That seems to be the most obvious, most common question as West Virginia travels to Cincinnati for tomorrow night’s ESPN game. Like, “Why in the world is U.C. honoring Huggins?” Fair question.

“To do it before a game, to me, it’s like they’re trying to soften him up,” Martin said.

It just seems so weird, so bold, so unprecedented. It’s almost an admission of guilt by the school. The whole thing feels like a Hallmark card saying “Our bad. Can we move on?”

Of course, Huggins is owed a great share of gratitude for what he accomplished at the school. Then again, the folks I know and have spoken with in the city rather like the way things are going with the current program. Good coach, good young players, good direction.

And therein lay the answer, I think. For two seasons now we wondered what, if anything, U.C. might do when Huggins walked through those doors again. Imagine if it went without acknowledgment. You’d fault U.C., right? And what if it went on for a few years? Now we don’t have to wonder any longer. The bandages come off we begin to see how things will look where the wound used to reside.

“I think so,” said freshman forward Yancy Gates, who grew up in Cincinnati and followed Huggins’ ouster. “It was kind of like an up-and-gone thing. I think a lot of people felt he deserved to be here.

“I think after the game is over, it will all just fade away.”