WVU: This Year's UConn Huskies?

Will this be WVU come March?

In my previous post, I attempted to peer into the future of WVU basketball. It was not a knock on this year’s team, which is very good. However, this year’s team is also very young, which according to conventional wisdom, limits how well a team can do, especially come March. However, last year’s National Champions, the University of Connecticut Huskies also defied conventional wisdom on their path to cutting down the nets in March.

During the Mountaineer’s victory over Villanova, the announcers pointed out something interesting. While discussing the fact that the Mountaineers were picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East this year, it was mentioned that the UConn Huskies were also picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East last year. It got me thinking, so I decided to look for other similarities between this year’s WVU basketball team and last year’s UConn basketball team.

Last year, the Huskies were led by their unquestioned leader, junior guard Kemba Walker. The diminutive kid from the Bronx came to UConn with lighting quick reflexes and a great handle. Going into his junior year, Kemba developed a deadly jump shot and his game took off. Along with Kemba, the best player in the nation last year, the Huskies relied on key contributions from big man Alex Oriakhi and freshman Tyler Lamb and Shabazz Napier.

The Mountaineers have some striking similarities. Like UConn, they are a young team that will have to count on freshman to be major contributors. However, the team will ultimately rely on its upperclassman, much like UConn relied on Walker. To begin to match Kemba Walker, I look at another diminutive guard, Truck Bryant. Bryant isn’t nearly as quick as Walker, and doesn’t have quite the handles or jumpshot, but he’s shown vast improvement this year like Kemba did from his sophomore to junior year.

Capped by a 34 point performance against Villanova, Truck is off to a hot start this year. He’s not putting up Kemba Walker numbers, but he’s averaging over 6 points more per game this year compared to last. He’s not doing it by just jacking up shots either; Truck’s overall shooting percentage is up a significant 8% and his 3 point percentage is up 3.3%. Truck is also getting to the line two more times per game. His only real negative development is his turnovers have increased a bit to three per game, compared to an average in the low 2’s his last three years, but his assists are up slightly too.

Luckily, Truck won’t have to carry the whole load himself. In fact, he’s not even the Mountaineers best player. That distinction belongs to Senior Forward Kevin Jones. Jones, who excited as a freshman and sophomore because of his ability to shoot the three as a big man (40% his sophomore year) has seemingly lost that ability. He’s only shooting 20% from behind the arc this year, but he’s made up for it around the basket. Jones, already a prolific rebounder, especially on the offensive end, has turned himself into an absolute machine. This year KJ is averaging a stellar 20.4 points and 11.5 rebounds a game, buoyed by shooting 56% from the floor. Junior Forward Deniz Kilicli has also stepped up his game this year. The Turkey native has nearly doubled his scoring from 6.6 points per game last year to 11.1 points per game this year. Additionally, the big man has looked much better on defense and he’s also slightly improved his shooting percentage, meaning he’s gotten more effective in more minutes rather than less effective.

Oh and one fun fact. The Huskies actually did only two things last year exceptionally well.  First, they were 20th in the country in block percentage at 9.2%.  So far this year, the Mountaineers don't quite measure up, as they are only 74th in the country at 7.4%.  The other thing the Huskies did very well? Offensive rebounding. Last year, they finished at 9th in the country in rebounding percentage at 38.7%. So far this year, the Mountaineers came in at 6th in the country at 40.2%. Just saying.

From there, it will be up to a few of the newcomers to step up and be the Moutaineer’s Tyler Lamb and Shabazz Napier. JUCO transfer Dominic Rutledge how shown promise. Point guard Jabarie Hinds looks like a young Kemba Walker with his quickness and ball handling ability, although his shot isn’t up to par just yet. Backcourt mates with the same last name, Gary Browne and Aaron Browne have impressed at times. Small forward Keaton Miles looks good athletically and could become a lockdown defender in time. Watch for a few of these guys to really blossom in the spring under Coach Huggins, and if they do, maybe I’ll be mistaken about looking forward into 2013-2014. Maybe this year is the year.