Pretty much sums it up...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:WVU's growing pains continue
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
January 12, 2009

MORGANTOWN - A day before West Virginia's loss at Marquette Saturday, Bob Huggins was talking about the virtues of having experienced players. The subject came up, of course, because Marquette has a lot more of them than the Mountaineers.

Was that the biggest difference in the Golden Eagles' 75-53 win? Probably not. Experience - or the lack of it - doesn't much matter to players who are sitting on the bench, which is where some of WVU's best spent long stretches on Saturday thanks to foul trouble.

On the other hand, when Marquette went on that 24-5 run to end the game it just kept getting worse and worse for the Mountaineers, who began giving up easy baskets and allowed the whole thing to snowball out of control.

Perhaps that would have happened to a more experienced team, as well. But it happened to a team that plays three freshmen and two sophomores in an eight-man rotation and on Saturday was forced by foul trouble to add another sophomore to the mix, Will Thomas. And it happened against a team whose starters number four seniors and a junior.

It was roughly the same four nights earlier when West Virginia lost at home to Connecticut, although in that instance the problem was a few little breakdowns and not a massive one such as what happened Saturday at the Bradley Center.

"What I've found over the years is that guys who have been in the program and in the league for an extended period of time understand that you've got to play harder longer,'' Huggins said. "You've got to sustain your intensity. You've got to continue to play through plays. You can't take plays off.''

Saturday was an example of almost everyone taking a huge collective break at the end. But the youth vs. experience argument is best made in smaller increments, which is what Huggins is stressing.

"I think a great example was Truck getting his third foul [against Connecticut],'' Huggins said, referring to freshman point guard Darryl Bryant. "His guy passed the ball and he was going to take a little break. And the guy ends up trying to cut across his face and he fouls him. I think guys when they're in the league longer they don't have those letdowns.''

Of course, Huggins would have taken a similar lapse from Bryant on Saturday. Instead he got a game-long funk when Bryant tried to do way too much, got into early foul trouble, played just 13 minutes and had a stat line as notable for what it did not include (any points and just one assist) as what it did (four turnovers).

Still, Huggins understands there are growing pains and, quite frankly, he's been fairly happy with how his young players have coped.

OK, so maybe not happy, but at least realistic.

"Our freshmen and most freshmen in the league have been the best players on their team and in their league and some of them the best players in the country. And you can take plays off when you're that talented,'' Huggins said. "Well now everything catches up to you."

"Honestly, I think our guys have done a heck of a job. I really do. I think they're way ahead of where a lot of freshmen would be. But it's not like having [all those seniors].''

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:So long, Top 25
WVU can't overcome obstacles vs. Marquette
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
January 11, 2009

MILWAUKEE - In the final analysis, what happened to West Virginia in the last eight minutes of Saturday's game with Marquette is what will be remembered.

And why not? That's when the Golden Eagles turned what had become a terrific basketball game into something that will surely contribute a few minutes to their 2009 season highlight reel. Marquette scored 24 of the game's final 29 points to beat the Mountaineers 75-53 in front of a crowd of 17,085 at the Bradley Center.

But as the No. 25 Mountaineers prepare to wave at least a temporary farewell to their first national ranking in more than a year after back-to-back losses to No. 5 Connecticut and No. 18 Marquette, understand that the first 32 minutes of this one were rather remarkable from West Virginia's standpoint.

It's nothing to celebrate, of course, and there were plenty of flaws. But consider that by the first media timeout of the game - that was 4 minutes and 40 seconds, in this case - Marquette was already poised to go on the one-and-one and both of WVU's point guards, Darryl "Truck" Bryant and emergency fill-in Da'Sean Butler, were already in foul trouble.

Despite that, the Mountaineers (11-4, 1-2 Big East) led by as many as eight points in the first half, by six in the second and at that eight-minute mark trailed by just 51-48.

"Yeah, but honestly that's stuff we should be doing,'' Butler said of staying with Marquette against all odds. "We shouldn't get a pat on the back for staying in the game."

Perhaps not, but it is still worth noting what West Virginia was up against.

Bryant, the only true point guard in WVU's eight-man rotation, played all of 2 minutes and 40 seconds in the first half. That's how long it took him to turn the ball over three times, twice on offensive fouls, and take a seat.

Butler, who with Joe Mazzulla sidelined becomes the de facto backup point guard, drew his second personal on a rare double foul 4:40 into the game. With Bryant already out, Butler stayed in and was magnificent. In that first 4:40 he had missed all three of his shots. And while he was somewhat of a defensive liability because he couldn't challenge anyone, he then proceeded to make six of his next eight shots, score 16 first-half points and give the Mountaineers a 31-29 halftime lead when he dribbled out the final 20 seconds and buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"Da'Sean Butler looked like Kobe Bryant,'' Marquette coach Buzz Williams said.

West Virginia even managed to survive those team fouls for a while. The double foul on Butler and Marquette's Wesley Matthews at the 15:10 mark was WVU's sixth, meaning the Golden Eagles (15-2, 4-0) were in the bonus on the next foul. But that didn't happen for more than eight minutes. And despite having to play cautiously, the Mountaineers still played defense well enough that Marquette missed 14 of its first 17 shots.

"That's as poor as we've played all year,'' Williams said. "But that's [because of] West Virginia, not us.''

Shoot, the Mountaineers even managed to survive - and thrive - for most of the first half with Marquette taking Alex Ruoff out of the offense. Ruoff, the team's leading scorer (16.5 points per game after Saturday), didn't find his first shot until more than 12 minutes had gone by. When he did, his 3-pointer gave WVU its biggest lead of the day, 21-13.

Even in the second half the Mountaineers bucked the odds. Butler picked up his third foul just 32 seconds after the break, but stayed on the floor until his fourth. That's when he went out, Bryant was benched (he had one assist, four turnovers and no points in 13 lackluster minutes) and at one point WVU's lineup was actually Ruoff, Cam Thoroughman, Kevin Jones, John Flowers and seldom-used Will Thomas.

That's not a lineup, though, that is going to win many Big East games, especially on the road against ranked teams. Marquette ultimately began to assert itself with the backcourt play of Jerel McNeal (26 points and three steals to overcome six turnovers), Dominic James (17 points, seven assists and three steals) and Matthews (13 points despite sitting 15 minutes with foul trouble). The Golden Eagles eventually got to the free-throw line thanks to all those fouls (WVU was whistled for 23, MU for 13) and made 24-of-27 foul shots.

West Virginia got to the line just five times all afternoon, making only six shots. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who was also hit with a technical foul during a timeout, resisted the urge to criticize the officiating.

"I can't comment on that. You're trying to get me in trouble and I get in enough trouble,'' Huggins said. "I would love to wax eloquently about it, but I can't.''

Butler ended up sitting for about 111/2 minutes after he got his fourth foul, during which his most significant contribution was fetching water for someone during a timeout. Huggins finally put him back in at the 7:04 mark, just as Marquette was beginning its final run. He lasted only 48 seconds before fouling out and then the Eagles were off to the races, winning their seventh in a row and moving to 12-0 at home.

Butler finished the same 16 points he had at halftime, while Ruoff added 13 points and matched his season high with eight assists. The Mountaineers shot 50 percent in the first half, but just half that in the second and were outrebounded by the smaller Eagles 37-35.

West Virginia's next Big East game is Saturday at home against South Florida. But first, on Wednesday, is the annual game with Marshall in Charleston.

Reach dphickman1@aol.com[/email at 304-348-1734 or dphickman1@aol.com.

(01-12-2009 03:38 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  "What I've found over the years is that guys who have been in the program and in the league for an extended period of time understand that you've got to play harder longer,'' Huggins said. "You've got to sustain your intensity. You've got to continue to play through plays. You can't take plays off.''

"I think a great example was Truck getting his third foul [against Connecticut],'' Huggins said, referring to freshman point guard Darryl Bryant. "His guy passed the ball and he was going to take a little break. And the guy ends up trying to cut across his face and he fouls him. I think guys when they're in the league longer they don't have those letdowns.''

"Our freshmen and most freshmen in the league have been the best players on their team and in their league and some of them the best players in the country. And you can take plays off when you're that talented,'' Huggins said. "Well now everything catches up to you."

"Honestly, I think our guys have done a heck of a job. I really do. I think they're way ahead of where a lot of freshmen would be. But it's not like having [all those seniors].''

[/quote]

Mick Cronin gets lambasted by some UC fans on the UC board for similar comments. (And I'll admit - I have been guilty of doing that at times this season).

It's the nature of the game, though. Kids come in after being the big dog in the yard, and suddenly find dogs are a lot bigger in another yard. It takes time to adjust. It also takes a sledgehammer to get basketball fundamentals into some kid's heads...