~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[Kris61]

He's anything but Huggy...

Look, I’m gonna throw my two cents in here knowing full well it won’t change your opinion.  But Huggs probably isn’t as bad a guy as you imagine him being.

Some of the stuff that drew criticism at UC hasn’t been an issue at WVU.  He has routinely graduated between 70-100% of his players here. Just the other day I read where 41 of the last 42 seniors to play under him have left with degrees. His best player this year, Jevon Carter, was just named the Academic All American of the Year for Men’s Division I basketball.  Besides that, I believe that the way the NCAA counted JUCO’s toward graduation rates impacted his numbers at UC.  I honestly can’t think of an off court incident involving one of his players here. If someone has been arrested during his tenure here then it is slipping my mind.

Neither he or WVU was mentioned in any of the FBI reports that recently came out.  Now, if you flat out don’t like his personality or demeanor then that is absolutely your prerogative.  I won’t try to talk you out of it, but his coaching peers seem to almost universally love him. Chances are if there is a coach out there you like and respect then he likes and respects Huggs.  His personality and wit are actually a little too dry for my tastes, but whatever. To each his own.

He has started an endowment at WVU in his mother’s name to fund cancer research that is approaching 1.5 million dollars and is growing everyday.  Like I said, if your heels are dug in on not liking him then nothing I said will change that but I wanted to mount a little defense of him anyway. He told Clark Kellogg in an interview last year that he got wind from former players that a few years ago Sports Illustrated was attempting to do a pretty scathing piece on him and contacted many former players looking for “dirt.”

They couldn’t find anyone who could give them any information that would be helpful in their endeavor so they dropped it.

[ELA]

Mike DiCourcey who is national now, but was on the Cincinnati beat for a while back in the early 90s was saying just recently that over 30 years of covering basketball, the guys who has the most unfair reputation is Hugs.

Yeah, he won at Cincinnati largely with guys who had not a prayer of getting in amywhere else, and I hated him, and his program.  Then he rolled into KSU, and mysteriously had McD AAs in tow.

But he has really changed my opinion of him during his time at WVU.

[847badgerfan]

I guess I've not really followed him much since Cincy. I'm pleased to hear he is doing good things off the court at his alma mater. 

[MarqHusker]

Back when I followed hoops fairly closely , Huggins was very much a curse word.  I can think of all the less than desirables in my mind, so many angry times.  For a moment I think they replaced Louisville as most hated conference rival for Marquette.

[Kris61]

I’m not trying to paint the guy as a saint.  He had the DUI at UC.  He recruited some players who got in trouble.  Those things happened and deserve to be part of any conversation about Huggins.

I think the other part is his teams play a style of basketball that isn’t necessarily aesthetically pleasing.  He got fat and ditched suits and ties for windbreakers.  Some of that stuff rubs people the wrong way.  I had a perfect stranger in an airport tell me she thought Huggins wearing windbreakers on the sidelines was the most unprofessional thing she had ever seen. I mean, everybody has an opinion.

But if anyone thinks he’s an Art Briles type of “win at all costs” then, no, I don’t think that is accurate.

[Brutus Buckeye]

I was a huge fan of Huggins when he was at UC. His full court press was a sight to behold. They won CUSA every year. They were aggressive, and they didn't back down from anybody. 

So I understand why he makes opposing fan bases grouchy. He bruised a lot of players, feelings and egos along the way. 

I'm not surprised that the off the court troubles have diminished, as they were mostly a product of the environment. While it's been cleaned up since his departure, the area around UC's campus was downright dangerous back when he was coaching. You aren't going to be able to convince choir boys to ball in Over da Rhine Cincinnati back in the 90s. You had to win with the Urban street baller type that learned to play ball on blacktop courts with chain-link nets hanging from the rims. Cocky guys who aren't afraid to play a little dirty. Step on a few toes, throw a couple elbows.... Sure you might wind up having a player punch a police horse here and there. But it makes for a pretty entertaining brand of Basketball that you love if it's your team and hate if you have to go up against it. 

[FearlessF]

 He got fat and ditched suits and ties for windbreakers.  Some of that stuff rubs people the wrong way.  I had a perfect stranger in an airport tell me she thought Huggins wearing windbreakers on the sidelines was the most unprofessional thing she had ever seen. I mean, everybody has an opinion.

better than  George Raveling on the Iowa bench

[FearlessF]

my KSU buddies seemed to really like Huggins while he was in the Little Apple, they were sad to see him go

but, obviously the Purple cat fans would sell their souls to beat the Jayhawks

[Brutus Buckeye]

I think that we can easily extrapolate which schools he might've knocked out of the Tourney a time or two, based on some of the ongoing vitriol...

[847badgerfan]

It ain't me. To my recollection, UW has only played them one time in the NCAA tourney, and the good guys won.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Sparty? 

[MrNubbz]

I never had faith in MSU getting past Duke, so at least when MSU went down, I figured after 24 hours to cool off I could still root for my bracket.  Then back to back I lost a Final 4 team (UNC), then a Finals team (Cincy), and the whole thing had gone to hell.

Brutal i tell ya no matter which way I looked holes were getting blasted in good programs(and my bracket).I had MSU winning the hardware

[FearlessF]

Sparty?

well, it certainly wasn't Herbie Husker

[MarqHusker]

Marquette played Cincy pretty well on the later half of Higgins stint at UC, as Marquette and Luvl were the only two schools to win a outright CUSA title other than Cincy, during Huggins' reign.   They had some great tussles.  

Before that though, he had his way, looks like he was 19-11 during his tenure at UC.  I remember when UC was #1 at the Bradley Center, and Brian Wardle scored all 24 Marquette points in the 1st half.