Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
WVU’s Huggins Binge-Watching Naked and Afraid Episodes While Self-Quarantining
April 14, 2020 11:25 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – How has West Virginia coach Bob Huggins been spending his time self-quarantining as we continue to remain on lockdown in response to the COVID-19 virus outbreak?
Re-watching old basketball games?
Checking out classic TV programs?
Nope.
He's been binge-watching Naked and Afraid, the Discovery Channel's popular survival show.
"We watched about seven or eight episodes (Sunday night)," he said via Zoom video conference Monday morning. "It's pretty amazing going out there in the jungle and living for whatever it is, 21 days, and making your own habitat.
"I wouldn't want to do it, but it's kind of fun to watch," he added.
In the past, the veteran coach has admitted that he's been a little naked and afraid when it comes to harnessing his technological skills, usually getting by on the bare necessities for the most part.
But he said he's quickly getting up to speed right now thanks to his daughter Jenna and some of the younger assistants on his coaching staff.
He's already participated in a couple of Zoom meetings with his players, and he had no trouble getting on Monday morning's Zoom conference with local media.
"As they say, I have people," he joked of his newfound computer prowess. "I've got young guys in the office who know how to do all of that good stuff, and Jenna did this for me today. I don't have a clue. I can barely turn this thing on."
Fortunately, Huggins doesn't need to fire up his computer that much to complete his 2020 signing class. With spring signing period beginning tomorrow, he and his staff have already gotten signatures from three promising prospects last November.
They are 6-foot-10, 220-pound forward Isaiah Cottrell from Las Vegas, Nevada, who played at Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia, in 2020, Kedrian Johnson, a 6-foot-3 junior college guard from Dallas, Texas, and Taj Thweatt, a 6-foot-7 forward from Wildwood, New Jersey.
Cottrell, the nation's 70th-ranked prospect according to ESPN.com, was recently named the state's player of the year by Max Preps after averaging 18.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and two blocks per game for Huntington Prep, which plays a national prep schedule.
Thweatt, a three-star prospect, led Wildwood Catholic High to a South Jersey championship while averaging 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during his senior season.
He was recently named the Atlantic City Press Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight season and finished his prep career with 1,773 points and 1,028 rebounds.
Johnson was recently named third team JUCO All-American at Temple College in Temple, Texas, after averaging more than 25 points, five rebounds and five assists per game, according to 247sports.com.
His team finished the season 24-7 after losing in the NJCAA regionals.
Presently, Huggins has just one scholarship available with the departure of backup guard Brandon Knapper.
"We're actually in great shape," he noted. "There are probably very few people that have the number of guys returning that we have. We signed three guys early, and they all have done really well, they have all done well academically and they're all champing at the bit to get here and get started.
"The three seniors we lost were already replaced," he added. "We're kind of sitting here twiddling our thumbs, basically. We've been talking to people through the internet and, obviously, everybody is trying to recruit transfers."
Because West Virginia is in such a good place right now with returning players and newcomers, Huggins said he can be extremely picky with his final scholarship.
He doesn't want to mess with the outstanding team chemistry his team experienced in 2020 when it won 21 of 31 games including its final two against Iowa State and fourth-ranked Baylor.
"I think with us it's important that if we take another guy that he fits - and we take another guy that can come in and help this group that we have achieve their goals," he said. "They've been a great group.
"They've been terrific on and off the floor, and they're really excited about being able to get back. They enjoy being around each other and enjoy being at West Virginia," he explained. "We're not facing a lot of the other things I think a lot of people are."
He is facing the uncertain status of sophomore-to-be Oscar Tshiebwe, however. The Democratic Republic of the Congo native recently placed his name in the NBA Draft after averaging a team-best 11.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in 31 games during his freshman season.
Because of the uncertainty right now in the country, Huggins isn't sure if there will be much of an evaluation process for NBA prospects before the draft takes place, whenever that may be.
"I'm not sure (the NBA) has any idea what they are going to do," he said. "My focus is to make sure our guy makes the right decision and, quite frankly, we've had guys who got the wrong people in their ears and they made terrible decisions that have cost them very lucrative careers because they listened to somebody who cared more about what they were going to get out of it than what the player was going to get out of it.
"That's always what we try to guard against," Huggins added.
Huggins said he's reasonably confident NBA teams are not going to be able to bring prospects to their facilities for individual workouts and a draft combine is most likely out.
"They're kind of like everybody else. Everything is going to be left to film, and I know most of those guys (general managers and personnel directors), and I don't know if many of them are going to make a multi-million-dollar, multi-year deal off of watching film," he said.
The problem right now for underclassmen exploring their NBA options is that there is likely not going to be much of an exploratory process for them.
"We will send it in to the NBA, and they will then poll a group of general managers, and they will come up with a hypothetical deal where they would be drafted," Huggins said. "It has nothing to do with 'they need to work on this' or 'work on that' – which is what they got from the combine.
"That, to me, was the strength of the combine, and they were around the NBA people who said, 'Hey, you better work on your left hand a little bit because they're going to sit on your right hand and you are going to have nowhere to go' or 'you better work on your back-to-the-basket moves' or 'you better work on pick-and-roll situations.' Those are things applicable to them having success or not having success."
Huggins continued, "What we have now is they are going to say, 'Hypothetically, well, you might be the 18th pick in the draft' – I'm just throwing that out. What they don't say is there are seven Europeans that nobody knows about other than the NBA people who are coming over, which is going to drop you down seven more spots, or 10 more spots," he said.
Consequently, Huggins believes this could be the most unpredictable draft the NBA has ever conducted, and he wants to make sure Oscar has access to the best information possible.
"It's uncharted waters basically," he admitted. "It's not cut and dry, and I think that's what young people have to understand.
"I've done this for 40 years and you can't find one of my guys that would ever say that I've tried to make something from them," Huggins continued. "I've always tried to do what is in their best interest. I get paid by whatever university I'm working for to do my job, and I think that's very much a part of my job.
"I know this pertains to Oscar and Oscar is going to listen to us; Oscar trusts us," Huggins said. "And we're not going to lead him down the wrong path.
"I fully expect that we aren't going to have to worry about anything," he concluded.
In the meantime, Huggs can worry about when to catch the next episode of Naked and Afraid. I see "Amazoned Out" is coming up later this month.
Re-watching old basketball games?
Checking out classic TV programs?
Nope.
He's been binge-watching Naked and Afraid, the Discovery Channel's popular survival show.
"We watched about seven or eight episodes (Sunday night)," he said via Zoom video conference Monday morning. "It's pretty amazing going out there in the jungle and living for whatever it is, 21 days, and making your own habitat.
"I wouldn't want to do it, but it's kind of fun to watch," he added.
In the past, the veteran coach has admitted that he's been a little naked and afraid when it comes to harnessing his technological skills, usually getting by on the bare necessities for the most part.
But he said he's quickly getting up to speed right now thanks to his daughter Jenna and some of the younger assistants on his coaching staff.
He's already participated in a couple of Zoom meetings with his players, and he had no trouble getting on Monday morning's Zoom conference with local media.
"As they say, I have people," he joked of his newfound computer prowess. "I've got young guys in the office who know how to do all of that good stuff, and Jenna did this for me today. I don't have a clue. I can barely turn this thing on."
Fortunately, Huggins doesn't need to fire up his computer that much to complete his 2020 signing class. With spring signing period beginning tomorrow, he and his staff have already gotten signatures from three promising prospects last November.
They are 6-foot-10, 220-pound forward Isaiah Cottrell from Las Vegas, Nevada, who played at Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia, in 2020, Kedrian Johnson, a 6-foot-3 junior college guard from Dallas, Texas, and Taj Thweatt, a 6-foot-7 forward from Wildwood, New Jersey.
Cottrell, the nation's 70th-ranked prospect according to ESPN.com, was recently named the state's player of the year by Max Preps after averaging 18.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and two blocks per game for Huntington Prep, which plays a national prep schedule.
Thweatt, a three-star prospect, led Wildwood Catholic High to a South Jersey championship while averaging 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during his senior season.
He was recently named the Atlantic City Press Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight season and finished his prep career with 1,773 points and 1,028 rebounds.
Johnson was recently named third team JUCO All-American at Temple College in Temple, Texas, after averaging more than 25 points, five rebounds and five assists per game, according to 247sports.com.
His team finished the season 24-7 after losing in the NJCAA regionals.
Presently, Huggins has just one scholarship available with the departure of backup guard Brandon Knapper.
"We're actually in great shape," he noted. "There are probably very few people that have the number of guys returning that we have. We signed three guys early, and they all have done really well, they have all done well academically and they're all champing at the bit to get here and get started.
"The three seniors we lost were already replaced," he added. "We're kind of sitting here twiddling our thumbs, basically. We've been talking to people through the internet and, obviously, everybody is trying to recruit transfers."
Because West Virginia is in such a good place right now with returning players and newcomers, Huggins said he can be extremely picky with his final scholarship.
He doesn't want to mess with the outstanding team chemistry his team experienced in 2020 when it won 21 of 31 games including its final two against Iowa State and fourth-ranked Baylor.
"I think with us it's important that if we take another guy that he fits - and we take another guy that can come in and help this group that we have achieve their goals," he said. "They've been a great group.
"They've been terrific on and off the floor, and they're really excited about being able to get back. They enjoy being around each other and enjoy being at West Virginia," he explained. "We're not facing a lot of the other things I think a lot of people are."
He is facing the uncertain status of sophomore-to-be Oscar Tshiebwe, however. The Democratic Republic of the Congo native recently placed his name in the NBA Draft after averaging a team-best 11.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in 31 games during his freshman season.Because of the uncertainty right now in the country, Huggins isn't sure if there will be much of an evaluation process for NBA prospects before the draft takes place, whenever that may be.
"I'm not sure (the NBA) has any idea what they are going to do," he said. "My focus is to make sure our guy makes the right decision and, quite frankly, we've had guys who got the wrong people in their ears and they made terrible decisions that have cost them very lucrative careers because they listened to somebody who cared more about what they were going to get out of it than what the player was going to get out of it.
"That's always what we try to guard against," Huggins added.
Huggins said he's reasonably confident NBA teams are not going to be able to bring prospects to their facilities for individual workouts and a draft combine is most likely out.
"They're kind of like everybody else. Everything is going to be left to film, and I know most of those guys (general managers and personnel directors), and I don't know if many of them are going to make a multi-million-dollar, multi-year deal off of watching film," he said.
The problem right now for underclassmen exploring their NBA options is that there is likely not going to be much of an exploratory process for them.
"We will send it in to the NBA, and they will then poll a group of general managers, and they will come up with a hypothetical deal where they would be drafted," Huggins said. "It has nothing to do with 'they need to work on this' or 'work on that' – which is what they got from the combine.
"That, to me, was the strength of the combine, and they were around the NBA people who said, 'Hey, you better work on your left hand a little bit because they're going to sit on your right hand and you are going to have nowhere to go' or 'you better work on your back-to-the-basket moves' or 'you better work on pick-and-roll situations.' Those are things applicable to them having success or not having success."
Huggins continued, "What we have now is they are going to say, 'Hypothetically, well, you might be the 18th pick in the draft' – I'm just throwing that out. What they don't say is there are seven Europeans that nobody knows about other than the NBA people who are coming over, which is going to drop you down seven more spots, or 10 more spots," he said.
Consequently, Huggins believes this could be the most unpredictable draft the NBA has ever conducted, and he wants to make sure Oscar has access to the best information possible.
"It's uncharted waters basically," he admitted. "It's not cut and dry, and I think that's what young people have to understand.
"I've done this for 40 years and you can't find one of my guys that would ever say that I've tried to make something from them," Huggins continued. "I've always tried to do what is in their best interest. I get paid by whatever university I'm working for to do my job, and I think that's very much a part of my job.
"I know this pertains to Oscar and Oscar is going to listen to us; Oscar trusts us," Huggins said. "And we're not going to lead him down the wrong path.
"I fully expect that we aren't going to have to worry about anything," he concluded.
In the meantime, Huggs can worry about when to catch the next episode of Naked and Afraid. I see "Amazoned Out" is coming up later this month.
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