MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It’s only Dec. 3, precisely a month away from West Virginia’s first Big 12 basketball game, so there are miles of proving ground still to cover.
Yet Juwan Staten says the calendar can’t obscure the potential he sees from the No. 16-ranked Mountaineers.
“Yes, it’s December, but I think we’re better” than the AP ranking shows, he said Wednesday.
“I’m a senior and I’ve been playing basketball for a while at this level, so I think I can say that this team is a great team. It’s one of the most athletic and deepest teams I’ve seen in college, period.”
Staten’s optimistic evaluation will be tested once West Virginia (7-0) digs in against tougher competition. Outside of whipping Connecticut in San Juan, which showed moxie, the rest of the slate has been fluffy. The combined record of opponents against Division I competition stands at only 17-23, leading to WVU’s strength of schedule ranking only 149th nationally, far below Oklahoma (fifth), Iowa State (sixth), Kansas (21st) and Texas (25th)—the other AP-ranked teams from the Big 12.
Staten isn’t oblivious to this fact. With West Virginia enjoying a 20-point edge in per-game scoring, the electric point guard has played fewer than 30 minutes in four games, something that happened only three times last season. Those rested legs could be crucial during Thursday night’s matchup against LSU (5-2), which faces a quicker turnaround following its Tuesday night win over UMass.
And with no disrespect to Monmouth or Lafayette, it’s nice to face a program with a recognizable brand. This LSU team probably won’t threaten the Glen Davis squad that reached the 2006 Final Four or the Stromile Swift bunch that won 28 games in 2000, yet it was picked fourth in the SEC preseason poll. And it features at least two NBA prospects.
“Most of the teams we’ve played haven’t been in major conferences,” Staten said, “so this gives us a chance to see how we stack up.”
After stacking up a series of November victories, coach Bob Huggins acknowledged “the competition is getting ready to get a whole lot better.” Yet the soft schedule doesn’t necessarily diminish the early results because West Virginia has yet to play at full-strength.
Forward Elijah Macon was slowed for two games by injury and more recently by the incomprehensible drain of his mother’s death. Small forward BillyDee Williams has been sidelined since a preseason eye injury. Big man Brandon Watkins isn’t ready to return from an undisclosed illness.
Once those players acclimate into the 12-man rotation Huggins desires, the deepest team Staten has seen becomes noticeably deeper, more versatile, and almost certain to end a two-year NCAA tournament drought.
“Coach Huggs is a great recruiter,” said Staten, explaining the roster reconstruction that transpired after West Virginia lost its top 3-point shooters last spring during a transfer exodus.
“Everybody knows what he’s about, and they know the teams that he’s had. He’s had great Cincinnati teams and the Final Four team. Everybody wants to get to that level, and he’s been there.”
It’s only December, but if Staten’s long-range projection is accurate, Huggins is building another team capable of making memories in March.