Persistence Pays Off
November 10, 2015 04:51 PM | Men's Basketball
Persistence can sometimes pay off.
It certainly did for West Virginia University when talented Cleveland forward Esa Ahmad committed to play for the Mountaineers last fall.
The 6-foot-8-inch, 225-pound Ahmad was one of the Buckeye State’s top prep players and one of the top 50 players in the country last year. His suitors included a long list of the top basketball programs in the country.
Coach Bob Huggins and assistant Ron Everhart made the short trip over to Shaker Heights High as many times as the NCAA rule book would allow, something Ahmad admits made a big impression on him.
“That was big for me,” he said before practice last week. “It’s close to my family and I love Coach Huggs, Coach Everhart who recruited me and the whole staff. They were always there from my 10th grade year all the way up to 12th grade.”
Ahmad admits a big selling point for West Virginia was Huggins’ willingness to play him on the perimeter.
Huggins wasn’t the only college coach telling Ahmad he could play there, but he was the most convincing with the best overall plan to make it happen. Plus, playing in a big-time basketball conference such as the Big 12 that is full of terrific wing players doesn’t hurt the cause either.
“I like to play against the best so playing against guys like that is going to get me where I need to be,” Ahmad said.
His court vision, ability to score off the bounce and size to take smaller perimeter players to the basket were things Huggins could see immediately when he first watched him play as a sophomore.
“I thought, ‘Here is a guy who gets it.’ He knows what’s supposed to happen,” Huggins said. “Like anybody else, when he first got here the game was going so fast that he couldn’t keep up. But now he’s kind of been able to slow down, he makes less turnovers, shoots the ball better – everything he’s done has gotten better.”
“I think I’m fitting in,” Ahmad said.
Yeah, you could say that.
He scored 21 points on seven-of-nine shooting in just 20 minutes of action in the scrimmage we couldn’t watch against Temple a couple of weeks ago, and last Friday night he continued his fine play with 11 points on four-of-six shooting in West Virginia’s 38-point victory over Glenville State.
Ahmad also had six assists, which is almost a revelation for a freshman wing player in this day an age.
Passing the ball so well will keep him in the starting lineup, but guarding guys on the perimeter is going to determine just how long he stays out on the floor. According to Huggins, that part of his game is still a work in progress.
“We’re trying to play him on the perimeter – I want him to play on the perimeter,” he said. “If he can play him on the perimeter I think it helps our rebounding tremendously and it helps our length.”
In the limited time we’ve seen Ahmad out on the floor he does conjure up memories of Da’Sean Butler and the versatility he provided to the Mountaineers during their Final Four run in 2010. Butler probably bounced it a little better than Ahmad and was a much better defender than Ahmad is right now, but that doesn’t mean Ahmad can’t get to that level if he continues to work at it.
“People sometimes say, ‘Well, didn’t they teach him to play defense in high school?’ Why would you teach the guy who is the best player in Ohio to foul out?” Huggins noted. “It doesn’t make any sense. You put your best player on their worst player so he stays in the game. He’s never really guarded on the perimeter so it’s all new to him.”
What Ahmad possesses that cannot be taught is tremendous length, which can cause problems for smaller players. Huggins explained.
“He doesn’t have to be as close to people,” he said. “He can still affect people and bother people, and he’s starting to figure all of that out. He’s got a really good understanding.”
“I’m learning to stay on help side, stay in line with the ball and just trying to take in as much as possible,” Ahmad added. “I think I’ve been managing it pretty well.”
He has also been managing his physical fitness pretty well since strength coach Andy Kettler got a hold of him last summer.
Ahmad came to WVU with a body fat percentage right around 17 percent and in a few short months with Kettler it’s already down to 11 percent and falling. He’s going to need to be leaner and more fit in order to go up against the tremendous players he’s going to face on a nightly basis in college basketball’s most difficult conference.
“I couldn’t drink a lot of juices,” Ahmad said. “I had to drink a lot of water and watch what I was eating. I couldn’t eat any junk or late-night runs to get some fast food.”
Ahmad said the sacrifices have been well worth it. His body is already transforming, and now the mind is starting to come along, too.
“I think I felt comfortable as soon as I committed,” he said. “Once I got here and saw things I felt even better about things and how I fit in. I just had to work and get my body where it needs to be, I got there, and now I’m feeling really good.”
And that should make Mountaineer fans feel really good.
West Virginia opens the 2015-16 season on Friday, November 13, when the Mountaineers play host to Northern Kentucky at the WVU Coliseum in a 7 p.m. non-conference game.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by calling toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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