My Fiver on our victory Friday night vs. Boston U. ------
1. Keep rolling. A few days after Boston U. update South Carolina & Frank Martin on the Gamecocks' home floor, we just simply took care of business. No, it wasn't the prettiest performance you'll ever see - airballs galore - but we jumped on them early and never really let Boston make a threatening run. The key was the beginning of the 2nd half. Up 13 at the break, which is not at all safe as we've learned, we came out and scored 10 consecutive points, including a monster jam by Oscar Tshiebwe. There was still 17 minutes to go, but up 46-23 and with suffocating defense being played by WVU, it was pretty much ballgame. Four games in, and we've avoided the upset bug which has bit teams like Kentucky, UCLA, Nebraska (Hoiberg), the aforementioned South Carolina, LSU, Pitt and others. We're taking care of business, and we're still not quite a polished product. Still lots of work to do, but we gotta keep this train rolling.
2. Bricklayers. It was not just that we went 2 for 18 from three-point range...it was how we missed them. Airball after Airball, and some of the airballs were on decent looks by Chase Harler and by Sean McNeil. (Jermaine Haley's three-point airball looked like he shot a bowling ball. It may have been four feet short of the rim. May want to work on that.) It's one game, so I'm not going over-the-top with this, but I really thought this 2019-'20 version of WVU basketball would be a very dangerous team from the outside. We brought in the top two scorers from JUCO ranks, both at the guard position, and all of our shooters from last year - Jordan McCabe, Emmitt Matthews Jr., Chase Harler, Brandon Knapper - had an entire offseason to hone their skills. Thus far this season, we really haven't had an explosion from the outside, save for McNeil's mini-run vs. Pitt in the first half (which was key). They're good shooters - they need to keep firing. I'm hoping that the dreaded Huggins Hook isn't in the back of their minds...
3. Chase Harler. Really impressed with Harler's game thus far in 2019-'20. Felt like last year he pressed too much, and was a bit overwhelmed by the competition at times. This year, he's just playing ball. He's letting the game come to him, and not forcing it. 11 minutes Friday night showed 5 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds, 0 turnovers. He needs to hit his free throws. But, he's scrapping and he's not disrupting the game flow, both offensively and defensively. He's really playing well.
4. 84-53-61-44. Those are the point allowances by WVU's defense in our four games. 60.5 per game allowed - 60th in the country right now. But, you take away Akron's 84 and we are giving up just 52.6ppg, which is good for 8th in the country over our past three games. We're still playing the same deny-man-trap-recover-hope-they-miss "D", so what is the difference thus far over the past three games? First, turnovers are relatively down -- we're doing a better job taking care of the ball (adios Esa Ahmad and Andrew Gordon's multiple brain freezes per night). Secondly, we're killing it on the boards. So, we're limiting other team's possessions, limiting their looks on killer 2nd chance shots, and limiting their run-outs. Remember how poorly we were in transition "D" over the past few years? It's not been a problem with this squad. We're trending in the right direction. However, competition level will increase starting Tuesday.
5. Cancun. I expect to win this Tournament this week. Northern Iowa is a good team. However, they have not faced anyone like our front line. Northern Colorado was able to take Northern Iowa to OT before losing. And, I'm not necessarily afraid of the winner of Wichita State/South Carolina either. That Myrtle Beach Tournament last year was ugly. It set the tone for what was going to be a very rough year. I'd like to see Coach Huggins and these kids hoist a trophy on Wednesday night to set the tone for the remainder of our nonconference schedule. We're still off the radar screen, and perhaps that's where we are best, but I'd like to start making some noise. We have the personnel and Coach to do it. Just go down below the border and win, boys. Just win.
1. Keep rolling. A few days after Boston U. update South Carolina & Frank Martin on the Gamecocks' home floor, we just simply took care of business. No, it wasn't the prettiest performance you'll ever see - airballs galore - but we jumped on them early and never really let Boston make a threatening run. The key was the beginning of the 2nd half. Up 13 at the break, which is not at all safe as we've learned, we came out and scored 10 consecutive points, including a monster jam by Oscar Tshiebwe. There was still 17 minutes to go, but up 46-23 and with suffocating defense being played by WVU, it was pretty much ballgame. Four games in, and we've avoided the upset bug which has bit teams like Kentucky, UCLA, Nebraska (Hoiberg), the aforementioned South Carolina, LSU, Pitt and others. We're taking care of business, and we're still not quite a polished product. Still lots of work to do, but we gotta keep this train rolling.
2. Bricklayers. It was not just that we went 2 for 18 from three-point range...it was how we missed them. Airball after Airball, and some of the airballs were on decent looks by Chase Harler and by Sean McNeil. (Jermaine Haley's three-point airball looked like he shot a bowling ball. It may have been four feet short of the rim. May want to work on that.) It's one game, so I'm not going over-the-top with this, but I really thought this 2019-'20 version of WVU basketball would be a very dangerous team from the outside. We brought in the top two scorers from JUCO ranks, both at the guard position, and all of our shooters from last year - Jordan McCabe, Emmitt Matthews Jr., Chase Harler, Brandon Knapper - had an entire offseason to hone their skills. Thus far this season, we really haven't had an explosion from the outside, save for McNeil's mini-run vs. Pitt in the first half (which was key). They're good shooters - they need to keep firing. I'm hoping that the dreaded Huggins Hook isn't in the back of their minds...
3. Chase Harler. Really impressed with Harler's game thus far in 2019-'20. Felt like last year he pressed too much, and was a bit overwhelmed by the competition at times. This year, he's just playing ball. He's letting the game come to him, and not forcing it. 11 minutes Friday night showed 5 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds, 0 turnovers. He needs to hit his free throws. But, he's scrapping and he's not disrupting the game flow, both offensively and defensively. He's really playing well.
4. 84-53-61-44. Those are the point allowances by WVU's defense in our four games. 60.5 per game allowed - 60th in the country right now. But, you take away Akron's 84 and we are giving up just 52.6ppg, which is good for 8th in the country over our past three games. We're still playing the same deny-man-trap-recover-hope-they-miss "D", so what is the difference thus far over the past three games? First, turnovers are relatively down -- we're doing a better job taking care of the ball (adios Esa Ahmad and Andrew Gordon's multiple brain freezes per night). Secondly, we're killing it on the boards. So, we're limiting other team's possessions, limiting their looks on killer 2nd chance shots, and limiting their run-outs. Remember how poorly we were in transition "D" over the past few years? It's not been a problem with this squad. We're trending in the right direction. However, competition level will increase starting Tuesday.
5. Cancun. I expect to win this Tournament this week. Northern Iowa is a good team. However, they have not faced anyone like our front line. Northern Colorado was able to take Northern Iowa to OT before losing. And, I'm not necessarily afraid of the winner of Wichita State/South Carolina either. That Myrtle Beach Tournament last year was ugly. It set the tone for what was going to be a very rough year. I'd like to see Coach Huggins and these kids hoist a trophy on Wednesday night to set the tone for the remainder of our nonconference schedule. We're still off the radar screen, and perhaps that's where we are best, but I'd like to start making some noise. We have the personnel and Coach to do it. Just go down below the border and win, boys. Just win.
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