The Joe College Report

Perpetually dyspeptic Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins was so angry at his Bearcats after their Dec. 30 loss to Toledo that he booted them out of their locker room at the Shoemaker Center. Their new digs? The men's soccer dressing room. "We've had champions dress in that locker room," said Huggins of the Bearcats, who have won the last five Conference USA titles, "and our guys right now are not playing or working like champions." As of last week Huggy Bear's charges were back for a second round in their original dressing room, but for how long? After all, fans know about their recent spate of bad performances in the second round....

Alabama freshman forward Gerald Wallace is proving that he was right not to go straight to the NBA. He started the season with a bang, leading the SEC in scoring with a 20.3 average after six games. But in nine outings since then, through Monday, he'd produced 8.0 points a game and his minutes had diminished. Worse, in his first three conference games he'd averaged a mere 5.7. "Once he got into the SEC schedule, everything got faster, bigger, stronger," says Crimson Tide coach Mark Gottfried. "He's learning, like all freshmen."

...An actual passage from the Florida State media notes before its 99-72 loss to Duke on Jan. 4: " Florida State is undefeated, 4-0, when it outscores its opponents." Too bad the floundering semi-'Noles are 0-11 when being outscored. Bewildered coach Steve Robinson has performed the singular feat of making former Florida State coach Pat Kennedy look like John Wooden.