If all things go right, maybe, just maybe . . .
TAMPA, Fla. - For all that Bob Huggins has accomplished over his three decades as a college basketball coach - the 690 wins, the 10 conference tournament championships, the national rankings, the Final Fours - the one thing that is missing stands out like a sore thumb.
TAMPA, Fla. - For all that Bob Huggins has accomplished over his three decades as a college basketball coach - the 690 wins, the 10 conference tournament championships, the national rankings, the Final Fours - the one thing that is missing stands out like a sore thumb.
Sure, there are a ton of coaches - what, 99 percent of them? - who have never won a national championship. That Huggins is not among the one percent who has seems, well, almost an anomaly, an accident of fate.
Still, far from obsessing about it - "Do I act like [I obsess]?'' he laughed Tuesday - Huggins is realistic and pragmatic.
"You know, you learn that all you can do is the best you can,'' the West Virginia coach said. "There are a lot of things that happen that are kind of out of your control. I worry about the things that I have a chance to control. I don't worry about that other stuff.''
The topic seems pertinent today because beginning Thursday here in Tampa, Huggins begins his quest once more. Officially it is his 19th opportunity, which is the number of NCAA tournaments in which his teams at Akron, Cincinnati and West Virginia have played. Truthfully it is his 29th because in the 10 seasons his teams didn't reach this point they at least pointed to it.
His team's chances? Well, let's be honest here. They just aren't very good. A year ago Huggins had a top-10 team that came tantalizingly close by making the Final Four before losing to eventual champion Duke, and this year's group is essentially that one minus perhaps its three best players - Da'Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks and Wellington Smith.
That's not exactly a recipe for success.
Then again, when the Mountaineers begin play at the St. Pete Times Forum against Clemson, who is to say the same kind of fate that has so often worked against Huggins won't work for him this time around?
"We have had - I have had - some opportunities and we've had some crazy things happen,'' Huggins said. "Kenyon [Martin] getting hurt, [Allen] Jackson getting hurt [both when he was at Cincinnati]. I know in 2000 we had a legitimate shot until Kenyon went down.''
Indeed, in 2000 the Bearcats were ranked No. 1 in the country when Martin, perhaps the best player in the country on the best team in the country, broke his leg in the Conference USA tournament. Three years later Huggins' team lost to North Carolina in a regional final playing without Jackson, who hurt his knee in the first round.
Cincinnati lost another regional final to Mississippi State in 1996 when point guard Keith LeGree had to play with a stress fracture in his foot.
TAMPA, Fla. - For all that Bob Huggins has accomplished over his three decades as a college basketball coach - the 690 wins, the 10 conference tournament championships, the national rankings, the Final Fours - the one thing that is missing stands out like a sore thumb.
Sure, there are a ton of coaches - what, 99 percent of them? - who have never won a national championship. That Huggins is not among the one percent who has seems, well, almost an anomaly, an accident of fate.
Still, far from obsessing about it - "Do I act like [I obsess]?'' he laughed Tuesday - Huggins is realistic and pragmatic.
"You know, you learn that all you can do is the best you can,'' the West Virginia coach said. "There are a lot of things that happen that are kind of out of your control. I worry about the things that I have a chance to control. I don't worry about that other stuff.''
The topic seems pertinent today because beginning Thursday here in Tampa, Huggins begins his quest once more. Officially it is his 19th opportunity, which is the number of NCAA tournaments in which his teams at Akron, Cincinnati and West Virginia have played. Truthfully it is his 29th because in the 10 seasons his teams didn't reach this point they at least pointed to it.
His team's chances? Well, let's be honest here. They just aren't very good. A year ago Huggins had a top-10 team that came tantalizingly close by making the Final Four before losing to eventual champion Duke, and this year's group is essentially that one minus perhaps its three best players - Da'Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks and Wellington Smith.
That's not exactly a recipe for success.
Then again, when the Mountaineers begin play at the St. Pete Times Forum against Clemson, who is to say the same kind of fate that has so often worked against Huggins won't work for him this time around?
"We have had - I have had - some opportunities and we've had some crazy things happen,'' Huggins said. "Kenyon [Martin] getting hurt, [Allen] Jackson getting hurt [both when he was at Cincinnati]. I know in 2000 we had a legitimate shot until Kenyon went down.''
Indeed, in 2000 the Bearcats were ranked No. 1 in the country when Martin, perhaps the best player in the country on the best team in the country, broke his leg in the Conference USA tournament. Three years later Huggins' team lost to North Carolina in a regional final playing without Jackson, who hurt his knee in the first round.
Cincinnati lost another regional final to Mississippi State in 1996 when point guard Keith LeGree had to play with a stress fracture in his foot.
The difference this year as opposed to those or even last year is that Huggins can't be harmed by bad things happening because this isn't a team that is working from a position of strength. But he could benefit the other way if, instead of a lot of things going wrong, they went right.
Again, though, a whole lot of things would have to go right if last year's team couldn't do it and this mini-me version does.
"Obviously our margin for error is not what it was a year ago,'' Huggins said. "A year ago we scored whatever we scored, 14 points or something [actually 16] in the first half against Villanova and had enough firepower [to rally and win in overtime]. I'm not sure we can do that. We have to do a whole lot more things right.''
So how does Huggins feel about this team's chances of winning a game or two or six this year?
"You know, it's funny that you ask that because about half an hour ago I told them that when we lost Casey [Mitchell] for those three games [to a suspension], I stood in front of them and said, 'We're going to go win.' And I just told them [Tuesday], there isn't any reason why we can't go win.
"When you think about some of the people that we've beaten and some of the players that we've played against, we're not going to play against anybody better than [Connecticut All-American Kemba] Walker. To me, he's the best player in the country. And we're not going to play against guards that are better than [Notre Dame's Big East player of the year Ben] Hansbrough. We're going to play against some probably that are as good, but we're not going to play against anybody better.''
And who knows? It's the longest of long shots, but maybe this is the year things all go right for Huggins. Or come Thursday night the Mountaineers could be headed home.
Know this, though: While Huggins doesn't obsess about winning a national championship, he yearns to do it. It is no small matter.
"It means a great deal to me, particularly being here,'' Huggins said, referring to his return to his alma mater four years ago. "I'd like nothing more than to win a national championship for the people here in the state of West Virginia. I think that would be awesome.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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