MORGANTOWN — There are days when a point guard playing under West Virginia University women’s basketball coach wonders why she decided to do what she’s doing.
There are, after all, more pleasurable ways to spend your time rather than playing the point under coach Mike Carey. You could walk on broken glass, get a kidney transplant without an anesthetic or simply eat razor blades.
“I am tough on point guards,” Carey admitted while sharpening his claws before a practice this week.
This is especially true this year as he tries to get a true freshman ready to run the point for his Mountaineers this year, a year where WVU comes into the Big East a mystery team, extremely young but extremely talented.
However, to make the talent gel, one needs to have solid play at the point, which brings us to Akeema Richards out of the Baltimore area, a young lady who has all of the things Carey wants in a point guard.
“First, the point has to be athletic, able to ignite the fast break and play the defense,” Carey answered when asked what he wanted in a point guard. “Second, she has to be under control and be able to set the other players up. Third, she has to be able to hit a shot. She has to be able to score a little and get the other girls involved.”
Richards has the potential to do all of that, but that word potential infers that she is hardly ready for that yet.
“It usually takes a year,” Carey said. “As the games go by she’ll feel more confident.”
Right now, though, as the Mountaineers get ready for an exhibition on Nov. 8 at home against Glenville State, she is going through what Carey calls “growing pains.”
“It’s tough,” Carey said. “She had an off day, a rough practice. I’m tough on point guards.”
Having ridden her hard, as Carey is so adept at doing, he called her into his office after practice to give her the class known as Mike Carey 101.
“Mentally, they have to be able to take me,” said Carey, whose style is more Bobby Knight than Gladys Knight.
That means they have to take the introductory course, which he was able to administer.
“If I’m yelling at you, you can’t shut down,” Carey said. “I want you to listen to what I say, not how I say it.”
It is the words, not the volume, that matters.
Richards’ introduction to Carey’s coaching methods was not lost on her. She remembers what went on out there as her mistakes mounted.
“I kind of gave up on myself,” she said. “I wasn’t listening to what he said and it kind of reflected in my play. It won’t happen again.”
She understands the role of the point guard.
“Basically, I’m the coach on the floor. I’m basically him out there,” she said.
Because of that she has to know not only what Carey wants, but what he is going to want in the future.
“I have to stay focused, stay calm,” she said. “High school was more laid back. This is more intense, but I’m not being asked to do things I haven’t done before.”
There are differences, of course, especially defensively. Carey wants to push his defense hard and then he wants to run the floor. It is a fun style of play, but one that Richards is going to have to grow into one step at a time.
“He has high demands for his point guards,” veteran team leader Liz Repella said. “It’s hard the first couple of weeks for a freshman, but he makes it easier. After practice, he’s easy to talk to. He makes you a better player.”
The 5-9 Richards came to West Virginia with a strong resume, including 1,200 high school points at Western High and Baltimore Player of the year.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Richards learns on fly
Frosh running point for WVU women
- Bob Herzel
-
-
Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU
That it is a crucial game in a season that seems to have nothing but, today’s 9 p.m. visit to the Coliseum by a streaking Notre Dame team comes with a historical footnote in the history of West Virginia University basketball.
Kevin Jones enters the game having scored 20 or more points in nine consecutive games. -
WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion
Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
A source within the Mountaineer athletic department said on Tuesday that the matter was nearing a conclusion and also told the Times West Virginian that West Virginia would be reinstating a golf team to compete in the Big 12. -
HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU, Irish strikingly similar
Consider, if you will, that it is Nov. 25 past, that the West Virginia University basketball team is running a routine drill four games into its season, getting ready for the Akron game when Kevin Jones goes down in a heap on the floor, his ACL torn, his season over.
-
WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion
Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win
Perhaps it is what has kept him going through a West Virginia basketball career with as many turns as a trip to Pineville down in Wyoming County, but Truck Bryant enjoys being Truck Bryant.
-
WVU finds a way, wins in overtime
Truck Bryant made the headline plays, including a 3-point shot with 3.3 seconds left to play, as West Virginia saved its season with an 87-84 overtime victory at Providence, but the subheads had to be reserved for Deniz Kilicli and a pair of freshman guards.
-
Mountaineers face critical test today at Providence
The schedule tells you it’s another game in the marathon run that is the Big East season, a trip to Providence to play a team with only two conference victories, but somehow everyone connected with the West Virginia University program knows today’s noon meeting with the Friars is much more than that.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Jones on the brink of WVU history
On the one hand there is yesterday’s Warren Baker, who entered the WVU Athletic Hall of Fame in the latest class for the work he did from 1973 to 1976, and on the other hand there is today’s star Kevin Jones, who has emerged from the shadows of the likes of Joe Alexander and Da’Sean Butler this year to carve his own niche in Mountaineer basketball history.
-
WVU backs out of Florida State game
West Virginia University has canceled its Sept. 8 football game at Florida State.
Once again, as they have done with virtually everything since announcing they planned to move from the Big East to the Big 12, they did it behind closed doors, without any announcement or statement. -
WVU women upset Louisville
It is foolhardy to put it up there with the Baylors and Notre Dames of the women’s world just yet, but really if you look closely and see potential, much of which came out Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers upset No. 12/14 Louisville, 66-50, you realize that this team is closer to greatness than it is to mediocrity.
- More Bob Herzel Headlines
-
Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU
