Sometimes getting information from WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins is like pulling teeth.
But sometimes - just sometimes - you find gold when you finally do pull those teeth.
On Thursday, for instance, Huggins was cornered after returning late Wednesday evening from the Big 12 meetings in Phoenix.
"There have been reports you've been involved with transfer candidates like Anthony Livingston of Arkansas State and Merrill Holden of Louisiana Tech," I said to him. "Is anything happening with that?"
"No," Huggins said. "Nothing."
Will you be taking a transfer?
"No."
Is anybody leaving your team?
"No."
It's a significant development. As West Virginia fans know, big man Devin Williams (incredulously) extinguished his college eligibility by signing with an agent. With Williams, WVU would have begun next season as a Top 25 team. Without him, departed Jon Holton or an experienced transfer in the frontcourt, well, the garden doesn't look as rosy.
So how does Huggins project replacing Williams?
"Well, we're bringing in two 'bigs,' " said the coach.
Recruitniks know those two are 6-foot-10 Maciej Bender and 6-8 Sagaba Konate. But will they be ready for the Big 12?
"I don't know," Huggins shrugged. "Is anybody ever ready? Elijah [Macon] will be better. Brandon [Watkins] will be better. Nate [Adrian] will have a really good year. We'll just spread it more. Nate's playing really well right now."
Don't forget about 6-9 scholarship forward Lamont West. When asked if he could help next season, Huggins said "no doubt."
And while on the subject of personnel, I asked Huggins about point guard James "Beetle" Bolden, who suffered ACL and MCL injuries to his right knee last preseason.
"He's still trying to get his legs under him," Huggins said. "It takes awhile from a confidence standpoint, being able to push off it and cut. Going straight ahead isn't as much of an issue."
nnn
State basketball fans are aware the Marshall-WVU series imploded after this past season. Whether MU coach Dan D'Antoni's words and Huggins' umbrage at them eventually led to the end is something only administrators can say. But since then, Huggins has been outspoken on playing away from Morgantown and pointed in his remarks about Charleston.
He said this recently to the Dominion Post:
"We need to do what's in the best interest of West Virginia University. This notion that [the Marshall series is] the greatest sports weekend of the year ... no, it's not.
"And in doing what's in the best interest of the university, by and large we're doing what's in the best interest of the vast majority of the people in this state.
"The games [in Charleston] haven't been sold out. The [Marshall] game hasn't sold out and the vast majority of the people [attending] are ours. How is that fair?"
WVU and MU always split the basketball revenue evenly.
"We'll still play another game in Charleston," Huggins continued in the article. "But why wouldn't we look at some other opportunities to move around for people in other parts of the state to see us?
"Why don't we go to southern West Virginia and do something? Why don't we go to the northern panhandle? Why wouldn't we look at some other opportunities? Why does it have to be Charleston every time?"
We addressed some of the above in this space before. The Charleston games routinely drew better than those historically played at the same time in Morgantown. As for the money split, well, that's a new point of contention.
Anyway, Huggins was asked to clarify. Move around? Where else could hold WVU games?
"We really can't play a game anywhere else," said the coach on Thursday. "There's nowhere big enough. But if we have an opportunity to do something around the state in some way, shape or form, I think we should.
"We're going to play [an exhibition game] in Beckley against WVU Tech [Oct. 29]. We're going to hold our Blue-Gold [debut scrimmage] in Wheeling [Oct. 13]. We have to do these kinds of things this year because the Coliseum definitely won't be ready for the Blue-Gold game and, maybe, the exhibition game.
"It's a good thing though. We have the branch campus in Beckley."
That game in Beckley will be played at the Raleigh County Convention Center. The scrimmage in Wheeling will be at the WesBanco Arena.
Huggins, by the way, said the team's non-conference schedule should be released "pretty soon."