Alex Ruoff going off on WVU Nation

[bbwvfan]

Alex Ruoff ‏@ARuoff [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]466279818267328512[/MEDIA]"]31m[/ame]
There's a serious lack of loyalty in today's college athlete. Loyalty to your teammates. Loyalty to your school. Loyalty to your coach.

Alex Ruoff ‏@ARuoff [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]466279855563096066[/MEDIA]"]30m[/ame]
These kids will regret their decision to leave WVU when it's all said & done. I wouldn't be in my 5th pro season if it wasn't for Huggs.

Alex Ruoff ‏@ARuoff [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]466279938463514624[/MEDIA]"]32m[/ame]
And it's disappointing how quickly Mountaineer nation forgets a Sweet 16, 31-win season, Big East Championship, & a Final Four appearance.

Alex Ruoff ‏@ARuoff [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]466280682294370304[/MEDIA]"]29m[/ame]
And shame on those who retweeted ex-WVU players who cowardly bad mouth Huggs on twitter. Players who couldn't cut it at this level. #WVU

 

[CoolBeans]

Ruoff standing by his coach! I love it. Huggs may need to recruit some better character guys, but he CAN COACH!

 

[bbwvfan]

After watching Huggins transform Beilein's recruits into stronger… better defensive players… and retain the ability to shoot the 3… I remember thinking… will Huggins attempt to recruit Beilein-type players in the future?

Obviously… he didn't…

Seeing the results of his staff's mistakes in recruiting… I continue to go back to those thoughts…

Ruoff is but one of Huggy's former players showing big-time support on Twitter. Da'Sean has been equally prominent. But, Ruoff went after WVU nation… which was quite revealing…

 

[DCWV4life]

As I have said before he should not be fired, but I really do not care about past players thoughts on this....obviously he worked with them well, but the fact still remains he recruited these guys and could not find a way to make it work on the court or off.

 

[WvuDieHard]

Ruoff is right. Selfishness is a problem throughout this country, not just in basketball. Everybody is about themselves and never stop to consider their fellow man. I abhor greed and selfishness and will crush it on every corner and call it out. Good things happen to people who are considerate of others and work hard--Ruoff was one of those people.

 

[bbwvfan]

As I have said before he should not be fired, but I really do not care about past players thoughts on this....obviously he worked with them well, but the fact still remains he recruited these guys and could not find a way to make it work on the court or off.

You have to remember, Huggy recruited Beilein's players as well. He had to convince them to remain a part of his program at WVU... rather than transfer to another school. Once he had their commitment to WVU, he had to get them to buy in to his style of coaching... and play.

The Beilein players did both.

They committed to the team... to the school... to their coach... and more importantly... to themselves. And, that is why they enjoyed the level of success while at WVU... and after... each of them have enjoyed.

It is called sacrifice. It is called commitment.

For whatever reason, some of the recent recruits have not been willing. One cannot place this solely on the head coach.

 

[DCWV4life]

You also cannot blame a group of players for the same thing, chalking this up to "they have attitude or commitment issues" is irresponsible when there is only one common denominator....some of these players never even played together. And I am not one who is saying he can't coach anymore, but one thing is obvious maybe he can't recruit anymore.

I am not on the side that we have to make immediate changes, but I am also not on the side that this is just a culture issue and this is the new way WVU will operate....these were two players on a team that had high expectations going into next year and a coach who could not get them to stay....leadership involves compromise as well. No one will convince me we are better off with two top scorers leaving the program.

 

[Slaton10]

You have to remember, Huggy recruited Beilein's players as well. He had to convince them to remain a part of his program at WVU... rather than transfer to another school. Once he had their commitment to WVU, he had to get them to buy in to his style of coaching... and play.

The Beilein players did both.

They committed to the team... to the school... to their coach... and more importantly... to themselves. And, that is why they enjoyed the level of success while at WVU... and after... each of them have enjoyed.

It is called sacrifice. It is called commitment.

For whatever reason, some of the recent recruits have not been willing. One cannot place this solely on the head coach.

LOL...Alex to the rescue!!..

I agree with the majority of the context of your post BB..but my question is what were these kids sold in the recruiting process and what changed when they got to the school?..also at the end of the day its the coaches who are suppose to be vetting these kids out before offering a scholarship..if they feel they are worthy of offering then its there responsiblity to make certain they succeed...where they that blind or desperate not not see if these kids had sacrifice or commitment in their DNA??

 

[bbwvfan]

You also cannot blame a group of players for the same thing, chalking this up to "they have attitude or commitment issues" is irresponsible when there is only one common denominator....some of these players never even played together. And I am not one who is saying he can't coach anymore, but one thing is obvious maybe he can't recruit anymore.

I am not on the side that we have to make immediate changes, but I am also not on the side that this is just a culture issue and this is the new way WVU will operate....these were two players on a team that had high expectations going into next year and a coach who could not get them to stay....leadership involves compromise as well. No one will convince me we are better off with two top scorers leaving the program.

OK... so... what does it say about the kids who stay with Huggy? What does it say about Staten? Noreen?

If you cannot see the difference between these two examples... and those kids who left the program... then we are not seeing the same things...

 

[DCWV4life]

OK... so... what does it say about the kids who stay with Huggy? What does it say about Staten? Noreen?

If you cannot see the difference between these two examples... and those kids who left the program... then we are not seeing the same things...

What does it say about kids that stay with huggy? They are automatically better kids? Every kid that leaves is just a problem child? Are the kids leaving quitting at their new schools?

Huggs brought all these kids to the program who are leaving, if you are saying one group is better than another then doesn't all the blame lay with the man who brought them in?

Hell from all accounts he has not even talked to Dibo, does that sound like a coach connected with his team...to me it sounds like a coach who is starting not to care.

 

[bbwvfan]

What does it say about kids that stay with huggy? They are automatically better kids? Every kid that leaves is just a problem child? Are the kids leaving quitting at their new schools?

Huggs brought all these kids to the program who are leaving, if you are saying one group is better than another then doesn't all the blame lay with the man who brought them in?

Hell from all accounts he has not even talked to Dibo, does that sound like a coach connected with his team...to me it sounds like a coach who is starting not to care.

Maybe you are right.

I tend to disagree. I think Huggy still cares about the school and the job he is doing as much as he ever did. But, it is just my opinion... I think times have changed. And, I am not referring to his coaching style. I think kids see transferring out as an option more today than ever before. I threw out a number like 450... I recently read 500 kids will be transferring this season alone. Okie St has had a huge number of recent players leave their basketball program.

I am not implying all of the kids who've transferred from WVU are bad kids. Each one has his own story. I can look at some of the recent transfers, and see Aaric Murray from last year, and Dan Jennings from a couple of years ago as examples of some bad apples.

Hinds left last year after getting into fights with his teammates... Staten and Brown... and pouting about losing his PG position to start the year... then the SG position at season's end.

Others left the team for similar reasons as Hinds as they saw better players come in... their playing time decrease... and they moved on to other programs with less stature in order to get more playing time.

Losing Harris and Henderson is troubling. Both were great offensive players. I heard some rumblings about Harris getting kind of ugly this season. But, I believe losing Henderson was a huge surprise... and a real eye opener.

It goes to commitment for me. There are reasons they haven't committed, and I don't know why they haven't done so.

Being selfish is the most prevalent reason. And, I am not sure how you weed through this when recruiting a player. Does an 18 yo kid know if they're going to be selfish once they get to college? Do they have any idea of what it takes to be successful in college?

 

[DCWV4life]

Something is off and we are probably not going to figure it out on here!

I hope Huggs is right and we will be strong next season, but this is starting a trend and is seems to be a trend that leads to seasons of disappointment rather than consistent winners. I don't think coaches forget how to coach, but it is their responsibility to adapt, especially to the players they are trying to develop in their program. He has been a head coach since the early 80's I can't believe this is the first shift he has seen in player personalities, and I doubt he still coaches today as he did in the 80's.

 

[DCWV4life]

Charleston Daily Mail | WVU BASKETBALL: Henderson’s exit remains a mystery

Maybe there is no answer...

 

[Slaton10]

I think it lies somewhere in the middle of a lot of things...you look back at the kids that got to the final 8 and then final 4..other that Ebanks the majority of the kids were either over acheivers...Seniors..or kids no better than playing basketball over seas or D-League...those are the type of kids that BUY-IN unconditionally...when you go after a top AAU kid his DNA is to get his stats and position themselves as best they can as a lottery pick...but with that talent goes some coddling along the way...I guy like Calapari, Self, Matta and Coach K seem to have a formula to manage those dynamics..

 

[DCWV4life]

I think that is why you are seeing the smaller schools do so well in the tourney, they get role players and guys they do not have to worry about leaving early...the build them up for 4 years and find success.

 

[bbwvfan]

I think it lies somewhere in the middle of a lot of things...you look back at the kids that got to the final 8 and then final 4..other that Ebanks the majority of the kids were either over acheivers...Seniors..or kids no better than playing basketball over seas or D-League...those are the type of kids that BUY-IN unconditionally...when you go after a top AAU kid his DNA is to get his stats and position themselves as best they can as a lottery pick...but with that talent goes some coddling along the way...I guy like Calapari, Self, Matta and Coach K seem to have a formula to manage those dynamics..

I think the UK situation is a good one to assess.

Calapari is going after... and getting... a significant number of the highest rated seniors in the country every year. As a result, his team has been picked as preseason favorites to win NC's each of the past few years. It worked once... it almost worked again this past season.

But, what about last year?

And, what about the way things looked this year... all the way up until the SEC tourney? What happened last year that was different? What happened this year at season's end?

If you listen to the UK players this year, they told the story. They began caring about each other... about trying to get their roles established. Working out the chemistry on their team to improve their defense... and offense.

It was something called sacrifice...

 

[Slaton10]

I think the UK situation is a good one to assess.

Calapari is going after... and getting... a significant number of the highest rated seniors in the country every year. As a result, his team has been picked as preseason favorites to win NC's each of the past few years. It worked once... it almost worked again this past season.

But, what about last year?

And, what about the way things looked this year... all the way up until the SEC tourney? What happened last year that was different? What happened this year at season's end?

If you listen to the UK players this year, they told the story. They began caring about each other... about trying to get their roles established. Working out the chemistry on their team to improve their defense... and offense.

It was something called sacrifice...

But the coach or coaches had to be involved..it's a bunch of freshmen..they just didn't wake up one morning and decide at 18 years old and decide they were going to act like seniors...

 

[bbwvfan]

But the coach or coaches had to be involved..it's a bunch of freshmen..they just didn't wake up one morning and decide at 18 years old and decide they were going to act like seniors...

Exactly my point.

The coaching staff didn't change. Calipari said at mid-season this year that he didn't know how to reach his boys. He's the same coach that got a bunch of one and dones to a NC a couple of years ago. Last year, the formula didn't work, and up until the last month of this year's season… it wasn't working again.

But, then the kids finally bought in… and dropped their egos to put the team first.

It ain't always the coaching…

 

[GoldRusher]

Exactly my point.

The coaching staff didn't change. Calipari said at mid-season this year that he didn't know how to reach his boys. He's the same coach that got a bunch of one and dones to a NC a couple of years ago. Last year, the formula didn't work, and up until the last month of this year's season… it wasn't working again.

But, then the kids finally bought in… and dropped their egos to put the team first.

It ain't always the coaching…

Could also just be selfish(yet VERY talented) players that decided to turn it on to try n win a championship when they wanted to.

 

[WvuDieHard]

Ok. I have thought about this and I have read all your posts. You all make some very good points. I know why Harris left and I will get the scoop on Henderson but I wanted to point something out. Something changed with Huggins about 10 games into the season. I didn't see the fire in the huddle. I didn't see screaming and yelling. I saw a more subdued Coach. Why? I think he knew at that point he wasn't going to get this team where it needed to be. Maybe it was attitude. Maybe it was talent. But one thing we can say for sure, the approach didn't work. I think after 10 games into the season, he lost the team and got players going thru the motions. I watched every game and I saw a lot of loafing and slacking late in the year. Harris and Henderson did not like to play defense and when they were called out--they didn't respond. Huggins knew he was toast at that point because he couldn't motivate them. I guess that is purely opinion and speculation on my part but I think I am close. I am gonna make a call and find out tonight.