HUNTINGTON - Marshall second-year men's basketball coach Dan D'Antoni likes shots: 2s, 3-pointers and, apparently, the verbal variety.
D'Antoni rankled WVU coach Bob Huggins last season when he said the Mountaineers would be considered "afraid" if they backed out of the Capital Classic series, the annual Charleston meeting of the Mountain State's two Division I hoops programs.
D'Antoni again ruffled feathers Sunday night after the Thundering Herd lost at home to Division II Newberry College in the team's final exhibition tuneup ahead of Thursday's season opener at Tennessee. The 68-year-old coach lauded Newberry for its style of play - "We're going to play West Virginia and teams that do this," he said - and added that he wasn't "sure that West Virginia plays this hard."
The Herd head coach, who went 11-21 in his inaugural season, offered clarification before Tuesday's practice inside the Henderson Center.
"Listen, they should take pride that I'm mentioning them," D'Antoni said. "That means I respect them. I like West Virginia University. Do I want to compete against them? Yes I do. Do I think it's good for the state? Yes I do.
"I think it's good for Morgantown and it's good for here and it should continue always."
The war of words began after last season's Capital Classic, a 69-66 WVU win on Dec. 14. D'Antoni tried Tuesday to diffuse the ire directed at him for those remarks.
"When I said they were afraid of us, I was talking about the institutions more, not him personally," D'Antoni said of Huggins. "It's like they're afraid that we might win and then it would take some of their thunder.
"I think we need to get rid of that notion. That's foolish. That's looking down on Marshall."
West Virginia (2-0) and Marshall (0-0) will meet again Dec. 17, the 25th consecutive season they've played in Charleston. The Mountaineers have won four consecutive games in the series and eight of nine overall. Huggins is 7-1 against the Herd as WVU's coach.
"I will say it now so everybody can hear: Huggins is a heck of a coach," D'Antoni said. "Nobody is denying that. He's a great coach."
Huggins responded to D'Antoni's post-Classic comments last December on his statewide radio show, saying it wouldn't bother him if the series ceased to exist.
"I think if this kind of thing continues, why would we [play]?" Huggins said then. "Why would we want to sit here and hear we're afraid? Go find somebody else to play."
D'Antoni had proposed an annual two-game schedule between the two programs, one in Charleston and the other at a campus site.
He reiterated Tuesday afternoon the series is good for West Virginia, Marshall and the fans ... and to expect a little good-natured smack talk in the future.
"I was always good to my little brother and look what good it did me - it got me to the pros," said D'Antoni, who spent a decade in the NBA working for his brother, Mike, as an assistant with the Suns, Knicks and Lakers. "If they're good to their little brother down here, they're not going to lose anything by being good to us, and we're not going to lose anything playing against them and trying to be as good as we can be.
"I think it's mutually good ... do I want to compete, yes, and for there to be some friendly ribbing in between, yes. You know what? They are just going to have to hold that one a little bit, that's the way I was born."