Post by cviller on Jan 11, 2009 10:43:45 GMT -5
MILWAUKEE - It's probably best not to take everything that Alex Ruoff says in the wake of a loss as gospel.
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
MILWAUKEE - It's probably best not to take everything that Alex Ruoff says in the wake of a loss as gospel.
Now mind you, that's not a knock on Ruoff, the only senior on West Virginia's basketball team. The fact is, he takes a loss - any loss - hard and quite often personally. There was no better example than the Mountaineers' 61-55 defeat at the hands of Connecticut last week.
"You can say it's a team loss and all the stupid, cliché crap like that,'' he said that night. "But I missed the last three shots. ... It's reality.''
Ruoff wasn't taking West Virginia's 75-53 loss to Marquette Saturday at the Bradley Center personally, though. And perhaps that fact forces one to lend a bit more credence to what he did say.
Oh, there was certainly enough blame to go around and Ruoff wasn't excluding himself from the conversation. He talked about a handful of "stupid plays'' he - and others - made that allowed Marquette to seize the momentum and score 24 of the game's final 29 points, turning a nail-biter into a blowout. And, like the UConn game, he didn't shoot the ball well. For the record, since the night he set a school record with nine 3-pointers against Radford two days before Christmas, Ruoff is a combined 8-for-30 on 3s. Against the Huskies and the Golden Eagles he was a collective 8-for-28 from the floor and 4-for-18 on 3s.
Poor shooting, though, isn't a fatal flaw. Ruoff isn't unlike most shooters in that he's going to have good nights and bad. At the beginning of the week he was shooting 41 percent from 3-point range and that's plenty good enough. And besides, this is also a guy who on Saturday had eight assists and for the season is the team's leading scorer, its best free-throw shooter and is second in both assists and steals. He's also played more minutes than anyone else despite having sat out two full games.
We digress, though. The point is that as much as Ruoff means to the Mountaineers and as unselfish as he sometimes is - he didn't even attempt a shot during the first 12 minutes Saturday - it's going to take a collection of those types in order for a young, undersized and, quite frankly, limitedly talented West Virginia team to have any kind of success in the Big East this season.
And that's what Ruoff complained about Saturday outside of a West Virginia locker room that had turned eerily quiet after having just been shaken by the considerable decibels of one Bob Huggins.
"A lot of guys don't care, man,'' Ruoff said, not angrily but rather with a sense of mystery and disappointment.
Don't care?
"That's what it boils down to. Huggins even said it. A lot of our guys do not care,'' Ruoff said. "They're not buying into it. They're doing their own thing.''
Now, if you'd like to go down the roster and pick and choose your favorites as culprits, feel free. Ruoff, though, isn't going to go there. And not being privy to West Virginia's often-grueling practices, nor will we.
Suffice it to say, though, that the makeup of this team is different than that of Huggins' first one at West Virginia, that bunch that overachieved to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament a year ago. Ruoff can't put his finger on just what makes it so different, but he knows that it is.
"When he says it, I just start thinking about it, like, 'What is he talking about?' '' Ruoff said, referring to Huggins' behind-closed-doors lashing out. "It's guys that are getting out of the offense, doing their own thing. It's guys that don't come into practice [and work]. It is a lack of caring.
"Last year, we had guys that cared. All of our guys cared. Nobody cared about points. Nobody cared about rankings or where players are ranked. And we were good. We all bought into it.''
OK, so perhaps this is much ado about nothing. After winning 11 of 13 games to start the season and move into the Top 25, West Virginia has lost two in a row and they were both hard to take. Against both No. 5 UConn and No. 18 Marquette, the Mountaineers had chances to either win (in the last minutes against the Huskies) or fight to the end (until Saturday's crash and burn). That's grounds for frustration and, ultimately, finger-pointing. Winning a game or two tends to, if not rectify, then at least assuage such concerns.
But Ruoff feels like he needs to do something as this team's only senior. But what?
"I'm looking at Darris last year as a leader and he didn't get in guys' faces. He came in as a leader and just worked his butt off,'' Ruoff said, referring to departed point guard Darris Nichols. "I've backed up from yelling at guys because of that, because I just want to do what he did, just lead by example, just practice hard every day and work my butt off.
"I really don't know what else to do. I'm not a coach. I'm not a guy that yells. I just listen to Huggs and try to play my butt off. When he's talking about people not caring and people having their own agendas, he's not talking about me. I'm playing my butt off for him.''
On one hand, if this is an issue it's good to find out early and correct it. On the other, though, if it's not correctable, this could be a long season.
"It's got to change. The season is on a downhill slope right now,'' Ruoff said. "Guys have to buy in. I know you hear that a lot, but guys have got to buy in and stopped worrying about themselves.
"We're not a very good team right now. I think we got some early hype and some of our guys, it's gone to their heads. We're not a good team right now, but we can be. We've proven it in spurts. When we're playing as a team we're pretty good.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
Post a Comment:
I hate to say it, but I think he's right. The team has a few of those "ultra-talented freshman" that are here to get theirs and want to go to the NBA. Those type of players aren't likely to "buy in" to any system. They are great players but Alex is used to unselfish workers like Pittsnogle, Gansey, Young, Alexander, and Nichols who just wanted to win and do things the right way. I hope they get it straightened out but I fear this is going to be a common theme this season.
Posted By: goldnblueblood
Thanks for the article Mr.Hickman, even though the content was more painful to read than the game was to watch yesterday. I hate it if what Alex said is true. The team doesn't need problem children on it. Apparently the team has some players that needs to grow up quickly. Hopefully the issues will get resolved ASAP.
LETS GOOOOOO MOUNTAINEERS!! I'll see you fans Wednesday night at the CCC.
