MORGANTOWN — As Bob Huggins approached on the first day of his 2nd annual Fantasy Camp you had to do a double take, for he truly looked like a big panda bear.
He was dressed in blue sweats but wore a cap upon his head, something you almost never see.
He was wearing it, perhaps, to cast a shadow over his eyes, each of which had a large black ring under it. His left eye was swollen badly and cut.
You knew a good story was about to come.
According to Huggins, it was 4:30 in the morning and he is now at an age when sleeping the night through is not the norm. Nature’s alarm clock often rings about this time and so he wandered through the darkness to potty, where he took care of business.
After washing his hands, he turned and started back toward the bedroom, only to find on his second step that he had walked directly into the corner of the door, splitting open a gash above the eye.
By morning, when the bleeding had stopped, the swelling was still going on.
His left eye was completely shut, so he went off to a doctor, someone he had played against while in college.
“I’ve got to open that up,” the doctor said, putting his thumb directly on the swollen cut. “This is going to hurt.”
Hurt? Remember the scene from “Rocky” when Sylvester Stallone’s eye is swollen shut and he is sitting on his stool in the corner, yelling “Cut me. Cut me.”
“I came out of the chair,” Huggins admits. “I never hurt like that.”
The doctor simply looked at him and said, “I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”
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Deniz Kilici, the Turkish import who is in this year’s freshman class after playing at Mountain State Academy, is not coming in with the rest of the recruits this summer because he’s playing for his national team and Huggins isn’t thrilled about it.
“He won’t be here until August and it will put him behind,” Huggins said. “But what do you to say someone who wants to play for his national team?”
According to Huggins, the muscular, 6-9 Kilici still needs to become “more Americanized” in his game.
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The other recruits are all expected in town over the next week.
Already here is Danny Jennings, a muscular, 260-pound forward from New York who is a former high school teammate of Devin Ebanks.
Ebanks had a lot to do with Jennings, a highly recruited player, coming to WVU.
“He told me he came here because I was here,” Ebanks said.
And Ebanks’ assessment of Jennings is that he’s a good one.
“He has the defensive skills to play right now,” Ebanks said.
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When the school put out a release earlier this spring that Ebanks was not going to the NBA it came without his knowledge, saying he heard about it from his mother.
There had been some rumors out there on the Internet that Ebanks might put himself into the NBA draft and the school wanted to put them aside. Ebanks says he never gave it consideration and that even coming out of high school the thought of being a one-and-done player never crossed his mind.
Next year might be a different story, he admits, but he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to make the move.
“We’ll see what’s best for me and my family,” he said.
As it is, he will have a busy summer going first to Vince Carter’s camp in Orlando, Fla., and then, if he qualifies, to LeBron James’ skill camp in Cleveland in July.
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While Ebanks will be back next year, Huggins acknowledged that Dee Proby won’t be.
Proby, a reserve center out of junior college, is transferring, although Huggins did not know where.
Guard Will Thomas’ fate is still undecided.
Huggins said he would be back in school but asked if that meant he would be on the Mountaineer basketball team, Huggins answered: “I did not say that.”
Huggins is still looking for one scholarship for this year’s class.
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Among the 36 campers in the Fantasy Camp is former WVU linebacker Scott Gyorko.
In town to help coach are Jerry West, Rod Hundley, Joe Alexander, Joedy Gardner, Lowes Moore, Mike Gansey, Willie Akers and Darris Nichols.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Huggins hurts eye; recruits expected in town
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