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Update: WVU Coach Bob Huggins To Be Inducted Into Hall Of Fame

West Virginia University men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins will be inducted into the sport’s hall of fame this year.

Updated on Monday, April 4, 2022 at 11:30 a.m.

West Virginia University men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins will be inducted into the sport’s hall of fame this year.

Huggins was amongst the 13 honorees in the The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 announced Saturday, April 2 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Enshrinement event will take place September 9-10 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

National sports reporter for The Athletic Shams Charania broke the story Thursday night that Huggins would be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

Fellow 2022 inductees include National Basketball Association (NBA) players Tim Hardaway and Manu Ginobili, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star Swin Cash, and NBA coach George Karl.

WVPB reached out to the Hall of Fame and WVU Communications to confirm, but they did not immediately respond.

A Morgantown native, Huggins was named head men’s basketball coach at WVU in 2007. During his tenure, he led the team to 326 victories and 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament appearances.

With 916 wins throughout his collegiate coaching career, Huggins has the eighth-most wins of any basketball coach in NCAA history.

Huggins was announced as a North American committee finalist for the Hall of Fame in February. He will join fellow West Virginians Jerry West and Hal Greer in receiving hall of fame honors.

*Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect Huggins’ official naming to the Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 2.

May 28, 1938: NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West Born in Cabin Creek

Basketball hall of famer Jerry West was born on Cabin Creek in Kanawha County on May 28, 1938. He led East Bank High School to a state basketball championship before going on to rewrite the record books at West Virginia University. As a sophomore, his Mountaineer team finished the regular season ranked first in the nation. In 1959, he took WVU to within two points of a national championship and was named Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Tournament. After his senior season, he won a gold medal in basketball at the 1960 Olympics.

West went on to a 14-year pro career with the Los Angeles Lakers and played in 14 all-star games. He was named MVP of the league in 1972 and was the third player in NBA history to score more than 25,000 points. His playoff scoring average is still among the league’s highest. Later, as the team’s general manager, he built the Lakers’ “Showtime” dynasty of the 1980s.

The NBA logo is based on Jerry West’s silhouette, a reflection of his impact on the game. And he is widely regarded as West Virginia’s greatest athlete.

October 26, 1934: Basketball Star Rod Hundley Born in Charleston

Basketball star Rod Hundley was born in Charleston on October 26, 1934. He was a sensation at Charleston High School, dazzling opponents with his tricks and talent. His flashy style is rarely seen today, outside of the Harlem Globetrotters.

His repertoire included trick shots, a signature behind-the-back dribble, and spinning the ball on his finger—all during games. His flair on the court earned him the nickname the “clown prince of basketball.” But he’ll always be remembered as “Hot Rod.”

Many who watched him play at West Virginia University in the 1950s consider “Hot Rod” Hundley the greatest natural athlete the state ever produced. In 1954, he averaged 34 points a game for WVU’s freshman team and then led the varsity squad to a 72-16 record and three straight Southern Conference titles. Hundley earned first team All-American recognition his senior year.

Hundley played six years in the National Basketball Association for the Lakers and was named an all-star twice. Hundley was a radio announcer for the NBA’s Utah Jazz for 35 years, until his retirement in 2009.

“Hot Rod” Hundley died in 2015 at age 80.

College Basketball Tips Off Around the State

The college basketball season got started over the weekend across the country and in the Mountain State.

In Morgantown the Mountaineers men’s basketball team is fresh off a first round upset loss in the NCAA tournament last season to Stephen F. Austin This season they’re picked to finish second in the Big 12 conference preseason poll and start the season ranked 20^th in the country by the Associated Press. Of the 15 players on the Mountaineers basketball roster, there are 6 freshmen. Head Coach Bob Huggins said there is no time for the freshman to sit around and gain experience, the Mountaineers use a system of constant movement, so they’ll need to play.

“We’re going to play a lot of people so they’re going to play, our two bigs are going to play,” Huggins said. “We have a 6-10 freshman and a 6-8 freshman and they’re going to play. I hope we can get into other peoples bench and make them play guys they haven’t played a lot in just a cumulative effect of what we do, wears on them.”

Huggins coaches an aggressive and frantic nature for his team. The strategy is to tire the opposition and force them to play players that would normally stay on the bench. The Mountaineer women are still working on their line up. .Preseason injuries have forced the women to adjust floor positions.. The Mountaineer women are picked 4^th in the preseason Big 12 poll and ranked 22^nd in the Associated Press Preseason poll. Mike Carey is the head coach of the women’s program.

“What we don’t have set is who is coming off the bench and what position, with all the injuries I’m trying to get people to play several positions right now, we’re just trying to find out what’s the best combination at certain times of the game and that’s going to take a little while to decide,”Carey said.

Both the Mountaineer men and women tipped off their seasons over the weekend.

The other Division 1 program in the state, the Marshall Thundering Herd saw both of its programs tip-off over the weekend. The Marshall University men are picked to finish 4^th in the preseason Conference USA poll after a surprising 17-16 record last season. Marshall Head Coach Dan D’Antoni said he won’t guarantee wins, but he’s sure they’ve improved since last year.

“But I think we can guarantee you an exciting season, practice has shown that the ball is more fast paced, we’ll attack the basket at a faster pace,” D’Antoni said. ‘Think I can guarantee and feel confident that these kids will play together, they’ll give you, Marshall, the state and Huntington the best they have in them.”

A year after making their first appearance in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, the Marshall Women’s team is picked 10^th in Conference USA. Head Coach Matt Daniel said he’s put together a tough early season schedule to get the team ready for conference play later in the year.

“We’re at North Carolina and we’re at Illinois, we go to Penn State, we have Florida A&M here and Coastal Carolina here,” Daniel said. “We’ve got some meat on that bone of the non-conference schedule, but I think it prepares us to learn about ourselves and I think with our youth it’s important to learn who we are.”

The WVU men next play at home tonight at 7 p.m. against Mississippi Valley state. The women play at home tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. against Howard.

In Huntington the Marshall women are at home tomorrow night at 6 p.m. against Floriday A&M. The men are at home Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Morehead State.

In the Mountain East Conference, the West Liberty men’s team is picked to win the conference. And Fairmont State is picked to when on the Women’s Side.

State Colleges Tip-Off Basketball Season

College basketball season has begun in West Virginia.

The West Virginia University men’s team tips off its season in exhibition play Friday night against Glenville State. Last year, the Mountaineers made a run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. It was the most successful season since an appearance in the final four in 2009. WVU Head Coach Bob Huggins said the key to last year was adopting a full-court press on defense, where defenders guard their player all over the floor.

“I was tired of losing was the biggest thing. I think sometimes it’s good to do something different and I kind of looked around the league and nobody played that way and so it kind of gives you an advantage to a degree when you do something that other people don’t do,” Huggins said.

The West Virginia women’s program finished last year with a loss in the women’s National Invitational Tournament Championship game to UCLA. The NIT tournament is considered the second in prestige behind the NCAA Tournament. The WVU women have already knocked off Shepherd in their exhibition opener on Halloween. Head Coach Mike Carey said they’ll try to be more aggressive this year, maybe press more like the men.

“We want to, we’re working on some things this year that we didn’t do the last couple of years to be honest with you because we feel we’re a little bit deeper especially on the perimeter, because we’re not really big inside that we feel we have to defend out on the perimeter and take some time off the clock and not just let people bring it to half court and start running their offense,” Carey said.

The Marshall men’s basketball team enters the second season of the Dan D’Antoni era with almost an entire new unit of players. Marshall finished last year 11-21, but won five of their last nine regular-season games. They open exhibition play next Thursday against Bluefield State. Coach D’Antoni said he thinks the new roster can better handle his up-tempo style.

“We’ve overhauled our team, 11 new faces, two seniors, three juniors and a lot of underclassmen,” D’Antoni said. “I think this ball club has the potential to reach our goals. And they’re working hard on the floor to give you a more exciting brand of basketball that has a chance to advance in the NCAA.”

A year after making its first postseason appearance in the Women’s Basketball Invitational, the Marshall women’s team has been picked to finish 10^th in a Conference USA poll. The postseason appearance was the first since an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1997. Head Coach Matt Daniel said it’s an extremely young roster.

“I’m really excited about our team, we’re really young. We have 16 on the roster, 14 or 15 will be available,” Daniel said. “Of our 15 or 14 that are available, 10 of them didn’t play Division I basketball last year so we’re picked young, I don’t know what we have we’re so young. I can tell you I really like our team and the people we have on our roster.”

In the Mountain East Conference, West Liberty University has dominant teams in both men’s and women’s basketball. The men are preseason number 3 in the NCAA Division II Preseason Top 25 poll. While the West Liberty Women are picked 12 in the preseason poll.

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