My Fiver on WVU's victory over the Jayhawks at the Coliseum on Saturday evening...
1. Pat Suemnick. I can't say enough good things about Suemnick and his efforts vs. Preseason POY Candidate Hunter Dickinson. First - he's giving up around 6 inches of height and God knows how much weight. Dickinson is a monster. But, Suemnick is a guy who knows his strengths - quickness and athleticism - and plays to them. 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal in 35 minutes on 8-15 shooting, and a great job defensively frustrating KU's big man. Suemnick is a star in the making.
2. Raquan Battle vs. Kevin McCullar Jr. was also worth the price of admission. Both appeared fully capable of carrying their teams at times. Battle ends with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block on 7-14 shooting (6/7 from the line) and McCullar Jr. ends with 24 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists on 10-14 shooting. They played essentially to a draw, ditto Suemnick vs. Dickinson. And, then our other guys outplayed KU's other guys. Bottom line is that we have this capability.
3. +9 on the glass was absolutely huge. Suemnick, in particular, with 4 offensive rebounds, was key. If this team crashes the glass and finishes both of these games this week in the + category, we'll come out of this week feeling pretty good.
4. Seth Wilson - this is your role. Come into the game, don't F up, and shoot threes. His 3-3 performance from beyond the arc is hopefully a harbinger of good things to come from Nuke.
5. 7-11, 2-3 in the Big 12. There still is a path for this WVU team to make the Dance. And these two this week are absolute "must have" games. As we approach finally playing with a full roster, after the hell that we've been through, the path to return our record to .500 is not daunting at all. And as we've discussed on this Forum over the past 24 hours, if WVU simply gets above .500 in the League and overall, the Selection Committee will look at this newly reconfigured WVU squad through the lens of a team who is playing their best ball, with their best talent, at the right time. That's worth more than a loss to Monmouth when we had 6 guys and were forced to play Jeremiah Bembry meaningless minutes. And, if this team does gel, produce a few more big wins, get to that at large 10 or 11 seed, maybe 8 or 9...there's no telling what type of run this team could go on if we reset the entire season to the Dance - where everyone is 0-0 and what's past is past.
First things first, UCF tomorrow in Orlando. Big game.
1. Pat Suemnick. I can't say enough good things about Suemnick and his efforts vs. Preseason POY Candidate Hunter Dickinson. First - he's giving up around 6 inches of height and God knows how much weight. Dickinson is a monster. But, Suemnick is a guy who knows his strengths - quickness and athleticism - and plays to them. 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal in 35 minutes on 8-15 shooting, and a great job defensively frustrating KU's big man. Suemnick is a star in the making.
2. Raquan Battle vs. Kevin McCullar Jr. was also worth the price of admission. Both appeared fully capable of carrying their teams at times. Battle ends with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block on 7-14 shooting (6/7 from the line) and McCullar Jr. ends with 24 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists on 10-14 shooting. They played essentially to a draw, ditto Suemnick vs. Dickinson. And, then our other guys outplayed KU's other guys. Bottom line is that we have this capability.
3. +9 on the glass was absolutely huge. Suemnick, in particular, with 4 offensive rebounds, was key. If this team crashes the glass and finishes both of these games this week in the + category, we'll come out of this week feeling pretty good.
4. Seth Wilson - this is your role. Come into the game, don't F up, and shoot threes. His 3-3 performance from beyond the arc is hopefully a harbinger of good things to come from Nuke.
5. 7-11, 2-3 in the Big 12. There still is a path for this WVU team to make the Dance. And these two this week are absolute "must have" games. As we approach finally playing with a full roster, after the hell that we've been through, the path to return our record to .500 is not daunting at all. And as we've discussed on this Forum over the past 24 hours, if WVU simply gets above .500 in the League and overall, the Selection Committee will look at this newly reconfigured WVU squad through the lens of a team who is playing their best ball, with their best talent, at the right time. That's worth more than a loss to Monmouth when we had 6 guys and were forced to play Jeremiah Bembry meaningless minutes. And, if this team does gel, produce a few more big wins, get to that at large 10 or 11 seed, maybe 8 or 9...there's no telling what type of run this team could go on if we reset the entire season to the Dance - where everyone is 0-0 and what's past is past.
First things first, UCF tomorrow in Orlando. Big game.
