West Virginia Basketball: Mountaineers ready to press the Big 12 again
By Doug Winkey
Personnel losses will have the West Virginia basketball’s rotation looking different, but no less effective.
Is anyone else sick of the West Virginia’s unique style of play? Too bad, because they won’t be slowing down this year.
Even without Jaysean Paige, Jonathan Holton, and Devin Williams, plenty of bodies are still on the roster to torment Big 12 opponents. Head coach Bob Huggins has built a tremendously effective system that thrives on energy and depth over talent.
WVU had the second best adjusted defense in the Big 12 last season as well as the second best adjusted tempo. The Mountaineers were a serious pain every night, not because they shot well (45 percent as a team) but because they led the conference in steals and total field goals attempted. They swarmed opponents and won via sheer volume.
Huggins played 10 guys in almost every game last season. His rotation could shorten up a bit this year without the steady presences Paige, Holton, and Williams.
For now though, we will try and assume West Virginia will employ the same mass rotations as we saw in 2015-2016. This style has both the benefit of raising every player’s potential floor, as they will stay fresh and retain energy for more stretches of games, but also lowers their ceiling; nobody on last year’s team played more than 28 minutes a night.
Next: Point guard - Jevon Carter