Here are two, I think, stunning statistics from WVU’s NCAA Tournament loss to Gonzaga. The Mountaineers committed just 10 turnovers in a 23 point loss. The Bulldogs had nine steals.

Yikes. WVU was basically throwing the ball to Gonzaga. The only turnover that wasn’t stolen away was a jump ball, and even then Gonzaga managed to tie it up and get possession after WVU secured an offensive rebound.

Now, a lot of that 10/9 stat is guard play and sloppy possession, careless decisions and poor entry passes. But some of that is teammates — ie, forwards — not getting open or not getting others open. This was something Bob Huggins dealt with all season, right to the very end, and something he had a really hard time curing.

In essence, his players were working with a net. WVU was so limited because of injuries and so needed bodies that Huggins couldn’t bench someone for those type of errors. One development that really hurt? Well, a few players said it after a few of the games late in the season, and most were unprompted or used it as part of a separate answer. Huggins let it fly after Gonzaga the loss.

“We’re a whole lot different team. We lost eight of our last 12 (entering the NCAA). When we started losing games is when Kevin Noreen went down. Kevin’s not a great athlete, but he knows what he’s doing and he screens and he rebounds and he guards, and he passes the ball. We were so much better offensively when he was in the game. He knew how to play.”