--West Virginia basketball head coach Bob Huggins said he was bored out in South Dakota in a bubble so when he saw the outbreak at Tennessee, he took the chance to play Gonzaga. He has been doing this a long time and has friends at ESPN, so he thought what the heck let’s go play the Bulldogs.
--Huggins believes he’d have a hard time naming a true point guard anymore. There isn’t a lot of difference between Deuce McBride and Truck Bryant. He doesn’t know many programs that have true point guards anymore and everybody wants to score and works on that aspect of their game.
--Huggins doesn’t believe this group has played near as well as he thinks they could play. They haven’t guarded nearly as well as they did last year with the same group. They didn’t guard the teams in South Dakota the same way they did teams in their own league. They’re leaving guys open and their floor vision has to improve. But to pass it, you have to want to pass it and they have to get there, too.
--All Huggins knows is Gonzaga hasn’t said they won’t be playing in the game in regard to COVID-19. It’s not up to the teams though it’s up to the health board. When the Bulldogs had an outbreak, they went to the local health board and did what they were supposed to do. That’s what they have to do in those situations so it’s not the usual decision makers making the calls on these games.
--Gonzaga is good. They’re very skilled and that’s been a trait of that program for a lot of years. They have a lot of very skilled guys and pass it extremely well and shoot it as well as anybody they’ve played in a long time. The guys that are starting are really good. He doesn’t worry about Derek Culver’s ability to match up with a 7-footer and Gabe Osabuohien can guard anybody. The perimeter defense is where he is the most concerned and has been the biggest issue.
--West Virginia has always played a hard schedule. They’ve always played somebody that in the top ten and is going to challenge them. They haven’t run from anybody during Huggins’ tenure.
--The deal getting out of South Dakota was a travesty and it’s not the airport people but the transportation people that sent the plane. It wasn’t good and they had to wait around.
--The players were fine after playing three games in three days. They were able to get some guys a break but there were no issues there.
--Foul trouble was the reason Oscar Tshiebwe had to come out of the game, but he hasn’t finished around the rim the way he did a year ago. They have to be able to do that with him.
--Youngstown State has been pretty much shut down so if there is anybody in the country that he can work with it’s Jared Calhoun when it comes to rescheduling things.
--A lot of the teams that have pulled upsets have to do with guys leaving early and transferring such as in Richmond against Kentucky. Richmond is one of the better teams in the country because their guys stayed, and they run offense as well as any team in the nation.
--Huggins feels that the immediate eligibility for transfers, which will pass, is the worst rule since the APR. The gap between the mid-majors and majors is going to close more and more and the NCAA is on the verge of creating a terrible mess. The days of taking Da’Sean Butler, who wasn’t recruited heavily, and developing him is going to be hard to do.
--Quite honestly, they didn’t get to see enough of the newcomers on the roster because they had to try to win the games and you feel a lot more comfortable with guys that have been there before. Why do they have to mess with something that is not broken with the exhibition games and scrimmages?
--Dunking the ball depends on who is around you in the case of Tshiebwe, so you have to be aware of that. It’s hard to dunk over people in traffic and it’s a matter of keeping your head on the rim. You have to look where you are shooting it.
--Gonzaga was on probation when Dan Munson took over and Mark Few has taken it to another level. They’ve done a great job recruiting and he was probably at the forefront of taking transfers and doing a great job of bringing a transfer in and having them fit in to what they do. The team they lost to in the Sweet 16 had a bunch of transfers and they have been doing whatever it takes. He’s put them all together.
--Huggins believes he’d have a hard time naming a true point guard anymore. There isn’t a lot of difference between Deuce McBride and Truck Bryant. He doesn’t know many programs that have true point guards anymore and everybody wants to score and works on that aspect of their game.
--Huggins doesn’t believe this group has played near as well as he thinks they could play. They haven’t guarded nearly as well as they did last year with the same group. They didn’t guard the teams in South Dakota the same way they did teams in their own league. They’re leaving guys open and their floor vision has to improve. But to pass it, you have to want to pass it and they have to get there, too.
--All Huggins knows is Gonzaga hasn’t said they won’t be playing in the game in regard to COVID-19. It’s not up to the teams though it’s up to the health board. When the Bulldogs had an outbreak, they went to the local health board and did what they were supposed to do. That’s what they have to do in those situations so it’s not the usual decision makers making the calls on these games.
--Gonzaga is good. They’re very skilled and that’s been a trait of that program for a lot of years. They have a lot of very skilled guys and pass it extremely well and shoot it as well as anybody they’ve played in a long time. The guys that are starting are really good. He doesn’t worry about Derek Culver’s ability to match up with a 7-footer and Gabe Osabuohien can guard anybody. The perimeter defense is where he is the most concerned and has been the biggest issue.
--West Virginia has always played a hard schedule. They’ve always played somebody that in the top ten and is going to challenge them. They haven’t run from anybody during Huggins’ tenure.
--The deal getting out of South Dakota was a travesty and it’s not the airport people but the transportation people that sent the plane. It wasn’t good and they had to wait around.
--The players were fine after playing three games in three days. They were able to get some guys a break but there were no issues there.
--Foul trouble was the reason Oscar Tshiebwe had to come out of the game, but he hasn’t finished around the rim the way he did a year ago. They have to be able to do that with him.
--Youngstown State has been pretty much shut down so if there is anybody in the country that he can work with it’s Jared Calhoun when it comes to rescheduling things.
--A lot of the teams that have pulled upsets have to do with guys leaving early and transferring such as in Richmond against Kentucky. Richmond is one of the better teams in the country because their guys stayed, and they run offense as well as any team in the nation.
--Huggins feels that the immediate eligibility for transfers, which will pass, is the worst rule since the APR. The gap between the mid-majors and majors is going to close more and more and the NCAA is on the verge of creating a terrible mess. The days of taking Da’Sean Butler, who wasn’t recruited heavily, and developing him is going to be hard to do.
--Quite honestly, they didn’t get to see enough of the newcomers on the roster because they had to try to win the games and you feel a lot more comfortable with guys that have been there before. Why do they have to mess with something that is not broken with the exhibition games and scrimmages?
--Dunking the ball depends on who is around you in the case of Tshiebwe, so you have to be aware of that. It’s hard to dunk over people in traffic and it’s a matter of keeping your head on the rim. You have to look where you are shooting it.
--Gonzaga was on probation when Dan Munson took over and Mark Few has taken it to another level. They’ve done a great job recruiting and he was probably at the forefront of taking transfers and doing a great job of bringing a transfer in and having them fit in to what they do. The team they lost to in the Sweet 16 had a bunch of transfers and they have been doing whatever it takes. He’s put them all together.
