Adams: Bandwagon grows for Ohio

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Kentucky in the SEC tournament prepared Tennessee for what it will be up against this afternoon in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

I'm not suggesting that the 14th-seeded Ohio Bobcats remotely resemble the Wildcats in personnel. It's the crowd, not the team, that will seem familiar.

Just as Kentucky fans took over the Bridgestone Arena in the SEC tournament, the Bobcats likely will become the fan favorite at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

They aren't just the Bobcats anymore. They're the Ohio Underdogs.

And you know how irresistible underdogs are in the NCAA tournament.

Georgetown found out in the first round Thursday night as the Ohio bandwagon grew one 3-pointer at a time. By the end of their 97-83 upset, anyone in the arena who wasn't pro-Hoya had adopted the Bobcats as his second favorite team.

The Bobcats' tournament entrance was as compelling as Georgetown's hasty exit. Ninth seeded in the Mid-American Conference tournament, they had to win four consecutive games just to make the NCAA field.

Their appeal isn't all about how they made it this far or whom they eliminated along the way. They're fun to watch.

Point guard D.J. Cooper, the MAC freshman of the year, is listed as 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, but looks at least an inch shorter and 15 pounds lighter. He looms larger when he has the ball, and he has it a lot.

UT coach Bruce Pearl didn't have to watch much videotape before peppering his assistants with questions: "Who is this kid, where is he from and why didn't we recruit him?"

Apparently, the entire Big Ten overlooked Cooper, a Chicago native who chose Ohio over Baylor, California and Kent State.

In the last two must-win games, Cooper has scored 23 points each time and totaled 14 assists. But he's not even the hottest Bobcat.

Fellow guard Armon Bassett, an Indiana transfer and former point guard, averaged 29 points per game in the MAC tournament and scored 32 more against the Hoyas.

Unlike Cooper, Bassett was heavily recruited - three times.

Following the departure of Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson, Bassett was dismissed from the team after his sophomore season. After another round of recruiting, he transferred to UAB, where he stayed for one semester but never played.

Next stop: Ohio University, which put him closer to his family in Indiana and enabled him to play for coach John Groce, who recruited him when Groce was an assistant at Ohio State.

"I had two great years at Indiana, got to play for one of the best coaches of all time," said Bassett, who led the Big Ten in 3-point shooting as a sophomore. "I got into a little trouble along the way, and I had to go through a long while with nothing but bad stuff being written about me.

"It only made me stronger."

Bassett played all 40 minutes against Georgetown, and Cooper played 37. Yet neither looked as tired as the Hoyas.

"I was expecting them to come out with a little more energy than they had," Cooper said.

Cooper and Bassett are Ohio's most prolific 3-point shooters but not the most accurate. Forward Tommy Freeman has made 50.6 percent of his 3-point attempts.

The perimeter attack is reminiscent of another MAC team which left its mark on the NCAA tournament in 2002, Kent State advanced to the elite eight before losing in the last minute to Indiana.

"I think that's why you come to a mid-major school (for) the challenge of getting into the tournament and then to win," Bassett said. "I think people are starting to like us. We've just got to stay humble."

And keep hitting 3s.

John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.