Huggins Feels Sorry for Big 12 Newcomers, 'They Have No Idea What They're Getting Into'
The Big 12 Conference is the best men's college basketball league in America and it has been for a handful of years now. From top to bottom (what bottom?), the Big 12 is substantially better than any other league.
The ACC, for example, has the blueblood powers of UNC and Duke but aside from that, there isn't a whole lot there. And when one of those programs has a down year like Carolina did this year, it really brings the league down. The biggest difference between the two is that there is no bottom in the Big 12 and there are several bottomfeeders in the ACC. Two teams (Florida State and Louisville) failed to reach 10 total wins on the season. Notre Dame finished with 11 and Boston College and Georgia Tech also finished with losing records. 33% of the conference had a bad year. Meanwhile, the Big 12 had one team (Oklahoma) finish with a losing record, yet they had as many or more wins as four ACC teams.
As hard as it is to believe, the conference is only going to get tougher. This summer, BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston are set to join. BYU, Cincinnati, and Houston have had decades of success albeit at a lower level. Their arrival won't make things any easier for the current members of the Big 12, but it's the newcomers that should be worried according to WVU head coach Bob Huggins.
"You want the honest answer? I feel sorry for them," Huggins said when asked about the four new members during an interview on The Field of 68. "They have absolutely no idea what they're getting into. I've been in a lot of leagues and I've been in a lot of leagues with the best coaches in America. And with the best players in America. And I'm telling you right now, [it's] the hardest league that I've ever coached in...ever. And the best fan bases. You go in and they may be 3-17 and they've got 14,000 people sitting in there. It's unbelievable the fan support, how good the players are, how good the coaching is, it is such a hard, hard league. And you got to go through it twice. And I'm going to tell ya, they're not ready for that."
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