My fiver on WVU's matchup with Baylor in Round 1 of the Big XII Tournament---
1. Baylor is soft. I said it after our last game/loss vs. Baylor, and I'll say it again -- this Baylor team does not want to get into a streetfight. Obviously Rico Gathers is a brute. But aside from Gathers, Baylor is chalk-full of players who want to shoot from the outside, drive and dish, and score on the break. Our first game vs. Baylor was a complete no-show. Our second game was an anomaly because it was Staten's first game out, and then Gary went down in the first three minutes. But, nevertheless we outrebounded Baylor by 8 at their place, and generally outworked them in the second half when we settled. To beat Baylor, we need to crash the boards hard and dominate the glass like we did at Kansas, and vs. Oklahoma State. We can impose our will on these guys, and that means that Devin, Holton, Elijah and even Nate are going to need to play strong, draw fouls, and score. But, I have a feeling that Huggs is going to have these guys fired up Thursday. We're going to take the game to Baylor, and impose our will. We can overpower these guys.
2. Royce O'Neal and Taurean Prince. O'Neal was Abdul Nader before Nader came along. He is a stone cold Mountaineer killer. If I'm Huggs, I'm assigning Carter to O'Neal with the instruction of not letting him breathe. When Carter is out, then I'm assigning Phillip to do the same. With Prince, my goal would be to push him around and frustrate the living hell out of him. He is not a physical player -- he and O'Neal both want to live on the outside. My advice would be to arm-check both of these guys down the floor, get right up in their grill on defense, and if they drive, they are to be fouled hard on their first attempt down the lane to send a message. Nothing intentional - but instead body them up.
3. Amazingly, Baylor is the one team that has thwarted our press. This is one area where I will give them tons of credit. Their bigs like Prince, O'Neal, Motley and Freeman are capable of handling the ball...and they've done well vs. our pressure. But, all of that aside, we need to live or die by the press from here on out. We are what we are>>> Press Virginia. I don't want to see us dropping back into zone any more. Dial up the pressure, trap the second pass, and harass their ball-handlers. Ultimately, their guards are their weak point...it's their forwards who are breaking our press.
4. Shooting against the zone. Baylor will zone us up once again. The good news is that with Daxter Miles and Jevon Carter growing into leadership roles, we have the guns to shoot them out of it. Last time vs. Baylor's zone, Jevon hit 7 treys. Since then, Daxter has hit 8 in two games. Jaysean, Tarik, even Nate and Holton have shown capability to knock them down. Obviously, Chase Conner can be a weapon. But, we need to watch our entry passes into the interior vs. their zone. I would rather we just gun it over their heads, then constantly try to feed it into Devin and Holton. Offensive rebounds will be there for the taking...and then Devin/Holton/Elijah/Nate can clean up on the second shots...because again, Baylor should not outrebound us.
5. Baylor is not going to beat us three times in the same season. This isn't Texas from last year. Baylor has some nice players. But, with Huggins, and the motivational edge of our last two games vs. BU>> I give the edge to WVU on a neutral floor. And, that is with or without Staten. (Playing vs. their zone actually neutralizes Staten's effectiveness in many ways) A couple years ago, we swept Texas Tech in the regular season and then fell to the Red Raiders in the first round of the Tournament. It's difficult to beat the same team three times in the same season. Baylor is good, but they're not that good. Texas Tech had them beat this past week. They can be had...and they will. I've already made my game-watching plans for Friday's 6pm matchup vs. Kansas.
Ten years ago, we made a magical run through the Big East Tournament in the Garden and it all started with a Round 1 upset of top ten Boston College -- even without Ty Salley, as he was ill and missed the game. Frank Young came up big, and we dismissed BC from the Big East with an "L" stamped on their forehead. It's time for another magical run...we're due.
1. Baylor is soft. I said it after our last game/loss vs. Baylor, and I'll say it again -- this Baylor team does not want to get into a streetfight. Obviously Rico Gathers is a brute. But aside from Gathers, Baylor is chalk-full of players who want to shoot from the outside, drive and dish, and score on the break. Our first game vs. Baylor was a complete no-show. Our second game was an anomaly because it was Staten's first game out, and then Gary went down in the first three minutes. But, nevertheless we outrebounded Baylor by 8 at their place, and generally outworked them in the second half when we settled. To beat Baylor, we need to crash the boards hard and dominate the glass like we did at Kansas, and vs. Oklahoma State. We can impose our will on these guys, and that means that Devin, Holton, Elijah and even Nate are going to need to play strong, draw fouls, and score. But, I have a feeling that Huggs is going to have these guys fired up Thursday. We're going to take the game to Baylor, and impose our will. We can overpower these guys.
2. Royce O'Neal and Taurean Prince. O'Neal was Abdul Nader before Nader came along. He is a stone cold Mountaineer killer. If I'm Huggs, I'm assigning Carter to O'Neal with the instruction of not letting him breathe. When Carter is out, then I'm assigning Phillip to do the same. With Prince, my goal would be to push him around and frustrate the living hell out of him. He is not a physical player -- he and O'Neal both want to live on the outside. My advice would be to arm-check both of these guys down the floor, get right up in their grill on defense, and if they drive, they are to be fouled hard on their first attempt down the lane to send a message. Nothing intentional - but instead body them up.
3. Amazingly, Baylor is the one team that has thwarted our press. This is one area where I will give them tons of credit. Their bigs like Prince, O'Neal, Motley and Freeman are capable of handling the ball...and they've done well vs. our pressure. But, all of that aside, we need to live or die by the press from here on out. We are what we are>>> Press Virginia. I don't want to see us dropping back into zone any more. Dial up the pressure, trap the second pass, and harass their ball-handlers. Ultimately, their guards are their weak point...it's their forwards who are breaking our press.
4. Shooting against the zone. Baylor will zone us up once again. The good news is that with Daxter Miles and Jevon Carter growing into leadership roles, we have the guns to shoot them out of it. Last time vs. Baylor's zone, Jevon hit 7 treys. Since then, Daxter has hit 8 in two games. Jaysean, Tarik, even Nate and Holton have shown capability to knock them down. Obviously, Chase Conner can be a weapon. But, we need to watch our entry passes into the interior vs. their zone. I would rather we just gun it over their heads, then constantly try to feed it into Devin and Holton. Offensive rebounds will be there for the taking...and then Devin/Holton/Elijah/Nate can clean up on the second shots...because again, Baylor should not outrebound us.
5. Baylor is not going to beat us three times in the same season. This isn't Texas from last year. Baylor has some nice players. But, with Huggins, and the motivational edge of our last two games vs. BU>> I give the edge to WVU on a neutral floor. And, that is with or without Staten. (Playing vs. their zone actually neutralizes Staten's effectiveness in many ways) A couple years ago, we swept Texas Tech in the regular season and then fell to the Red Raiders in the first round of the Tournament. It's difficult to beat the same team three times in the same season. Baylor is good, but they're not that good. Texas Tech had them beat this past week. They can be had...and they will. I've already made my game-watching plans for Friday's 6pm matchup vs. Kansas.
Ten years ago, we made a magical run through the Big East Tournament in the Garden and it all started with a Round 1 upset of top ten Boston College -- even without Ty Salley, as he was ill and missed the game. Frank Young came up big, and we dismissed BC from the Big East with an "L" stamped on their forehead. It's time for another magical run...we're due.
