It was Cincinnati's conference and everybody else might as well have been paying rent.

That was, until the peasant's uprising that was the Conference USA Tournament, where everything the Bearcats had accomplished was washed away with one bad break.

When Kenyon Martin fractured his leg in the first round of the conference tournament, the Bearcats' 16-0 C-USA record was an afterthought and Saint Louis was happy to slay the dragon, rolling happily into a Cinderella berth into the NCAA Tournament.

What was good for the Billikens, however, might have been bad for the conference.

With Martin leading the way, the Bearcats were primed to earn a top seed into the NCAA Tournament and shake off years of postseason frustrations. As it turned out, they were moved to the South Region as a No. 2 seed and, after an uninspiring win over UNC-Wilmington in the first round, were sent packing by Tulsa.

The problem was, no other conference team could do any better. Louisville, DePaul and Saint Louis all made the dance, but all took a walk after the first round.

In all, it was an appropriate ending for a conference that defined mediocrity. Only two of C-USA's 12 teams had losing records, and three won 20 games (Cincinnati, DePaul and Tulane), but only Cincinnati showed any staying power at the national level.

Conference champion

Cincinnati was too much in the regular season, blowing out nearly every team it ran across. The front line of Martin, Pete Mickael and Ryan Fletcher was so far removed from the rest of the league it was unfair, and the youngish backcourt of Steve Logan, Kenny Satterfield and DerMarr Johnson performed admirably despite its youth.

Tulane and South Florida tied atop the competitive National conference, but it was Saint Louis, behind the inspired play of point guard Justin Love, which rose to prominence in the conference tournament.

Biggest disappointment

Houston's two-year dinner with a legend came to a fitting close after the season when Clyde Drexler called it quits, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

There's two ways to look at the situation. Drexler was not even moderately successful on the court, with both of his teams bringing up the rear in the relatively weak National Division. So, in terms of wins and losses, Drexler was a bust.

For the program's overall health, however, Drexler was like a rehabilitation therapist. He recruited well, revived the community's interest to a certain degree and went about changing the attitude of a team that had grown accustomed to losing. Sure, they're still losing, but now they have former Ball State coach Ray McCallum leading the show. McCallum couldn't touch Drexler in a dunk contest, but he could teach his predecessor a thing or two in coaching.

Biggest surprise

The season hadn't started and it was a tough one for Memphis. Not long before the Tigers opened play, coach Tic Price was ousted, accused of assaulting a Memphis student with whom he had been having an extra-marital affair. The situation was all the more shocking considering that Price was a "devout christian" who regularly quoted scripture. Johnny Jones, Price's top assistant, took over and led the team to a respectable 15-16 mark, but it was not enough to earn the job on a full-time basis as John Calipari was tabbed as the new front man following the season.

Player of the year

Has to be Kenyon Martin. The John R. Wooden Award winner was the nation's most dominant force on both ends, his value demonstrated that much more upon his injury. He led Conference USA in scoring (22.7 ppg), rebounding (11.6), field-goal percentage (57) and blocked shots (3.88). With him, the Bearcats could swarm on defense, confident that any mistakes would be erased by the bad man from Dallas. Without him, they were forced to sit back, allowing opponents to pick apart their zone as if they were ... well, a normal team.

Richardson also had a fine season, though his numbers fell off in Conference USA play. Memphis' Kelly Wise had a fine season, as did South Florida's Altron Jackson, Houston's Gee Gervin and Alabama-Birmingham's Eric Holmes.

Coach of the year

Bob Huggins led Cincinnati to a dominant season, but as usual his team did not respond in the postseason. With or without Martin, the Bearcats' talent level was unfair as compared to the rest of the conference.

If there was a real success story, it was in Tulane, where coach Perry Clark had the Green Wave on the verge of an NCAA Tournament berth. Coming off a 12-15 campaign, Tulane won 20 games and shared the National Division title. Now, if Clark can just do something about that RPI the Wave can crash the NCAA Tournament next season.

The future

They've been out of the money for a while now, but the Memphis Tigers raised the stakes when they hired Calipari. The coach who took Massachusetts to the Final Four in 1996 bombed out in the NBA, but has shown the ability to coach (and recruit) in college. Memphis will be better next year by his mere presence and in the future (top recruit DuJuan Wagner is already on board as part of his 2001 class) they might regain their once-proud form.

Cincinnati will continue to be a player on the national scene. More importantly, Huggins has made integrity a priority. Long known as an outpost for junior college underachievers (in the classroom) and kids with off-the-court troubles, Huggins is no longer taking just anybody as he proved when he revoked the scholarship of Jerome "Buddy" Harper, a trouble though supremely talented South Carolina prep. Harper's academic troubles were well-documented, but when he ran into trouble with the law, Huggins pulled the plug. He would have helped right away, and his loss (along with DerMarr Johnson leaving for he NBA) will limit the Bearcats' expectations for next season, but in the long run they'll be better for it.

DePaul won 21 games and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, so it's tough to classify the Blue Demons as a total bust. Still, with the horde of talent Pat Kennedy has put together, this team has yet to live up to expectations of grandeur and will now have to do so without Quentin Richardson, who declared for the NBA Draft after his second season in the program.

Richardson's departure, however, might not be all bad, as there were times when the rest of the Demons seemed to be standing around waiting for him to win games for them. As usual, Kennedy has recruited well, and still has athletes o' plenty hanging out. The team can still reach the lofty goals many had in mind for it when Kennedy landed the behemoth class, of which Bobby Simmons and Lance Williams are still around, they'll just have to do it without their biggest name.