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With all of the excitement surrounding the West Virginia football program and its transition to the Big 12 Conference, it's easy to forget that the WVU basketball team will be making that same move.
The last time we saw the Mountaineers, they were bounced from the NCAA tournament in the first round by Gonzaga. In one month, in its Nov. 13 season opener, WVU will have another crack at the Bulldogs.
However, this WVU squad will look much different from the one that clawed its way to a 10-seed in the tournament last season.
Gone are West Virginia's top two scorers, point guard Truck Bryant and All-American forward Kevin Jones. Because of these losses, WVU was tabbed at just No. 6 in the preseason Big 12 poll (via Big12Sports.com), a ranking that does not impress head coach Bob Huggins.
“Honestly, if we’re the sixth-best team in the league then it’s a hell of a league,” Huggins said (via WVUSports.com).
Training in their brand new practice facility, Huggins is pleased with the talent, development and conditioning of his squad so far.
“They are in great shape,” Huggins said. “Deniz (Kilicli) is in the best shape of his life. His body fat is way down. He’s running so much better. I think the only negative has been that we’ve had some guys kind of nicked up."
That last stipulation, injury, is one of the few concerns on the mind of Huggins heading into the season. His other concern is the rigorous schedule, though he is still expecting a successful campaign from this group.
"It’s going to be really hard with who we’re playing, but if we did what a lot of people do and play 18 home games and buy everybody in we can win 25 games with this group," Huggins said. “Most people would say that’s a pretty good team. Now we are probably not going to win 25 with who we play, but we’ve got a chance to be pretty good. I said that all along. I haven’t seen anything that would make me feel otherwise, other than guys getting hurt.”
West Virginia will be returning some key players including a lot of depth in the backcourt. Supplementing that existing depth will be a few big time transfers.
Sophomore guards Jabarie Hinds, Aaron Brown and Gary Browne will all be back after combining to average more than 18 points per game while rotating through the lineup last year.
Two true freshman guards, Eron Harris and Terry Henderson should also have a positive impact early on in Morgantown, however, the most significant additions have probably been through transfers.
The most notable may turn out to be Matt Humphrey—a graduate transfer from Boston College who will be eligible to play immediately. He averaged 10.3 points per game for the Eagles last year, while also tallying a team-high 34 steals.
“He’s got a pretty good idea of how to play,” said Huggins. “I think the first time I watched him play that is what impressed me more than anything was his understanding of how to play and how things happen. Plus, he can make shots. It’s kind of refreshing watching it go in sometimes. I haven’t seen that much.”
The WVU front court will be anchored by two key returners. Deniz Kilicli is back for his senior year after netting 10.7 points per game last season—a high among all returning players. Joining him up front will be a pair of sophomores, Keaton Miles and Kevin Noreen.
Noreen was solid off the bench last season until his year was cut short when he suffered a broken ankle. Miles, on the other hand, was a regular starter, though he averaged only 13.1 minutes per contest. It will be interesting to see how each of their roles expand this season along with that of senior Dominique Rutledge, a player who began to show improvement toward the end of last season.
The final two players who WVU fans are excited about are transfers Aaric Murray and Juwan Staten.
Murray, a LaSalle transfer who is the only true center on the roster for West Virginia, was a monster in his sophomore season for the Explorers, averaging 15.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
Staten, an Oak Hill Academy product, was also impressive in his freshman season for Dayton. An excellent distributor, he averaged 8.5 points and 5.4 assists per game, while leading the Atlantic 10 Conference with 190 total assists.
The backcourt will certainly crowded in Morgantown, which will be a good problem for Huggins to have.
As the beginning of the season draws near, the WVU coach will also be going through some contract adjustments.
Under Huggins, the Mountaineers have earned five consecutive NCAA tournament berths, including the school's first Final Four appearance since 1959, an accomplishment athletic director Oliver Luck believes is deserving of a little bit of compensation.
According to Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail, Luck and Huggins are working on restructuring his deal to add both length and financial benefit.
At age 59, Huggins has had some health concerns over his career, but as long as he is still passionate for coaching, he will stay the head coach at West Virginia.
“I want to do this as long as I’m excited about doing it, as long as I feel like I can bring the kind of passion to it that I’ve always brought,” Huggins said. “When it comes to where I say, ‘I just don’t want to go in there and do this,’ I need to quit.”
Fortunately for the Mountaineers, Huggins isn't near his quitting point, as they begin working toward their Big 12 basketball debut.
Bob Huggins, the West Virginia men's basketball head coach, is still considered a bit underrated when you talk about legendary coaches in college basketball. The former Cincinnati and Kansas State coach is one of the winningest active coaches in Division I basketball. He is also in the top 10 in winning percentage and has over 700 wins. Only three other coaches have more than 700 wins.
Huggins has not solidified his legacy in the sense of winning a national championship, but he has been to two Final Fours with Cincinnati (1992) and West Virginia (2010). Teams led by the West Virginia native are usually looking at a NCAA tournament berth and a possible deep run. WVU has reached the Final Four and Sweet 16 since Huggins returned to his alma matter in 2007.
When people think of Mountaineers basketball, Huggins is the face of the program. He's loved by many around the state. Huggins should be talked about more in comparison to the likes of Jim Calhoun, Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzweski, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo and and Jim Boeheim. Perhaps Huggins needs a national championship in Morgantown to be considered for this list.
His best chance came in the 2009 with leader Da'Sean Butler. The Mountaineers won the Big East championship and were able to upset top seed Kentucky in the Elite Eight. They eventually fell to Duke in the Final Four, but the future looked bright for West Virginia basketball.
Huggins is underrated, however. He usually gets three-star recruits, unlike some of the coaches mentioned above. With this most recent season full of freshmen, Huggins was still able to take the young squad to the NCAA tournament.
He was without a doubt one of the best coaches in the Big East Conference, always remaining competitive in one of the top conferences in college basketball. Huggins is WVU basketball and he brings a great deal of pride to the state of West Virginia.
WVU is known as a football school all around the country, but the basketball program has been on the rise in the past decade. Back in the days of Jerry West, West Virginia was close to its first national title in a championship loss to California.
With Huggins, the future looks to be bright for West Virginia hoops, especially in the Big 12. It's a conference Huggins knows fairly well, and can see his legacy skyrocket to the next level with a national championship.
Anyone who follows the West Virginia basketball team knew that sooner or later, this game was coming.
Teams that prominently feature five freshman might on occasion put together a nice run of games, but a 15-5 start left Mountaineer fans very excited at the future of the team but wondering when this current team was going to lay its first egg of the season.
After their 78-62 loss at St. Johns (who, incidentally, was starting five freshman of their own) on Wednesday night, its safe to say that egg has been dropped.
It wasn't just the score that should worry Mountaineer fans, it was the way they lost. They scored just 20 first half points, trailed by as many as 21 and for the first time looked like an inexperienced team playing in the toughest conference in the country. And apparently, I'm not the only one who noticed.
"We were not ready to play. We did not have two good days of practice." Head coach Bob Huggins said about his team, who was coming off an emotional overtime win over Cincinnati.
That lack of preparedness laid out by Huggins was evident during the game, where center Deniz Kilicli appeared to be playing with concrete in his sneakers—the freshmen seemed afraid to shoot, and the one player who was definitely not afraid to shoot, Truck Bryant, was 4-13 from the floor.
Now that the question of when that first stink-bomb is going to hit is out of the way, a bigger one has emerged: can West Virginia bounce back and save their season? Unfortunately, next week isn't going to get easier.
It starts on Saturday in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse, who might very well be the best team in the country, and is a double-digit favorite over the Mountaineers. 48 hours later, West Virginia will welcome Pittsburgh into the Coliseum for a game that the Panthers desperately need if they want to make the tournament come March.
At 15-6, West Virginia would no doubt love to wake up on Tuesday morning with a record of 16-7. If that happens, the team will be, barring a gigantic collapse, dancing come tournament time. That will hopefully allow the freshman to gain confidence as the season finishes up, and might even let Huggins smile once and a while. (Okay, that was a lie, we all know that Huggins will be fired before he smiles).
I'm willing to write off Wednesday's game as a fluke, one that happens over the course of a Big East season, especially when you are as inexperienced as the Mountaineers are. But that doesn't mean I'm willing to give the rest of the season a pass.
With a fairly favorable schedule remaining that features only three more games against teams currently in the top 25, West Virginia has a great opportunity to not only establish themselves this season, but wherever they end up playing next year.
And for Mountaineer fans, as well as Bob Huggins' sanity, let's hope this week was the last egg they will lay this year.
In the ultimate "student becomes the master" scenario, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski passed Bob Knight to become the all-time winningest coach in Division I college basketball history with 903 career wins. Is he even on par with "The General," his former coach and mentor? Bring on the stats!
Compare them to Coach Knight and they are strikingly similar. Both have a lot of NCAA tournament appearances (Knight: 28, Krzyzewski: 27), won numerous conference championships (Knight: 11, Krzyzewski: 13) and each won an Olympic gold medal (Knight: 1984, Krzyzewski: 2008).
Take into account that Coach K has coached five fewer seasons (37 to 42), made six more Final Fours (11 to 5) and won one more national championship (4 to 3), and you would have to say that he could hold his own in a side-by-side comparison. It is interesting to note that Coach Knight’s win totals decreased towards the end of his career, while Coach K has seen a steady climb.
Bob Knight
‘77/’78 - ‘86/’87 Seasons: 225 wins
‘87/’88 - ‘96/’97 Seasons: 230 wins
‘97/’98 - ‘07/’08 Seasons: 205 wins
‘81/’82 - ‘90/’91 Seasons: 246 wins
‘91/’92 - ‘00/’01 Seasons: 274 wins
‘01/’02 - ‘10/’11 Seasons: 293 wins
While on the topic of career win totals, you have to look at who may eventually surpass Krzyzewski for the top spot in Division I college basketball. The list begins with two other active coaches who currently sit in the top 10. Jim Calhoun of the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies is No. 6 on the list with 855 victories. However, with ongoing health concerns and being five years the senior of Coach K, the possibility of the UConn coach being able to surpass the record seems unlikely. Fifth on the list is Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim with 856 wins. However, Boeheim is two years older and will have to coach at least two more winning seasons after Coach K retires to even come close.
Bob Huggins, Bill Self, Billy Donovan and Brad Stevens are all names that have generated discussion as potential coaches to take over the top spot. If these four coaches were to average 25 wins per season until they reach Coach K’s current age of 64, their wins totals would be as such:
Bob Huggins (age: 58)- 842
Bill Self (age: 48)- 843
Billy Donovan (age: 46)- 846
Brad Stevens (age: 35)- 843
Clearly, this record will not be an easy one to obtain. Factor in the stellar recruiting classes and number of wins Krzyzewski still brings in on a yearly basis, and it may be untouchable when it’s all said and done. For the time being, lets soak in what’s left of one of the greatest teachers, coaches and ambassadors of basketball the world has ever seen as Coach K's wins banner in Cameron Indoor Stadium continues to turn over after each victory.
The time has come upon us, when we think about books, clothes shopping and the joys that come with the beginning of the school year.
Of course I'm not talking about class, I'm talking about sports.
If there is something college aged kids love, it's sports...and maybe alcohol.
But in an attempt to keep this article "G-rated," I will disregard the latter and discuss my thoughts on this year's Mountaineer basketball team.
Despite losing many of their elder teammates at the conclusion of last season, West Virginia still has a plethora of talent available on their platter.
One would think this is a good thing, until they come to the realization that only four of those players have actually played in a college basketball game, ever.
Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins has a lot of work to do as he guides his team into the regular season.
Luckily, he's got the chance to start early and will do so when his team plays in a scrimmage against Illinois in a game near Venice, Italy.
Not only that, but his team will also take on two professional European teams during their time on the Mediterranean coast—all valuable practice for a group of players with six incoming freshmen.
Senior leadership will be hard to come by, as forward Kevin Jones and guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant are the only two seniors—and starters—returning to the team. Forward Deniz Kilicli played off the bench most of last season and forward Kevin Noreen was redshirted after playing only a few minutes.
The only two other players with any college experience are transfers Juwan Staten from Dayton and Aaric Murray from La Salle; but they both must sit out the season before they are eligible to play.
Bob Huggins is taking it in stride.
"At least they're not throwing it out of bounds," Huggins said during an interview after Friday's afternoon practice.
Huggins' team is starting extra early this year with additional exhibition games in the preseason. Normally, teams would not be permitted to play exhibition games before the start of the season against other American or collegiate teams, but the NCAA made an exception for the scrimmage against the Illini in Italy.
It's likely the Mountaineers will be relying heavily on the leadership of the more experienced players this year as the new freshmen develop and learn the Huggins offense.
With the WVU coach starting so many young players, it's likely he will develop this group to play a much faster style of offense; as Huggins used to run with the Cincinnati Bearcats.
A slow, grind-it-out offense is not what Huggins is accustomed to, despite having relatively good success with it during his last few seasons at West Virginia.
More national media coverage than ever will make things even more interesting.
To see how Coach Huggins rebuilds an entire team throughout the season will be one of the best stories this year in Morgantown.
More West Virginia Football
- Dana Holgorsen Looking to Put Up Points With QB Geno Smith
More West Virginia Sports
- WVU Basketball: WVU, Illinois Set to Play in Italy for the Troops
- WVU Basketball: Aaric Murray: WVU Center Cut from US Basketball Team
Daniel Kablack is a College Basketball & College Football Writer for BigEastVoice.com
Most new guys spend a few hours a day together when they come to a new university and start summer practices.
The West Virginia men's basketball team will be spending every second together.
They better get used to it.
On Aug. 8, West Virginia will be heading to Italy for a short series of games across the sea. It just so happens that Illinois will be in the same city on the same day the Mountaineers are.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to play the Illinois Men's Basketball team on the 17th at an event to entertain U.S. soldiers stationed in Venice, Italy.
The activities will include a basketball clinic hosted by the West Virginia team for ages 12 and under as well as an opportunity for the U.S. Military athletic teams to take on the Mountaineers during a series of short scrimmages.
There will also be a slam dunk contest hosted by the student athletes, which new arrival Aaric Murray will not be participating in, as NCAA player transfer rules do not allow him to attend the trip to Italy.
The day will finish with WVU taking on Illinois in a scrimmage that will consist of two 10-minute halves.
According to Rusty Bryan of Europe SportsBlog on Stripes.com, the events will take place at Aviano Air Base just outside Venice, Italy. Both teams will play their military counterparts for 10 minutes. The youth camp is free and will be open to children ages 5 to 18 with proper military identification, the scrimmages, will also be free.
The NCAA had granted a waiver to disregard a rule that wouldn't allow two collegiate teams in the United States to play each other before the beginning of the season, but because of the nature of the event, the NCAA decided to allow it.
The Mountaineers team which consists of many new faces with only Darryl "Truck" Bryant, Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli returning to the team from last season. Forward Kevin Noreen is returning but only played a few minutes last season before being redshirted.
Though they have a lot of learning to do to pick up the new style of up-tempo offense WVU head coach Bob Huggins is trying to incorporate this season, the Mountaineers head coach is somewhat encouraged by their recent development.
Despite their lack of experience, this new Mountaineers team is loaded with talent and is pushing hard to get into rhythm and start winning games.
West Virginia is also expected to play against some other athletics teams during their trip to Italy, a full schedule will be released on Aug. 8.
When most college students are at home visiting family and friends or down at the shore enjoying the sand and sun, Aaric Murray was playing basketball.
The transfer from La Salle spent the summer practicing and working on his game as he tried out for the US Basketball team in the World University Games.
Murray had made the first cut when the initial roster of 21 collegiate players from across the country was cut to just 14.
Then on August 3rd, the team was cut to a 12-man roster, of which, Murray was not included.
That roster does include: Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), Draymond Green (Michigan State), Marcus Denmon (Missouri), Ashton Gibbs (Pitt), Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame), Greg Mangano (Yale), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy), Orlando Johnson (UCSB), John Jenkins (Vanderbilt) and JaMychal Green (Alabama).
Murray had transferred from La Salle after deciding it would be a better choice of school for him to get some additional exposure.
Unfortunately, due to NCAA player transfer regulations, he will have to sit on the bench and wait out this season, but he hopes to be on the court next year. He will also not be able to join the rest of his team in August when they travel to Italy for some exhibition games.
In his two years at La Salle, Murray averaged 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals per game. Toward the end of his second season, he began playing much better, almost averaging a double-double for the Explorers.
His 6'10" frame will add much needed height to a Mountaineers squad who could use some taller players to match up with the other star players of the powerhouses in the Big East conference.
Despite having to wait another season, Aaric Murray is showing he could end up being great.
By that time the Mountaineers may be back to running things the way Ole Bob Huggins, likes to run offense, fast.
Although in the past few seasons we've seen a very slow, grind-it-out type of game plan by the Mountaineers, I fully expect the coach to get back to what won him so many games when he coached at Cincinnati.
Murray seems to have come to appreciate the game more after participating in the World University Games tryouts, hopefully this will encourage him to encourage his teammates to come together and accomplish the ultimate goal of bringing home a championship to Morgantown.
