Post by rainman on Oct 23, 2007 5:46:57 GMT -5
Huggins says WVU has made some progress
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— Coach Bob Huggins thinks the West Virginia University men’s basketball team has made some strides in preseason practice.
“But I’ve got them confused right now,” he said Monday after 10 days of preliminary work.
“We’ve got five or six guys that maybe have a good grasp of what we’re trying to do. But the other kids are still struggling.”
That’s what he expected, though, when he took over the reins last April 6 as successor to John Beilein, who’s now at Michigan.
“We’ve got to get, hopefully, three, four or five more guys to put in games,” Huggins said. “Right now they’re not ready to get into a game.
“But, hopefully, in the next two or three weeks they can get caught up.”
While the players have made some strides in the early drills, the veteran coach thinks it’s harder for him to see such improvement because he’s around them every day.
“But they’re all trying, and that’s important,” he said. “And as long as they try, they’ll get better.”
Huggins, a Morgantown native and former WVU standout, said it was easier coming in here than it was last year taking over at Kansas State as its new coach.
“We’ve got some veteran guys that know how to play,” he said. “They pick up things faster than those guys did a year ago (at Kansas State).
“The young guys do struggle, though. The intensity level is so much greater, and they’ve got so many more things to learn.
“Some (younger players) think they can’t get bigger, stronger and more athletic than other people. So they struggle a little bit.
“But the other guys have been through it, and they understand it.”
Huggins said his staff’s chief challenge has been that the coaches have a lot of things to teach. That’s the hardest thing about a first year on the job.
“You have to teach everybody,” he reiterated. “A year from now, we’re not going to have to teach everybody. And we’ll have guys helping the younger guys.
“They know what we’re doing. You don’t have to concentrate as much on trying to teach everybody because those guys already know what to do.
“So this is trying to teach the whole group rather than only a few guys. We’re throwing a lot of things at them. They know what we’re doing. They just don’t know that very well yet.”
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— Coach Bob Huggins thinks the West Virginia University men’s basketball team has made some strides in preseason practice.
“But I’ve got them confused right now,” he said Monday after 10 days of preliminary work.
“We’ve got five or six guys that maybe have a good grasp of what we’re trying to do. But the other kids are still struggling.”
That’s what he expected, though, when he took over the reins last April 6 as successor to John Beilein, who’s now at Michigan.
“We’ve got to get, hopefully, three, four or five more guys to put in games,” Huggins said. “Right now they’re not ready to get into a game.
“But, hopefully, in the next two or three weeks they can get caught up.”
While the players have made some strides in the early drills, the veteran coach thinks it’s harder for him to see such improvement because he’s around them every day.
“But they’re all trying, and that’s important,” he said. “And as long as they try, they’ll get better.”
Huggins, a Morgantown native and former WVU standout, said it was easier coming in here than it was last year taking over at Kansas State as its new coach.
“We’ve got some veteran guys that know how to play,” he said. “They pick up things faster than those guys did a year ago (at Kansas State).
“The young guys do struggle, though. The intensity level is so much greater, and they’ve got so many more things to learn.
“Some (younger players) think they can’t get bigger, stronger and more athletic than other people. So they struggle a little bit.
“But the other guys have been through it, and they understand it.”
Huggins said his staff’s chief challenge has been that the coaches have a lot of things to teach. That’s the hardest thing about a first year on the job.
“You have to teach everybody,” he reiterated. “A year from now, we’re not going to have to teach everybody. And we’ll have guys helping the younger guys.
“They know what we’re doing. You don’t have to concentrate as much on trying to teach everybody because those guys already know what to do.
“So this is trying to teach the whole group rather than only a few guys. We’re throwing a lot of things at them. They know what we’re doing. They just don’t know that very well yet.”
