--West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said that they like their roster for next year. They don’t have as much size as they’ve had the last couple years but have guys that can defend the rim. They will probably be a little more versatile. He likes the team.
--Nothing official on Sean McNeil’s decision. But McNeil and Taz Sherman can get going to and make shots, but they need to pass it better and guard better.
--Deuce McBride has been really good. He called Huggins last night or the night before and it was updating him on his workouts, and he’s keeping a mind and wants to do what’s in his best interest which is something they are all on board with.
--Offensively, West Virginia has to pass the ball better because it really hurt them. It wasn’t that they didn’t have guys open or in position to make shots, they just did a poor job of delivering the ball. They have recruited some guys that have done a better job of that. They have to guard better.
--Malik Curry is very good at attacking the rim. He can attack the rim and he’s a guy that can get other guys shot because of his ability to penetrate. Huggins liked what he saw.
--Huggins said the rule changes in some ways have made it challenging, but other ways not. They lose some guys but can go into the portal and get some players. One-year plans are done now, you have to build your roster in the moment because it’s an entirely different situation than in the past. It’s not let’s win one for the university, fans or teammates, it’s what gives me the best chance to get to the league. But Huggins understands he doesn’t have a choice other than to deal with it.
--Huggins said Marcus Smart had came out during his freshman year, he would have made $653,000 in his first year but the next year he made $3.7 million. Those are things they have to take a really hard look at with where they’re going to be in the draft and who is on the team they could get drafted by.
--In general, there’s good agents and bad agents. There’s guys who prey on young people and they’ve had that at West Virginia. The saddest thing to Huggins, is that every year somebody comes back and says I wish I would have listened to you. He doesn’t care one way or the other outside what’s in the best interest of the kids. If players ask Huggins tells them and they listen or they don’t listen. Derek Culver had four different agents talking to him and if you can imagine going down that road and making that kind of money and living that life it’s a very exciting thing for them. But what’s not exciting is that it doesn’t work out. Then you have to try to find a place overseas.
--Huggins doesn’t think his team coming together will be that hard with the transfers.
--Huggins thinks that Isaiah Cottrell will be full go and will give them a 6-foot-10 guy that can step out on the floor and spread it and shoot it. He looks good and while they haven’t turned him loose yet, he is doing all the shooting drills. Now it’s a matter of running and stopping and starting and cutting.
--West Virginia liked what they saw from Jamel King. They’ve got players coming back and they were looking for people that fit a need and they thought he fit those.
--It’s too early to tell what this team will do best. They need to be able to do something defensively than what they did be it some kind of zone, some kind of halfcourt or something. When you look back at when they were really good they kept people off balance. Go back to the Kentucky game and they used the 1-3-1 and it saved them. In both the Villanova games they trapped them out of the 1-3-1. They tried to do it last year and they were really bad at it, so they didn’t do it. Huggins said they maybe will press a little bit just to change the tempo.
--Conceivably with Pauly Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan it could allow them to use more pressure than they did last year. When they had success with the press before they had two of the best on the ball defenders in America and one of the best shot blockers in America. They don’t have Sagaba Konate, but they have to do a better job than they did last year and try to change shots.
--West Virginia is going to have to spend a little more time on rebounding. On the Final 4 year they didn’t have a lot of size. They have to put their bodies on people and pursue the ball the way that they generally pursue the ball. They have to fix the standing around and really rebound the ball.
--Huggins said they took basically three bigs. They felt like they needed three bigs with everybody they lost and the uncertainty with Isaiah Cottrell beforehand. The other guys are getting better and better but they’re not there yet. The best thing they did with Jalen Bridges was redshirt him for a year and let him practice. He came in and played against grown men and it helped him tremendously. That’s probably going to be what they do with the two freshmen and let them grow up.
--Nothing official on Sean McNeil’s decision. But McNeil and Taz Sherman can get going to and make shots, but they need to pass it better and guard better.
--Deuce McBride has been really good. He called Huggins last night or the night before and it was updating him on his workouts, and he’s keeping a mind and wants to do what’s in his best interest which is something they are all on board with.
--Offensively, West Virginia has to pass the ball better because it really hurt them. It wasn’t that they didn’t have guys open or in position to make shots, they just did a poor job of delivering the ball. They have recruited some guys that have done a better job of that. They have to guard better.
--Malik Curry is very good at attacking the rim. He can attack the rim and he’s a guy that can get other guys shot because of his ability to penetrate. Huggins liked what he saw.
--Huggins said the rule changes in some ways have made it challenging, but other ways not. They lose some guys but can go into the portal and get some players. One-year plans are done now, you have to build your roster in the moment because it’s an entirely different situation than in the past. It’s not let’s win one for the university, fans or teammates, it’s what gives me the best chance to get to the league. But Huggins understands he doesn’t have a choice other than to deal with it.
--Huggins said Marcus Smart had came out during his freshman year, he would have made $653,000 in his first year but the next year he made $3.7 million. Those are things they have to take a really hard look at with where they’re going to be in the draft and who is on the team they could get drafted by.
--In general, there’s good agents and bad agents. There’s guys who prey on young people and they’ve had that at West Virginia. The saddest thing to Huggins, is that every year somebody comes back and says I wish I would have listened to you. He doesn’t care one way or the other outside what’s in the best interest of the kids. If players ask Huggins tells them and they listen or they don’t listen. Derek Culver had four different agents talking to him and if you can imagine going down that road and making that kind of money and living that life it’s a very exciting thing for them. But what’s not exciting is that it doesn’t work out. Then you have to try to find a place overseas.
--Huggins doesn’t think his team coming together will be that hard with the transfers.
--Huggins thinks that Isaiah Cottrell will be full go and will give them a 6-foot-10 guy that can step out on the floor and spread it and shoot it. He looks good and while they haven’t turned him loose yet, he is doing all the shooting drills. Now it’s a matter of running and stopping and starting and cutting.
--West Virginia liked what they saw from Jamel King. They’ve got players coming back and they were looking for people that fit a need and they thought he fit those.
--It’s too early to tell what this team will do best. They need to be able to do something defensively than what they did be it some kind of zone, some kind of halfcourt or something. When you look back at when they were really good they kept people off balance. Go back to the Kentucky game and they used the 1-3-1 and it saved them. In both the Villanova games they trapped them out of the 1-3-1. They tried to do it last year and they were really bad at it, so they didn’t do it. Huggins said they maybe will press a little bit just to change the tempo.
--Conceivably with Pauly Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan it could allow them to use more pressure than they did last year. When they had success with the press before they had two of the best on the ball defenders in America and one of the best shot blockers in America. They don’t have Sagaba Konate, but they have to do a better job than they did last year and try to change shots.
--West Virginia is going to have to spend a little more time on rebounding. On the Final 4 year they didn’t have a lot of size. They have to put their bodies on people and pursue the ball the way that they generally pursue the ball. They have to fix the standing around and really rebound the ball.
--Huggins said they took basically three bigs. They felt like they needed three bigs with everybody they lost and the uncertainty with Isaiah Cottrell beforehand. The other guys are getting better and better but they’re not there yet. The best thing they did with Jalen Bridges was redshirt him for a year and let him practice. He came in and played against grown men and it helped him tremendously. That’s probably going to be what they do with the two freshmen and let them grow up.
