Post by elp525 on Aug 22, 2011 5:49:17 GMT -5
August 21, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - After spending virtually a month with his freshman-dominated basketball team in practices and a two-week visit to Italy, Bob Huggins can say with no uncertainty that the group is better off for the experience.
But the West Virginia coach was also quick to point out that, in the grand scheme of things, this last month has been pretty much fun and games. There was no real pressure to perform and, for the most part, it was merely an introduction to college basketball for his younger players.
"Everybody's just talking to them now,'' Huggins said, referring to the relatively laid-back nature of practices and a trip abroad. "I think once they don't do what they're supposed to do two or three times in a row and they go get on the treadmill, I think once they come off that treadmill their concentration level is a little bit better.
"They're overwhelmed. The truth is, they're overwhelmed with how much they have to learn. And I think they're also overwhelmed with how hard they have to play for an extended period of time.''
Huggins and his West Virginia basketball team returned Sunday from a trip that began Aug. 8. Prior to that, the Mountaineers had practiced 10 times in order to prepare for the trip.
Classes begin today at WVU and Huggins' opportunities to coach his players will once again be limited - essentially two hours a week, usually in small groups, between now and the official start of practice in October.
But the experience gained, not only from a basketball perspective but a personal one, as well, was invaluable.
"Yeah, I think so. I thought it was pretty good,'' Huggins said. "We got to play some games, we got to practice some and they got to go to the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Forum, to a castle, got to learn some of the history of Sicily. It was good. I think we got a lot of stuff done.''
Enough that the Mountaineers are ahead of where they would normally be at the start of classes in August?
"Oh, absolutely. It was good,'' Huggins said. "We started Aaron Brown and Keaton Miles, Tommie McCune played a bunch of minutes, Pat [Forsythe] played a bunch of minutes, Kevin Noreen played a bunch of minutes ... Everybody got minutes in every game.''
And that was the idea. With only three returning players from last season - Kevin Jones, Truck Bryant and Deniz Kilicli - Huggins' challenge this season is to mold those few holdovers with a large group of newcomers. It didn't help that the two point guards in the class, Gary Browne and Jabarie Hinds, did not make the trip, but even that forced Huggins to play around with personnel in ways he might not have done otherwise.
"We didn't have any guards,'' Huggins said. "We played Truck and Paul [Williamson, a walk-on] at the point and Aaron at the two, but we played Keaton there and Tommie there, too. We didn't have any choice.''
It was not always smooth sailing, of course.
"There's so many things they have to learn,'' Huggins said. "We played pretty well against a pretty good pro team, and then they went zone and we hadn't spent any time on zone offense. So you've got a whole bunch of guys out there that don't know what they're doing. It was those kinds of things.
"Illinois pressed us and we didn't handle the press very well. But in 10 days of practice, you're trying to put them in a little bit of offense and it's hard in 10 days to work on press-breaker.''
The Mountaineers scrimmaged Illinois at a military base last week and that was the only time in five organized contests that WVU didn't win. The Mountaineers were 4-0 against a variety of teams that included a military base team and, at the end of the tour, two professional teams.
"The last game, it was so hot in that gym and our guys had to play through some things,'' Huggins said. "We were totally exhausted when the game was over, but that was good because it made us have to fight some adversity a little bit.''
The games WVU played, though, might not have been the most significant part of the trip from a basketball standpoint. That might have been simply being together and having the ability to work out and practice things.
"It was good and we had a couple of practices that helped us,'' Huggins said. "Any time we can get them together and get them on the same page, it helps us.''
BRIEFLY: Huggins said that it was the night before the team left for Italy that the NCAA stepped in and said there were questions about Browne's eligibility. Those questions were later answered to the NCAA's apparent satisfaction, but it still cost Browne valuable experience.
As for Hinds, Huggins has maintained all along that perhaps the gem of his recruiting class would have his academic hurdles cleared by the start of school and would be ready to play. Sunday he simply said to wait.
"We'll get a definitive [today], I think,'' Huggins said.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - After spending virtually a month with his freshman-dominated basketball team in practices and a two-week visit to Italy, Bob Huggins can say with no uncertainty that the group is better off for the experience.
But the West Virginia coach was also quick to point out that, in the grand scheme of things, this last month has been pretty much fun and games. There was no real pressure to perform and, for the most part, it was merely an introduction to college basketball for his younger players.
"Everybody's just talking to them now,'' Huggins said, referring to the relatively laid-back nature of practices and a trip abroad. "I think once they don't do what they're supposed to do two or three times in a row and they go get on the treadmill, I think once they come off that treadmill their concentration level is a little bit better.
"They're overwhelmed. The truth is, they're overwhelmed with how much they have to learn. And I think they're also overwhelmed with how hard they have to play for an extended period of time.''
Huggins and his West Virginia basketball team returned Sunday from a trip that began Aug. 8. Prior to that, the Mountaineers had practiced 10 times in order to prepare for the trip.
Classes begin today at WVU and Huggins' opportunities to coach his players will once again be limited - essentially two hours a week, usually in small groups, between now and the official start of practice in October.
But the experience gained, not only from a basketball perspective but a personal one, as well, was invaluable.
"Yeah, I think so. I thought it was pretty good,'' Huggins said. "We got to play some games, we got to practice some and they got to go to the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Forum, to a castle, got to learn some of the history of Sicily. It was good. I think we got a lot of stuff done.''
Enough that the Mountaineers are ahead of where they would normally be at the start of classes in August?
"Oh, absolutely. It was good,'' Huggins said. "We started Aaron Brown and Keaton Miles, Tommie McCune played a bunch of minutes, Pat [Forsythe] played a bunch of minutes, Kevin Noreen played a bunch of minutes ... Everybody got minutes in every game.''
And that was the idea. With only three returning players from last season - Kevin Jones, Truck Bryant and Deniz Kilicli - Huggins' challenge this season is to mold those few holdovers with a large group of newcomers. It didn't help that the two point guards in the class, Gary Browne and Jabarie Hinds, did not make the trip, but even that forced Huggins to play around with personnel in ways he might not have done otherwise.
"We didn't have any guards,'' Huggins said. "We played Truck and Paul [Williamson, a walk-on] at the point and Aaron at the two, but we played Keaton there and Tommie there, too. We didn't have any choice.''
It was not always smooth sailing, of course.
"There's so many things they have to learn,'' Huggins said. "We played pretty well against a pretty good pro team, and then they went zone and we hadn't spent any time on zone offense. So you've got a whole bunch of guys out there that don't know what they're doing. It was those kinds of things.
"Illinois pressed us and we didn't handle the press very well. But in 10 days of practice, you're trying to put them in a little bit of offense and it's hard in 10 days to work on press-breaker.''
The Mountaineers scrimmaged Illinois at a military base last week and that was the only time in five organized contests that WVU didn't win. The Mountaineers were 4-0 against a variety of teams that included a military base team and, at the end of the tour, two professional teams.
"The last game, it was so hot in that gym and our guys had to play through some things,'' Huggins said. "We were totally exhausted when the game was over, but that was good because it made us have to fight some adversity a little bit.''
The games WVU played, though, might not have been the most significant part of the trip from a basketball standpoint. That might have been simply being together and having the ability to work out and practice things.
"It was good and we had a couple of practices that helped us,'' Huggins said. "Any time we can get them together and get them on the same page, it helps us.''
BRIEFLY: Huggins said that it was the night before the team left for Italy that the NCAA stepped in and said there were questions about Browne's eligibility. Those questions were later answered to the NCAA's apparent satisfaction, but it still cost Browne valuable experience.
As for Hinds, Huggins has maintained all along that perhaps the gem of his recruiting class would have his academic hurdles cleared by the start of school and would be ready to play. Sunday he simply said to wait.
"We'll get a definitive [today], I think,'' Huggins said.
