Bob Huggins 'under review'

West Virginia is assessing its men's hoops coach after he used anti-gay slur during radio interview, Plus, Northwestern gets good news for 2023-24, and Cal adds more talent.

Author

Mike Miller
May 09, 2023

Take an early lunch today. We’ve got a live show coming at 11 am ET where Jeff Goodman, Rob Dauster and Greg Waddell discuss the latest college hoops news. Plus, they’ll have Niagara’s Noah Thomasson on to announce his college for the 2023-24 season.

Oh … and they also might be discussing some news that will be announced at 10 am ET. Stay tuned.

Let's get to Monday’s news.

1. Bob Huggins under review after anti-gay slur

Few teams have had bigger offseason moves than West Virginia.

The most significant one may be yet to come after coach Bob Huggins used an anti-gay slur in an interview with a Cincinnati radio station on Monday.

University and athletic department officials are reviewing the matter.

Huggins, who has coached at West Virginia since 2007, was the coach at Cincinnati from 1989 to 2005. While appearing on the Bill Cunningham Show on Newsradio 700 WLW, Huggins was asked about in-town rival Xavier.

"Any school that can throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn't do it, my God, they can get away with anything," Huggins said.

Cunningham said, "I think it was 'transgender night,' wasn't it?"

Huggins then said, "What it was, was all those f-gs, those Catholic f-gs, I think."

Huggins later apologized, tweeting this from his personal account (the Mountaineers’ men’s hoops account also tweeted it:

The athletic department issued its own statement: "Coach Huggins' remarks today on a Cincinnati radio show were insensitive, offensive and do not represent our university values. West Virginia University does not condone the use of such language and takes such actions very seriously. The situation is under review and will be addressed by the university and its athletic department."

How the university proceeds is anyone’s guess.

Some national writers, including Jeff Goodman, don’t believe he should be fired. But Mike DeCourcy and Jay Bilas both seem to think more should still be done, while USA Today’s Dan Wolken says the school must remove Huggins.

For what it’s worth, current West Virginia President Gordon Gee retired when he made insensitive remarks about Catholics when he was still the Ohio State President.

There’s no timeline for a decision.

2. Boo Buie returns to Northwestern

Northwestern won 22 games last season, the second-most in school history, and just the fifth time it’s surpassed 20 wins in a season. More impressive is that the Wildcats won 12 Big Ten games and finished tied for second, their best finish since 1959.

What does Northwestern do for an encore? We’ll at least have to tune in now.

Guard Boo Buie officially withdrew his name from the NBA Draft, the school announced on Monday. It’s a significant move for the 6-2 senior, who became the first player in program history to average 17.3 ppg and 4.5 apg or better last season. There’s a good chance he’ll now end his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

But it’s even more prominent for a program starved for consistent college hoops success. A return to the NCAA Tournament would be just the third trip in school history, all since 2017.

Getting back an All-Big Ten guard who can control a game, get to the free-throw line with regularity and can hit game-winners is no small thing. Throw in returning starters Ty Berry, Brooks Barnhizer and Princeton transfer Ryan Langborg, and it’s a team with loads of experience in the backcourt and on the wing.

If senior big man Matthew Nicholson can be more productive, it’ll really be interesting.

3. The portal’s bearing (more) fruit for Cal

Yes, we ran that headline last week. Still applies after Jaylon Tyson’s announcement on Monday.

The 6-6 sophomore wing averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds last season for Texas Tech as one of their most reliable offensive threats and best perimeter shooter (40.2 percent from deep). He’s a perfect addition for Cal, which had already upgraded its overall talent from last season’s 3-29 team.

This now gives new coach Mark Madsen a likely starting lineup of:

  • Jalen Cone

  • Mike Meadows

  • Jaylon Tyson

  • Devin Askew

  • Fardaws Aimaq

Memphis wing Keonte Kennedy will also be in the mix. Is that good enough for a top 4 finish in the Pac-12? I’m not going to rule it out.

Other portal moves:

New names in the portal:

Like a glove

We’re nearing the deadline for players to enter the transfer portal — and about half have yet to settle on a school. (Gonna be quite a summer.) Of the 800 or so who have a new program, which ones make the most sense?

Links as you decide which Pulitzer Prize winners to read.

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