True story: Friend, mentor, menace Rob Rossi from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is here writing columns for as long and as far was West Virginia goes in this tournament. He’s got a good idea up his sleeve that I won’t spoil for you or for him, but it involved him asking me, “Does Huggins ever use stories about his past as a way to connect with his players?”

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I told him there’s this fascinating dichotomy about Huggins: He often refers to the highest of times at Cincinnati and WVU and projects the ways of particular players from back in the day onto the ones he has in the present, which is fine given his considerable credentials, but also confusing when he reminds you he does not live with retrospect.

“He’s got this story about a guy and a truck and no rear view mirror he likes to use,” I said, “so I don’t know if you’ll get him to talk about his past.”

We love this story, of course, and there was a buzz here when he dropped it Thursday. I wasn’t at the press conference, but people were so happy to tell me about it when I returned from the WVU locker room. If you’re new to the party or to the blog, if you weren’t around for the 2010 Final Four run or haven’t looked in our rear view mirror here, allow me to introduce you to the background for this inspirational passage from five years ago.