The second week of February — that’s when the rumors surfaced this time around.

It happens every year. You know, the "Is Bob Huggins going to the NBA?" rumors.

Somewhere, someone every year decides that now is a good time to ask the question,. Then the media gets hold of it and shouts it to the masses. In most cases, this person will throw out some sort of "hard evidence" that inevitably turns out to be pure speculation.

But when has anyone ever taken the time to applaud Huggins’ past and current success?

We at The News Record said "Enough is enough."

Everyone knows how good of a coach Huggins is, but just how good?

Consider this, the five years before Huggins took over as UC head coach, the Bearcats had a sub-par 67-75 record. In his first five years at UC, Huggins’ Bearcats compiled a 116-46 record.

Compare his record against the other C-USA coaches.

Huggins has compiled a 327-98 record in 13 years at UC. The 13 other C-USA coaches have won a combined 830 games at their respective schools.

C-USA 830, Huggins 327. Incredible. How can that number be that close?

Is Huggins really that good? I let the numbers speak for themselves.

This season, Huggins took a team unranked in the preseason and turned them into the No. 4 team in the nation, a team that most likely will receive a first-round seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Pure brilliance? Not really, just good coaching, but he has been doing that for years.

Three years at Walsh College: 71-26 (.732 winning percentage). Five years at Akron: 97-46 (.693).

Huggins is currently the No. 4 winningest active head coach. He is among Roy Williams (Kansas), Jerry Tarkanian (Fresno State), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Rick Pitino (Memphis). Nice company.

In 21 seasons as a head coach, Huggins has amassed a 495-170 record, the 24^th most by any active coach.

He has led UC to seven consecutive 25-win seasons, with those teams having a 188-41 record during that span. He has guided UC to a school-record 11 straight 20-win season, and has failed to reach the 20-win plateau in just three of his 13 season in Cincinnati.

The Bearcats have qualified for 10 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, the fourth-longest streak among active coaches. Add another season to that stat. UC is a lock to make this year’s tournament.

Huggins is also a finalist for this year’s Naismith Award. For those who don’t know, the Naismith Award is an honor bestowed to the best men’s basketball coach in the country — the entire country.

For the record, there are 324 Div. I head coaches this season. To be considered the best among more than 300 others deserves some merit, doesn’t it?

If anyone is pondering that question, discredit everything they say from here on out — I won’t argue this.

So let the NBA rumors continue. Let the nay-sayers believe Huggins will most likely return to West Virginia.

For the rest of us, we’ve sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride toward March Madness and beyond.

But, in all sincerity, if Huggins should forego a future at UC, we should pat him on the back. We should bid a fond farewell. Who knows? Where would we be without his guiding UC players for the past 13 seasons?