BOSTON — If it works, take it. That’s Bob Huggins’ motto, at least.
The head coach of the fifth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers is preparing to face the top-seeded Villanova Wildcats in the East Regional semifinals on Friday at TD Garden. If Huggins and the Mountaineers pull off the upset and advance to their first Elite Eight since 2010, it’ll be a credit to West Virginia’s unrelenting defense and, perhaps, something Huggins took from his Friday-night counterpart, Jay Wright.
Huggins was asked Thursday how he’s adapted as a head coach since his time at the University of Cincinnati, and the West Virginia head coach gave a brutally honest answer.
“Oh, I steal everything I can,” Huggins said. “I watch tape and if somebody’s doing something pretty good, we’re doing it the next day. I’ve never had an original thought in my life. My dad was a coach, and I got a lot of things from my father, and he kind of looked up to a guy named Ed McCluskey, and I spend a lot of time with Coach.
“I still to this day — honest to God, Jay (Wright) was fronting ball screens against us, and then we fronted ball screens against them because it seemed like the thing to do. So I don’t — I steal everything I can. I don’t know how to put it any plainer. If I see something I think helps us, we’re going to do it.”
Huggins and West Virginia will have their hands full with a Villanova team that led the nation in scoring during the regular season. But if anyone has a shot at slowing down Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson, it’s “Press Virginia.”
