Post by elp525 on Oct 15, 2011 13:30:22 GMT -5
Saturday, October 15 2011
Chip Fontanazza
Morgantown
The Mountaineer men’s basketball team will look a lot different than it has in the past since Bob Huggins took over as head coach. The fifth year Mountaineer head coach has the most youth and inexperience on his team since he’s arrived in Morgantown.
The team has a total of six true freshmen on scholarship, two true freshman walk-ons, two Division I transfers, one JUCO transfer and only four returning players with experience. It’s a unique mix of talent that will look to seniors Kevin Jones and Darryl “Truck” Bryant for leadership.
So far both Jones and Bryant are happy with what they’ve seen from the new Mountaineers. The duo likes how the team is taking their advice and learning from it. Jones feels that will be important for this season.
“All of the freshman and all of the new guys have done a good job of accepting criticism and that’s going to be the main part of us getting better is everybody accepting criticism,” explained Jones.
And being coached by Huggins, the players need to learn to accept a lot of harsh criticism.
“Whether you like it or not he’s going to tell you what’s going on,” said Jones. “So you have to be able to accept criticism or you’re not going to be able to make it here or anywhere.”
“We have a lot of young, new talent and I feel that if we come together and we bond at the right time then I feel like this could be a real special team,” continued Jones.
The young players will have a solid non-conference schedule that will prepare them for the rigors of Big East play. When it’s all over with, the Mountaineers will most likely have one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. Bryant feels that will quickly get the younger players ready to play in the toughest conference in the country.
“It’s going to help them a lot,” said Bryant. “We’re playing against everybody who could win their league. That’s people you play against in the NCAA Tournament.”
“It’s going to take hard work to be good,” continued Bryant. “We’re just going to have to lead by example.”
Bryant and Jones said they realized they will have to teach everyone where they need to be on the court during certain situations, but the one thing the freshmen need to learn is to play hard for all 40 minutes.
“You have to learn to play every second hard. It doesn’t sound like that’s a hard concept to me right now because I’ve been doing it the last three years, but coming in as a freshman you’re kind of used to taking plays off and you’re used to being the main guy on your high school team,” said Jones. “Just coming in and accepting a new role is going to be difficult for some guys and some guys will come in and accept it right away.”
The new players will have a chance to work on their new roles during the Mountaineers’ exhibition game against Northern Kentucky on Friday November 4th. West Virginia will play its first regular season game against Oral Roberts on November 11th.
Chip Fontanazza
Morgantown
The Mountaineer men’s basketball team will look a lot different than it has in the past since Bob Huggins took over as head coach. The fifth year Mountaineer head coach has the most youth and inexperience on his team since he’s arrived in Morgantown.
The team has a total of six true freshmen on scholarship, two true freshman walk-ons, two Division I transfers, one JUCO transfer and only four returning players with experience. It’s a unique mix of talent that will look to seniors Kevin Jones and Darryl “Truck” Bryant for leadership.
So far both Jones and Bryant are happy with what they’ve seen from the new Mountaineers. The duo likes how the team is taking their advice and learning from it. Jones feels that will be important for this season.
“All of the freshman and all of the new guys have done a good job of accepting criticism and that’s going to be the main part of us getting better is everybody accepting criticism,” explained Jones.
And being coached by Huggins, the players need to learn to accept a lot of harsh criticism.
“Whether you like it or not he’s going to tell you what’s going on,” said Jones. “So you have to be able to accept criticism or you’re not going to be able to make it here or anywhere.”
“We have a lot of young, new talent and I feel that if we come together and we bond at the right time then I feel like this could be a real special team,” continued Jones.
The young players will have a solid non-conference schedule that will prepare them for the rigors of Big East play. When it’s all over with, the Mountaineers will most likely have one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. Bryant feels that will quickly get the younger players ready to play in the toughest conference in the country.
“It’s going to help them a lot,” said Bryant. “We’re playing against everybody who could win their league. That’s people you play against in the NCAA Tournament.”
“It’s going to take hard work to be good,” continued Bryant. “We’re just going to have to lead by example.”
Bryant and Jones said they realized they will have to teach everyone where they need to be on the court during certain situations, but the one thing the freshmen need to learn is to play hard for all 40 minutes.
“You have to learn to play every second hard. It doesn’t sound like that’s a hard concept to me right now because I’ve been doing it the last three years, but coming in as a freshman you’re kind of used to taking plays off and you’re used to being the main guy on your high school team,” said Jones. “Just coming in and accepting a new role is going to be difficult for some guys and some guys will come in and accept it right away.”
The new players will have a chance to work on their new roles during the Mountaineers’ exhibition game against Northern Kentucky on Friday November 4th. West Virginia will play its first regular season game against Oral Roberts on November 11th.
