Photo by: Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images
WVU Men Tip Off Preseason Practice Today
October 15, 2020 08:31 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Here is what veteran coach Bob Huggins knows for sure as his 39th college basketball teams begins preseason preparations later today – they're good with a chance of being really good.
But exactly who his team is going to play this year is still up in the air.
The strong nonconference schedule director of basketball operations Josh Eilert assembled for this season has fallen like a house of cards, thanks to the COVID-19 virus.
Pitt and Purdue are no longer on the docket.
And there are no preseason, exhibitions or closed scrimmages to get prepared for college basketball's new opening day on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
That means the Mountaineers will have a cold start against Texas A&M in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic to be played at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
A Thursday game against either Ohio State or Memphis will follow, with the week wrapping up against either Creighton, Dayton, Utah or Wichita State.
What comes after that is still a mystery until the Big 12 reveals its conference schedule, most likely at the end of this month. What we know for sure is there will be 27 regular season games before the Big 12 Tournament takes place in Kansas City.
We also know those late-November games in South Dakota will be challenging, but not nearly as challenging as what these guys have already had to endure for the last six months, starting with the cancellation of the 2019 season on Thursday, March 12.
West Virginia was coming off its best performance of the season, a 76-64 victory over fourth-ranked Baylor at the WVU Coliseum, and the Mountaineers believed they had momentum on their side heading into postseason play.
"It's been rough," Huggins said late last week during a video conference with local media. "It's been as tough as I can remember for however long I've been doing this … 43 years, I think. Our guys have handled it as well as they can possibly handle it."
Huggins' 14th West Virginia team is talented, for sure, perhaps neary as talented as the team he took to the Final Four in 2010.
And just like the 2010 squad, Huggins said these guys get along well together.
"Their attitudes are great," he said. "This group gets along better – roots for, pulls for each other – as well as any group we've had here. I think we're talented, and I think we've got some guys who know how to play."
Looking at West Virginia's roster objectively, the Mountaineers have at least two quality players at all five positions, and players 11, 12, 13 and 14 are probably just as good as the starters on many pre-Huggins WVU teams.
That's why enthusiasm is so high over at the basketball practice facility these days. It's even been hard for the now 67-year-old Huggins to suppress his enthusiasm.
"I'm excited," he said. "I think we've got a chance."
When Huggins talks about his team having a chance, it's not about having a chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The bar he has set at West Virginia is much, much higher than that. He's talking about a chance to win championships, something the Mountaineers last did in 2010.
The team's ceiling this year will be established by Huggins' two biggest players, forwards Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver. West Virginia has never had a forward tandem as talented nor touted as these two.
You probably have to go back to Huggins' days at Cincinnati to find a pair he's had this good, although it's probably not advisable to mention that to him. He just wants to see his two bigs become more consistent scorers near the basket, which they are capable of doing.
"Obviously, they've got to score the ball and they're working on it," Huggins said. "There are some mechanical things we've got to get straightened out, but it's hard after you've played one way your whole life."
What will make teams think twice about ganging up to stop Tshiebwe and Culver this year is an emerging group of experienced perimeter players capable of filling up the basket. Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil now have a year under their belts and Huggins said it is showing in individual workouts.
Both are playing more freely and confidently.
"It's hard to think and play at the same time," Huggins pointed out. "They are now very comfortable with what we're doing and they are comfortable with their roles in what we're doing.
"They're both shooting the ball extremely well and if that continues with those guys on the floor that makes us really hard to guard," Huggins said. "With those two bigs inside, whichever two it is, they are going to have to be concerned with them and then with two guys who can spread the floor the way they can spread the floor, plus on top of that, our point guards came back shooting the ball much better, too."
That would be Miles McBride and Jordan McCabe.
You get the sense from talking to people around the program that McBride is poised to have a breakout sophomore season. He's got all of the intangibles Huggins looks for in a point guard, including the ability to put pressure on the rim - something the Mountaineers probably haven't had on a consistent basis since Juwan Staten.
McCabe has had good performances in the past and possesses a coach's knowledge of the game on the court. And if he gets into a pinch, Huggins is not afraid to put walk-on, fan favorite Spencer Macke into the game to hoist up some 3s.
Who knows, perhaps Macke will get plenty of late-game PT this year anyway.
On the wing, Huggins has two talented players to work with in junior Emmitt Matthews Jr. and redshirt freshman Jalen Bridges, from nearby Fairmont Senior High. If you recall, Matthews scored a team-best 18 points in West Virginia's season-ending win over Baylor, and he had that terrific Big 12 Tournament performance against Texas Tech his freshman year.
Matthews has the ability to be a first-rate Big 12 small forward if he can become more consistent, while Bridges just oozes potential. Huggins thought Bridges was one of the team's best offensive rebounders in practice toward the end of last season.
"He's a 6-foot-7 guy who can make shots," Huggins said. "He can stretch the defense, and he's gotten much better defensively."
Returning senior forward Gabe Osabuohien will also have an important role on the team this year because of his ballhandling, passing and defensive capabilities. Huggins labels him the best passing and ballhandling big on the squad.
So that's nine quality guys, eight of whom have at least a year's-worth of Big 12 experience.
To top it off, Huggins really likes the four-player recruiting class he brought in this year, led by ESPN Top 100 forward Isaiah Cottrell and junior college All-American guard Kedrian Johnson.
Freshman forward Taj Thweatt was the South Jersey Player of the Year, and 6-foot-10, 220-pound Senegal native Seny Ndiaye, a late signee, are two additional players worth keeping an eye on down the road.
The beauty with this year's team is that all four newcomers have time to develop.
"I have no complaints whatsoever," Huggins said. "They play hard. They retain things. I think our older guys are trying to help our younger guys, not just on the floor, but later on at home. They are committed. To be as committed as they've been and to be able to get as much as they've been able to get done in these times is admirable."
Now, all Huggins' Mountaineers need is a schedule.
But exactly who his team is going to play this year is still up in the air.
The strong nonconference schedule director of basketball operations Josh Eilert assembled for this season has fallen like a house of cards, thanks to the COVID-19 virus.
Pitt and Purdue are no longer on the docket.
And there are no preseason, exhibitions or closed scrimmages to get prepared for college basketball's new opening day on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
That means the Mountaineers will have a cold start against Texas A&M in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic to be played at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
A Thursday game against either Ohio State or Memphis will follow, with the week wrapping up against either Creighton, Dayton, Utah or Wichita State.
What comes after that is still a mystery until the Big 12 reveals its conference schedule, most likely at the end of this month. What we know for sure is there will be 27 regular season games before the Big 12 Tournament takes place in Kansas City.We also know those late-November games in South Dakota will be challenging, but not nearly as challenging as what these guys have already had to endure for the last six months, starting with the cancellation of the 2019 season on Thursday, March 12.
West Virginia was coming off its best performance of the season, a 76-64 victory over fourth-ranked Baylor at the WVU Coliseum, and the Mountaineers believed they had momentum on their side heading into postseason play.
"It's been rough," Huggins said late last week during a video conference with local media. "It's been as tough as I can remember for however long I've been doing this … 43 years, I think. Our guys have handled it as well as they can possibly handle it."
Huggins' 14th West Virginia team is talented, for sure, perhaps neary as talented as the team he took to the Final Four in 2010.
And just like the 2010 squad, Huggins said these guys get along well together.
"Their attitudes are great," he said. "This group gets along better – roots for, pulls for each other – as well as any group we've had here. I think we're talented, and I think we've got some guys who know how to play."
Looking at West Virginia's roster objectively, the Mountaineers have at least two quality players at all five positions, and players 11, 12, 13 and 14 are probably just as good as the starters on many pre-Huggins WVU teams.
That's why enthusiasm is so high over at the basketball practice facility these days. It's even been hard for the now 67-year-old Huggins to suppress his enthusiasm.
"I'm excited," he said. "I think we've got a chance."
When Huggins talks about his team having a chance, it's not about having a chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The bar he has set at West Virginia is much, much higher than that. He's talking about a chance to win championships, something the Mountaineers last did in 2010.
The team's ceiling this year will be established by Huggins' two biggest players, forwards Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver. West Virginia has never had a forward tandem as talented nor touted as these two.
You probably have to go back to Huggins' days at Cincinnati to find a pair he's had this good, although it's probably not advisable to mention that to him. He just wants to see his two bigs become more consistent scorers near the basket, which they are capable of doing.
"Obviously, they've got to score the ball and they're working on it," Huggins said. "There are some mechanical things we've got to get straightened out, but it's hard after you've played one way your whole life."
What will make teams think twice about ganging up to stop Tshiebwe and Culver this year is an emerging group of experienced perimeter players capable of filling up the basket. Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil now have a year under their belts and Huggins said it is showing in individual workouts.
Both are playing more freely and confidently.
"It's hard to think and play at the same time," Huggins pointed out. "They are now very comfortable with what we're doing and they are comfortable with their roles in what we're doing.
"They're both shooting the ball extremely well and if that continues with those guys on the floor that makes us really hard to guard," Huggins said. "With those two bigs inside, whichever two it is, they are going to have to be concerned with them and then with two guys who can spread the floor the way they can spread the floor, plus on top of that, our point guards came back shooting the ball much better, too."
That would be Miles McBride and Jordan McCabe.
You get the sense from talking to people around the program that McBride is poised to have a breakout sophomore season. He's got all of the intangibles Huggins looks for in a point guard, including the ability to put pressure on the rim - something the Mountaineers probably haven't had on a consistent basis since Juwan Staten.
McCabe has had good performances in the past and possesses a coach's knowledge of the game on the court. And if he gets into a pinch, Huggins is not afraid to put walk-on, fan favorite Spencer Macke into the game to hoist up some 3s.
Who knows, perhaps Macke will get plenty of late-game PT this year anyway.
On the wing, Huggins has two talented players to work with in junior Emmitt Matthews Jr. and redshirt freshman Jalen Bridges, from nearby Fairmont Senior High. If you recall, Matthews scored a team-best 18 points in West Virginia's season-ending win over Baylor, and he had that terrific Big 12 Tournament performance against Texas Tech his freshman year.
Matthews has the ability to be a first-rate Big 12 small forward if he can become more consistent, while Bridges just oozes potential. Huggins thought Bridges was one of the team's best offensive rebounders in practice toward the end of last season.
"He's a 6-foot-7 guy who can make shots," Huggins said. "He can stretch the defense, and he's gotten much better defensively."
Returning senior forward Gabe Osabuohien will also have an important role on the team this year because of his ballhandling, passing and defensive capabilities. Huggins labels him the best passing and ballhandling big on the squad.
So that's nine quality guys, eight of whom have at least a year's-worth of Big 12 experience.
To top it off, Huggins really likes the four-player recruiting class he brought in this year, led by ESPN Top 100 forward Isaiah Cottrell and junior college All-American guard Kedrian Johnson.
Freshman forward Taj Thweatt was the South Jersey Player of the Year, and 6-foot-10, 220-pound Senegal native Seny Ndiaye, a late signee, are two additional players worth keeping an eye on down the road.
The beauty with this year's team is that all four newcomers have time to develop.
"I have no complaints whatsoever," Huggins said. "They play hard. They retain things. I think our older guys are trying to help our younger guys, not just on the floor, but later on at home. They are committed. To be as committed as they've been and to be able to get as much as they've been able to get done in these times is admirable."
Now, all Huggins' Mountaineers need is a schedule.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballCollege Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
