Senior Night

Just finished up watching WVU beat Pitt and five seniors making their last appearance in the Colisium.

Kevin Pittsnogle, Patrick Beilein, Joe Herber, J.D. Collins, and transfer Mike Gansey all have represented WVU well. I really have to admit that when the Pittsnogle, Beilein, Herber and Collins first made their starts as freshmen I was sure none of them would be starting today as seniors. I really felt that Coach Beilein would recruit more talented players and most, if not all of these players would be role players (at best).

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Knowing what I know now, I can see the method to John Beilein’s madness. He rooted out the bad seeds and players not willing to play within his system, a la Drew Schifino, and NY player of the year Tyler Relph and kept the basketball smart players that could pick up on his style of offense.

I sometimes wish now I could do over my career and coach basketball. It seems like such a simple game now that I have watched WVU over the past 4 seasons under Beilein. If ever there was a style of offensive basketball that is as much fun to play as it is difficult to learn, it is this style. It takes teamwork and commitment from everyone on the floor. You have to anticipate the moves that your teammates make as they make their cuts to and away from the basket, you must shoot the ball effectively, and take care of each possession.

It has been so much fun watching this team compete over the past 4 seasons, and it will be hard to watch next year when we take a slight step back as new Mountaineers step in, but hopefully we will be watching this team play about 10 more games, then it would be much easier to let them go.