The new college basketball rankings are out and West Virginia checks in at No. 8 in both polls - the Associated Press (writer’s) poll being its final one for the season. AP does not conduct a top 25 poll at the conclusion of the NCAA tournament as the coaches (USA Today) do.

 

For West Virginia, this is the second time under coach Bob Huggins the Mountaineers have finished consecutive seasons in the AP poll.

 

Last year’s final AP poll had West Virginia ranked 20^th; in 2010 the writers had West Virginia ranked sixth in its final poll and 22^nd in 2011.

 

Prior to that, the last time a WVU men’s basketball team had back-to-back finishes in the writer’s poll?

 

Try 1960-61 when homes (and taxes) in Morgantown were a lot cheaper, and guys named West and Thorn were playing for the Mountaineers.

 

The only other WVU coach to have back-to-back finishes in the AP poll was Fred Schaus in the late 1950s in what was considered the “Golden Era” of West Virginia basketball.

 

I would suppose Huggins’ current tenure would also constitute some sort of “Golden Era” as well.

 

 

* West Virginia’s No. 3 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament is actually the second highest ever for WVU since the current seeding process was adopted in the early 1980s.

 

In 2010, WVU was a No. 2 seed (the final No. 2 that year, I believe) and made a run to the Final Four. Here are the seedings for West Virginia’s recent teams that made runs to at least the NCAA tournament Sweet 16:

 

1998 – 10-seed (Sweet 16)

2005 – 7-seed (Elite Eight)

2006 – 6-seed (Sweet 16)

2008 – 7-seed (Elite Eight)

2010 – 2-seed (Final Four)

2015 – 5-seed (Sweet 16)

 

* The Big 12 had 60 percent of its teams finish the season ranked in the coaches’ poll, which has to be some sort of a record. Texas (ranked No. 22 by the coaches) was 13 poll points outside of the top 25 in the final AP poll, making half of the Big 12 teams in that poll.

 

For your information, here are where the Big 12 teams are playing in this year’s NCAA tournament:

 

No. 1 seed Kansas vs. Austin Peay in Des Moines, Iowa

No. 2 seed Oklahoma vs. Cal-Bakersfield in Oklahoma City, Okla.

No. 3 seed West Virginia vs. Stephen F. Austin in Brooklyn, N.Y.

No. 4 seed Iowa State vs. Iona in Denver, Colo.

No. 5 seed Baylor vs. Yale in Providence, R.I.

No. 6 seed Texas vs. Northern Iowa in Oklahoma City, Okla.

No. 8 seed Texas Tech vs. Butler in Raleigh, N.C.

 

* West Virginia coach Bob Huggins did the media junket following last night’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show, spending some time on ESPN Radio with Paul Finebaum and the SiriusXM College Sports crew, Mark Packer and Tom Brennan.

 

Brennan point out to Huggins that Stephen F. Austin is not your typical 14-seed with prior NCAA tournament experience and a 20-game winning streak heading into this year’s Big Dance.

 

“I’m glad you said 20 in a row because that means they are about due to lose one then,” joked Huggins. “See, we’ve lost one now, so we’re due to win one, I guess.”

 

Huggins was then asked to describe his team, which he answered this way, “A couple of things I told them after the game, one, it would be nice if they could make a shot. Also, if they throw the ball to the guy with the same color uniform on that always helps, too,” he said.

 

“They have played really, really hard and they’re fun to coach,” he added. “They practice the way they play and I think that’s the ultimate compliment that you could ever give a team.”

 

* This morning, Huggins admitted his Sunday-night game prep included a little more time in bed than usual because he is a little under the weather. The team charter didn’t return to Clarksburg until the wee hours of the morning on Sunday following West Virginia’s Big 12 tournament championship game loss to Kansas, so it’s probably good that Huggs is catching up on his sleep a little bit early in the week.

 

The coach said today’s plans for the team include lots of shooting, lifting and running before they get heavy into Stephen F. Austin game prep on Tuesday.

 

* Speaking of weight training, Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood said the strength program his Lumberjack players are using is modeled after the strength regimen Huggins has been using for many years now.

 

Underwood said he got the idea to emphasize weights with his basketball teams from the time he spent with Huggins at Kansas State. Huggins was asked about that during his Monday morning Big 12 coaches’ teleconference.

 

“It started when I was back at Walsh College,” he explained. “We had pretty good teams and I felt we needed (weight training) to make a run in the NAIA tournament. We didn’t have a weight room or any weights so we got some big, old cans, poured some concrete in them, stuck a bar between them and lifted that way.

 

“Then, the president came over and said that wasn’t safe so he bought us some weights and we’ve been doing it ever since,” Huggins continued. “I hired a GA who really became my strength coach when I was at Akron. (Strength coaches) know a whole lot more than I do, so I let them do their thing. I’m there to support them; I’m not there to tell them what to do.”

 

West Virginia’s strength and conditioning program has been in the capable hands of Andy Kettler for years now, including WVU’s run to the Final Four in 2010.

 

* Huggins was asked an interesting question Monday morning, paraphrased this way: Can coaches tell if they have a Final Four team?

 

“The first time I had no clue,” answered Huggins. “The second time I thought we had a chance and then I looked at the bracket and we had Kentucky with (Demarcus) Cousins and John Wall and all those guys and I’m thinking, that’s going to be pretty tough. I think you know when you have a good team, but a lot that goes into the NCAA tournament is who you get paired with and what their strengths and weaknesses are, compared to yours.”

 

Huggs admits luck also plays a big role in postseason success, citing his unfortunate 2000 season at Cincinnati when he had the best team in the country but made a premature exit in the tournament.

 

“In 2000, I thought we were the best team in the country and I think most people thought we were and Kenyon Martin broke his leg (in the Conference USA tournament),” he recalled. “You get a guy like him who was the consensus national player of the year break his leg and you’re not going to be near as good. I think you have to be lucky to a degree.”

 

* And finally, the quick glance at Stephen F. Austin’s outstanding 2016 season reveals an atypical NCAA tournament 14 seed.

 

The Lumberjacks have not lost since December 29, ran the table in the Southland Conference by winning most of their league games by 20 points or more; they ranked first in the country in scoring margin and turnover margin, second in the nation in assists per game, and seventh in assists per game.

 

Some of that, of course, is the product of their schedule, but it also shows that Brad Underwood’s teams are beating the teams they are supposed to beat on their schedule – and beating them convincingly.

 

“He’s done a terrific job,” said Huggins. “I’ve known Brad well before K-State. I knew Brad when he was at Dodge (City Community College) and we used to sit together at games and stuff when he was at Eastern Illinois. I’ve got great respect for him and his ability to coach basketball. They are a good basketball team and they won’t beat themselves.”

 

That doesn't look like a 14-seed to me.