MORGANTOWN - To imagine that there could possibly have been a better time for West Virginia's basketball team to be blessed with more than three weeks of extra practice time and a slew of exhibition games would be foolish.
MORGANTOWN - To imagine that there could possibly have been a better time for West Virginia's basketball team to be blessed with more than three weeks of extra practice time and a slew of exhibition games would be foolish.
Last year, when coach Bob Huggins started the season with five seniors and just one newcomer on the roster? Nope.
The year before, when Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks and Wellington Smith were ready to lead West Virginia to its first Final Four in more than half a century? No.
How about next year, when chances are that only two players will be lost and the incoming recruits will be a manageable two or three? No way.
But this year?
"Yeah, it's great,'' Huggins said in a masterful understatement. "It's a perfect time for us.''
And it's becoming more perfect all the time.
Dalton Pepper's exit from the program this week was merely the last dramatic change for the Mountaineers. That brings to six the number of players lost from a team that was making its third straight NCAA tournament appearance.
Three of those six were starters at the end of the season - Joe Mazzulla, John Flowers and Cam Thoroughman. Casey Mitchell was the team's leading scorer. Pepper was the guy who sealed WVU's last win of the season, against Clemson in the NCAAs, with his late-game heroics. Jonnie West was lightning in a bottle with his shooting.
They're all gone now, though, and with six freshmen and a junior college transfer making up more than half the roster, who wouldn't be thrilled with all that extra practice time?
The Mountaineers will get it courtesy of a wonderfully timed August trip to Italy. They are allowed to practice for 10 days prior to the trip starting in late July, will tour Italy from the bottom of the boot (Sicily) to the top (Venice) between Aug. 8 and 22 and get back just in time to begin classes and the individual workouts that are allowed during the month and a half before official practice begins in October.
"If you can only do this once every four years,'' Huggins said, referring to NCAA rules, "this is certainly the time to do it. We need all the work we can get.''
And all the bonding the trip will foster. There will be basketball, sure. Plenty of it. That's the main reason for doing these things.
But six fresh-out-of-high-school kids will also be able to travel and work and bond with the players who will be their teammates.
MORGANTOWN - To imagine that there could possibly have been a better time for West Virginia's basketball team to be blessed with more than three weeks of extra practice time and a slew of exhibition games would be foolish.
Last year, when coach Bob Huggins started the season with five seniors and just one newcomer on the roster? Nope.
The year before, when Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks and Wellington Smith were ready to lead West Virginia to its first Final Four in more than half a century? No.
How about next year, when chances are that only two players will be lost and the incoming recruits will be a manageable two or three? No way.
But this year?
"Yeah, it's great,'' Huggins said in a masterful understatement. "It's a perfect time for us.''
And it's becoming more perfect all the time.
Dalton Pepper's exit from the program this week was merely the last dramatic change for the Mountaineers. That brings to six the number of players lost from a team that was making its third straight NCAA tournament appearance.
Three of those six were starters at the end of the season - Joe Mazzulla, John Flowers and Cam Thoroughman. Casey Mitchell was the team's leading scorer. Pepper was the guy who sealed WVU's last win of the season, against Clemson in the NCAAs, with his late-game heroics. Jonnie West was lightning in a bottle with his shooting.
They're all gone now, though, and with six freshmen and a junior college transfer making up more than half the roster, who wouldn't be thrilled with all that extra practice time?
The Mountaineers will get it courtesy of a wonderfully timed August trip to Italy. They are allowed to practice for 10 days prior to the trip starting in late July, will tour Italy from the bottom of the boot (Sicily) to the top (Venice) between Aug. 8 and 22 and get back just in time to begin classes and the individual workouts that are allowed during the month and a half before official practice begins in October.
"If you can only do this once every four years,'' Huggins said, referring to NCAA rules, "this is certainly the time to do it. We need all the work we can get.''
And all the bonding the trip will foster. There will be basketball, sure. Plenty of it. That's the main reason for doing these things.
But six fresh-out-of-high-school kids will also be able to travel and work and bond with the players who will be their teammates.
"And we've always tried to make it kind of a cultural experience for them, too'' Huggins said, referring to past foreign trips he's taken with teams, mostly those he coached at Cincinnati. "We went to Italy and went to the Colosseum and the Vatican. We went to Greece once and went to the Acropolis, went to France and the Eiffel Tower. Those are things that they're going to remember the rest of their lives.''
nnOf course, a few things will be familiar about next year's West Virginia team. The biggest was assured when Kevin Jones finally decided just before the deadline to withdraw his name from the NBA draft and return for his senior season.
Huggins was asked if that was bigger from the standpoint of simply having his best player back or having the most stabilizing presence on the team return.
"Oh, I think it's both,'' Huggins said. "He's without a doubt our best player, but he's also a great person. I think he sets a great example for what guys ought to be.''
Another thing that's not likely to change this year is where the Mountaineers practice. There was hope that the team's new practice facility would be available this fall, but that's pretty much out of the question.
Huggins is a bit disappointed by that, but he's not letting it get to him.
"When you get as old as I am you just roll with the punches,'' the 57-year-old coach said. "It is what it is.''
Will the team be able to get anything out of the practice facility this season?
"I'm not sure yet,'' Huggins said. "I think there's a possibility that we might be able to practice over there some during the season, but in terms of moving everything we probably won't do that until after the season.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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