If nothing else, Bob Huggins is opportunistic. Not only did he swoop in and return to his alma mater after a group of mostly underclassmen won the NIT last season, which is a far better situation than he would have inherited in 2002, but he picked a pretty good time to call out his student fans.

The coach pointed out Monday night during his weekly appearance on the Bob Huggins Statewide Sportsline that only 400 students showed up at a recent game at the Coliseum. The students are alloted 4,000 tickets per game.

“I continue to hear from people who say ‘I would love to buy season tickets but the only thing available now is 5-6 rows from the top on the non-student side,” Huggins said on the program. “No one would love to have 4,000 students at the game more than I would. But if the students are not going to come to the games, then we probably should sell those tickets to people who want good seats.”

Huggins said in the 18 games last year, university students only used the full allotment of tickets once.

“Everybody wants them there. And when 4,000 students are there, it’s an unbelievable atmosphere,” he said. “But if they are not going to go, those tickets really shouldn’t sit there unused. That’s just my perspective.”

You can say things like that and exactly how much it resonates depends on various factors. Certainly performance is one of those factors, so when you say that, then back it up by going on the road and crushing a SEC team by 29 points on national television, I’d say you’ve made a pretty good argument. 

I have to admit, football has kept me from paying close attention to the basketball team and even as I studied intently last Saturday against Winthrop, I wasn’t sure what to think about this team. Surely, I didn’t expect that. And while I devalue my opinion somewhat because of limited exposure to the product, I talked to people who have watched all season and they were stunned, too.

That was a coming together moment, something I remember seeing against Oklahoma in 2005, when WVU dearly needed a win in nonconference play, and at North Carolina State in 2004, when everyone began to believe and the foundation was set for what was to come.

Was this the same? Too soon to tell, but Huggins has something here. They’re playing their tails off on defense and just taking teams out of their sets. Auburn couldn’t run plays last night and, quite frankly, was lucky it had a few players who could score individually. It’s odd to say this about a game that ended at 88-59, but it could have been worse.