Konate's Return Bolsters Deep Mountaineer Roster

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - A signing class that has received a thumbs up from all of the recruiting experts recently got a whole lot better when sophomore forward Sagaba Konate removed his name from the NBA Draft.

Konate, one of the nation's top returning interior defenders, made the decision to come back to WVU for his junior season in late May.

"I said in Wheeling some time back that if he wasn't a first-round pick he was coming back, and that's what happened," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said last Friday at the Basketball Practice Facility.

Huggins met with media prior to his annual Fantasy Camp, which took place last weekend.

"I was doing a deal in Hilton Head (South Carolina) and I walked in and a guy came over, gave me a hug and congratulated me," Huggins said of how he learned of Konate's decision. "We had been on the (Coaches') Caravan and then I was flying from Beckley to Hilton Head, but he knew I knew so it wasn't a big deal."

It is a big deal getting Konate and his 116 blocks, 389 points and 275 rebounds in 36 games last season back.

The forward's rapid development follows a path many of Huggins' players have taken through the years.

The veteran coach recited the progress some of his best guys at Cincinnati made when discussing Konate.

"That's what they're supposed to do," he explained. "We'd be here for a while if I told you all of them. I don't know if I've ever had anybody get as good as Steve Logan got in such a short period of time. It's the process. It's the culture above and beyond everything else. It's what we do."

Konate performed well at this year's NBA Draft Combine at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and received valuable feedback on some of the things he needs to work on with his game.

The 6-foot-8-inch forward is still relatively new to basketball, having taken up the sport just a few years ago before moving from Bamako, Mali, to the United States prior his junior year of high school to play at Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.

Konate is similar to former standout forward Kenyon Martin in that both were under-the-radar recruits who blossomed under Huggins' tutelage.

Martin opted to return for his senior season at Cincinnati and ended up being the No. 1 overall player taken in the 2001 NBA Draft. The secret to Martin's rapid ascension was his ability to pass the basketball, not his tremendous skills and athletic ability.

That's a part of Konate's game that is in continual need of refining, Huggins said.

"If you can pass it, they can't run and double you," Huggins explained. "You don't see them run and double LeBron (James) very much because he can pass. But you go see them double those guys that can't pass and you hurt yourself whenever you don't have the ability to pass the ball.

"It's a skill, just like shooting and dribbling."

Huggins has not had that many NBA-caliber players at West Virginia, but he did have a lot at Cincinnati, and he frequently had to manage his players' professional aspirations within the framework of success his teams enjoyed on the court.

He admitted it's not as hard as some people might think.

"Kenyon wanted to shoot the ball a little farther out on the floor … 'Well, make 'em,'" Huggins said. "If you make 'em I'll let you shoot 'em. As he made more perimeter shots he took more perimeter shots.

"We were playing South Carolina once, and our guards couldn't make a shot," Huggins continued. "They weren't even close to making a shot, and they kept shooting 'em. So, I said. 'Why don't we do this. Let's have the big guys go jack up 3s and you little guys go in there and rebound. Let's see how you like that.' If Sags is making perimeter shots then by God shoot 'em. But if you're not making them then don't hurt the team."

Konate is clearly the West Virginia player everyone is going to be talking about this fall, but forward Esa Ahmad is also returning for his senior season after flirting with the idea of turning pro. Ahmad has displayed flashes of brilliance during his three years at WVU.

Skilled forwards Lamont West and Wesley Harris are also back, as is streaky shooting guard James "Beetle" Bolden.

South Charleston guard Brandon Knapper didn't play last year because of a preseason knee injury, but after he was finally cleared to practice he drew rave reviews.

"He didn't get in a lot of five-on-five stuff because you're trying to win games, but he played a lot against (Jevon Carter) from a defensive standpoint when we were on offense and J.C. thinks he's a really good defender and we're certainly going to need that from him," Huggins said. "We've got a lot of guys that can play multiple positions with Knapp being one of those guys. I wouldn't be afraid to put Knapp on a small forward because he's got great strength."

As for his six-player recruiting class ranked as high as No. 22 in the country by Rivals, Huggins is pleased with the guys he got but will wait and see how they perform in college before making any declarations.

One recent news report labeled this year's WVU roster among the deepest Huggins has had going back to his Cincinnati days.

"Don't we always think that until we see 'em?" Huggins said. "It's a whole lot different going out and watching an AAU game than it is playing against somebody up here. They're up your shirt here. It's a whole lot different. It's hard to explain how multifaceted you have to be to be a good basketball player.

"You have to be able to guard and rebound. There's transition offense and transition defense, zone offense, zone offense against 1-3-1, 2-3, 3-2 or 1-2-2 so there's a lot of things to learn - and that doesn't count man offense, man offense against perimeter teams and man offense against zone teams. And then you've got to rebound the ball," he said.

The two most recent players Huggins signed, 6-foot-7, 215-pound junior college guard Jermaine Haley and 6-foot-7, 185-pound wing Emmitt Matthews Jr., fulfilled some immediate needs.

Haley gives Huggins some sorely needed size on the perimeter to complement the tremendous skills early signees Jordan McCabe and Trey Doomes are bringing to the table, while Matthews became available after Kevin Ollie was fired at Connecticut.

He was considered one of the top available players in the country when he signed with WVU last month.

"Jermaine is really our only size (in the backcourt)," Huggins said. "I liked it when Da'Sean (Butler) was playing point guard. You talk about being able to switch everything. We could switch everything when the smallest guy on the floor was 6-6. I just think we've got to throw them out there and kind of see what shakes out and who is good at what."

The pair of bigs Huggins inked early are raw but talented. Andrew Gordon, a sophomore eligibility-wise from Northwest Florida State College, possesses a ready-made body but has been slowed by a knee injury.

He did not play last season.

Derek Culver, originally from Boardman, Ohio, prepped at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire last year and was the Mountaineers' highest-rated recruit as the nation's No. 78-rated prospect, according to 247Sports.com.

With the frontcourt players West Virginia has returning this year, which includes 6-foot-11-inch Logan Routt, neither Gordon nor Culver have to come in and play immediately.

If they do, that means both are performing at a very high level.

"Derek is going to get thrown in there with grown men," Huggins said. "Andrew is a big dude, Sags is a big dude, Logan's a big dude and they all know how to play. They've all got a lot more experience than what Derek does so we'll have to see."

Based on what Huggins has returning and the talented players he's bringing in, West Virginia should continue its run of nationally ranked teams when the polls come out this fall.

The Mountaineers have been in at least one national poll for 75 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2015 season.

The last time that happened was in the late 1950s when a guy named Jerry West was playing at WVU.

"Our guys have put a lot of time in the gym," Huggins said. "The culture has been really, really good.

"I think the best thing is having (current players) around and having our former guys around because they probably do a better job of preparing them for what's coming than anybody does. They've been through it; they know how much it's helping them now in their basketball careers so they sell it way better than I ever could," he added.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Esa Ahmad

Jevon Carter

Wesley Harris

Brandon Knapper

Sagaba Konate

Logan Routt

Lamont West

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