Basketball IQ Lacking For WVU

It can mean different things to different people, but the term “basketball IQ” isn’t one that gets applied to this year’s West Virginia men’s basketball team.

It doesn’t imply a lack of native intelligence, nor an inability to grasp concepts. It’s more of a combination of skills that can arise from part natural ability, part study and experience. It results in generic appellations such as “knowing how to play” — a description that might be hard to define, but is evident when watching. To steal the words of former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I shall not attempt define the kinds of material and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.”

West Virginia fans have seen it, and they know it. They also know both kinds of hoops IQ has been lacking.

For example, some players have the inherent ability to read the court or a situation. They see the way a defender is set, or the way an opponent is playing a teammate, and understand where an opening is that can be exploited. Like a grandmaster in chess, he is playing a couple of steps ahead — ‘If I do this, these guys are going to do that, and then I’ll do something else.’ It doesn’t always play out exactly as expected, but those that have that ability can make up for any number of shortcomings to be an effective player. And when you combine it with a lot of talent, you get guys like Darris Nichols or Kevin Jones or Jevon Carter.

The other side to basketball IQ is learned, as illustrated by this simple example. A post player gets set up on the blocks or the edge of the lane and has a defender pinned, with the opponent shaded a bit to his right side. Barring the presence of any other defenders, the pass shouldn’t go directly at the middle of the poster’s body, but rather just a bit to the left, perhaps at the plane of the left shoulder. The poster should also display his own hoops IQ by holding his hand high to make a target as to where he wants the ball delivered — preferably away from the defender. Put the ball in the proper spot, and a scoring opportunity should develop.

It’s this latter that has been in short supply at West Virginia this season. Time and again, the execution of these basics has fallen short, leading to missed opportunities, scoring droughts, and easy shots for opponents.

To illustrate, we expand on the post-up scenario described above. In a recent game, WVU got a player in just such a position against a defender. The ball was in a teammate’s hands on the win, with excellent space available to make the pass in the desired spot. However, the ball never moved. It was held . . . and held . . . before it was finally dribbled a couple of paces back toward midcourt. Only then, after repeated cries from the bench to deliver the ball, was it thrown inside. By that time, though, the post up position had been lost.

Such examples have been rife. Against Tennessee, West Virginia players twice attempted to throw long passes from the backcourt to a teammate that wasn’t really open. Both were targeted to big men who can’t be expected to catch the ball on the run, and both resulted in turnovers. The errors aren’t centered on the guards, either. Wings and forwards who aren’t great at dribbling try to put the ball on the floor against smaller foes, or in crowds. Defenders jump and try to block shots they have no chance of reaching, which takes them out of rebounding position. There’s no reading of opponents on defense, no learning of their tendencies to try to take away what they are good at.

That last was illustrated by Huggins earlier this year. In noting that one opponent almost always drove to his right, he revealed that the scouting report emphasized overplaying him to his right and forcing him to move left on the dribble. That rarely happened in the game, and as a result the foe in question put up 20+ points in his comfort zone.

As noted, there’s a mix involved here. Not everyone has the ability to glance at the court and see everything at once. But there’s no excuse for not reading the scouting report and knowing that number 32 almost always uses a right-hand jump hook when he posts up, or that number four is solely a spot up shooter who isn’t strong off the dribble. That’s the sort of basketball IQ that can be developed, but unfortunately it’s in short supply on the 2018-19 version of the Mountaineers.

Iowa State, WVU’s opponent on Wednesday evening, has shown it in spades this year. Huggins notes that the Cyclones excel at spacing — spreading the court to limit help defense — and pass the ball extremely well. That has lead to a Big 12-best 48.4 shooting percentage for ISU, which is largely the result of basketball IQ. The Cyclones pass the ball to the right place at the right time, don’t dribble the ball without purpose, and generally make good decisions on every possession. That has them in position to challenge Kansas for the league title, while West Virginia fights an uphill battle to escape the cellar.

The lack of basketball IQ isn’t universal on this team. There are players who understand what they can do and what they can’t. But there simply isn’t enough consistency in his regard to get WVU wins in the Big 12, and combined with the many other issues plaguing the team, it will be very difficult to resurrect a squad that is currently circling the drain.