My Fiver on WVU's victory over the Sooners Saturday night....
1. Erik Stevenson. 34 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, while shooting 13-23 from the field and 6-11 from "3". He has it in him. Like it or not, we're probably going to go as Erik goes from here on out. What we saw on Saturday was a guy who was bouncing around, waving his arms to the crowd, constantly talking, emotional. And, that's what we need. The sulking, teeth-grinding, stern Stevenson from the games which followed the Stillwater meltdown is gone. He's back to being Stevendorf, and there were no technicals. When he plays like this, he is everything that Sean McNeil wasn't...shot-hunting, effecting the game in every way, and a major pain in the ass for the opposing team. His player gravity will now be nuclear, which leads to....
2. 4-guards. I'll admit, I watched the game on delay after a long night out imbibing Saturday, but unless my eyes deceived me, I saw WVU go with 4-guards + Wague and 4-guards + Okonkwo on occasion. And, again, unless my mind was playing tricks on me ("this year Halloween fell on a weekend!"), we put Seth Wilson on one side of the floor and Erik Stevenson on the other side for a stretch. And, the game went from 38-26 WVU, to 54-28 WVU in a flash. I'm telling you this -- Seth Wilson and Erik Stevenson are two ready made gunners with itchy trigger fingers. You put those two on the floor at the same time, the ball is going up, and we're applying maximum stress to the opposing "D", no matter who is at point.
3. James Okonkwo. You can kinda see Okonkwo getting a feel for the game right in front of your eyes. All of the sudden, he's finding himself in the right place, at the right time, defensively to make timely blocks, and offensively, slamming put-backs or running the lane for a pass and dunk. His stroke from the foul line looks downright textbook -4-4 from the stripe. The next step in his evolution is to start becoming a monster on the offensive glass, and getting put-backs with an and-1. Really appreciate the effort Jimmy Bell has given us. But, I'm looking more and more for a 3-guard or 4-guard lineup with Okonkwo or Wague manning the paint.
4. After the TCU defensive debacle, it was nice to see: (A) WVU get back in transition "D" with solid hustle & (B) Effort to challenge Oklahoma when they drove the lane. No layup lines. We had a couple breakdowns, like Jimmy Bell being switched onto an Oklahoma guard on an iso, but overall, the effort was there and when OU drove, our help crashed. It helps that OU had a rough night from beyond the arc (5-21). This is going to need to be four formula for success.
5. We have 8 left. We need to get to 4-4 to secure the bid.
IOWA STATE
at Texas
at Baylor
TEXAS TECH
OKLAHOMA STATE
at Kansas
at Iowa State
KANSAS STATE
The way I look at these game, Wednesday night's game vs. the Cyclones is an absolute must win. That win will give us cover on our next two away games to try to steal a "W" on the road, and we'll be golden. Big, big game Wednesday. And, as many have pointed out on here, ISU is going to go small. With Grill-Kalscheur-Holmes at their 1-2-3, we are going to need to be at our absolute best, defensively, and match them small. I don't think Emmitt Matthews Jr. should have more than spot minutes for this one.
1. Erik Stevenson. 34 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, while shooting 13-23 from the field and 6-11 from "3". He has it in him. Like it or not, we're probably going to go as Erik goes from here on out. What we saw on Saturday was a guy who was bouncing around, waving his arms to the crowd, constantly talking, emotional. And, that's what we need. The sulking, teeth-grinding, stern Stevenson from the games which followed the Stillwater meltdown is gone. He's back to being Stevendorf, and there were no technicals. When he plays like this, he is everything that Sean McNeil wasn't...shot-hunting, effecting the game in every way, and a major pain in the ass for the opposing team. His player gravity will now be nuclear, which leads to....
2. 4-guards. I'll admit, I watched the game on delay after a long night out imbibing Saturday, but unless my eyes deceived me, I saw WVU go with 4-guards + Wague and 4-guards + Okonkwo on occasion. And, again, unless my mind was playing tricks on me ("this year Halloween fell on a weekend!"), we put Seth Wilson on one side of the floor and Erik Stevenson on the other side for a stretch. And, the game went from 38-26 WVU, to 54-28 WVU in a flash. I'm telling you this -- Seth Wilson and Erik Stevenson are two ready made gunners with itchy trigger fingers. You put those two on the floor at the same time, the ball is going up, and we're applying maximum stress to the opposing "D", no matter who is at point.
3. James Okonkwo. You can kinda see Okonkwo getting a feel for the game right in front of your eyes. All of the sudden, he's finding himself in the right place, at the right time, defensively to make timely blocks, and offensively, slamming put-backs or running the lane for a pass and dunk. His stroke from the foul line looks downright textbook -4-4 from the stripe. The next step in his evolution is to start becoming a monster on the offensive glass, and getting put-backs with an and-1. Really appreciate the effort Jimmy Bell has given us. But, I'm looking more and more for a 3-guard or 4-guard lineup with Okonkwo or Wague manning the paint.
4. After the TCU defensive debacle, it was nice to see: (A) WVU get back in transition "D" with solid hustle & (B) Effort to challenge Oklahoma when they drove the lane. No layup lines. We had a couple breakdowns, like Jimmy Bell being switched onto an Oklahoma guard on an iso, but overall, the effort was there and when OU drove, our help crashed. It helps that OU had a rough night from beyond the arc (5-21). This is going to need to be four formula for success.
5. We have 8 left. We need to get to 4-4 to secure the bid.
IOWA STATE
at Texas
at Baylor
TEXAS TECH
OKLAHOMA STATE
at Kansas
at Iowa State
KANSAS STATE
The way I look at these game, Wednesday night's game vs. the Cyclones is an absolute must win. That win will give us cover on our next two away games to try to steal a "W" on the road, and we'll be golden. Big, big game Wednesday. And, as many have pointed out on here, ISU is going to go small. With Grill-Kalscheur-Holmes at their 1-2-3, we are going to need to be at our absolute best, defensively, and match them small. I don't think Emmitt Matthews Jr. should have more than spot minutes for this one.
