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Bob Huggins Named Naismith Hall of Fame Finalist

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins is on the final ballot for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

On Friday, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins as a 2022 Hall of Fame finalist. 

Huggins currently sits fourth on the all-time wins list with 914 and is the third active winningest coach behind Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse.

He has led his teams to 25 NCAA Tournament berths, including nine appearances in the Sweet Sixteen and two appearances in the NCAA Final Four. In 16 years as the head coach at the University of Cincinnati (1989-2005), Huggins led the Bearcats to eight Conference USA regular season championships, four Conference USA Tournament championships, was a three-time Conference USA Coach of the Year and was honored as the Conference USA Coach of the Decade in 2005. On the national level, he was tabbed as the Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 2000 and the ESPN.com National Coach of the Year in 2002.

The Morgantown native has accumulated a 324-182 while at West Virginia with 10 NCAA tournament appearances, including five Sweet Sixteen's and a Final Four. 

The entire Class of 2022 will be announced in New Orleans, on April 2 at the NCAA Men’s Final Four at 12:00 PM ET as part of the Hall of Fame Class Announcement.

This year’s list includes two first-time finalists: two-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili and five-time WNBA All-Star, three-time WNBA Champion, and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsay Whalen.

Previous finalists included again this year for consideration are longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans, five-time NBA champion and five-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection Michael Cooper, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, consensus National Collegiate Player of the Year Marques Johnson, two-time NCAA National Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, the NBA’s sixth-winningest coach of all-time George Karl, the all-time winningest high school coach, Leta Andrews, four-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Swin Cash, and NCAA national champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley.

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