At this time a year ago, Conference USA had the No. 1 team in the polls and the top player in the country. As Conference USA rose to fourth in the national RPIs, there were plenty of smiles at its headquarters on East Wacker Drive in Chicago.
But then came the 2000 conference tournament. Kenyon Martin, the nation’s top player, broke his leg, and though he would later become the top pick in the NBA draft, his college career was finished. His top-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats fizzled out of the NCAA tournament in the second round.
Conference USA hasn’t recovered.
Going into this week’s action, Conference USA stood ninth in the national RPIs, below such regional leagues as the Western Athletic Conference and the Atlantic 10. It’s the lowest RPI in Conference USA’s six seasons.
Perhaps the truest measure of Conference USA’s weakness is in its standings. The three teams leading its two divisions–Marquette, South Florida and Memphis–are all thought to be on the NCAA tournament bubble. It’s possible the conference will draw only two berths. Cincinnati (15-7) and Southern Mississippi (16-5) are considered strong NCAA candidates.
The NCAA tournament has become the ultimate measure of conference strength, and Conference USA has seen a dispiriting trend there. In Conference USA’s first two years, representatives advanced to within one game of the Final Four. But a Conference USA team hasn’t made the Sweet 16 in the last three years.
Coaches say Conference USA’s poor national image is the result of an absence of national title contenders. And they say the league has plenty of young, if unseasoned, talent.
“Just because a dominant team like Cincinnati isn’t having the year it has had in the past, a lot of other teams aren’t getting the credit,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said.
But the conference has struggled to fill the void left by Martin, as well as a group of players who left early for the NBA: Cincinnati’s DerMarr Johnson and DePaul’s Quentin Richardson and Paul McPherson.
But every major conference loses players to the NBA. Conference USA’s problem has been coping with turnover. Cincinnati has talented youth but can’t replace Martin’s veteran presence. DePaul is laden with highly touted recruits but often seems rudderless.
The Blue Demons, a preseason conference title contender, may not even make the NIT. With so many of its members relying on inexperienced players, Conference USA probably could have used a softer non-conference schedule. Instead, its schools played the nation’s toughest non-conference slate, according to Basketball Times.
“You’ve got to take it on the chin sometimes to learn,” Memphis coach John Calipari said.
He was talking about his Tigers but could have been talking about the whole conference.
Conference USA teams have been taking it on the chin and in the shins. A year ago, the league had nine wins over ranked non-conference opponents, more than any conference other than the Pac-10. This year, Conference USA has knocked off only five Top 25 non-conference opponents and won’t face another during the regular season.
In conferences such as the Big Ten, teams build their RPIs in the fall, so they don’t get punished if they suffer an upset or two in conference play. But Conference USA’s recent upsets have been devastating. South Florida lost to woeful Tulane and dropped to 72 in the RPIs, and Charlotte dropped to 74 after a loss to equally woeful Houston.
“I think it definitely hurts the perception of all the so-called experts,” South Florida coach Seth Greenberg said. “And yet those experts who once were coaches, I don’t think they’d want to coach in this league. I think the parity and everybody beating each other up is killing us nationally.
“The one thing we can’t change is our perception right now. A DePaul win against UCLA [Saturday in Rosemont] would obviously speak volumes about where we’re at. I think we’ve got a good basketball league and we’ve got a lot of good teams, but we might have made our bed already.”
Devil of a time: One would have to be a Cameron Crazy to believe Jason Williams is going to spend four years at Duke before turning pro, as the Blue Devils’ star sophomore guard promised last weekend. Williams may always change his mind. But by announcing his “final” decision, he removed a potentially enormous distraction when the Blue Devils wade into the NCAA tournament next month.
“Everybody kept talking about it or writing that `This kid could be a top-three pick,'” Williams said. “People kept coming up to me asking about it. I can see how that can break teams apart in a way.
“I didn’t want it coming down to NCAA tournament time and people would ask, `Well, you played great tonight and you know there are scouts here; how do you feel about the NBA?’ I don’t want questions like that. It’s not an issue at all for me. I want to stop people now and get it over with.”
It is probably a wise decision. Two years ago, Corey Maggette, then a Duke freshman, seemed shocked when he heard reports that he might be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The reports turned out to be way off target, but they may have become a distraction for Maggette. After Duke lost to Connecticut in the national final, Maggette and teammates Elton Brand and William Avery became the first Blue Devils to leave early for the pros.
Ahoy, matey: As the boos rained down on Seton Hall’s Eddie Griffin on Sunday in Continental Airlines Arena, it was hard to imagine that he had been hailed as the star who might lead the Pirates to their first Final Four since 1989.
Griffin is a mere freshman. But he was so highly touted coming out of Philadelphia last year that some observers expected him to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft. One year later, Griffin is finding that life in Division I can be difficult.
Griffin heard boos from the home fans when he managed only seven points on 3-of-8 shooting in a stunning 70-64 loss to in-state rival Rutgers, which had not won a conference game. Seton Hall dropped to 3-6 in the Big East and has struggled since Griffin was suspended for a game following a postgame altercation with teammate Ty Shine last month.
“They just played harder than us,” Griffin said after the Rutgers game. “I find myself saying that after almost every game we play.”
Pirates coach Tommy Amaker was quick to defend Griffin. “He doesn’t even turn 19 until May 30,” Amaker said. “When you think of all the things he’s had to endure and what he’s done, I think it’s been phenomenal. So if he’s allowed to have a couple of off games, so be it.”
And the bonus: UCLA’s upset of top-ranked Stanford in Maples Pavilion may have shocked the nation, but it probably didn’t raise an eyebrow among veteran Bruins watchers. They’ve grown used to seeing the Bruins go from mountain top to valley and back. Inconsistency has become the benchmark of Steve Lavin’s tenure at UCLA. Two nights before UCLA beat the Cardinal, the Bruins had been clubbed 92-63 at Cal. Had they been blown out at Stanford, the Bruins might have folded. Instead, they’re starting to look like a team that could be dangerous in March. And that means Lavin might survive yet another season, which would be the biggest upset of all.
Lavin might not be on the hot seat, but North Carolina State’s Herb Sendek is. The Wolfpack’s disheartening home loss to Syracuse last weekend did little to quell the grumbling about the coach. Last week a caller to Sendek’s radio show asked if Sendek would resign if N.C. State didn’t make the NCAA tournament. Sendek said no, but he was stung by the suggestion. “Nobody likes to be confronted that way, so I’m not saying I liked it,” Sendek told the Raleigh News and Observer.
Sendek is signed through 2005.
