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Huggins Facing College Basketball’s Challenging New Reality
July 09, 2021 09:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bob Huggins has seen quite a bit of changes since his college basketball coaching career began at Walsh College in 1981.
During his time in the game, he's witnessed the elimination of the jump ball for dual possessions, the five-second call, the advent of the shot clock and the 3-point shot as well as a host of minor changes.
But what has taken place recently with the one-time immediate transfer rule and the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) ruling that was adopted on July 1, in tandem, could potentially represent the most dramatic change in college sports since the federally mandated adoption of Title IX in 1972.
Where this goes is anyone's guess?
For Huggins, who has won 900 career games by turning average players into good players and good players into great players, long-term planning has now gone the way of the dinosaur.
"One-year plans are done," Huggins said recently. "We're going to bring freshmen in and if everything doesn't go the way they want it to go, or maybe they think this is over their head, they don't like this or they don't like that, they can leave.
"It's an entirely different situation now. It's not 'let's win one for the university' or 'let's win one for our fans' or 'let's win one for our teammates,' it's pretty much 'what gives me the best chance to get to the league?'" he added.
Huggins said in some ways, these new rules will make it the most challenging time of his career and in other ways it won't.
"It's a two-way street," he said. "Yeah, we lose some guys, but hopefully, we can get some guys in the portal who can fill in or maybe even do more."
Today, we're now seeing lists of the top available players in the transfer portal, updated almost weekly. There have been so many good players in the portal right now that they are being rated the same way high school, prep school and junior college prospects are.
The website verbalcommits.com keeps a real-time listing of transfers and as of last Friday morning, there were 1,711 players who have transferred at all levels. That number could easily exceed 2,000 before the end of the month.
Since last year, West Virginia has lost three scholarship players to the portal and replaced all three. Additionally, two have declared early for the NBA Draft and another opted to return to school for his senior season after getting a draft evaluation.
This is the new reality for college basketball coaches.
"With the advent of the portal, which they can pretty much use whenever they want to use it, and just the ability to transfer and the immediate eligibility of first-time transfers, it's never been this fluid before," Huggins admitted. "You used to have to get out of the draft earlier than what you have to now. They continue to move it back, and it's not the NBA as much as it is our governing body."
He continued, "Don't other guys have rights, too? When you are a part of a team you should look out for your other guys and dragging things out to the last minute, be it the portal, be it a transfer or be it the NBA Draft, you're not really doing what's in the best interests of your teammates."
Chris Beard used four-year transfers to take Texas Tech to the NCAA championship game a couple of years ago, and Baylor's Scott Drew won a title in 2021 with a bunch of four-year transfers.
Blue Blood programs in the past have also had success recruiting one-and-done players who play one college season before entering the NBA Draft, so having a guy play all four years at one school is going to become increasingly rare in college basketball.
How will fans react to this?
Recruiting players from other teams' rosters is already becoming fashionable. Many coaches now begin their recruiting in the transfer portal and branch out from there. Some even check it hourly to see who is in there.
At some point, you wonder if recruiting transfers from other four-year schools is going to create a backlog of high school, prep school and junior college prospects. Will there be enough spots left for them on Division I teams or will some of them have to begin their careers at Division II and develop before getting a Division I offer?
Huggins believes that is a strong possibility. He said he is going to continue to heavily recruit high school, prep school and junior college players at WVU.
"If you can get a terrific freshman, why wouldn't you? I think if people start getting into the portal and taking transfers and all of a sudden you've got a whole bunch of freshmen out there with nowhere to go …" he postulated.
"Then again, you've got all of those D-II schools, and if they are smart they will try and recruit them and tell them, 'Hey, listen we can do for you what happened with Baylor. You can come in here, grow your game and you can transfer to a top-five school,'" he said. "There are a lot of things that can certainly happen.
"I'm not so sure they're all in the best interests of our game, but there are a lot of possibilities out there," he warned.
As a result, it's still going to be a while before Huggins knows what his full roster is going to look like for the 2021-22 season.
That's college basketball's new reality.
During his time in the game, he's witnessed the elimination of the jump ball for dual possessions, the five-second call, the advent of the shot clock and the 3-point shot as well as a host of minor changes.
But what has taken place recently with the one-time immediate transfer rule and the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) ruling that was adopted on July 1, in tandem, could potentially represent the most dramatic change in college sports since the federally mandated adoption of Title IX in 1972.
Where this goes is anyone's guess?
For Huggins, who has won 900 career games by turning average players into good players and good players into great players, long-term planning has now gone the way of the dinosaur.
"One-year plans are done," Huggins said recently. "We're going to bring freshmen in and if everything doesn't go the way they want it to go, or maybe they think this is over their head, they don't like this or they don't like that, they can leave.
"It's an entirely different situation now. It's not 'let's win one for the university' or 'let's win one for our fans' or 'let's win one for our teammates,' it's pretty much 'what gives me the best chance to get to the league?'" he added.
Huggins said in some ways, these new rules will make it the most challenging time of his career and in other ways it won't.
"It's a two-way street," he said. "Yeah, we lose some guys, but hopefully, we can get some guys in the portal who can fill in or maybe even do more."
Today, we're now seeing lists of the top available players in the transfer portal, updated almost weekly. There have been so many good players in the portal right now that they are being rated the same way high school, prep school and junior college prospects are.
The website verbalcommits.com keeps a real-time listing of transfers and as of last Friday morning, there were 1,711 players who have transferred at all levels. That number could easily exceed 2,000 before the end of the month.
Since last year, West Virginia has lost three scholarship players to the portal and replaced all three. Additionally, two have declared early for the NBA Draft and another opted to return to school for his senior season after getting a draft evaluation.
This is the new reality for college basketball coaches.
"With the advent of the portal, which they can pretty much use whenever they want to use it, and just the ability to transfer and the immediate eligibility of first-time transfers, it's never been this fluid before," Huggins admitted. "You used to have to get out of the draft earlier than what you have to now. They continue to move it back, and it's not the NBA as much as it is our governing body."
He continued, "Don't other guys have rights, too? When you are a part of a team you should look out for your other guys and dragging things out to the last minute, be it the portal, be it a transfer or be it the NBA Draft, you're not really doing what's in the best interests of your teammates."
Chris Beard used four-year transfers to take Texas Tech to the NCAA championship game a couple of years ago, and Baylor's Scott Drew won a title in 2021 with a bunch of four-year transfers.
Blue Blood programs in the past have also had success recruiting one-and-done players who play one college season before entering the NBA Draft, so having a guy play all four years at one school is going to become increasingly rare in college basketball.
How will fans react to this?
Recruiting players from other teams' rosters is already becoming fashionable. Many coaches now begin their recruiting in the transfer portal and branch out from there. Some even check it hourly to see who is in there.
At some point, you wonder if recruiting transfers from other four-year schools is going to create a backlog of high school, prep school and junior college prospects. Will there be enough spots left for them on Division I teams or will some of them have to begin their careers at Division II and develop before getting a Division I offer?
Huggins believes that is a strong possibility. He said he is going to continue to heavily recruit high school, prep school and junior college players at WVU.
"If you can get a terrific freshman, why wouldn't you? I think if people start getting into the portal and taking transfers and all of a sudden you've got a whole bunch of freshmen out there with nowhere to go …" he postulated.
"Then again, you've got all of those D-II schools, and if they are smart they will try and recruit them and tell them, 'Hey, listen we can do for you what happened with Baylor. You can come in here, grow your game and you can transfer to a top-five school,'" he said. "There are a lot of things that can certainly happen.
"I'm not so sure they're all in the best interests of our game, but there are a lot of possibilities out there," he warned.
As a result, it's still going to be a while before Huggins knows what his full roster is going to look like for the 2021-22 season.
That's college basketball's new reality.
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