Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
NCAA Tournament Notebook
March 20, 2018 12:36 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Don't discount the value of having experienced, competent assistant coaches on a basketball staff.
A few weeks ago, Bob Huggins singled out the work Larry Harrison has done with Jevon Carter during the last four years mentoring the senior on and off the floor.
Huggins is also getting a lot from Erik Martin and his efforts with West Virginia big men Sagaba Konate, Logan Routt and Maciej Bender.
All three have different skills sets and abilities, but Martin said he works with them on basically the same things.
"I usually just try and teach the same moves to all of them because all of the inside moves are basic moves," he explained the other day. "Some guys learn quick and some guys it takes a little bit longer to learn."
Martin said he's interested in developing one offensive move each guy is comfortable with and then building off that.
"I'm a firm believer if you're going to be playing inside you've got to have a go-to move and you need to learn how to create space," he said. "Obviously, Sags is a better athlete than Logan, but Magic is an underrated athlete so they've got to figure out what they're comfortable with and go from there."
For Konate, the right-handed jump hook has become his go-to move on the right block. He's gotten it to the point where he simply catches the ball, turns and flips it up quickly off the glass before the defender has time to react.
That comes from working on it with Martin during practice and then taking what he's learned and doing it over and over and over again by himself when nobody else is around.
"He told me 'if you want to be great you have to listen to the coaches, be coachable and you've got to be in the gym by yourself,' and I just try and do that," Konate said. "I have improved a lot from last year to this year. Last year, I really didn't get the playing time to show that I can do multiple things."
A lot has been made of Konate's shot-blocking prowess, but most of that is pure, natural ability and instincts. His offense and rebounding, two areas where he has improved immensely, can be helped with good instruction.
Routt has also made significant strides during the time he's worked with Martin, going from being a mop-up player a year ago to one who is counted on for providing important minutes coming off the bench this season.
"We do individual work every day, and I feel like he's a really good motivator when we come to practice," Routt said. "He's always motivating me to run the floor or get some boards or set some screens."
"It's been a challenging year, but for the most part, these guys have been extremely coachable, and they've been receptive to some new ideas," Martin added. "Obviously, there have been some bad days, but I had a few bad days with Kevin (Jones), Devin (Williams) and Elijah (Macon) too.
"They're all sophomores so I think I've had to take a step back and be a little bit more patient than I've been in the past. I've probably grown a lot just like they have."
As for Konate, Martin said there are still things he needs to add to his overall package to become a more complete offensive player.
"I think he knows that everybody is sitting on his right hand, but he needs to add some things to his right hand as far as an up-and-under, backing out, attacking through the middle or attacking through the baseline," Martin said. "But Sags is a gym rat. He puts in the work, so his upside is off the charts."
Routt, too, continues to come along under Martin's watchful eye, especially his footwork. That comes from Martin's insistence on his bigs frequently jumping rope.
"I think it might have been the Texas Tech game when Logan went back up and got the rebound, missed it and got it again," Martin recalled. "Logan wouldn't have been able to do that a year ago."
NCAA NOTEBOOK:
* The team is departing for Boston a day early to get a jump on an anticipated storm that could dump as much as a foot of snow on the Boston area Wednesday and Thursday.
The Mountaineers' initial travel schedule called for the team remaining in Morgantown until Wednesday and then leaving for Boston in mid-afternoon following a late-morning practice. However, the NCAA encouraged all four teams participating in the East regional to get ahead of the weather by leaving Tuesday.
West Virginia will have to find a place in Boston to practice Wednesday before assuming its regular tournament-site preparation on Thursday.
* The Mountaineers' seventh NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance since 2005 ties Florida, Arizona and Louisville for the third-most of any team during that time period.
Duke, Kansas and North Carolina have nine Sweet 16 trips, while Kentucky Michigan State and Wisconsin have eight.
Among those, only West Virginia, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky are playing in this year's Sweet 16.
Among the other Sweet 16 participants, Syracuse, Gonzaga and Villanova have made six regional appearances since 2005.
West Virginia's last two trips to the Sweet 16 have been against No. 1 seeds - Kentucky in 2015 and Gonzaga in 2017. Including No. 1 seed Villanova, which the Mountaineers face on Friday, the combined record of those three teams is 102-5.
That's pretty good.
* Konate recently celebrated a birthday and the team serenaded him on the plane ride back from San Diego with the singing of "Happy Birthday." The guys are much better basketball players than they are singers, that's for sure!
* Bruce Feldman profiled Konate's shot-blocking proficiency in SI.com yesterday. Here is a link to his story: https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/03/19/sagaba-konate-west-virginia-shot-blocker-march-madness
* Per a release issued by West Virginia's assistant athletic director for communications Bryan Messerly on Monday, junior forward D'Angelo Hunter has been granted his release to transfer from the program.
Hunter was not with the team last weekend for its two NCAA Tournament games against Murray State and Marshall. He averaged 1.5 points and 0.9 rebounds in 17 games this season.
* Huggins is now 33-23 all-time in NCAA Tournament games including a 13-8 mark at West Virginia, his 13 victories amounting to 42 percent of the Mountaineers' 31 all-time NCAA Tournament wins.
* West Virginia is going to have a tall task ahead of it facing No. 1-seeded Villanova on Friday based on announcer Kevin Harlan's analysis of the Wildcats on ESPNU Radio earlier today. Harlan, who also calls NBA games, at one point during the interview compared Villanova to Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns teams of the mid-2000s.
Interesting.
* West Virginia and Villanova have not played each other since 2011, the Mountaineers' last season in the Big 12, but the two teams have met 42 times through the years dating back to 1956.
The two played annually from 1973-80 when they were in the same conference, and again from 1996-2012 when West Virginia joined the Big East.
Several of meetings occurred in March.
In 1962, Villanova defeated West Virginia in an NCAA Tournament first-round game played at the Palestra, 90-75. Three times, Rollie Massamino's Wildcats knocked West Virginia out of the conference tournament - in 1977 in Philadelphia (when Huggins was a WVU player), in 1978 in Pittsburgh, and again in 1980.
Villanova also sent West Virginia packing in the Big East Tournament in 1999 and 2001, but the Mountaineers trimmed the Wildcats in the 2005 Big East semifinals when Mike Gansey's two free throws with 0.2 seconds remaining lifted it to a 78-76 victory.
The last time these two played was on Dec. 28, 2011, at the WVU Coliseum. West Virginia defeated Villanova 83-69 behind guard Truck Bryant's 34 points.
* Jevon Carter has already faced Kansas' Devonte' Graham and Oklahoma's Trae Young multiple times, and now he gets the opportunity to go head-to-head against Villanova's outstanding junior guard Jalen Brunson.
Carter has already shut down two of college basketball's most prolific scorers in Murray State's Jonathan Stark (9 points on 1 of 12 shooting) and Marshall's Jon Elmore (15 points on 4 of 12 shooting). In Brunson, Carter will be hounding the guy generally considered college basketball's top point guard not named Graham or Young.
By the way, Jevon is coming off a 28-point, five-assist, five-steal, four-rebound game against Marshall and is the only player in NCAA Tournament history to have at least 49 points, 13 assists and 11 steals through his first two tournament games, per WVU Athletic Communications research.
* Considering that Wesley Harris did not return to Sunday's 94-71 victory over Marshall after his head-to-head collision with Thundering Herd forward Jannson Williams, he would have to be listed as questionable for Friday's Villanova game.
WVU's veteran athletic trainer Randy Meador will certainly be keeping a close eye on Harris' progress for the remainder of this week.
* Huggins and Wright, two old Big East coaching buddies, will be matching wits again on Friday. They faced each other six times when West Virginia was in the Big East with Huggins winning three and Wright winning three.
Thursday's NCAA Tournament news conference should be lots of fun when those two guys get up on the dais and start busting on each other.
* This was kind of lost in the shuffle a little bit, but with Wisconsin not making this year's NCAA Tournament field of 68, West Virginia now owns the longest active streak in the country with its football team reaching a bowl game and its basketball team qualifying for the NCAA Tournament - four years.
A few weeks ago, Bob Huggins singled out the work Larry Harrison has done with Jevon Carter during the last four years mentoring the senior on and off the floor.
Huggins is also getting a lot from Erik Martin and his efforts with West Virginia big men Sagaba Konate, Logan Routt and Maciej Bender.
All three have different skills sets and abilities, but Martin said he works with them on basically the same things.
"I usually just try and teach the same moves to all of them because all of the inside moves are basic moves," he explained the other day. "Some guys learn quick and some guys it takes a little bit longer to learn."
Martin said he's interested in developing one offensive move each guy is comfortable with and then building off that.
"I'm a firm believer if you're going to be playing inside you've got to have a go-to move and you need to learn how to create space," he said. "Obviously, Sags is a better athlete than Logan, but Magic is an underrated athlete so they've got to figure out what they're comfortable with and go from there."
For Konate, the right-handed jump hook has become his go-to move on the right block. He's gotten it to the point where he simply catches the ball, turns and flips it up quickly off the glass before the defender has time to react.
That comes from working on it with Martin during practice and then taking what he's learned and doing it over and over and over again by himself when nobody else is around.
"He told me 'if you want to be great you have to listen to the coaches, be coachable and you've got to be in the gym by yourself,' and I just try and do that," Konate said. "I have improved a lot from last year to this year. Last year, I really didn't get the playing time to show that I can do multiple things."
A lot has been made of Konate's shot-blocking prowess, but most of that is pure, natural ability and instincts. His offense and rebounding, two areas where he has improved immensely, can be helped with good instruction.
Routt has also made significant strides during the time he's worked with Martin, going from being a mop-up player a year ago to one who is counted on for providing important minutes coming off the bench this season.
"We do individual work every day, and I feel like he's a really good motivator when we come to practice," Routt said. "He's always motivating me to run the floor or get some boards or set some screens."
"It's been a challenging year, but for the most part, these guys have been extremely coachable, and they've been receptive to some new ideas," Martin added. "Obviously, there have been some bad days, but I had a few bad days with Kevin (Jones), Devin (Williams) and Elijah (Macon) too.
"They're all sophomores so I think I've had to take a step back and be a little bit more patient than I've been in the past. I've probably grown a lot just like they have."
As for Konate, Martin said there are still things he needs to add to his overall package to become a more complete offensive player.
"I think he knows that everybody is sitting on his right hand, but he needs to add some things to his right hand as far as an up-and-under, backing out, attacking through the middle or attacking through the baseline," Martin said. "But Sags is a gym rat. He puts in the work, so his upside is off the charts."
Routt, too, continues to come along under Martin's watchful eye, especially his footwork. That comes from Martin's insistence on his bigs frequently jumping rope.
"I think it might have been the Texas Tech game when Logan went back up and got the rebound, missed it and got it again," Martin recalled. "Logan wouldn't have been able to do that a year ago."
NCAA NOTEBOOK:
* The team is departing for Boston a day early to get a jump on an anticipated storm that could dump as much as a foot of snow on the Boston area Wednesday and Thursday.
The Mountaineers' initial travel schedule called for the team remaining in Morgantown until Wednesday and then leaving for Boston in mid-afternoon following a late-morning practice. However, the NCAA encouraged all four teams participating in the East regional to get ahead of the weather by leaving Tuesday.
West Virginia will have to find a place in Boston to practice Wednesday before assuming its regular tournament-site preparation on Thursday.
* The Mountaineers' seventh NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance since 2005 ties Florida, Arizona and Louisville for the third-most of any team during that time period.
Duke, Kansas and North Carolina have nine Sweet 16 trips, while Kentucky Michigan State and Wisconsin have eight.
Among those, only West Virginia, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky are playing in this year's Sweet 16.
Among the other Sweet 16 participants, Syracuse, Gonzaga and Villanova have made six regional appearances since 2005.
West Virginia's last two trips to the Sweet 16 have been against No. 1 seeds - Kentucky in 2015 and Gonzaga in 2017. Including No. 1 seed Villanova, which the Mountaineers face on Friday, the combined record of those three teams is 102-5.
That's pretty good.
* Konate recently celebrated a birthday and the team serenaded him on the plane ride back from San Diego with the singing of "Happy Birthday." The guys are much better basketball players than they are singers, that's for sure!
* Bruce Feldman profiled Konate's shot-blocking proficiency in SI.com yesterday. Here is a link to his story: https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/03/19/sagaba-konate-west-virginia-shot-blocker-march-madness
* Per a release issued by West Virginia's assistant athletic director for communications Bryan Messerly on Monday, junior forward D'Angelo Hunter has been granted his release to transfer from the program.
Hunter was not with the team last weekend for its two NCAA Tournament games against Murray State and Marshall. He averaged 1.5 points and 0.9 rebounds in 17 games this season.
* Huggins is now 33-23 all-time in NCAA Tournament games including a 13-8 mark at West Virginia, his 13 victories amounting to 42 percent of the Mountaineers' 31 all-time NCAA Tournament wins.* West Virginia is going to have a tall task ahead of it facing No. 1-seeded Villanova on Friday based on announcer Kevin Harlan's analysis of the Wildcats on ESPNU Radio earlier today. Harlan, who also calls NBA games, at one point during the interview compared Villanova to Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns teams of the mid-2000s.
Interesting.
* West Virginia and Villanova have not played each other since 2011, the Mountaineers' last season in the Big 12, but the two teams have met 42 times through the years dating back to 1956.
The two played annually from 1973-80 when they were in the same conference, and again from 1996-2012 when West Virginia joined the Big East.
Several of meetings occurred in March.
In 1962, Villanova defeated West Virginia in an NCAA Tournament first-round game played at the Palestra, 90-75. Three times, Rollie Massamino's Wildcats knocked West Virginia out of the conference tournament - in 1977 in Philadelphia (when Huggins was a WVU player), in 1978 in Pittsburgh, and again in 1980.
Villanova also sent West Virginia packing in the Big East Tournament in 1999 and 2001, but the Mountaineers trimmed the Wildcats in the 2005 Big East semifinals when Mike Gansey's two free throws with 0.2 seconds remaining lifted it to a 78-76 victory.
The last time these two played was on Dec. 28, 2011, at the WVU Coliseum. West Virginia defeated Villanova 83-69 behind guard Truck Bryant's 34 points.
* Jevon Carter has already faced Kansas' Devonte' Graham and Oklahoma's Trae Young multiple times, and now he gets the opportunity to go head-to-head against Villanova's outstanding junior guard Jalen Brunson.Carter has already shut down two of college basketball's most prolific scorers in Murray State's Jonathan Stark (9 points on 1 of 12 shooting) and Marshall's Jon Elmore (15 points on 4 of 12 shooting). In Brunson, Carter will be hounding the guy generally considered college basketball's top point guard not named Graham or Young.
By the way, Jevon is coming off a 28-point, five-assist, five-steal, four-rebound game against Marshall and is the only player in NCAA Tournament history to have at least 49 points, 13 assists and 11 steals through his first two tournament games, per WVU Athletic Communications research.
* Considering that Wesley Harris did not return to Sunday's 94-71 victory over Marshall after his head-to-head collision with Thundering Herd forward Jannson Williams, he would have to be listed as questionable for Friday's Villanova game.
WVU's veteran athletic trainer Randy Meador will certainly be keeping a close eye on Harris' progress for the remainder of this week.
* Huggins and Wright, two old Big East coaching buddies, will be matching wits again on Friday. They faced each other six times when West Virginia was in the Big East with Huggins winning three and Wright winning three.
Thursday's NCAA Tournament news conference should be lots of fun when those two guys get up on the dais and start busting on each other.
* This was kind of lost in the shuffle a little bit, but with Wisconsin not making this year's NCAA Tournament field of 68, West Virginia now owns the longest active streak in the country with its football team reaching a bowl game and its basketball team qualifying for the NCAA Tournament - four years.
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