Darian DeVries doesn’t want his team to limit themselves on the offensive end of the floor.
That’s why the focus is on taking advantage of what the defense is going to give them regardless of what that looks like on every trip down the floor on offense.
“If one night they’re giving us thirty threes, we’ll take thirty threes. If they’re trying to take the threes away, then we’ll need to be able to pivot and we’ve got to drive the ball,” he said. “I think you have to be consistent.”
The first-year West Virginia head coach is a firm believer that if you don’t try to take what’s there you’re going to end up settling for shots that aren’t necessarily there. There is a need to be flexible at all times.
“I don’t think you want to be stubborn on that,” he said.
Expect the Mountaineers to run offense the same way regardless of what the opposing defense is doing but the plan is to attack the areas where the defense is the weakest. That means while some sets could result in a three-pointer others might be a back cut depending on what is there.
“I think that's the biggest thing that we want our guys to do is when you're playing offense, trust your instincts. You can play faster that way. You can play more effective that way. Not just be a robot. We want them to be able to go make a play that's needed at that time,” DeVries said.
The Mountaineers' playbook is rather extensive, but the plan is to pull around 10-15 plays each game that the coaching staff believes will work. That will be what the players rep in the two days of practice leading up to games but there also will be instances that they can pull other things to attack defenses.
There will be sets designed to get shots for specific people, but that doesn’t mean that is the only option.
“Just go make a play. Now take advantage of the fact that we have some space to go drive it. So, again, run the play, try to execute it, but take what the defense gives you,” DeVries said.
DeVries believes that his team has a number of players that can make shots including from beyond the arc and is equipped with several that have the ability to score 20 points on any given night.
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