Jacobs: Hard Work Gets Results
January 09, 2007 03:59 PM | General
January 9, 2007
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| Jay Jacobs |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – This West Virginia basketball team just continues to amaze me. I think the big difference from some of John Beilein’s other West Virginia teams is the way this year’s team has played defense.
This year, the team can have a spurt when the offense is not in rhythm or in sync and the defense keeps them in games. They are going to get a steal that leads to a basket and they’re playing good, solid defense all over the place contesting shots. We saw that last week against Villanova.
I am interested to see how this team plays at Notre Dame tonight and I want to see how it performs at Marquette on Saturday. To have a 3-0 start in the league when you’ve got Connecticut and Villanova right off the bat is very rewarding and gives a young basketball team a lot of confidence. To see the way the fans have come out and responded to this team is very gratifying. To know that at the 2-minute mark when we’re up by 15 and nobody has left yet because they’re still waiting for a play to be made has everybody excited.
What I saw in October was fed off of what Frank Young and former guard J.D. Collins casually mentioned to me back in the summer. Frank told me, “It’s hard for me to say anything but playing with these guys ... we all get along and it’s stupidly scary, Jay,” he said.
Then J.D. fills in by saying after the exhibition game, “You know, this team has some players and their work ethic is good. Even on the off days we would be coming in here working out and they were shooting with me from 9:30 until 1 in morning.”
Joe Alexander was out on the floor after the women’s game recently with a basketball in his hands and I asked him, “Joe what are you doing?”
He said, “I’ve got 45 minutes before my curfew at 11 and I’m going to try and get as much shooting in as I can because there are some things I’ve got to work on.”
Yes, this basketball team has already earned 13 wins this year but I don’t want anybody out there to think that they haven’t worked extremely hard to get them.
I can remember back in 1957 when Jerry West first came into my dad’s clothing store in Morgantown to buy a suit and my dad began taking his measurements. He just marveled at Jerry’s arm length. Jerry’s neck size was about a 16 ½ and dad would go down his arms and they were between 38 and 39 inches long. In other words, Jerry West at 6 foot 3 was really like 6-8 or 6-9 out on the basketball court.
Now, look at Joe Alexander who is 6-8 with those long arms. This guy is out there at the top of the 1-3-1 with Alex Ruoff and Frank Young on the wings at 6-6 and 6-5. Frank and Al are not the fastest guys around but they are difficult to get around because they are so long. You think you’re open for a shot when you’re really not because of their great length.
John Beilein’s teams have always been a tough prep for opponents because of the offensive system that he employs. This year the preparation has been doubly difficult because teams can’t just simply devote 75 percent of their practice going over West Virginia’s offense. They must also take time to work on the 1-3-1.
I said on the air the other night for those people at the Coliseum that have headsets: do not follow the ball. Pick a West Virginia player and watch what he does without the ball. Take Da’Sean Butler for instance. He won’t even be in the play but he can wind up making a play. He’s running to glass on the weak side and he knows or has probably been taught that 80 percent of the shots that are taken on the strong side of the basket are rebounded on the weak side.
He’s always in position.
Here is an example of how well this team already understands its role and can adapt when it needs to. In the St. John’s game, Darris Nichols became really a shooting 2-guard. Alex Ruoff had eight assists in the game and Joe Alexander had seven and Ruoff turned into the distributor and let Darris take the shots.
Nichols winds up with a game-high 20 points.
Enjoy tonight's game.
