Ken Davis

When it comes to personnel moves, college basketball coaches are pretty limited. They can’t make trades. They can’t call up players from the minor leagues. Transfers aren’t eligible immediately.

So when times get tough and injuries hit hard, coaches are forced to go with what they have. And that’s when a team’s actual depth is exposed.

Just ask Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon.

The Panthers defeated Duke just before Christmas and everyone crowned Pitt a Final Four contender. But senior forward Mike Cook tore his ACL in that game and junior point guard Levance Fields went down with a fractured foot one game later. The Panthers have been reduced to eight active scholarship players and two walk-ons, the type of numbers that barely get a program through practice.

“We have another walk-on and he comes some days, but he’s got an internship with Price-Waterhouse so we work around that,” Dixon said.

Dixon and the Panthers have kept more than their sense of humor. They’ve lost three games, but they’ve held on to their national ranking and somehow they remain even more than relevant.

Pitt is the only Big East team with a victory over conference favorite Georgetown. Despite the fact so many wanted to write off the Panthers, Dixon had no interest in shifting his focus to next season. Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin have performed more than admirably as replacements. Each scored 18 points in the victory over Georgetown. If the Panthers can hold things together until Fields rejoins the team, they could be a dangerous team in March again.

The Pittsburgh story is rather extreme but, in many ways, it is symbolic of what has happened in college basketball this season. Ranked teams have been hit hard by injuries this season. But the teams that are separating themselves from the rest of the pack, the teams that are now beginning the battle for top seeds in the NCAA Tournament, seem to be the teams with the most depth.

Memphis, Kansas, Tennessee, Duke, Washington State, UCLA, Georgetown and Michigan State all have outstanding, quality depth.

That hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent years. In fact, the Florida teams that made headlines with back-to-back championships the past two seasons will never be remembered among the deepest in NCAA history. Billy Donovan’s formula focused on his talented and team-oriented starters. All five starters averaged double-figures. Donovan may have had an eight-man rotation but the players off the bench were role players who didn’t produce much in the way of statistics.

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It has become fashionable to try to compare Kansas to those Florida teams. Four starters are averaging double-figures, but this Kansas team actually has much better depth than the Gators. Bill Self’s team has a solid nine-man rotation and the Kansas bench is averaging almost 29 points per game. Early season injuries to Brandon Rush and Sherron Collins allowed Kansas to develop better depth. And the dramatic development of senior forward Darnell Jackson means former starter Sasha Kaun now comes off the bench. With four capable big men, the Jayhawks will have the security of more fouls to give in postseason play.

“There is not really one person in their lineup that you can leave to provide some help on somebody else,” Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said after his team lost 83-59 to Kansas Wednesday night.

North Carolina, ranked No. 1 for the majority of the season, had been living on the edge in recent weeks and eventually was upset by Maryland last Saturday. Coach Roy Williams likes to wear down opponents and his ideal rotation has always involved a minimum of nine players. The Tar Heels aren’t at that level this season. The loss of Bobby Frasor (torn ACL) was bigger than most people realized. With a seven-man rotation (especially the seven Williams can put on the court), the Tar Heels can still win it all. But they will have to play smarter, stay out of foul trouble, and avoid nagging injuries.

Bruce Pearl has his deepest team since coming to Tennessee and the Vols have risen to the top in the Southeastern Conference. They will be even deeper when forward Duke Crews returns to action. But Kentucky, finally getting some of its injured players back, overcame Tennessee’s depth in Lexington by forcing tempo. The Wildcats decided to grind it out against the Vols, running time off the shot clock and cutting down on the number of possessions. That helped Kentucky to a 72-66 victory.

So depth obviously isn’t the only key. Wisconsin is winning with extraordinary balance. Indiana, with D.J. White and Eric Gordon, and Vanderbilt, with Shan Foster and A.J. Ogilvy, are excelling with star power.

But in a season that has seen so many injuries, relying heavily on one or two players seems to be a risky proposition. The winning recipe, come March, might include a heavy helping of depth.

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