My fiver on WVU's win last night vs. the Raiders of a Red hue...
1. Elijah Macon beastmode! Rumor has it that Coach Huggins reads my "fiver" after each game. Correspondingly, he followed my advice, took Macon aside, and fired basketballs at him for two hours last practice. And, last night, with the first half coming to a close, Jevon Carter flew by his defender and entered the lane as the clock wound down below five seconds to go. The Tech big man stepped up to him to stop his drive, and JC fired a pass - he threw it pretty hard, Airport, because that's how it's done- to Mr. Macon, as Elijah ran down the baseline to the rim. For a second, I held my breath and thought "Oh Shi..."...but Mr. Macon snatched the ball out of the air, like Ed Hill in the corner of the Chestnut Hill end zone on a cold 1993 night, and slammed it home. Can't believe I'm typing this, but last night, we played much better with Macon on the floor. He gave great energy, he played within himself, he held on to the ball, and he defended very, very well. My hat is off to the big man.
2. Daxter Miles, Jr. The one player on our team who has the most untapped potential is Dax. He gave glimpses last night of what he could become, but, that said --- he can be much, much more than a sharp-shooting off-guard. The next step for Dax to make that transition to becoming our next Da'Sean or our next Paige, is to be able to consistently put the ball on the floor, get to the hole, and/or draw fouls. That will come. In the meantime, as we head into tournament time, it appears that Dax is playing as well as he has all season.
3. Jon Holton is the key to March. Holton comes off the bench, plays 17 minutes, snags 11 rebounds. It seemed that, whenever he was in the game, he was where the ball was. In March, Paige will be our primary scoring threat, but there's a lot to go around with Paige, Miles, Tarik, Nate, and of course Devin Williams. But, Jon Holton will be the glue. We're going to miss a lot of shots. That's just our nature. Jon is the key to keeping that ball in play, ensuring that we win the shot total, and ensuring we win the rebounding battle. He is a disruptive force on the press. If we're going to win the Big XII Tournament, and make a deep run to Houston - Jon Holton's presence, energy, enthusiasm, and athleticism will be key.
4. Nate Adrian. Adrian started and hit for 13 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. And, at this point of his career, this is what he has become: he is a very effective player at the highest level of Division I basketball. Not bad for a kid from Morgantown High, who did not have a lot of big-time offers. This is yet another prime example of what Bob Huggins can do for a raw talent who is willing to buy-in, listen, and follow his tough love. Huggins can develop talent with the best of them.
5. Where we stand. Just three years ago, we ended the season by losing 8 of our last 9 games, many of which were not competitive, and not making any postseason tournament. The next year, we would again limp down the stretch in a season where we were lucky to come up with an NIT bid, and then we would lose to a so-so Georgetown team in a game where we didn't even attempt to defend anybody. Huggins then purged the roster. Eron Harris, Keaton Miles, Aaric Murray, Terry Henderson, Jabarie Hinds, Aaron Brown, Remi Dibo, Pat Forsythe, all gone. I was seriously concerned. Many of my friends were too. We didn't know if Huggs was losing it...or what was going on. In the darkest hour, Huggins said everything will be fine. He said "I will fix this". The Standing Man. For two seasons, the game had beat him down...but Huggs still stood tall to this. We started seeing JUCO names like Jaysean Paige, Tarik Phillip. We saw a little heralded kid named Jevon Carter pledge allegiance to our University. We hoped that Jon Holton would be as advertised, and that Devin Williams would stick it out. Overall, we just hoped...that he would fix it with these new names.
And, here we are. Alone in 2nd place in the Big XII. Ranked 10th in the nation. We beat the number one team in the country. And we are slated to be a 2-seed following our Sweet Sixteen run of a year ago.
These are good times, fellow Mountaineers. They will not be here forever, for as much as I Hope they will. Enjoy this March run. I've already started making plans for Houston.
1. Elijah Macon beastmode! Rumor has it that Coach Huggins reads my "fiver" after each game. Correspondingly, he followed my advice, took Macon aside, and fired basketballs at him for two hours last practice. And, last night, with the first half coming to a close, Jevon Carter flew by his defender and entered the lane as the clock wound down below five seconds to go. The Tech big man stepped up to him to stop his drive, and JC fired a pass - he threw it pretty hard, Airport, because that's how it's done- to Mr. Macon, as Elijah ran down the baseline to the rim. For a second, I held my breath and thought "Oh Shi..."...but Mr. Macon snatched the ball out of the air, like Ed Hill in the corner of the Chestnut Hill end zone on a cold 1993 night, and slammed it home. Can't believe I'm typing this, but last night, we played much better with Macon on the floor. He gave great energy, he played within himself, he held on to the ball, and he defended very, very well. My hat is off to the big man.
2. Daxter Miles, Jr. The one player on our team who has the most untapped potential is Dax. He gave glimpses last night of what he could become, but, that said --- he can be much, much more than a sharp-shooting off-guard. The next step for Dax to make that transition to becoming our next Da'Sean or our next Paige, is to be able to consistently put the ball on the floor, get to the hole, and/or draw fouls. That will come. In the meantime, as we head into tournament time, it appears that Dax is playing as well as he has all season.
3. Jon Holton is the key to March. Holton comes off the bench, plays 17 minutes, snags 11 rebounds. It seemed that, whenever he was in the game, he was where the ball was. In March, Paige will be our primary scoring threat, but there's a lot to go around with Paige, Miles, Tarik, Nate, and of course Devin Williams. But, Jon Holton will be the glue. We're going to miss a lot of shots. That's just our nature. Jon is the key to keeping that ball in play, ensuring that we win the shot total, and ensuring we win the rebounding battle. He is a disruptive force on the press. If we're going to win the Big XII Tournament, and make a deep run to Houston - Jon Holton's presence, energy, enthusiasm, and athleticism will be key.
4. Nate Adrian. Adrian started and hit for 13 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. And, at this point of his career, this is what he has become: he is a very effective player at the highest level of Division I basketball. Not bad for a kid from Morgantown High, who did not have a lot of big-time offers. This is yet another prime example of what Bob Huggins can do for a raw talent who is willing to buy-in, listen, and follow his tough love. Huggins can develop talent with the best of them.
5. Where we stand. Just three years ago, we ended the season by losing 8 of our last 9 games, many of which were not competitive, and not making any postseason tournament. The next year, we would again limp down the stretch in a season where we were lucky to come up with an NIT bid, and then we would lose to a so-so Georgetown team in a game where we didn't even attempt to defend anybody. Huggins then purged the roster. Eron Harris, Keaton Miles, Aaric Murray, Terry Henderson, Jabarie Hinds, Aaron Brown, Remi Dibo, Pat Forsythe, all gone. I was seriously concerned. Many of my friends were too. We didn't know if Huggs was losing it...or what was going on. In the darkest hour, Huggins said everything will be fine. He said "I will fix this". The Standing Man. For two seasons, the game had beat him down...but Huggs still stood tall to this. We started seeing JUCO names like Jaysean Paige, Tarik Phillip. We saw a little heralded kid named Jevon Carter pledge allegiance to our University. We hoped that Jon Holton would be as advertised, and that Devin Williams would stick it out. Overall, we just hoped...that he would fix it with these new names.
And, here we are. Alone in 2nd place in the Big XII. Ranked 10th in the nation. We beat the number one team in the country. And we are slated to be a 2-seed following our Sweet Sixteen run of a year ago.
These are good times, fellow Mountaineers. They will not be here forever, for as much as I Hope they will. Enjoy this March run. I've already started making plans for Houston.
