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Bob Huggins tees off on team’s effort, apologizes to West Virginia fans

Bob Huggins, Billy Hahn, Gary Browne

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins, left, watches from the bench along with assistant Billy Hahn and guard Gary Browne, right, in the closing minutes of the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. Purdue defeated West Virginia 79-52. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

AP

West Virginia has been one of the biggest disappointments in the country this season.

Many believed that, with the addition of three transfers and the return of a solid group of veterans, the Mountaineers would have a chance to at least be competitive in the Big 12. In a season where there is only one really good team in the conference, it was hard not to imagine that Bob Huggins could get this group to hold their own with anyone on any given night.

Except that hasn’t happened.

At all.

A disappointing season turned ugly on Saturday, as West Virginia lost by 27 points to Purdue in West Lafayette. That’s embarrassing by any standards, let alone a coach that has won 718 games in his career. Embarrassing enough that Huggins apologized for his team’s effort:

“I want to apologize to our fans, apologize to the people in the state of West Virginia. This is totally unacceptable. This is not what we’re supposed to represent and hopefully they have enough faith in me that I will fix it.”


Ouch.

What’s worse is that Huggins seems to be at a loss with this group, and it’s not because they lack the talent. Because they don’t; there is a reason that West Virginia has been labeled a disappointment. The issue is that Huggins cannot figure out a way to get his players to compete:

“I’ve never in my coaching career not been able to get guys to compete,” Huggins said in his postgame radio show. “We don’t compete. We shoot it terrible. That shouldn’t stop us from guarding, it shouldn’t keep us from rebounding, it sure doesn’t cause you to throw the ball away.”

The answer?

“I’m going to go recruit, which obviously I really need to do,” Huggins said.

Double ouch.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.