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News Nuggets, 03.21.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

The one that got away could haunt Huggins

COLUMBUS -- The point guard who got away is back to torment Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins.

Huggins was the first college coach to recruit Dee Brown at Proviso East High School in Illinois, where the flashy guard developed into the state's top prep player.

Brown wanted to stay close to home, so he chose Illinois. Huggins went in search of another point guard for his team at Cincinnati.

"That's a funny story," Brown said. "Actually, coach Huggins was the first coach who came to my high school and talked to me. I was recruited by Cincinnati pretty hard. It was pretty far from home, and I just wanted to stay close to home."

Huggins hasn't found a point guard yet. Worse, Brown is in position to knock the fourth-seeded Bearcats out of the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday.

"Did you watch us yesterday?" Huggins said Saturday. "We kind of need a point guard, if you haven't figured that out."

Everybody knows it.

East Tennessee State almost knocked No. 11 Cincinnati (24-6) out in the first round Friday because 5-foot-9 point guard Tim Smith ran semicircles around Bearcat defenders, scoring 26 points in Cincinnati's 80-77 win.

Huggins had no one quick enough to guard Smith.

Asked if he noticed what Smith did to the Bearcats, Brown exclaimed, "Haw!"

"I watched the whole game," said Brown, nicknamed "The One Man Fast Break" because of his quickness. "The little fella just got up and down the court and basically dominated the game."

Huggins' two primary point guards - Nick Williams and Chadd Moore - played so miserably this season that he has small forwards handle the ball on the perimeter, going with a bigger lineup.

The problem is that quick guards fly right by them. Cincinnati has had problems stopping them all season.

The one that got away is in position to do it to them one last time.

"If I can, I'm going to take advantage of it," Brown said. "If they don't get back, I'm going to lay it up."

Former Razorback Richardson backs Blazers

Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson was in the stands for Alabama-Birmingham's first-round game, a 102-100 win over Washington on Friday night.

Richardson sat with the Blazer fans and even tried to do a little coaching, waving at defenders to get back late in the game.

UAB coach Mike Anderson spent 20 years with Richardson, 17 of them as an assistant at Arkansas. Anderson is making his first NCAA tournament appearance as a head coach, but went 15 times as one of Richardson's assistants.

His mentor came along for support.

"He was a tremendous inspiration just to be here," said Anderson, who speaks with him regularly. "All I am is an extension of him. I think I learned from the best."

Calhoun-disciple Leitao comes up short against mentor

BUFFALO -- This victory had Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun feeling a little sick.

Ben Gordon scored 18 points, Denham Brown had 12, Taliek Brown had 11 and Emeka Okafor had 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead Connecticut over DePaul 72-55 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday night.

Connecticut (29-6), the Big East champion and second seed in the Phoenix Regional, advanced to the round of 16 for the 10th time in Calhoun's 18 years as coach and will play either North Carolina State or Vanderbilt.

DePaul and UConn had never played each other, but Calhoun and Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao are like father and son, making the matchup difficult for both.

Making matters worse, Calhoun left the bench midway through the second half during a timeout with an upset stomach and did not return until 1:54 remained and the Huskies were ahead 72-51.

He hugged Leitao after the final buzzer.

The seventh-seeded Blue Demons (22-10) survived a sloppy 76-69 double-overtime win over Dayton in the first round but squandered any chance of upsetting UConn by missing their first 10 shots of the game.

Drake Diener led the Blue Demons with 15 points, Delonte Holland and Quemont Greer each scored 12, and Andre Brown had 11.

Leitao was recruited in 1978 by Calhoun and played for him at Northeastern. Six years later, Calhoun hired him as an assistant and they stayed together for 16 years.

Leitao helped lead a dozen of Calhoun's teams to the NCAA Tournament, including UConn's 1999 national championship squad, before being hired by DePaul two years ago.

In 1999, Calhoun missed a first-round win over Texas-San Antonio because of a stomach problem and was replaced by Leitao.

"I hate it," Calhoun said the day before as he pondered a game he would rather not have coached.

It shouldn't take too long to recover. It was UConn's fifth straight win and 10th in the last 11 games. The Huskies also kept Calhoun's record perfect in seven games against his former coaches.

The Blue Demons began the game cold and fell too far behind too early against UConn, which leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense at 36.8 percent.

Each DePaul starter missed two shots in the first six minutes, and despite missing their first five shots, the Huskies quickly got untracked and stormed to an 11-0 lead.

The Blue Demons were in the tournament for just the second time in 12 years. Before their first-round victory, they hadn't won a tournament game since 1989, when they beat Memphis State in the first round.

DePaul's elimination leaves Conference USA with three teams still alive in the Big Dance, Cincinnati, Memphis and UAB. Charlotte and Louisville were knocked out in the first round, the 49ers by Texas Tech and the Cardinals by Xavier.

Marquette and Saint Louis still have championship aspirations in a different tournament. Both teams won first round games in the NIT.

Injury-plagued Houston tight end gains 6th year of eligibility

HOUSTON -- Houston tight end Stephen Cucci, who played in just one game last year because of hamstring and hip injuries, has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Cucci, who missed the entire 2001 season because of surgery on both shoulders, has appeared in 35 games for Houston since his freshman season in 1999.

A player typically is allowed to be active for four years, though exemptions are available if a medical problem forces an athlete to miss all or nearly all competition in a school year.

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News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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