We’ve examined the point here previously that 6-foot-8 Devin Ebanks’ visit to WVU this weekend doesn’t exactly fill the sizable void created by 7-foot center Jamie Smalligan’s graduation. What we’ve not given enough thought to is the idea of having size for the sake of having size. It’s no longer the way to go, a point illustrated rather well by your national runner-up Memphis. (Ssshhh. Don’t tell anyone you-know-who is available online!)

Having no true center obviously didn’t hurt the Tigers this season in rebounding. Memphis averaged 40.8 rebounds per game and outrebounded opponents by 6.6 boards per game — 11th best in the country.

It makes an interesting point to the state of today’s game and possibly to what exactly Huggins may be leaning toward for WVU.

You see, it’s not so much anymore about who is closer to the ball when it comes off the rim, but rather who can get to it first. It’s more about strength than size. It’s more about being long, quick and athletic than being tall.

It’s a game for guards and forwards now, where the 6-foot-8 athletic kid is the new 7-footer, as long as he has a little meat on his bones and can rebound.

If you can take a 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-9 kid and beef him up in the weight room, you get a Dorsey or a Joe Alexander, for that matter.

And that just may be where Huggins is heading for future recruiting classes.

Perhaps Huggins can’t land the tower of power most sense next year’s team needs, but he’s done quite well in the past without establishing a tradition of true centers and it figures to continue in that direction. In truth, WVU is already in the Memphis mold, right down to untimely free-throw struggles, which proves a point one last time.  

You are who you are.