The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which wants to commit some time to basketball today, what with the regular season starting tonight and the future assembling this week with the whirring of fax machines and the sightings of the FedEx delivery truck.

West Virginia will end up with four players this week: Thoroughbred Sagba Konate (I’ll call him that because he’s massive and because three older brothers played college basketball) intends to signs today, while South Charleston’s Brandon Knapper, noted goon Chase Harler and mystery man Maciej Bender signed and sent their letters mid-week.

Let’s do some addition here: WVU has the maximum 13 players on scholarship and but two are seniors. The Mountaineers just signed four to join the team next fall. Well, Knapper is going to play next season at Hargrave Military Academy, and the cruel reality is one of the remaining 11 at the end of the season is going to be somewhere else for the 2016-17 season. (Unless Devin Williams explodes this season and goes pro, which he’s discussed as a possible outcome.)

Huggins, as you’d expect, likes this group of signees because it’ll address the departures of Jon Holton and Jaysean Paige after this season and it might also protect the Mountaineers if Williams does what he wants to do. Huggins also wants to play 10-12 players regularly because that keeps players invested in practice and invested in the season, a flaw he endured with the 2012-13 roster.

It’s a quirky collection of players, too. Huggins got two players from the state, not because they’re from the state, but because he believes they can play. Konate and Bender are … man, I hate the word projects because projects aren’t courted like these two were … but let’s say projects and describe why.

WVU looked at both and saw something immediately and then off in the future, and it took time and work to recruit and land both because eventually other schools saw good players and tried to make both players theirs.

Konate is playing for a Catholic school in Hermitage, Pa., in the northwestern corner of the state, and it was basically the Mountaineers and Pitt in the formative stages, but people could find and watch him.

It was a little more difficult with Bender.

“I think Maciej is very good,” Huggins said. “Nobody’s seen him play is the deal. Once he gets exposure and the national limelight, people are going to see how good he really is.”

He’s playing at Mountain Mission, a school in Grundy, Va., that is, in its words, “a refuge, resource and relief for the child in need.” Bender’s need, if you will, is that he left his home in Poland in 2013 for the United States so he could create and maximize his dreams. WVU assistant Ron Everhart locked in early and forged, developed and sustained a relationship with Bender, his family and the people at Mountain Mission. He even went to Poland over the summer.

And that’s where this story turns. Bender was in Poland. He wasn’t in Atlanta or Las Vegas or some other AAU hotbed. He’s a four-star prospect without the benefits or trappings or both that come with the sneaker circuit. The Mountaineers, it would seem, are the ones reaping the rewards.

“What happens, and it’s unfortunate, is coaches don’t see guys on their high school teams very often,” Huggins said. “Maciej’s situation with the Polish national team, he played in April and played in Myrtle Beach, and it’s a really good tournament. … But it’s more like mid-major kind of people. The other guys are doing EYBL stuff, so he just wasn’t seen. People didn’t know about him. But it was good for us.”

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t confuse the message.

Foul Shot said:

Just read the basketball preview from Mike in the Daily Mail.
Liking the fact that Adrian made his shots last week.
Hoping this translates into success throughout the year.
Looking forward to the improved offense, or to the projection, this season.
It got a bit better last year, but as was discussed in the article, this had a lot to do with the pressure D.
Now that we supposedly have the mix of the offense with the pressure, maybe we can get past Kansas and get the Big 12 Title.
But, Sweet 16 or better would be awesome too!

You and I both forgot one huge caveat: Jump shots. They have to go down this season if the offense really is going to get better. I have to believe layups actually fall, or WVU at least shoots better than, like, 50 percent on them. But jumpers are something that get better with improvement, not luck, and we need to see that to believe that, right?

BobbyHeenan said:

I read the article as well (basketball). As always, it was good piece.

The new foul rules scare me on the press. We’ll see how that plays out. As good as our press was our half court defense was below average. We don’t have a rim protector but I think if Ahmad can guard well his athleticism and frame/wingspan will be an asset on D and we can go back to switching a bunch of screens without consequent mismatches because of the defensive versatility he and Holton provide.

I may be way off here, but I like Phillip more on offense than Carter. I think he is more apt to get it to the rim late in the shot clock when we need to get a shot up. That PG spot will be fun to watch to see if anyone steps up to take it.

As always, good points. I’m excited for you all to see Ahmad and deliver your thoughts. There’s a lot to like and a few things to circle, and those are all important because he’ll be getting a lot of minutes.

Yeah! I propose we start at the finish and sign, seal and send the final sequence of events in Saturday’s win against Texas Tech. This tends to happen, because I cycle through so many texts, tweets, email and comments, but I’ve thought over the 16-play, 6 minute, 47 second drive that ended the game, and I’ve come up with some ideas and explanations.

And this means I’ve probably overthought things. I know that. You probably know that, too. But ladies and gentlemen of the fury, I’d like to call Tony Gibson, defensive coordinator for West Virginia’s football team, to the stand.

“The offense kept us off the field,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “I’m thinking, ‘All right. Five minutes to go. We’ve got a short field. How are we going to run all the time out?’ The only way it could have happened, it happened.”

Show of hands: Who thought the Mountaineers were going to have the ball the rest of the game? The Red Raiders kicked the ball out of bounds. There was, like, half a quarter left to play. WVU hadn’t held onto the ball for as many plays or as much of the clock in the first seven games.

So I’m OK with the first pass play. I was of the mind WVU needed points on the drive. I wasn’t thinking the Mountaineers were going to hide the football at that point in the possession. That pass play had worked, and you can’t knock the play call solely because Rushel Shell fumbled, because arguing against passing endorses a handoff to Shell.

True, the play didn’t have a chance, not even if there was just a hint of a perimeter block (Side Bad: Shelton Gibson was taken out of the game because he wasn’t blocking), and it set up third-and-7, except that that never happened. Branden Jackson fell victim to a … shell … game.

(Aside: Reporter Mike is glad Shell had a good game. He’s really funny. And honest. “I know a lot about his school, so I said some stuff he didn’t really like,” Shell confessed. “I’d just fumbled the ball, so I knew I was getting taken out. Then he pushed me. I’m like, ‘All right, I can get out on that.’ ” I can imagine him picking himself up from under the pile, rapidly retrieving and then cycling through his McKeesport High smack talk Rolodex, shouting “They shoulda never released Street Scholars!,” and Jackson just snapping.)

Shell is removed from the game and Wendell Smallwood enters. He runs for 8 yards, 6 yards and 4 yards, and we’ve learned that giving Smallwood a fourth straight carry is like feeding mogwai after midnight. You seemingly can’t do it.

So Skyler Howard changes a run to a pass at the line. The second-and-6 snap comes with 3:49 left and WVU on Texas Tech’s 29-yard line, and I happen to think Dana Holgorsen is in four down mode right there — it’s a long field-goal attempt with two-plus minutes to go. I have my doubts Howard knows that, but I do know the ball is on the left hash and WVU has three receivers to the right in 1-on-1 coverage. Not one of them gets open on the play. Howard is rolling right, and some have said he could have run forward or taken the hit and left the ball in play and either kept the clock going or forced a timeout.

That wasn’t going to happen. A defensive end got outside the right tackle, and a linebacker was spying on Howard. A run loses a couple yards. He instead wings it out of bounds, which loses no yards. If it’s four-down territory, that’s a big play. If it’s three-down territory, it’s still an important decision with regard to a field-goal attempt.

Well-rested Smallwood then rips off 10 yards, and you’re wondering and right to wonder why he didn’t just get it on the play before. “Texas Tech had eight defenders in the box!” you say, and then I counter with, “Texas Tech had eight Texas Tech defenders in the box!”

Anyhow, first down at the 19. Howard gains a yard, and then WVU lines up with the ball on the right hash and two receivers on the left. The Red Raiders simply are not expecting Howard to change to a pass, which he does, and Daikiel Shorts is open on the left. He is. He catches it and turns right and gets the first down and maybe a touchdown … except the throw is too early and Shorts doesn’t know it’s on him when it’s on him.

Mr. Holgorsen, your thoughts.

I can’t explain the decision, except to say Howard saw a chance and tried to take it. But it is reckless. It’s definitely not four-down territory there, and though you’re only going to take a few seconds off the clock with runs on second and third down, the larger gain is making Texas Tech call it’s remaining two timeouts. I think those two pauses are more valuable than three points. And I think you know that, so while I hear criticism of Holgorsen for even allowing a pass to be considered, never mind executed, I don’t get it. Do you need to tell your starting quarterback how the clock works? I mean, I guess you do, given what happened, but it sure looks like Holgorsen was as surprised as anyone. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t call a timeout as he watches he QB change a run to a pass — he’s surprised. (I also wonder if they tape the headset communiques. And I wonder if I can FOIA those.)

Ultimately, it’s moot because WVU runs two times, the Red Raiders call two timeouts and a third run is followed by a facemask that gives the Mountaineers a first down and the right to take three knees after four straight losses.

How did we get here? Well, besides all that? Let’s find out by taking a look at the Good and the Bad of WVU v. Texas Tech. (As always, shares, RTs, likes and likes are appreciated and encouraged. Apologies for the SD version today. My squad had myriad issued getting an HD copy in time for me to get going and get this done as scheduled.)

The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

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The Good and the Bad of WVU v. Texas Tech

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