Bearhawkeye
The King of Breakfast
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RE: Do we know yet what was the deal with KW
(03-17-2021 12:42 PM)Dannyboy Wrote: (03-17-2021 12:24 PM)chatcat Wrote: (03-17-2021 12:18 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote: (03-17-2021 12:08 PM)QSECOFR Wrote: (03-17-2021 11:44 AM)Cataclysmo Wrote: No matter how much KW could have hated CJB I find it really hard to believe he would sit out the second half of a game where his tournament hopes/Senior season were on the line. I just don't see it.
Eric Martin did it when he got mad at Huggs.
Before my time but that's funny. How did Huggs respond.
Martin ripped off his jersey and stormed into the locker room just before half tine. He was back on the bench for the second half but I can't remember if he played or not.
I don’t think he did. And Coach Huggs sent someone to the locker room to make sure Martin didn’t leave the building. After the blowup they were back to normal. Huggs & his guys had that family vibe where they fight but they love each other.
I highly recommend the whole article, but this part seems particularly pertinent to both the anecdote in question and our current predicament:
Quote:Not one to shy away from tough decisions, Martin left TCU, and perhaps a bit oddly, headed back home for the next stage of his career. He played one year at Santa Ana (Calif.) College, earning all-state first-team honors and winning a state junior college title along with Corie Blount. It was there that he first crossed paths with Bob Huggins, then the head coach at the University of Cincinnati, who became one of the most influential people in his life. That mixture, though, or two strong personalities, hasn’t always resulted in smooth waters.
“I can honestly say that if I knew Bob Huggins coached the way he did, I probably wouldn’t have gone to Cincinnati,” Martin said openly. “But I would also say that meeting Bob Huggins was the best thing that ever happened to me. He held me accountable, and he made me tougher mentally. He made me a better defender, and I made some teams professionally because I could play defense.”
Huggins was, of course, involved in Martin’s recruitment, along with that of Blount, at Santa Ana, but it was Cincinnati assistant Steve Moeller who did most of the leg work, shuttling from the Queen City to California to recruit the duo, along with Long Beach City College’s Terry Nelson.
“Corie took a visit to Cincinnati first, but I committed first. Corie ended up being the national junior college player of the year, and I knew he wanted to go to Cincinnati,” Martin recounted. “But I was sold after my visit. The old Cincinnati arena had restaurants up on top, and I’m not sure why I was fascinated with the idea of playing while people ate, but when I saw it, I was done. I knew I was going there. Then Corie committed and another player from Long Beach City named Terry Nelson committed. The three of us and Nick Van Exel made up that recruiting class.”
Along with Herb Jones, that group powered the Bearcats to Final Four and Elite Eight appearances during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons.
“That Cincinnati team was probably the closest team I have ever been a part of. We still stay in touch. We are like brothers. It was just a special group,” said Martin, who was a 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward for the Bearcats. “Playing in the Final Four was special. I don’t think we even got in the Top 25 until halfway through the year. At the beginning of the year, all of the publications didn’t have us finishing in the top six in the Great Midwest, and the Great Midwest only had eight teams. For the city of Cincinnati, which had a history of winning national championships, it was great. Maybe the best two or three weeks of my life.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing to those postseason appearances, though. As one might expect, personalities as strong as those of Huggins and Martin were bound to collide, and Martin, who was used to making decisions that might be deemed outside the norm, almost made one that would have drastically changed the course of his life.
“It sort of defines how our relationship was,” he said of an incident during his time at UC. “It was the first half of a game, and I was upset, and I got up off the bench and thought, ‘I’m out of here. I’m done.’ I took off my jersey and threw it, and headed for the locker room. Someone intercepted me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘I’m leaving.’ He said, ‘No, this is a nationally televised game and you need to come back out here.’ Then Coach Moeller came to the locker room and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I told him I was leaving. He said to wait for Huggs and talk to him. I got up and was taking a shower, but I didn’t get out before halftime, and Huggs came in. We went off to another room and talked, and said what needed to be said. I didn’t leave, and it all worked out for the best.”
That Martin remembers so plainly about what was less than a shining moment for him speaks volumes about his openness and his personality. While he clashed with Huggins on occasion, he’s also the first person to boost his Hall of Fame candidacy and what working with him has meant to his career.
“It wasn’t even that he made me play defense. He made me enjoy playing defense,” Martin said of his transformation while playing for the Bearcats. “Getting steals, locking someone up, helping your teammates. We pressed for 40 minutes so we were always running and trapping. I loved that style of play. I don’t know that I would have played a minute of pro ball if it weren’t for Coach Huggins.”
(This post was last modified: 03-17-2021 01:47 PM by Bearhawkeye.)
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Do we know yet what was the deal with KW
