West Virginia’s Bob Huggins calls NCAA transfer proposal ‘ridiculous’
Share this post:
Aside from the obvious pandemic-related hurdles that confront every college program, Bob Huggins has fewer problems than most coaches.
There are issues, however.
West Virginia’s basketball coach would like to see his team improve its free-throwing shooting. The Mountaineers were 333rd of 350 schools last season (64.2%).
“That’s why they call them free throws,” he said. “You’re supposed to make them.”
And a 42.2% field goal percentage (254th in the nation) is a source of concern, but one he believes can be fixed.
Otherwise, with 10 players set to return to a team that won 21 games and is ranked 18th in NCAA.com analyst Andy Katz’s 2020-21 power rankings, Huggins likes where his team stands (although he hopes to see them standing on campus sometime soon).
“There are very few (teams) who have the number of people coming back that we have,” he said. “I think we have a great chemistry right now.”
Looking at the big picture, however, Huggins isn’t shy about airing his feelings on the NCAA possibly making transfer athletes immediately eligible. The Division I Council is set to vote on that proposal May 20.
“I think what’s going on is dead wrong and this immediate transfer thing is ridiculous,” he said.
“Maybe if those (NCAA) guys making decisions over there in Indianapolis had to see kids make really horrible decisions because they were convinced to do that and were allowed to do that by our current structure, I think maybe they would have a different idea about the whole deal, too — if, in fact, it is true they do care about student-athletes.”
Yet, the number of transfers continues to grow. ESPN.com’s Jeff Borzello reported about 40 basketball players have entered the NCAA transfer portal each day since the season ended a month ago.
A look at the numbers shows accepting transfers doesn’t necessarily translate into championships.
CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein reported 50 players have transferred into the ACC from lower conferences since the start of the 2013-14 season. Only six ended up averaging double figures in scoring on teams with a winning conference record.
Interesting Stat:
Since the reconfiguration of the ACC prior to the start of the 13-14 season, 50 players have transferred into the league from lower level conferences.
13 have averaged in double-figures.
Six averaged double-figures on teams with a winning ACC record.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 13, 2020
“I’d hate to be a mid-major coach,” Huggins said.
Players moving in the opposite direction aren’t guaranteed to succeed, either, Huggins said.
“The theory is you go from a high major to a mid-major and you’re going to have a better career,” Huggins said. “That hasn’t been the case. If you look at our guys who have transferred down with the idea that they are going to show the NBA guys what they can do in a system that is catered for them, they haven’t done that.”
Huggins mentioned no names, but two recent players who left his program have not found immediate success.
Trey Doomes averaged only 9.5 minutes per game at Chattanooga and Andrew Gordon scored at a 4.4 points-per-game rate at Louisiana Tech this season.
On the other hand, Lamont West shot 56.5% from the field (2-point shots), 91.2 from the foul line and averaged 9.5 points for Missouri State.
Knowing there may be several players similar to West in the portal, Huggins doesn’t automatically ignore transfers.
“I don’t ever want to be one of those guys who is out trying to poach other people’s players,” he said. “If they contact us, the first thing we do is contact the coaching staff and we go from there.”