--West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins thinks that his team is ready for this tournament and they are excited for it. They have played in a lot of these in the past and this is no different with the challenges.
--Zach Edey has come a long way since he arrived at Purdue and they spent a lot of time in developing him. He is 7-foot-4 and has great hands.
--NCAA Tournament is a long ways away. But they are playing quality people and teams so it will help them prepare. The teams are going to be prepared and they have looked at a lot of film. It's fun to play in events like this. It's a little colder than the Bahamas or Myrtle Beach but they've got jackets.
--Huggins said that Nike came to him when he was at Akron about becoming a Nike school. Then after that you get invited to go to a summit with all the Nike coaches and you got to meet and know all the players. Phil Knight was there and everybody got to know him and he was very gracious. He became a Nike school at Akron and then they became a full-fledged Nike school at Cincinnati, then he did at K-State. Nike was excited to get the Mountaineers on board when he came here.
--Different schools had different shoe companies but little by little Nike took it by storm and they had their pick of the litter.
--Very little on the changes at athletic director. He met with Rob Alsop but he didn't express anything. He has had to field a lot of calls from various people but he just needs to do his job and let them do theirs when it comes to that.
--Huggins said his team is last in the league in rebounding but if you ask his team it's because they make more shots than they usually make which there is some truth to that. They have to guard better and this is a good opportunity to see the things they want to explore will work against quality people. This is playing the who's who of college basketball in this tournament if you look at the names and who's coaching them. It's an opportunity to put the team in good standing nationally.
--Purdue runs the floor and Edey picks and chooses his spots. He is going to get up and down the floor well for somebody his size.
--We talked about the schedule with transfers when they asked. The biggest thing they sold was opportunity to be what this program has been minus a year ago and to get them back to where they are nationally relevant and to advance in the NCAA tournament. This is as similar to anything they will see in the NCAA as anything else. They sold West Virginia to these transfers.
--Huggins has had a lot of success in these type of tournaments but he's also had a lot of good players. Huggins thinks this team has a chance. This team doesn't guard the way he wants his team to guard. Every team is different and brings a different faction and what you try to do is make the positives better and obviously try not to have too many negatives.
--That was 100-percent the NCAA that has made the traditional senior day more difficult to achieve. There aren't as many players that are around four or five years. It blows Huggins mind that you have to spend $1 million to get a high school guy or transfer guy.
--The tournaments mean something because they are a factor when the committee sits down and starts ciphering. It all counts in the body of work. What their charge is to look at an entire body of work. Playing people early is good because it gives you an idea of where you're at.
--Huggins doesn't think adding another player into the mix is as tough as people are making it out to be. He's had to do it at Akron and Cincinnati. He plays people that are the best because he wants to try to win and it's yet to be seen who the best seven, eight, or nine guys are.
--Perez isn't able to practice. West Virginia has a waiver into the NCAA and awaiting a response.
--Zach Edey has come a long way since he arrived at Purdue and they spent a lot of time in developing him. He is 7-foot-4 and has great hands.
--NCAA Tournament is a long ways away. But they are playing quality people and teams so it will help them prepare. The teams are going to be prepared and they have looked at a lot of film. It's fun to play in events like this. It's a little colder than the Bahamas or Myrtle Beach but they've got jackets.
--Huggins said that Nike came to him when he was at Akron about becoming a Nike school. Then after that you get invited to go to a summit with all the Nike coaches and you got to meet and know all the players. Phil Knight was there and everybody got to know him and he was very gracious. He became a Nike school at Akron and then they became a full-fledged Nike school at Cincinnati, then he did at K-State. Nike was excited to get the Mountaineers on board when he came here.
--Different schools had different shoe companies but little by little Nike took it by storm and they had their pick of the litter.
--Very little on the changes at athletic director. He met with Rob Alsop but he didn't express anything. He has had to field a lot of calls from various people but he just needs to do his job and let them do theirs when it comes to that.
--Huggins said his team is last in the league in rebounding but if you ask his team it's because they make more shots than they usually make which there is some truth to that. They have to guard better and this is a good opportunity to see the things they want to explore will work against quality people. This is playing the who's who of college basketball in this tournament if you look at the names and who's coaching them. It's an opportunity to put the team in good standing nationally.
--Purdue runs the floor and Edey picks and chooses his spots. He is going to get up and down the floor well for somebody his size.
--We talked about the schedule with transfers when they asked. The biggest thing they sold was opportunity to be what this program has been minus a year ago and to get them back to where they are nationally relevant and to advance in the NCAA tournament. This is as similar to anything they will see in the NCAA as anything else. They sold West Virginia to these transfers.
--Huggins has had a lot of success in these type of tournaments but he's also had a lot of good players. Huggins thinks this team has a chance. This team doesn't guard the way he wants his team to guard. Every team is different and brings a different faction and what you try to do is make the positives better and obviously try not to have too many negatives.
--That was 100-percent the NCAA that has made the traditional senior day more difficult to achieve. There aren't as many players that are around four or five years. It blows Huggins mind that you have to spend $1 million to get a high school guy or transfer guy.
--The tournaments mean something because they are a factor when the committee sits down and starts ciphering. It all counts in the body of work. What their charge is to look at an entire body of work. Playing people early is good because it gives you an idea of where you're at.
--Huggins doesn't think adding another player into the mix is as tough as people are making it out to be. He's had to do it at Akron and Cincinnati. He plays people that are the best because he wants to try to win and it's yet to be seen who the best seven, eight, or nine guys are.
--Perez isn't able to practice. West Virginia has a waiver into the NCAA and awaiting a response.
