Photo by: Katie MacCrory
Mountaineer Insider Podcast, Presented by Lumos Networks
October 18, 2018 05:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Mountaineer Insider Podcast
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Four thousand of the 650,000 words written in this year's Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook are devoted to West Virginia University, according to editor Chris Dortch.
That's because Dortch has Bob Huggins' Mountaineers picked 16thin his yearbook's preseason rankings this year, one of four Big 12 teams in the preseason top 25.
The others are No. 2 Kansas, No. 13 Kansas State and No. 25 TCU.
"I wonder about Kansas. They keep on keeping on, but some of the off-the-floor stuff is a little concerning," Dortch told our Dan Zangrilli in today's Mountaineer Insider Podcast, presented by Lumos Networks. "I think Kansas State surprised a lot of people by getting as far as they did without their best player (2018 unanimous preseason All-Big 12 pick Dean Wade) in the NCAAs last year. You've got to look at them, and I think you have to look at West Virginia and maybe TCU behind them."
Dortch's regional writer Michael Bradley's preview of this year's Mountaineer team may have spent an inordinate amount of time dwelling on West Virginia's decision to give its players Sweet 16 rings last year - something all programs do these days - but once you get past that there are lots of interesting tidbits on Huggins' 2018-19 squad.
There are in-depth breakdowns of the starters and other players not returning, a projected 2018-19 starting lineup, key reserves, other reserves, a schedule breakdown, historical tidbits and the yearbook's preseason team analysis.
This from Bradley: "This is a dangerous West Virginia team, particularly if its backcourt quickly comes together."
Dortch, who in 1994 took over the publication from Buckhannon's Chris Wallace, now general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, agrees with Bradley's West Virginia breakdown."The one question mark is you lose a Jevon Carter and a Daxter Miles so what are you going to do in the backcourt? They've got two freshman, one is a redshirt in Brandon Knapper, and the other I'm really interested in watching is Jordan McCabe," Dortch said. "I've been watching YouTube videos of that kid … and he will not have Trae Young numbers because Trae Young was pretty much turned loose, but he's got Trae Young skills. He shoots with range and he shoots consistently, but what struck me about him is he's the most instinctive young passer I've seen since, well, Trae Young.
"Before that it was a long time," Dortch continued. "I wrote this last year: Pete Maravich came to mind when I saw Trae Young and when I look at Jordan McCabe he's got a lot of tendencies like that. He's a creative passer, and he'll take a risk or two."
With preseason All-Big 12 forward Sagaba Konate and senior Esa Ahmad returning up front, the Mountaineers will have one of the strongest frontcourts in the Big 12, but what Dortch is most impressed about with West Virginia is its numbers, which represent the true strength of this year's team.
"The biggest thing is you look for is the fact that they've got depth. In 2014-15, coach Huggins really needed to get something going and he did something, to me, that was one of the most courageous coaching moves that I've seen maybe in my career," Dortch explained. "In the power conferences, the coaches are conservative with their teams, and you don't see a lot of pressing and teams that commit to the press. The one exception that comes to mind is Arkansas with Mike Anderson, who learned it from Nolan Richardson. Well, coach Huggins decided to switch to what is now known as 'Press Virginia.'
Dortch added, "In order to run that you have to have numbers, and they've got 15 strong, and he's going to play 12 guys. That's the first thing you notice is they've got the depth to run that defense that he wants to run. He wants them to play better in transition, and if they do that they're going to get easy baskets off their steals. That's sort of the method to the madness."
West Virginia's transition game and its inability to consistently convert all of the steals it got last year into easy baskets are what kept the Mountaineers from getting past NCAA champion Villanova in the regional semifinals.
His team's transition offense is something Huggins has repeatedly said needs improving.
Dortch agrees.
"What good is making steals in your press if you can't convert?" he said. "Sometimes a press is utilized to slow down the opponent and make them take time to get into their offense. That's not West Virginia. They want steals and out of those steals they want that to generate offense."
Just like Dortch wants to continue to generate sales for his 400-page yearbook, considered the Bible of college basketball. Everybody who is anybody in the game today has at least one copy.
"Coaches use it to scout and game plan. NBA scouts use it to find players," Dortch said. "The NCAA actually gives copies to their selection committee members to help them with the selection process."
Copies can be order by logging on to the website BlueRibbonYearbook.com. Digital downloads are also available.
All Mountaineer Insider Podcasts are available on SoundCloud or by subscribing to West Virginia University podcasts through iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher.
The Mountaineer Insider Podcast is presented each week by Lumos Networks, your network, your way.
Produced by Dan Zangrilli
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