Post by elp525 on Aug 22, 2011 6:06:02 GMT -5
08/21/2011
Chip Fontanazza
MetroNews Sports
Bob Huggins: Post Italy Teleconference
Mission accomplished for the Mountaineers, at least it was that way for WVU head coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineer men’s basketball team arrived home after spending almost two weeks in Italy exploring the country and playing against basketball teams that they would never have gone up against in the United States.
The timing work out prefect for Huggins and his coaching staff because they got a chance to work with many of their new freshman and transfer basketball players months before official practices begin. Huggins feels it was a great experience for the team both on and off the court.
“I thought it was pretty good,” said Huggins on his Sunday afternoon teleconference. “We got to play some games and got to practice some and they got to go to the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Forum, to a castle, got [and] to learn some of the history of Sicily. It was good.”
As for the work the Mountaineers got done on the court. They faced two army based club teams, two pro teams and had a scrimmage against Illinois. The pro teams were a bit of a challenge for the young Mountaineers. They even faced former Georgetown Hoya Austin Freeman in one of the games. Huggins said Freeman scored about 22 points on them before halftime of that game.
Huggins says playing against that type of competition helped the team understand what they need to work on.
“There’s so many thing they have to learn,” said Huggins. “We played pretty well against a pretty good pro team and then they went zone and we had a bunch of guys that didn’t know what they were doing.”
“They’re overwhelmed with how much they have to learn and I think they’re overwhelmed with how much they have to play for an extended period of time,” continued Huggins.
Huggins said all of the freshmen got a solid amount of playing time and all of them played in each game. Both Aaron Brown and Keaton Miles were penciled into the starting lineup during the trip. Huggins says that was just a natural fit for the team.
“We didn’t have any guards,” explained Huggins. “We played Truck [Bryant] and Paul [Herbert Williamson] at point and Aaron played the two, but we played Keaton there and Tommie there a little bit it as well, but we didn’t have any choice.”
As for freshman point guard Gary Browne, Huggins says his eligibility issue has been completely cleared up. The head coach also admits he found out about his ineligibility the day before the team left for Italy and because of that Browne wasn’t able to go on the trip. Huggins also said Monday he will get a definitive answer on whether or not freshman point guard Jabarie Hinds will be playing on the team this season.
With the team back in Morgantown, Huggins and the coaching staff are allowed to meet with the team for about two hours each week before practice officially begins in October. The team will have this week off to get used to classes then they will begin preparing for the season.
Chip Fontanazza
MetroNews Sports
Bob Huggins: Post Italy Teleconference
Mission accomplished for the Mountaineers, at least it was that way for WVU head coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineer men’s basketball team arrived home after spending almost two weeks in Italy exploring the country and playing against basketball teams that they would never have gone up against in the United States.
The timing work out prefect for Huggins and his coaching staff because they got a chance to work with many of their new freshman and transfer basketball players months before official practices begin. Huggins feels it was a great experience for the team both on and off the court.
“I thought it was pretty good,” said Huggins on his Sunday afternoon teleconference. “We got to play some games and got to practice some and they got to go to the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Forum, to a castle, got [and] to learn some of the history of Sicily. It was good.”
As for the work the Mountaineers got done on the court. They faced two army based club teams, two pro teams and had a scrimmage against Illinois. The pro teams were a bit of a challenge for the young Mountaineers. They even faced former Georgetown Hoya Austin Freeman in one of the games. Huggins said Freeman scored about 22 points on them before halftime of that game.
Huggins says playing against that type of competition helped the team understand what they need to work on.
“There’s so many thing they have to learn,” said Huggins. “We played pretty well against a pretty good pro team and then they went zone and we had a bunch of guys that didn’t know what they were doing.”
“They’re overwhelmed with how much they have to learn and I think they’re overwhelmed with how much they have to play for an extended period of time,” continued Huggins.
Huggins said all of the freshmen got a solid amount of playing time and all of them played in each game. Both Aaron Brown and Keaton Miles were penciled into the starting lineup during the trip. Huggins says that was just a natural fit for the team.
“We didn’t have any guards,” explained Huggins. “We played Truck [Bryant] and Paul [Herbert Williamson] at point and Aaron played the two, but we played Keaton there and Tommie there a little bit it as well, but we didn’t have any choice.”
As for freshman point guard Gary Browne, Huggins says his eligibility issue has been completely cleared up. The head coach also admits he found out about his ineligibility the day before the team left for Italy and because of that Browne wasn’t able to go on the trip. Huggins also said Monday he will get a definitive answer on whether or not freshman point guard Jabarie Hinds will be playing on the team this season.
With the team back in Morgantown, Huggins and the coaching staff are allowed to meet with the team for about two hours each week before practice officially begins in October. The team will have this week off to get used to classes then they will begin preparing for the season.
