Winning Personality
May 20, 2008 12:14 PM | General
May 20, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The last couple of days I have been watching with interest the reaction and response to Bob Huggins’ signing of high school star forward Devin Ebanks.
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| West Virginia coach Bob Huggins makes a point to forward Da'Sean Butler during a game this year at the Coliseum.
Allison Toffle photo |
Ebanks, a 6-foot-9-inch resident of Long Island City, N.Y., originally signed with Indiana before opting out of his letter-of-intent when Hoosiers coach Kelvin Sampson was forced to resign in February.
ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb says the signing of Ebanks was a big deal for the Mountaineers, putting West Virginia in the mix with Pitt, Notre Dame, UConn, Villanova, Syracuse and Louisville as the teams to beat in a loaded Big East.
Longtime high school basketball evaluator Van Coleman wrote that Ebanks is “an explosive offensive talent with the potential to average 15-20 points a game as a freshman.
“He has a game similar to Kevin Durant coming out of high school.”
In his daily blog, New York Daily News columnist Dick “Hoops” Weiss wrote that West Virginia is replacing Pitt as the prevailing outside force on the New York City high school basketball scene with Bob Huggins’ signing of Ebanks, Mt. Vernon forward Kevin Jones and St. Raymond’s guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant.
Scout.com basketball recruiting expert Dave Telep believes West Virginia’s 2008 signing class ranks among the top dozen classes in the country.
“More importantly it sends a signal to the rest of the Big East that West Virginia is not only going to recruit some of the best players in the nation, but it can SIGN them too. It’s a big deal,” said Telep.
So what does all of this mean?
Bob Huggins has always recruited well. He recruited well at Akron in the Mid-American Conference and he recruited well when Cincinnati was in the Great Midwest Conference and Conference USA. Those in the know say he has an uncanny ability to connect with kids. Huggins has an aura about him when he walks into high school gyms and the fact that he’s sent a boatload of players to the NBA is always something nice to talk about when the conversation becomes stale.
Huggins is also a notoriously hard worker – possessing a work ethic that is, well, West Virginia. Whenever the rules permit him to be in a gym to evaluate a prospect Bob Huggins is there watching. Kids see that. They appreciate it.
Huggins went to Manhattan, Kansas, two years ago and signed the top recruiting class in the country at Kansas State. They say Manhattan is even farther off the beaten path than Morgantown.
Of course Huggins is also supremely self-confident. I remember back during his introductory press conference him mentioning that West Virginians have no reason to have an inferiority complex.
“It’s a great place,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to come to a great place?”
Great point.
Telep believes there are a number of factors that make Huggins such an outstanding recruiter, but more than anything else it’s simply a matter of Huggins’ winning personality.
“He’s a big personality,” Telep said. “There isn’t a lot of BS to his spiel to the kids. They see that, they like it, and in turn, he becomes a tough-minded guy they trust.”
Rivals.com Big East recruiting editor Randall Thomason says it’s not a matter of location, location, location as much as it is Huggins’ long history of developing great basketball players.
“Recruits are not nearly as concerned about location as they are with how a coach can impact their game, particularly when it comes to these high-end guys that have legitimate professional basketball aspirations,” Thomason said. “A highly ranked prospect will often have his relationship with the coach and that coach’s vision for his skill development is a much higher priority than location.
“Huggins’ track record of working with players of that caliber is, I’m sure, a big reason for his appeal.”
Put simply, kids with professional aspirations want tangible proof that their games can develop and flourish. Bob Huggins can prove it. Jim Calhoun can prove it. Roy Williams can prove it. Coach K can prove it. Rick Pitino can prove it. Jim Boeheim can prove it. Lute Olson can prove it.
That’s one of the big reasons why they always seem to sign the best players.
“Truly taking a program to a consistent ‘next level’ requires yearly excellence in recruiting, especially in basketball because the turnover rate at the elite programs is so high due to NBA departures,” Thomason said. “I see no reason to think why Bob Huggins won’t continue to bring in highly regarded classes, though, particularly if he has early success with the 2008 group that is on its way to Morgantown now.”
I recall a Pitt administrator several years ago commenting about the advantages West Virginia University has being located in a community that revolves around the school. Many urban kids like that sense of community, security and interest.
That is certainly an interesting point of view – a view we sometimes overlook.
There isn’t a school in the country that doesn’t have its problems. Even the so-called elite places like USC in football and Duke in basketball have issues that must be dealt with.
The very best and most self-secure coaches find ways to overcome them. The rest, well, they make up excuses and look for other places to go.
