SportsLine.com Report
March 19, 2000

Round 2: Second-round? Bearcats falter again

With Kenyon Martin sitting at the end of the bench, crutches beside him on the floor, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane -- and the second-round jinx -- did in the Cincinnati Bearcats.

There was nothing the injured center could do stop Eric Coley and seventh-seeded Tulsa from moving on to the Sweet 16 with a 69-61 decision in the South subregional in Nashville, Tenn. As for Cincinnati, it was another second-round meltdown.

Coley had 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Tulsa (31-4) went on a 14-0 tear over four minutes late in the second half to wipe out a five-point deficit.

Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins knows better than anyone how much of a difference Martin would have made.

"If Ken's playing, he's guarding Coley and he gets 16 and 16," he said. "It's certainly not an alibi or an excuse. We've still got good enough players to win. Tulsa did a good job."

Still, Huggins could not forget Martin, who broke his leg in the Conference USA tournament.

"It's tough seeing him sitting there with a cast on," the coach said. "It's tough for the rest of our seniors. I'm going to coach some more, probably. This is it for those four guys and it's tough."

Two of Cincinnati's seniors tried to make up for Martin. Pete Mickeal, who fouled out, had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Ryan Fletcher, starting in Martin's place, had 13 points, including five in a row that put Cincinnati (29-4) in front 50-45 after the Bearcats wiped out an early 16-point Tulsa lead.

But the Golden Hurricane showed great resolve, and in four minutes were able to reconstruct their lead to nine points, and Cincinnati never recovered.

It was the fourth straight year -- and fifth in the past six -- that Cincinnati has failed to advance past the second round of the tournament.

This team, though, was ready to be a No. 1 seed with Martin, and wound up as a No. 2 seed even without him.

"It's hard when you can't help," he said. "It is a helpless feeling. It's something that can't be explained in words."

With Martin gone, Huggins had to reinvent Cincinnati's offense on the fly.

"We had the best player in the country," he said. "A lot of things went through him. He made great decisions. He didn't force anything. We'd throw the ball to him and he'd make good decisions to shoot the goal or find the open man. We can't do that anymore."

How They Got There

The Bearcats were awarded an at-large bid after losing in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament. Cincinnati spent most of the season ranked in the top three, including several weeks at No. 1.

The Bearcats have quality wins over Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga and their lone regular season losses were to Temple and cross-town rival Xavier.

Clearly, Cincinnati was the NCAA Tournament favorite heading into conference tournament play. That was before All-American center Kenyon Martin fractured his right fibula and was forced out of the tournament.

Starting Lineup

• PG Kenny Satterfield (6-2, 170, Fr.): The best point guard at Cincinnati since Nick Van Exel. When he plays under control, there are few who are better. But when he tries to do too much he gets into trouble.
• SG DerMarr Johnson (6-9, 200, Fr.): As hard as it is to imagine, he is perhaps better than advertised. His jumper is pure and he's one of the better athletes in the country. But Cincinnati is going to need increased scoring and a few boards from the SportsLine.com Freshman All-American for tournament success.
• C Ryan Fletcher (6-9, 245, Sr.): How does a team replace the best player in the country? Start with plugging in a senior who can stroke from long range and bang the boards. Fletcher is not Kenyon Martin, but at times he brings some of the same elements.
• SF Pete Mickeal (6-6, 220, Sr.): This is where most of the Bearcats' scoring will come from, although he is not the best shooter. His leadership skill will be tested in the tournament.
• PF Jermaine Tate (6-9, 230, Sr.): Now is the time for Tate to return to the way he played at Ohio State -- when he was active and attacked the boards. The Bearcats need every bit of that production.

Keys to Success

The staff has recruited well over the past two seasons and the Bearcats are about to find out how deep they really are.

After Martin went down, Huggins started Ryan Fletcher in the second half and he contributed 11 points. He can start along the frontline with seniors Jermaine Tate and Pete Mickeal and the freshman backcourt of DerMarr Johnson and Kenny Satterfield. Or, Huggins could insert sophomore Steve Logan in the lineup and put the 6-9 Johnson along the frontline.

The key is shaking off the injury and playing strong collectively.

"We weren't the No. 1 team in the nation solely because of Kenyon Martin," Fletcher said. "We have other players on this team and, granted, he's our best player, but it's going to take some major step ups by other people. It's not impossible to do."

The Coach

Perhaps it's bad karma or something, but some people in the Cincinnati area feel that Bob Huggins will never win a national championship.

His record speaks for itself, but the three consecutive second-round exits have been troubling.

The Bench

Obviously, Martin's injury cuts into Cincinnati's depth, but guard Steve Logan can score. The key is the play of Leonard Stokes, Donald Little and B.J. Grove. They will get increased minutes and will have to make the most of it.

Offense

Cincinnati ranks 20th in the nation in scoring offense and fifth in scoring margin. They will probably have to play more uptempo with the loss of Martin.

Defense

This is the foundation of the program. The Bearcats held opposing teams under .400 shooting on most occasions.