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WVU’s recruiting fortunes do and do not go south

February 1, 2017 by Mike Casazza

 

Ah, yes. Those were the days. And those were the two who lit the torch West Virginia would bear as a premier outsider operating inside of south Florida. Sure enough, the 2012 recruiting class, inked four weeks after an Orange Bowl win in Miami, included nine players from south Florida. As WVU built the the 2013 recruiting class, which is the one that followed the final college games for Geno Smith and Stedman Bailey, assistants offered a scholarship to 48 players from that part of that state.

But in 2013-15, WVU signed just 10 players from there and actually signed none last year. When the Mountaineers roll out their recruiting class this year, they’ll show two — as far as we know! — and that’s the same number of players from the region who committed and decommitted. Ideally, they’ll do nice things for the Mountaineers, but simply staying put would be good, too. Eleven of the last 19 south Florida signees left the team or never enrolled.

The Mountaineers and south Florida are not a myth, but their success there might be. They’re still there, and their name holds weight, but it’s not what it was, and that’s not a bad thing. Dana Holgorsen and his nine assistants can and do go elsewhere for talent. The scholarships have to come from somewhere, and they’ve come from resources devoted to south Florida.

Running backs coach JaJuan Seider does much of WVU’s work within the region, and the former high school and college star in south Florida has earned and deserves a reputation for what he’s achieved. He successfully recruited McDougle and Sinkfield, but his top recruit this year, according to 247Sports, is Tevin Bush, a running back from New Orleans.

Last year, his main name was Martell Pettaway, a running back from Detroit. He also had a major role in recruiting running backs Kennedy McKoy and Justin Crawford last year. Crawford was a junior college transfer and McKoy came from a high school in North Carolina.

Seider has the freedom to go where he wants to get the players he needs, and he hasn’t been going to south Florida as frequently. According to 247Sports, the top-rated players he targeted this season were in Detroit, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia and south Florida.

That’s all from me today, but by all means, make yourself at home to discuss the names that spin through the fax machine. Follow @CMAnderson247 for news and reviews and check out WVU’s signing day central.

No. 7 WVU 85, Iowa State 72

by Mike Casazza
isu-end

 

That’s a self-explanatory box score, with a few fun features. West Virginia played small. Brandon Watkins and Elijah Macon didn’t play much, and Sagaba Konate is the most mobile of the three bigs and played more than the other two combined.

Despite going small, the Mountaineers, who downsized to match up with and better guard Iowa State, won the rebounding battle. The press was all right — and the half-court defense was so bad in the first half — but WVU wound up with a 34-18 scoring advantage in the paint and a 23-6 edge in points off turnovers. They banked in shots but they also made free throws, and the Mountaineers showed their backup plan, which was probably their primary plan going in, was good enough to win at Hilton.

And it all happened with WVU ranked No. 7!

The Mountaineers built and preserved a large lead and made meaningful free throws to win their first game in three tries after ascending to No. 7 with an 85-72 triumph against Iowa State before 14,384 Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum.

“That was something we talked about on the way here,” guard Tarik Phillip said. “We made a joke about it. ‘Yeah, they probably gave us No. 7 again so we’ll lose again.’”

Twice already this season, WVU jumped to No. 7 and lost its next game, first at Texas Tech and then at home against Oklahoma. Both games went to overtime, but the Mountaineers made sure extra time wasn’t needed against the Cyclones. They led by four at halftime and by 16 in the second half and made nine straight foul shots and 11 of 12 overall while the Cyclone considered hanging around in the final 4:26 .

“It’s something we’ve been focusing on after the last couple games,” forward Nathan Adrian said. “We gave up a couple leads in the last couple minutes, so we made a point to play hard and not let them come back on us.” Adrian had a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds and Phillip added 15. Both were 2 for 3 from 3-point range. Esa Ahmad added 12 points, Dax Miles had nine and Teyvon Myers and Beetle Bolden both had eight.

WVU shot 29 for 60 from the floor, 10 for 21 from 3-point range and 17 for 20 at the foul line.

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WVU v. Iowa State: Turn over for what?

January 31, 2017 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live inside Hilton Coliseum and at the man in the crosshairs tonight. That’s Monte Morris, the Big 12’s preseason player of the year and a Wooden Award finalist. He doesn’t make mistakes, and mistakes fuel West Virginia’s attack. Good luck with that. He has 520 more assists than turnovers in his career and a 5-to-1 assist-turnover ratio this season, a season that’s seen him average 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists and shoot 39 percent from 3-point range. Nobody else in the country averages 16-4-5 and less than two turnovers per game.

“His ball security is terrific,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “I don’t know if we can get him to turn it over much, either. Hopefully, we can continue to put new people on him and try to wear him down a little bit.”

That’s a note to Tarik Phillip and Teyvon Myers.

Morris has played 312 of a possible 330 minutes in Big 12 play. The Cyclones aren’t very deep. WVU’s press might be good again, and the cumulative effect would be a welcome ally here. Watch Iowa State coach Steve Prohm and how he uses his timeouts. He’d rather not use one or two to slow WVU rallies and would prefer to use them strategically.

Against the Mountaineers’ press the previous two seasons, Morris has a 25-to-6 assist-turnover ratio, including that brilliant 10-to-0 game here last season. In all, the Cyclones have 59 assists and 64 turnovers against WVU in the past four games — a sweep in 2014-15, swept up in 2015-16 — and the Mountaineers have scored nine, 21, 10 and 14 points off turnovers.

So, WVU better have a backup plan tonight, much as it did last season or even two games ago against Kansas. This is not the place where you want to turn guards loose and give up layups, dunks or especially corner 3s. WVU could rely on half-court defense again.

The Cyclones, who are not big and who can struggle to rebound, were outrebounded by 14 and 17 in the two losses last season. WVU had more offensive rebounds in each game than Iowa State had in both games combined and a 40-17 edge in second-chance points. It’s a timely opponent for the Mountaineers, whose rebounding issues we’ve addressed.

And now, some scheduling notes…

Carter assists teammates with rebounds

by Mike Casazza

 

It’s happening quietly, but Jevon Carter is putting together one of those seasons, and in six weeks we’ll be back here saying, “Hmm, he was first-team all-conference? That seems about right.”

He’ll probably make the Big 12’s all-defense team for the third time in three seasons. He’s WVU’s leading and probably also best scorer. We can debate whether he’s more important than Nate Adrian — and I promise you one would endorse the other — but I think it’s fair to say the point guard who’s played more minutes than anyone else, the player the head coach fears playing without the most, is the team’s leader.

The scoring, the structure, the distributing, the assist-turnover ratio, that’s all good and useful for West Virginia, but Carter is suddenly a highly productive rebounds at a time when the Mountaineers need it. They lead the Big 12 in offensive rebounds and they’re last in defensive rebounds, and they’re still finding their way without Devin Williams and Jon Holton.

Carter is content to pitch in and dig out needed rebounds.

“I think it’s more an emphasis we’re all going to have to rebound,” Huggins said. “We just don’t have someone like Devin who can handle a guy physically and rebound the ball at the same time. Brandon is pretty slight playing against the people we play. We really want those guys to not let their guys get it and do something to let our guys go get it.”

That works for Carter, who isn’t always around the rim but doesn’t mind doing the work.

“This isn’t golf,” he said. “This isn’t something where you’re just out there on your own. I’ve got four other guys on the court with me all the time.”

Carter isn’t typically near the basket. He starts defending soon after the press lets the opponent inbound the ball. He guards on the perimeter. If he’s inside, he’s chasing a dribbler or a cutter and isn’t in prime position to box out. But if a teammate can put his body on an opponent’s, Carter can get to the ball and then shift to his primary responsibility.

“I like to get to the ball so I can push it in transition and try to get us easy baskets,” he said. “I feel like the more rebounds I get, the more transition chances we get and the easier we score.”

Twenty-one!

by Mike Casazza

This was from before Lamonte McDougle committed yesterday, so I’m pretty sure West Virginia wasn’t nibbling fingernails waiting on his decision. But add the mean man in the middle to the 2017 class, please, and make room for the slightly more surprising addition of receiver Reggie Roberson. He chose the Mountaineers over Utah, Washington State and Illinois.

With those two now on the list, WVU has 21 players committed to the class, and receivers coach Tyron Carrier, who landed Roberson, seems to have room for at least one more. He’s feeling pretty good these days.

https://twitter.com/TyronCarrier/status/826228861968986113

About that … that’s certainly optimistic. Maybe it’s true, but the reality is the Mountaineers are about to rely on a roster with darn near the least returning production in the country.

Indeed it is, Bob.

January 30, 2017 by Mike Casazza
hugginsonfreethrows

 

I’m confident this is a sign that Bob Huggins is fed up with free-throw shooting, with his players not heeding warning or outcomes, with having to discuss the topic because there is no alternative. It’s been on his mind for a while, and now it’s in his mailbox.

I asked if his players were practicing the right way. There’s a difference between making 100 every day and just getting through 100 every day, and I wondered if they rehearse the same rituals and routines in practice that they exhibit in games.

Fair question, I thought. Amazing response, I know.

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A little more help on the way?

by Mike Casazza

Reggie Roberson looks like he can lend a hand, no?

True, highlight tapes can be and are produced to showcase the player, but that first play impresses. My initial thought was, “Why’d he include, like, a 50-yard kickoff return.” Roberson fits the parameters of a receiver who can catch passes in the end zone, and West Virginia does need that, especially from the 30-yard line and in, but the offense also needs players who can catch passes and make people miss or just run away from defender. (And block! Go to the 0:40 mark here.) John Horn High is Class 6A in Texas. That’s the top level. Jakeem Grant and Taylor Gabriel walked those halls. I’m not saying this is that, but you could make worse additions this week.

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WVU v. Texas A&M: Challenging situation

January 28, 2017 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live at the site of one-tenth of today’s Big 12/SEC SEC/Big 12 Challenge. If you look closely, you can see Mike Gansey, who has come to settle the debate about who would win a game between this team and the 2004-05 team. Either that, or he’s scouting for his team, which is the the world champion.

West Virginia is the host today, as is Oklahoma against Florida, Texas Tech against LSU, Oklahoma State against Arkansas and TCU against Auburn. Kansas plays at Kentucky, Kansas State plays at Tennessee, Texas plays at Georgia, Iowa State plays at Vanderbilt and Baylor plays at Mississippi.

This leads me to one of a few nits worth picking about this event. The first is the most obvious: The timing stinks, but it’s a made-for-TV event, and ESPN, if you believe the coaches, insisted on moving this to January and in the middle of conference play.

“I think it’s good for TV,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, whose team plays at No. 3 Kentucky. “There’s not one coach who’s playing Saturday out of the Big 12 or SEC who would say it’s a well-scheduled game — at least I don’t think so. I would bet Huggs probably feels the same way.

“The conference season trumps your non-conference season big-time. But we’re happy to go. We’re excited. We’ll go there and let it ride, but the bottom line is I think the only reason we’re doing it is for exposure for our respective leagues. I don’t think any coaches are very excited about it.”

Huggins doesn’t support the spot on the schedule and said it’s “ESPN driven — it wasn’t the coaches.” He said the coaches were talked into the change.

“The thought was it would get more media coverage at this time of the year than when we had it before conference play started, that maybe games like this get people thinking a little more about basketball earlier than maybe playing somebody else,” he said.

I get the idea. No more college football. The NFL is in an open weekend before the Super Bowl — and you’ll remember Sunday games during the open weekend were spots the Big East coveted. So there’s a place for this idea, but, honestly, there’s no way ESPN pulls that with the ACC, the Big Ten and their non-conference event. None.

Kansas v. Kentucky is the marquee matchup. Again. But suppose you’re Kansas. You just lost on the road, and you got back to campus at around 3 a.m. CST. Now you’re going east again to Rupp Arena to play Kentucky. And if you’re Kentucky, you just lost on the road against Tennessee and now you get Kansas. There is no Texas or LSU soft landing.

But consider this, too. The rest of the matchups are not great. WVU is 40 spots higher than Texas A&M, and that’s the fourth-largest RPI disparity. There are some OK matchups, but you do need to squint to see the beauty in Kansas State (No. 42 in the RPI) at Tennessee (No. 49), Iowa State (No. 40) at Vanderbilt (No. 62), Arkansas (No. 30) at Oklahoma State (No. 43) … and … sheesh … Auburn (No. 77) at TCU (No. 36). I know you can’t avoid some things — Who knew Texas would be this bad? South Carolina, No. 17 in the RPI, isn’t in the field this year because the SEC has 14 teams and 10 spots. — but that’s kind of the point. There’s not a lot of intrigue for this event because there are essentially no rivalries. If you’re a WVU fan, what reason do you have to get excited to learn about the SEC matchup? Missouri, LSU, Florida and Texas A&M?

Maybe next year! you reply.

OK. Who do you want? Because you’re not getting Kentucky. Alabama, Mississippi State and South Carolina have sat out three of the four Challenges! Mississippi State and South Carolina are, after Kentucky, among your elite SEC opponents. If we’re being honest, the SEC isn’t as deep as the Big 12, and Big 12 v. Big 12 is really about as good as it gets for college basketball in January. This event does belong in November or December.

But this spot seems to have some permanence — and that’s a big reason the Capital Classic is no more — so it needs a fix. There are no stakes. I mean, the coaches don’t really care about this event. It’s in need of something to spark interest. Why not give the winning conference the top billing in the name rather than alternating ever year? Or give the winning conference all the home games next season! Too much? Fine. Give the teams that win today home games next season. And if an SEC team wins and cycles out next season because of the 14-teams-10-spots thing, give the team that cycles in that available home game.

Sorry. I’ll quit. Who wants to talk about the press?

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Friday Feedback

January 27, 2017 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which inspires Downey, Jr., of course. Surprisingly and pleasantly eventful week during a time that doesn’t often stimulate a lot of headlines or discussions, but you left me with no choice today. Thanks for coaching up the effort I needed to get this done. That’s hall of fame stuff.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, hold it in.

pknocker40 said:

If you really want to know who calls the plays just ask Joe Wickline

Or Shannon Dawson.

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This is a big addition

January 26, 2017 by Mike Casazza

I’m not sure West Virginia was desperate for an offensive lineman or even an immediate need player up front, but you don’t turn down a chance to dance with a specimen like this one.

“There were probably 30 schools that came in and wanted to offer on the spot,” said Lackawanna head coach Mark Duda. “You see him on film, and then you see him in person, he’s just a good looking player. [But] he hasn’t really responded to a lot of schools. He’s just had interest in a couple of them.”

Just because he’s quiet off the field does not mean that Hardy is not a monster on it. He is listed at 6-foot-7 and 335 pounds, and while Duda says Hardy has slimmed down into the 320 range, he’s 6-7 “on a bad day.” He combines that size with overwhelming strength to become one of the better junior college linemen in the country, drawing interest and verbal offers from Missouri, Auburn and more.

“He’s an extremely good one-on-one blocker. He’s just so mammoth to run around and almost impossible to run through him,” said Duda. “There might not be 10 specimens like him in the entire NCAA. He’s a guy on the verge of becoming an unbelievable player if he goes to the right place.”

WVU is now at 19 signed and/or committed players. Prepare yourself: You’re not going to see that go to 25 — there’s no room or need for a full class — and I wonder if there’s more than one or two additions before Wednesday.