WVSPORTS.COM Travel, preparation contributing to WVU’s skid
- Thread starter Vernon
- Start date
I was waiting for this excuse of excuses "news" piece. Just for the heck of it...since the Big 12-2-10 plays round robin schedule then guess what...all the other schools travel to Morgantown too. And since we play the tough teams in the league, once again, so do the other teams.
This story falls squarely into the "woe is me category of sports coverage." lol
This story falls squarely into the "woe is me category of sports coverage." lol
You absolutely right root. WVU's traveling over a thousand miles to play a game is the same as another B12 team traveling a couple of hundred miles. LOL
What’s the difference between a one hour flight and 2 hour flight? Wow, kids have it rough....
Seriously though, they’ll get out of this slump and turn it around. Not a top 10 team but still a team that can be very dangerous in the tourney, especially as they become the hunter instead of the hunted.
Seriously though, they’ll get out of this slump and turn it around. Not a top 10 team but still a team that can be very dangerous in the tourney, especially as they become the hunter instead of the hunted.
You are reading challenged aren't you lol. I was referring to travel to MORGANTOWN by any of these teams...which is the same both ways lol.
If you notice this was more of an interview. We were reporting on what Huggins had to say. Not many of my staff are looking to make excuses, including me.
Vernon. Did a thousand interviews for news items during my career...most on the Mountaineer network at the time...just tired of the excuses that recycle each year to make the fan base feel better about unmet expectations. Does sell tickets and sponsorships though lol.
I'm just pointing out that I don't view it differently than you. I do think the travel is a tough thing for WVU teams but not enough to make excuses for a skid like this one. As for what is going wrong, well I have no answer for that.
Apparently no one does lol. Really this is a head scratcher. It is like the team turned a switch and all the team oriented good things we saw earlier have gone dark. Got to be some internals...which we will never know during the season.
In a way it's as simple as they no longer play as a team. Everyone blames that on Ahmad coming back and it's hard to ignore that it started then but that doesn't really explain why.
LOL exactly the same travel? One team travels 1000+ miles for 9 league games and the other 9 travel 1000+ miles for 1. Is there a difference. However, I really don't see travel is the issue. The team chemistry is out of wack and it is Huggs job to get it back on track.
If you have had to travel for work or other reasons, you know that there is a big difference between a one, two and in this team's case closer to 3 hour flights into a different time zone for every game they play. It's called ...jet lag. Couple that with the one day turnarounds and it can catch up as the season progresses.
In its last 5 or 6 games, the team has looked tired, loses its concentration and doesn't seem able to play for 40 minutes. However, the coaches knew the schedule before the season started and should be prepared to play or they should have lobbied for a more favorable travel schedule prior to the start of play. So although travel might be a reason, it is not an excuse.
IMHO, the team needs to improve in all facets - conditioning, defense, offense, passing, shooting, rebounding and overall bb IQ if they want to turn things around. This won't be easy with the strength of the B-12. We also need to keep in mind that with the exception of Carter and Miles, this is a young team and our depth has little experience against these quality teams and their players, especially when running the conference gauntlet during the second half of the season. But our "ace in the hole" is Bob Huggins and if anyone can turn this around, he can and will. I believe that Huggins can fix this and make this team gel by March madness. Let's Go Mountaineers!!
In its last 5 or 6 games, the team has looked tired, loses its concentration and doesn't seem able to play for 40 minutes. However, the coaches knew the schedule before the season started and should be prepared to play or they should have lobbied for a more favorable travel schedule prior to the start of play. So although travel might be a reason, it is not an excuse.
IMHO, the team needs to improve in all facets - conditioning, defense, offense, passing, shooting, rebounding and overall bb IQ if they want to turn things around. This won't be easy with the strength of the B-12. We also need to keep in mind that with the exception of Carter and Miles, this is a young team and our depth has little experience against these quality teams and their players, especially when running the conference gauntlet during the second half of the season. But our "ace in the hole" is Bob Huggins and if anyone can turn this around, he can and will. I believe that Huggins can fix this and make this team gel by March madness. Let's Go Mountaineers!!
I have trouble believing that in the jet age travel is all that tiring. However, comparing WVs travel with the rest of the league's is apples to oranges. Each B12 team has to travel to Mtown once in a season. Wv has to head west 9 times a season, plus to KC for the tournament.
I somehow missed your post before posting mine, but we obviously agree. Great minds think alike, lol.
I don’t like excuses. But none of you have ever done anything like what this b-ball team has been doing and I don’t see how your opinions are relevant.
Arriving in Morgantown at 5am and having one day to prep for a big game does seem like a tough deal to me.
Arriving in Morgantown at 5am and having one day to prep for a big game does seem like a tough deal to me.
I am of the opinion that we are fortunate to have coach Huggins, but what is more irrelevant, the opinions or the excuses.
I traveled all the time to Houston and Kansas for work. Don’t buy it. I’ll concede the Monday games directly following a Saturday game. That would be exhausting without travel. These are college kids. The flight out west isn’t exhausting at all. It’s the return flights that are a pain with the airlines that tend to always be late returns. They fly private though, right? Also, we’ve been in this conference a while now and other wvu teams have managed to be pretty successful.
The article about kids being sick. To me, while it’s bad news, it at least may explain the lack of energy against Iowa State. LGM!
The article about kids being sick. To me, while it’s bad news, it at least may explain the lack of energy against Iowa State. LGM!
Maybe a guy who’s essentially done nothing his whole career and been given chance after chance gets to waltz in and take PT from other guys and they didn’t appreciate it? Doesn’t make it right, but I know enough about the 20-under crowd to know most don’t mind pouting and not putting in effort when things don’t go how they’d like.
Reminds me of: Which is farther away, the moon or Florida? Answer: "Duh...I can see the moon"...
One reason for the recent failures that has not been discussed much is the lack of recent production by the role players. Looking back at the game in Morgantown vs. Kansas State on New Year's Day, Lamont West and Teddy Allen combined for 41 points on 15-22 shooting from the field. Read the previous sentence again. 
Reality is that WVU is pretty much exactly where they were predicted to be. I think KC predicted 23-8, and he's usually pretty accurate. Kansas is vulnerable this year, so if WVU gets on a roll these next few weeks, they'll be right in the thick of things. No need to give up quite yet.
And both of their minutes have dramatically decreased since Ahmad has returned. He’s been a huge example of subtraction by addition.One reason for the recent failures that has not been discussed much is the lack of recent production by the role players. Looking back at the game in Morgantown vs. Kansas State on New Year's Day, Lamont West and Teddy Allen combined for 41 points on 15-22 shooting from the field. Read the previous sentence again.