Every day West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries is learning something new about his basketball team.
That isn’t surprising considering that the Mountaineers have almost a completely new roster from last season’s team with only one returning player in sophomore Ofri Naveh. But with pre-season practice now underway, the focus shifts to discovering what exactly this team is at this stage of the process.
DeVries has seen significant jumps in his group since June but with the start of official practice has noticed that sense of urgency from the players with the first game a little over a month away.
“I feel like there’s more steps to take from now until then and obviously throughout the season but they’re working hard at it, and I like their approach,” DeVries said.
The practices are expected to be around 90 minutes in length and high intensity as the coaching staff wants to simulate a game environment as much as possible.
West Virginia had the added bonus this off-season of an international trip to Italy where the basketball program was able to play three games and get a lot of guys minutes in those situations, but perhaps more importantly get to know each other on and off the floor.
On top of that, DeVries points to an instance earlier where he canceled practice in order to go bowling, which proved to be critical in that area, too. That’s because during that he was able to see some of the personalities on the roster that he hadn’t been able to see in practice to that point.
“I thought it was great for us. I didn’t anticipate that being what would come out of that day bowling but all the sudden the next day in practice that personality as a team is in there,” he said. “Let it shine on the floor.”
The Mountaineers coaching staff has a much clearer picture on what they think it should look like on the floor this season, although that still has plenty of time to evolve. And while some of the roles are starting to become more defined, none of that is set in stone either as players are competing across the board.
That is something that has stood out to DeVries with practices just getting underway.
“The thing you’re most happy about is everybody’s approach has been still getting better and sometimes that can start to turn as you get into September and roles can start to become a little more recognizable to everyone,” he added.
DeVries wants this team to be able to walk into any gym and anybody watching should leave feeling that the Mountaineers play hard and connected on both ends of the floor. That passion and enthusiasm is a requirement to compete at the highest level and if you don’t have that it makes the rest more complicated.
“I think our identity is starting to show up and now it’s about trying to get that identity on a more consistent basis,” DeVries said.
The head coach also has tried to put his team in situations where it is stacked against them in order to create some adversity in practice to see how his team will respond. The hardest thing for any team is to learn how to win together and while that won’t happen overnight, it is a focus.
“That’s a season-long process so how do you fight through adversity and find a way from a mental toughness standpoint how do you win those games?” he said.
The plan is to open the season with a bigger rotation but as the year progresses eventually whittle that down to eight or nine players, although it is critical to always have guys ready to step up in the instance of injury or any other issues that could adjust the lineup.
He points to one of the transfers he took this past off-season in Joseph Yesufu who was coming off the bench and playing a handful of minutes per game during his sophomore year at Drake before injury forced him into a larger role where he excelled.
“That’s a great example of making sure their approach stays the same and continues to stay engaged with the team and when that opportunity comes, take advantage of it,” he said.
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