| | By Jay Bilas
Special to ESPN.com
The term "hotbed" is thrown around pretty freely in the world of college basketball. And while the word's true definition doesn't really apply, it's used to describe an area whose fans are especially rabid and media interest goes beyond mere support of the local team.
The best of these "hotbeds" boast more, however, then just good basketball. To be a true "hotbed," there must be quality schools to root against. No, not just root against, but truly hate. You know, the kind of hatred that makes watching a rival's game, and rooting for them to lose, just as compelling as watching your own team, and rooting them toward victory.
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Corridor Clashes
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Here is a look at days Ohio basketball fans can't wait for this season.
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Nov. 29
Cincinnati at Dayton
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Dec. 14
Xavier at Cincinnati
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Dec. 23
Dayton at Louisville
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Jan. 2
Kentucky at Louisville
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Jan. 13
Cincinnati at Louisville
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Jan. 24
Louisville at Cincinnati
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Jan. 30
Dayton at Xavier
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March 4
Xavier at Dayton
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You know, that feeling when your team loses, but your rival also loses, so it can't be a bad day?
The paradigm of the college basketball hotbed is along Tobacco Road, anchored by the heated rivalry between Duke and North Carolina, yet enhanced by brutal competition from N.C. State and Wake Forest. Four schools, in the same conference, all within shouting distance of each other. They compete against each other for media attention, local television air time and newspaper space, and, perhaps most important, blue-chip recruits.
Certainly, there are other areas where heated rivals share the same college basketball air. One such area of the country is found around a corridor of Kentucky and Ohio. It is, perhaps, the most under-appreciated college basketball breeding ground in the nation.
I'll admit, when you think of college basketball hotspots around the country, Ohio doesn't immediately come to mind. Sure, Kentucky vs. Louisville is an absolute blood feud, and these two traditional powers are separated by just 50 miles of Interstate 64. But if you travel up Interstate 75 and across the bridge to Cincinnati, you'll find Xavier and Cincinnati separated by just five miles, and Dayton is just an hour up the road.
For those outside of this pocket of the nation, it might not be clear just how close these places are. Well, I visited all five in one day during ESPN.com's preseason basketball tour. And let me tell you, each city was passionate about their particular campus.
Each of the universities along the corridor fill its arena and protect their homecourts with a vengeance.
"The thing about this area is nobody loses at home," Cincinnati assistant coach Mick Cronin said. "Xavier hardly ever gives one up at the Cincinnati Gardens, and it will probably get worse at the new place. Dayton never loses at home, and we don't give up many at the Shoemaker Center.
"No wonder nobody wants to come in and play those guys."
The rivalries between these teams don't get the same publicity as Duke against North Carolina. But the games between any combination of the five are absolutely wicked.
Cincinnati and Xavier have created a rivalry that is unparalleled when it
comes to outright passion and civic division.
Louisville and Kentucky went years without playing each other but now have an annual game that blows the roof off of whichever arena the two teams happen to clash. Wildcat Blue and Cardinal Red are like gang colors along Interstate 64, and wearing the wrong shade prompts a drive by of dirty looks and under-the-breath insults.
Oh, and as for Dayton? The Flyers might be the most underpublicized and underappreciated member of the corridor. But all they did last year was beat Kentucky.
For a better perspective of just what each of these programs brings to this hotbed of college basketball, here's a rundown of offerings each brings to the Ohio-Kentucky Corridor.
Kentucky
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Wildcats Facts
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Campus: Lexington, Ky.
Home court
Rupp Arena (23,000)
Conference: SEC
'99-00 Corridor Record: 1-1
Lost to Dayton, 68-66
Beat Louisville, 76-46
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The history of the Wildcat program is staggering. Let's get those numbers out of the way early. Seven national championships, two NIT titles and 13 Final Four appearances.
But Kentucky fans are so rabid they prompted the opening of the Kentucky Basketball Museum in the Lexington Civic Center. On the morning of a Kentucky home game, you can have donuts and coffee with former Kentucky
players at the museum, then walk a few steps to scream for the Wildcats at Rupp.
In the mid-'90s, Kentucky was, without argument, the best program in the nation. After Christian Laettner denied the Wildcats a Final Four berth in 1992, and Kentucky lost in overtime to Michigan in the 1993 Final Four, Kentucky appeared in the title game three years in a row from 1996 to 1998, sandwiching two national championships around an overtime loss to Arizona.
Cincinnati
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Bearcats Facts
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Campus: Cincinnati
Home court
Myrl Shoemaker Center (13,176)
Conference: C-USA
'99-00 Corridor Record: 2-1
Lost to Xavier, 66-64
Beat Louisville, 75-65
Beat Louisville, 68-59
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Bob Huggins came to Cincinnati from Akron at a time when the Bearcat program was reeling. Under Tony Yates, Cincinnati had been mediocre at best, and the tradition that included Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman, six
Final Fours and back to back National Championships under Ed Jucker was way
back in the rearview mirror.
Huggins brought a new attitude to Cincinnati in 1989 and promptly took them to the Final Four by 1992. After his arrival, his Bearcats have averaged 25 victories, in his 11 seasons, and over 27 wins the past five seasons.
Testament to Huggins' success has been the atmosphere he has created in the Shoemaker Center, which has become an absolute pit. Since 1992, Cincinnati has won 114 games at the Shoe, with only 10 losses, and helped energize a city looking for a winner. Cincinnati won 29 games last season, and only a freak injury to Kenyon Martin kept the Bearcats from a possible national title.
As Cincinnati enters its 100th year of basketball, an extraordinary rivalry with Xavier in the Crosstown
Shootout is one of the best matchups in college basketball, bar none. But, despite the fact that Cincinnati is close to Kentucky and Ohio State, the Bearcats rarely see either one, except on television.
Cincinnati hasn't played Kentucky since 1991, and for that matter hasn't played Ohio State since 1962 in the
NCAA championship game. Cincinnati does play Dayton and Louisville, and
those are always entertaining games.
If the NCAA had any real power, it would mandate that Cincinnati and Ohio State play each other annually. That
would only help extend the Corridor.
Dayton
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Flyers Facts
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Campus: Dayton, Ohio
Home court
UD Arena (13,455)
Conference: Atlantic 10
'99-00 Corridor Record: 2-1
Beat Kentucky, 68-66
Beat Xavier, 76-72
Lost to Xavier, 65-64
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The Flyers have a fine tradition and call one of the toughest places to play in college basketball "home." Dayton reached the national championship game in 1968 against UCLA, but by the 1980s it slipped into mediocrity that continued through the mid-'90s. Over the past few seasons, however, teams have been flying high at Dayton.
Oliver Purnell has instilled a winning mindset at Dayton, and he has players to apply talent to the new attitude. Last season, the Flyers turned a corner, winning 22 games, beating Kentucky, taking the Atlantic 10 West title and making the NCAA Tournament field before losing to Purdue.
Dayton has an incredible homecourt advantage at UD Arena, where opponents are greeted by a sea of red-clad, screaming Flyer supporters. It gets hot and very loud in UD Arena, as the place seems to close in on the opponents as the game is played.
Dayton had some significant losses in personnel but returns Tony Stanley, who is a poor man's Sidney Moncrief, and
Brooks Hall, a 6-foot-6 swing forward who could turn out to be one of the
league's best players. If young players develop, and newcomers are capable
of playing minutes, Dayton will be very good again.
We should know early if the Flyers will own a piece of the Corridor. Dayton welcomes Cincinnati to UD Arena on Nov. 29. Be ready, Bearcats.
Xavier
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Musketeers Facts
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Campus: Cincinnati
Home court
Cintas Center (10,200)
Conference: Atlantic 10
'99-00 Corridor Record: 3-1
Beat Louisville, 81-79
Beat Cincinnati, 66-64
Lost to Dayton, 76-72
Beat Dayton, 65-64
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Skip Prosser took over the Xavier program from his good friend Pete Gillen, who when he left, was in the midst of a Cold War with Huggins. It got so bad that after Gillen's final UC-XU game, he refused to
shake Huggins' hand. Now, that makes a rivalry worth watching all by itself.
While there is more of a Glasnost feeling off the court with Prosser in town, it remains a bare knuckle
brawl when the Musketeers and Bearcats meet on the court. Twice in Prosser's tenure, Xavier has beaten Cincinnati when the Bearcats entered the Shootout ranked No. 1. Last season's Crosstown Shootout was an absolute zoo. It attracted national television exposure because of the intensity created by good-spirited animosity between the two rivals.
Prosser, who ranks among the top coaches in the nation, has continued to build a solid program at Xavier, and the Musketeers have the chance to be very good in 2000-01. In his six years at Xavier, Prosser has averaged more than 21 victories per season, with three NCAA appearances and two NIT berths.
Xavier always had the Cincinnati Gardens to call home, and the old building had charm. The Gardens had the old scoreboard from Louisville's Freedom Hall, and the floor from the Cincinnati Armory. Anyone who watched a game there felt like he or she was in a time warp. It was small, cramped and uncomfortable for opponents. A great
advantage for the home team.
Now the Gardens is indeed the past. Xavier opens its new Cintas Center this season, a 10,000-plus facility that has a big-time feel to it. The Cintas Center houses beautiful new basketball offices, a student dining facility, a state-of-the-art practice facility, grand locker rooms with showers to accommodate 7-2 occupants -- which will surely raise recruiting expectations -- not to mention 22 luxury boxes, which area all already sold.
The Cintas Center walls will remain crack free for at least a year. This year's Crosstown Shootout is at the Shoemaker Center on Dec. 14.
Louisville
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Cardinals Facts
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Campus: Louisville
Home court
Freedom Hall (18,865)
Conference: C-USA
'99-00 Corridor Record: 0-4
Lost to Xavier, 81-79
Lost to Kentucky, 66-64
Lost to Cincinnati, 75-65
Lost to Cincinnati, 68-59
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After playing for and coaching under John Wooden at UCLA, Denny Crum came to Louisville in 1971 and built a powerhouse down the road from Lexington and in the shadow of Adolph Rupp. Sure, Louisville had won
the NIT in 1956 and made the Final Four in 1959, but Crum made the national
spotlight an annual thing at Louisville, and in the 1980s, there was not a
more respected program in the country.
Louisville went to the Final Four six times from 1972 to 1986, winning the national championship in 1980 and
1986. When the Cardinals took a loss early in the season against a tough schedule, the consensus was that Crum was building toward March.
Louisville always has gotten great support, and the Cardinals continue to pack fans into Freedom Hall. The University of Louisville has undertaken an ambitious facilities project under athletics director Tom Jurich, but the basketball program has not kept pace with the lofty standards it set during Crum's tenure.
The last time Louisville won more than 19 games was in 1997, which was also the last time Louisville reached a Regional Final. Because Crum is turning 64 this year, the inevitable discussion about his
retirement is making the rounds, as is the discussion over whether he still
has what it takes.
Crum remains as competitive as ever and as energetic. While Louisville has some personnel holes to fill, Crum spent the summer as active in recruiting as he has ever been, and the Cardinals already have received commitments from two high-profile prep players, with two more waiting to decide.
If Crum lands either, Louisville will be back.
"He's going to get it going again," Jurich said recently. "I know he's going to get it going."
Crum's success has been his biggest problem, as everyone wants to see the Doctors of Dunk return. Crum wants to see it, too. | |
ALSO SEE
Forde: Recruiting takes Crum outside Louisville
Bilas postcard from Cincinnati
Bilas Breakdown: Cincinnati
Bilas Breakdown: Kentucky
ESPN.com Preseason Top 25
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