Sixteen years, 399 wins, 10 conference regular-season titles and eight league tournament crowns.
Those are the accomplishments of the University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team under Bob Huggins from 1989-2005.
The schools that presented the two most prominent stops in Huggins’ long coaching career will meet for the first time as Big 12 members when the Bearcats come calling on West Virginia on Wednesday in Morgantown.
Before Huggins coached the Mountaineers from 2007-23, he led the Bearcats to one win shy of 400, still the most by a coach in Cincinnati history. His career record there was 399-127 (.759).
“The guys we had there were great,” Huggins said. “Tony Yates was there before me and left some really good players. We had three guys and players that carried us early on. We were able to recruit better. We used to say that we were on TV more than Homer Simpson. We were on TV every game.”
The Bearcats went 38-26 in Huggins’ first two seasons at Cincinnati.
The 1991-92 Bearcats team flipped the script by going 29-5 and reaching the NCAA Final Four.
The following year, Cincinnati went 27-5 with another NCAA tournament appearance.
After his first two years with the Bearcats, Huggins guided Cincinnati to 14 straight NCAA tournament trips.
Five of the 14 times, the Bearcats were a No. 1 or 2 seed.
Huggins said that the success didn’t happen overnight, but credits the recruiting as a big piece.
“Coach [George] Smith, who coached Oscar [Robertson], came in my office and one day and said that he wanted to help,” Huggins said. “He was phenomenal in terms of getting the old guys back there. The guys that went to the [Final Four under Smith] came in and talked to our guys and spent time with them.
“The city of Cincinnati also attracted people. When you bring recruits to Cincinnati, you can go across the bridge to Covington and Newport [Kentucky] and get a lot of good food and places over there. It’s a great place to grow up.”
Huggins also praised the Bearcats’ willingness to schedule tough games.
“We weren’t afraid to play anybody, anywhere,” Huggins said. “We played Arkansas when Nolan [Richardson] was there. We weren’t afraid to travel. That helped us. When the league kept changing, Mike Slive [commissioner of the Great Midwest Conference and then Conference USA] did a great job of making that the premier basketball league in the country.
“The Big East was the league at the time. We were just as good, with the players in our league. Memphis, DePaul and Tulane all had pros. The atmospheres were always great.”
Huggins coached 13 NBA players while with the Bearcats.
Three of those players were selected in the top 10 of the NBA draft in their respective classes, including Kenyon Martin going No. 1 overall to the New Jersey Nets in the 2000 draft.
Current WVU assistant and former Huggins player DerMarr Johnson was selected No. 6 overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the same draft as Martin.
“You have to get good players,” Huggins said. “You get players to fit what you want to do. You can have great players and play in a system that they’re not good at; then they’re not good players anymore. We tried to mold what we did around our guys. We were getting football guys in to play because we were short on numbers. However, we continued to grow and became more viable in our own city.
“We were surrounded by Ohio State in the north, Kentucky in the south and Indiana in the west, and all had good coaches. We ended up surpassing them.”
Martin pieced together a memorable season under Huggins at Cincinnati.
The 6-foot-9 forward played for the Bearcats from 1996-2000, finishing his career averaging 11 points and eight rebounds per game.
His best season came his senior year, when he averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds, earning him the National Player of the Year and First-Team All-American honors.
“What separated him was his toughness,” Huggins said of Martin. “His athleticism was off the charts. It got to the point where people would not come inside the [3-point arc]. They would not drive it inside the 3, knowing he was going to block it.”
Taylor Kennedy covers sports. He can be reached at 304-348-7935 or tkennedy@hdmediallc.com. Follow @Taylor_Kennedy7 on Twitter.
Those are the accomplishments of the University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team under Bob Huggins from 1989-2005.
The schools that presented the two most prominent stops in Huggins’ long coaching career will meet for the first time as Big 12 members when the Bearcats come calling on West Virginia on Wednesday in Morgantown.
Before Huggins coached the Mountaineers from 2007-23, he led the Bearcats to one win shy of 400, still the most by a coach in Cincinnati history. His career record there was 399-127 (.759).
“The guys we had there were great,” Huggins said. “Tony Yates was there before me and left some really good players. We had three guys and players that carried us early on. We were able to recruit better. We used to say that we were on TV more than Homer Simpson. We were on TV every game.”
The Bearcats went 38-26 in Huggins’ first two seasons at Cincinnati.
The 1991-92 Bearcats team flipped the script by going 29-5 and reaching the NCAA Final Four.
The following year, Cincinnati went 27-5 with another NCAA tournament appearance.
After his first two years with the Bearcats, Huggins guided Cincinnati to 14 straight NCAA tournament trips.
Five of the 14 times, the Bearcats were a No. 1 or 2 seed.
Huggins said that the success didn’t happen overnight, but credits the recruiting as a big piece.
“Coach [George] Smith, who coached Oscar [Robertson], came in my office and one day and said that he wanted to help,” Huggins said. “He was phenomenal in terms of getting the old guys back there. The guys that went to the [Final Four under Smith] came in and talked to our guys and spent time with them.
“The city of Cincinnati also attracted people. When you bring recruits to Cincinnati, you can go across the bridge to Covington and Newport [Kentucky] and get a lot of good food and places over there. It’s a great place to grow up.”
Huggins also praised the Bearcats’ willingness to schedule tough games.
“We weren’t afraid to play anybody, anywhere,” Huggins said. “We played Arkansas when Nolan [Richardson] was there. We weren’t afraid to travel. That helped us. When the league kept changing, Mike Slive [commissioner of the Great Midwest Conference and then Conference USA] did a great job of making that the premier basketball league in the country.
“The Big East was the league at the time. We were just as good, with the players in our league. Memphis, DePaul and Tulane all had pros. The atmospheres were always great.”
Huggins coached 13 NBA players while with the Bearcats.
Three of those players were selected in the top 10 of the NBA draft in their respective classes, including Kenyon Martin going No. 1 overall to the New Jersey Nets in the 2000 draft.
Current WVU assistant and former Huggins player DerMarr Johnson was selected No. 6 overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the same draft as Martin.
“You have to get good players,” Huggins said. “You get players to fit what you want to do. You can have great players and play in a system that they’re not good at; then they’re not good players anymore. We tried to mold what we did around our guys. We were getting football guys in to play because we were short on numbers. However, we continued to grow and became more viable in our own city.
“We were surrounded by Ohio State in the north, Kentucky in the south and Indiana in the west, and all had good coaches. We ended up surpassing them.”
Martin pieced together a memorable season under Huggins at Cincinnati.
The 6-foot-9 forward played for the Bearcats from 1996-2000, finishing his career averaging 11 points and eight rebounds per game.
His best season came his senior year, when he averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds, earning him the National Player of the Year and First-Team All-American honors.
“What separated him was his toughness,” Huggins said of Martin. “His athleticism was off the charts. It got to the point where people would not come inside the [3-point arc]. They would not drive it inside the 3, knowing he was going to block it.”
Taylor Kennedy covers sports. He can be reached at 304-348-7935 or tkennedy@hdmediallc.com. Follow @Taylor_Kennedy7 on Twitter.
