My Fiver on WVU's victory over the Phoenix last night in Sath Cackalack:
1. Shot selection, ups & downs. At first blush, after the game last night I came away feeling that we took too many long 2's, not enough threes. However, when checking ESPN.com shot chart this A.M., it's actually much better than last year: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401365884. I don't have the KenPom stats, but we took a lot of shots at the rim, which is great. Good aggression, good posts by Gabe and Taz resulting in old fashioned three-point plays. We had a total of 58 shots, only 16 were threes (27.5%), but we shot 51.7% from the field and 37.5% from "3" which are great marks. We're going to be a tough out with those types of figures. If I am nitpicking, I want Sean McNeil to be more aggressive at taking threes, instead of settling for long twos off the bounce, and we need to be able to involve Jalen Bridges early - run a couple sets to get him open for some outside looks. Sometimes, he just disappears.
2. Huggins's criticism. There's no reason to beat the dead horse on here, as we've all bemoaned it -- but the constant barrage of open looks from "3" that we give opponents is not going to change unless Bob Huggins changes the way he wants to play. So, I get his frustration. We're all frustrated from the buffet line of open threes we watch opponents engorge each game. But, what do you want these kids to do? We double-team an Elon guard in the corner, deny the guy next to him the ball, then that means we have three defenders standing in an elevator with two Elon players. There is another galaxy of hardwood for the other two WVU defenders to cover, and they are outmanned 3-to-2. Of course we're going to give up an open look. As we've come to know it on this Blue Lot: "Turnover or Hope They Miss!". Huggs has to know this. Slowly but surely we're seeing the press return to our M.O. Is this going to become Press Virginia 2.0 (with offense this time)?
3. King of the Boards. Your leading rebounder from last evening? None other than Pauly Paulicap! That's right, in his 8 minutes of playing time, he had 6 boards and a block. That was better than Gabe in his 13 minutes (4 rebounds), Cottrell in his 21 minutes (5 rebounds) and Carrigan in his 10 minutes (2 rebounds). Pauly is one active dude, but he needs to chill for a minute before going up with the ball. He had a nice post, and just raced to the shot, not coming anywhere near making it. He was too fast to even draw a foul. That said, you can see why had games for DePaul last year where he went for 16 rebounds (St. John's) and quite a few double doubles. He's going to be factor this year as the level of competition rises. He needs to find a way to calm down on offense and put the ball into the tin or draw fouls.
4. Taz Sherman. First, somewhere Truck Bryant was smiling after watching Taz go hard on a 3-on-1 fast break, with Sean McNeil spotted up in the corner, and plow head down straight into an Elon defender three feet from the basket, drawing a charge. That aside, it was a sensational performance from Taz with 27 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds & a steal on 9 of 17 shooting with 8 of 9 from the line. The dude is a flat out scorer, one of the best offensive talents we've had since...? Is he a better scorer than Miles McBride? It will be an interesting question as the year wanes on. It will be vital that Sean McNeil, Jalen Bridges and the other supporting cast stay on point so that teams can't cheat and shade Taz with an extra defender. Right now, it's pick your poison, because if you shade off of McNeil or Bridges, they'll make you pay.
5. WVU vs. Marquette, 7pm. OK, now we're going to find out a lot more about what we have, or what we don't. Marquette has a good team under Shaka Smart. Hell of a win over #10 Illinois the other night, and another nice victory over a talented Ole Miss squad last night. However, digging deeper -- Marquette's 40.6% from beyond the arc last night (13/32) was an anomaly. That was their first game that they shot over 30% from three out of their 4 games. Sure enough, we'll give them looks tonight, but they're not exactly scorchers from outside. Next, Marquette has faced the same issues rebounding that WVU has faced. Because of their frenetic defense under Smart, they are often out of position. They were -3 last night vs. Ole Miss, but they were a staggering -20 in their win vs. Illinois. And, they were outrebounded by 4 in their opener vs. SIU-Edwardsville, whoever that is. Marquette trailed late into the 2nd half in their 2nd game vs. New Hampshire and were only up 1 with 30 seconds to go, before holding on to win 75-70. They are obviously playing very well now. Darryl Morsell, their 6'5" Senior guard, is averaging 22.5ppg and cannot be left alone tonight (gulp). Justin Lewis is a stud freshman who is becoming a double double machine. He had 21 & 9 last night. To win - turn them over, win the rebounding battle, let the rest take care of itself. This will be a good win. Really want to see this team cut down nets Sunday. If they win tonight, they will.
BTW, ESPN.com projects WVU as a 74.9% chance to win over Marquette, and Teamrankings.com projects WVU with a 67% chance to win tonight. I haven't seen a line, but I'm guessing it will be WVU -4.5
1. Shot selection, ups & downs. At first blush, after the game last night I came away feeling that we took too many long 2's, not enough threes. However, when checking ESPN.com shot chart this A.M., it's actually much better than last year: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401365884. I don't have the KenPom stats, but we took a lot of shots at the rim, which is great. Good aggression, good posts by Gabe and Taz resulting in old fashioned three-point plays. We had a total of 58 shots, only 16 were threes (27.5%), but we shot 51.7% from the field and 37.5% from "3" which are great marks. We're going to be a tough out with those types of figures. If I am nitpicking, I want Sean McNeil to be more aggressive at taking threes, instead of settling for long twos off the bounce, and we need to be able to involve Jalen Bridges early - run a couple sets to get him open for some outside looks. Sometimes, he just disappears.
2. Huggins's criticism. There's no reason to beat the dead horse on here, as we've all bemoaned it -- but the constant barrage of open looks from "3" that we give opponents is not going to change unless Bob Huggins changes the way he wants to play. So, I get his frustration. We're all frustrated from the buffet line of open threes we watch opponents engorge each game. But, what do you want these kids to do? We double-team an Elon guard in the corner, deny the guy next to him the ball, then that means we have three defenders standing in an elevator with two Elon players. There is another galaxy of hardwood for the other two WVU defenders to cover, and they are outmanned 3-to-2. Of course we're going to give up an open look. As we've come to know it on this Blue Lot: "Turnover or Hope They Miss!". Huggs has to know this. Slowly but surely we're seeing the press return to our M.O. Is this going to become Press Virginia 2.0 (with offense this time)?
3. King of the Boards. Your leading rebounder from last evening? None other than Pauly Paulicap! That's right, in his 8 minutes of playing time, he had 6 boards and a block. That was better than Gabe in his 13 minutes (4 rebounds), Cottrell in his 21 minutes (5 rebounds) and Carrigan in his 10 minutes (2 rebounds). Pauly is one active dude, but he needs to chill for a minute before going up with the ball. He had a nice post, and just raced to the shot, not coming anywhere near making it. He was too fast to even draw a foul. That said, you can see why had games for DePaul last year where he went for 16 rebounds (St. John's) and quite a few double doubles. He's going to be factor this year as the level of competition rises. He needs to find a way to calm down on offense and put the ball into the tin or draw fouls.
4. Taz Sherman. First, somewhere Truck Bryant was smiling after watching Taz go hard on a 3-on-1 fast break, with Sean McNeil spotted up in the corner, and plow head down straight into an Elon defender three feet from the basket, drawing a charge. That aside, it was a sensational performance from Taz with 27 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds & a steal on 9 of 17 shooting with 8 of 9 from the line. The dude is a flat out scorer, one of the best offensive talents we've had since...? Is he a better scorer than Miles McBride? It will be an interesting question as the year wanes on. It will be vital that Sean McNeil, Jalen Bridges and the other supporting cast stay on point so that teams can't cheat and shade Taz with an extra defender. Right now, it's pick your poison, because if you shade off of McNeil or Bridges, they'll make you pay.
5. WVU vs. Marquette, 7pm. OK, now we're going to find out a lot more about what we have, or what we don't. Marquette has a good team under Shaka Smart. Hell of a win over #10 Illinois the other night, and another nice victory over a talented Ole Miss squad last night. However, digging deeper -- Marquette's 40.6% from beyond the arc last night (13/32) was an anomaly. That was their first game that they shot over 30% from three out of their 4 games. Sure enough, we'll give them looks tonight, but they're not exactly scorchers from outside. Next, Marquette has faced the same issues rebounding that WVU has faced. Because of their frenetic defense under Smart, they are often out of position. They were -3 last night vs. Ole Miss, but they were a staggering -20 in their win vs. Illinois. And, they were outrebounded by 4 in their opener vs. SIU-Edwardsville, whoever that is. Marquette trailed late into the 2nd half in their 2nd game vs. New Hampshire and were only up 1 with 30 seconds to go, before holding on to win 75-70. They are obviously playing very well now. Darryl Morsell, their 6'5" Senior guard, is averaging 22.5ppg and cannot be left alone tonight (gulp). Justin Lewis is a stud freshman who is becoming a double double machine. He had 21 & 9 last night. To win - turn them over, win the rebounding battle, let the rest take care of itself. This will be a good win. Really want to see this team cut down nets Sunday. If they win tonight, they will.
BTW, ESPN.com projects WVU as a 74.9% chance to win over Marquette, and Teamrankings.com projects WVU with a 67% chance to win tonight. I haven't seen a line, but I'm guessing it will be WVU -4.5
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