Post by elp525 on Mar 17, 2011 8:57:35 GMT -5
March 16, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
TAMPA, Fla. - From head to toe, Casey Mitchell is feeling as good right now as he has in a long time.
West Virginia hopes that makes a difference in his play when the Mountaineers meet Clemson today at the St. Pete Times Forum in their NCAA tournament opener.
Up top, it's the new design he had cut into the sides of his hair this week.
"I had the WV [logo] in before and other things,'' Mitchell said. "This time I told [his barber] I didn't want anything like that, so he said he'd just freestyle it. I like it."
That's not likely to affect his play today, though. What might are his new shoes. A day after coach Bob Huggins said Mitchell was practicing as well as he had all season, West Virginia's leading scorer borrowed from the old Spike Lee, Air Jordan commercials.
"I think it's the shoes, man,'' Mitchell said. "I don't know why but these shoes feel good. I've been hitting shots, playing defense, moving fast. I don't want to tell [Huggins] that's the reason. I just want him to see I'm practicing hard.''
Huggins has noticed, which means that Mitchell might actually get a chance to show his stuff again. Those opportunities have come and gone quite frequently this season.
"He's had two of his best days of practice since probably early in the season,'' Huggins said. "I thought he was very good [Tuesday].''
And how Mitchell practices generally dictates not how well he will play, but even if he has much of a chance. At the beginning of the season, when he was practicing and playing well, Mitchell was a starter and a scoring machine.
For a long time, he was among the top-five scorers in the Big East. Through the first 18 games of the season, he was a starter in all but one, played an average of 28 minutes and scored 16.6 points per game.
But then he was suspended for three games, hasn't started since and has averaged just 17 minutes and 9.6 points.
That he is still the team's leading scorer (14.1 points) is a product of his 21.75-point average in the first seven games of the season and out-of-nowhere 22- and 23-point outbursts since his suspension. But he's also had games of 0, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8 and 9 points this season.
"When you go into games knowing you're not going to play much, it's kind of hard to come to practice and give it your all,'' Mitchell said. "Guys go through that all the time. It's hard to motivate yourself.''
Mitchell knows, though, that he has to practice hard and well in order to play.
"Sometimes you think you practiced hard and you still don't play. That's the times when you go, 'Man, I gave it my all and I still didn't play,'" Mitchell said. "But you've got to snap out of it and just keep going.''
If Mitchell plays and plays well today, it could be the start of a tournament run for the Mountaineers. On a team that has no real explosive offensive threats save for him, a 20-point afternoon could spell the difference between one-and-done and playing into the weekend or beyond.
"I think Casey needs to play well,'' Huggins said. "I think Casey needs to play well in order for us to play well.''
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
TAMPA, Fla. - From head to toe, Casey Mitchell is feeling as good right now as he has in a long time.
West Virginia hopes that makes a difference in his play when the Mountaineers meet Clemson today at the St. Pete Times Forum in their NCAA tournament opener.
Up top, it's the new design he had cut into the sides of his hair this week.
"I had the WV [logo] in before and other things,'' Mitchell said. "This time I told [his barber] I didn't want anything like that, so he said he'd just freestyle it. I like it."
That's not likely to affect his play today, though. What might are his new shoes. A day after coach Bob Huggins said Mitchell was practicing as well as he had all season, West Virginia's leading scorer borrowed from the old Spike Lee, Air Jordan commercials.
"I think it's the shoes, man,'' Mitchell said. "I don't know why but these shoes feel good. I've been hitting shots, playing defense, moving fast. I don't want to tell [Huggins] that's the reason. I just want him to see I'm practicing hard.''
Huggins has noticed, which means that Mitchell might actually get a chance to show his stuff again. Those opportunities have come and gone quite frequently this season.
"He's had two of his best days of practice since probably early in the season,'' Huggins said. "I thought he was very good [Tuesday].''
And how Mitchell practices generally dictates not how well he will play, but even if he has much of a chance. At the beginning of the season, when he was practicing and playing well, Mitchell was a starter and a scoring machine.
For a long time, he was among the top-five scorers in the Big East. Through the first 18 games of the season, he was a starter in all but one, played an average of 28 minutes and scored 16.6 points per game.
But then he was suspended for three games, hasn't started since and has averaged just 17 minutes and 9.6 points.
That he is still the team's leading scorer (14.1 points) is a product of his 21.75-point average in the first seven games of the season and out-of-nowhere 22- and 23-point outbursts since his suspension. But he's also had games of 0, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8 and 9 points this season.
"When you go into games knowing you're not going to play much, it's kind of hard to come to practice and give it your all,'' Mitchell said. "Guys go through that all the time. It's hard to motivate yourself.''
Mitchell knows, though, that he has to practice hard and well in order to play.
"Sometimes you think you practiced hard and you still don't play. That's the times when you go, 'Man, I gave it my all and I still didn't play,'" Mitchell said. "But you've got to snap out of it and just keep going.''
If Mitchell plays and plays well today, it could be the start of a tournament run for the Mountaineers. On a team that has no real explosive offensive threats save for him, a 20-point afternoon could spell the difference between one-and-done and playing into the weekend or beyond.
"I think Casey needs to play well,'' Huggins said. "I think Casey needs to play well in order for us to play well.''
