Huggins and Self are alike in certain ways.
Both guys let the players own the mistakes and losses, as well as the wins.
I loved hearing Bob say, “I don’t know why you tell a guy to do something again and again and he doesn’t do it. I don’t know.”
Huggins has won 72% of his games. He has won 834 games!!! He has never coached an elite program. It’s almost unbelievable how many games he has won, given where he has coached.
72% of the time his guys listen enough for him to win. That’s 7.2 games out of 10.
83% of the time Self’s guys listen enough to win. That’s 8.3 games out of 10.
What the old bear said about his players said was harsh, but really no more harsh than what Self says when we lose. Self just smiles more and says it faster.
Huggins gave his team some serious medicine.
You guys aren’t preparing like you belong up here. #2 is way up there.
Remember Self has said exactly the same kind of thing a half dozen times about teams over the years.
It’s tempting to say it sews some self fulfilling prophecy karma, but really, the both coaches are describing what is already there. A doctor telling you you have cancer doesn’t make the acute symptoms appear later. They were coming.
By telling players the truth about their play and then telling them how to do it right, the coach gives them a chance to head the problem off before it gives them a loss.
If they can’t listen and process, then at least after the loss comes they will have more trust in the coach’s advice whenever they can listen.
Everyone of Huggins’ press conferences and interviews is a clinic, since he took his medicine, sat out a few years and came back.
He is a fiercesome man—a great bear of a man.
But he has learned to harness it for good.
Self is every bit as unflinching in his ways, but he has a much gentler demeanor. But when I say Self is a hard man under that exterior, I mean that there is a Bob Huggins inside the jovial man you meet on Mass Street, or in interviews.
To be a great coach you have to be unblinking and fearless in what you see, so you can communicate what you see and solutions to it. Self appears to admire Huggins so much, because Huggins is even more fearless than Self in his candor in public.
Huggins’ and his players will get better from this awful experience of losing two and blowing a lead at home. The players will now know the old coaches knows what he is talking about regarding preparation. Huggins tough love assured that.
Now Huggins has to go to work on figuring out how to substitute more effectively, so his pressing team can play 2-3 without losing its shooting legs, while also keeping his better players on the floor enough to getter done.
The March Carney is three 2 in 3 sets. Huggs will likely figure at least part of it out. Like Self, he does not always adapt fast, but he tends to find solutions eventually.
Remember how Self has had to figure things out on the fly.
Watching Huggins coach and interview is a privilege, same as is watching Self.
Self is easier to watch, because he isn’t so edgy, but a person can learn so much good from both.
These are two giants we are lucky to watch work.
