NCAA Notebook
March 17, 2006 11:06 AM | General
March 17, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University’s outstanding five-player senior group of Patrick Beilein, J.D. Collins, Mike Gansey, Joe Herber and Kevin Pittsnogle are putting their season on the line today against Southern Illinois in an NCAA tournament first-round game at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich.
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| West Virginia head coach John Beilein admits he has also had a special affinity for his first recruiting classes wherever he's coached.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The group has won 75 of 125 games and has led West Virginia to its first back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 19 years.
“I’ve tried to emphasize to them that they’ve done so much more than anybody thought they would,” said Mountaineer coach John Beilein. “Just go out and play hard.”
Beilein admits this class has a two-fold special meaning to him. One, his oldest son Patrick came in with this group, and two, Beilein says he has always had a special affinity for his first recruiting classes wherever he’s been.
“Not only coaching your own son but also coaching your first recruits … whatever university I’ve coached at those first recruits have always remained special,” he said.
This group features the school’s first All-American player (Pittsnogle) since 1972. The 6-11 senior center leads the team in scoring averaging 19.5 points per game and is ninth at WVU with 1,657 career points.
“I maintain that since the adoption of the 3-point arc that he’s the best-shooting big man to play the game,” Beilein has said.
Mike Gansey has been named a finalist to a pair of distinguished national awards and joined Pittsnogle on the all-Big East first team. The 6-4 forward came to West Virginia from St. Bonaventure three years ago and in his two seasons at WVU, he has not only helped the Mountaineers to a pair of NCAA tournament trips, but he has also led the Mountaineers back into the national rankings.
Gansey’s all-out play has taken its toll on his body this season, forcing him to miss the last 10 minutes of the Big East quarterfinal loss to Pitt with an abdominal strain, but he has still managed to average 17.2 points per game and shoot 56 percent overall from the floor.
Joe Herber has started every game of his career (125 games) and has worked his way up to 38th in career scoring at WVU with 1,048 points. Patrick Beilein is the second most prolific 3-point shooter in school history behind Pittsnogle, making 234, and for the last three years has been one of the Big East’s most effective sixth men.
J.D. Collins has run the show since his freshman season and has worked his way up to seventh in career assists with 389. He has also improved his offense and is averaging a career-best 5.1 points per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the floor.
This group was assigned the task of rebuilding a severely damaged program four years ago.
“They came into a situation that was so adverse it actually created them to be at a level that they are right now,” Beilein said. “They all fought through it and didn’t look for greener pastures every few minutes.”
Briefly:
“It’s only natural as the year goes along that the officials are working just as hard as the teams are and I think generally the games will get more physical as the year goes along,” Beilein said of the rough stuff permitted in the Big East this year. “There is a supervisor of officials at every site telling them the same thing they did back in October when they met with everybody: you’re not allowed to chuck, you’re not allowed to hold and you’re not allowed to do all these things.
“If we have officials that allow a more physical game it’s a much tougher game for us to win,” Beilein admitted.
“They have somewhere between 60 and 100 games together on the court,” said Beilein. “When you get to that point everyone is experienced. When you have a first-time freshman in there that’s when experience becomes a factor.”
“We’ve seen lots of TV tapes and I just love his courtside demeanor,” he said. “I have not seen ranting and raving. He’s not arguing with officials on every call. I like coaches that their team looks at them and sees confidence and a calming effect. That’s the coach I try to be like although I probably frown too much.”
When he was much younger, Beilein said it was very difficult keeping his composure on the sidelines.
“This is my 31st year,” he said. “I’ve chased a few officials down the hallway in the junior colleges when I was 29 and 30. Thank goodness I wasn’t a head coach at a Division I school when I was 28 or 29 or I probably wouldn’t have done well at that point.”
Beilein has also taken notice of Lowery’s attention to detail on the defensive end of the floor.
“You’ve got to be able to sell kids on doing this they way they do it,” Beilein said. “It takes a lot of effort and he’s getting it done.”
