BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 19, 2022

Bob Huggins

West Virginia Mountaineers

Media Day Press Conference

Q. Several coaches today have said that Big 12 basketball is the best conference in the nation. What about this league makes it the best?

COACH HUGGINS: I think if you take a look at the NBA draft picks over the years, it's incredible, the amount of No. 1 picks, the first pick in the draft, first-rounders. There's great players in the league, for one, there's been great coaching in the league. How do you get better coaches than the coaches we have in this league?

There's no easy out. And the guys that coach here -- and we show it to recruits all the time, the number of people from this league that have gone on and not just played in the NBA but starred in the NBA. You don't do that unless you're a really good player. Players and coaches have made it a great league.

Q. Your team finished a little bit lower than maybe I think you would be proud of this last season. How did you and your team address last year's finish? And how do you plan to attack it this season?

COACH HUGGINS: Obviously we're going to be a lot better. We had a bad year. We had a bad year. We made some mistakes that were hard to imagine that we could have made those kind of mistakes.

We were two wins away from playing in the NCAA Tournament. When you throw it to the other team as many times we threw it to the other teams, it's hard to make it up.

And we just -- I like our team. I like what's happened with guys in the portal. I like their attitude. I think our guys have fantastic attitudes. Their work ethic has been really good. It wasn't so much that a year ago. I think we've gained by subtraction in some regards.

Q. The end of last season, in your press conference after the Big 12 Tournament, you made a comment about how Coach Self should go and win a national championship and if they don't then they should fire him. I realize that comment was made in jest, but how does it feel knowing that you correctly predicted that Kansas would win a title last year?

COACH HUGGINS: Bill and I, one, are very good friends. And I make light of him. He makes light of me. And we both laugh and go on.

I thought he had a terrific team. I think he had a team that he may have had maybe a better five; I don't think he had a better team ever. They played so well together. They competed like crazy.

And he did a great job of coaching as he always does. But I really liked his team. First they whacked us twice, but I still liked them. I actually for some reason I still like him. (Laughter).

Q. It's Jerome Tang's first season in Manhattan. You obviously spent a season in Manhattan as well. Have you had any conversations with him, or what would be your advice to him as he embarks on his first season?

COACH HUGGINS: No, we haven't spoken about it. I mean, he's got Scott to tell him. He's been there right there on the bench observing everything for a lot of years. It's not like they just picked a guy from off the street. He knows what he's doing, obviously.

And if you ever watch, he coaches a lot. He coached a lot at Baylor. He was up and giving instructions quite a bit. I noticed on film. He'll probably be running up and down the sideline in Manhattan. Kind of like Frank did, sort of. I was calm, collected.