PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bob Huggins needs one win for 500, and
five more this season to fill the only hole in an impressive coaching
resume.
Because for all his success in 13 seasons at Cincinnati — 11
straight NCAA tournament trips, seven consecutive conference titles, three
trips to the national quarterfinals and one Final Four — Huggins still
hasn't won a national
championship.
And it's all not his fault, either. For some reason, March
has been unkind to Huggins.
``You have to have a little bit of luck,'' he said Thursday.
``And certainly you try and make your own luck. But you can't be unlucky.''
The Bearcats have had more than their share of bad breaks,
bad bounces and bad karma in the NCAAs under Huggins.
In 1993, guard Allen Jackson injured a knee just before the
tournament.
Three years later, Keith LeGree broke his foot.
Then there were the four straight years (1997-00) when
Cincinnati teams loaded with NBA talent didn't get past the second round.
In 1997, the early exit came courtesy of a one-point loss to
Iowa State. A year later, Huggins was beaten by his alma mater, West
Virginia, on a 3-pointer banked in at the buzzer.
And in 2000, Huggins' chances of getting back to the Final
Four for the first time since 1992 ended in the conference tournament when
AP Player of the Year Kenyon Martin broke his leg.
Huggins thinks it might be time for things to go his way.
``We haven't been lucky,'' he said. ``They say that all
balances out.''
Top-seeded Cincinnati (30-3) will play No. 16 Boston
University in Friday night's first game. In the late game, No. 8-seeded UCLA
meets No. 9 Mississippi.
In the early games, No. 3 Pittsburgh, playing just a short
drive from its campus, plays No. 14 Central Connecticut, followed by No. 6
California against No. 11 Pennsylvania.
A first-round win would make Huggins 500-171 in 21 seasons,
making him the 95th coach to reach the plateau.
But he would trade all of them to win his final game of the
season.
After his team was eliminated in the West Regional final by
Stanford last year, Huggins was on a panel with Louisville coach Denny Crum,
who like Huggins, had some close calls before finally winning a national
title.
``Denny said, 'Look at Huggs down there, he's been really
unlucky.' And I think there's been a lot of truth to that,'' Huggins said.
Huggins' luck could be changing.
Before the Bearcats even tipped off their first game in this
year's tournament, things were already starting to go their way.
After beating Marquette in the Conference-USA final,
Cincinnati was awarded the No. 1 seed in the West regional.
The top seeding was a first for the school but the fifth
time since 1994 that Cincinnati had been placed in the region.
Instead of packing for a flight to Anaheim, San Diego,
Boise, Salt Lake City or Ogden, though, the Bearcats simply boarded a bus
for the five-hour drive to Pittsburgh.
``Hey, maybe that is a good sign,'' senior guard Steve Logan
said.
Meanwhile, Huggins will be coaching in this year's
tournament amid talk that he might leave Cincinnati after the season for
West Virginia or an NBA job.
He's not letting the speculation distract him.
``I haven't talked to anybody at the university,'' he said.
``My total focus is to making sure I do the best job to make sure these guys
have every opportunity to win. That's what I do every year.''
