During last week’s “Bob Huggins Show” live from Kegler’s, West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins shocked Mountaineer fans everywhere when he agreed to coach “Best Virginia” in The Basketball Tournament.
Former West Virginia player and current Best Virginia player John Flowers joined Huggins on the show and asked his former college coach if he’d consider coaching the team. Huggins shockingly said, “I’d love to. I’d want to do it for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I’d like to win you guys $2 million dollars.” Huggins, of course, is referring to the $2 million dollar reward given to the winning team in the winner-takes-all tournament.
The Basketball Tournament, which will hold regional games in Charleston, West Virginia on July 24-26, features alumni players from various schools. “Best Virginia” currently features former West Virginia players Da’Sean Butler, Kevin Jones, John Flowers, Tarik Phillip and Devin Williams.
If Huggins does in fact follow through on his verbal commitment to coach the team, he would not be the first college coach to coach in the TBT. Last year, Coppin State’s Juan Dixon was the first coach to coach in The Tournament.
Best Virginia competed in The Basketball Tournament for the first time last season and was coached by former Mountaineer point guard Jarrod West. Best Virginia won in the opening round before being narrowly beaten (80-68) by four-time champion “Overseas Elite”, who had won 27 consecutive games at the time.
If Best Virginia can round out its lineup with former Mountaineers like Jaysean Paige, Joe Alexander, Juwan Staten, Truck Bryant, as well as other key additions, this will become a favorite team to win the $2 million prize, particularly with Bob Huggins as the coach.
The players currently on the roster are Bob Huggins’ guys and they are not only experienced playing together, they know what Huggins demands and they have an unwavering trust in him as a coach.
While Huggins verbally agreed, there has been no official confirmation that he is in fact the coach of the team. The shroud of secrecy surrounding his formal decision could be due to a variety of factors, but hopefully official word comes following the Mountaineers’ season and Huggins follows through on coaching this team. Huggins coaching his former players one more time and giving them a real chance to win the $2 million grand prize would be a truly magical moment for the legendary head coach.
