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Clamoring for some suspense
Posted: Wednesday March 08, 2000 12:02 AM
By Brian Bennett, Special to CNNSI.com When the Conference USA tournament kicks off Wednesday at The Pyramid in Memphis, the storyline will be the same as the regular season. There's Cincinnati, and then there's everybody else. The nation's top-ranked team finished the regular season at 16-0, the first C-USA school to record a perfect league mark. "I don't think anything's going to change," said Louisville coach Denny Crum. "It's going to be a wide-open crap shoot other than Cincinnati, just like the regular season was." Cincinnati nearly suffered its first conference loss at DePaul last week. The Bearcats trailed by 10 with three minutes to go before rallying to win 64-62 on a DerMarr Johnson jumper in the final seconds. But that was without first-team all-conference forward Pete Mickeal, who served a one-game suspension for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. With its full complement of players, UC has beaten everybody in the league by at least eight points. The rest of the tournament should be suspense-filled. Seeds four through 11 were separated by a single game. And even bottom feeder Houston, at 2-14, is capable of giving teams a scare. But can anyone beat the Bearcats this week? The three hottest teams -— Louisville, DePaul and surprising Memphis —- are all in the opposite bracket, so a Cincinnati run to the tournament final seems inevitable. But remember, the Bearcats have been in this position before. They have won the regular-season title all four years of C-USA's existence but have taken the postseason crown only twice. "There are some teams that can beat them," said Tulane coach Perry Clark. "But in my opinion, it's going to take Cincinnati not playing as well as they can on a given night for it to happen."
Looking for a fourthC-USA coaches have used every opportunity this season to plead their case for as many as five NCAA Tournament bids. But outside of Cincinnati, Louisville and DePaul, any at-large berths now seem unlikely."If you're not one of those three, you've got to win the tournament this week," college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg said this week. Blame parity. No one besides Cincinnati, Louisville and DePaul posted winning records in conference play. Three teams finished at 8-8, while five tied at 7-9. "The league is so balanced as a whole, but unfortunately we beat up each other so much," said UNC-Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz. "Hopefully, a fourth team can get hot this week and make a statement and get in." The two C-USA teams standing just outside the Big Dance are South Florida (17-12) and Tulane (19-9), both of whom tied for the National Division crown at 8-8. South Florida coach Seth Greenberg says the league -- ranked fifth-toughest in the nation by the RPI this week -- isn't getting enough respect. "If Memphis is the 11th seed, that speaks volumes about our conference," he said. "I don't think the 10th place team in the Big Ten is as good as Memphis, and I know that the 11th place team isn't."
Haven't we met?Not until the final Saturday did most teams lock up their conference tournament seedings. And in a scheduling quirk, two of Wednesday's first round matchups will be replicas of games played Saturday.Memphis will face South Florida after beating the Bulls 91-72 in Tampa on Saturday. And UNCC will have a rematch with UAB after the 49ers won 61-37 in Charlotte. "I don't think it's to your advantage to beat somebody and then have to turn around and play them again four days later," Lutz said. But Memphis coach Johnny Jones looked on the bright side. "You don't have to do much scouting," he said.
Cardinals playing favoritesMost teams will hem and haw when asked what team they would rather play in a tournament setting. Not Louisville.Cardinal players didn't hesitate to say they want Alabama Birmingham in the second round. Tenth seed UAB plays seventh-seeded UNC Charlotte in the first round. Louisville wants revenge on the Blazers, who won the season's only meeting 56-50 on Jan. 12 in Birmingham. Other than Cincinnati, UAB is the only team in the league the Cardinals didn't beat this season. "We're really pushing for that game," said Louisville forward Nate Johnson. "We owe those guys anyway."
Worth notingThe conference has been handing out its postseason hardware this week. Four players repeated on the all C-USA first team: Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin and Mickeal; Houston's Gee Gervin; and DePaul's Quentin Richardson. Saint Louis guard Justin Love was the sole newcomer. ... Martin, the shot-blocking demon, was voted Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday and will officially be named Player of the Year on Wednesday. ... 6-foot-9 Bearcats shooting guard DerMarr Johnson earned Freshman of the Year honors. ... South Florida's Altron Jackson prevented a Cincinnati sweep of the individual awards by winning Sixth Player of the Year. He leads the nation in scoring by a reserve, though he started his team's final five games.Brian Bennett covers Conference USA for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
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