Busting Brackets
Fansided

West Virginia Basketball: Why Mountaineers will be better than Pittsburgh in 2019-20

By Jason Burgess

MORGANTOWN, WV - FEBRUARY 12: The West Virginia Mountaineers student section against the TCU Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum on February 12, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
MORGANTOWN, WV - FEBRUARY 12: The West Virginia Mountaineers student section against the TCU Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum on February 12, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 18: Head coach Bob Huggins of the West Virginia Mountaineers reacts as they take on the Marshall Thundering Herd in the first half during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 18, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 18: Head coach Bob Huggins of the West Virginia Mountaineers reacts as they take on the Marshall Thundering Herd in the first half during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 18, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) /

1. Huggins has the coaching chops and experience for WVU to prevail

The first reason I believe West Virginia will have a better season than Pittsburgh is the head coach. This isn’t to say that I think that Coach Capel is a bad coach or won’t be successful at Pitt, to the contrary, I think he is and will be in time. I just think that Huggins’ track record and experience will keep the Mountaineers from having another down year.

Bob Huggins has been a head coach at the Division I level since 1984 and last season was just the third time one of his teams finished with a record below .500. Ironically, the two other times came in his first season with a new team or in a new conference, at Akron in 1984 and when West Virginia moved from the Big East to the Big XII in 2012. The record of his teams following those two years was 39-24, with a combined conference record of 19-13.

I’m not saying the Mountaineers jump into consideration for an NCAA Tournament berth, that likely doesn’t happen but, given Huggins’ coaching history I’d be willing to bet that West Virginia doesn’t stay down for long. Capel doesn’t hasn’t had the same adversity as a coach yet, and the time that he did at Oklahoma, he was fired and spent the next seven years as an assistant at his alma mater.

Home/West Virginia Mountaineers