"I thought if we had finished plays we'd be up about 12-2 to start the game. We didn't finish plays, we missed one footers, we missed tip-ins. They were told the whole preparation if they triple to your side your guy is going to back cut and it never sank in. We came out of a huddle and we switch from man-to-man to 2-3 zone and one of our veteran guys said who am I guarding?
Frankly we've just got guys that aren't worried about the right thing. And I just told them in there the West Virginia on the front means way, way more to me than their name on the back. We'll get it fixed, it may not be this year but we'll get it fixed I promise you.
On Beetle Bolden: Everybody strives for consistency but there is a small group that seems to get away with not being consistent. I don't know, how do you really tell if a guy bumps into you or you bump into him? How do you really know that? He's been in foul trouble for the last three, four games and we haven't been able to play him. I tried to play him a little bit more in the first half with two fouls. We need him on the floor.
But you know what we don't need a veteran guy that they have a breakout and our guy comes down and blocks the shot and their guy ran right by our next guy in line to get down the floor and caught in and dunked it in. And now you're the guy that made a great effort play and you turn around and look and there's your teammate jogging down the floor. That's not teamwork, at all. That's something we haven't had. We haven't had that stuff happen, we've played hard. We got a lot of guys with a lot of answers that don't even know the problems. We got too many guys that think they're smarter than what they are, we've got way too many guys that think they're better than what they are. And that's O.K., we've had teams that weren't very talented but you know what they tried? One of my favorite guys of all-time is Cam Thoroughman because he was a 6-foot-5 center in the Big East that did everything you asked him to do. He played hard and played physical and wanted to win in the worst way. I'll take those guys, I'd rather have those guys.
That's West Virginia they appreciate that, they appreciate hard work because that's what it is. It's a state of hard work. Quite frankly you ask me I'm embarrassed. I don't know what to do. It's not like we haven't given everybody a chance. I don't know what to do. I tell a guy today we're going to clear the side for you so you can drive it. He said can I drive it left and I said no you can't dribble left. Drive it right or don't drive it at all and he drove it left. I just haven't had that happen and it won't happen again because I'm never, ever, ever giving him the ball like that again. That's it. I think I know a little bit about what I'm doing and that's defiance. If they think they're stronger minded than I am, if they think they're tougher than I am then they've got a long, long way to go. I'll fix it, I hope I can fix it this year - we've had times where we've played pretty well but tonight was embarrassing.
It's not they can't, they won't. It's too much work we've got a bunch of guys that won't work. You try to bring them along and that was a mistake. We should have just done it and done it and done it and if they didn't like it leave. We kind of, as much as I hate to say it and as much as it irritates me, we kind of gave in a little bit. It takes a while, you bring freshmen in and they're used to being the biggest and the best and they get away with a lot because they're so much better than everybody else and it takes a while and I understand that. That's not our problem, our problem was our guys that are supposed to be the ones that they look to - I just don't think their (freshmen) are ready.
Frankly we've just got guys that aren't worried about the right thing. And I just told them in there the West Virginia on the front means way, way more to me than their name on the back. We'll get it fixed, it may not be this year but we'll get it fixed I promise you.
On Beetle Bolden: Everybody strives for consistency but there is a small group that seems to get away with not being consistent. I don't know, how do you really tell if a guy bumps into you or you bump into him? How do you really know that? He's been in foul trouble for the last three, four games and we haven't been able to play him. I tried to play him a little bit more in the first half with two fouls. We need him on the floor.
But you know what we don't need a veteran guy that they have a breakout and our guy comes down and blocks the shot and their guy ran right by our next guy in line to get down the floor and caught in and dunked it in. And now you're the guy that made a great effort play and you turn around and look and there's your teammate jogging down the floor. That's not teamwork, at all. That's something we haven't had. We haven't had that stuff happen, we've played hard. We got a lot of guys with a lot of answers that don't even know the problems. We got too many guys that think they're smarter than what they are, we've got way too many guys that think they're better than what they are. And that's O.K., we've had teams that weren't very talented but you know what they tried? One of my favorite guys of all-time is Cam Thoroughman because he was a 6-foot-5 center in the Big East that did everything you asked him to do. He played hard and played physical and wanted to win in the worst way. I'll take those guys, I'd rather have those guys.
That's West Virginia they appreciate that, they appreciate hard work because that's what it is. It's a state of hard work. Quite frankly you ask me I'm embarrassed. I don't know what to do. It's not like we haven't given everybody a chance. I don't know what to do. I tell a guy today we're going to clear the side for you so you can drive it. He said can I drive it left and I said no you can't dribble left. Drive it right or don't drive it at all and he drove it left. I just haven't had that happen and it won't happen again because I'm never, ever, ever giving him the ball like that again. That's it. I think I know a little bit about what I'm doing and that's defiance. If they think they're stronger minded than I am, if they think they're tougher than I am then they've got a long, long way to go. I'll fix it, I hope I can fix it this year - we've had times where we've played pretty well but tonight was embarrassing.
It's not they can't, they won't. It's too much work we've got a bunch of guys that won't work. You try to bring them along and that was a mistake. We should have just done it and done it and done it and if they didn't like it leave. We kind of, as much as I hate to say it and as much as it irritates me, we kind of gave in a little bit. It takes a while, you bring freshmen in and they're used to being the biggest and the best and they get away with a lot because they're so much better than everybody else and it takes a while and I understand that. That's not our problem, our problem was our guys that are supposed to be the ones that they look to - I just don't think their (freshmen) are ready.
