MANHATTAN, Kan. — Since the tongue-lashing he gave students for not showing up at games, there has hardly been an empty seat.
Since he benched his most talented player, the once-moody athlete has played the best basketball of his life.
When Bob Huggins says jump, Kansas State leaps. Only a few months into the Huggins era, success-starved players and fans alike are beginning to adopt the nerve and verve of a strong-willed coach who won almost 600 games at Cincinnati but got fired by a president who said she would “make no apologies for setting high standards.”
“If the only thing we do is keep a smile on his face, I’m happy,” junior forward David Hoskins said with a grin. “We’re a better team. We’re definitely a tougher team.”
Since the Big 12 was formed in 1996, the Wildcats have never finished higher than seventh. When they head to rival Kansas on Wednesday night, they’ll be riding a seven-game winning streak and contending for their first conference championship in 30 years.
It’s no wonder Bramlage Coliseum has been unofficially renamed “Huggieville.”
Wins, ticket sales and renewed enthusiasm for a long-dormant program are just what Kansas State officials had in mind when they decided to take a chance on the 53-year-old Huggins.
His Cincinnati teams averaged more than 23 wins per season, but they also came under fire for poor graduation rates and run-ins with the law. Huggins had a drunken-driving conviction in 2004, and his team had a two-year NCAA probation beginning in 1998. In 2005, new President Nancy Zimpher refused to extend his rollover contract.
Now, basketball excitement hasn’t been this high in the Flint Hills since the 1988 team fell one win short of the Final Four.