By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
January 27, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach John Beilein has an interesting take on why free throw shooting can become such an adventure in the college game today.
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West Virginia's Patrick Beilein is shooting 91.9 percent from the free throw line this season. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
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“The better shooters don’t necessarily go to the line,” he said Monday during his afternoon teleconference.
“Generally, the better foul shooters shoot more threes and when you shoot more threes you’re not getting to the foul line,” said Beilein. “Kevin Pittsnogle is a perfect example because he’s only been there nine times all year. We want him to get there more and we encourage them to get there more.”
Beilein also mentioned that players don’t practice shooting like they did 20 to 30 years ago, “Growing up I never came in for dinner no matter how cold it was in Buffalo, N.Y., unless I made five straight free throws,” he said. “Sometimes I had gloves on but there was nothing else for me to do. I wasn’t going to go in and watch TV. I didn’t want to watch soap operas with my mother; there weren’t 66 different channels to watch then. Kids just don’t practice shooting as much either.”
This and That
Beilein was in Buffalo on Sunday to help celebrate Canisius’ 100-year anniversary of basketball. Beilein’s 1996 NCAA tournament team was honored. He posted an 89-62 record, good for fourth on the school’s all-time win list.
Beilein will be making his first appearance at Alumni Hall to face St. John’s on Wednesday. The Red Storm plays a majority of their games in Madison Square Garden. “I’ve only practiced there when I was at Canisius. It can be a very difficult place for a visiting Big East basketball team. If you look at many Catholic schools throughout the Northeast they’re very fortunate to have that compared to what a Manhattan, a Fordham or a Canisius had.
“Of the Catholic schools, maybe St. Bonaventure, Boston College and Villanova have that type of (seating) capacity in the Northeast,” he added.
Beilein indicated Monday that freshman forward Jerrah Young will rejoin the team at the airport en route to New York to play St. John’s on Wednesday night. Young attended his cousin’s funeral Monday in Chicago.
Bob Hertzel of the Dominion Post brought up the topic of low scoring games. Beilein says the reason teams are having such a tough time scoring is because of advanced scouting.
“It’s all about the video tape and breaking things down,” he explained. “Right now I have my assistants breaking down every pick and roll that St. John’s has run in the last five games so I can see them in rapid succession over and over again so I can see any patterns to determine how we want to guard them. I couldn’t do that years ago.”
The coach mentioned Saturday after his team’s win over Boston College and again on Monday his desire for his team to get out in the open court and get more transition baskets. However, Beilein says that’s easier said than done sometimes.
“We’ve got to outlet the ball deeper and our point guards can’t go south … they’ve got to go north right away,” he said. “Our problem is every rebound is so important to us that we’ve got a tendency of saying, ‘I’ve got possession and I did my job’ instead of ‘I got my rebound now let’s go.’ We’re still trying to teach that.
“On every rebound and every turnover we want to run full speed,” he continued. “That’s our biggest challenge making sure the kids will run and we need all five to run. I’m not just talking about running, I’m talking about sprinting. We saw the first real signs of the last two games.”
If you thought some of those NBA-distance shots West Virginia players are taking are bad shots think again, “We encourage them to shoot at different depths,” said Beilein. “We’d rather have an unguarded NBA shot than a guarded NCAA shot: particularly Tyler (Relph), Kevin (Pittsnogle) and Patrick (Beilein) who all have that type of range.”
According to the coach, the primary reason freshman Frank Young’s minutes have been reduced is because of his decision to shorten his bench after the loss to Providence.
“After watching the film we noticed that a young kid was involved in almost every mistake,” he said. “So we decided to shorten it up a bit. At the same time, it wouldn’t have made a difference against Providence because they were too good that day, but Frank will get another shot.”
After Saturday’s big victory over Boston College, Mountaineer assistant coach Jeff Neubauer made an interesting point that not since junior Tyrone Sally was in high school has West Virginia defeated a Big East team of BC’s caliber. The coach is right: West Virginia’s last win over a quality Big East team came in 2001 when the Mountaineers downed No. 10-rated Syracuse, 87-76 at the Coliseum. That would have been Sally’s senior season Meadowbrook High School in Chesterfield, Va.
Beilein believes his team’s timing and chemistry have improved dramatically since losing to Virginia Tech, 69-67 back on Jan. 14.
“There were a lot of things where we were reworking on the fly,” he said. ‘The Georgetown game was different because Georgetown was not going to let you run and play. They were going to overplay everything so there’s no timing involved as there is driving to the basket and trying to get some backdoors. In the Tech game, every play there is execution problems.”
West Virginia forward Kevin Pittsnogle is 2 for 22 in his last two games against Marshall and Boston College since moving into the lineup along with 6-foot-11 center D’or Fischer. Beilein says there is a simple reason for Pittsnogle’s shooting slump, “You can see by his numbers that he’s not real comfortable right now. We’re putting him out there and he’s going to get comfortable,” said Beilein. “Everybody has got to be patient while he learns a different set of rules.”
Beilein noted that Pittsnogle’s big three-point basket against Boston College last Saturday came while he was playing the center position, “He had five-man on him. That’s part of the problem that he will work through,” said the coach.
The coach says point guard Nick Patella, sitting out this year as a member of the scout team, could write a book about how to exploit West Virginia’s 1-3-1 zone defense.
“He knows the weaknesses and he just drives me crazy,” said the coach. “Our scout team is just terrific and they take pride in beating us and they do sometimes. They know our stuff very well.”
Also playing on the scout team are two terrific passers sitting out this year, 6-foot-4 guard Mike Gansey and 6-foot-6 forward B.J. Byerson.
Joe Herber scored 10 points and grabbed 8 rebounds against Boston College on Saturday, but according to Beilein, the sophomore is most pleased about his 7 assists.
“He wants to go back to Europe and be a guard so he wants those assists numbers to show people he can play guard,” said Beilein. “That shows you a little bit about the man. Then he loves to play forward because he knows he’s got a mismatch on the perimeter. He can drive a little bit better and get to the foul line.’
Even though he’s locked into the game, Beilein admits it’s tough watching his son step up to the free throw line in clutch situations, “That’s the one time I turn back into a father,” he said. “It’s always harder for the spectator, the coach or the family then it is for the kid on the court.”
Patrick Beilein doesn’t have nearly enough free throw attempts to qualify for the Big East rankings. If he did, his 91.9 percent from the line would rank first in the conference.
“He was at my shooting camps when I was at LeMoyne College and my camps have always centered on shooting,” said the coach. “He was one of my children that really listened to coaches all of the time and he lived doing it. I think because he’s a shooter he’s also a great foul shooter.”
West Virginia’s game Wednesday night at St. John’s begins a stretch of games where the Mountaineers play three of their next four league games on the road. WVU is 1-2 all-time against St. John’s at Alumni Hall with its win coming in 1997, a 90-77 decision.
