Bill Self reacts to Bob Huggins ejection in Big 12 Tournament

It’s been tough sledding for Bob Huggins and the West Virginia Mountaineers this season, as the program — which has seemed like a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament throughout Huggins’ tenure — finished the regular season with a 16-17 overall record, good for a No. 9 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.

With that seeding came a tough matchup for West Virginia, which on Thursday was pitted against the No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks. That’s when things went from bad to worse for West Virginia.

Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins received back-to-back technical fouls for arguing a no-call in the first half, which saw Huggins get ejected with nearly 10 minutes left in the first half. Longtime associate head coach Larry Harrison ended up taking over for the remainder of the game. When Huggins had left, West Virginia trailed Kansas by a 22-4 score. Although the Mountaineers advanced to the quarterfinal round after defeating Kansas State 73-67 on Wednesday night in the first round, they were unable to keep the momentum going on Thursday, and they ultimately got drubbed without Huggins, losing 87-63 to Kansas. After the game, Kansas head coach Bill Self commented on Huggins’ first-half ejection.

“I haven’t talked to him. I haven’t talked to him,” Self repeated, after a reporter asked whether he’d communicated with Huggins, his longtime friend, after the blowout victory. “I’m sure we’ll talk about it at some point in time but right now is probably not the time.”

West Virginia made just three of its first 25 shots to and trailed by 22 points with 3:46 to play. The end result was no better; the Mountaineers continued to struggle and ultimately ended up shooting just 32.8 percent fro the field in a losing effort. Moreover, Huggins’ West Virginia team left plenty at the free-throw line, shooting 73.1 percent from the charity stripe.

Kansas State basketball coach Bruce Weber resigns from position

Kansas State men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber resigned from his position on Thursday morning, according to a school press release. The decision comes one day after he provided a passionate six-minute response reflecting on his career following a Big 12 Tournament loss.

Over 10 seasons at Kansas State, Weber won 184 games, made five NCAA Tournaments and won two Big 12 championships. In 2018, he took his team to the Elite Eight.

Weber has spent 24 seasons as a head coach in total, with previous stops and Southern Illinois and Illinois before coming to Kansas State in 2012. Over his career, he has 15 NCAA Tournament wins and coached in the championship game in 2005. Weber is also one of 10 Division I coaches to take three different schools to the Sweet 16.

Following the announcement that Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber would resign from his role, athletic director Gene Taylor provided a statement on the coach’s decade-long tenure.

“Coach Weber has provided selfless leadership to our basketball program and university for the last decade,” Director of Athletics Gene Taylor said in his statement. “With two conference championships and an Elite Eight run in 2018, our program reached exceptional levels of success under his direction. His development of young men on and off the court, while representing K-State in a first-class manner with the highest level of integrity is unmatched in today’s game and something all K-Staters should take great pride in.”