Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins called the Bearcats’ No. 2 seed “totally ridiculous.” His players agree, but they’re looking on the bright side.
Had the Bearcats drawn a top seed, they almost certainly would have opened the tournament in Cleveland in the Midwest Regional. Instead, they’re in Nashville in the South.
“It’s not as good as Cleveland, but at least it’s a warm place,” senior forward Jermaine Tate said. “It’s not that far and it’s a little bit warmer, so that’s a positive.”
Truth is, location is a secondary concern for the Bearcats. Their biggest worry is replacing star center Kenyon Martin, who will miss the tournament with a broken leg. Cincinnati has to replace Martin’s scoring (he averaged 25.5 points in the season’s last eight games) as well as his leadership. Cincinnati drifts for long stretches, a tendency that can lead to a quick upset in the NCAAs.
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“The No. 1 thing is to get everybody on the same page,” Tate said. “We all didn’t have to be on the same page with Kenyon there; he pretty much just carried us. Now we’ve got to go out and play as a whole.”
Auburn rising: As the Chris Porter saga dragged on, the Auburn Tigers appeared on the verge of collapse. They lost their last four Southeastern Conference regular-season games, three of them after the NCAA suspended Porter for dealing with an agent.
But something changed when Porter’s final appeal for reinstatement was rejected. Auburn advanced to the SEC tourney final and goes into the NCAAs on a little roll. The No. 7 seed in the Midwest, Auburn tips off against 10th-seeded Creighton on Thursday.
“Our chemistry is so much better than a week or two ago,” center Mamadou N’Diaye said. “We’re playing harder and trying to pick each other up. We all realize how hard it’s going to be, but it can’t be harder than the last couple weeks have been for this team.”
Picked by Sports Illustrated to win the national title, the Tigers now might be satisfied to make it to the Sweet 16. To do that they’ll have to beat Creighton and probably second-seeded Iowa State.
“Just when everyone felt our hearts were cut out, we showed more heart than people thought that we had,” coach Cliff Ellis said. “No matter what else happens from here on out, I’m proud of that.”
Dreaming at Iona: Jeff Ruland understands the other side of the Porter situation. Ruland was ruled ineligible for his senior year at Iona after signing with an agent. Now he has led his alma mater to its sixth NCAA tournament appearance in his second year as a head coach.
The season has produced some bittersweet memories for Ruland, a center on Jim Valvano’s Iona tourney teams in 1979 and 1980.
Their relationship was severed when Valvano left for North Carolina State. Ruland later accused Valvano of making illegal payments to him while at Iona–Valvano denied the charges–and for refusing to back him during an NCAA investigation.
“I have no respect for the man,” Ruland told Philadelphia reporters in 1986. “None whatsoever.”
But Ruland has softened his stance on Valvano, who died of bone cancer in 1993.
“It sounds corny, but there are times when I think he’s around, shaking his head and saying, `I can’t believe this,'” Ruland told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Personally, this has been one of the most rewarding years of my life. I’m excited. But we don’t just want to get to the Big Dance; we want to make some noise. We’re shooting for a national championship. Sure, I may be crazy, but hopefully someday another crazy kid like Jeff Ruland will come here and dare to dream.”
Iona, the 14th seed in the Midwest Regional, faces third-seeded Maryland on Thursday in Minneapolis.
Florida’s future: If Illinois beats Penn on Friday, the Fighting Illini might run into fifth-seeded Florida in the East’s second round. The Gators, who meet Butler in the first round, have two players facing decisions about whether to turn pro this summer.
One is sophomore Mike Miller, a 6-foot-8-inch forward who has dazzled scouts with his ball-handling and passing. The other is freshman Donnell Harvey, a 6-8 center. Both have been tabbed as certain future pros, but coach Billy Donovan is already lobbying for them to stay in school another year.
“In my opinion, Mike’s physical development needs another year,” Donovan told the Gainesville Sun. “I think Mike has tough times sometimes with playing back-to-back games. He gets physically worn down.”
As for Harvey, Donovan said, “His offensive skills need to get better, and he needs to shoot free throws better.”
Donovan knows what it is like to watch stars troop off to the NBA. He was an assistant to Rick Pitino on the Kentucky powerhouses that produced loads of NBA stars in the 1990s.