2003–04 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team

2003–04 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
2003–04 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
Conference USA Regular season co-champions; Conference USA tournament champions
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Conference USA
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
AP	No. 11
Record	25–7 (12–4 C-USA)
Head coach	Bob Huggins (15th season);
Assistant coaches	Mick Cronin (8th season); Andy Kennedy (3rd season);
Home arena	Myrl Shoemaker Center
	Seasons ← 2002–03 2004–05 →

2003–04 Conference USA men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
DePaul	12	–	4	.750	22	–	10	.688
No. 24 Memphis	12	–	4	.750	22	–	8	.733
No. 11 Cincinnati †	12	–	4	.750	25	–	7	.781
UAB	12	–	4	.750	22	–	10	.688
Charlotte	12	–	4	.750	21	–	9	.700
Louisville	9	–	7	.563	20	–	10	.667
Saint Louis	9	–	7	.563	19	–	13	.594
Marquette	8	–	8	.500	19	–	12	.613
TCU	7	–	9	.438	12	–	17	.414
Southern Miss	6	–	10	.375	13	–	15	.464
East Carolina	5	–	11	.313	13	–	14	.481
Tulane	4	–	12	.250	11	–	17	.393
Houston	3	–	13	.188	9	–	18	.333
South Florida	1	–	15	.063	7	–	20	.259

† 2004 Conference USA Tournament winner Rankings from AP poll^[1]

The 2003–04 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team represented University of Cincinnati as a member of Conference USA during the 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Bob Huggins, serving in his 15th year at the school. The team finished in a 5-way tie atop the conference regular season standings and won the Conference USA tournament titles to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 4 seed in the Atlanta region. After an opening round victory over East Tennessee State, Cincinnati was beaten in the second round by No. 5 seed Illinois, 92–68. The Bearcats finished with a 25–7 record (12–4 C-USA).

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	2	Field Williams	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Houston, Texas
G	3	John Meeker (W)	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	Troy, Ohio
G	10	Jamaal Lucas	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Corpus Christi, Texas
F	21	James White	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Washington, D.C.
F	54	Jason Maxiell	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	Jr	Chicago, Illinois

Head coach

Bob Huggins

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Source^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Mar 6, 2004	No. 13	No. 20 Memphis	W 83–79	21–6 (12–4)	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, Ohio
Conference USA Tournament
Mar 11, 2004*	No. 13	Louisville Quarterfinals	W 64–62	22–6	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Mar 12, 2004*	No. 13	Saint Louis Semifinals	W 66–46	23–6	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Mar 13, 2004*	No. 13	DePaul Championship game	W 55–50	24–6	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
NCAA tournament
Mar 19, 2004*	(4 ATL) No. 11	vs. (13 ATL) East Tennessee State First Round	W 80–77	25–6	Nationwide Arena Columbus, Ohio
Mar 21, 2004*	(4 ATL) No. 11	vs. (5 ATL) No. 13 Illinois Second Round	L 68–92	25–7	Nationwide Arena Columbus, Ohio
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ATL=Atlanta.

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
AP	18	19	19	18	16	14	12	11	10	6	8	10	13	17	15	13	13	11	Not released
Coaches	19 т	19	19	17	16	12	11	10	7	5	7	10	12	14	12	12	12	12	18

*AP did not release a Week 1 poll nor post-NCAA Tournament rankings

References

^ sports-reference.com 2003-04 Conference USA Season Summary
^ "2003–04 Cincinnati Bearcats Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 26, 2022.

[1] sports-reference.com 2003-04 Conference USA Season Summary

[2] "2003–04 Cincinnati Bearcats Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 26, 2022.

[1]

[2]

v t e Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
Venues	Schmidlapp Gymnasium (1901–1954) Cincinnati Gardens (1949–1954; 1987–1989) Armory Fieldhouse (1954–1976) Riverfront Coliseum (1976–1987) Fifth Third Arena (1989–2017; 2018–present) BB&T Arena (2017–2018)
Rivalries	Louisville Memphis West Virginia Xavier
Culture & lore	Bearcat "Cheer Cincinnati" 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl Longest game in Division I history UC Pep Band
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics