Huggins Sees Lack of Fire in This Year's Team, 'We're Not Hungry Enough'

The effort is there, but Huggins wants more determination.

The window is closing for West Virginia to make their case for why they should be an NCAA Tournament team. No, the loss to Kansas doesn't completely knock them out of contention, but they missed out on a big opportunity for a signature win. 

With just five games remaining in the regular season, the Mountaineers need to go on a run and at least go 4-1 to truly put themselves back on the tournament bubble. 

During the losing streak, head coach Bob Huggins has lauded his team for their effort and desire to not back down when things got a bit rough. Giving effort and being hungry can go hand in hand, but the Mountaineers are lacking a little of the latter according to Huggins. 

"We've got to go get some hungry guys. We're not hungry enough. I haven't experienced this a lot," Huggins said. "Larry [Harrison] has been around for close to 40 years. Ronny [Everhart] has been around, I've obviously been around. I mean, we ought to be able to find some people. The guys that have been successful here at this university by and large are guys that felt it was a privilege to be here at this level and played their butts off and got better and better. The guys who didn't subscribe to that theory ended up somewhere else. I'd give my right arm for Cam Thoroughman. He competed. He wanted to win. He loved the university. Loved the state, loved the people. He wanted to represent. I'm not saying our guys don't now, they just don't have that same fire."

Could this just be Huggins using his press conferences as a way to ignite that fire within this team? I don't think so, at least that isn't his direct intention. However, the Thoroughman statement caught me off guard. I mean, he does have Gabe Osabuohien, who provides a lot of the same things Thoroughman did except he's more of an athlete than Cam. I think what the point he was trying to make is he needs to bring in more guys that don't take losing lightly. Guys that will do whatever it takes to win. Dive on the floor for loose balls, take pride in defense, and playing team basketball. 

There's no telling if this team will get it together in time to make their way into the NCAA Tournament, but one thing is for sure, this team will look vastly different next season.

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