Post by elp525 on Aug 5, 2011 4:40:42 GMT -5
August 4, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Four days from departure on a foreign trip, Bob Huggins is beginning to see a basketball team that doesn't, well, trip.
At least not over itself.
Or perhaps not as often as it did a week ago.
"We were running into each other. They had no idea,'' Huggins said of his team's first few practices. "Now they have an idea.''
By Monday, when West Virginia's basketball team leaves on a 14-day trip to play a series of exhibitions in Italy, it is still not going to be a well-oiled machine. But it's not supposed to be.
It is only supposed to be the kind of group that knows enough about what it is doing that it can play some games, get in a few more practices, do some sight-seeing and return ahead of the game.
But already that has been accomplished, at least to a point.
"They've stopped running into each other. The first couple of days we had some pretty good collisions. [WVU football coach] Dana [Holgorsen] would have liked them,'' Huggins said. "They just didn't know what they were doing.
"We had guys running in the middle of the lane and just stop and look around and scratch their head. I just told them, 'Don't do it there. That's three seconds.' If you've got to ponder things, go do it in the corner.''
The confusion, of course, stems from the fact that of the dozen or so players on the floor, only four have ever been through a Huggins practice or actually played in a game for him. Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant are the only returning starters. Deniz Kilicli has considerable experience. Kevin Noreen played for a brief time last year as a freshman before redshirting.
The rest of the practice roster is made up of newcomers who, while talented, have never played a minute of college basketball, save for Dayton transfer Juwan Staten. And while he's practicing he is ineligible to make the trip to Italy.
Still, things are progressing.
"We're just beginning to come together,'' said one of the freshmen in the group, 6-foot-5 forward Aaron Brown. "And [Huggins] doesn't get that upset about the mistakes. He just wants you to go hard. If you make a mistake, they can correct that. As long as you're going 110 percent then he loves the effort.''
Huggins concurred.
"They've had great enthusiasm and they've really tried to play hard,'' Huggins said. "And that's really all you can ask for.''
Briefly
The school has arranged during the trip to stage a day of activities at Aviano Air Force Base in Venice, which will include a 20-minute scrimmage against Illinois, which will also be touring Italy. Normally competing against other American teams during a foreign tour is against NCAA rules, but the schools received a waiver.
Center Aaric Murray, the transfer from LaSalle, was one of the last cuts from USA Basketball's World University Games team Wednesday. Connecticut's Shabazz Napier was the other final cut.
Huggins said he expected Murray would be back in Morgantown perhaps as early as Thursday night, but he's in the same boat as Staten - eligible to practice but not to go on the foreign trip.
Jabarie Hinds is the only freshman who has yet to enroll and won't be making the trip. But Huggins insists that he is confident that Hinds, a point guard the team needs immediately, will be enrolled by the beginning of the semester and ready to play.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Four days from departure on a foreign trip, Bob Huggins is beginning to see a basketball team that doesn't, well, trip.
At least not over itself.
Or perhaps not as often as it did a week ago.
"We were running into each other. They had no idea,'' Huggins said of his team's first few practices. "Now they have an idea.''
By Monday, when West Virginia's basketball team leaves on a 14-day trip to play a series of exhibitions in Italy, it is still not going to be a well-oiled machine. But it's not supposed to be.
It is only supposed to be the kind of group that knows enough about what it is doing that it can play some games, get in a few more practices, do some sight-seeing and return ahead of the game.
But already that has been accomplished, at least to a point.
"They've stopped running into each other. The first couple of days we had some pretty good collisions. [WVU football coach] Dana [Holgorsen] would have liked them,'' Huggins said. "They just didn't know what they were doing.
"We had guys running in the middle of the lane and just stop and look around and scratch their head. I just told them, 'Don't do it there. That's three seconds.' If you've got to ponder things, go do it in the corner.''
The confusion, of course, stems from the fact that of the dozen or so players on the floor, only four have ever been through a Huggins practice or actually played in a game for him. Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant are the only returning starters. Deniz Kilicli has considerable experience. Kevin Noreen played for a brief time last year as a freshman before redshirting.
The rest of the practice roster is made up of newcomers who, while talented, have never played a minute of college basketball, save for Dayton transfer Juwan Staten. And while he's practicing he is ineligible to make the trip to Italy.
Still, things are progressing.
"We're just beginning to come together,'' said one of the freshmen in the group, 6-foot-5 forward Aaron Brown. "And [Huggins] doesn't get that upset about the mistakes. He just wants you to go hard. If you make a mistake, they can correct that. As long as you're going 110 percent then he loves the effort.''
Huggins concurred.
"They've had great enthusiasm and they've really tried to play hard,'' Huggins said. "And that's really all you can ask for.''
Briefly
The school has arranged during the trip to stage a day of activities at Aviano Air Force Base in Venice, which will include a 20-minute scrimmage against Illinois, which will also be touring Italy. Normally competing against other American teams during a foreign tour is against NCAA rules, but the schools received a waiver.
Center Aaric Murray, the transfer from LaSalle, was one of the last cuts from USA Basketball's World University Games team Wednesday. Connecticut's Shabazz Napier was the other final cut.
Huggins said he expected Murray would be back in Morgantown perhaps as early as Thursday night, but he's in the same boat as Staten - eligible to practice but not to go on the foreign trip.
Jabarie Hinds is the only freshman who has yet to enroll and won't be making the trip. But Huggins insists that he is confident that Hinds, a point guard the team needs immediately, will be enrolled by the beginning of the semester and ready to play.
