Thomas leads Charlotte's charge

Jobey Thomas leads the conference in 3-pointers made and free-throw percentage.  AP 1   Cincinnati 2   Marquette 3   Memphis 4   Charlotte 5   South Florida 6   Louisville 7   Houston 8   UAB 9   Saint Louis 10   Tulane 11   Southern Miss 12   TCU 13   DePaul 14   East Carolina 29-0 Cincinnati's record against National Division teams since Conference USA adopted the American and National Division format in 1997-98. "When you look at the [Cincinnati] record book, it's going to say Steve Logan and Oscar Robertson. When you think about the great players we've had here and the great traditions, it's phenomenal what the little guy has accomplished." -- Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins on the contribution of senior guard Steve Logan, who appears on track to repeat as Conference USA's player of the year. By Brett McMurphy, Special to CNNSI.com Conference USA features some of the nation's top guards, such as reigning player of the year Steve Logan of Cincinnati, projected NBA Lottery pick Dajuan Wagner of Memphis and Marquette newcomer Dwyane Wade. Yet when picking the league's best shooter, there's no doubting Charlotte's Jobey Thomas. ""He makes shots you think he can't," said South Florida's B.B. Waldon, after watching Thomas rally the 49ers from a 14-point second half deficit. Against USF on Jan. 18, Thomas finished with 28 points, one off his career high, hitting six of 12 treys and scoring 16 of Charlotte's final 27 points. "He's the kind of player [if you're guarding] you can't relax on him," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "His teammates know that even if he's missing shots, I have confidence in him and they have confidence in him. "It takes some guts and 'specialness' to be able to make shots when you have to have them and he's done that." Lutz said he would rather not rely so much on Thomas. "We're struggling to be more balanced," Lutz said. "We know that Jobey can make big shots. But again it's just not him, his teammates are looking for him and screening for him." The spry 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior already owns the league's career records in 3-pointers attempted and made. His 42.8 percentage ranks as sixth-best in C-USA, despite nearly twice as many attempts as the five in front of him. Thomas also leads the league with 3.44 treys per game and is the league's top free throw shooter at 90 percent. "I never lose confidence, no matter how many I miss," Thomas said. "Then when I get in a rhythm, that's a lot of fun." After a trying 5-5 start, the fun is back for the 49ers. Charlotte (13-6, 7-1) has won eight of its last nine. The 49ers have benefited from a tough schedule that features four ranked opponents, Lutz said. "We've been in enough tough games," he said. "When you play Indiana, Florida, at Temple, at Miami, those non-conference games, you do one of two things: You either crumble or come together and come back with a little more character. "We're pretty resilient, pretty tough and we've grown up a lot. We know how to win games, but it doesn't mean we always will." The 49ers also have learned about Thomas' toughness. Thomas is a big reason the 49ers have captured the C-USA Tournament title two of the last three years, reaching the NCAA Tournament's second round in 1999 and 2001. "In working with him the last three years, I've never once had to say 'Let's pick it up Jobey. Push yourself,' " Charlotte assistant Rob Moxley said. "I don't know any other player I've ever coached that I can say that about." Said 49ers backcourt mate Demon Brown: "Jobey always hits big shots for us." Thomas' 18.2 point average is only the league's sixth-best, but opponents' biggest fear is seeing Thomas come off a double screen ready to fire away from the outside with his trademark quick release. "Some guys have a will to score," Lutz said. "Jobey has a will to win." No doubt. While Steve Logan rightfully gets top billing for Cincinnati, an overlooked -- and key -- component for the Bearcats has been senior Immanuel McElroy. The 6-foot-4 forward's assignment each game is simple: Shut down the opponent's leading scorer. Against Charlotte, he limited Jobey Thomas five points under his average, and against UNLV, he held Dalron Johnson 13 points under his 25-point average. "He's a good defender, a tough kid, athletic," South Florida coach Seth Greenberg said. "He's a selfless kid. He takes pride into being a great defender." Saturday in Tampa, McElroy locked down on Altron Jackson, C-USA's all-time leading scorer. Averaging 19 points a game, Jackson finished with 11 on 4-for-10 shooting. "Mac is our best perimeter defender and has great athleticism," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. "He has a good basketball IQ. He understands how to get through screens and force people to do things they don't want to do. HOT: Playing Charlotte In the next game after facing Charlotte, C-USA teams were 5-0. The streak finally ended Tuesday when East Carolina fell to Cincinnati 75-48. NOT: Fogelman Arena Literally not hot. Tulane's ancient 70-year old on-campus facility added air conditioning this year. "In the past if you didn't want to destroy a good suit, you wouldn't bring it to Fogelman," USF coach Seth Greenberg said. HOT: TCU's Junior Blount Blount has led the Horned Frogs in scoring three consecutive games and five of their last seven contests. A 6-foot guard, Blount has increased his average nearly three points to a team-high 16.8. NOT: Southern Miss Southern "Miss" indeed. The Golden Eagles haven't made 50 percent of their field goals in a league-high 12 consecutive games and are the league's lowest scoring team (61.5 points).   While a number of the league's coaches are arguing why their teams are NCAA tournament worthy, Louisville's Rick Pitino is taking a contrarian outlook. "It's not going to happen this year," Pitino said. "It's not going to happen, not with freshmen and sophomores as the nucleus of your basketball team. Anybody can get hot in the conference tournament, but right now what I'm looking to do is improve the skill level and let the chips fall where they may come tournament time." Pitino was optimistic after the Cardinals shot to a surprising 9-1 start. So optimistic that after losing at home to Marquette a few weeks ago, Pitino telephoned Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard, a close friend of Pitino's, to lament a lost opportunity. "The tournament?" Willard told Pitino. "Last month, you were just hoping to get to .500." Since Louisville has lost five of its last eight plus starting point guard Carlos Hurt for the season to a back injury, Pitino already is looking forward to next year. At least, that's what he wants you to believe. UAB's Will Campbell Campbell had consecutive 20-point, 10-rebound efforts against Memphis and Tulane. The senior forward had 20 points and 15 rebounds vs. Memphis and then 27 points and 11 rebounds vs. Tulane. Memphis' Kelly Wise Already C-USA's career leader in rebounds (989) and double-doubles (40), Wise is 11 rebounds away from being the first league player with 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. At Houston, Memphis coach John Calipari put Wise back in the game to get a 10th rebound and his 40th double-double. "I never do that, but this guy has worked so hard and done so many good things," Calipari said. "He said he was fine. I looked at him and said, 'Go get a rebound, please.'" Marquette's Dwyane Wade The Golden Eagles sophomore just missed a triple-double against TCU with 15 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Wade didn't sound too concerned afterward. "I just heard the sad news," he deadpanned.   It's not even March and the madness already has started -- coaches lobbying about lack of respect: i.e., we deserve to be ranked and/or in the NCAA tournament. The most recent plea came from Memphis' John Calipari. Upon learning his Tigers (17-4, 7-0) were not ranked in last week's Associated Press or coaches' polls, he claimed "all this stuff is a crock of crap." Calipari believes his Tigers deserve mention among the nation's Top 25. "Think about it," Calipari said. "You've got the ACC, the Big 10 and the Big (12) fighting like crazy to get five and six teams (in the NCAA Tournament). Do you think they want us in? Or Marquette? Or anyone else? "They would like just one team from Conference USA. And those are the people voting. So here we are." And don't try convincing Calipari his club needs to increase its Rating Percentage Index (RPI) to get ranked. Through Tuesday, Memphis is No. 48, while C-USA is the eighth-rated league according to the RPI. "I still think the RPI is full of crap," Calipari said. "All this stuff is a crock of crap." South Florida's Seth Greenberg agrees. "This conference doesn't get the respect it deserves," he said. "I don't care what a stupid computer says. "In other leagues, people beat each other, then they say they deserve five bids. In this league, people beat each other and they say Conference USA is down." C-USA has five teams in the RPI's top 50 -- Cincinnati, Marquette, Charlotte, South Florida and Memphis -- but with a 2-15 record against nonconference ranked teams, the league likely will only receive three or four NCAA bids.   A few days after losing point guard Carlos Hurt to back surgery, Louisville freshman Brandon Bender quit the team. At 6-foot-9, Bender was the Cardinals' tallest player. Without Bender, Louisville has no one taller than 6-8. ... Mired in a four-game losing streak in C-USA play, the longest under coach Murry Bartow, UAB players took out their frustrations on some bowling pins the day before hosting Tulane. "After practice, we don't see much of each other as a team," said point guard Eric Bush. "It did us some good spending time together [bowling]. We don't do much of that outside of basketball." The next day, UAB drilled Tulane 80-63. ... Against DePaul, Louisville sophomore point guard Alhaji Mohammed gave the Cardinals an 8-0 lead with a layup and two 3-pointers. He wouldn't score the rest of the game. "Man, I thought I was on a pace to score 80," Mohammed said jokingly. ... With 1.2 seconds remaining in the 97-67 loss at Louisville, DePaul's Marlon Brooks hit a 3-pointer. It was DePaul's only trey in 20 attempts and kept alive the Blue Demons' streak of at least one 3-pointer in 281 consecutive games. Because doctors ordered him to stay home, DePaul coach Pat Kennedy missed the U of L contest with a bad back. ... On Saturday, Cincinnati visits Marquette. Last year the Golden Eagles were the only team in C-USA history to sweep the Bearcats in the regular season. UC, 56.9 points allowed, and MU at 59.2 points, own the league's top two scoring defenses. ... Last year, Houston was 9-20. This year the Cougars are 11-8. More impressive, the Cougars are the league's most improved team, RPI-wise. Last year at the start of February, UH ranked 212, this season the Cougars are No. 94.

Brett McMurphy covers Conference USA for The Tampa Tribune. His "This Week in Conference USA" column will appear weekly during the season.

 

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