My Fiver on WVU's win over Oklahoma State in Morgantown on Saturday afternoon...
1. DEFENSE. Following the game, Darian DeVries made an interesting comment that he is playing a modified Pack Line D this season, where he is challenging WVU's players to not only shut off "lanes" using the Pack Line philosophy, but to also "get into passing lanes as well". This, in my opinion, is the Perfect Defense...and I've never thought it possible. I can recall a possession at Kansas where we switched on a screen, and Eduardo Andre was stuck on Dejuan Harris, while KJ Tenner was on Hunter Dickinson. Andre took a step toward Harris and forced him off the line, then sprinted back to Dickinson on the block, while Sincere Harris slid over to body up Harris while Tenner ran to Harris's former Jayhawk. It was beautiful connection, very heady stuff. It takes a tremendous amount of concentration and most significantly, effort to play defense this way. But, we are doing it. And the results speak for themselves. Saturday, we tormented Oklahoma State into 17 turnovers, 33.3% shooting from the field, 14% from "3". Only one team has scored more than 70 points against us in regulation this year - Gonzaga with 71. This sort of defense will not only win games...this sort of D will cut down nets.
2. I'm not expecting to see Tucker DeVries to play again this season. And ipso facto, we badly need Jonathan Powell, and Josef Yesufu to a lesser extent, to fill that void. Powell has been answering the bell, hitting for a very tidy 17 points Saturday on 6-10 shooting (5-7 from "3"). I really love how Powell catches the ball ready to go up. No hesitation. What Tucker DeVries was very adept at doing, and where Powell needs to grow, is defensively creating turnovers and crashing glass. Powell needs to fill up the other areas of the stat sheet beyond the scoring column as he continues to grow.
3. For the 2nd straight game, as a second half adjustment our opponent has blitzed our high screens for Javon Small - and we have not had a response. I have full confidence that DD is going to have this fixed before Tuesday. That's about all I have to say about that second half.
4. Really love having Sencire Harris and Toby Okani as role players on this team. They can switch onto a point guard, they can guard a shooter, they can shut down a power forward, and Okani can even switch onto a "5" and give them fits. Sencire is always looking for the steal, like a ball hawk corner in football. These two give our defense a ton of flexibility, and look out - Sencire is now raining treys from the heavens, so he may even give us a boost on offense.
5. 11-2, 2-0 in Big 12 play. We have a long way to go, but raise your hand if you had WVU as 11-2 at this juncture. This has been masterclass art by Darian DeVries, from the 4-out and 5-out offense which has been a breath of fresh air, to the defense which has been nothing short of suffocating. WVU is 18th nationally (out of 355) in scoring defense (62.5 ppg - Houston #1 at 54.6ppg), WVU is 7th nationally in field goal % Defense (37.135% - Houston is #1 at 33.681%), WVU is 8th nationally in 3pt % defense (27.4%), WVU is 11th nationally in blocks per game (5.7). We have a very good Arizona team coming into Morgantown Tuesday night. They just snagged a big win at Cincy, holding off a big 2nd half rally. I do think we are catching them at a good time on a long road trip, but they are going to be ready to avenge the Atlantis loss. But, a big win Tuesday night puts WVU at 3-0 in Big 12 play in the early going, and looking damn good.
1. DEFENSE. Following the game, Darian DeVries made an interesting comment that he is playing a modified Pack Line D this season, where he is challenging WVU's players to not only shut off "lanes" using the Pack Line philosophy, but to also "get into passing lanes as well". This, in my opinion, is the Perfect Defense...and I've never thought it possible. I can recall a possession at Kansas where we switched on a screen, and Eduardo Andre was stuck on Dejuan Harris, while KJ Tenner was on Hunter Dickinson. Andre took a step toward Harris and forced him off the line, then sprinted back to Dickinson on the block, while Sincere Harris slid over to body up Harris while Tenner ran to Harris's former Jayhawk. It was beautiful connection, very heady stuff. It takes a tremendous amount of concentration and most significantly, effort to play defense this way. But, we are doing it. And the results speak for themselves. Saturday, we tormented Oklahoma State into 17 turnovers, 33.3% shooting from the field, 14% from "3". Only one team has scored more than 70 points against us in regulation this year - Gonzaga with 71. This sort of defense will not only win games...this sort of D will cut down nets.
2. I'm not expecting to see Tucker DeVries to play again this season. And ipso facto, we badly need Jonathan Powell, and Josef Yesufu to a lesser extent, to fill that void. Powell has been answering the bell, hitting for a very tidy 17 points Saturday on 6-10 shooting (5-7 from "3"). I really love how Powell catches the ball ready to go up. No hesitation. What Tucker DeVries was very adept at doing, and where Powell needs to grow, is defensively creating turnovers and crashing glass. Powell needs to fill up the other areas of the stat sheet beyond the scoring column as he continues to grow.
3. For the 2nd straight game, as a second half adjustment our opponent has blitzed our high screens for Javon Small - and we have not had a response. I have full confidence that DD is going to have this fixed before Tuesday. That's about all I have to say about that second half.
4. Really love having Sencire Harris and Toby Okani as role players on this team. They can switch onto a point guard, they can guard a shooter, they can shut down a power forward, and Okani can even switch onto a "5" and give them fits. Sencire is always looking for the steal, like a ball hawk corner in football. These two give our defense a ton of flexibility, and look out - Sencire is now raining treys from the heavens, so he may even give us a boost on offense.
5. 11-2, 2-0 in Big 12 play. We have a long way to go, but raise your hand if you had WVU as 11-2 at this juncture. This has been masterclass art by Darian DeVries, from the 4-out and 5-out offense which has been a breath of fresh air, to the defense which has been nothing short of suffocating. WVU is 18th nationally (out of 355) in scoring defense (62.5 ppg - Houston #1 at 54.6ppg), WVU is 7th nationally in field goal % Defense (37.135% - Houston is #1 at 33.681%), WVU is 8th nationally in 3pt % defense (27.4%), WVU is 11th nationally in blocks per game (5.7). We have a very good Arizona team coming into Morgantown Tuesday night. They just snagged a big win at Cincy, holding off a big 2nd half rally. I do think we are catching them at a good time on a long road trip, but they are going to be ready to avenge the Atlantis loss. But, a big win Tuesday night puts WVU at 3-0 in Big 12 play in the early going, and looking damn good.
