http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2617954&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1Bob Huggins (Kansas State)
Bio: Age: 53; head coaching stops: Walsh College, Akron, Cincinnati and Kansas State; has won 567 games at a .740 clip in 24 seasons as a head coach; one Final Four; three Elite Eights; five first-round NBA draft picks, three in the lottery.
Why he will make news: Well, because he's Bob Huggins. Huggins, like Knight, is a lightning rod. He attracts attention like few coaches in the country. He already made news in the offseason by attracting top talent for this season (Jason Bennett) and for 2007 (Michael Beasley).
What's expected: Kansas State was only a few wins shy of being an NCAA Tournament team last season under Jim Woolridge. With the addition of newcomers like Bennett and Blake Young and Huggins' influence on this team (especially in work ethic and defense), there is an expectation that they will be in the NCAA Tournament. Having Huggs in the NCAA wearing purple rather than black would be big-time news.
Headlines: Huggins' first game, against William & Mary, won't get much publicity, but four days later he'll be back on the East Coast against Rutgers, which certainly should be an event. The Huggins tour continues to New Mexico, Cal, Colorado State, North Dakota State, to Las Vegas for a tournament, and then back to Cincinnati to play Xavier before Big 12 play. A meeting with Bob Knight and Texas Tech on Big Monday on Jan. 8 certainly will be a ratings hit, as will the two games against Kansas, both of which will be on the ESPN family of networks.
Fran Fraschilla's take: Bob Huggins and Kansas State: a match made in basketball heaven. The Wildcats needed to jump-start their program and he needed a place to jump to. The bottom line is that because of Huggs' vast network of recruiting contacts and his proven coaching ability, Kansas State, with its great basketball history, is relevant again. The postseason is a definite possibility this year, and those matchups with the Jayhawks should be very interesting.
