My Fiver on the State of Affairs within the walls of WVU basketball...
1. 16-17, going 3-15 over our final 18 games. We're essentially a decent mid-major. We started 13-2, with some knockdown-dragout fights with the likes of Oakland, Eastern Kentucky, UAB and Kent State. We did pick up a nice "W" over UConn, albeit with two of their starters out. But, after losing the Quitter, Derek Culver, Miles McBride, Jordan McCabe, and Emmitt Matthews Jr., we were unable to take that body blow, and return fire. Instead, we refilled the coffers with good role players, nothing more, nothing less. The incoming freshmen did not have an impact. And, to make matters worse, we were unable to run any semblance of offense which would free up our shooters for open looks. That said, I do believe that there was talent enough on this team to go 8-10, even 9-9 in the conference and make the NCAA Tournament. Of that, I am certain. While some of our players did not give full effort, I put more of the blame for the season on our coaches not being able to maximize the sum of our parts.
2. Interesting paradigm. On the post-mortem, when I look at the collective effort of the players, I would say that the ones who gave the most were guys like Pauly Paulicap, Malik Curry, Dimon Carrigan, Gabe Osabuohien. The ones who I thought could've given a lot more...to put it very politely and mildly...would be Jalen Bridges, Sean McNeil, Isaiah Cottrell, even Taz Sherman at times. The transfers seemed to be dialed in, and the WVU recruited scholarship guys seemed to mail it in. One of them, it seems, takes his cue from his pops. But, the others...I just thought it was an interesting paradigm. I will also point out that I thought Seth Wilson really gave it his all when he was on the floor. Liked his effort, and think he has some nice upside.
3. The James Okonkwo Paradox. The most hyped four-star freshman recruit of the preseason went *poof* and disappeared after a foot injury. Then, he reappeared magically in the late stages of an already-decided contest vs. Radford, flushed a post-up dunk, and down went his redshirt. Then, he disappeared again. Afterwards, Bob Huggins would say that he was keeping him on ice to conserve his redshirt. Then, oddly, Huggs inserted him back into the lineup during the second half of a home contest vs. Oklahoma where Porter Moser was absolutely dicing our defense and Huggs & Co. seemed to just throw the kitchen sink on the floor to see what might happen. After that, he was ne'er seen again. That was James Okonkwo's freshman season. It's so baffling to me. If we have any hopes of being anything near effective in the Big 12 next year, we need this kid to be the real deal as a sophomore.
4. The Texas Tech standard. We are a better basketball program, historically, than Texas Tech. We were better when entered the Big 12, we had more success early on, and throughout the Press Virginia years we were more successful. Then, the Red Raiders hired Coach Beard. Quickly, Tech became a legit P5 contender, going to the Elite Eight in year 2, then the championship game in year 3. Mark Adams took over this year, and once again has them playing at a high level. Why is this relevant to a thread on WVU basketball? Because, we should not look at where we are as anything near acceptable. If Texas Tech is able to produce a consistent winner, then I am certain WVU can produce a consistent winner.
5. Changes. If I were A.D., I'd sit with Coach Huggins and discuss "changes". What sort of changes are you making to make our basketball team better for '22-'23? I'm not talking about roster turnover. I'm talking about substantive changes. I'd press him on returning to Press Virginia, no pun intended. It was wildly successful, some of the best years of WVU basketball ever, and it created a national brand. Everyone in the country would tune in to watch our team create havoc. The Trey Young vs. Press Virginia games were appointment television...and we won those. Why change? Are you not up to the challenge of coaching the press? I'd press him on his assistant coaches. Could we bring in fresh talent to shake things up, a la John Beilein at Michigan? My guess is that the conversation would not go well. My guess is that Huggins would not like being pushed on these topics. My guess is that Huggs is not going to change our system, not going back to the press, not going to hire new assistant coaches.
And, no matter how well we do in the free agency, this concerns me about next year. First, because I'm not convinced that we're "all in" on the free agent market. Secondly, because we seem to be playing an archaic style of basketball which is better suited for the days of yesteryear, where we weren't facing teams putting 4-out and sometimes 5-out on the floor. We're getting sliced and diced.
"Fix It Part III" coming your way...so,
1. 16-17, going 3-15 over our final 18 games. We're essentially a decent mid-major. We started 13-2, with some knockdown-dragout fights with the likes of Oakland, Eastern Kentucky, UAB and Kent State. We did pick up a nice "W" over UConn, albeit with two of their starters out. But, after losing the Quitter, Derek Culver, Miles McBride, Jordan McCabe, and Emmitt Matthews Jr., we were unable to take that body blow, and return fire. Instead, we refilled the coffers with good role players, nothing more, nothing less. The incoming freshmen did not have an impact. And, to make matters worse, we were unable to run any semblance of offense which would free up our shooters for open looks. That said, I do believe that there was talent enough on this team to go 8-10, even 9-9 in the conference and make the NCAA Tournament. Of that, I am certain. While some of our players did not give full effort, I put more of the blame for the season on our coaches not being able to maximize the sum of our parts.
2. Interesting paradigm. On the post-mortem, when I look at the collective effort of the players, I would say that the ones who gave the most were guys like Pauly Paulicap, Malik Curry, Dimon Carrigan, Gabe Osabuohien. The ones who I thought could've given a lot more...to put it very politely and mildly...would be Jalen Bridges, Sean McNeil, Isaiah Cottrell, even Taz Sherman at times. The transfers seemed to be dialed in, and the WVU recruited scholarship guys seemed to mail it in. One of them, it seems, takes his cue from his pops. But, the others...I just thought it was an interesting paradigm. I will also point out that I thought Seth Wilson really gave it his all when he was on the floor. Liked his effort, and think he has some nice upside.
3. The James Okonkwo Paradox. The most hyped four-star freshman recruit of the preseason went *poof* and disappeared after a foot injury. Then, he reappeared magically in the late stages of an already-decided contest vs. Radford, flushed a post-up dunk, and down went his redshirt. Then, he disappeared again. Afterwards, Bob Huggins would say that he was keeping him on ice to conserve his redshirt. Then, oddly, Huggs inserted him back into the lineup during the second half of a home contest vs. Oklahoma where Porter Moser was absolutely dicing our defense and Huggs & Co. seemed to just throw the kitchen sink on the floor to see what might happen. After that, he was ne'er seen again. That was James Okonkwo's freshman season. It's so baffling to me. If we have any hopes of being anything near effective in the Big 12 next year, we need this kid to be the real deal as a sophomore.
4. The Texas Tech standard. We are a better basketball program, historically, than Texas Tech. We were better when entered the Big 12, we had more success early on, and throughout the Press Virginia years we were more successful. Then, the Red Raiders hired Coach Beard. Quickly, Tech became a legit P5 contender, going to the Elite Eight in year 2, then the championship game in year 3. Mark Adams took over this year, and once again has them playing at a high level. Why is this relevant to a thread on WVU basketball? Because, we should not look at where we are as anything near acceptable. If Texas Tech is able to produce a consistent winner, then I am certain WVU can produce a consistent winner.
5. Changes. If I were A.D., I'd sit with Coach Huggins and discuss "changes". What sort of changes are you making to make our basketball team better for '22-'23? I'm not talking about roster turnover. I'm talking about substantive changes. I'd press him on returning to Press Virginia, no pun intended. It was wildly successful, some of the best years of WVU basketball ever, and it created a national brand. Everyone in the country would tune in to watch our team create havoc. The Trey Young vs. Press Virginia games were appointment television...and we won those. Why change? Are you not up to the challenge of coaching the press? I'd press him on his assistant coaches. Could we bring in fresh talent to shake things up, a la John Beilein at Michigan? My guess is that the conversation would not go well. My guess is that Huggins would not like being pushed on these topics. My guess is that Huggs is not going to change our system, not going back to the press, not going to hire new assistant coaches.
And, no matter how well we do in the free agency, this concerns me about next year. First, because I'm not convinced that we're "all in" on the free agent market. Secondly, because we seem to be playing an archaic style of basketball which is better suited for the days of yesteryear, where we weren't facing teams putting 4-out and sometimes 5-out on the floor. We're getting sliced and diced.
"Fix It Part III" coming your way...so,
