The 2015-16 college basketball season is among us, and the West Virginia Mountaineers are coming off of a run to the Sweet 16 before a date with Kentucky.
This season, is year two of Press Virginia, but also a year in which team leaders Juwan Staten and Gary Browne are gone and players like Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles, Tarik Phillip and Jaysean Paige will be expected to lead the team into the season.
Last year, the Mountaineers were able to catch lightning in a bottle with the new press system. The team was able to force over 20 turnovers per game, and grab an insane amount of offensive rebounds that lead to the team’s success down the stretch.
The guard depth and experience gained from last season should serve this team well in a conference as deep as the Big 12. It will be especially helpful going up against teams like Kansas, Iowa State, and Oklahoma who have guard depth and come in waves. WVUÂ has the same amount of depth and will be able to handle what it takes to be competitive and finish near the top of the league.
Ideally, this year’s team will still be able to rebound and force turnovers at the high rate they did last year, but make drastic improvements to their field goal percentage.
The team needs to find a player that can score off the dribble. Right now, none of the guards on the team can create their own shot off the dribble, and it will be essential to for one of them to add that to their game.
One of their big time recruits, forward Esa Ahmad, is expected to come into the season and play right away. He averaged 23 and 10 during as a senior at Shaker Heights high school in Ohio. He will be able to add to the depth in the front court behind Jonathan Holton and Devin Williams.
Speaking of Williams, the junior forward has to take the next step offensively for this team to able to compete for the league title. As currently constructed, they are a middle of the conference team. Williams will have to improve his free throw percentage, midrange shot and possibly three point range for the team to really unlock it’s offensive potential.
Another improvement Williams will have to make is catching post entries, and finishing around the rim. Right now, he has bricks for hands, and struggles to score in the post with his lack of post moves.
Overall, I expect this season to be a slight step back. It’s hard to lose a player that leads, and can score like Juwan Staten did and be able to improve. Unless one of the four guards named above can take the big step up and score the way Staten had the last few years it will be a struggle offensively.
The team will still be competitive, and likely a tournament team. But it is still a year away from being a preseason Top 25 team and remains a dark horse to make a run beyond the Sweet 16.
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