Basketball Notebook
September 15, 2005 03:23 PM | General
September 15, 2005
West Virginia's Frank Young battles for a loose ball in the second half of West Virginia's 65-60 victory over Texas Tech in an NCAA tournament "Sweet 16" game in Alburquerque, N.M.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For a West Virginia basketball team that already has a couple of well-known players in center Kevin Pittsnogle and forward Mike Gansey, it’s a little ironic that the most important player on this year’s roster may very well be a guy that averaged just 3.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game last year.
That stat line was put together by 6-foot-5-inch, 220-pound junior forward Frank Young, who is first in line to take over senior Tyrone Sally’s spot in the Mountaineers’ virtually-intact lineup for 2006. West Virginia returns four starters from last year’s team that got hot at the right time and finished with a 24-11 record and the school’s first Elite Eight appearance since 1959.
Four of the five parts from that team return, leaving the Tallahassee, Fla., resident as perhaps the final piece to this year’s puzzle.
Despite scoring just 128 points in two seasons, Young isn’t exactly wet behind the ears. When Sally got sick during last year’s Big East tournament it was Young who stepped into his spot and scored a career-high 14 points against nationally ranked Boston College. Young went 3 for 5 from three-point range and made a dramatic buzzer-beating three-point basket from just inside New Rochelle to give West Virginia a hefty half-time lead over the Eagles.
Young played well throughout the tournament, scoring 12 points in a semifinal win over Villanova and adding eight points in the Big East tournament championship game against Syracuse. He also managed to score in three of West Virginia’s four NCAA tournament games. Young admits his post-season contributions were a major confidence booster.
“Those were big-time games with a lot of people watching so I know if I can perform in arenas like that it has helped me get ready for this year,” he said.
Young could sense his teammates rallying behind him as well.
“I think they had confidence in me before and they knew I could do what I’ve done. I just had to wait my turn with Tyrone being a senior and they knew if Tyrone went down I could step in there and do well in his place,” he said.
Young brings a completely different game to the table than Sally, a 6-foot-7-inch leaper who was more apt to drive to the basket and slam home put-backs instead of sitting out on the wing and hoisting up 10 threes a game. West Virginia coach John Beilein won’t try to pound a square peg into a round hole with Young, but at the same time the veteran coach might ask him to operate a little bit more around the basket than he’s been accustomed to in the past.
“I need to get to the basket,” Young said. “In the past I did rebound and get some put-backs but it is something I’m going to have to do more of this year along with driving to the basket more.”
Young may also be asked to alter his usual defensive assignments based upon the personnel West Virginia is facing on a given night.
“I’m not sure what Coach is going to have us do,” Young said. “Last year Joe (Herber) took the four-man and Tyrone guarded the three so I might guard the three or I might guard the four or he might switch it up.”
Beilein’s instruction for Young when he went home this summer was simple: work on your feet and your ball handling. Young took that to heart and decided to get a little extra help by attending the Titus Sports Academy in his hometown of Tallahassee.
“I wanted to get my feet quicker, get stronger and be a more explosive player,” he said.
According to Young, the Titus Sports Academy is a performance-based camp designed to help athletes improve their strength, agility and coordination. Young says there were college players from Florida State and Florida A&M there as well.
“It wasn’t really about basketball at all but more about performance enhancement,” Young explained. “Some of what I learned was the same things we’re doing here but there were some different things, too.”
Young spent the remainder of his summer playing in a local summer league made up mostly of area college players.
“Our team wound up winning the title,” he said.
Because Young performed so well during the post-season, he admits he’s becoming more easily recognized when he’s home now.
“My mom was saying there were a lot of people cheering for me during the NCAA tournament. She said the whole town was watching so it was a lot of fun,” he said.
And while Young may not have completely transformed the city of Tallahassee into West Virginia basketball fans, he says more of them are rooting for the Mountaineers now than ever before.
“It might be they’re Florida State fans when they’re playing and West Virginia fans when we’re playing,” he said.
Young also readily admits he’s in the best shape of his life. It also looks as if Young has a better developed upper torso due to some heavy weight lifting this summer.
“It’s been a very productive summer for me,” he said. “I’ve been trying to work out real hard while I was at home, lifting and doing a lot of agilities so I could come back ready to go.”
As for Young replacing Tyrone Sally this year, he says he doesn’t feel any additional pressure.
“I’d feel the pressure if I wasn’t quite as confident but I have more confidence in myself and with the team believing in me that helps me even more. Since those guys believe in me I think I’ll do fine this year,” he said.
Briefly:
Should West Virginia win their regional in the Guardians Classic, both games in Kansas City are pegged for ESPN2. There could be even more ESPN and ESPN2 games selected at a later date.
“This is easily the most nationally televised games we’ve had in men’s basketball,” said WVU Deputy Director of Athletics Mike Parsons.
“It’s a real big opportunity and with the guys we have here we want to seize the moment,” said Frank Young. “There aren’t any guys on the team that are going to back down. Everybody is going to step up, play hard and won’t quit.”
