There are two reasons why Conference USA remains stuck in mediocre traffic instead of merging into the Heavyweight League Superhighway:
1) Kenyon Martin's snapped tibia in March 2000.
2) The David Stern grip-and-grin.
The former was a one-year calamity that cost Cincinnati an excellent chance to become the first C-USA school to crash the Final Four. The latter has become a chronic concern for a league still far short on fulfilling its promise.
It's tough for a conference to accelerate authoritatively when its best players are continuously leaving school early -- in many cases very early -- for the NBA Draft. Every league is being hit, but C-USA is taking direct hits.
It had six players drafted last month, five of them underclassmen. In the league's six seasons of middling existence, at least a dozen budding stars have gone pro after two or fewer years of college.
Cincinnati looked like a longterm national title contender until DerMarr Johnson jumped after one year and Kenny Satterfield foolishly left after two. (Maybe Kenny, tepidly taken with the 54th selection last month, is a closet USBL fan.)
DePaul has been strafed: Star signee Eddy Curry never matriculated, opting for that other Windy City team, the Bulls; Quentin Richardson and Steven Hunter played two years; junior-college transfer Paul McPherson played one; Bobby Simmons did the program a huge favor by sticking around for three. (Not too many Shane Battier types in the Chicago public school leagues that DePaul recruits heavily.)
Saint Louis and Houston lost homeboys and potential program builders Larry Hughes and Alton Ford, respectively, after their freshman years. Hughes at least was a lottery pick, in 1998. Ford wasn't selected until the middle of the second round last month.
Charlotte made its fourth NCAA appearance in the last five years in March, but lost superstar forward Rodney White to the lottery after a single season. Louisville still hasn't had a big man who could play since Samaki Walker flew the coop in 1996 after his sophomore season. Memphis lost Lorenzen Wright after two years as well.
And the 2002 draft could feature more of the same. If Memphis doesn't lose both sublime guard Dajuan Wagner after one year and 6-10 recruit Amare Stoudemire before he arrives, it'll be a major shock. DePaul has more talented young Chicagoans who might find The League before they find the library. Anybody else who averages double figures is a threat to bolt as well.
All of which brings us to the one school stopping the madness. Take a bow, South Florida, for having potential pros Altron Jackson and B.B. Waldon as seniors. And take your place among the favorites to win Conference USA in 2002.
"We're good," coach Seth Greenberg said, unapologetically and unflinchingly. "We're not backing down from the expectations. We expect to be good. As good as any team in the league.
"Tron and B.B. are going to have great senior years."
Fact is, Tron and B.B. had pretty nice junior years -- nice enough, by modern standards, to kiss academia goodbye and get paid. The slippery 6-foot-6 Jackson averaged a league-leading 18.9 points and 4.9 rebounds, and was pushing for league Player of the Year honors before a late-season ankle sprain slowed him down. (Not bad for a guy who doesn't start.) The 6-8 Waldon's year was marred by a four-game disciplinary suspension in February, but he still averaged 17.1 points and 7.2 rebounds to give South Florida one of the top scoring tandems in America.
Jackson and Waldon were productive enough to have drawn attention from the modern scourges of college ball, agent runners. By midseason they were receiving phone calls in their dorm, so they sought the counsel of their coach.
"We've got an unbelievable relationship with these kids," Greenberg said proudly. "As opposed to having runners and outside people involved in the relationship, they came to us. They said, 'What should we do about this?'
"There's a lot of guys who had the truth distorted for them, and it ruined their careers. Kenny Satterfield is an example. In two months, a dirtbag runner can tear down everything you work five years to build up.
"We talked to our kids, and I think they believed us. I think we have a good enough relationship that the kids bought into what we said, which was the truth."
The truth: both had much to gain by playing a senior season at South Florida. Jackson almost certainly would have been drafted, while Waldon's status was slightly more unsure. But another year of posting impressive numbers -- and perhaps dragging the Bulls to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years -- could greatly enhance their profiles.
South Florida has been on the cusp of a breakthrough the past four years. Greenberg took over a downtrodden program and has built it to the point where bigger things are now expected.
He has upgraded the program's visibility by scheduling bigger and recruiting aggressively in a state that has taken a recent shine to hoops (hello, Florida and Miami). But the high-water mark has been a single NIT bid. Greenberg (74-73 in five years, including 18-13 last year) could use an NCAA berth to keep the carbonation in his five-year run in Tampa.
It will be largely up to Jackson and Waldon to get that done. At least they're still around to see the job through, which is enough to set South Florida apart in depleted Conference USA.
Around Conference USA
The day of reckoning is coming for prized Louisville recruit Brandon Bender and his new coach, Rick Pitino. The gifted 6-9 Bender could go a long way to solving the Cardinals' glaring interior problems -- if he'll commit to getting in shape. He's only 220 pounds, but it's a soft 220.
So far he's been slow to the task, while the rest of Pitino's signees have thrown themselves into a daunting summer workout regimen. Pitino is already making pessimistic comments about Bender's ability to contribute if he shows up out of shape, and he means it. The day the big man from Ballard High School weighs in and has his body fat calibrated could be among the most important days of the year for the Cards.
When it happened in the spring, few people figured star recruit Amare Stoudemire would follow through on his oral commitment to Memphis. After he showed up at the Nike All-American Camp with a public-relations man in tow, handing out press packets, that number dwindled to zero.
Forgive Texas Christian coach Billy Tubbs if he looks a bit disoriented during the Horned Frogs' initial season in the league. By Tubbs' count, this is TCU's fourth difference conference lineup in his eight years in Forth Worth.
"It could be an NCAA record," Tubbs said.
Marquette and Saint Louis, two programs looking to break through with promising third-year coaches Tom Crean and Lorenzo Romar, respectively, have added quality ACC opponents to the schedule.
Marquette has signed a home-and-home deal with Wake Forest. Saint Louis will play a mid-February game against Georgia Tech that will be televised by ABC. Those are the kinds of potential quality wins that can get a team into the NCAA Tournament.
rean has continued his recruiting strides at Marquette, landing a couple of big men for the 2002-03 season. This year's Golden Eagles team should be significantly more athletic than his first two.
Other scheduling notes: Former Kentucky assistant Shawn Finney, now the head coach at Tulane, will see old boss Tubby Smith this year and next. The Green Wave are scheduled to be flogged Jan. 2 in Louisville, the Wildcats' annual game at Freedom Hall. Charlotte gets its home return for last year's trip to Indiana. The 49ers blew a 17-point second-half lead in that game.
Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com
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