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Bearcats Close 2000-01 Basketball Season With Expectations for '01-02.
 Bearcats Close 2000-01 Basketball Season With Expectations for '01-02. 3/27/2001
2000-01 SEASON RECAP
2000-01 Record 25-10
Conference USA 11-5
Conference USA Tournament 2-1
NCAA West Regional 2-1
Rankings
All-Conference USA
All-America
NCAA West Regional
NABC All-District 10
Bearcats in C-USA
Scoring: Steve Logan, 6th
Kenny Satterfield, 13th
Assists: Kenny Satterfield, 2nd
Free Throw Pct.: Steve Logan, 3rd
Kenny Satterfield, 8th
Steals: Kenny Satterfield, 3rd
3-Pt. FG Pct.: Steve Logan, 7th
3-Pt. FG/game: Steve Logan, 2nd
Blocks: Donald Little, 5th
Assists/TO's: Kenny Satterfield, 6th
"WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR": That's the reaction of many Cincinnati basketball followers following the Bearcats' Sweet 16 run in the NCAA tournament. Cincinnati won 11 of its last 14 games to lay claim to its sixth straight Conference USA regular season championship, a runner-up finish in the conference tournament and a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tourney. The Bearcats handily won their first two games in the West Regional to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the past 10 years. UC owned a halftime lead over No 2 Stanford before losing, 75-63. The major reason for the optimism is that all of the principles who contributed to Cincinnati's 25-10 season return. UC was one of 14 teams in the nation which did not have a senior on its roster, and one of only two which made the NCAA tournament field. QUOTING COACH HUGGINS: "I'm really proud of these guys. They came a long way this year. There were times when they could have given up, but they had a great sense of pride. They did not want to be the first team not to win the conference or not to get into the tournament. They worked hard to improve all year and we were playing at our best in the end." "We know we had some shortcomings on this year's team. But we think we will address these in our recruiting. We will start working toward next season now. We're going to work very hard to improve during the off-season. We've had leaders emerge over the last month and these guys are committed to making us better next year."
NCAA DATA:
1ST/2ND ROUND WRAP-UP:
CINCINNATI IN THE WEST: This was Cincinnati's fourth appearance in the West Regional. The Bearcats were seeded No. 8 in the West in 1994 at Ogden, Utah; No. 7 in 1995 at Salt Lake City; and No. 2 in Boise, Idaho in 1998. MARCH MADNESS: Over the past 10 years, Cincinnati has posted a 46-16 record during the month of March, underscoring the Bearcats' reputation as a team which is primed for postseason. Since the 1957-58 season, when UC first qualified for the NCAA tournament, Cincinnati has compiled a 106-53 (.667) ledger in games played in the month of March. POLLING PLACE: Cincinnati had the 27th-most points in the final Associated Press poll and the 31st-most points in the pre-NCAA tourney USA Today/ESPN voting. UC entered postseason ranked 28th in the Sagrin Index and 31st in the RPI. DUAL MILESTONES REACHED: Cincinnati achieved a pair of milestones during its opening round win over Brigham Young. The victory was Bob Huggins' 300th as the Bearcats head coach and Cincinnati's 1,400th in the 100-year history of the school's basketball program. Huggins closed the season with a 301-96 record (.758) compiled in 12 seasons at UC and is 469-168 (.736) in 20 seasons as a college head coach. Cincinnati's all-time basketball record is 1,401-823. 25 WINS: Cincinnati's 25-10 overall record marks sixth straight season in which UC has reached or exceeded the 25-win mark. The Bearcats recorded their 10th consecutive 20-win season and 11th in the past 12 years. CONFERENCE USA DOMINANCE: Cincinnati continued its dominance of Conference USA, though in improbably fashion. The Bearcats, muddled in the middle of the pack of the C-USA standings in January, won seven of their last league games to claim its sixth straight regular season championship with an 11-5 ledger. Seeded No. 1 in the postseason tournament, Cincinnati's bid for a third tourney crown in the six-year history of C-USA fell short with an 80-72 loss to Charlotte in the championship game. LOGAN CONTINUES PLAYER HONORS: Steve Logan continued Cincinnati's streak of All-American and conference player honors. The 6-foot junior was named honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press, becoming the eighth Bearcat in the last nine seasons to earn All-American honors and giving UC All-American recognition in each of the last six seasons. Logan, who was not mentioned on the preseason All-C-USA teams, was selected Conference USA Player of the Year, giving Cincinnati its fourth league player of the year honor in the six-year history of C-USA. UC players have been selected player of the year in four of C-USA's six seasons. Danny Fortson copped the honor in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. Kenyon Martin was the unanimous choice last year. MISSING MISCUES: Cincinnati entered postseason play committing a mere 8.4 turnovers per game over its previous 11 contests and turning the ball over 9.3 times over the final 13 games. The Bearcats had four turnovers, the second-lowest total in school history and lowest since UC tied the school record with three turnovers on Jan. 24, 1985 vs. Louisville (510 games). The Bearcats have had 11 games in which they have been in single digits in turnovers. Cincinnati ended the year ranked fourth nationally in fewest turnovers: LOGAN'S RUN: In mid-January following a 47-44 loss to Marquette, Steve Logan, who was averaging 12.7 points, took it upon himself to play a larger role in the Cincinnati offense. From that point, Logan became one of the most productive offensive players in the nation while leading the Bearcats to a regular season league title and a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. A recap of the contributions of the 6-foot junior:
BEARCATS REACH FOR RECORDS: Several Bearcats approached career or season milestones during 2000-01.
LOGAN AT THE LINE: Steve Logan saw his streak of consecutive free throws end at 32, but not before he set a new Cincinnati record for consecutive free throws. Logan also tied the single game free throw percentage record twice with performances of 11-of-11 vs. South Florida this season. In 1999-00 he earned a share of that record with a 12-of-12 performance vs. Iowa State. IT TAKES A THIEF: Kenny Satterfield made 24 steals over his last 12 games and closed the season with a streak of 17 games in which he made at least one steal. Satterfield made at least one steal in all but three games in 2000-01. LITTLE BACK ON THE BLOCK: Donald Little, who had eight blocks in the three NCAA tournament, had at least one rejection in 25 of his final 26 games of 2000-01. He had a streak of 18 games with a rejection which included 12 straight games with multiple blocks. SATTERFIELD TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Kenny Satterfield became the fourth Bearcat in school history to record a triple-double when he accumulated 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the Jan. 29 win over Tulane. Satterfield joins Oscar Robertson (10 triple doubles, points-rebounds-assists), Kenyon Martin (2, points-rebounds-blocks) and Rick Roberson (1, points-rebounds-blocks) in the elite list of Bearcat triple double performers. There have been five triple-double performances in the history of Conference USA and Cincinnati accounts for three of them, two by Kenyon Martin and Satterfield's. TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE: The Bearcats' two point guard attack, with Kenny Satterfield and Steve Logan sharing the ball-handling responsibilities, showed results in the final Conference USA statistical rankings. Cincinnati was ranked first in both turnover margin and assist-to-turnover ratio. MAKING THE GRADE: Five members of the men's basketball team made the Bearcat Scholars roll for posting grade point averages of 3.0 or above during Autumn quarter. The five are junior Immanuel McElroy, sophomores Kenny Satterfield and Leonard Stokes and freshmen Rod Flowers and Field Williams. ROAD TESTED: Cincinnati posted a 7-3 record in road games during the 2000-01 season to up its record on opponents' courts to 17-4 over the past two years. In games played at neutral sites, UC was 7-4 this season and 13-6 over the past two years. THE SHOE FITS FOR UC: Cincinnati closed out its home season with an 11-3 record. The Bearcats have compiled a 164-23 record (.877) during their 12 seasons in the Shoemaker Center. UC has won 44 of its 47 Conference USA games played in the Shoemaker Center over the last six seasons, during which it has posted an 83-8 record in all games played in the Shoe. CINCINNATI VS. RANKED TEAMS: Cincinnati posted a 3-2 record vs. Top 25-ranked teams in 2000-01. The Bearcats had wins over No. 8 Wake Forest, No. 17 Alabama and No. 24 Dayton and a losses to No. 2 Stanford and No. 14 Notre Dame. Cincinnati has compiled a 35-36 ledger vs. Top 25-ranked teams over the past 12 seasons. EARLY SIGNING: Cincinnati signed Jason Maxiell, a McDonald's All-American nominee from Carrollton, Texas, to a national letter-of-intent during the early signing period. A 6-7, 230-pound senior at Newman Smith High School, Maxiell averaged 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots last season. Maxiell, who is rated the No. 18 nationally among high school prospects by Bob Gibbons' All-Star Sports, was named to the all-tournament team at the U.S. Olympic Sports Festival.
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