MORGANTOWN - Bob Huggins hadn't seen the major polls yet early Monday afternoon, so at the time he didn't have any real empirical evidence to back up his claim.

Still, with nearly 20 years invested in coaching at the highest levels of college basketball, his opinion carries some weight. And his opinion of the Big East this season?

"It's the best league in the history of college basketball,'' Huggins said. "I really believe at the end you could have, like the Big East had [in 1985], three teams in the Final Four. Tell me we don't have three teams capable of going to the Final Four. We probably have five or six capable of going to the Final Four and then some other ones, given the right matchups and a couple of bounces, have a chance.''

Those who vote in both the media and the coaches' polls would seem to agree. West Virginia joined both lists Monday - No. 25 in the Associated Press media poll and No. 22 by the coaches - and that boosted to nine the number of Big East teams in the rankings. The league had already set a record last month by getting eight in the rankings and two months ago with seven in the preseason polls.

For the record, Pitt is No. 1 in both polls (and nearly unanimous). The Panthers are followed by UConn (No. 5 in the AP and the same in the coaches' poll), Georgetown (9, 10), Syracuse (11, 9), Notre Dame (13, 13),  Marquette (18, 15), Villanova (18, 17), Louisville (23, 21) and West Virginia (25, 22).

Other coaches may argue their leagues are just as difficult, of course, but Huggins will fight them.

"People don't understand until they've been in the league,'' said Huggins, whose team faces Connecticut tonight at the Coliseum. "I was in Conference USA and it was pretty good then. That was when we still had Marquette and DePaul and Memphis and Louisville and all those people [including Huggins' Cincinnati teams] and it was pretty good. And you sit there and say, 'Well, [the Big East is] not that much better than our league.' Now it really is. I was in the Big 12. And from top to bottom, particularly the top end, is just ...

"Most leagues have two or three teams that are very good. This league has nine or 10. It's brutal. There are no nights off. In most leagues, you can kind of look around and say, 'Well, we can maybe get by this one at home if we don't have our A game.' I don't think you can do that in this league. It's too hard.''

For instance, not until late February does West Virginia go even two straight league games without facing an opponent that is currently ranked. Excluding the game with Marshall in Charleston a week from Wednesday, the Mountaineers' next 12 Big East games include contests against nine ranked teams.

Even more daunting, West Virginia's next five Big East road games are all against ranked teams. WVU doesn't play a road game against an unranked Big East team again until Feb. 22.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.

MORGANTOWN - Bob Huggins hadn't seen the major polls yet early Monday afternoon, so at the time he didn't have any real empirical evidence to back up his claim.

Still, with nearly 20 years invested in coaching at the highest levels of college basketball, his opinion carries some weight. And his opinion of the Big East this season?

"It's the best league in the history of college basketball,'' Huggins said. "I really believe at the end you could have, like the Big East had [in 1985], three teams in the Final Four. Tell me we don't have three teams capable of going to the Final Four. We probably have five or six capable of going to the Final Four and then some other ones, given the right matchups and a couple of bounces, have a chance.''

Those who vote in both the media and the coaches' polls would seem to agree. West Virginia joined both lists Monday - No. 25 in the Associated Press media poll and No. 22 by the coaches - and that boosted to nine the number of Big East teams in the rankings. The league had already set a record last month by getting eight in the rankings and two months ago with seven in the preseason polls.

For the record, Pitt is No. 1 in both polls (and nearly unanimous). The Panthers are followed by UConn (No. 5 in the AP and the same in the coaches' poll), Georgetown (9, 10), Syracuse (11, 9), Notre Dame (13, 13),  Marquette (18, 15), Villanova (18, 17), Louisville (23, 21) and West Virginia (25, 22).

Other coaches may argue their leagues are just as difficult, of course, but Huggins will fight them.

"People don't understand until they've been in the league,'' said Huggins, whose team faces Connecticut tonight at the Coliseum. "I was in Conference USA and it was pretty good then. That was when we still had Marquette and DePaul and Memphis and Louisville and all those people [including Huggins' Cincinnati teams] and it was pretty good. And you sit there and say, 'Well, [the Big East is] not that much better than our league.' Now it really is. I was in the Big 12. And from top to bottom, particularly the top end, is just ...

"Most leagues have two or three teams that are very good. This league has nine or 10. It's brutal. There are no nights off. In most leagues, you can kind of look around and say, 'Well, we can maybe get by this one at home if we don't have our A game.' I don't think you can do that in this league. It's too hard.''

For instance, not until late February does West Virginia go even two straight league games without facing an opponent that is currently ranked. Excluding the game with Marshall in Charleston a week from Wednesday, the Mountaineers' next 12 Big East games include contests against nine ranked teams.

Even more daunting, West Virginia's next five Big East road games are all against ranked teams. WVU doesn't play a road game against an unranked Big East team again until Feb. 22.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.