Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is so glad it took time to go in on that unbeaten men’s basketball team yesterday. My bad. West Virginia played about six minutes of high-level basketball last night and about 34 minutes of ordinary basketball and came undone by not being able to do simple things — make free throws, rebound, make layups, guard, so on and so forth.
I’m not sure you should feel one way or the other about this team because of that game, but I think it’s fair to understand what the team’s flaws are and how they can become regular and heavy factors. If the Mountaineers don’t get/make easy baskets, they can struggle. That’s the same for a lot of teams, but because so much of what WVU does now is based on accentuating strengths (depth, speed and the press) and hiding weaknesses (half-court offense, shooting and possibly also size) those strengths can be sapped and the weaknesses can be highlighted if, you know, you miss 2-footers.
The Mountaineers missed eight layups, had more turnovers than assists (and had a really hard time passing), gave up 50-percent shooting after halftime and got crushed on the boards — wait for it — in a one-point loss.
“We’ve done things great at times and we’ve done things very poorly at times,” Staten said. “Right now, we’re an inconsistent team and we need to keep working and keep practicing our principles so they transfer to the game.”
We’ll give that a little more time once we begin, but before we begin, the answer to a question many of you have asked or at least wondered about lately. The football team, which is about to hand out $115,000 in bowl game bonuses and $75,000 in a retention bonus, has five assistant coaches who are working on expiring contracts. The deals for Joe DeForest, Lonnie Galloway, Brian Mitchell and JaJuan Seider expire Jan. 30 and Shannon Dawson’s expires in June, which, no, isn’t immediate, but is before the start of the 2015 season.
Dana Holgorsen likes continuity and decision have to be made, perhaps sooner rather than later.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, understand the message.
I love you, Doug! said:
So many winners! Had a least three LOL moments. Nice work everyone!
Here, then, are my regular-season grades for unit coaches:
– Dawson: C+ Yes, on paper, the numbers look good. But think of the times this team needed one first down this season and couldn’t get it. Think of the stubborn refusal to dump plays that are clearly telegraphed. Dawson and HCDH need some new tricks for 2015.
– Gibson: B+ Improvement everywhere especially in effort. Not worth an A, but worth a B+. Defense didn’t lose WVU games for first time in a couple years.
– Galloway: B- For vast improvement in White and Alford and integration of Thompson. Gets the minus for virtual disappearance of Shorts and failure to develop viable backup receivers.
– Seider: B – For general competence among backs. Gets the minus for failure to teach/enforce ball control.
– Crook: C- Maybe he didn’t have the horses, but offensive line’s play degraded during the season. Showed little resemblance to Crook’s units at Stanford. Needs to improve in 2015.
– Bradley (as senior associate head coach): B For stabilizing presence, ability to impart experience and maturity.
– Bradley (as defensive line coach), Codgell: C- Riddick was key player in key win of the season — Baylor — but non-factor rest of the season. D-line, save for Texas, played run well but could not put any pressure on QB. Needs to establish pass rush in 2015.
– Mitchell: B+ Cornerback play largely solid, especially after losing Worley and Chestnut.
– DeForest (safeties): C+ Play largely solid but one play — Joseph’s out-of-position moment vs. TCU — turned the entire season. Can’t happen.
– DeForest (special teams): An easy F and not just because he’s the whipping boy. Let’s tally. Offsetting Alford’s KR returns, this season on special teams we saw: punt return fumbles, punt return fumbles (lost), *no* punt returner, running into the kicker, offsides, kickoff out of bounds, punt return for a TD, kickoff return for a TD, fair-catching punts inside the 10, multiple penalties on one punt, blocked FG attempt and, in the final insult, allowing the worst team in the league to successfully execute a fake FG. I’m sure I’m missing some from our Bingo card. If HCDH renews DeForest’s contract, that alone should be grounds for HCDH’s immediate dismissal.
A dissenter appeared this week, because he liked the idea of grading coaches and was happy to see that someone did it and that people picked up on it, but he disagreed with Special Teams Joe DeForest. “You have to give him an E. It wasn’t an F because of Lambert, but you can’t give him a passing grade.”
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