Post by elp525 on Aug 22, 2011 5:55:58 GMT -5
Monday August 22, 2011
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Bob Huggins had a lot of luggage with him Sunday as West Virginia's basketball coach returned to campus after spending the past 13 days overseas touring and competing in Sicily and Italy.
There were the bags he packed for the trip, the memories of what the Mountaineers had seen and the important ideas for what happens next.
"I thought it was pretty good for us," Huggins said. "We got to play some games and got to practice some. We got to go to the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Forum. We got to learn some of the history of Sicily. And I think we got a lot of stuff done."
Huggins' fifth team at WVU returns just two starters and two other scholarship players. He signed six freshmen and a junior college transfer in the offseason to help next season, plus two Division I transfers who will sit out the 2011-12 season. Four of the freshmen and the junior college transfer played as the Mountaineers went 5-1 and lost only to Illinois in a 20-minute exhibition on a military base.
"Everybody got minutes in every game," said Huggins, who added that walk-ons Paul Herbert Williamson and Aaric Dickerson were in the group.
Freshmen guard Aaron Brown and forward Keaton Miles both started with seniors Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant and junior Deniz Kilicli.
"We didn't have any guards," Huggins said.
Gary Browne, a freshman point guard from Puerto Rico, wasn't allowed to make the trip. Huggins said he found out Aug. 7, the day before the team left, Browne had been held up by the NCAA's Eligibility Center. Browne was cleared last Wednesday and Huggins said WVU should get a "definitive" answer today about whether freshman point guard Jabarie Hinds will enroll. Today is the first day of class at WVU.
Jones averaged 20.5 points in the four 40-minute games, including 24 and 27 points in the final two. Kilicli averaged 15.3 points and Bryant 14. Miles has 12 points in a win and Brown had six rebounds in another.
Freshman forward Tommie McCune, who Huggins learned last Wednesday was facing charges for a June 21 shoplifting arrest in Saginaw, Mich., played in every game and had four points and six rebounds Saturday. Even junior college forward Dominique Rutledge, who hadn't gone through any 5-on-5 work in practice as he recovered from knee surgery, played in the games.
WVU played against an assortment of teams and utilized certain strengths and discovered some weaknesses. It started with two games against NAS Sigonella at the Naval Air Station in Catania, Sicily. The Mountaineers won 91-39 and 98-57.
"They played really hard, but our size just overwhelmed them," Huggins said.
Up next was a 10-minute game against the Aviano Air Base team, in Aviano, Italy. The Mountaineers won that, but then lost a 20-minute game against Illinois, 47-26.
"They had more guys back then we had and they could run things that we couldn't run," Huggins said.
WVU beat Fulgor Libertas Forli, and former Georgetown star Austin Freeman, 90-67 Friday in Forli, Italy. WVU shot 47 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range. The tour ended Saturday with a 74-64 win against Basket Santarcangelo, in Santarcangelo, Italy. Kilicli had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jones just missed a double-double with 27 points and nine rebounds. The Mountaineers shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from 3-point range.
"The two pro teams, I thought, were pretty good," Huggins said. "The last game, man, it was so hot in that gym that we had to play through some things. We were totally exhausted when the game was over with, but I thought that was good. It made us fight a little."
Huggins liked the way his team's performance progressed as the quality of the opposition increased. The Mountaineers didn't have to run many sets against the base teams because offense came easy with the matchup advantages and the way WVU's defense created scores.
Things got a little more difficult as the tour moved along. Huggins knows his players took note.
"We've got so much to do," he said. "We played pretty well against a pretty good pro team and then they went zone and we hadn't spent a whole lot of time on zone offense, so we had a bunch of guys who didn't know what to do. Illinois pressed us and we didn't handle it very well. We had 10 days of practice and we were trying to get them to learn a little bit of offense. It's hard in 10 days to work on the press-breaker. They just got us sped up and out of our offense."
The Mountaineers will be off this week, though Huggins said he might bring the freshmen in to look at some things. He's allowed to work with small groups of players for two hours a week until practice starts with the full team a month from now. Even with the tour as experience, Huggins said WVU will basically start over as the newcomers adjust again.
"Everyone is just talking to them now, but once they don't do what they're supposed to do two or three times in a row and get on the treadmill, I think once they come off the treadmill their concentration will be a little better," Huggins said. "The truth is, they're totally overwhelmed with how much they have to learn and also how hard they have to play for an extended period of time."
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Bob Huggins had a lot of luggage with him Sunday as West Virginia's basketball coach returned to campus after spending the past 13 days overseas touring and competing in Sicily and Italy.
There were the bags he packed for the trip, the memories of what the Mountaineers had seen and the important ideas for what happens next.
"I thought it was pretty good for us," Huggins said. "We got to play some games and got to practice some. We got to go to the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Forum. We got to learn some of the history of Sicily. And I think we got a lot of stuff done."
Huggins' fifth team at WVU returns just two starters and two other scholarship players. He signed six freshmen and a junior college transfer in the offseason to help next season, plus two Division I transfers who will sit out the 2011-12 season. Four of the freshmen and the junior college transfer played as the Mountaineers went 5-1 and lost only to Illinois in a 20-minute exhibition on a military base.
"Everybody got minutes in every game," said Huggins, who added that walk-ons Paul Herbert Williamson and Aaric Dickerson were in the group.
Freshmen guard Aaron Brown and forward Keaton Miles both started with seniors Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant and junior Deniz Kilicli.
"We didn't have any guards," Huggins said.
Gary Browne, a freshman point guard from Puerto Rico, wasn't allowed to make the trip. Huggins said he found out Aug. 7, the day before the team left, Browne had been held up by the NCAA's Eligibility Center. Browne was cleared last Wednesday and Huggins said WVU should get a "definitive" answer today about whether freshman point guard Jabarie Hinds will enroll. Today is the first day of class at WVU.
Jones averaged 20.5 points in the four 40-minute games, including 24 and 27 points in the final two. Kilicli averaged 15.3 points and Bryant 14. Miles has 12 points in a win and Brown had six rebounds in another.
Freshman forward Tommie McCune, who Huggins learned last Wednesday was facing charges for a June 21 shoplifting arrest in Saginaw, Mich., played in every game and had four points and six rebounds Saturday. Even junior college forward Dominique Rutledge, who hadn't gone through any 5-on-5 work in practice as he recovered from knee surgery, played in the games.
WVU played against an assortment of teams and utilized certain strengths and discovered some weaknesses. It started with two games against NAS Sigonella at the Naval Air Station in Catania, Sicily. The Mountaineers won 91-39 and 98-57.
"They played really hard, but our size just overwhelmed them," Huggins said.
Up next was a 10-minute game against the Aviano Air Base team, in Aviano, Italy. The Mountaineers won that, but then lost a 20-minute game against Illinois, 47-26.
"They had more guys back then we had and they could run things that we couldn't run," Huggins said.
WVU beat Fulgor Libertas Forli, and former Georgetown star Austin Freeman, 90-67 Friday in Forli, Italy. WVU shot 47 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range. The tour ended Saturday with a 74-64 win against Basket Santarcangelo, in Santarcangelo, Italy. Kilicli had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jones just missed a double-double with 27 points and nine rebounds. The Mountaineers shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from 3-point range.
"The two pro teams, I thought, were pretty good," Huggins said. "The last game, man, it was so hot in that gym that we had to play through some things. We were totally exhausted when the game was over with, but I thought that was good. It made us fight a little."
Huggins liked the way his team's performance progressed as the quality of the opposition increased. The Mountaineers didn't have to run many sets against the base teams because offense came easy with the matchup advantages and the way WVU's defense created scores.
Things got a little more difficult as the tour moved along. Huggins knows his players took note.
"We've got so much to do," he said. "We played pretty well against a pretty good pro team and then they went zone and we hadn't spent a whole lot of time on zone offense, so we had a bunch of guys who didn't know what to do. Illinois pressed us and we didn't handle it very well. We had 10 days of practice and we were trying to get them to learn a little bit of offense. It's hard in 10 days to work on the press-breaker. They just got us sped up and out of our offense."
The Mountaineers will be off this week, though Huggins said he might bring the freshmen in to look at some things. He's allowed to work with small groups of players for two hours a week until practice starts with the full team a month from now. Even with the tour as experience, Huggins said WVU will basically start over as the newcomers adjust again.
"Everyone is just talking to them now, but once they don't do what they're supposed to do two or three times in a row and get on the treadmill, I think once they come off the treadmill their concentration will be a little better," Huggins said. "The truth is, they're totally overwhelmed with how much they have to learn and also how hard they have to play for an extended period of time."
