Maybe reactionary on my part, but it looks broken again ...

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

I know it's one game, but it really highlights the glaring weaknesses of this team. SFA is not a great team and gave us lots of chances.

1. Mental softness. These guys play physically tough throughout, but when they face adversity it's a snowball of stupid mistakes and forced shots.

2. Offense ineptitude. We don't have a reliable player that can create offense and Huggs doesn't seem to have any kind of scheme to create offense for these guys in the half court.

3. Poor shooting. Even on the rare occasion that a good offensive opportunity presents itself, we rarely take advantage.

Hell, the only thing that went right for us today was free throws which are usually a sore spot. Like Esa for next season after having a full year in the system, but WVU has some big problems that Huggs needs to address this off season.

 

[Phil1972]

We don't have a guy who can take over the game. Staten last year, Butler in the past. A lot of "pretty good" players and a good team, but no one great player.

 

[spreadoption_rivals80969]

I thought Paige was turning into that guy, but he stunk out the joint tonight.

 

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

I thought Paige was turning into that guy, but he stunk out the joint tonight.

I thought so in the middle of the season, but since the ISU game in Morgantown, he really didn't impress me. He was absent for both tournaments.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

Broken?

It's just the Huggs way .... fairly high levels of success juxtaposed with glaring failures and chaos.
It is what it is.

 

[MountaineerWV]

I don't think it's fair to judge this team's success after one bad game. We lost, we deserved to lose, and the players/coaches deserve some criticism. But, it was a very good year and exceeded everyone's expectations....except for a few fans who demand a national title every year.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

You can't convince me that we have a better team than SFA.
I think if we played them again they would no trouble breaking our press all over again.

 

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

I don't think it's fair to judge this team's success after one bad game. We lost, we deserved to lose, and the players/coaches deserve some criticism. But, it was a very good year and exceeded everyone's expectations....except for a few fans who demand a national title every year.

The regular season was better than expected. After seeing what the team was capable of, its just hard to swallow that travesty we just witnessed. Now I'm no basketball coach, but it just seems these recurring issues that keep WVU from playing consistent basketball would be addressed. I'll admit its frustrating to see how aimless WVU looks in half court offense. If Huggins has an offensive scheme or game plan that he runs, I can't see it and it fails far too often.

 

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

You can't convince me that we have a better team than SFA.
I think if we played them again they would no trouble breaking our press all over again.

I think they would as well. But I think WVU would make better passes, not miss open lay-ups, and Devin would do more in the post against their weaker/smaller bigs. Our guards still couldn't hit the broad side of a barn though.

 

[MountaineerWV]

I think they would as well. But I think WVU would make better passes, not miss open lay-ups, and Devin would do more in the post against their weaker/smaller bigs. Our guards still couldn't hit the broad side of a barn though.

The only mistake I felt that Huggs really made was his lineup once they made their run in the 1st half. However, the foul situation may have dictated that rotation. I would have went with 4 guards and one big. Instead, it seemed like we always had Adrian and Williams.....or Williams and Holton.....or Macon and Holton......on the court together. Against a team that is like 6'5" that isn't good.

 

[Eersfan4life]

Two words: 1) Turnovers, 2) Finishing

 

[79eer]

Once again very, very difficult time with half court offense..... Nothing new there.

 

[Papillion]

I know it's one game, but it really highlights the glaring weaknesses of this team. SFA is not a great team and gave us lots of chances.

1. Mental softness. These guys play physically tough throughout, but when they face adversity it's a snowball of stupid mistakes and forced shots.

2. Offense ineptitude. We don't have a reliable player that can create offense and Huggs doesn't seem to have any kind of scheme to create offense for these guys in the half court.

3. Poor shooting. Even on the rare occasion that a good offensive opportunity presents itself, we rarely take advantage.

Hell, the only thing that went right for us today was free throws which are usually a sore spot. Like Esa for next season after having a full year in the system, but WVU has some big problems that Huggs needs to address this off season.

I don't see why anyone would say it's "broken" after a 26 win season and a conf final game. But you hit the nail on the head with the mental softness thing. All one needs to do is look back at the Kentucky game last year and a few guys talking trash or just plain talking tough against an UNDEFEATED team that deep into the season. Look what happened when they realized UK was that good.

Or the collapse against UVA when they couldn't figure them out. But Huggs could take a little blame as well. I was impressed with an improved half court offense but it still goes back to what he wants to do for certain parts of the game and it's all out or nothing. Not enough flexibility that I can see.

It's nice to drive the ball but when it isn't there why keep doing it? Not talking about tonight as much as in general.

For crying out loud, mid way through the second half and maybe earlier, they were getting a few open mid range shots, faking it then driving and missing it. So they got fouls. It didn't help their game.

I said it a while back and it's that one track mind this team seemed to have. I don't think this is a bad shooting team at all. We were loaded at guard, plenty of big men. A very diverse team but when you stubbornly force things that aren't there of course you're going to miss shots, inside or out.

I just don't see a reason why a team would continue to do things that aren't working. And no one is going to convince me that the team pressing is burning less energy than the team being pressed. That's ridiculous. When it isn't working just back the phuck off and do it in spurts to give the other team something to think about.

This wasn't embarrassing or bad, it was humiliating. Especially the way they finished those last few minutes of the game. No excuse for that.

It all goes back to the very beginning of the season though, when Huggs said himself after giving his team a few compliments that they just do some very dumb things at times and they kept it up to the 35th game of the year.

I was also disturbed by a comment I read by Huggs though. It was something about we only do what we can do so why do or try something else. I may be off a bit but it came off like he didn't have a lot of confidence in his team's ability to be flexible and I'm wondering if he's the inflexible one?

 

[Spocker]

That is because....."It ain't fixed"..... We had to utilize a gimmick(the press) to win games.....now we aren't Press Virginia....we r Choke Virginia

 

[MountaineerWV]

I don't see why anyone would say it's "broken" after a 26 win season and a conf final game. But you hit the nail on the head with the mental softness thing. All one needs to do is look back at the Kentucky game last year and a few guys talking trash or just plain talking tough against an UNDEFEATED team that deep into the season. Look what happened when they realized UK was that good.

Or the collapse against UVA when they couldn't figure them out. But Huggs could take a little blame as well. I was impressed with an improved half court offense but it still goes back to what he wants to do for certain parts of the game and it's all out or nothing. Not enough flexibility that I can see.

It's nice to drive the ball but when it isn't there why keep doing it? Not talking about tonight as much as in general.

For crying out loud, mid way through the second half and maybe earlier, they were getting a few open mid range shots, faking it then driving and missing it. So they got fouls. It didn't help their game.

I said it a while back and it's that one track mind this team seemed to have. I don't think this is a bad shooting team at all. We were loaded at guard, plenty of big men. A very diverse team but when you stubbornly force things that aren't there of course you're going to miss shots, inside or out.

I just don't see a reason why a team would continue to do things that aren't working. And no one is going to convince me that the team pressing is burning less energy than the team being pressed. That's ridiculous. When it isn't working just back the phuck off and do it in spurts to give the other team something to think about.

This wasn't embarrassing or bad, it was humiliating. Especially the way they finished those last few minutes of the game. No excuse for that.

It all goes back to the very beginning of the season though, when Huggs said himself after giving his team a few compliments that they just do some very dumb things at times and they kept it up to the 35th game of the year.

I was also disturbed by a comment I read by Huggs though. It was something about we only do what we can do so why do or try something else. I may be off a bit but it came off like he didn't have a lot of confidence in his team's ability to be flexible and I'm wondering if he's the inflexible one?

Tackling the comment that has you concerned about Huggs......I'm going to say that Huggs knows what he's doing and talking about. Trying to make a team do things they cannot do would be wrong. Play to their strengths and move on from there. That's why he went to a pressing defense, to try to hide our deficiencies. Nothing wrong with that. That's why UVA slows it down, because they have deficiencies too. Syracuse only plays zone defense. Why is that? Because that's how they hide things they can't do. It is what it is.

 

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

If you want to dance in the tournament, which is the goal, being consistent is the key. Like I said, maybe its harsh to say the whole thing is broken, but there is definitely a few screws loose that need tightening. As for us not being a great shooting team, I'd beg to differ. We do have a lot of guards, but none that can reliably knock down open shots game in and game out.

 

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

I don't see why anyone would say it's "broken" after a 26 win season and a conf final game. But you hit the nail on the head with the mental softness thing. All one needs to do is look back at the Kentucky game last year and a few guys talking trash or just plain talking tough against an UNDEFEATED team that deep into the season. Look what happened when they realized UK was that good.

Or the collapse against UVA when they couldn't figure them out. But Huggs could take a little blame as well. I was impressed with an improved half court offense but it still goes back to what he wants to do for certain parts of the game and it's all out or nothing. Not enough flexibility that I can see.

It's nice to drive the ball but when it isn't there why keep doing it? Not talking about tonight as much as in general.

For crying out loud, mid way through the second half and maybe earlier, they were getting a few open mid range shots, faking it then driving and missing it. So they got fouls. It didn't help their game.

I said it a while back and it's that one track mind this team seemed to have. I don't think this is a bad shooting team at all. We were loaded at guard, plenty of big men. A very diverse team but when you stubbornly force things that aren't there of course you're going to miss shots, inside or out.

I just don't see a reason why a team would continue to do things that aren't working. And no one is going to convince me that the team pressing is burning less energy than the team being pressed. That's ridiculous. When it isn't working just back the phuck off and do it in spurts to give the other team something to think about.

This wasn't embarrassing or bad, it was humiliating. Especially the way they finished those last few minutes of the game. No excuse for that.

It all goes back to the very beginning of the season though, when Huggs said himself after giving his team a few compliments that they just do some very dumb things at times and they kept it up to the 35th game of the year.

I was also disturbed by a comment I read by Huggs though. It was something about we only do what we can do so why do or try something else. I may be off a bit but it came off like he didn't have a lot of confidence in his team's ability to be flexible and I'm wondering if he's the inflexible one?

If you want to dance in the tournament, which is the goal, being consistent is the key. Like I said, maybe its harsh to say the whole thing is broken, but there is definitely a few screws loose that need tightening. As for us not being a great shooting team, I'd beg to differ. We do have a lot of guards, but none that can reliably knock down open shots game in and game out.

 

[dave]

Leadership on the court. We didnt have much.

 

[Papillion]

Tackling the comment that has you concerned about Huggs......I'm going to say that Huggs knows what he's doing and talking about. Trying to make a team do things they cannot do would be wrong. Play to their strengths and move on from there. That's why he went to a pressing defense, to try to hide our deficiencies. Nothing wrong with that. That's why UVA slows it down, because they have deficiencies too. Syracuse only plays zone defense. Why is that? Because that's how they hide things they can't do. It is what it is.

I'm not criticizing the use of the press at all. I just don't understand stubbornly sticking with something that isn't working and the Florida game is a perfect example of that.

Maybe I didn't paraphrase his quote accurately enough. But it really hit home when I read it. I wished I could find it again because I thought it was pretty telling and kind of selling his own team a bit short.

I thought this team was loaded but they do burn a ton of energy playing like that from start to finish. Who knows what effect it had on them down the stretch.

 

[hancockeer]

bad coaching bad gaurds bad offense

 

[GoWVU]

except for a few fans who demand a national title every year.

An outright lie. Not one legitimate fan on this board has EVER made that statement or anything even remotely close to it.

 

[mountainEERnation]

The Dance is all about guard play. Those that have great guard play generally advance, those that don't go home.
We are going home.

 

[Eersfan4life]

That is because....."It ain't fixed"..... We had to utilize a gimmick(the press) to win games.....now we aren't Press Virginia....we r Choke Virginia

Gimmick? That is asinine. If you don't have shooters, but guys that are long, quick, tough you run a different style of offense. Not to mention the dynamics of the game have changed.

 

[WVGUIDOII]

I thought so in the middle of the season, but since the ISU game in Morgantown, he really didn't impress me. He was absent for both tournaments.

just like Williams was for almost every big game this year!

 

[Nova Mountaineer]

When examining the mess that was last night I have only two words of advice to remember - Michigan State. I think the same thing happened to both teams - thinking about who they were going to play and overlooking the team that they were playing. Huggs has a job which depends on the emotional stability of 18-23 year old young men. That alone might be worth the $3+ million. Think about it and hope that the employer has great mental health coverage.

We finished the regular season at #8 in the US of A - not too shabby. It's not easy but we had an entire season of mostly excellence on the court. I'll just did out the clippings from those
games and wait until next November.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

I think the biggest problem with our team is that we don't have very smart players.
And as they say .... you can't fix stupid.

 

[Soaring Eagle 74]

The regular season was better than expected. After seeing what the team was capable of, its just hard to swallow that travesty we just witnessed. Now I'm no basketball coach, but it just seems these recurring issues that keep WVU from playing consistent basketball would be addressed. I'll admit its frustrating to see how aimless WVU looks in half court offense. If Huggins has an offensive scheme or game plan that he runs, I can't see it and it fails far too often.

One of the things I've noticed is we don't know how to set a screen. We run toward a spot to screen a defender, but back off before he gets to the spot, instead of taking contact. We don't impede the defender at all.

 

[hunterspot1]

I think the biggest problem with our team is that we don't have very smart players.
And as they say .... you can't fix stupid.

Our players are not stupid. They just simply got beat by a very hungry Basketball team who has a BIG chip on their shoulder. I will pull for them the rest of the way. They remind me of................us!

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

Our players are not stupid. They just simply got beat by a very hungry Basketball team who has a BIG chip on their shoulder. I will pull for them the rest of the way. They remind me of................us!

It was only a couple of years ago that Huggs was telling us that his players weren't very smart. He has not come out and said that for a couple of years because, frankly, he was getting a lot of feedback from fans who were saying, "Who recruited these not so smart players?"

But he's made it clear that he doesn't think this was a good passing team. And passing is a function of smarts more than anything.

We don't have very smart players.

 

[Mtman 69]

Some new offensive sets would be nice, The " Deniz" offense, oh well, Maybe Huggins should take in some high school clinics this year to get some new ideas....

 

[still5-0vstarheels]

I think the biggest problem with our team is that we don't have very smart players.
And as they say .... you can't fix stupid.

We say that about you all the time.

 

[VaultHunter]

Your making it harder than what it is. TURNOVERS. 20 that's basically like having 6-7 in one football game. Tough to win like that.

 

[steeleer]

Agree with TO's. Losing Beetle Boldin hurt. He was likely to not only be a decent threat to score, but he would have handled the ball better than anyone we have right now.

 

[ThePunish-EER]

I know it's one game, but it really highlights the glaring weaknesses of this team. SFA is not a great team and gave us lots of chances.

1. Mental softness. These guys play physically tough throughout, but when they face adversity it's a snowball of stupid mistakes and forced shots.

2. Offense ineptitude. We don't have a reliable player that can create offense and Huggs doesn't seem to have any kind of scheme to create offense for these guys in the half court.

3. Poor shooting. Even on the rare occasion that a good offensive opportunity presents itself, we rarely take advantage.

Hell, the only thing that went right for us today was free throws which are usually a sore spot. Like Esa for next season after having a full year in the system, but WVU has some big problems that Huggs needs to address this off season.

yeah I'm thinking Michigan state should fire Izzo as well. I guess Arizona should've fired Lute Olson back in the early 90's after becoming the first to ever lose to a #15 seed. Upsets don't happen unless the coach is incompetent. Every team should be mandatory undefeated seasons or else lol----sarcasm.

 

[Mountaineer Steve]

I know it's one game, but it really highlights the glaring weaknesses of this team. SFA is not a great team and gave us lots of chances.

1. Mental softness. These guys play physically tough throughout, but when they face adversity it's a snowball of stupid mistakes and forced shots.

2. Offense ineptitude. We don't have a reliable player that can create offense and Huggs doesn't seem to have any kind of scheme to create offense for these guys in the half court.

3. Poor shooting. Even on the rare occasion that a good offensive opportunity presents itself, we rarely take advantage.

Hell, the only thing that went right for us today was free throws which are usually a sore spot. Like Esa for next season after having a full year in the system, but WVU has some big problems that Huggs needs to address this off season.

It never fails to amaze me the knee jerk reaction to a freaking loss. Are you freaking kidding me? You think it is broke again, after this team finished 2nd in the BIG12 and ended up in the top 10 at the end of the year? You think it is broken? Dude, that is just so dumb (not you), just the fact that you think it is broken.

 

[The Bell Tolls for Thee]

It never fails to amaze me the knee jerk reaction to a freaking loss. Are you freaking kidding me? You think it is broke again, after this team finished 2nd in the BIG12 and ended up in the top 10 at the end of the year? You think it is broken? Dude, that is just so dumb (not you), just the fact that you think it is broken.

Like I said it was reactionary. Maybe the whole team is not broken, but WVU does have a few screws loose which has been a problem for some time. We have most everyone back next year ... now's the time to finally try and address the things that keep biting WVU in the *** like the lack of offensive production in the half-court.

 

[JIMEER86]

Broken?

It's just the Huggs way .... fairly high levels of success juxtaposed with glaring failures and chaos.
It is what it is.

HOW MANY COACHES IN THE COUNTRY HAVE BETTER TRACK RECORDS OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS THAN HUGGS HAS - AND HE'S AT A SCHOOL THAT IS NOT A TRADITIONAL BASKETBALL POWER AND HADN'T BEEN TO A FINAL 4 SINCE 1959. THE TEAMS THAT HAD "GLARING FAILURES" THIS YEAR WERE KENTUCKY AND MICH ST. AND I GUESS CHAOS = GETTING RID OF GUYS WHO WOULDN'T PLAY HARD OR BUY IN. WHAT A JOKE.

 

[WESTBGVA]

I know it's one game, but it really highlights the glaring weaknesses of this team. SFA is not a great team and gave us lots of chances.

1. Mental softness. These guys play physically tough throughout, but when they face adversity it's a snowball of stupid mistakes and forced shots.

2. Offense ineptitude. We don't have a reliable player that can create offense and Huggs doesn't seem to have any kind of scheme to create offense for these guys in the half court.

3. Poor shooting. Even on the rare occasion that a good offensive opportunity presents itself, we rarely take advantage.

Hell, the only thing that went right for us today was free throws which are usually a sore spot. Like Esa for next season after having a full year in the system, but WVU has some big problems that Huggs needs to address this off season.

we had a bad game in a one a one and done tourney...it happens..the best team in the NBA scored less than 80 pts in a game last week ..it's just basketball not a science..that's why Butler made it to the championship game two years in a row.

 

[Cuyahoga Falls Eers_rivals]

I know it's one game, but it really highlights the glaring weaknesses of this team. SFA is not a great team and gave us lots of chances.

1. Mental softness. These guys play physically tough throughout, but when they face adversity it's a snowball of stupid mistakes and forced shots.

2. Offense ineptitude. We don't have a reliable player that can create offense and Huggs doesn't seem to have any kind of scheme to create offense for these guys in the half court.

3. Poor shooting. Even on the rare occasion that a good offensive opportunity presents itself, we rarely take advantage.

Hell, the only thing that went right for us today was free throws which are usually a sore spot. Like Esa for next season after having a full year in the system, but WVU has some big problems that Huggs needs to address this off season.

Dear Reactionary:

Overall: 26-9 Big 12: 13-5

Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Champions

26 victories were NOT luck. 13 Big 12 victories were NOT luck.

OK, the millisecond was luck against Oklahoma but the team played damn good to still be in it. And Oklahoma is having less trouble in March Madness than in the Big 12 against WVU.

It was ONE bad game. You don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Most fans would droolover 26-9 TWO 2nd place finishes in the Big 12 (regular season and tournament). But you're going all Henny-Penny over ONE loss?
You'll need a defibrillator for the football season if WVU goes 7-6 again, or 4-8 again.

 

[Papillion]

HOW MANY COACHES IN THE COUNTRY HAVE BETTER TRACK RECORDS OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS THAN HUGGS HAS - AND HE'S AT A SCHOOL THAT IS NOT A TRADITIONAL BASKETBALL POWER AND HADN'T BEEN TO A FINAL 4 SINCE 1959. THE TEAMS THAT HAD "GLARING FAILURES" THIS YEAR WERE KENTUCKY AND MICH ST. AND I GUESS CHAOS = GETTING RID OF GUYS WHO WOULDN'T PLAY HARD OR BUY IN. WHAT A JOKE.

Actually, as far as the national power angle, we kind of are. We're certainly on the national scene now, and except for a few down years, we have been since the Final Four team.

My point is WVU was actually a blue blood at one time. From 1942 when they won the NIT and the national title until 1962, were one and two with Kentucky for 20 solid years. Us and UK were the winningist programs during that period. But for some reason, and I guess the 1970s have something to do with it, our own fans seem to sell WVU short more often than not. I can see why in some ways but in others this program has won an awful lot.

But WVU was tops for a long time and had a chance to keep that string going of blue chip players after Hot Rod and West. I read something one time where WVU actually had a chance to pull in Adrian Dantley, John Havlicek and certainly Pete Maravich until LSU gave his father a job. But it's WVU he wanted to play for. The other two, not sure how accurate it is but we were that known for a long time until the 70s sunk us.