New AP poll
1. Gonzaga
2. Villanova
3. Kansas
4. Louisville
5. Oregon
6-25: https://t.co/7J5OJf9ZVk pic.twitter.com/uDHMmk36FM— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 6, 2017
Uh, good for Kansas!
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I think it’s fair to assume this is the highlight reel Corey Winfield put together on Corey Winfield. It was published a week after Syracuse released the cornerback from his scholarship so he might go the graduate transfer route to finish his career. And please note that it starts with special teams. That’s how you speak to coaches.
West Virginia has a need for not only a cornerbacks coach — there are two names left on the list, I believe, so this could happen fast — but also for cornerbacks. Winfield, like Maurice Fleming before him, wants to play. WVU lost four senior cornerbacks and is going into the spring with Elijah Battle and a bunch of guys who have really never played. It’s no wonder the Mountaineers intentionally left a few scholarships open and at their disposal.
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Source: WVU cornerbacks coach Blue Adams is leaving for a position at South Florida.
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) February 5, 2017
OK, so I was pretty suspicious about all this. Blue Adams was, to my knowledge, offered a multi-year contract by West Virginia last month. He never signed it, but still. Then yesterday there was a plain report that Adams is leaving for USF, and there was nothing to refute it.
That’s ordinarily a sign.
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You are looking live at Nate Adrian’s money-maker, and when you consider the man’s headband and lettuce, that’s really saying something. But after four years and this one season especially, I finally decided to inquire about the Nate Adrian Shot Fake. It’s cripplingly successful.
Honestly, what did Deonte Burton think was happening here? Was Adrian going to windmill a 23-footer? That’s too quixotic for that spot. We need to take a moment to fully appreciate this play. It’s wonderful. We begin with the plan West Virginia likes to use in these spots, which we’ve covered before. Iowa State clearly reads the blog and covers the play up, so Jevon Carter improvises and pushes a pass to his right. Then it’s just shake and bake.
This is Peak Adrian. He checked the clock at the other end of the floor and knew he had time to erase Burton, and while we have fun with Burton’s hot air balloon ride, that’s a tough spot for him because of the clock but also because of the opponent. Adrian has a rep on the perimeter now, and he has a rep for shot fakes — it’s perpetual, in fact. His coach even takes slight umbrage with that. “I think, at times, he shot-fakes too much. At times,” Bob Huggins said. “I think there are times he should just shoot it and not shot-fake.”
He’s not wrong. Adrian said he realizes he fakes as a matter of instinct, and that can effectively take the ball out of his hands. That’s not good news for WVU, because Adrian is in a groove. He started the season 9-for-44 from 3-point range. He’s 13-for-25 in the past seven games, and not coincidentally, he’s gone for a career-high in points twice in those seven games.
“Your shot fake is only as good as your reputation for making shots,” Huggins said. “He’s actually shot the ball really well here of late. If you can shoot it, the more effective your shot fake is.”
So when he gets the ball behind the line, you do have to run out on him now, and that’s when you’re where he wants you. If you’re in the air, you’re out of the play and the Mountaineers are quite content playing 5-on-4 with Adrian as the impromptu point man. He can shoot, he can step in, he can pass. There are times he feels safe enough to dribble. I didn’t get this in the story, but I asked Esa Ahmad how you guard the shot fake.
“You can’t,” he said. “You’ve got to read what he’s going to do. You’ve got to try to stay down, but if you stay down, he’s going to shoot, and he’s shooting the lights out. If he gets you up in the air, he’s going to make a play. You pick your poison.”
This isn’t a new phenomenon — he did it in high school, plus his first three years here — but like so many other things about Adrian and his career, he’s reached a new level as a senior. He’s taken a fundamental and weaponized it, and Huggins can sort of trace it back to the beginning.
“Nate’s a smart guy,” Huggins said. “He figures it out. He could never do that stuff he does off the dribble or in the post until last year. I think he watches other people and learns from other people. We had him play Georges Niang last year, and all of a sudden he’s bouncing it and throwing up that half-hook and stuff like Georges did. He’s a smart.”
Fellow smart folks, feel free to proceed.
First things first: This is some file photo. That’s Dreamius Smith, Wendell Smallwood and Charles Sims.
Secondly, no, I do not think Lonnie Galloway will replace JaJuan Seider.
Now that we’ve cleared your mind about those items, let’s move on to more of your thoughts.
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We can’t fairly say that a team that’s won at Virginia and beaten Baylor and Kansas enjoyed its best win of the season Tuesday at Iowa State … but that was indeed a top-shelf outcome for West Virginia. It belongs in the conversation for the Mountaineers’ best of the 2016-17 season.
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Story: Sources say WVU assistant JaJuan Seider to take job at Florida https://t.co/vInITZPLWN
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) February 2, 2017
So, that south Florida recruiting story is timely. But I want to reiterate this: Good recruiter, really good coach. WVU knew it and took measures. He has a buyout for 25 percent of his remaining salary. Seider had one year and $340,000 left, so WVU ought to receive an $85,000 buyout.
.@GFCoyle caught up with @Holgorsendana to talk @WVUfootball's 2017 Signing Day class. #WVUNSD #NSD17 pic.twitter.com/P3MDtW5qFO
— Campus Insiders (@CampusInsiders) February 2, 2017
Dana Holgorsen’s news conference yesterday was paint-by-numbers First Wednesday in February stuff. He got what he needed, but time will tell. Rankings in the moment only matter so much, but what about in retrospect? He’s not done — a quarterback on the way? — and the work’s really only just begun. He’s found his footing, and he and his staff know how to assemble a class.
But he discussed some issues in the sport and then hit you with this news: He’s done calling plays. That job belongs to Jake Spavital, his new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.
He has proven that he can be a coordinator. It’s his room, and he will call the plays and he will do a great job of that. Now, you know where I am going to be. I am going to be lurking, but I am not going to be questioning. He knows what I want. We will sit in the room, and we will come up with a pretty good idea of where we want this thing to go.
It’s all worth a read … but don’t do what I did. I got home yesterday evening and needed some time to go through and clean out my inbox — so many (necessary) messages from WVU because of signing day. But someone also sent me the link to transcription of Trump’s Black History Month speech. That was the last thing I read before I read the Holgorsen transcript, and it was really weird.
Again, don’t do that.
Dear Indiana, pic.twitter.com/FJISS001J3
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 2, 2017
Signing day is customarily busy, but you and I need to be on our toes on the morning after. Things happen, and this is has been a busy but, for now, uneventful morning.
Last night? Not so.
Pat McAfee retired to join Barstool Sports, and Fake Bob Huggins started something excellent on Twitter.
