My Fiver on WVU's victory over the Bearcats last night in Morgantown>>>
1. If you have a 9-point lead with 15 seconds left in the game, and you have the ball, and you are fouled sending one of your better shooters to the line...you're feeling pretty good about the outcome. Unless you are WVU. There's really no reason to go over all of the machinations of the final 15 seconds of this game, other than to say, we "WVU'd it up" pretty good.
2. It's time for Javon Small to become the most selfish player in America. He is the beating heart of this hoops squad, and without him, we are mush. We lead 25-16, Small has to go out for a few minutes because he tweaked his ankle, and when he checks back in 3 game minutes later, our lead is now 25-23. That is not a coincidence...it's been happening all season since Tucker DeVries went exit stage left. Small ends the night 5-11 from the floor, 2-5 from "3", 4-4 from the line, 16 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds. It's not enough. I really like the offensive sets that Darian DeVries has introduced to our program, but our guys are so limited, other than #7. It's time to ISO #7, I don't care if he's doubled, put Jon Powell, Amani Hansberry and Toby Okani or Joe Yesufu on the wing, and let Small cook. I'm talking minimum 20 shots a game, 38 minutes on the floor minimum. He is a force multiplier who will make the others around him better, but he needs to usurp the flow of the offense and try hero ball for a while.
3. "Bigs" - Hansberry, late turnover aside, came up big last night with 17 points, 13 boards - 7 offensive. He can play "5" in this league - and his two treys will continue to add to his player gravity to give others room. Conversely, Eduardo Andre, once promising, is fading into that good night of our season. Nice three-point play, but he has been pretty bad the past few games. Almost non-existent and at times a loss litre.
4. This quote from an SI article regarding Iowa's loss to Oregon last night: "With the loss will come more rumblings about change being needed within the Hawkeyes' basketball program. Over the last couple of weeks, the future of McCaffery as the team's head coach has been called into question." Would it be premature right now to fire up and bump the epic "WVU basketball coaching search" thread?
5. 16-10, 7-8. It was a good win, one we had to have. Checked that one off the list. Now, we go to Texas Tech to play with house money...no one expects much there, but who knows. TCU just beat them, albeit in Ft. Worth on the dance floor. Then, we have an all-important home game vs. TCU. If we can check that win off the list as well Tuesday, then I'll feel pretty good about getting to "18" with games. at BYU, at Utah and vs. UCF left. We lose that one, then yikes. We're bubblicious at 18 wins, but probably "in" regardless of the Big 12 tournament. We're definitely "in" at 19 wins+. 17 wins means we need to snag one win at least at the Big 12 Tournament.
1. If you have a 9-point lead with 15 seconds left in the game, and you have the ball, and you are fouled sending one of your better shooters to the line...you're feeling pretty good about the outcome. Unless you are WVU. There's really no reason to go over all of the machinations of the final 15 seconds of this game, other than to say, we "WVU'd it up" pretty good.
2. It's time for Javon Small to become the most selfish player in America. He is the beating heart of this hoops squad, and without him, we are mush. We lead 25-16, Small has to go out for a few minutes because he tweaked his ankle, and when he checks back in 3 game minutes later, our lead is now 25-23. That is not a coincidence...it's been happening all season since Tucker DeVries went exit stage left. Small ends the night 5-11 from the floor, 2-5 from "3", 4-4 from the line, 16 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds. It's not enough. I really like the offensive sets that Darian DeVries has introduced to our program, but our guys are so limited, other than #7. It's time to ISO #7, I don't care if he's doubled, put Jon Powell, Amani Hansberry and Toby Okani or Joe Yesufu on the wing, and let Small cook. I'm talking minimum 20 shots a game, 38 minutes on the floor minimum. He is a force multiplier who will make the others around him better, but he needs to usurp the flow of the offense and try hero ball for a while.
3. "Bigs" - Hansberry, late turnover aside, came up big last night with 17 points, 13 boards - 7 offensive. He can play "5" in this league - and his two treys will continue to add to his player gravity to give others room. Conversely, Eduardo Andre, once promising, is fading into that good night of our season. Nice three-point play, but he has been pretty bad the past few games. Almost non-existent and at times a loss litre.
4. This quote from an SI article regarding Iowa's loss to Oregon last night: "With the loss will come more rumblings about change being needed within the Hawkeyes' basketball program. Over the last couple of weeks, the future of McCaffery as the team's head coach has been called into question." Would it be premature right now to fire up and bump the epic "WVU basketball coaching search" thread?
5. 16-10, 7-8. It was a good win, one we had to have. Checked that one off the list. Now, we go to Texas Tech to play with house money...no one expects much there, but who knows. TCU just beat them, albeit in Ft. Worth on the dance floor. Then, we have an all-important home game vs. TCU. If we can check that win off the list as well Tuesday, then I'll feel pretty good about getting to "18" with games. at BYU, at Utah and vs. UCF left. We lose that one, then yikes. We're bubblicious at 18 wins, but probably "in" regardless of the Big 12 tournament. We're definitely "in" at 19 wins+. 17 wins means we need to snag one win at least at the Big 12 Tournament.
