Morgantown, West Virginia – After bragging about and taking credit for “fixing Derek Culver’s foul shot”, Bob Huggins continued where he left off following the Iowa State game by continuing to blast his players on tonight’s “The Bob Huggins Show.”
Tony Caridi – dripping with class and professionalism – immediately asked Huggins about his team’s defense at the start of the show.
“Our defense is bad in a lot of ways. I thought we were good at the beginning of the season. I thought we’d guard. We don’t even try to guard. I watch other teams on TV and they guard the hell out of the ball. We don’t,” Huggins said.
Huggins continued: “You’ve got to be mad when your guy scores on you. You’ve got to be upset when a player drives by you and dunks on you. Our guys aren’t.”
What Huggins is missing is that these are the very players that he’s literally hand-picked to come to West Virginia University and he is the person that has coached them. If in fact it’s his players’ effort, who does he have to blame but himself?
Huggins went on to say that his players aren’t excited about playing and they aren’t enthusiastic while on the court. It’s baffling that he doesn’t recognize that perhaps his constant brow-beating and negativity has perhaps severely affected his players’ passion for playing the game.
While it’s hard to argue with his 893 wins, you wonder if he wouldn’t have many, many more with a more a sensible, pragmatic way of dealing with his players. If he has an issue with a player, he should address that with the player individually, not question their heart and passion to the media and fans.
Bob Huggins is one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of college basketball, but that is in spite of his gruff, surly personality, not because of it.
