Something the basketball program needs

[SpielsWVU]

Strong players.

Kriisa was the most disappointing of the offseason pickups in my opinion. He had a few good games, but he couldn’t defend as he is so much smaller physically than the Big 12 guards. Also, he had a lot of very bad turnovers and several of them were just being guarded one on one just across midcourt.

Edwards was probably the best of the transfers, but he missed so much of the season with the injury and early on he didn’t have Kriisa available to get him the ball since Kriisa was suspended. Edwards had some really good games, but he was another player that could get pushed around inside.

Battle just doesn’t have good basketball IQ. He is one of the more gifted offensive players that I’ve seen, but he took so many bad shots this year and tried to force things. It sucks that he missed the beginning of the season, but he needs to mature and get better on defense in order to become an elite player. His elevation on his jumper is a thing of beauty.

Unless we get some physical size to match up against the Big 12 then we’re going to continue to struggle defensively. It was painful to watch other teams big boy us all season.

 

[Airport]

Strong players.

Kriisa was the most disappointing of the offseason pickups in my opinion. He had a few good games, but he couldn’t defend as he is so much smaller physically than the Big 12 guards. Also, he had a lot of very bad turnovers and several of them were just being guarded one on one just across midcourt.

Edwards was probably the best of the transfers, but he missed so much of the season with the injury and early on he didn’t have Kriisa available to get him the ball since Kriisa was suspended. Edwards had some really good games, but he was another player that could get pushed around inside.

Battle just doesn’t have good basketball IQ. He is one of the more gifted offensive players that I’ve seen, but he took so many bad shots this year and tried to force things. It sucks that he missed the beginning of the season, but he needs to mature and get better on defense in order to become an elite player. His elevation on his jumper is a thing of beauty.

Unless we get some physical size to match up against the Big 12 then we’re going to continue to struggle defensively. It was painful to watch other teams big boy us all season.

Kriisa would be better with a good point guard to go with him. Battle never knew how to work to get open, just stood around. He could learn a lot from Stevenson. Edwards was good but no supporting players

 

[fluentedge]

I had high hopes for Battle but I didn't know that he never learned to pass the ball. Battle had 15 assists all season. That's almost impossible to do playing 30 or so minutes a game.

 

[squigsWV]

Pretty much all of that could be fixed with coaching and accountability. I would bet if you asked Eilert the biggest thing he learned from this, it is when to be the dick and when to be a "players coach".

 

[NCwvugrad4]

Strong players.

Kriisa was the most disappointing of the offseason pickups in my opinion. He had a few good games, but he couldn’t defend as he is so much smaller physically than the Big 12 guards. Also, he had a lot of very bad turnovers and several of them were just being guarded one on one just across midcourt.

Edwards was probably the best of the transfers, but he missed so much of the season with the injury and early on he didn’t have Kriisa available to get him the ball since Kriisa was suspended. Edwards had some really good games, but he was another player that could get pushed around inside.

Battle just doesn’t have good basketball IQ. He is one of the more gifted offensive players that I’ve seen, but he took so many bad shots this year and tried to force things. It sucks that he missed the beginning of the season, but he needs to mature and get better on defense in order to become an elite player. His elevation on his jumper is a thing of beauty.

Unless we get some physical size to match up against the Big 12 then we’re going to continue to struggle defensively. It was painful to watch other teams big boy us all season.

You thought of all our players, Kerr was the most disappointing pickup of the group? He was the only one who even shot the ball consistently. I think some of you had extremely unrealistic expectations about what Kerr was going to be, he’s a good PG but he was never going to be a 1st team all-league guy yet poster after poster on this board acts like they expected that. Very strange.

 

[Stone_Cold]

debating who was the best mediocre transfer basically. That's a problem

 

[mdeer1]

You thought of all our players, Kerr was the most disappointing pickup of the group? He was the only one who even shot the ball consistently. I think some of you had extremely unrealistic expectations about what Kerr was going to be, he’s a good PG but he was never going to be a 1st team all-league guy yet poster after poster on this board acts like they expected that. Very strange.

From what I heard he was a locker room cancer

 

[WVNate]

You thought of all our players, Kerr was the most disappointing pickup of the group? He was the only one who even shot the ball consistently. I think some of you had extremely unrealistic expectations about what Kerr was going to be, he’s a good PG but he was never going to be a 1st team all-league guy yet poster after poster on this board acts like they expected that. Very strange.

Wasn’t he first team PAC 12? Why wouldn’t we expect it?

 

[NCwvugrad4]

Wasn’t he first team PAC 12? Why wouldn’t we expect it?

Negative, he wasn't even honorable mention all Pac-12 last season (https://pac-12.com/article/2023/03/...-all-conference-honors-and-annual-performance). And he played on a team that was ranked #1 for a portion of the season and had Tommy Lloyd coaching them, so he was in a way better system with better talent and better coaching than what he had this year.

And with that said he put up the best shooting numbers of his career here, not sure what some of you expected but doesn't seem like the expectations were very realistic based on the responses.

 

[indyrckstar]

Strong players.

Kriisa was the most disappointing of the offseason pickups in my opinion. He had a few good games, but he couldn’t defend as he is so much smaller physically than the Big 12 guards. Also, he had a lot of very bad turnovers and several of them were just being guarded one on one just across midcourt.

Edwards was probably the best of the transfers, but he missed so much of the season with the injury and early on he didn’t have Kriisa available to get him the ball since Kriisa was suspended. Edwards had some really good games, but he was another player that could get pushed around inside.

Battle just doesn’t have good basketball IQ. He is one of the more gifted offensive players that I’ve seen, but he took so many bad shots this year and tried to force things. It sucks that he missed the beginning of the season, but he needs to mature and get better on defense in order to become an elite player. His elevation on his jumper is a thing of beauty.

Unless we get some physical size to match up against the Big 12 then we’re going to continue to struggle defensively. It was painful to watch other teams big boy us all season.

Kriisa and Battle needed to be coached up to get better return. A lot of their issues was fixable.

 

[winwvu]

I had high hopes for Battle but I didn't know that he never learned to pass the ball. Battle had 15 assists all season. That's almost impossible to do playing 30 or so minutes a game.

Give him some credit, if he wasn't suspended it could have been 16.

 

[Mr. Kruger]

Kriisa and Battle needed to be coached up to get better return. A lot of their issues was fixable.

I wouldn’t figure the most talented offensive player in the history of our program since Jerry West would need too much coaching up

 

[Mr. Kruger]

Negative, he wasn't even honorable mention all Pac-12 last season (https://pac-12.com/article/2023/03/...-all-conference-honors-and-annual-performance). And he played on a team that was ranked #1 for a portion of the season and had Tommy Lloyd coaching them, so he was in a way better system with better talent and better coaching than what he had this year.

And with that said he put up the best shooting numbers of his career here, not sure what some of you expected but doesn't seem like the expectations were very realistic based on the responses.

He was the number one point guard in the portal. I think people expected him to be a little bit better of a point guard, just guessing. But the portal is overrated, like I have said.

 

[Vernon]

He was the number one point guard in the portal. I think people expected him to be a little bit better of a point guard, just guessing. But the portal is overrated, like I have said.

It's crazy but someone is going to pay him again this coming year. Coaches will think they can help him lower his turnovers and they can but he's still going to have certain limitations. I look for him to have a long career overseas.

 

[JTeer2]

Need to blow up this team and start over with a new coach, new system and new players

 

[Mitch D.]

I wouldn’t figure the most talented offensive player in the history of our program since Jerry West would need too much coaching up

A person with talent can still have holes in their game or bad habits that need corrected, just like a player who has less talent.

Not sure how one would preclude the other.

 

[Vernon]

A person with talent can still have holes in their game or bad habits that need corrected, just like a player who has less talent.

Not sure how one would preclude the other.

He's a headcase and I'm not sure that's not the case with two or three others. I don't mean headcases as in troublemakers, but they need a lot of direction and good coaching. It was the perfect storm this season.

 

[Shortgapbob]

Battle just makes me think of Teddy Allen in a lot of ways. Not saying Battle is a bad guy or anything like that, just from a pure basketball perspective.

He’s a player with a ton of talent and can be an amazing scorer. But he’s far from a complete player and missing some of the mental aspects of the game.

 

[Mitch D.]

It's crazy but someone is going to pay him again this coming year. Coaches will think they can help him lower his turnovers and they can but he's still going to have certain limitations. I look for him to have a long career overseas.

Kriisa needs a coach with a strong hand to guide him, he isn't going to get there by himself.

I just don't think Josh realized how tough the HC has to be at times.

I'm sure it's like herding cats at times, but that's the job.

 

[Mitch D.]

He's a headcase and I'm not sure that's not the case with two or three others. I don't mean headcases as in troublemakers, but they need a lot of direction and good coaching. It was the perfect storm this season.

Every team has those issues.

It was a perfect storm because Josh was not a strong enough personality to keep the personalities in check.

A lot of people could see the problem coming from a mile away.

 

[Vernon]

Every team has those issues.

It was a perfect storm because Josh was not a strong enough personality to keep the personalities in check.

A lot of people could see the problem coming from a mile away.

It goes way beyond that. You had eligibility issues, you had a health scare with Akok, and an injury to Edwards. Combine all of that with the least experienced coaching staff in the history of major college basketball and you get the perfect storm.

 

[Mr. Kruger]

It's crazy but someone is going to pay him again this coming year. Coaches will think they can help him lower his turnovers and they can but he's still going to have certain limitations. I look for him to have a long career overseas.

Yeah, we’ll see.

 

[bgregory74]

I wouldn’t figure the most talented offensive player in the history of our program since Jerry West would need too much coaching up

Shot selection was an issue. I would imagine since he been at smaller schools he could just get to the rim whenever he wanted. That wasn't going to happen in the Big 12.

 

[winwvu]

It goes way beyond that. You had eligibility issues, you had a health scare with Akok, and an injury to Edwards. Combine all of that with the least experienced coaching staff in the history of major college basketball and you get the perfect storm.

I think this comment is pretty important to keep in mind- if we hire someone, say Kennedy last June, how successful would he have been at filling his assistants at that time?

 

[Shirley Knott]

I think this comment is pretty important to keep in mind- if we hire someone, say Kennedy last June, how successful would he have been at filling his assistants at that time?

Hind sight is never a good idea. thinking something negative would have happened is as possible as thinking something positive would happen. Just gotta make a decision and roll with the punches...

 

[17-14]

Shot selection was an issue. I would imagine since he been at smaller schools he could just get to the rim whenever he wanted. That wasn't going to happen in the Big 12.

It was a bad combination of him trying to do too much off the dribble and us not running much to get him the right shots.