Bob Lutz: Bob Huggins’ one season at Kansas State should never be forgotten

Kentucky is 36-0 and has NBA prospects manning the water coolers.

Yet there are rational people – with apparently some knowledge of basketball – who predict West Virginia, a team that shoots barely 41 percent from the floor and 32 percent from the three-point line, will hand the mighty Wildcats their first loss Thursday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena.

You know why?

Bob Huggins.

He’s West Virginia’s coach/mad scientist who, because his team doesn’t shoot straight, has turned to full-court defensive pressure to salvage a season. It’s worked. The Mountaineers are 25-9 and in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.

Huggins is also a mystical 8-2 against Kentucky coach John Calipari. It’s one of those statistics no one can explain, so there must be a higher meaning.

If I were Calipari and Kentucky Nation, I’d have some trepidation about this game, too.

Everyone knows what a great job Huggins did during five seasons at Akron (1985-89) and how much success he had during 16 years at Cincinnati (1989-2005). He’s in his eighth season at West Virginia and led the Mountaineers to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first five years.

It’s Huggins’ one season at Kansas State, though – in 2006-07 – that eliminated any doubt in my mind about Huggins’ ability as a coach.

The Wildcats had endured seven poor seasons in a row before Huggins’ arrival. It was a hire, made by former K-State athletic director Tim Weiser, that shocked the world.

Huggins inherited a team with low expectations. He hired Frank Martin and Brad Underwood to join his staff. And he went to work.

That K-State team, led by senior Cartier Martin along with David Hoskins and Lance Harris, went 23-12 and made it to the NIT. It was K-State’s first 20-win season since 1998-99. The Wildcats hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since going to the Elite Eight in 1988.

“That season was an unbelievable learning experience,” said Underwood, who just finished his second season at Stephen F. Austin, where he is 61-8. “It was a challenging year, but I think if you were a K-State player or alumnus, you could see everything start to turn.”

Huggins couldn’t refuse returning to his roots at West Virginia when the Mountaineers made him an offer after the season. He left the Wildcats with Martin and Underwood – along with great players like Michael Beasley and Jacob Pullen – and K-State took off.

The 61-year-old Huggins said Wednesday he has friends from his brief time in Manhattan.

“I stay in touch with the administration there, which is a change for me,” Huggins said.

Huggins said he most remembers the hospitality of K-Staters.

“It was amazing to me that virtually every day I was in that office, somebody came in and said, ‘Coach, is there anything that we can do for you, is there any way we can help?’ I had never had that before. I mean, just the people are so nice and (Kansas) is such a great basketball state.”

Underwood, from McPherson, knew Huggins from his days as a junior college coach in Florida and they had become friends.

“But being on his staff was an unbelievable experience,” Underwood said. “You find out how good a person he is. How genuine, how loyal. I think the biggest thing I learned about Hugs is how doggone smart he is and how good he is as a basketball coach.”

And that’s why Kentucky and its fans have some angst. This game Thursday night doesn’t feel like the kind of a shoo-in it should considering one team is 36-0 and the other has lost nine games, including seven in the Big 12.

“His teams, they play, they compete, they play to win, they don’t have any fear,” Calipari said.

Underwood thinks Huggins has done the best coaching job in the country this season, considering the Mountaineers’ lack of offense and by getting his team to adapt to high-pressure defensive tactics.

“He’s transformed a team that can’t really shoot,” Underwood said. “He’s able to do whatever it is he needs to do. He’s done this with a bunch of guys that aren’t big names but he takes what he has and teaches them to play together.”

Huggins has gotten credit as a great coach for years. Some questioned his ways at Cincinnati, but no one has ever questioned his mind.

He deserves more credit for what he did in one season at Kansas State. He made the Wildcats relevant again and put them on a track for greater success.

“That state has Kansas State sold out, they’ve got Wichita (State) sold out and they’ve got Allen Fieldhouse sold out,” Huggins said. “You can’t say that about a lot of states, particularly a state where you don’t have a lot of metropolitan areas.

“I was impressed with the people. They’re great people there. They were wonderful.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Bob Huggins’ one season at Kansas State should never be forgotten."