WVU coach - It is tough to play basketball in the Big 12 Conference, we are tired (of travel and time zone changes)

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WTF is he talking about? Looked at their schedule, they always have multiple days between games, there was only one time where they had a game on a Saturday and another on a Monday. Their grind is no different than almost every other team in basketball this time of year.

And the timezone thing is so overblown....1 friggin hour shouldn't throw you off that much.
 

Yeah, when the Chicago State coach says something, then I will listen. Bob is just whining.
(Freaking Huggins has won A LOT of games over the course of his career. And now he has the look of a West Virginia moonshiner.)
 

MNVCGUY said:
WTF is he talking about? Looked at their schedule, they always have multiple days between games, there was only one time where they had a game on a Saturday and another on a Monday. Their grind is no different than almost every other team in basketball this time of year.

And the timezone thing is so overblown....1 friggin hour shouldn't throw you off that much
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He must still be trying to get over daylight savings
 


Didn't listen to what he had to say, but I did find it interesting to just to see the stark contrast in how their season has gone so far.

First 12 games (non-conf): 11-1
- three games at a tournament in Charleston, which is relatively close and in Eastern time, lost to Marquette, won 3rd place
- one game at UAB Birmingham, Central time but still reasonably close
- remaining 8 games all at home
- one game vs team ranked at that time, #15 UConn in WV which they won

Next 11 (all Big XII except Ark): 3-9
- 6 home games (3-3)
- 6 road games: Austin TX, Lawrence KS, Lubbock TX, Fayetteville AR (non-conf), Waco TX , Stillwater, OK, all relatively far and Central time (0-5)
- six were against teams ranked at game time, also game at Arkansas which recently beat #1 Auburn

Only team that has sunk faster in the Big XII this year is Iowa St, who is coincidentally the last team they played, at home, and won.


EDIT: fixed a mistake and also added a bad loss at Okla St yesterday afternoon.
 
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Huggs isn't upset about the sat/mon games. In fact he asked for the two game road trips to cut down on the travel. When WVU first joined the Big 12 each road game for WVU was a I game trip! Every other teams away games were short road trips, pretty unfair advantage for them. Plus, like Huggs said each WVU road game is half a country away! Have any of you guys ever tried to fly in or out of Morgantown? The rest of the Big 12 has to make that trip once a season....and they hate that trip. WVU has to do it every road game. With the addition of Cincy and UCF, WVU will have a couple of closer road games in the future.
 

Mountaineer Gopher said:
Huggs isn't upset about the sat/mon games. In fact he asked for the two game road trips to cut down on the travel. When WVU first joined the Big 12 each road game for WVU was a I game trip! Every other teams away games were short road trips, pretty unfair advantage for them. Plus, like Huggs said each WVU road game is half a country away! Have any of you guys ever tried to fly in or out of Morgantown? The rest of the Big 12 has to make that trip once a season....and they hate that trip. WVU has to do it every road game. With the addition of Cincy and UCF, WVU will have a couple of closer road games in the future.
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I hear there is room in Con USA if they want to join that league. Easier travel. Easier schedule. Just like his days back in Cincy.
 



Don't get me started. WVU has been banned from the ACC for years, mainly because of the prejudices against the state. When I played there we had natural rivalries with many of the acc teams along with many of their future members. We played 3 or 4 acc teams each year along with longtime rivals VPI,Pitt and Syracuse. It's a joke that some of these teams got in ahead of WVU. Louisville, Miami, come on. I noticed in your dig you mentioned Cincy and not the years WVU was successful member of the old Big East!
 

This season has been rough no doubt. But, many don't realize that WVU's starting 2nd year point guard and leader of the team left for the NBA and is currently on the New York Knicks roster. The starting center did the same thing, but he made the wrong decision, and is no longer playing any basketball. Both these guys told Huggs of their plans in June, way after prime recruiting season, making harder to replace them. Then we have the story of the current" Kentucky" All-American, Oscar Teshebwe(sp). Oscar had phenomenal freshman year for WVU. When he returned for his sophomore he had been influenced by outside "handlers" to leave WVU. He came back out of shape and disinterested which resulted in less playing time. He was completely different player from his freshman season, out of shape and no effort! He left the team mid season, pitiful thing to do to his teammates, for Huggs's good friend, the head coach of Kentucky! I refuse to say his name, I couldn't stand the guy when he coached at Mass. He has cheated at every school he has coached, sorry for the length.
 


Mountaineer Gopher said:
Don't get me started. WVU has been banned from the ACC for years, mainly because of the prejudices against the state. When I played there we had natural rivalries with many of the acc teams along with many of their future members. We played 3 or 4 acc teams each year along with longtime rivals VPI,Pitt and Syracuse. It's a joke that some of these teams got in ahead of WVU. Louisville, Miami, come on. I noticed in your dig you mentioned Cincy and not the years WVU was successful member of the old Big East!
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Not disagreeing but what predjuces against West Virginia do the ACC have?
 



Mountaineer Gopher said:
This season has been rough no doubt. But, many don't realize that WVU's starting 2nd year point guard and leader of the team left for the NBA and is currently on the New York Knicks roster. The starting center did the same thing, but he made the wrong decision, and is no longer playing any basketball. Both these guys told Huggs of their plans in June, way after prime recruiting season, making harder to replace them. Then we have the story of the current" Kentucky" All-American, Oscar Teshebwe(sp). Oscar had phenomenal freshman year for WVU. When he returned for his sophomore he had been influenced by outside "handlers" to leave WVU. He came back out of shape and disinterested which resulted in less playing time. He was completely different player from his freshman season, out of shape and no effort! He left the team mid season, pitiful thing to do to his teammates, for Huggs's good friend, the head coach of Kentucky! I refuse to say his name, I couldn't stand the guy when he coached at Mass. He has cheated at every school he has coached, sorry for the length.
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Yeah love Huggs and WVU. Hope he can build it back again soon.
 


In some ways, college football but especially basketball would've been better off if they could've kept the old Big East. The early 2000's was the sweet spot in football with Miami's run. VT finished #2 in 1999 as well.

Will always wonder "what if" had Penn St decided to join as a full member. Not sure how much having to share a conference with Pitt and Temple (in football, the sport that mattered much more than A10 basketball) influenced that decision, to join the Big Ten instead.

Also wonder how badly Miami and VT, probably especially the later, wanted in the ACC and if they still would've moved anyway. VT it makes sense wanting to join Virginia. Miami not as sure, but I guess joining Florida State was the pull/motivation.


Any perspective or opinions to share on that, @Mountaineer Gopher ?
 

Gopher fan, UVA, in particular, has been looking down their noses at WVU forever. I had always heard that UVA voted to keep out WVU when the ACC invited VPI. For years WVU/UVA played home/home football games. That ended after years of games at UVA included disgusting halftime performances by their "pep" band included disgusting portrayals of poor West Virginians as inbred, toothless and included pulling out on the field of an outhouse. After years of this, the West Virginia Governor stepped in and with the help of the Virginia Governor, UVA was forced to stop this spectacle and disband their pep band for good. My mother taught me years ago that painting groups of people with a broad brush is ignorant. WV does have an extreme poor population, but I am sure you can find poverty stricken areas in each state, including my beloved Minnesota. Wv is surrounded by similar states with similar problems. Not much difference in WV, Tenn., Kent. and the area where I live SW Va. I am sick of all prejudices, sorry for the length.
 

Mountaineer Gopher said:
Gopher fan, UVA, in particular, has been looking down their noses at WVU forever. I had always heard that UVA voted to keep out WVU when the ACC invited VPI. For years WVU/UVA played home/home football games. That ended after years of games at UVA included disgusting halftime performances by their "pep" band included disgusting portrayals of poor West Virginians as inbred, toothless and included pulling out on the field of an outhouse. After years of this, the West Virginia Governor stepped in and with the help of the Virginia Governor, UVA was forced to stop this spectacle and disband their pep band for good. My mother taught me years ago that painting groups of people with a broad brush is ignorant. WV does have an extreme poor population, but I am sure you can find poverty stricken areas in each state, including my beloved Minnesota. Wv is surrounded by similar states with similar problems. Not much difference in WV, Tenn., Kent. and the area where I live SW Va. I am sick of all prejudices, sorry for the length.
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For institutions supposedly open to free intellectual inquiry and openness to multiple points of view and free and robust debate, there are a lot of campus's that are loaded with social and intellectual bigotry. Your description of the WV/UVA relationship doesn't surprise me at all. Sad, yes. Surprised, no.
 

Gophers_4life said:
In some ways, college football but especially basketball would've been better off if they could've kept the old Big East. The early 2000's was the sweet spot in football with Miami's run. VT finished #2 in 1999 as well.

Will always wonder "what if" had Penn St decided to join as a full member. Not sure how much having to share a conference with Pitt and Temple (in football, the sport that mattered much more than A10 basketball) influenced that decision, to join the Big Ten instead.

Also wonder how badly Miami and VT, probably especially the later, wanted in the ACC and if they still would've moved anyway. VT it makes sense wanting to join Virginia. Miami not as sure, but I guess joining Florida State was the pull/motivation.


Any perspective or opinions to share on that, @Mountaineer Gopher ?
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Gopher_4life, WVU and VPI have had a long relationship with the ACC. Both schools wanted to become members many years ago. It only made sense for both to someday become part of the league. As I mentioned earlier, that WVU had been playing home/home series in basketball with VPI, Pitt, Syracuse, Miami, after they joined the Big East, for years and had been playing ACC teams every year for years. I agree that they should have never broken up the old Big East especially for basketball, what a great league. Also agree with your take on Penn St., they didn't join the Big East because of football. I think they would have preferred to stay independent in football, like Notre Dame. WVU also played for the title one year against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. WVU fans that went to the game said they had never been treated so poorly as they were by the young/ student Notre Dame fans. Looking down their noses and wanting to start fights with the WVU fans, before the game was even played. As a Minn. kid, I loved ND, they recruited my wide receiver brother in the late sixties. Needless to say, I love them no more!
 

Mountaineer Gopher said:
Gopher_4life, WVU and VPI have had a long relationship with the ACC. Both schools wanted to become members many years ago. It only made sense for both to someday become part of the league. As I mentioned earlier, that WVU had been playing home/home series in basketball with VPI, Pitt, Syracuse, Miami, after they joined the Big East, for years and had been playing ACC teams every year for years. I agree that they should have never broken up the old Big East especially for basketball, what a great league. Also agree with your take on Penn St., they didn't join the Big East because of football. I think they would have preferred to stay independent in football, like Notre Dame. WVU also played for the title one year against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. WVU fans that went to the game said they had never been treated so poorly as they were by the young/ student Notre Dame fans. Looking down their noses and wanting to start fights with the WVU fans, before the game was even played. As a Minn. kid, I loved ND, they recruited my wide receiver brother in the late sixties. Needless to say, I love them no more!
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Penn St, I can see that maybe they didn't want the Big East football to grow and get stronger, and chose the Big Ten instead.

But why didn't Florida State get added, while Miami did? I know Miami had been independent (in basketball) for a long time, while FSU was in the metro conference.

Maybe the allure of the ACC ultimately still would've been too much and thus still broken up the Big East (football), but perhaps if FSU is there then Miami would want to stay?


(Wildly speculating here) maybe Bobby Bowden saw the ACC as a golden opportunity to win an "easy" football conference, and would be easier than having to play in the Big East? FSU dominated the ACC pretty much all the 90's.
 

Who knows about Florida State, I guess they were waiting on the ACC and the Big East knew it. They did dominate the ACC in the nineties! When I was at WVU in the early seventies Bobby was still the coach there and he was loved there. Although I remember walking in front of the Student union one day and some dumb asses had hung Bobby in effigy! Not long after Bobby moved to Florida State. While at WVU his daughter was a cheerleader there and she ended up marrying my best friend's brother, who played on Bobby's team. Bobby returned to WVU a couple of years ago and all had a great time seeing him in Morgantown again!
 



Mountaineer Gopher said:
Who knows about Florida State, I guess they were waiting on the ACC and the Big East knew it. They did dominate the ACC in the nineties! When I was at WVU in the early seventies Bobby was still the coach there and he was loved there. Although I remember walking in front of the Student union one day and some dumb asses had hung Bobby in effigy! Not long after Bobby moved to Florida State. While at WVU his daughter was a cheerleader there and she ended up marrying my best friend's brother, who played on Bobby's team. Bobby returned to WVU a couple of years ago and all had a great time seeing him in Morgantown again!
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Did not know BB was at West Virginia before Florida State!

FSU 1987-2000 I feel like is about a good a run in major college football as you can get. 14 years of consecutive top 5 finishes. 11-3 in bowl games, all but one being Fiesta, Sugar, Cotton, or Orange.
 


Gophers_4life said:
I would assume they stayed out there Sunday, no sense flying back and forth.
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Yes, several years ago WVU/Huggs asked the Big12 to schedule some of their road games closer together to cut down on the long road trips. They have two or three two game road trips. It wasn't always that way at the beginning.
 

Mountaineer Gopher said:
Yes, several years ago WVU/Huggs asked the Big12 to schedule some of their road games closer together to cut down on the long road trips. They have two or three two game road trips. It wasn't always that way at the beginning.
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I'll never understand why the Big 12 didn't add Cincinnati, Memphis, and Louisville with West Virginia. during that round of expansion. Similar to the B1G not adding Missouri and Colorado when they took Nebraska. I understand the TV part of it, but I just felt the market selection still have to match the demographics.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Did not know BB was at West Virginia before Florida State!

FSU 1987-2000 I feel like is about a good a run in major college football as you can get. 14 years of consecutive top 5 finishes. 11-3 in bowl games, all but one being Fiesta, Sugar, Cotton, or Orange.
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One last thing about Coach Bowden. What an impressive person he was. When I played at WVU there was no athletic dorms, so football and b-ball athletes stayed in dorms with all the other students. Practicing late and being on campus together with the football team during Thanksgiving and Christmas the two teams were together a lot and we ate together a lot. So I had several occasions to be around Coach Bowden. Amazingly, whenever Coach saw me and my teammates, he always took the time to personally address us by name and he seemed to know all about us. He took the time to do that even though he had over 100 players of his own and always was dealing with recruits too! Pretty amazing dude!
 

I also had the good fortune of knowing VPI's football coach, Frank Beamer. Several years later, Huggs invited me to see Cincy play at VPI when they were both in the Metro. After the game, I went down on the court to see Huggs. As I was talking to Huggs, Coach Beamer, who had been getting honored at the half, spotted me and said to his wife, look who is here, and said my name to her. He hadn't seen me in years and I looked totally different from when he had last seen me.....pretty amazing!
 
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Mountaineer Gopher said:
Mountaineer Gopher said:
I also had the good fortune of knowing VPI's football coach, Frank Beamer. Several years later, Huggs invited me to see Cincy play at VPI when they were both in the Metro. After the game, I went down on the court to see Huggs. As I was talking to Huggs, Coach Beamer, who had been getting honored at the half, spotted me and said to his wife, look who is here, and said my name to her. He hadn't seen me in years and I looked totally different from when he had last seen me.....pretty amazing!
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Two extremely high quality individuals you got to know there. Leaders of men. Thanks for sharing the story.
 
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