The nice thing about WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins is he can take criticism.
He'll grumble about it in the short term. (Oh, how he can grumble about it in the short term.) But in the long run, he's a professional. He's like most men that hail from West Virginia. We'll get in a fight, fall to the floor - and then get up and have a beer together.
And while Huggins can take a punch, so too can he dish one out. On Monday night, for instance, he came out firing at Charleston.
"This [WVU game at the Civic Center against James Madison had] the worst crowd I think we've had in nine years," he said. "This was my idea. This was my deal. I wanted to come down here because I know how hard it is to to get to Morgantown from Bluefield and from Princeton and from Beckley and Iaeger and all those other places.
"I want to come here, but I don't want to come here and not have a good crowd. We're back to where we're getting 10,000 a game, 11,000 a game in Morgantown... We didn't bring some dog down here. This is a good team."
Indeed, Huggins does have a good team this season. If complacency doesn't set in, he should have a very good team.
Yet what appears to be a shot, pow, right to the kisser (you're welcome Jackie Gleason fans) is actually a glancing blow that misses.
Here's the deal. Prior to the game, expectations were WVU would draw but 7,000 fans. I don't know why that was the case except the contest was on a Monday in November and the advance advertising seemed lame.
I've lived in Charleston for 21 years now and realize folks only show in numbers to see their family or the marquee, big names. Otherwise, butts are on couches and, nowadays, noses in cell phones.
WVU's hoops team this season, though, qualifies as a "marquee, big name." It is ranked No. 22 in the coaches' poll. It is coming off a Sweet 16 appearance.
And so 8,101 showed at the Civic Center. That's 1,000 more than expected because Charleston is a walk-up kind of town. It's more than Huggins expected or, probably, knew when he made the remarks. But he was right in saying it was the smallest _ let's use that instead of "worst" _ crowd in his nine seasons with the program.
Understand, though, most at this point are still clinging to football season, whether it be college or high school. The James Madison game was, in fact, played on the earliest date ever in Charleston. Many times the non-conference game is played here around the Thanksgiving break. That helps.
And here are the knockout punches to the criticism. First, WVU's home game last season on the exact same date, a Sunday even, was 6,089 for the Lafayette game. And the average November crowd for Mountaineer games since Huggins became coach? That would be 7,250 over 19 games.
So a crowd of 8,101 isn't bad. That said, WVU did have 10,120 for its home game with Northern Kentucky.
"That was only the fourth crowd of 10,000 in the month of November in Coliseum history," said WVU associate athletic director Matt Wells, "so that's a very encouraging early sign."
Indeed, it's a great sign for WVU's basketball program.
"All of our [ticket] sales numbers are up slightly," Wells said. "Our mini ticket season packages are almost double what they were last year at this time. The three-game pack and the four-game pack for the conference season have been great."
Wells said he's "very encouraged" and that the school will be offering Big 12 single game tickets sales in early December.
"We expect another spike then," he said.
In the team's exhibition against Glenville, WVU drew 6,115 to the Coliseum. Last season, it was 4,879 to the Shepherd game. Wells said the school has sold around 5,700 regular season tickets. He said that number has reached "7,000-plus" under Huggins.
"We're down slightly from our all-time highs, but in looking over the history of the Coliseum we're higher now than 10 to 15 years ago," Wells said.
Indeed, since 2006 the annual average Coliseum crowd has reached or nearly reached 10,000 in all but 2013 (8,752) and 2014 (8,575). Last season it was 10,189.
"You can sense the excitement building off last year's Sweet 16 year," Wells said. "We have 'Press Virginia.' There's a lot of talk and buzz. People are excited about the players coming back and the new guys coming in. There's a lot of positive talk."
It's warranted with Esa Ahmad, a two-time Ohio Player of the Year, joining the mix. It's warranted with hard-working Jevon Carter and Devin Williams leading the team.
The question is, with all the excitement, might Charleston get left behind?
"Nah, I think it's still important to bring a true home game here," Wells said while at the Civic Center. "Obviously we have a great fan base here. It's tough to ask them to come to Morgantown 15, 16, 17 times a year, so, in my mind, we want to make it as easy as we can for them. Bringing this true home game to Charleston is very important."
Indeed, Huggins' criticism was probably, well, just Hugs being Hugs. He wants the best for his program and if throwing a few jabs might help with attendance then he'll throw a few jabs.
WVU fans in the Kanawha Valley, though, can probably relax.
"As far as I know," Wells said, "the non-conference home game here is scheduled to continue for the foreseeable future."
Let's just hope that's the unanimous decision.