My Fiver on WVU's loss to the Bears yesterday during the Happy Hour tilt at the Coliseum>>>
1. Matthew Mayer and our inability to fight over top of screens. You think Mayer likes playing the Coliseum? Dude is a monster Mountaineer wrecker. First, yes - Baylor has mastered the art of the moving screen. It is what it is. Deal with it. I had visions of Buddy Boeheim last night, where Emmitt Matthews Jr. would collapse under a screen and allow Boeheim a catch and shoot open look from "3". Time and time again last night, we allowed Mayer the ability to catch it and launch off of a screen, as either Sean McNeil or Jalen Bridges would inexplicably go under. I would much rather see them attempt to blow the screen up, physically, and force the ref to call a foul. Run full speed right into the dude. But, go over the top, and live with it if Mayer takes off down the lane. You're giving up 3 for a possible 2. I'll live with it. But, we made it way, way too easy for Mayer to pick his spots last night. I thought he, more than LJ Cryer, was the key to the game.
2. Our Bigs. Isaiah Cottrell, Gabe Osabuohien, Dimon Carrigan, Pauly Paulicap. This season, three of these four have shined at one time or another. Last night, Dimon Carrigan was the one who played very well. As I've read on here, we were +15 in his 14 minutes. That's eye-popping in a 9-point "L". But, unfortunately, we no longer have any DUDES down there who are going to be able to man up against a McCormack from KU or Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatcha from BU. However, we do have tons of fouls to give. I wouldn't mind seeing us just start hacking dudes down low, as opposed to giving up dunks or bunnies, and making them earn it from the stripe. Again, I'd rather give up 2 from the stripe as opposed to a "3", after watching BU go 12 of 27 from deep. We had this roster built to have Quitter-34 and Derek Culver down low this season, but circumstances have dictated otherwise. It's a tough spot, and the free agent market has not been kind, Osabuohien aside. Our four-star recruit in Cottrell...is just not there yet, and is perhaps built for another role. Not sure if we can keep trotting Cottrell out there. I would rather go with Gabe-Pauly down low with our three guards to give Bridges a break, and work Carrigan in there when Bridges comes back in.
3. Malik Curry. One game can be an outlier. Two games grabs your attention. You give me three games in a row like this, and you have a trend. Anything more, and you have a legit scorer at PG. For the second game in a row, Curry led the team in scoring with 19 points (7 of 12 from the floor), led the team in rebounding with 6 boards & had 0 TO (only one assist) in 24 min. At times he was spectacular. He's starting to use his instincts, and think less out there, which is good. This is a positive development, and one worth keeping an eye on.
4. Taz Sherman. Bottom line is that, in order for this WVU to be a good team - a dangerous team in the Big 12 - we are going to need Taz Sherman to be damn good. Special, even. And, right now, he's struggling. If Taz is struggling, we're really going to struggle to score. And, it's going to be magnified if we are struggling to get stops (we've given up 162 points over the past two games). Yes, he had 18 last night, but on 5 of 16 shooting and with 3 pretty egregiously bad live ball turnovers, including a key one down the stretch where he tried to make an "A+" pass, where a "B" or a "C" pass would've sufficed. Sean McNeil simply can't get enough shots up, Jalen Bridges isn't consistent, and we are not yet at a point where Malik Curry can be trusted to carry the water as a scorer. We need Taz to be Taz again. Now.
5. Two losses to top ten teams in the span of four days. It happens. Overall, I like the fight I saw last night during the first half to claw our way back, and during the second half to make it a one-point game with 7 min to go. (Then, Mayer flopped after Sean McNeil gave him an open look, drew the foul, and hit the FTs to give BU a cushion) This team still can be good. It can be Sweet Sixteen good, given the right circumstances. We have a tough road to hoe coming up, and we're going to simply need to keep fighting. But, I do believe certain personnel changes might be advantageous. I'd bench Cottrell. Straight up, bench him, behind Seny N'Daiye, and keep working with him to get stronger for next season. I'd increase Curry's minutes over Kedrian Johnson. And, I'd work with the three-guard two-big lineups more, where we have Gabe-Carrigan, or Gabe-Pauly in the game together for spot minutes to help get stops while Curry-Taz-Sean attack.
Miami beat UNC last night 85-57. Kansas State took down Texas. Kansas barely survived at Oklahoma, snuck by on a Christian Braun trey when the game was tied with less than 20 seconds to go. Duke lost to FSU.
It's a long, crazy season. Bob Huggins is going to be a HOF coach. It's seasons like this where his acumen must shine through.
1. Matthew Mayer and our inability to fight over top of screens. You think Mayer likes playing the Coliseum? Dude is a monster Mountaineer wrecker. First, yes - Baylor has mastered the art of the moving screen. It is what it is. Deal with it. I had visions of Buddy Boeheim last night, where Emmitt Matthews Jr. would collapse under a screen and allow Boeheim a catch and shoot open look from "3". Time and time again last night, we allowed Mayer the ability to catch it and launch off of a screen, as either Sean McNeil or Jalen Bridges would inexplicably go under. I would much rather see them attempt to blow the screen up, physically, and force the ref to call a foul. Run full speed right into the dude. But, go over the top, and live with it if Mayer takes off down the lane. You're giving up 3 for a possible 2. I'll live with it. But, we made it way, way too easy for Mayer to pick his spots last night. I thought he, more than LJ Cryer, was the key to the game.
2. Our Bigs. Isaiah Cottrell, Gabe Osabuohien, Dimon Carrigan, Pauly Paulicap. This season, three of these four have shined at one time or another. Last night, Dimon Carrigan was the one who played very well. As I've read on here, we were +15 in his 14 minutes. That's eye-popping in a 9-point "L". But, unfortunately, we no longer have any DUDES down there who are going to be able to man up against a McCormack from KU or Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatcha from BU. However, we do have tons of fouls to give. I wouldn't mind seeing us just start hacking dudes down low, as opposed to giving up dunks or bunnies, and making them earn it from the stripe. Again, I'd rather give up 2 from the stripe as opposed to a "3", after watching BU go 12 of 27 from deep. We had this roster built to have Quitter-34 and Derek Culver down low this season, but circumstances have dictated otherwise. It's a tough spot, and the free agent market has not been kind, Osabuohien aside. Our four-star recruit in Cottrell...is just not there yet, and is perhaps built for another role. Not sure if we can keep trotting Cottrell out there. I would rather go with Gabe-Pauly down low with our three guards to give Bridges a break, and work Carrigan in there when Bridges comes back in.
3. Malik Curry. One game can be an outlier. Two games grabs your attention. You give me three games in a row like this, and you have a trend. Anything more, and you have a legit scorer at PG. For the second game in a row, Curry led the team in scoring with 19 points (7 of 12 from the floor), led the team in rebounding with 6 boards & had 0 TO (only one assist) in 24 min. At times he was spectacular. He's starting to use his instincts, and think less out there, which is good. This is a positive development, and one worth keeping an eye on.
4. Taz Sherman. Bottom line is that, in order for this WVU to be a good team - a dangerous team in the Big 12 - we are going to need Taz Sherman to be damn good. Special, even. And, right now, he's struggling. If Taz is struggling, we're really going to struggle to score. And, it's going to be magnified if we are struggling to get stops (we've given up 162 points over the past two games). Yes, he had 18 last night, but on 5 of 16 shooting and with 3 pretty egregiously bad live ball turnovers, including a key one down the stretch where he tried to make an "A+" pass, where a "B" or a "C" pass would've sufficed. Sean McNeil simply can't get enough shots up, Jalen Bridges isn't consistent, and we are not yet at a point where Malik Curry can be trusted to carry the water as a scorer. We need Taz to be Taz again. Now.
5. Two losses to top ten teams in the span of four days. It happens. Overall, I like the fight I saw last night during the first half to claw our way back, and during the second half to make it a one-point game with 7 min to go. (Then, Mayer flopped after Sean McNeil gave him an open look, drew the foul, and hit the FTs to give BU a cushion) This team still can be good. It can be Sweet Sixteen good, given the right circumstances. We have a tough road to hoe coming up, and we're going to simply need to keep fighting. But, I do believe certain personnel changes might be advantageous. I'd bench Cottrell. Straight up, bench him, behind Seny N'Daiye, and keep working with him to get stronger for next season. I'd increase Curry's minutes over Kedrian Johnson. And, I'd work with the three-guard two-big lineups more, where we have Gabe-Carrigan, or Gabe-Pauly in the game together for spot minutes to help get stops while Curry-Taz-Sean attack.
Miami beat UNC last night 85-57. Kansas State took down Texas. Kansas barely survived at Oklahoma, snuck by on a Christian Braun trey when the game was tied with less than 20 seconds to go. Duke lost to FSU.
It's a long, crazy season. Bob Huggins is going to be a HOF coach. It's seasons like this where his acumen must shine through.
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