Coach Bob Huggins and his West Virginia Mountaineers made a loud statement with this weekend’s win over #11 Marquette. The Mountaineers dominated from start to finish in gaining their first Big East win. The win clearly shows that the Mountaineers have adopted to Huggins philosophy and are well on their way to becoing a force in the conference. (Former coach John Beilein certainly left the cupboard a little more stocked than what he found at Michigan.)
Many of the so called experts in the media questioned whether or not players recruited for the Beilein system would be able to adapt to the more in your face philosophy of Huggins. Or more importantly, would Huggins be able to adapt to the players on hand. Well it just shows you why sports writers write and coaches coach. Huggins has done a combination of both adjusting his style and selling his philosophy.
Offensively, the Mountaineers are a more wide open team than any of Huggins teams in the past. He has built on the teachings of Beilein’s open post offense to creat additional scoring opportunities. Defensively, he has changed them to a man to man team. However, against Marquette he coached rings around Tom Crean with a 1-3-1 zone defense.
Over in Philadelphia, Villanova excaped with a tough fought one point victory over Pittsburgh. Hats off to Jamie Dixon who rallied his troops and gave Villanova everything they wanted and more. It came down to the last possession and the Panthers turned it over. I have to believe that it would have been much different with a healthy Fields or Cook. However, it did show the grit of the Panthers and sent a warning that they are not going to roll over and feel sorry for themselves.
Mike Brey has Notre Dame off to a 2-0 start after beating UConn at home. The big surprise thus far has been Depaul. Jerry Wainwright’s team struggled through a poor non-conference portion of their schedule, but seems to have found a little confidence in getting off to a 2-0 start.
In a game that could determine who makes the conference tournament and who doesn’t. St. John’s beat Cincinatti at home. Norm Roberts team has struggled and he will need to at least make the conference tournament to keep his job. Norm is one of the nicest guys in the business, so here’s hoping he can pull it off.
