as he has been since its re-emergence on the national scene in the early 1990s, is coach Bob Huggins. Though the Bearcats' relatively low profile this season might suggest the combustible Huggins, in his 13th season at the school, has mellowed, he demonstrated recently he's as combative as ever.
Told that the Bearcats' home arena, the 13,176-seat capacity Shoemaker Center, was 1,000 short of a sellout the day before Cincinnati's 71-58 win over Charlotte on Jan. 8, Huggins launched into an expletive-laced tirade at the community. Then he briefly banned a reporter who printed part of his outburst after the reporter and Huggins got into an argument.
The Sporting News reported in its Jan. 28 issue that Huggins could be in his last season at Cincinnati because he is linked to the Denver Nuggets opening. If it is his final Bearcats team, he could be going out in style.
For all their success under Huggins -- including a 76.7 winning percentage -- the Bearcats have reached the Final Four just once, in 1992. In 1999-2000, they had what Greenberg considers to be their best team, but national player of the year Kenyon Martin was injured before the NCAA Tournament, scuttling their chances.
This season, Cincinnati again has established itself as a national title contender.
"They've got real, real good team chemistry, and everybody knows their roles. Their roles are clearly defined, and that's a credit to Bobby (Huggins)," Greenberg said. "Individually, they're very good. Collectively, this is a great team."
WHEN/WHERE: Noon; Sun Dome, Tampa.
TV/RADIO: Ch. 32; WQYK-AM 1010. RECORDS: Cincinnati 18-1, 6-0 Conference USA; USF 13-5, 4-2.
COACHES: Cincinnati -- Bob Huggins (319-97, 13th season; 487-169 overall). South Florida -- Seth Greenberg (87-78, sixth season; 192-148 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Cincinnati -- Steve Logan, G, 6-2 Sr. (21.7 ppg, 5.1 apg, 3.1 rpg); Leonard Stokes, G, 6-6 Jr. (13.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg); Donald Little, C, 6-11 Jr. (7.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg); South Florida -- Altron Jackson, F/G, 6-6 Sr. (19.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.4 spg); B.B. Waldon, PF, 6-8 Sr. (14.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 2.9 apg); Reggie Kohn, PG, 6-1 Jr. (8.7 ppg, 7.0 apg).
NOTES: Jackson needs 16 points to become C-USA's all-time leading scorer, surpassing former Charlotte star DeMarco Johnson (1,763 points). The Bulls haven't beaten an AP Top 25 team since 1992 at Tulane. USF is 4-44 all-time against ranked teams. The Bearcats have beaten the Bulls 10 straight times and lead the series 14-3. Cincinnati's 54-50 win Tuesday over St. Louis was the Bearcats' first under a 10-point final margin since their opener, a 69-62 loss at Oklahoma State. Cincinnati is 28-0 against National Division teams since C-USA adopted the two-division format in 1997-98. Logan, with 1,627 points, needs 18 to surpass Louis Banks for sixth on the school's all-time list. Cincinnati has an 82-16 record (.837) in C-USA play and has won all six regular-season championships. Kohn leads C-USA in assists, and he had nine in USF's 68-54 win Wednesday at Tulane. The NFL Players Association is sponsoring a raffle for tickets to the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Tickets will be available during the first half, and the drawing will be held during a second-half timeout. Proceeds benefit Tampa Bay area NFL Youth Education Town Centers.