--West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said that Baylor is terrific offensively. They play really hard and defensively their bigs have really helped them. Mark Vital has been solid for them for years and they’re a veteran club that doesn’t get rattled. They play at a great pace and they are terrific at playing in space.
--Baylor has a lot of depth, but so does West Virginia. The Mountaineers can bring some very impressive players off the bench as well so they’ll have the same issue that they will in preparing.
--Huggins said he’d have to think a while to answer the question about a team that shoots as well from three as the Bears do. They’re going to have to guard them, pick them up earlier and do a good job guarding ball screens. They are great at playing in space.
--Huggins said their COVID-19 situation as totally different than Baylor’s. They had 21-days off and West Virginia had 7 or 8 days. The biggest struggle they had was they had a guy that had lost 20-pounds so he obviously wasn’t the same on the floor after that happened. He doesn’t know what they have gone through missing that many days because he knows it would drive his team insane if that happened.
--Huggins said their substitutions are designed more to get fresh legs in the game. There are times they will go for matchups but the majority is to keep fresh legs on the floor.
--Their backcourt is good defensively. Huggins went back and watched the game last year and it was a great game with great matchups. There is a lot said about their guards, but Huggins said their guards are good too. Taz Sherman and Deuce McBride are doing fine health wise, they didn’t do much in terms of practice yesterday and focused instead on philosophically what they needed to do.
--The big thing that Kansas has that most people don’t have is David McCormick. He takes away any drive to the basket so if you want to put pressure on the rim and draw help it’s tough that way. You can leave him on an island and he’s fine. That’s what they did with Sagaba Konate was push them to him. He can erase some of the mistakes on the defensive side and that’s what Kansas had when they played Baylor in the upset win.
--Vital is a very good passer and he keeps balls alive and isn’t selfish. He’s a lot like Gabe Osabuohien. Huggins wants guys that want to win and that’s what Vital does. He’s not going to score for you, but he’s going to do everything else.
--West Virginia has a big blackboard in the film room and they handle the tournament seeding discussion. They know what is coming and what they need to do to get there. Last year hit them really hard with the idea that it could be taken away from you in a few seconds.
--Huggins said that Jared Butler is better, more mature but he isn’t ready to give anybody player of the year in the league over Derek Culver. They put four guys on the floor that are unselfish and look out for each other on the floor and he’s the leader of that.
--Jalen Bridges is blessed because his own dad Cory was a good player in his own right and has spent a lot of time with him. He looks at it sort of like what happened with him. Cory has spent an enormous amount of time in the gym and has brought in other people to hear another voice. As time goes on he’ll be even better and better. Nathan Adrian became the voice over time and that’s something that Huggins wants to see out of Bridges.
--Huggins doesn’t think about his career win totals. He admires and appreciates coaches that are on that 900-win plateau and doesn’t like comparing himself to them. He doesn’t get caught up on the other stuff over the course of his career.
--Baylor has a lot of depth, but so does West Virginia. The Mountaineers can bring some very impressive players off the bench as well so they’ll have the same issue that they will in preparing.
--Huggins said he’d have to think a while to answer the question about a team that shoots as well from three as the Bears do. They’re going to have to guard them, pick them up earlier and do a good job guarding ball screens. They are great at playing in space.
--Huggins said their COVID-19 situation as totally different than Baylor’s. They had 21-days off and West Virginia had 7 or 8 days. The biggest struggle they had was they had a guy that had lost 20-pounds so he obviously wasn’t the same on the floor after that happened. He doesn’t know what they have gone through missing that many days because he knows it would drive his team insane if that happened.
--Huggins said their substitutions are designed more to get fresh legs in the game. There are times they will go for matchups but the majority is to keep fresh legs on the floor.
--Their backcourt is good defensively. Huggins went back and watched the game last year and it was a great game with great matchups. There is a lot said about their guards, but Huggins said their guards are good too. Taz Sherman and Deuce McBride are doing fine health wise, they didn’t do much in terms of practice yesterday and focused instead on philosophically what they needed to do.
--The big thing that Kansas has that most people don’t have is David McCormick. He takes away any drive to the basket so if you want to put pressure on the rim and draw help it’s tough that way. You can leave him on an island and he’s fine. That’s what they did with Sagaba Konate was push them to him. He can erase some of the mistakes on the defensive side and that’s what Kansas had when they played Baylor in the upset win.
--Vital is a very good passer and he keeps balls alive and isn’t selfish. He’s a lot like Gabe Osabuohien. Huggins wants guys that want to win and that’s what Vital does. He’s not going to score for you, but he’s going to do everything else.
--West Virginia has a big blackboard in the film room and they handle the tournament seeding discussion. They know what is coming and what they need to do to get there. Last year hit them really hard with the idea that it could be taken away from you in a few seconds.
--Huggins said that Jared Butler is better, more mature but he isn’t ready to give anybody player of the year in the league over Derek Culver. They put four guys on the floor that are unselfish and look out for each other on the floor and he’s the leader of that.
--Jalen Bridges is blessed because his own dad Cory was a good player in his own right and has spent a lot of time with him. He looks at it sort of like what happened with him. Cory has spent an enormous amount of time in the gym and has brought in other people to hear another voice. As time goes on he’ll be even better and better. Nathan Adrian became the voice over time and that’s something that Huggins wants to see out of Bridges.
--Huggins doesn’t think about his career win totals. He admires and appreciates coaches that are on that 900-win plateau and doesn’t like comparing himself to them. He doesn’t get caught up on the other stuff over the course of his career.
