West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins shows his soft side while tending to star forward Da'Sean Butler moments after the senior tore his ACL in the Mountaineers' Final Four loss Saturday night against Duke. (Photo courtesy of Fox Sports)Genius, and college coaches for that matter as well, are often classified as being misunderstood. After Saturday night's NCAA Tournament national semifinals, one can undoubtedly say the same about each of the coaching quartet in Indianapolis, but none more than Bob Huggins of West Virginia.
That's because Huggins, who has a perceived gruffness about his West Virginian persona, broke his fabled character midway through the second half of the Mountaineers' loss to Duke Saturday night, tending to senior forward Da'Sean Butler after he collided with Duke's Brian Zoubek while driving to the rim. An MRI later revealed Butler had torn his ACL and sprained the MCL in his knee, and the pain was evident on the star's face as he lay in agony on the hardwood at Lucas Oil Stadium.
In West Virginia's postgame press conference, Butler answered every question posed to him by the media during the session, and defended his coach, who stayed with Butler on the floor after the injury to provide arguably the most memorable image of this year's tournament up to this moment. Butler revealed that Huggins had told him it "wasn't his fault" and not to be sorry because he (Huggins) loved him. Butler leaves Morgantown as the third-leading scorer in Mountaineer history, trailing only Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley.
West Virginia may have lost the game; but the ability of its star player to not break down and its coach, known affectionately to many as "Huggy Bear," to offer words of encouragement during a difficult time in the life of a young man, makes the Mountaineers champions in ways that most of us never can hope to imagine.
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