West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Scrub]

Typically the game immediately following a bad loss is marked by WLU clicking on all cylinders. That just wasn't the case last night.

First off, credit to A-B. They played their butts off, and the Knott kid is special. A-B fans have to hope he sticks around, but it would be easy to see him fall for the call of the portal. But Coach Dye had his guys prepared last night, and A-B executed a nice game plan.

That said, a WLU squad that is "right" should never score as few as 86 against A-B. A-B doesn't have the depth (great top-end talent--Knott/Rice/King--but nothing behind that) to run with a WLU when they're "right." Something still wasn't "right" with the Toppers last night. I'm not sure if it was the change in rotation. Howlett only went 8 deep last night instead of 10-11 deep. Maybe that changed the dynamic. Maybe Malik McKinney being in streets had some impact (no idea what kind of injury he's dealing with).

But whatever it was that made them look a little off last night had better get corrected by Saturday. Make no mistake, this isn't one of the good Wheeling teams of old, but a rivalry game is a rivalry game, and going into that gym in Wheeling, I have to believe you'll find a motivated Wheeling team and a rocking atmosphere. Gotta right the ship quickly.

[Columbuseer]

FYi
Bryce Butler named to bevo Francis top 100 watch list

https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...atch-list.aspx

Also named: will yoakum and rj sunahara from Nova se

[Scrub]

Really bad loss for the ladies tonight

They looked like they'd never seen a press before (even though they played a much more talented pressing team in Glenville last week). Not sure what was going on down there in Bluefield tonight.

[Layton]

Really bad loss for the ladies tonight

[Columbuseer]

They hired a guy from Cincy today. Although I’d be surprised if there wasn’t more staff turnover in the off-season. I’d put the odds of him hiring Howlett very low but I think it’d be smart. They’re on track to have 3/5 very bad seasons the past 5 years. He’s very close to retirement

IMHO they have completely different philosophies- postionless basketball versus center, power fd, small fwd, shooting guard, and point guard concept. If d1 were to make a run at Howlett, it would be as a head coach. Maybe low to mid major team.

[Layton]

They hired a guy from Cincy today. Although I’d be surprised if there wasn’t more staff turnover in the off-season. I’d put the odds of him hiring Howlett very low but I think it’d be smart. They’re on track to have 3/5 very bad seasons the past 5 years. He’s very close to retirement

[Ship69]

That doesn't necessarily mean zone. There are ways to control mismatches without zone.

If you have a severe mismatch, you're either going to be doubling up or playing some sort of trick defense if you're not playing zone.

[IUPalum]

He does, but he's currently 0-5 in the Big 12, which probably is the best roundball conference in the country this year. Sometimes you have to adjust what we're doing. Ship has played almost exclusively man-to-man for years, but I don't think a little zone would be out of place with East Stroud this season. They have a couple of players we just can't match up with very well.

That doesn't necessarily mean zone. There are ways to control mismatches without zone.

[Ship69]

I'm sure Huggy Bear knows what he is doing. He's been doing this for decades.

He does, but he's currently 0-5 in the Big 12, which probably is the best roundball conference in the country this year. Sometimes you have to adjust what we're doing. Ship has played almost exclusively man-to-man for years, but I don't think a little zone would be out of place with East Stroud this season. They have a couple of players we just can't match up with very well.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm sure Huggy Bear knows what he is doing. He's been doing this for decades.

Grand Valley State HC just left a Top 3 D2 football job to be the special teams coach at Wisconsin.


Never know. Money talks.

[IUPalum]

If you're going to run a press, it takes a full commitment to recruiting for it as a coach. At our level, West Liberty and East Stroudsburg have obviously had a good deal of success doing just that. But it only works if you usually have talent and speed at least the equivalent of your opponent and probably superior depth as well. Meet an opponent with experienced guards and overall quickness, and the press can get exposed very quickly.

I'm sure Huggy Bear knows what he is doing. He's been doing this for decades.

[Columbuseer]

If you're going to run a press, it takes a full commitment to recruiting for it as a coach. At our level, West Liberty and East Stroudsburg have obviously had a good deal of success doing just that. But it only works if you usually have talent and speed at least the equivalent of your opponent and probably superior depth as well. Meet an opponent with experienced guards and overall quickness, and the press can get exposed very quickly.

Great points. For that reason, imho if d2 coach in this style moves to D1, it has to be as a head coach and not as an assistant.

[Ship69]

Huggy's biggest problem right now is that he's not much of an offensive minded coach. He needs a half court offense since he doesn't have the bodies for his press. This all started downward when he lost Oscar.

If you're going to run a press, it takes a full commitment to recruiting for it as a coach. At our level, West Liberty and East Stroudsburg have obviously had a good deal of success doing just that. But it only works if you usually have talent and speed at least the equivalent of your opponent and probably superior depth as well. Meet an opponent with experienced guards and overall quickness, and the press can get exposed very quickly.

[IUPalum]

Only slightly kidding about the open WVU job but WVU hasn’t had much success in the Big 12 without the press. I’d definitely add him if I were Huggs and he wanted to. But as a selfish WL fan I hope not

Unlike Crutch I do think Howlett has D1 aspirations eventually. Too young to stay D2 forever with that much success

Huggy's biggest problem right now is that he's not much of an offensive minded coach. He needs a half court offense since he doesn't have the bodies for his press. This all started downward when he lost Oscar.

[Layton]

Only slightly kidding about the open WVU job but WVU hasn’t had much success in the Big 12 without the press. I’d definitely add him if I were Huggs and he wanted to. But as a selfish WL fan I hope not

Unlike Crutch I do think Howlett has D1 aspirations eventually. Too young to stay D2 forever with that much success