Josh Eilert understands that he has to be smart with his West Virginia basketball team.
That meant taking some time to reevaluate and reenergize his club after a series of three games in nine days for a team with only eight scholarship players at the moment.
The Mountaineers took a day off Wednesday and spent Thursday primarily in the film room as Eilert remained mindful of the current structure of his roster. That meant shot work and individual offense in non-contact settings with plenty of film dissecting.
“Did a lot of non-typical work and we got a lot out of it without any contact,” he said.
Using the film room is something that Eilert has a lot of faith in and believes that approach is beneficial when it comes to getting the most out of his veteran roster while preserving their legs. It is paramount that the time is used efficiently though and making sure that those film sessions aren’t wasted.
Related: Kobe Johnson continues hot start with career night
By that, Eilert simply means that everybody learns differently and it’s his job to figure out how each player on the team ticks. Fortunately, the top six or seven in the rotation all possess a high basketball IQ which makes those film sessions very effective for both teaching and preserving.
“We have to rely on the film study to get as much done there as we could on the floor,” he said.
Analytics also plays a role in the preparation process for Eilert, much more so than his predecessor. It’s a great tool in order to identify both advantages and disadvantages for a team over the course of the year. It also helps streamline understanding for players to show them the data in black and white.
But the challenge is sorting through all of the data to see how to effectively use it.
“Sometimes you have to trust your eyes but a lot of times when the data and analytics backs up what you’re seeing you’re onto something,” he said.
West Virginia wrapped up the win over Jacksonville State and has turned their attention to SMU, the opening opponent in the Fort Myers Tip-Off Tournament. The Mustangs are a veteran team with good size and athletes that play as many as ten players in their rotation.
That could mean more pressure and is going to create some issues for the thin West Virginia roster.
“We’re going to have to figure out what our advantages are,” he said.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @zachanderson_11
