West Virginia is my pick for team to beat. My main reason for picking them is HC Bob Huggins, who has aged well, and seems to understand the strengths and charisma of his own personality better and better. Coach Huggins was a serious bad boy, for public consumption, for a lot of years. He reputedly had some bottle issues, but I always felt, despite the violent streak of his style of game, and his willingness to kick opponents when they were down, that there was a man inside that loved the game. He is wearing lighter colored clothing this season, showing some emotion, and saying the right things. He wants in the Hall of Fame this season for sure. But he also appears to have discovered as the years have that the game and WVU have a place for The Marlon Brando of College Basketball. I compare Huggins to Brando not just because of his volcanic emotion that seems always on the verge of eruption, but in fact rarely does, but rather because like Brando he has been able to harness his animal fury to commitment to technique. And he has done so not to impress, and dazzle, but to get to the essence of his role and the essence of the game. I would never coach the physical intimidation and aggression that Huggins, along with Izzo and Knight have brought to the game, because I think the essence of the game lies closer to balance of athleticism and fierceness. At the same time, I do not deny that basketball can be played and played well the way Huggins has taken in. Huggins coming into the Big 12 was yet another lucky break for Bill Self. Self has coached against a lot of good coaches in the Big 12, but Huggins is the only great one. And there is nothing like having to compete against greatness to force a coach to find his highest level. Would I prefer Bill Self's approach, even if the coaches switched schools? Yes. But could I get behind Bob Huggins and say, "There are more ways than one to skin a cat, and Bob's way has been proven over time." Huggins is interviewed at the following link about the possibility of the HOF. The most interesting part of the interview is Huggins saying what all good coaches say; that he has been blessed with great players. But the defining thing Huggins says is in paraphrase: I have recruited a lot of guys that no one wanted and that proved they could play with the best. THAT is the essence of Bob Huggins. Lots of great coaches could his'n and beat your'n and your'n and beat his'n. But Bob Huggins tried and often succeeded in taking no one's guys, and beating your'n, and their'n and anyone'n that got in the way. Watch these interviews and see how intense and sharp this guy really is.
The dark horse is between OU and TCU. I pick TCU. I know Lonnie will field a good team and might even win it. But Jamie Dixon is on a mythic mission. He is something like Huggins in this one regard. He has proven he can win big, but now he wants to do the Odysseus thing and come home and see if he can do it there on his own terms for the place that gave him his shot. Dixon also coaches a kind of ball that Self has had trouble with in the past. He was Ben Howland's assistant at one time and then took over Pitt when Howland left for the UCLAN. Pitt never missed a beat when Dixon took over. Howland and Dixon took that Mountain West style of game and hybridized it with long exposure to the Big East warfare, and it was like Howland and Dixon ran it through a Bessemer Process to toughen pig iron into a steel alloy. Howland caught Self off guard in the NCAA's with the hack'n'slap trick. Dixon was tough with almost nothing his first season at TCU. He's gotten a few players in and his returning guys know what he's about now. If Dixon can find an angle of attack that's fresh to go with his physical game, he, like Izzo, coaches the blunt, head on style, with a Joe Frazier style of getting in close to take some punches and find some weaknesses, that Self's teams often struggle with. They take Self's teams straight to grind. They are designed to grind every game, rather than designed to grind when that is what is given. Dixon's and Izzo's grinds are who they are. Self's grind is a subset of play it anyway they want. Play it any way they want is who we are on Self's team.
The conference season comes after Christmas. The myth of conference basketball goes from away in the manger, to stuck on a cross in April, with some miracles on the road, and some amazing things happening in that building at home. Facing a round robbin with a good Huggins team and a good Dixon team blocking our way 4 times, call this: Grinding to Golgotha.
