WVU v. Oklahoma State: They flock together
February 23, 2013 by Mike CasazzaYou are looking live at a MySpace photo (!) of Le’Bryan Nash and Keaton Miles. They were very successful teammates at Lincoln High in Dallas. They’ve been … unconvincing in college, though.
Nash’s case is different, to be fair. He was the Big 12 Conference’s freshman of the year last year, but so high was the hype that it just wasn’t and still isn’t good enough.
He’s wonderfully talented, but similarly frustrating because his flashes come and go. He’s essentially the same player as a sophomore that he was as a freshman, though that season was cut short by a hand injury.
Nevertheless, he admits he wasn’t what he should and could have been last season, when many expected him to star just one season in Stillwater and then go to the NBA.
“It was really hard,” he told me. “The Big 12 is a physical league and I wasn’t ready for it.”
The thought now, though, is that he’s coming around at the right time for the NCAA Tournament-bound Cowboys.
“I know I’m a matchup problem, very versatile, a guard who can post up,” Nash told reporters after the game. “I look at a lot of film of LeBron [James] and a lot of guys in the NBA that post up.
“I can post up big guys as well as small guys. I think that’s the best part of my game, posting up, and I try to use that to my advantage.”
The question for much of the season is where that part of Nash’s game has been.
In the six games before the Oklahoma game, Nash shot just 34 percent and averaged 9.7 points a game, including two points against West Virginia and six points against Texas Tech.
“You don’t want him near the basket, that’s the No. 1 thing and you want to give him the chance to shoot 3s and see if he can make them,” Texas Tech coach Chris Walker said earlier this season.
Nash had one of those games last month against WVU that laves his fans wanting so much more. He was 0-for-4 and finished with two points and five rebounds in 25 minutes — and it’s not like the Mountaineers had someone who could check him.
That same day, though, Miles had one of his better games this season, the type that mystifies fans who see the lanky, chiseled forward and wonder why it isn’t always hat that way.
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