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MORGANTOWN Let us begin with the reality of life in college basketball: big men don’t grow on trees.
If they did, West Virginia probably would stand tall in the production of dominant centers as there is surely no shortage of trees for them to grow on within the state.
But while other schools have harvested big men such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Patrick Ewing right through Purdue’s Zach Edey from the last couple of years, WVU has normally had to make due with smaller or less talented centers who could dominate games.
Perhaps what says this best is that the Mountaineers’ best big man of recent vintage was surely the 6-foot-11 Kevin Pittsnogle, who really was a guard in a big man’s body who helped change the way the game is played by introducing the big man who could bury 3-point shots while playing for John Beilein 20 years ago.
One may have to go back to the 1950-52 seasons to find the most dominant traditional big man in 6-9 Mark Workman, who averaged 23.1 points for his career but whose rebounding average is lost to time as it wasn’t kept his first two seasons.
It’s fair to assume that he was pretty darn good at rebounding as his stats in his senior season of 1952 showed 17.5 boards a game and almost certainly were in that same range in his junior season when no rebounding stats are listed.
Recent history shows that Kevin Jones, who really stood “only 6-8, was probably the best while the likes of Sagaba Konate and D’Or Fischer provided thrills with their shot blocking and slam dunks and players such as Oscar Tshiebwe and Gordon Malone had all the necessary equipment and athleticism but never grew into their potential where in Morgantown.
Last year they got all that 7-footer Harlan Obioha had to give them and watched him grow into a powerful figure in the post, especially on the defensive end, but had limitations that kept him from becoming a dominant player.
That sent coach Ross Hodge off to search for the kind of modern big man who could give him what he wanted at that position in Georgia Tech transfer Mouhamed Sylla, a smooth, athletic 7-footer who can block shots and rebound and who has extended offensive skills that Obioha had last year.
His arrival this year may prove as important as what 5-star freshman Miles Sadler brings to the point guard position, and it has Hodge eager to get into real practice sessions aimed not at introducing him to his surroundings and the system, but at winning games that count.
"He's a very fluid mover at his size,” Hodge said at his final workout before taking a couple of weeks off before starting the fall semester. “He gives you more of a vertical presence in your pick-and-roll game. He can get behind the defense, and when it doesn't take him long, if he can get behind the defense, then you're able to play over the top at a higher rate than you were because of his speed, because of his fluidity, because of how quick he can get in and out of ball-screen actions.”
The fun part of it is that Sylla remains a work in progress and has yet to peak.
“He's improved a lot in the summer, and he can continue to get a lot better. He's a young player as well. He only played 12 games last year, but he's been an incredible learner,” Hodge said.
“He's eager. He wants to be coached. He wants to be told the truth.”
And he has come to the right man if he wants the truth and to be coached. It was around this time last year that Brenen Lorient addressed that issue in his first season at WVU after having played for Hodge at North Texas.
“I just need an opportunity, he gave that to me, and for as long as I play college basketball, I'm going to try and pay him back any way that I can. He just fits me so well. I'm an outspoken guy, and I'm not saying I like confrontation, but if I'm doing bad, just yell at me.
“That's exactly who he is, but at the end of the day, he always lets you know that he loves you and he cares for you, and he wants you to succeed. There's going to be moments where he's not happy, of course, but at the end of the day, he always has a good heart about what he does."
By the way, WVU remains to have one roster spot open and Hodge seems to be waiting to see what the court does regarding players such as Lorient, who could be granted another year’s eligibility through that court ruling, and Hodge says he prefers to fill that spot with someone “internally, someone we’re familiar with.”
There are few, if any, that he is more familiar with than Lorient, so read into that what you will.
So Sylla looks as if he might be the kind of center who can change the essence of the offense.
“The biggest difference in that position is just end-to-end speed and then vertical presence, where Harlan's strengths defensively were position-based, and he really got to turn into a really good defender using his brain and just his positioning. Mo can do that as well, but then Mo also has the ability to make plays above the rim on both sides of the floor.”