Similar Path
March 23, 2005 01:18 PM | General
March 23, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The man who hit the shot that beat Cincinnati to elevate West Virginia to its last NCAA tournament “Sweet 16” appearance in 1998 says he will be right in front of his television set watching the Mountaineers make a repeat trip to the round of 16 Thursday night.
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| Jarrod West's last-second basket gave West Virginia an upset victory over No. 9-ranked Cincinnati in the 1998 NCAA tournament.
AP Photo |
Jarrod West, now a high school coach at Clarksburg Notre Dame, is a big fan of what Coach John Beilein has done so far at his alma mater.
“I love their flexibility,” said West. “You’ve got four-five guys on the court that can shoot and it causes a lot of problems for the defense. I love their desire to win regardless of the situation they’re in. And I love their unselfishness. They don’t care who gets the glory and they’ve got a swagger now.”
West admits it’s nice that West Virginia basketball is getting national attention like it did when he was a senior during that magical 1998 season.
“It’s a frustrating situation because being a West Virginia graduate and I’m from Mississippi West Virginia and Mississippi kind of goes hand in hand,” he said. “But being in a situation where West Virginia is not in the limelight and doesn’t get the press as other schools normally get it's frustrating because we play a good brand of basketball up here and hopefully with the run we had and the run this team is having it will be something that’s not a once every eight or nine year thing but rather a consistent thing.”
Even when the Mountaineers were enduring their difficult season in 2002, West still felt a great deal of pride for his school.
“I’ve had West Virginia pride since my freshmen year and it’s never left since I’ve graduated. This state and the fans here love WVU basketball and you can’t help but have a lot of pride when you have a state that follows the team like this,” West said. “Now that the nation is finally seeing it it’s good to hold your head up high.”
West says he can detect a lot of similarities between both team’s runs to get to the “Sweet 16.”
“Chemistry is very important to a basketball team and we had six seniors and eight or nine players who didn’t care who got the glory,” West said. “We went out there and everybody knew their roles and everybody did them. This year it’s the same thing: eight, nine or 10 players who go out there and when they’re number is called they’re ready to play, hitting big shots or playing great defense. That’s what it’s all about.”
However, West noted that the one exception in 1998 was that the nucleus of that team was a six-player senior class. The vast majority of the players on this year’s team return for 2006.
“(Kevin) Pittsnogle and the rest of the underclassmen are enjoying it this year because they know they’ve got another chance to come back and really enjoy it,” West said. “With my situation and guys like Tyrone (Sally) and D’or Fischer’s situation, you know if you lose this game your college career is over. You really do not want to experience that. We were just going out there and laying it on the line every game and we knew that we deserved to be there.”
West remembers in 1998 West Virginia being a 10 seed, mainly because 6-foot-5 forward Damian Owens was hurt at the end of the year and that caused West Virginia to go on a late-season slide after a strong start.
“We knew we were more like a three or four seed and tournament seeding really doesn’t matter anyway,” West said. “We just wanted to get out there and show everybody that we deserved to be there. Honestly in my opinion -- and I might think big -- but I thought we had the ability to win the national championship.”
West says the roles in 1998 were clearly defined and each player executed it to near perfection.
“I led the team as far as getting the people the ball, Adrian (Pledger) Damien, and Greg (Jones) were the scorers, Brian (Lewin) and Brent (Solheim) did the dirty work, and (Marcus) Goree and Jarett Kearse gave us a lift when we needed it off the bench,” West said. “Everybody knew it and there wasn’t any bickering. We just went out there as a unit and that’s why we had our success.”
Being a former point guard, West is pleased with the way J.D. Collins is running the team and he can see the junior gaining confidence every time he walks out onto the court.
“I was so happy for J.D. I heard his name mentioned playing against (Wake Forest guard) Chris Paul being a big mismatch. The thing I tell people is that it’s about opportunity,” West said. “Chris Paul is in a situation where he has the ball 90 percent of the game. He’s the focal point, he can shoot when he wants to and he can penetrate when he wants to. So obviously he’s going to average 17-18 points and have eight or nine assists because he’s dominating the ball.
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| Teammates mob West after his game-winning shot put West Virginia into the NCAA "Sweet 16" for the first time since 1963.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
“J.D. is in a system where he needs to get everybody else the ball,” West reasoned. “It’s easy for the press to write that it’s a big mismatch. If you put those guys on a similar playing field you never know what happens. J.D. took it upon himself to meet the challenge.”
West offered this assessment of the two “Sweet 16” teams: “As far as individually we were probably a little bit better than these guys in the man-to-man and we were a little quicker and probably a little more athletic,” he said. “But as a group when you’ve got big D’or (Fischer) back there protecting the basket that helps. J.D. is an excellent man-to-man defender. (Mike) Gansey has athletic ability and Tyrone (Sally) has those long arms. The 1-3-1 zone that they play fits their style.
“When they want to play man-to-man defense they can make the stop. That’s what it’s all about. Even if you give up 80 points if you can make crucial stops in a game that’s the most important thing,” he said.
West is impressed with the fact that Beilein gives his team free reign to shoot the basketball and admits he would have loved to play in Beilein’s system. West believes the coach’s positive influence and reinforcement has made a very good team a great one.
“That’s why this team is so good,” West said. “When you’ve got Patrick (Beilein), Gansey, Pittsnogle, J.D., Tyrone, Frank Young … all those guys go out there and shoot the ball with confidence. If you put those guys with a coach that wouldn’t have developed their confidence to shoot the ball, they would have won eight or nine games this year. You get them in an offense where they’re asked to shoot the three, that’s why they’re causing problems right now.”
West admits he didn’t have to watch many games to realize that this year’s team is well coached and enjoys playing together.
“When you know basketball it takes just a few games to see that they’re well coached and that they play with confidence,” he said.
West believes the Mountaineers can sustain their run next year, too.
“It’s a team game. This is not tennis or golf. When you can come back and be a part of something that everybody remembers it’s a special feeling. The guys next year are really going to reap the fruits of this year,” he said.
“Next year they’re going to lose Tyrone and D’or but the way Frank has played it looks like he’s going to be able to come in and step in,” West said. “They’ve got the nucleus of four or five guys coming back and the sky is the limit really.”
After coaching his son Jarrod’s pee-wee basketball game at 7:15, West said he will be glued to the TV set watching the Mountaineers take on Texas Tech at 9:40.
“I’ll be rooting them on. I’m hoping they can do it,” he said.
