Cincinnati Preview
February 25, 2009 03:18 PM | General
February 25, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Until a couple of days ago, Bob Huggins wasn’t sure what to expect when he made his return to Cincinnati Thursday night.
 |
||
| Bob Huggins returns to Cincinnati where he led the Bearcats to 14 NCAA Tournament in 16 seasons there..
Jim Lawther photo |
Huggins coached UC for 16 seasons, leading the Bearcats to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances from 1992-2005. He coached three NBA lottery picks and in 2005 was named Conference USA Coach of the Decade. Two weeks ago, the school announced that it would recognize Huggins during a brief pre-game ceremony.
“I didn’t really know what was going on. They called me the night before last and they said it’s going to be a little video thing,” Huggins said. “It’s not a big deal.”
Or is it?
Two electronic billboards along I-71 and I-75 going into downtown Cincinnati have Huggins’ picture on it. The Cincinnati papers have been filled with Huggins stories and columns. An all-Huggins Cincinnati team was picked, and an AP story moved yesterday recapping Huggins’ coaching tenure at UC and his eventual fallout with the current administration.
“I read that AP story. What did he want me to do, leave town? He said I stayed around. I lived there for 16 years,” Huggins said. “What did he want me to do, sell my house? What’s wrong with that guy?”
At the very least, the decision to recognize Huggins should spur ticket sales. The Bearcats this year are averaging just 7,532 at the 13,000-seat Firth Third Arena. Attendance has not been much better in Big East play with Cincinnati topping 10,000 just once against Louisville last Saturday. Cincinnati regularly sold out games when Huggins was coaching there.
“A lot of my former guys are going to be there,” Huggins said. “You look up at that wall and our guys were responsible for a good portion of what is on that wall.”
West Virginia (19-8, 8-6) - and to a much larger degree Cincinnati (17-10, 7-7) - are both in need of a victory. Both teams are stuck in the middle of the Big East standings. Cincinnati is a game behind WVU in and the winner would have the tiebreaker should the two teams finish the year with identical conference marks.
Regarding the NCAA Tournament, only 16 of UC’s 17 wins count toward a possible bid and the Bearcats have not beaten a team this year ranked in the RPI Top 25, according to RealTimeRPI.com.
Nine of Cincinnati’s 16 victories have come against teams 155 or lower in the RPI. West Virginia, meanwhile, is on much firmer ground for the national tournament with a very strong RPI of 14 and a strength-of-schedule rating of 10th. WVU could absorb a road loss, although that is not something Huggins is willing to consider.
“When you look at it, it is a two-game swing,” Huggins explained. “Look at what Providence did last night against Pitt – that’s huge. I don’t think a lot of people counted on that happening. We’re all so tight there in the middle that it is a two-game swing.”
Adding even more flavor to the game (if there already wasn’t enough) was the performance West Virginia put forth last year against Cincinnati in Morgantown. The Mountaineers had their worst shooting game in school history, making only 10 of 50 field-goal tries. WVU scored just 16 second-half points and was destroyed on the glass 47-26.
The guy who did most of the damage against West Virginia last year – guard Deonta Vaughn - is back this season and is averaging a team-best 15.5 points per game.
“We had a big let-down right after the Georgetown loss. We came out real flat and they just gave it to us,” senior Alex Ruoff said. “That’s what happens in the Big East when you come out not ready to play. For the guys who were a part of that we felt pretty bad for the loss and we can remember that taste in your mouth.”
Cincinnati has one of the top freshmen in the conference in 6-foot-9 Yancy Gates, who shows averages of 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Gates has been coming off the bench of late.
Senior forward Mike Williams is averaging a shade below 10 points per game and is grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game.
“We’ve got to make some shots and we’ve got to rebound the ball,” Huggins said. “If we make shots and rebound the ball we’ll be fine.”
Cincinnati leads 9-6 in all-time series play. ESPN (Brent Musberger, Bob Knight and Holly Rowe) will televise the game nationally. Tip off is 7 pm.
