--West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said that the players were good yesterday and they need to be real good tomorrow. Auburn has great athleticism and a great post player that gave them fits when he was a freshman. They are really athletic.
--Auburn got the best big out of the portal in Broome.
--You have to go right at their chest and can't fade away when it comes to shot blockers.
--The Big 12 is a hard, hard league. They have historically been extremely athletic.
--West Virginia has played a hard league schedule, but everybody does. Non-conference they have played some hard teams but you're supposed to and that's part of it.
--The four bottom teams in the SEC aren't going to be in this challenge.
--Seth Wilson has earned playing time. They've been trying to get James Okonkwo to step up more. He's such a good guy that he kind of steps back and lets other people take some minutes that others deserve. He is the most talented in the sense he can run, jump, move his feet and is a quick jumper he just has to do it on a consistent basis. There are times that if they could play Okonkwo and Jimmy Bell together they could do a lot of things against a lot of different people but he hasn't risen to that until the last game.
--West Virginia plans to practice both of those two together.
--Huggins says he doesn't know why the Big 12 needs another challenge with another league after the end of the SEC challenge this year. It's the hardest league. Huggins says he hasn't been involved in any of those conversations.
--If this game wasn't in there, they would have six days to prepare for TCU and they'd need all six. The conference makes a lot of money off it and passes it down to the schools and television makes more money.
--Huggins said he isn't sure if everybody will be available but he will know after practice. Keddy Johnson isn't doing good and Emmitt Matthews has an ankle and wasn't able to practice yesterday.
--Let them go through what we go through when it comes to the challenge. There is not a Kansas is any other league that has done what Kansas has done. You look at the strength in the NCAA Tournament and out of conference it isn't close. Huggins has coached in those leagues and against those guys, it's not the same.
--Huggins said if he had an opinion on scheduling with conference games, they wouldn't listen anyways. They already know what they're going to do.
--Huggins said when he walked in there for the fish fry venue it blew his mind how many people are going to be there tonight with the number of tables. It's amazing how it has taken off and become what it has become. It also tells you about the people in this state and how much they believe in what they're doing with trying to build a cancer hospital in the state.
--Huggins sat by his mother's bedside as she died of cancer and it hit him really hard. He has seen the renderings of what is being proposed and it's fabulous. To have that here it would be one of the great things that would happen in this state. You have to keep fighting the fight and sooner or later they will get to the magic number where they can start construction and hopefully soon have one of the premier cancer centers staffed by some of the premier doctors in the world here. They don't have to go to the Mayo Clinic and to be able to do it here and feel comfortable in your home state is a wonderful thing. Huggins expects to raise somewhere between $2-$2.5 million tonight.
--It wasn't hard to get Charles Barkley. He was walking down the stairs at the induction and said he needed to talk to him as they were passing each other on the stairs. He said he needed him to come to the Fish Fry and he said just call me and let me know. Barkley will be at the game. He got to spend a lot of time with him and he played golf with him when Nike would basically take them on vacation.
--Auburn got the best big out of the portal in Broome.
--You have to go right at their chest and can't fade away when it comes to shot blockers.
--The Big 12 is a hard, hard league. They have historically been extremely athletic.
--West Virginia has played a hard league schedule, but everybody does. Non-conference they have played some hard teams but you're supposed to and that's part of it.
--The four bottom teams in the SEC aren't going to be in this challenge.
--Seth Wilson has earned playing time. They've been trying to get James Okonkwo to step up more. He's such a good guy that he kind of steps back and lets other people take some minutes that others deserve. He is the most talented in the sense he can run, jump, move his feet and is a quick jumper he just has to do it on a consistent basis. There are times that if they could play Okonkwo and Jimmy Bell together they could do a lot of things against a lot of different people but he hasn't risen to that until the last game.
--West Virginia plans to practice both of those two together.
--Huggins says he doesn't know why the Big 12 needs another challenge with another league after the end of the SEC challenge this year. It's the hardest league. Huggins says he hasn't been involved in any of those conversations.
--If this game wasn't in there, they would have six days to prepare for TCU and they'd need all six. The conference makes a lot of money off it and passes it down to the schools and television makes more money.
--Huggins said he isn't sure if everybody will be available but he will know after practice. Keddy Johnson isn't doing good and Emmitt Matthews has an ankle and wasn't able to practice yesterday.
--Let them go through what we go through when it comes to the challenge. There is not a Kansas is any other league that has done what Kansas has done. You look at the strength in the NCAA Tournament and out of conference it isn't close. Huggins has coached in those leagues and against those guys, it's not the same.
--Huggins said if he had an opinion on scheduling with conference games, they wouldn't listen anyways. They already know what they're going to do.
--Huggins said when he walked in there for the fish fry venue it blew his mind how many people are going to be there tonight with the number of tables. It's amazing how it has taken off and become what it has become. It also tells you about the people in this state and how much they believe in what they're doing with trying to build a cancer hospital in the state.
--Huggins sat by his mother's bedside as she died of cancer and it hit him really hard. He has seen the renderings of what is being proposed and it's fabulous. To have that here it would be one of the great things that would happen in this state. You have to keep fighting the fight and sooner or later they will get to the magic number where they can start construction and hopefully soon have one of the premier cancer centers staffed by some of the premier doctors in the world here. They don't have to go to the Mayo Clinic and to be able to do it here and feel comfortable in your home state is a wonderful thing. Huggins expects to raise somewhere between $2-$2.5 million tonight.
--It wasn't hard to get Charles Barkley. He was walking down the stairs at the induction and said he needed to talk to him as they were passing each other on the stairs. He said he needed him to come to the Fish Fry and he said just call me and let me know. Barkley will be at the game. He got to spend a lot of time with him and he played golf with him when Nike would basically take them on vacation.
