My Fiver on WVU's loss to the Longhorns Saturday afternoon....
1. That's 165 points we've given up in two games. That's 13 losses in 14 games. How bad does it need to get before we change how we play defense? It's the singular point of loss on this team, and for this program. Ball-denial man, chasing all five defenders across every inch of the floor, is, at best, an extremely harmful method of play which has passed it's time. At worst, it is coaching malpractice at the highest degree. We are now in the days of 4-out or 5-out offense - that's the norm. We are now in the days where 4 and sometimes 5 players on the floor can handle, shoot, and cut to the basket. We are playing at the highest level of college basketball, so the abilities of opposing players to exploit this type of defense is highly magnified. There has been one panacea which Bob Huggins used to cover up this malfeasance, and it was the press. It was the press which gave us an enormous steal and chance to win Saturday.
2. Let me just drop a personal anecdote related to 1 of the WVU players whose play I've watched fade away recently. When I arrived at West Virginia Wesleyan College as a scholarship athlete on the golf team, I really thought I was going to waltz through D-2 play. I had a lot of success in junior tournaments, won a couple trophies on the 7-11 tour, won a couple state championships. I thought I was big time, and to be honest, I was not thrilled that I didn't get to play D-1. So, I arrived at WVWC with an inflated sense of my value at this level. My coach started me right out of the gate as a freshman. And, I got my ass kicked. I didn't break 80 in my first two tournaments, and I was benched. I threw a fit to my Dad, and said I wasn't getting what I needed, and I wanted to transfer after my freshman year. I'll never forget my Dad telling me "That what you want? You have some adversity and your first reaction is to quit? You do that, and you'll always be a quitter. If you want to start on this team, you get better. And you get so God damn good that your coach has no choice but to start you." I was an immature little knucklehead, but I did take that to heart because I admire my Dad. And, I did what he said, and it turned out great.
We have a player on this team whose father seems to be of a different mind - I'm not on Twitter, but I've seen some of the tweets posted here. If this WVU player admires his Dad, he takes it to heart. He seems to have an inflated sense of his value at this level. He could work to make himself better, and give Bob Huggins every reason to play him 35+ minutes a game. That's on him. Otherwise, he could quit. If what some on here are saying is true, he already has a step out the door. And, he's playing like it. He's not competing at all.
3. Sean McNeil crossed over a Texas defender, rose up, and drained a three early in the first half. If he really wanted to, he could pull ten or more of those a game. They'd be contested, but that's how we play. Instead, he puts up two treys in 31 minutes.
4. Gabe being Gabe. I appreciate the effort. I really do. But, at some point, he has to realize his limitations and realize that these turnovers are killing us in close games. He's not the guy we want breaking people down and going from beyond the arc to the bucket.
5. I appreciate the efforts that Malik Curry and Isaiah Cottrell are putting in now. However, Cottrell is still hurting us defensively, and Pauly Paulicap only getting 7 minutes (7 points, 2 rebounds) due to foul trouble was a huge blow. Curry proved that he can score when the game is actually still being contested. That is certainly good news. Hopefully he can keep this up, which my free up Taz Sherman a bit more, and McNeil - if he's interested.
1. That's 165 points we've given up in two games. That's 13 losses in 14 games. How bad does it need to get before we change how we play defense? It's the singular point of loss on this team, and for this program. Ball-denial man, chasing all five defenders across every inch of the floor, is, at best, an extremely harmful method of play which has passed it's time. At worst, it is coaching malpractice at the highest degree. We are now in the days of 4-out or 5-out offense - that's the norm. We are now in the days where 4 and sometimes 5 players on the floor can handle, shoot, and cut to the basket. We are playing at the highest level of college basketball, so the abilities of opposing players to exploit this type of defense is highly magnified. There has been one panacea which Bob Huggins used to cover up this malfeasance, and it was the press. It was the press which gave us an enormous steal and chance to win Saturday.
2. Let me just drop a personal anecdote related to 1 of the WVU players whose play I've watched fade away recently. When I arrived at West Virginia Wesleyan College as a scholarship athlete on the golf team, I really thought I was going to waltz through D-2 play. I had a lot of success in junior tournaments, won a couple trophies on the 7-11 tour, won a couple state championships. I thought I was big time, and to be honest, I was not thrilled that I didn't get to play D-1. So, I arrived at WVWC with an inflated sense of my value at this level. My coach started me right out of the gate as a freshman. And, I got my ass kicked. I didn't break 80 in my first two tournaments, and I was benched. I threw a fit to my Dad, and said I wasn't getting what I needed, and I wanted to transfer after my freshman year. I'll never forget my Dad telling me "That what you want? You have some adversity and your first reaction is to quit? You do that, and you'll always be a quitter. If you want to start on this team, you get better. And you get so God damn good that your coach has no choice but to start you." I was an immature little knucklehead, but I did take that to heart because I admire my Dad. And, I did what he said, and it turned out great.
We have a player on this team whose father seems to be of a different mind - I'm not on Twitter, but I've seen some of the tweets posted here. If this WVU player admires his Dad, he takes it to heart. He seems to have an inflated sense of his value at this level. He could work to make himself better, and give Bob Huggins every reason to play him 35+ minutes a game. That's on him. Otherwise, he could quit. If what some on here are saying is true, he already has a step out the door. And, he's playing like it. He's not competing at all.
3. Sean McNeil crossed over a Texas defender, rose up, and drained a three early in the first half. If he really wanted to, he could pull ten or more of those a game. They'd be contested, but that's how we play. Instead, he puts up two treys in 31 minutes.
4. Gabe being Gabe. I appreciate the effort. I really do. But, at some point, he has to realize his limitations and realize that these turnovers are killing us in close games. He's not the guy we want breaking people down and going from beyond the arc to the bucket.
5. I appreciate the efforts that Malik Curry and Isaiah Cottrell are putting in now. However, Cottrell is still hurting us defensively, and Pauly Paulicap only getting 7 minutes (7 points, 2 rebounds) due to foul trouble was a huge blow. Curry proved that he can score when the game is actually still being contested. That is certainly good news. Hopefully he can keep this up, which my free up Taz Sherman a bit more, and McNeil - if he's interested.
