Losing streak ends at 3

[DCWV4life]

I honestly feel we give him to much credit because he is a “WVU guy”.

if you look at his record here with an unbiased approach what has he really done?

Good:
1 Final Four
1 BE tourney champ

Bad:
2 first round exits
1 Nit First round exit
1 pay to play tourney loss
Failed to develop any NBA talent or maybe you could put one on the list

lifetime contracts are a mistake anytime IMO, but I think Huggs should call it quits soon. From is on court coaching to his post game interviews it is getting old quick.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

Not a good look at all right now.

One side of me says “its just a young team” wait til next year” ect.

But then another side says “Huggs has lost another team and his offensive philosophy is the problem yet he wont change it up” or

“well there goes another group out the door at the end of this year that might actually be good next year but the transfer rules ect. Have done away with any patience at all on everybody’s part”

Its a mess right now for sure.

Looking at our stats, the philosophy makes sense. Pound it inside. Do what you're good at. The problem is defenses have caught on to the lack of perimeter shooting and are doubling the bigs. So now our limiting scoring is coming from second chance points. Rebounds and quick put backs.

This team needs a perimeter threat and someone who can drive to the hoop. Right now, none of the guards are a scoring threat.

 

[bbwvfan]

Looking at our stats, the philosophy makes sense. Pound it inside. Do what you're good at. The problem is defenses have caught on to the lack of perimeter shooting and are doubling the bigs. So now our limiting scoring is coming from second chance points. Rebounds and quick put backs.

This team needs a perimeter threat and someone who can drive to the hoop. Right now, none of the guards are a scoring threat.

Here is my problem with blaming our lack of perimeter shooting on our guards. Let’s look at the starting 5.... McCabe and Haley at guard... Matthews, OT and DC at forward. Of those 5, there are two perimeter threats. Unfortunately, both have gone mental and are really no threat. There are 3 guys packing the lane on almost every possession with this rotation... DC, OT and either Haley or Matthews. There are no driving lanes. There are no set screens on the outside for perimeter shots.

When McBride, Taz or McNeil sub at the guard position... there is still no openings in the lane as Gabe cannot pull a defender out of the lane either. McBride’s shooting has fallen as teams scout us and give him no room. Our bigs get doubled in the paint... our guards have defenders in ball deny... our guards have defenders playing them so tight they can’t get a shot off. If they take the man off dribble... where can they go? There is no space... no lanes to exploit.

IMO, our best offense has been when we go really small. Essentially 4 guards and OT. When our spacing is good, our guards can take advantage. Dribble drive and kick outs. Better perimeter passing.

But, we’re stuck in feeding the goddamn post. It sucks...

 

[Mac_Bridger]

Here is my problem with blaming our lack of perimeter shooting on our guards. Let’s look at the starting 5.... McCabe and Haley at guard... Matthews, OT and DC at forward. Of those 5, there are two perimeter threats. Unfortunately, both have gone mental and are really no threat. There are 3 guys packing the lane on almost every possession with this rotation... DC, OT and either Haley or Matthews. There are no driving lanes. There are no set screens on the outside for perimeter shots.

When McBride, Taz or McNeil sub at the guard position... there is still no openings in the lane as Gabe cannot pull a defender out of the lane either. McBride’s shooting has fallen as teams scout us and give him no room. Our bigs get doubled in the paint... our guards have defenders in ball deny... our guards have defenders playing them so tight they can’t get a shot off. If they take the man off dribble... where can they go? There is no space... no lanes to exploit.

IMO, our best offense has been when we go really small. Essentially 4 guards and OT. When our spacing is good, our guards can take advantage. Dribble drive and kick outs. Better perimeter passing.

But, we’re stuck in feeding the goddamn post. It sucks...

DC posted this stat. WVU ranks 338 of 353 in 3 point %.

You don't get that low just because shooters are guarded. You get that low missing both contested, and open shots. Then you have guys taking shots from Keyser... I've seen enough games to notice all these.

 

[bbwvfan]

DC posted this stat. WVU ranks 338 of 353 in 3 point %.

You don't get that low just because shooters are guarded. You get that low missing both contested, and open shots. Then you have guys taking shots from Keyser... I've seen enough games to notice all these.

Ok... obviously we see things differently.

We are not running offense to give our guards easy looks. Yes... our guards miss open opportunities. But, our guards get less shooting attempts than our forwards.

We are averaging less than 18 3PA per game. We are ranked #307 in 3PA’s.

IMO... shooters have to shoot. They have to be in rhythm. I think it’s a really tough spot for our shooters to get yanked from the game if they take a 3 early in the shot clock if it’s missed. I think they’re in a tough spot if they have to sit on the bench and then come in to play spot minutes... with the purpose to put up 3’s.

 

[WVUDAD]

I honestly feel we give him to much credit because he is a “WVU guy”.

if you look at his record here with an unbiased approach what has he really done?

Good:
1 Final Four
1 BE tourney champ

Bad:
2 first round exits
1 Nit First round exit
1 pay to play tourney loss
Failed to develop any NBA talent or maybe you could put one on the list

lifetime contracts are a mistake anytime IMO, but I think Huggs should call it quits soon. From is on court coaching to his post game interviews it is getting old quick.

That is all true, but look at the history of WVU basketball and what Huggins has done in comparison:
WVU has won 31 NCAA tourney games, 13 under Huggins
WVU has been to the sweet 16 nine times, five under Huggins
WVU has been to the final four twice, once under Huggins
first round exits?? look at Fred Schaus teams, 4 in five years
There were stretches of multiple years where we didn't even make it to the tourney, Huggins gets us there most of the time

I may be jaded by growing up in the dark days of WVU sports, Moran, Gardner, and Catlett....I was in school at WVU when we had that great team in 1982-83, that ended up losing in the first round at the NCAAs,

Our greatest years of basketball have been under Huggins, we are not Duke where failure is not winning it all, we are WVU, where historically just making the tourney is good, and the sweet 16 is a great season.

 

[WVUDAD]

As to NBA; pretty meager list over the years:
West Virginia Players in the NBA - RealGM

 

[bbwvfan]

That is all true, but look at the history of WVU basketball and what Huggins has done in comparison:
WVU has won 31 NCAA tourney games, 13 under Huggins
WVU has been to the sweet 16 nine times, five under Huggins
WVU has been to the final four twice, once under Huggins
first round exits?? look at Fred Schaus teams, 4 in five years
There were stretches of multiple years where we didn't even make it to the tourney, Huggins gets us there most of the time

I may be jaded by growing up in the dark days of WVU sports, Moran, Gardner, and Catlett....I was in school at WVU when we had that great team in 1982-83, that ended up losing in the first round at the NCAAs,

Our greatest years of basketball have been under Huggins, we are not Duke where failure is not winning it all, we are WVU, where historically just making the tourney is good, and the sweet 16 is a great season.

All of this is true. And, while it may come off as being delusional... I expected Huggins to do this for us... at the very least. My expectations for Huggins were quite higher. Maybe I was being unfair. But, look at what he accomplished at Cincy where his teams played in the Great Midwest Conference... C-USA.

• With the exception of two years, his teams never won less than 20 games...
• he had one year when Cincy was the #1 team in the country....
• his teams finished in the top 10 six of his 16 seasons there
• 11 top 25 year end teams
• NCAA tourney team the last 14 of his 16 years there... missed out his first two years... only
• Never had a .500 season or below a .500 season while HC at Cincy

Again... competition may not have been as tough as the BE or the Big 12... but, his Cincy teams did not have the national exposure nor the resources he currently enjoys at WVU... nor since he arrived at WVU.

I'm sure Bobby wants nothing more than to win a NC while he's the HC of WVU. I simply hope he's not too stubborn in his old school ways to keep it from happening.

 

[78Cyclones]

This team is incapable of winning on the road...

Hey now! I've seen them do it @ Hilton - no less.

 

[78Cyclones]

Fun fact:

No Bob Huggins tournament team has ever had a 4 game losing streak...

Also, Huggs tied Dean Smith with that W.
Now, on to the weasel, Roy Williams.

That is awesome! Ironically, I saw Dean Smith pass Adolph Rupp many, many years ago in an NCAA Game in the Carolina Invitational @ Winston-Salem in 1997. UNC beat Colorado (with Chauncey Billups) in the first game, and Cal (with Tony Gonzalez) beat Villanova (with Tim Thomas) in the second game. After UNC won, all of the Carolina blue fans left, so I was able to move down from the cheap seats to some sweet mid-court lower level seats for the second game to root for Cal (reason I was there). So glad Huggins passed Dean Smith! Apparently, I saw Huggins add to his lead @ Iowa State earlier this week. Nobody's perfect!

 

[bbwvfan]

Great win yesterday! I was texting my son who's a SO at WVU this year through the game. At one point in the 2nd half, he texted... 'this is fun'...

It had been awhile since it had been fun to watch this team play. But, it was so much fun to hear the Coliseum getting loud... to watch our kids take control of the game... Deuce and Oscar slamming home dunk after dunk after dunk...

And, I've been all over the subject of our offense and how it shouldn't go through the post... that our guards need to shoot. Due to Culver's horrendous FT shooting, Huggs could not keep him on the court. He ended the game with just 6 FGA. With our offense not going through him... with our guards not forced to spend shot clock trying to get the ball into him each possession... we shot 46.2% from the field and 36.4% from the 3.

Of course it was wonderful to see Matthews come out of his coma! Kid played a great game on both sides of the court. Funny how mental the game can be. But, it's just my opinion... the bank shot he made (unintentionally?)... got him to believe! He ended the game 6-11 from the field... 2-3 on 3PT and 4-5 FT. He played the most minutes of anyone.

 

[WVUDAD]

Great win yesterday! I was texting my son who's a SO at WVU this year through the game. At one point in the 2nd half, he texted... 'this is fun'...

It had been awhile since it had been fun to watch this team play. But, it was so much fun to hear the Coliseum getting loud... to watch our kids take control of the game... Deuce and Oscar slamming home dunk after dunk after dunk...

And, I've been all over the subject of our offense and how it shouldn't go through the post... that our guards need to shoot. Due to Culver's horrendous FT shooting, Huggs could not keep him on the court. He ended the game with just 6 FGA. With our offense not going through him... with our guards not forced to spend shot clock trying to get the ball into him each possession... we shot 46.2% from the field and 36.4% from the 3.

Of course it was wonderful to see Matthews come out of his coma! Kid played a great game on both sides of the court. Funny how mental the game can be. But, it's just my opinion... the bank shot he made (unintentionally?)... got him to believe! He ended the game 6-11 from the field... 2-3 on 3PT and 4-5 FT. He played the most minutes of anyone.

The highlight of the game, to me, is that WVU won the game by making late game free throws!!!!!! I THINK I read that we make 17/19 in the last ten minutes of the game???? WOW

 

[WVUDAD]

17/20 in the last THREE minutes, sorry. Just looked at the play by play on CBS

 

[WVUDAD]

All of this is true. And, while it may come off as being delusional... I expected Huggins to do this for us... at the very least. My expectations for Huggins were quite higher. Maybe I was being unfair. But, look at what he accomplished at Cincy where his teams played in the Great Midwest Conference... C-USA.

• With the exception of two years, his teams never won less than 20 games...
• he had one year when Cincy was the #1 team in the country....
• his teams finished in the top 10 six of his 16 seasons there
• 11 top 25 year end teams
• NCAA tourney team the last 14 of his 16 years there... missed out his first two years... only
• Never had a .500 season or below a .500 season while HC at Cincy

Again... competition may not have been as tough as the BE or the Big 12... but, his Cincy teams did not have the national exposure nor the resources he currently enjoys at WVU... nor since he arrived at WVU.

I'm sure Bobby wants nothing more than to win a NC while he's the HC of WVU. I simply hope he's not too stubborn in his old school ways to keep it from happening.

Huggins has bumped us up a few notches, for sure, we are much better off today than at any time since West, Hundley, Thorne were on the court, but we indeed haven't seen the success that he had in Cinci. I think there a couple things going on, and you have said it before. Part of it, IMO, is the competition, Cinci played in the Metro and CUSA, so the competition was probably a little weaker. I also think recruiting for roundball in Cinci is pretty easy, there is some GREAT HS basketball in that city!!! I also think Huggins old school coaching techniques don't sit well with the prima donna athletes today. I would hate to be a college coach today, the transfer rules, the spoiled brat kids, the constant spotlight. In his days at Cinci, you pretty much got a kid in and had him for three or four years, they couldn't bail out with an easy transfer, so they bought into the team, now it is a revolving door, so a coach doesn't get a chance to really coach the kid on the bench for next year, as they transfer out to somewhere they can play right away with their physical talent, without learning the game. I think that is why Huggins is still starting McCabe, he is a team kid all the way.

 

[Slaton10]

That is all true, but look at the history of WVU basketball and what Huggins has done in comparison:
WVU has won 31 NCAA tourney games, 13 under Huggins
WVU has been to the sweet 16 nine times, five under Huggins
WVU has been to the final four twice, once under Huggins
first round exits?? look at Fred Schaus teams, 4 in five years
There were stretches of multiple years where we didn't even make it to the tourney, Huggins gets us there most of the time

I may be jaded by growing up in the dark days of WVU sports, Moran, Gardner, and Catlett....I was in school at WVU when we had that great team in 1982-83, that ended up losing in the first round at the NCAAs,

Our greatest years of basketball have been under Huggins, we are not Duke where failure is not winning it all, we are WVU, where historically just making the tourney is good, and the sweet 16 is a great season.

I would suggest what Belein did here in his short time trumps this resume....he took the team from a monster dumpster fire and turned them into a legit program in a nano-second

 

[WVUDAD]

I would suggest what Belein did here in his short time trumps this resume....he took the team from a monster dumpster fire and turned them into a legit program in a nano-second

I don't think it trumps it, but it certainly set Huggins up nicely!!!