West, Carter Come Up Big to Take Down "East Virginia"

Photo Credit: BlueGoldNews.com

Jevon Carter is just better than everyone else.

After last night's performance against the Virginia Cavaliers, there's no other way to say it. He's going to overcome whoever and whatever the other team throws at him.

Carter led both teams with 23 points, which isn't surprising. He led both teams with seven assists, which also isn't shocking. He tied for the most steals, which is only surprising in that he wasn't alone at the top of that column. What may be most impressive, though, is that he also led all players - both teams - in rebounds (10).

His 23 points combined with 22 from Lamont West and 12 from Daxter Miles to account for 57 of WVU's 68 points. Wesley Harris added five more, while Beetle Bolden provided the only bench scoring with six, knocking down two of three from behind the arc.

It was an especially good game for West, who shot 44.4% from three, was a perfect 4-4 at the line, and collected four rebounds while tying for the second highest point total of his career.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

West's points showed up in a lot of key moments, including 10 in the final 6:02 of the game. After back to back three pointers by Virginia's Kyle Guy to tie the game at 51-51, West drained a three of his own to push it back to 54-51. After another by Guy a minute later to tie it at 56-56, West knocked down a tough jumper to retake the lead 58-56. Guy missed his next attempt, but West kept laying it on and hit one more to extend the lead to 61-56. He also added two clutch free throws to help close out the game. It was the kind of gutty performance we saw from Lamont repeatedly throughout the 2016-17 season.

Photo Credit: BlueGoldNews.com

Sagaba Konate played 34 minutes and was held scoreless, though he pulled down eight rebounds and recorded two blocks. He also had a third block that was whistled for goal-tending, though the replay clearly showed the ball was still on its way up. It was one of a number of questionable calls throughout the game.

The team's lack of depth showed itself in this game, resulting in the starters playing 172 out of 200 minutes and accounting for all but six points, three rebounds, and one steal. This may be indicative of how Coach Huggins plans to operate in close games until Esa Ahmad makes it back.

In the meantime, it's nice to see different guys stepping up when others are having an off night. With Konate going scoreless and Miles shooting 4-13 from the field and 1-6 from three, West took it upon himself to help Carter carry the load. We've now seen that from Bolden, Miles, Konate, Harris, and West already this season.

But there are at least 23 teams this season who are going to watch one guy outwork and outplay them for 40 minutes. They're going to remember Jevon Carter.

Carter, Miles Showed the Definition of Senior Leadership in Comeback Win

It may not seem like a huge win - West Virginia was ranked and an eight point favorite - but the comeback win against Missouri is the kind of game that can set the tone for a season.

For starters, it prevents a second early loss, and it keeps WVU's impressive streak of being ranked alive. It also is another early season tournament victory, and the feeling of lifting any trophy is positive in itself.

But there is much more that comes from this win than just another game in the "W" column; we learned a lot about this team in the process.

Jevon Carter is Who We Thought He Was

Source: Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire
via Getty Images

The go-ahead three pointer in the final minute was massive. It was massive for the game, and it was even more massive for Carter, who without a doubt still remembers how last season ended. Having the confidence to pull up and take that shot ("semi-contested" as the announcers discussed earlier in the game) shows that, regardless of what happened last year, Jevon knows he can be the guy. What 

makes him truly great, though, was what started the run seven minutes earlier.

With 7:38 to play and Missouri holding a 16 point lead, Wesley Harris missed a shot and the Tigers got the rebound. It looked like a loss was inevitable. But Carter did what he does: he pressured the ball, got a steal, and laid it in at the other end. The next three possessions for Missouri resulted in three more turnovers, culminating in a frustration foul and a technical. Four made free throws later, the 16 point deficit had been cut in half in exactly 60 seconds.

The most incredible stretch, though, was the one from 4:48 to 4:09 left in the game after Missouri had expanded their lead back to 11. Carter racked up three steals and six points - steal, free throws, steal, jumper, steal, layup - in those 39 seconds to pull the Mountaineers within five. Simply amazing.

The Other Half of the Dynamic Duo

Daxter Miles has shown flashes of greatness over his three-plus years at West Virginia. Listening to Huggins in post game interviews over the years, he's been open with his frustration after games where Dax just didn't show up. After putting up 23 points in the regular season finale against Iowa State last year, he turned around and scored 16 total in three games in the Big 12 tournament. In the NCAA tournament he scored two points against Bucknell before going off for 18 against Notre Dame. Then, in the final game against Gonzaga, he shot 3-11 from the field and went 0-2 at the line.

The simple fact is, this team needs Miles to be great. Outside of Carter and Miles, it's a bunch of freshmen and sophomores still getting their feet under them. There is no doubt Carter is Batman, but he needs his Robin to show up consistently. And in this game, he was great.

After starting the season shooting 63% from the line, Dax made 14 of 15 free throws against Missouri. Those extra five made free throws above his average were the difference in a win and a loss. His impact went well beyond the free throw line, though.

Miles added two steals, a couple of buckets (including a very tough contested shot), and a clutch rebound during WVU's late run, and his energy boosted the entire team. He finished the game with 26 points, five rebounds, four steals, two assists, and only one turnover.

The Youngsters Can Step Up Too

Sagaba Konate is a shot blocking machine. Through his first five games of the season (remember he didn't play against American) he'd racked up 19 blocks, which was good for top five in the country in blocks per game. Despite only registering one against Missouri, he still sits tied for eighth nationally.

Beyond the blocking, just the presence of Konate underneath the basket is enough to affect the game. Against Long Beach State, for example, after getting two huge blocks in the first half, the 49ers turned it over two more times soon after because they didn't want to get swatted again.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, early foul trouble and a late technical meant playing most of this game without their only real force under the basket. Luckily his fellow young teammates picked up the slack. Teddy Allen gave 11 good minutes, scoring eight points. Chase Harler played relentless defense, though it didn't show up on the stat sheet.

Wesley Harris was the biggest contributor, and he showed why he's earned a spot in the starting lineup. Harris was one point away from a double-double, putting up nine points to go with 10 rebounds (three offensive), three steals, an assist, and a block. Two points, two rebounds, and the block all came in the final three minutes of the game.

Source: AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

Finding Ways to Win

On a night when nothing went right for 30-plus minutes, and without much contribution from two key players - Konate and Beetle Bolden, who have both been outstanding this year - the Mountaineers found a way to overcome a 16 point deficit late in the fourth quarter and come away with a victory.

Huggins still has a lot of work in front of him this season, but as he's said in the past, it's always better to learn lessons while winning games than to learn them while losing (which was a trademark of the Harris-Henderson-Miles era). 

One thing is for sure, though: our senior guards are as good as advertised (if not better), and they have what it takes to carry this group to another successful season.

An Early and Unexpected Goodbye

After it was announced that Jevon Carter would be coming back for his senior season, there was an almost audible sigh of relief around the program. It appeared that the storm had calmed and that the team would be as intact as possible heading into 2017-18.

Unfortunately, though, news broke today that Elijah Macon will not be returning this upcoming season and has opted to turn pro instead.

AP Photo

Macon had the definition of a rough start to his college career. He was ranked first in the state of Ohio and 45th overall as a senior, with a grade of 94 by Scout. He was coming off of two AAU national championships, and both he and WVU had big expectations for him.

But after transferring to Huntington Prep for his senior year of high school 2011-12, Macon had to spend the 2012-13 season in prep school and then spent the 2013-14 season at WVU as a "partial qualifier" which kept him from even being able to practice with the team. It wasn't until the 2014-15 season that he was able to make it on the court for the Mountaineers, and it was around that time that he lost his mother to breast cancer.

The guy that coach Huggins affectionately calls "Eli" in his press conferences has matured as a man as well as a player as he's worn the gold and blue, and losing both Eli and Teyvon Myers in the same season is going to be a brutal blow to the enthusiasm, leadership, and energy on the team. The two of them could always be seen propping up their teammates and cheering louder than anyone else in the arena.

Additionally, Macon really started to find his groove on the court. He averaged more than 16 minutes, 6 points, and 4 rebounds per game on the season, but that increased to 23 minutes, 9.4 points, and 6.4 rebounds over the final 11 games (including 17 points and 12 rebounds in a crucial double-overtime win against Texas Tech). He drastically improved his field goal percentage and free throw percentage, and he took over a handful of games when the team desperately needed someone to step up.

He "got in the gym". He "put in work". He was everything Huggins wants in a player. Knowing that there was one too many scholarship players on the team, it was clear that someone on the roster wouldn't be around next year. I can't say for sure one way or the other, but it wouldn't surprise me if Macon stepping away right as he was poised to take on a larger role was just one more selfless act as a Mountaineer, making way for the next generation.

We're proud of you Eli. Thanks for everything.

Jevon Carter should be leading candidate for 2017-18 Big XII POY

In discussions with fans of other teams at the Big 12 Tournament this year, the same question kept coming up, and the response was always the same:

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"Is Carter a senior this year?"

"Nope, junior."

"Seriously? Dang. Seems like he's been there forever."

There are those players every year in the conference that feel like they've been playing for an eternity. This year it was guys like Phil Forte and Frank Mason. Last year, Georges Niang and Rico Gathers. They're the guys that get a lot of attention, and deservedly so. Jevon Carter already feels that way for a lot of Big 12 fans, and - unfortunately for them - he will be back for another round next season.

If you have listened to the post-game interviews that Coach Huggins has with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs, his reasoning for Carter's success is pretty simple. "He gets in the gym." Likewise, when some of the other players are struggling, Huggins typically points out that their gym time is lacking. The amount of time and energy that Carter has spent working on his game is astounding, and that hard work has yielded results:

• Carter finished in the top 20 in the Big 12 for points (#11), assists (#9), steals (#1), free throw percentage (#10), three-point percentage (#7), and, most surprisingly for a point guard, rebounds (#19).
• In addition to leading the Big 12, he ranked sixth nationally in steals for the 2016-17 season.
• He was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Second Team All-Big 12, and was on the Big 12 All-Defensive Team for the third straight year.

Not bad for a lightly recruited three-star player listed as the 67th ranked PG in his recruiting class.

As WVU fans know, not all players buy into what Bob Huggins is selling. It's not easy, to say the least, and there isn't a lot of glamour involved in relentless defense. Most of today's four- and five-star recruits don't spend much time playing lock-down defense coming up through AAU. The success of Press Virginia depends heavily on finding guys like Carter who are willing to put in what it takes to go from good to great; the kind who go to the scorer's table after a game not to see how many points they scored, but how many steals they racked up.

Source: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America

In addition to his defensive success, Carter quietly became a major offensive weapon down the stretch this season, and the Oklahoma State game in Morgantown was apparently a catalyst for that change. Since that February 4th loss, he averaged 16.5 points per game, going 50% or better from behind the arc nine of those 14 games. Through the Oklahoma State game, he was averaging only 11.7 points per game. That loss seemed to drive him to push his game to yet another level.

So here is an elite defender who is well on his way to becoming a force on the offensive end, has an entire off-season to improve on both, and has a work ethic that is virtually unmatched. That sounds like a pretty good recipe for Big 12 Player of the Year. Monte Morris and Naz Long will be gone for Iowa State. Frank Mason will be gone for Kansas. Jawun Evans is leaving Oklahoma State. And, maybe most importantly, Carter is already on everyone's radar going into the season thanks to a stellar junior year.

For all of the articles, columns, and interviews about Jevon's drive and dedication this season, not one sums it up better than a Facebook post made by his mom after he returned to campus following Thursday's Sweet 16 loss to Gonzaga. In it she said that while she thought he might finally take some time to relax with the guys, he in fact was going to the gym to shoot around in the middle of the night. When she pointed out to him that he doesn't have a game tomorrow, his response was simple: "Gonzaga does."

That's Jevon Carter.

Why this season was better than you probably think (and why it's good that you don't realize it)

Photo credit: NCAA.com

I hear similar comments on a regular basis between September and March: "As a WVU fan, I'm used to it." Unfortunately for Mountaineer fans, coming up short of a championship is all too familiar.

The loss to Notre Dame when Major got hurt. The meltdown against Pitt that cost a chance at a title when Pat got hurt. The blown 20-point lead against Louisville in the Elite Eight, which at the time felt like we blew maybe the only chance we would have at a Final Four. And of course the Final Four, where the lasting memory for most fans is watching one of the most beloved players in Mountaineer history go down with a gruesome knee injury.

But as I looked at game recaps and read through fan comments after Thursday's loss, I realized we have changed as a fan base. This is a program that used to be thrilled to make the tournament. Beating a ranked team was a celebration in itself, and three or four in a season was an incredible year. Then John Beilein came along and started making us believe we could make tournament runs: Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight. And just as he really got things rolling, he took off for Michigan, and (for a few hours at least) we thought it was over.

It was a decade ago, but I can remember it clearly - I was in my living room at college my senior year when I heard the announcement that eased all concerns: Coach Bob Huggins was coming home to Morgantown.

The early success was awesome. A Sweet 16 the first year, followed by 23 wins and a tournament appearance the second year. Huggins' third season brought WVU's first ever Big East Tournament championship and its first Final Four in half a century. The recruiting classes looked good, and the future looked bright.

By the 2012-2013 season, Beilein's players were gone, and the new crop was looking like the basketball equivalent of Saved By the Bell: The New Class. The casual fans panicked when they saw a mass exodus of players following two down years. Some were concerned with the fact that Huggins was yet to win with his own recruits. Many who had been paying attention, though, didn't lose much sleep. Guys like Eron Harris and Terry Henderson - while talented - weren't WVU. They weren't "West Virginia". But did Huggins still have it? Could he adapt? Could he find "his players"?

That's when Press Virginia was born.

Utilizing two very passionate, very dedicated guards in Juwan Staten and Gary Browne, Huggins introduced an entirely new system that boiled down, at its simplest, to outworking and out-hustling opponents. There is nothing more "West Virginia" than that. 2014-15 proved successful, as the team advanced past Buffalo and Maryland to the Sweet 16. Last year, following a second place finish in the Big XII and runner up in the Big XII tournament, the season ended with a disappointing first round exit.

Coming into this season, expectations were higher. The team was more focused. A lot of minutes and scoring returned, and there was a hunger to prove the early exit was a fluke. For the most part, those expectations were reached. Despite what you'll read in the comment sections online, a second place regular season finish, runner up in the conference tournament, and making the Sweet 16 is a good season.

But how good?

The best season in program history is obviously the 1959 season - Jerry West carried the team all the way to the final game and almost pulled out a win. It's the closest WVU has been to a championship in the "big two" sports.

Number two on the list is also obvious, the 2010 season - the most wins in a season ever, a Big East Tournament title, and the program's only other Final Four.

At number three, it starts to get a little less clear, but I think that position has to go to the 2005 season. That team only went 8-8 in conference (T-7th) and 24-11 overall, but the win over Wake Forest in the second round will be remembered forever, and it's the only other Elite Eight in the school's history.

This brings me to my point: By my calculation, this season was the fourth best in the history of West Virginia basketball. It is one of only five other seasons with a Sweet 16 appearance since the expansion to 64/68 teams. Add to that the second place finishes in the regular season and conference tournament, wins over #1 and #2 ranked teams by a combined 37 points, and topped off with an out of conference road win against a 5 seed and a regular season sweep of another 5 seed - it's tough to come up with another better season.

So, how good? Almost unarguably top five, most likely top four, and if you wanted to argue that it's number three in terms of overall success (record, quality wins, conference tournament, NCAA tournament), you wouldn't get much push-back from me.

Yet if you read comments by WVU fans, there are all kinds of complaints:

We can't shoot. (Fact: WVU had six players shoot 38% or better from outside the arc, with four at 40% or better. We were also leading all teams - all 68 teams - in three-point percentage through the first two rounds of the tournament.)

Credit: Big12Sports.com

We are terrible at free throws. (Fact: WVU finished second in the Big 12 in free throw percentage in conference play.)

We choke in big games. (I guess this means other than Virginia, Kansas, Baylor, Iowa State, Notre Dame, etc.)

We need to get rid of Huggins. (As dumb as this sounds, there are "those people" out there.)

So why the negativity? As it turns out, our fans now expect to win. They expect to win every game, and they expect to make a deep run every tournament.

And yes, that gets annoying.
And yes, it's unrealistic.
And yes, it's unfair to Huggins and our players.

But it's also a testament to the success this program has had in recent history. Our fans have gotten used to winning. We are climbing the ladder as a national power.

WVU has had six Sweet 16 appearances in the last 13 years - there are only eight schools with more. With four of five starters returning and guys like West, Konate, and Bolden on deck, don't be surprised if we see the seventh in 14 next year.

And don't be surprised when a lot of fans still aren't happy with anything less than a title.