SAN DIEGO — West Virginia has maintained only intermittent flashes of “Press Virginia” this season, pulling back from its full-court traps once the most skilled opponents proved unaffected.
“I didn’t do a very good job recruiting to this system this year,” Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins said on the eve of an NCAA first-round game against Murray State. “Compared to the previous two years, we don’t have near the foot speed that we had before, and when you’re talking about covering the amount of area that our guys cover, foot speed is important.”
Teams such as Kansas, Texas Tech and even Big 12 cellar-dweller Iowa State have punished the press by capitalizing on open looks on the back end.