Bob Huggins Wants NBA Draft Deadline to Change

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – West Virginia basketball head coach Bob Huggins wants to see a change for the deadline to declare for the NBA draft.

“I just think it’s too late. I think they need to change the rule because guys pretty much know. We have to wait so long that what’s available may not be what you need,” Huggins said on Monday morning.

Last season, Miles “Deuce” McBride, Derek Culver, Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil all declared for the NBA draft. McBride and Culver kept their names in the draft, leaving the program, while Sherman and McNeil returned to West Virginia.

“When you sit there and you have two that are first-team all-league guys and should’ve been All-Americans and you’re waiting and waiting to see if they’re going to come back or not,” Huggins said. “Certainly you don’t want to give their scholarship away. You wouldn’t want to give Deuce [McBride] or Derek [Culver’s] scholarship away.”

Huggins makes his point known that he doesn’t want to sit there and wait all summer for the player to figure out what he’s doing. Last season, the team had to go after transfer portal guys conservatively because there were four guys on the team that had their name in the draft poll.

This offseason, returning players such as McNeil and possibly Jalen Bridges will be throwing their name into the poll since it’s more common now to get advice from the NBA scouts. On April 24, that will be the deadline for players to declare for the 2022 NBA draft. By June 13, if a player wants to return to school, they have to take their name out of the draft poll.