Huggins not surprised by WVU's start

West Virginia jumped into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time as a member of the Big 12 (and the first time since March 14, 2011) thanks in part to beating its old Big East foe Connecticut in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off title game. The untimely transfers of Eron Harris and Terry Henderson at the end of last season put the Mountaineers in the unenviable position of having to replace two of their top three scorers. That's why their 5-0 start and No. 21 ranking may seem unexpected.

Head coach Bob Huggins was not among those caught by surprise. He spoke to ESPN.com about why the Mountaineers are off to their best start since the 2010 Final Four team.

Coming off the wins in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic impressed a national audience of West Virginia's potential, but did it make an impression on you at all on how good you can be?
I think we felt that way all along. The feeling in camp was we were that good.

So now it's just about going out and proving it?
It's a marathon, brother, it's not a sprint. It's a long year.

The ACC gets a lot of publicity for being arguably the best conference this year, but the Big 12 might be the most competitive from top to bottom. Do you agree with that sentiment?
We don't have a top and a bottom. Those other leagues have a top and a bottom. Those other leagues have teams in them where you can point to "Well, we know we're going to win this one and this one and this one." Nah. We don't have that in the Big 12.

You've been on record saying last year's team didn't guard well enough or rebound well enough. During your start so far, how would you grade those areas?
I think we're worlds better in both areas. We still have got a lot of things to fix, but I think we're worlds better on both ends. Devin Williams has come a long, long way just in his knowledge of what we want done and his effort to get those things done. Juwan Staten has been really good. Gary Browne has been really good. I think the biggest thing is our new guys have bought in. We've got a couple of freshmen, a couple of juniors that sat out a year ago so we've got a good number of new guys and they've all bought in. Obviously they're not where we want them to be yet, they've had some breakdowns, but I feel like the effort and a willingness to try are there.

Staten has established himself as one of the nation's best point guards, but how does that manifest itself on your team with so many new players? Does he have the kind of personality that his teammates gravitate toward?
I think it was pretty much understood when they (newcomers) came in that he was the guy.

It used to be having an elite big man would ensure a postseason run, but Shabazz Napier and UConn proved having an elite point guard can lead to a title. When did you start believing in the little guys?
We went from an NIT team at Cincinnati to a Final Four team in '92. (In 1993) that Elite Eight team was a missed free throw away from being another Final Four team with Nick Van Exel. So I understood after that with him how important it was.

Without getting into where Juwan ranks among point guards you've coached, what do you feel like the ceiling is for him? How good can he be for this team? Can he be like Van Exel?
I think he can be really good. He's not Nick, but you know Steve Logan was terrific, a consensus All-American and he wasn't Nick either. They're different. They have different strengths and different weaknesses. Nick could do certain things that Logan couldn't do. Logan could do certain things that Juwan can't do. But he does what he does really well and that's the important thing.

Finding the right chemistry can always be a tricky proposition. How is it that this team has so many new elements fit into a role already?
Probably recruiting the right kids. Our two freshmen (Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr.) have been really good. Our junior college guys (Jaysean Paige and Jonathan Holton) are getting better. I just think they're guys that are very willing -- I'm sure probably to a degree they were told a lot more and a lot more convincingly in the recruiting process as well. And now it's not that we didn't tell guys that we recruited those things before, but it was kind of, "This is what we're going to do." And they've been great. There have been very few days where they didn't play with great effort and great enthusiasm.

Going back to your days at Cincinnati, you've had a track record of junior college transfers who end up being key contributors. How do you get them acclimated to playing at this level?
We make sure they understand, they've got two years. They're not freshmen; they don't have four years. They don't have a year to sit out and wait. They need to come in and produce the first year if they're going to have a really good career. And I think, for the most part, most of them have.

I like to end with a non-basketball related question. Have you ever for any reason gotten a chance to shoot the musket that the Mountaineer mascot carries around? No I haven't. I suppose I could if I really pushed it, but no I haven't. I haven't asked.

STATE OF THE GAME

Each week we'll have a coach talk about an aspect of college basketball.

With the advent of Super Conferences teams no longer play each other twice like when Purdue coach Matt Painter was a player for the Boilermakers. But he doesn't necessarily think that's a bad thing: "Yeah, I don't think it devalues [the championship], it's just different. Obviously, it's not consistent, nor is it ever going to be again, because we're not going to jump up and say we're going to play 26 league games. That's not going to happen. You're just not going to have your true champ. It doesn't mean they're not a champion. ... Someone is going to have an advantage and someone is going to have a disadvantage, and there's going to be some schools that are kind of in the middle of the fray. You just don't know who those are going to be. You can take some shots at them, but for the people who are actually making the schedule, they can't control that part of it. But it isn't your dad's Big Ten anymore. It's different. It doesn't mean it's wrong."

TALKING POINTS

Kentucky's John Calipari on 100-pound coats: "What these kids deal with to be here, to play here, to be a part of this program, they wear a 100-pound coat. What I mean by that is, it starts with me. I am rough on them, I am tough on them, I'm holding them to high standard. I'm like a hawk. I see everything. I'm coaching them the entire time. They're getting better. It is not an option; you will get better. That's me. Then they have got this environment we live in here, which is, like, ridiculous. That's another 20 pounds of the coat. Wait a minute. What about the media? 45 straight. They got to win. Can they beat the 76ers? Let's take a vote. What? Then, they got their own clutter that's around them, individually, that they got to deal with. That's a hundred pounds. The people coming in to play us got windbreakers. They're loose as a goose, they're just going to go play. ... I say this: If you're not willing to wear the hundred-pound coat, you don't come here, you can't come here, because it's not changing. I'm not changing. I don't think our fans are changing. I really don't think the media's changing. And the clutter around these kids, whether it's these kids or any other kids, it's all the same."

Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird on the impact of the Division II school's 1982 upset of Virginia and 7-footer Ralph Sampson in the Maui Invitaional: "When I took this job four years ago I didn't realize that every day of my life the 1982 win versus Virginia will be brought up in one aspect or the other, whether I'm walking down Waikiki or just talking to anybody. But I think we'd have to win this Maui Invitational for it to even come close to topping that."

Long Beach State coach Dan Monson on the potential awkward feeling of coaching against his friend and former assistant coach at Gonzaga Bill Grier, who is now the head coach at San Diego: "Well, I hope not because you hate playing friends. Billy and I were in each other's wedding. We lived together for I lose track now how many years. Mark Few and I lived together. But it was a long time there at Gonzaga. You have great respect for your friends, and nobody really wins when you play friends because you suffer with each other. But that's athletics and that's competition. If we do play them, there is nobody you know, it's like playing your brother -- there is nobody you don't want to lose to more, either. If it happens, it will be a great game. But I'm rooting for both of us to win. If it does happen, it would be great if it was in the championship."