The Trials and Tribulations of West Virginia’s Season
Posted by WCarey on January 19th, 2013Walker Carey is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after Saturday afternoon’s game between West Virginia and Purdue. You can follow him at @walkerRcarey.
West Virginia entered the season as a team of great intrigue as the Mountaineers were beginning their first season in the Big 12. In the preseason, they were picked to finish sixth in the conference, but many thought Bob Huggins would be able to get his team to improve as the season progressed. As it turns out, if anything has happened to West Virginia over the course of the season, it is that the Mountaineers have gotten worse.
It’s Been That Kind of a Season For Huggins
When West Virginia lost by 34 points at Gonzaga in its season opener, some dismissed it as a result of a long road trip against a very good team. When the Mountaineers dropped games to Davidson and Oklahoma in the Old Spice Classic, some felt those losses were a result of growing pains and a squad of newcomers who had yet to gel. Serious concerns over this season’s West Virginia squad did not really begin until the Mountaineers dropped their December 11 game to a Duquesne squad, who opened their season by losing to Albany and currently sit at 7-10 overall. After getting thrashed by a clearly superior Michigan team at the Barclays Center on December 15, the Mountaineers closed out their non-conference schedule with three straight wins. In hindsight, those three wins may have been a bad thing as they once again raised some hopes about the Mountaineers as conference play drew near.
Since conference play commenced, the Mountaineers have struggled mightily, especially with closing out tight games. In their first-ever Big 12 game, they were thoroughly outplayed at home by Oklahoma in a 72-62 defeat. The Mountaineers then traveled to Texas where they were able to notch a 57-53 overtime victory in a game that defined the term “offensively-challenged.” They followed up their lone conference win by dropping consecutive close games — at home to Kansas State and on the road at Iowa State. Taking a break from conference play, the Mountaineers traveled to Purdue on Saturday where they were completely outplayed and embarrassed by the Boilermakers in a 79-52 defeat.
Sitting at just 8-9 overall, West Virginia has also experienced some issues away from the court. Center Aaric Murray, a transfer from LaSalle, did not make the trip to Brooklyn for the Michigan game for disciplinary reasons. Following that loss, Huggins noted that he had “left guys home that were way, way, way better than Aaric Murray.” During Big 12 play, Huggins benched guard Juwan Staten, a transfer from Dayton, for the entire second half of the Texas victory and the entire Kansas State game. When asked about Staten’s benching, Huggins responded with, “We all talk about being on the same page. I wrote the book, so he’s going to be on the same page as everyone else or he’s going to continue to sit over there.” Other Mountaineers have also spent time in the coach’s doghouse — most notably guard Matt Humphrey and forward Deniz Kilicli. Humphrey, who is playing his last collegiate season at West Virginia after previously playing at Oregon and Boston College, is averaging just 10.1 minutes per game after playing 30.3 minutes a contest for BC last season. Kilicli, who was the Mountaineers’ most productive post player last season, has seen his minutes fall from 26.6 last season to just 19.2 this season.
With all the turmoil facing West Virginia both on and off the court, it is hard to see the Mountaineers righting the ship at any point this season. While Bob Huggins is a legendary coach with hundreds of wins and a couple of Final Fours under his belt, this team has arguably reached a point where its problems are beyond repair — even for him.
