Practicing Patience
October 09, 2008 10:33 AM | General
October 9, 2008
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| Mike Carey |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Mike Carey will be the first one to admit that patience is not one of his strong suits. Anyone walking the WVU Coliseum corridors at mid-afternoon during basketball season can attest to that.
But Carey says this year he’s going to try his hardest to keep his cool because he really has no other choice. This is by far the youngest and most inexperienced basketball team he’s had in his eight years at West Virginia.
Gone are the team’s five top scorers, including two-time all-Big East center Yinka Sanni, a member of this year’s WNBA champion Detroit Shock. Also gone are important reserves Lateefah Joye, Kendra Goodley and Kelly Smith. Only three players return from a very good basketball team last year and those three players accounted for just 8.2 points per game between them.
“This is going to be a test of blood pressure, loss of hair and hopefully some weight,” Carey joked. “Even during our individuals it has taken a lot of patience.”
Yet being patient doesn’t mean Carey is going to throw in the towel on this season and wait until next year’s recruiting class arrives in Morgantown.
“We’ve got to do the little things. We’re not going to come out and out-talent people right now,” Carey said. “We’ve got to play defense, we’ve got to block out every time. We’ve got to set good picks. We’ve got to take care of the basketball. We don’t have any room for not using the proper fundamentals and those are the things that we are going to expect from them.”
If you are wondering, Carey has been in this position before. He took an undermanned West Virginia team to the Big East tournament championship game in 2006, nearly making the NCAA tournament as a sub-.500 team. How did he do it? By demanding that his team play tough, in-your-face defense, and out-hustling other teams. That has been Carey’s blueprint for success all the way back to his days at Salem College.
“I think early we’re going to struggle to score because we don’t take care of the ball, we don’t know the system and we don’t know what we’re looking for right now so there are a lot of adjustments being made,” Carey said. “We’re going to have to rely on defense and we’re going to have to try and out-hustle some people.”
Carey says this year’s team is going to be small but his decisions on personnel will not be predicated by the size that he does have. If he has to he will play five guards, a combination of four guards and a forward or whatever it takes to get the five best players on the floor at the same time.
“If they bring it to practice and they show me that they are going to listen and do what they need to do I don’t care if we’ve got to go four guards and one post, whatever we’ve got to do,” Carey said.
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| Liz Repella |
Senior Ashley Powell and sophomore Liz Repella are the only two returning players with any real experience. Powell has never been a scorer but she can score, producing double-digit scoring against Marshall last year and two seasons ago against LSU in the NCAA Tournament. The guard handed out a team-best 142 assists last year as a junior and also pulled down 102 rebounds.
Repella has the ability to be a scorer despite averaging just 3.5 points per game as a freshman. Twice she scored a season-high 13 points coming off the bench against Villanova and Presbyterian, and she had eight key points in an upset of No. 4 Rutgers. Last summer, she averaged 17 points per game participating in the Bajan Friendship Tour of Barbados last summer.
“I think Liz Repella is in good shape and will be better this year,” Carey said, adding that the 5-11 guard could be used some at the four-position this year.
Sarah Miles played sparingly last year but has the talent and ability to be a quality Big East guard. She appeared in 16 games in 2008 and scored 10 points in a home win against Presbyterian.
“I think Sarah Miles came back in good shape and she will be better this year, and Ashley Powell - we need her to continue to run the team on the offensive end,” Carey said.
Two newcomers also figure into the mix. Virginia transfer Takisha Granberry made 31 career starts for the Cavaliers in three seasons, producing 18 double-digit scoring games including a career-high 18 points against Clemson. Coming out of high school Granberry was the No. 18-rated player in the nation.
“I’ve been extremely pleased with her work ethic, her attitude and her approach to the game this year,” Carey said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a big year.”
Granberry has just one year of eligibility remaining, which doesn’t bother Carey in the least. He says he has had success with one-year players in the past.
“They know this is their last shot,” Carey said. “Her ambition is to go on and play after this so there is no doubt in my mind that she will come into this year focused.”
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| Madina Ali |
Carey also likes what he’s seen so far from junior college transfer Madina Ali. A 6-foot forward from Daytona Beach Community College, Ali was a second team junior college All-American after averaging 13 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 57 percent from the floor. The Williamsport, Pa., resident was rated the nation’s No. 21-best junior college prospect by one scouting service.
“Madina Ali is a legit Big East player but she’s small,” Carey said. “She’s done extremely well.”
After that, Carey is looking for others to step up. Jessica Capers, a prep standout from Forest View High School in Gastonia, N.C., was being counted on as a freshman before injuring her knee during a summer all-star game. She will redshirt this year.
“Of all the years this is probably the year that we couldn’t afford that because of losing so many people from last year,” Carey said. “The other girls are going to have to step in. Some of them we weren’t counting on playing right away and because of that I think we’re going to struggle. All of the coaches are just going to have to be patient. I’m not well known for my patience but I’m really going to try.
“We’ve just got to continue to work,” Carey added. “Hopefully we’ll get better as the year goes on and there are going to be times, I’m sure, when I’m standing on the sidelines wanting to pull my hair out.”
What Carey is looking for is consistent improvement throughout the season.
“It’s going to be a learning process. They’re going to mess up offensively. They’re going to have some turnovers. Defensively we’re going to have some breakdowns. We’ve just got to continue to do film work, show them, and continue to teach,” he said. “It’s going to be a big teaching year. I feel really good about the ’09 recruiting class and I think people will see that with the people that we sign. This year it’s going to be about teaching and getting people better and trying to win some games along the way.”
