The Mountaineers took care of business Monday night against the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons ending with a 89-70 victory. While it wasn't quite the eye gouging quality we had toward the end last year, 63 fouls will completely destroy any type of game flow there already isn't. Outside of the ROOT sideline reporter referring to the opponent as "Fairmount", there are a few things to keep an eye on as the season begins on Friday against Mount St. Mary's (the other, other Mountaineers.)
1. Nathan Adrian
He's the main story coming out of Monday night and with good reason. The freshman Morgantown Mohigan went 6-10 from long distance, six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. It simply cannot be understated what Adrian could bring to this season. With 3ron continuing his path of becoming WVU's vocal point and Terry Henderson returning from an injury, the Mountaineers can take advantage of the 6'9" Adrian being guarded by a power forward. Not only would this open up the middle (more on that later,) but defense would have to pick their poison on giving help against Eron Harris or locking up Henderson/Adrian and leaving Harris to a one-on-one situation. Taking a step back, this would at least give the Mountaineers one more scoring option to break out of the droughts that plagued West Virginia throughout all of last year.
2. WVU May No Longer Be An Inside Team
The Mountaineers ended up with ten points in the paint.... and won. Now, Fairmont State did play a ton of zone in which Huggs mentioned the team hasn't really prepared for that, but that wouldn't change the DNA of your team. Even with the Falcons were playing man defense, WVU favored the open jumper rather than getting into the dirty areas under the rim. While spreading the floor does help put emphasis on the Mountaineer strength of outside shooting, it puts a limit on second chance points production. As the season progresses, I think we might see the team become more and more inside-oriented throughout the season with the development of freshman big men Devin Williams (14 rebounds) and Brandon Watkins.
3. Free Throws Are Bad, Again
68% is unacceptable. That's all I got.