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| | Tuesday, November 2 | |||||||||||||||
COACH AND PROGRAM
PETE MICKEAL (6-6, 220 lbs., SR, SF, #32, 14.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.5 spg, 33.8 minutes, .583 FG, .313 3PT, .701 FT, Indian Hills CC, Ia. & Rock Island HS/Rock Island, Ill.) Mickeal may be the most complete player in college basketball, or at least the most complete without an accurate three-point jumper. He said he's working on that, but he has already given Cincinnati just about everything it could want. Mickeal is a devastating one-on-one offensive player who can break down most any player he faces, especially when in position to use his spin-dribble. He had seven 20-point games as a junior, including four in the final eight starts. Against South Florida, he made 13 of 15 from the field, scored 28 points, grabbed nine rebounds and passed for five assists. There was little question he was the team's best and most valuable player, not bad for somebody playing his first year of Division I basketball. He was named first-team All-Conference USA. Matched against Lamar Odom, Chris Carrawell, Shawn Marion, Quentin Richardson and Eduardo Najera last season, Mickeal clearly got the better of the matchups each time. He seemed to enjoy the personal challenge of facing the best. The only games in which he did not gain a decided edge were against Minnesota's Quincy Lewis, Xavier's James Posey and UNC Charlotte's Galen Young. Only Lewis got the better of Mickeal. An outstanding man-to-man defender against any sort of perimeter player, Mickeal should get a ticket to the NBA on that skill alone. On offense, he does most of his best work in and around the lane. He is not so much a post-up player as a baseline player, using his ballhandling to work the end line until he can find an opening to squeeze through up toward the basket. Where Mickeal is lacking is as a pure perimeter shooter. He knows it and has worked to get better. He has an odd release that produces a flat shot, in which he rests the ball on the base of his hand and flings his fingers forward. He shot the ball better in practices for the U.S. team, but that did not carry over into the tournament (1-for-4, 3PT). Mickeal's greatest contribution to Cincinnati could be as a leader. He is a natural-born winner but he was not able to take complete command of the Bearcats as a first-year junior. He talked about that after the Temple loss, mentioning that a team can only go as far as its senior leaders take them. Mickeal will try to make it a long way. KENYON MARTIN (6-9, 230 lbs., SR, C, #4, 10.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.4 bpg, 27.3 minutes, .573 FG, .562 FT, Adams HS/Dallas, Tex.) At the midway point of last season, the debate began about whether a player who averages only 10 points per game could be a bona fide All-America. In a matter of weeks, Martin made that discussion moot. He had a miserable February and only slightly picked up the pace in March. He did not have a double-figure rebound game after Feb. 1 and did not score more than 11 points from Feb. 1 until the Bearcats were about to go down in flames against Temple. He came through for 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting in that one. Too little, too late. Martin also trailed off in his specialty, blocking shots, with only eight in the final nine games after getting 70 in the first 24. Martin does not always want the spotlight, and he seemed uncomfortable as it shined on him last year. That could become a problem again this season given what he accomplished with the U.S. national team, but there also are more offensive threats (Pete Mickeal, DerMarr Johnson) to share some of the pressure. In the early part of last season, Martin gave mesmerizing performances against Rhode Island (16 points, 16 rebounds) and UNLV (23, 11), and he dominated Dayton for 18 and 13 plus two clinching blocks on the game's final sequence. He entered the season as an offensive question mark, but he routinely demonstrated that he could nail foul-line jumpers.Martin's true mastery of the game comes on the defensive end. His technique on the perimeter could be better and will need to be in the NBA, but he's got quick feet and ridiculously good timing on block shots. No one in the college game gets off his feet quicker. Martin's shot-blocking ability keeps some teams from even attempting to get the ball inside. Martin took only 7.5 shots per game, suggesting that he could be more demanding on offense. The Bearcats would have liked him to go for another five or so. So what happens when he goes with Mickeal and the rest of the U.S. team to Spain? He shoots just under 10 times per game on a team of all-stars, when the minutes are balanced so that he's not playing nearly as much as he does with the Bearcats. Martin averaged 13.9 ppg, three more than anyone else on the team. He also led the team with 6.6 rpg and a .620 shooting percentage. STEVE LOGAN (5-10, 190 lbs., SO, PG, #22, 8.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.2 apg, 21.4 minutes, .423 FG, .331 3PT, St. Edward HS/Lakewood, Oh.) The battle for the point guard position at Cincinnati may be one of the most interesting competitions in college basketball this season. Logan will get plenty of heat from freshman Kenny Satterfield, but until he's beaten out, this is Logan's job. He certainly did everything he could to indicate he wants to continue running the club. He played for the U.S. team in the World Junior Championships and finished tied for third in scoring. He played in better condition and was named a team captain, often making clutch plays near the close of games. The U.S. won the silver medal, losing to Spain in the championship. But if he's going to run the Bearcats, he has to run them. Logan frustrated the Cincinnati coaches with his ponderous style, which limited him to 41 turnovers in 706 minutes -- one every 17.2 minutes but which suffocated the offense several times down the stretch of the season. Cincinnati's offense stalled when it walked the ball up the floor as teams were able to set up their zones or sagging man-to-man schemes. Logan also needs to get more confident feeding his scorers. He only passed for 2.2 apg, which stands out on a team when the main offensive weapons -- Mickeal and Martin -- were both better than 55 percent shooters. What Logan was best at as a freshman was scooting inside the defense and creating his own shot. He was a .532 shooter inside the arc, which is highly unusual for a player his size. He had 12 double-figure games, including a stretch of four in late February when he took back the starting job from Horton and replaced a three-game losing streak with a four-game winning streak. JERMAINE TATE (6-8, 230 lbs., SR, PF, #5, 4.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.9 bpg, 20.4 minutes, .433 FG, .585 FT, Ohio State & Central Catholic HS/Toledo, Oh.) Tate did not have the junior year that was expected of him after he'd twice averaged double figures at Ohio State and twice shot well over .500 from the field. He returned from an absence of nearly two years without the offensive confidence that enabled him to average 14 points as a Buckeye sophomore, and that made him less valuable to the Bearcats than they'd hoped. But it didn't keep him out of the starting lineup. Tate took over for Ryan Fletcher not long after becoming eligible at the semester break. From the time Tate replaced Ryan Fletcher in the starting lineup for the Bearcats, they went 12-5 (compared to the 15-1 mark with Fletcher at power forward). With Tate on the front line, opponents could reserve their defensive concern for Martin and leave Tate relatively unchecked. He had only four double-figure games, two of them against Louisville. Tate had his moments as a defender, but at times needed to be more sound. Cincinnati's coaches named Tate as co-defensive player of the year along with Martin, although it was clear Pete Mickeal was their best defender. DERMARR JOHNSON (6-9, 200 lbs., FR, SG, #3, 26.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.9 apg, .540 FG, .420 3PT, Maine Central Institute/Washington, D.C.) A lot of elite programs abandoned the recruitment of Johnson for fear he would not qualify academically and also because he did not exert himself to the fullest extent when attending the ABCD Camp. Johnson's disappointing week there saw him fall from a near-unanimous No. 1 ranking among analysts to the mid-teens on many surveys. Johnson has an abundance of skills, from ballhandling to passing to shooting. He redeemed himself with a strong year at MCI; hard-nosed coach Max Good could not have said more nice things about how Johnson played and conducted himself while competing for the school. At the end of the year, he was named the Parade Player of the Year. Just how far Johnson had come back was evident in the McDonald's All-America game, in which he put on a second-half three-point shooting show that had to tantalize Cincinnati coaches who were close at that point but had not signed him. He also was impressive in the Magic Johnson Roundball Classic. He showed not only the ability to shoot deep but also to get into the lane and shoot mid-range jumpers, as well as to post up and score on a variety of moves. That may be a most helpful skill at UC, because he is going to be a shooting guard many of the players who defend him will be 6-2 or 6-3. Cincinnati would be wise to dust off some of Danny Fortson's post-up plays and run them for Johnson. As consistently as Martin shoots from the foul line and as dangerous as Fletcher is from the corner, it would be easy enough to invert the offense and single up Johnson inside. Most important, though, is that Johnson prevent defenses from hanging back and clogging the lane. He has got to make perimeter shots. The most important question for Johnson as a shooting guard is whether he can comfortably defend the position. Huggins believes he can, and Cincinnati may have the players to cover up for any shortcomings. But this will be an issue until Johnson proves he can do it on a consistent basis.KEY RESERVES RYAN FLETCHER (6-10, 255 lbs., SR, F, #24, 6.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.1 apg, 22.5 minutes, .429 FG, .385 3PT, .754 FT, Middletown HS/Franklin, Oh.) With Tate ineligible for the first semester, Fletcher was the clear choice to open the 1998-99 season at power forward. After the way things went the first two months, it wasn't so clear how he lost his job. UC coaches expected Tate would make them a more dynamic defensive team, but Fletcher's value in controlling space and keeping bodies away from Martin was sacrificed. For his part, Fletcher figured if he couldn't keep his starting job serving as a role player, he'd probably need to be more productive off the bench to merit any minutes at all. So he started shooting. After averaging just four attempts per game as a starter, he fired 7.4 times per game as a reserve. Fletcher is a capable jump-shooter for a player his size and will be able to use that skill to make a living playing the game somewhere. He is not as adept at close-range shots as he ought to be, but he was much better last season than when he was a sure thing to miss two of every three layup attempts. In Cincinnati's February three-game losing streak, he scored 15 points against DePaul and 15 against Marquette. The Bearcats still lost. It did them no good to view him as a reliable source of offense, because when they needed something against UNC Charlotte in the Conference USA Tournament or against Temple in the NCAAs, he was a combined 0-for-10. Fletcher can become a valuable player for Cincinnati if he serves as Martin's bodyguard. The Bearcats are a better team when they're structured this way. DONALD LITTLE (6-11, 215 lbs., SO, C, #50, 3.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.8 bpg, 10.0 minutes, .545 FG, .778 FT, Winchendon School, Mass./Augusta, Ga.) Little got the opportunity to spend a redshirt year in the program after injuring his elbow in December. He showed some flashes in the six games he played before he hurt himself, including an 11-point effort against Southwestern Louisiana that also included five rebounds and two blocked shots. Little is a very skilled big man who keeps the ball high, shoots with good form and a soft touch, and has fine athletic ability. He is more of a face-up player with the ball than he is a true post player, much like Martin. He needs to be tougher to play the way Huggins likes his big men to play; that's not to say he is soft, just that he needs to continue to mature physically and be able to use the muscle he gains to hold his position inside. The question for Little as a redshirt sophomore is what his role with the team will be. Will the Bearcats find time for another big man with three so experienced players at the two power positions? KENNY SATTERFIELD (6-1, 185 lbs., FR, G, #34, 24.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.9 apg, 0.9 bpg, .410 FG, .430 FT, Rice HS/New York, N.Y.) Kenny Satterfield is the best pure guard prospect Huggins has ever recruited. It may turn out he will not accomplish as much as Nick Van Exel, either at Cincinnati or in the NBA. That's kind of up to Satterfield. But no player ever arrived at the Shoe with the combination of youth and pure guard skills that Satterfield brings to the Bearcats. Satterfield is extraordinarily adept at penetrating the late and finishing plays. That's where he first impresses someone who watches him play. How often he flashes from the wing into the lane and either dumps off to an open teammate open because Satterfield drew the defender or lays the ball off the glass himself. He's not a great jump-shooter, but Satterfield can get that shot off for himself without the help of a screen or a ball reversal. This is a good skill to have for when a defense is wanting to sag into the lane as so many have against the Bearcats the past few years. With Satterfield, the only questions are what position and what role he will play. He could become the starting point guard, but he'll have a fight on his hands with Logan for that job. If he is the third guard, he will be the best anyone has had in that role since Jason Terry at Arizona from 1996-98. Satterfield can comfortably play either spot. Then again, the Bearcats also can rotate Logan through both positions. So it's a matter of which is more consistent, which defends opposing point men the best and which player can squeeze more production out of the Bearcats offense.OTHER RETURNEES EUGENE LAND (6-7, 235 lbs., SO, F, #33, 3.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 8.8 minutes, .462 FG, .636 FT, Roger Bacon HS/Cincinnati, Oh.) Land will not be with the Bearcats during the first semester. Technically, he is considered to be "dismissed" from the program, a punishment that followed his arrest on shoplifting charges in August. He will not play or practice with the team during that semester. Land has been given a set of conditions which, if met, will result in his reinstatement to the team. One of the conditions is that he will attend a three-hour study hall each day while the Bearcats work out and practice. So long as everyone remains healthy on the front line, it is likely he will be redshirted upon his return. Land is a very capable offensive player who struggled to maintain his concentration last season once it became clear he did not have much of a role. That coincided with the arrival of Tate. Land had an impressive game against Duke, scoring six points in 10 minutes, and he scored 10 against Southwestern Louisiana, 11 against Houston and 10 against Marquette. He is an excellent leaper and has a ridiculously soft touch around the goal. Few players have as many shots bounce softly off the rim and into the net. So long as he gets back in the program's good graces, Land has a bright future with the Bearcats. OTHER NEWCOMERS LEONARD STOKES (6-7, 185 lbs., FR, G-F, #13, 24.6 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 5.1 apg, Turner-Carroll HS/Buffalo, N.Y.) The player whose role on this team is most difficult to anticipate is Stokes. There is little doubt he'd have been a periodic backup for Mickeal and little else had Mitchell not left the program. But without him, Cincinnati may need more. Stokes was recruited as somebody to help in the long term. The Bearcats pursued him to the exclusion of higher-rated players, such as Marshall Williams of Milwaukee, and it puzzled many of those who follow recruiting. The staff liked what it saw from Stokes, though, and it's possible they saw his talent just as it began to break through. In high school last year, Stokes led his team to a second consecutive state title and a 24-2 record. He was named "Mr. Basketball" in the state of New York, beating out Satterfield for that honor. He then played in the Windy City-Big Apple Classic and led the New York team with 18 points. He did not impress recruiting analysts who watched him early on in the ABCD Camp, but he admits he was intimidated at the start. Examine his stats from his first several games there and the last bunch, and there is a clear improvement. Stokes appears to still be growing and could become an important player in Cincinnati's future. He is considered a fine deep shooter and is a fair ballhandler who could develop in that area. B.J. GROVE (6-11, 265 lbs., FR, C, #44, 21.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg, .620 FG, .710, George Jr. Republic School, Pa./Cincinnati, Oh.) Grove is another player who may or may not be around with the Bearcats this season. He did not reach the necessary qualifying score to be eligible from Day One, but he is close enough that he will enroll in school as a part-time student, take the test again in September and, then, if he gets the number, will add a class to become a full-time student before practice begins in October. UC gets fewer preseason workouts as the result of its late-September starting date for school, but this is one example of how that can be used to the program's advantage. Grove is not likely to play a lot for the Bearcats this season, even if everything goes according to plan. What would upset that plan would be another struggle to score points, but UC is counting on Satterfield and Johnson to alleviate much of the pressure that developed on last year's team. If the Bearcats need a true low-post scoring threat, though, they could give Grove a shot. He is powerful when establishing position on the block and has a devastating jump-hook that is impossible to block. Two questions persist about that shot: Can he gain position against big-time defenders and does he launch it quickly enough to defeat double-teams? He has only had to try it against high school and club-ball defenders who don't usually attack the ball the way, say, Kevin Freeman does. If he does not play a lot this year, he does give the Bearcats another big body in practice and a promising big man for their future. One more thing, though. He need not be quite so big. Grove has historically had problems controlling his weight. Not being able to take part in preseason conditioning could hurt his ability to make an immediate contribution. STARTERS NOT RETURNING MELVIN LEVETT (6-3, SG, 14.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.4 apg, 30.7 minutes, .404 FG, .333 3PT) In the 10-year history of the Shoemaker Center, it's possible no player ever was as popular. And with good reason. Levett always put on a good show at the Shoe, making long-distance jump shots and dunking from impossible heights and angles and climbing over rows of chairs in pursuit of loose basketballs. He was good at many of those elements of the game when he left the Shoe, but never seemed to be able to carry his shooting touch with him. His three-point shooting was essential to UC last season in order to take the pressure off its inside game. He was not able to deliver when the Bearcats were away from Cincinnati, however, which made it sort of difficult for them to seriously pursue the Final Four. The difference between Levett at home and Levett elsewhere was the difference between a .265 three-point shooter and a .393 shooter. In Conference USA and NCAA Tournament games, he was 5-for-28 from the arc. MICHAEL HORTON (6-1, PG, 3.6 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 3.5 apg, 14.9 minutes, .457 FG) It seems to be no coincidence that the high point of the 1998-99 season for Cincinnati occurred with Horton safely removed from the team the Bearcats about 4,500 miles away in Alaska, Horton home in Cincinnati with an injury. Horton spent two seasons in Division I and never made a three-point shot (0-for-9). He had great strength for a point guard and could be an oppressive defender when he wanted, but he seemed to want it less as each game passed. As he drew playing time away from Alvin Mitchell in 1998-99, the Bearcats' offense gradually deteriorated and ultimately was held to 60 or fewer points in five of the final 11 games. They lost each of those five. The oddity is that he wasn't one of those heady, tough, competitive guys whom coaches love and sometimes value over more talented players. He rarely gave a full effort and seemed to be satisfied after he'd have one good game.OTHERS NOT RETURNING ALVIN MITCHELL (6-0, G, 4.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 13.0 minutes, .378 3PT) Mitchell's decision to remain home in Nebraska to attend to personal matters and not return to Cincinnati for his final season was a blow to the Bearcats. He was a potent three-point shooter who played well under pressure. His departure from the rotation last season coincided with the retreat of the team's offense. Mitchell was a key player in the upset of Duke, with 14 points and two clutch baskets in the final five minutes that helped get the Bearcats a win over the nation's No. 1 team. Then, at Minnesota, he scored eight points in overtime to help earn another tough victory. When Michael Horton began to become more a part of the team, though, Mitchell became less a part. Huggins did not like Mitchell's practice habits or his understanding of the defensive schemes. SHAWN MYRICK (6-7, F, 2.8 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.2 apg, 8.4 minutes, .385 FG) Myrick was representative of the substandard recruiting Cincinnati did in the final seasons of Huggins' previous coaching staff. In fact, Myrick was willing to walk on and there were other junior college players available to UC players who turned out to have better careers but instead Myrick's commitment was accepted. He was a competitor, but did not shoot well enough, was not athletic enough and did not handle the ball well enough. Huggins liked his toughness and tenacity, but playing him instead of Mitchell was a mistake because it undermined the development of the offense. AARON MCGHEE (6-7, F, 2.8 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.2 apg, 8.1 minutes, .385 FG) Following a rocky first year in which he struggled to fit comfortably into the UC system and ultimately was buried behind more experienced players, McGhee was encouraged to transfer to junior college and consider returning to the program for the 2000-01 season. It's unlikely McGhee would have played much this season, and a redshirt was impossible because he'd already sat out his freshman year. At the time, the Bearcats also were looking at a scholarship crunch because their two-year NCAA probation limits them to no more than 12 for this season. That's no longer a problem, but it helps for the following year because they needed to be at 12 in one year of their probation and 11 in the other. McGhee is a powerful scorer who does not care much for the other aspects of the game. But he is hungry with the ball in his hands, as he showed in rescuing the Bearcats from a disastrous defeat at Southern Mississippi with the sheer force of will he used to score inside. No one else among the UC players was as interested in playing that day. ALEX MEACHAM (6-0, G, 1.1 ppg, 0.2 rpg, 12 appearances) Meacham was a rare walk-on to survive a couple years in the UC program. He was one of the most popular players on the team and gave a solid effort in practice. The highlight of his career was playing first-half minutes at the Great Alaska Shootout, when Huggins was mad at the Bearcats' starters for not taking Southern Utah seriously. Meacham scored three-points in that game, then a career-high seven against Nicholls State a couple weeks later. QUESTIONS Offense? How can that not be a question on a team that dead-ended so obviously last season? The Bearcats have to prove they can generate baskets when the pressure is on. They appear to have the equipment to make that happen, but they'll have to prove it. Point guard? The question isn't whether UC has one, but which one is it? Satterfield or Logan? The choice will say a lot about what sort of team this becomes. And the player who does not become the starter has got to make significant contributions as a reserve. Numbers? Defections, suspensions, scholarship restrictions they've all contributed to the lack of able bodies in UC uniforms. The key for the Bearcats is the lack of dead wood; everybody here can play. But an injury or two could cause real problems.ANSWERS Mickeal! He is a winner and a talent, a lethal combination to opponents. He should be the unquestioned leader on this team. If anybody questions that, then there could be trouble. Martin! If he plays the way he did in the World Games, he could be an All-America. His dazzling defensive ability has been an attention-getter the past two seasons. It needs to become a consistent weapon. Johnson! How's this for a third option? A 6-9 shooting guard with post-up skills, a mid-range game and a long-distance touch. If he has a big year, Cincinnati could have three first-round draft choices next June.
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