WVU’s sub-par basketball season also a little ill-timed
You could see the pain, the frustration on the face of WVU basketball standout Taz Sherman Monday night.
The Mountaineers had fallen to 14-13 after losing their 11th in their last 12 games in a 77-67 road loss to TCU.
Sherman had been hot, but WVU was outrebounded 42-24 in the loss. Unless West Virginia somehow wins the Big 12 tournament, NCAA tournament hopes are likely dashed.
Sherman was asked a question by a media member via Zoom.
“I don’t even know,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m getting tired of losing. It’s really difficult for me to do this (Zoom). I just don’t like losing. We have to play better.”
Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins mimicked Sherman’s body language.
“We may be playing the wrong guys,” said the coach. “I’m not sure… The positive thing is we still have a chance. We’re going to look at it that way. I’ll go back and look at the game and the guys that didn’t give us what we expect will sit on their butts over on the bench and watch the guys play that do compete. And if they open their mouth on the bench, I’m going to send them home.”
He’s uncorked similar quotes during the recent downturn.
“As a player I didn’t appreciate playing with guys that didn’t care,” Huggins said. “I never tolerated having guys around that didn’t care. Sometimes there’s tremendous good in addition by subtraction. You don’t want to do that. You try to give everybody a fair shot, a fair break. Sometimes it comes down to ‘Let’s do like they do in the real world.’”
One could point to specific reasons for the losses. There are the missed layups. There are the lapses on defense. (“We have to stay in front out on the perimeter,” Sherman said. “And we need better help-side defense. And we need to help the helper.”) Huggins pointed to WVU’s passing. (“We’ve probably hit more guys below the knees with passes than any team I’ve ever seen,” he said.) There was the rebounding.
One could go on and on. But, really, what is the point?
The Mountaineers are one game above .500. It’s officially a down year, barring a tournament miracle. Such seasons are going to happen.
The problem is the timing stings a little for WVU.
Remember, Huggins last Friday was announced as a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame finalist.
That’s big – especially if you pair it with a nice run in the NCAA tournament. Understand that the 2022 Hall class will be announced on April 2 at the Final Four.
A strong season and Huggins’ induction into the hall would have been sweet for the WVU program.
That also would have been nice for the Mountaineers in the dawning of the Name, Image and Likeness era. It appears there may be more separation than ever between the upper crust programs and the rest. WVU will need as much juice there as possible.
Also, there’s whatever crumbs of realignment talk that remains out there. The Mountaineer athletic program wants to be in the best possible shape in case a surprise opening/offer happens. Success in football certainly helped West Virginia in 2011, when it jumped to the Big 12.
Finally, there’s plain old recruiting. A nice NCAA tournament run paired with a Hall of Fame coach induction would have played well to the kids involved and not involved in high-stakes NIL negotiating.
It’s just unfortunate timing, unless that Big 12 tournament run materializes.
Huggins, you can tell, knows it. And even Sherman, I think, gets it.
“No one likes losing,” he said via that Monday night Zoom. “It’s difficult because you don’t only want to win for yourself. You want to win for the team, the coaches and staff and everyone rooting for you. You want to win for your family. Then you have people constantly watching you every game hoping we’re going to do better. And we aren’t.”
Indeed, it’s just one of those years.
One that happens to be a little mistimed.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.
