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PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 12, 2014Bob HugginsTIM SIMMONS: Coach Huggins, thanks for joining us today and participating for your second time in this. You're bringing West Virginia back to Puerto Rico for the second time. Are you looking for a different experience this time? BOB HUGGINS: Yeah, we'd like to win this time. TIM SIMMONS: How has the preseason gone for you? I know you had an exhibition game, so how has everything gone for you? BOB HUGGINS: Everything has been good. We got Juwan Staten back last week, and he's been out, and we're getting him back about the right time. TIM SIMMONS: Any concerns or strengths you've seen develop in your team during the preseason? BOB HUGGINS: Well, I think they're really a good bunch of guys. They're guys that love to play. They love being in the gym. We've had really good practices. They've played, I think, harder than maybe what we've played in the past. We're embracing defending a little bit better than what we did in the past. Q. Any player stood out? Obviously you've got one that's a Puerto Rican, Gary Brown, that's coming down here, but can you mention some of the players that have been standing out so far? BOB HUGGINS: Well, Devin Williams has been very good. Devin has been good, Juwan Staten has been good, Gary has been good. I think Gary has really led us with his work ethic and tried to help the new guys. Q. Talk a little bit about your first round opponent, George Mason. Have you had any experience against Paul Hewitt and playing his teams? BOB HUGGINS: I don't think so. No, I don't think. I don't think we played when Paul was at Georgia Tech, either. I don't think we've ever matched up before. TIM SIMMONS: Do you have any thoughts about their team? Have you watched them on film or are you just worried about your first two opponents? BOB HUGGINS: We play Friday and Sunday, so we're trying to take care of that first. TIM SIMMONS: What about the second round? You've got New Mexico or Boston College in the second round. BOB HUGGINS: Great respect for both of those guys. I know both of those guys well. I've known Craig Neal for seems like forever, and I think they're two guys that are very solid. Their teams are very fundamental, and they don't beat themselves. TIM SIMMONS: Format, obviously you've played in the ESPN events, tournaments, two days playing, off a day, and playing in the placement championship game. What do you think about the format? BOB HUGGINS: I like it. I like it better than the three straight days. You know, I think it's better for the players. I think it's better for the coaches. I think it's better for the fans. I think the fans get to see a little bit better basketball. Q. How do you see the team missing with new players out there like Williams you spoke about? BOB HUGGINS: Well, Devin started a year ago and led us in rebounding. I think we've got a good core of veteran guys, I think led by Juwan Staten and Gary Brown at the guards. They've done a really good job, I think, of keeping us organized, and Devin kind of solidifies inside. I think our other guys that have been around have done a great job of helping the new guys, and our new guys have started to pick things up pretty quickly. I've been pleased. Q. How do you see Gary Brown seeing this as a challenge to be in front of his Puerto Rican crowd? BOB HUGGINS: Oh, I know he's looking forward to going home. We actually changed the event. We were supposed to go next year, and we changed the event to get Gary back there for his senior year, and he's talked about it quite a bit. He's excited to come back. Q. A quick question about these November tournaments. Do you have any kind of strategy on what you look for? There's so many to choose from. I'm just kind of wondering, do you have any favorite ones, or is there a reason why you stay closer to the East Coast? I think you've got to Vegas before in the past, too, but I'm wondering, is there a method to the madness on how you select which tournaments to play? BOB HUGGINS: Well, I think because of the way we travel after the first of the year, we don't want to go real far. We are going to go back to Vegas. I think it's a couple things. I think it's exposure, which certainly these ESPN tournaments give you. I think you get great national exposure. It's early in the year when the real basketball fans want to watch basketball. I think places where your fans want to go. It's a little tough for us because football season still being in full swing, but I think the last time we went to Puerto Rico, we probably had 5,000 people there. I think our people certainly like going to Puerto Rico. They like going to Las Vegas. They like going into New York. You know, we try to do some things that make it fan friendly, some things that get us some exposure, and then, you know, it's good to play, find out where you are. I think when you play in a tournament like this and you play against different styles of play and so many different philosophies and play in quality competition, it gives you a real idea where you are. Q. Tomorrow being signing day, I know there's one less scholarship you guys have to offer. Is there any kind of strategy behind what you want to do with that last scholarship? BOB HUGGINS: Well, today is signing today. Q. Oh, I thought it was tomorrow. BOB HUGGINS: No, it's today. Well, you know, we're kind of looking at‑‑ we've got some guys that‑‑ I think what's happened recently with guys declaring early for the draft and those kind of things, you kind of want to see where you need help, and so we've held one on purpose to try to maybe see where we need help and make sure that we have a scholarship available to help us in the places that we need some help. Q. In your 30‑plus years coaching, this roster is interesting in the fact that you have seniors to lean on, and yet you have a lot of new faces, too. Have you gone through something that you can draw on or you can communicate to your kids how to develop that chemistry early on and build it quicker than later? BOB HUGGINS: Well, I like to tell people, I think the last time that we had a roster where certainly our best player was back but then we added it with a bunch of athletic talented guys, we went to the Final Four. That's kind of what we'd really like to get done. Having Juwan Staten back really solidifies things in our backcourt, and he's got a great understanding of what we want done. Gary Brown has been really good and has been really solid for us in terms of getting us into what we need to get into, and Devin Williams I think has just grown by leaps and bounds as a player. And then the guys we've brought in obviously we think are athletic and guys that bring something to the table. I think the battle is to make sure that they fill the roles that you want them to fill and not the roles that they want to fill, and I think these guys have been really receptive. I think a whole lot more receptive than what people in the past have been. Q. I'm doing a story for Basketball Times about team camaraderie in the smart phone and social media era. I'm wondering if you've noticed a decline in the bond among your players the last few years with those things being so prevalent, and if you've done anything to kind of combat that to make them communicate with each other instead of just being on their phones. BOB HUGGINS: You know, I really felt that way a year ago. I don't feel that way this year. Our guys are great. I mean, our guys are always hanging out together. They leave practice together. Very rarely do you see just one of them. You see a bunch of them around. This group has been, I think‑‑ probably they've been against the trend. They've been guys that have hung out together, and I think our camaraderie is really good. But I saw it heading that way, but then with this group, it kind of has changed. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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