Between The Eers: The Impact of Kerr Kriisa
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Good Friday morning, everybody.
00:11 It is Skylar Callan here on Between the Ears.
00:14 It is our final episode of the week.
00:16 It's past Friday.
00:17 We're not gonna get very long here.
00:19 We'll do this probably every Friday
00:20 where it's gonna be kind of a short, sweet episode
00:23 to get us rolling into the weekend.
00:26 And look, Kurt Carissa, he's the only sure thing
00:31 that will be, in terms of reinforcements,
00:36 this weekend for West Virginia.
00:37 Don't know about what they'll do
00:40 in terms of Raekwon Battle or Noah Farrakhan.
00:44 As you'd probably notice, the NCAA came out
00:47 and pretty much said, yeah, whatever Judge Bailey ruled
00:52 in the federal court on Wednesday
00:55 is nonsense.
00:59 So I don't think that's a good look for them
01:04 because I think on the 27th,
01:06 when he goes to make his permanent decision,
01:09 that's probably not gonna bode well for them.
01:11 But I think this is something
01:16 that they're gonna have to take into consideration,
01:19 the punishment of losing year of eligibility.
01:24 I think that's something that they've gotta consider.
01:26 And unfortunately, you're probably gonna have to hold on
01:30 to those guys for another three games.
01:32 But in terms of Kurt Carissa,
01:34 we do know he is coming back.
01:36 This is a massive addition in many, many ways,
01:40 particularly offensively.
01:43 He is a straight-up wizard with the basketball
01:48 on his hands, can get guys in space,
01:53 can really spread the floor, he can shoot the three well.
01:56 He's just so dynamic and he can do so many things
02:00 that this offense is going to look so much better.
02:04 Even if there's not elite shooters on this team,
02:09 he will make this team much better on that.
02:11 And just because of the creative passes,
02:14 the ways he gets guys open,
02:17 and I kinda liken him to a veteran NFL quarterback
02:21 in some sense in that he just throws guys open.
02:26 And you can kinda see that if you go back
02:28 and watch some of his Arizona tape.
02:30 Some of these passes he makes,
02:31 you start to scratch your head or go, "Oh no, oh no."
02:36 And then it's a beautiful pass that leads to a basket.
02:41 Honestly, I have no words for some of these things
02:46 that he does.
02:47 But we saw a little bit of a glimpse
02:50 back in the exhibition game against George Mason.
02:53 And he's good, he's really good.
02:57 Now the question is, how rusty is he going to be?
03:00 I think you're gonna be surprised
03:04 at how well he plays for his first game.
03:08 I mean, he sat out for the first nine,
03:09 but he's been practicing, he's been playing with these guys.
03:13 It's not like it's gonna be his first rodeo in months.
03:17 It's just gonna be his first actual game action.
03:20 So I think he's gonna do fairly well for his first time out.
03:25 But I do think he's going to be a much different player
03:30 by mid-January, a month from now,
03:33 than he is Saturday in Massachusetts against UMass.
03:38 So aside from the passing, aside from the shooting,
03:43 what else does the addition of Kirk Creason mean
03:46 for West Virginia?
03:48 Well, depth, obviously, right?
03:51 Means Kobe Johnson doesn't have to run the point.
03:54 It means he doesn't have to play 30-some minutes a game.
03:59 And it gives you the opportunity to play much faster.
04:05 West Virginia is one of the slowest teams in the country
04:07 in terms of pace.
04:09 That is by design, by the way.
04:11 It's not that this team can't push it.
04:14 It's not that this team can't execute when they push it.
04:18 They don't have the legs to do it.
04:22 They can't play fast offensively
04:25 and then have enough legs on the defensive end
04:27 to be effective, especially when you only have a six-man
04:31 or seven-man rotation at best.
04:33 So with the recent return of Akuka Cook and now Kirk Creason,
04:38 you're able to start playing a little bit faster.
04:44 Now, if Raekwon Battle and/or Noah Farrakhan play,
04:48 now you can really start playing
04:50 at the speed you want to play.
04:51 And you can pretty much play as fast as you want.
04:54 But I think, too, aside from the pace,
04:59 aside from the depth, it helps Kobe Johnson
05:03 because he's able to play more of his natural position,
05:05 which is off-ball.
05:06 He was never going to be a true point guard.
05:08 He wasn't recruited to be that.
05:11 He wasn't that in high school.
05:13 He played it very well.
05:15 He had a two, I believe two-to-one assist
05:18 turnover ratio, but he's got to go back
05:21 to playing the off-ball position.
05:24 I think it's going to set things up better for him
05:26 as well as the other four on the floor.
05:28 And I also think that it's going to really benefit guys
05:32 like Seth Wilson and maybe even Josiah Harris a little bit
05:36 if he starts knocking down some shots.
05:39 Seth has been off to a really bad start,
05:44 like really, really bad start.
05:47 And I put out my projected starting five
05:51 in rotation for what this thing could look like
05:55 if battle and Farrakhan play.
05:56 And I did have battle in the starting five
05:58 with Farrakhan coming off the bench.
06:01 But I think this stays true.
06:04 At least it would for me.
06:06 With Kurt back, I'm putting Seth back in the starting five
06:11 and putting Kobe on the bench.
06:14 The only reason I'm doing that is because I think
06:17 Seth Wilson hasn't played well in part of,
06:21 he hasn't had a true point guard who can get him shots.
06:27 Seth is not a shot creator himself.
06:30 He's a shooter.
06:31 He's a guy that catches the ball, gets it.
06:34 If he likes a shot, he's going to fire it up.
06:37 He's not someone that's going to create a shot
06:38 like an Eric Stevenson or even really,
06:43 I think more, he's probably more like a Sean McNeil
06:46 in some sense.
06:47 Sean's probably a little bit better of a shot creator,
06:50 but he needs a guy like Kurt Creasey on the floor with him.
06:54 And if you give him that,
06:57 I think he becomes a much more effective player
07:01 and a much more efficient shooter.
07:04 So I think, and honestly,
07:08 and I'll honestly, I think you put Seth Wilson
07:11 back in the line, if you bring Kobe off the bench,
07:13 that way you have your backup point guard, so to speak,
07:18 if you want to play him as the backup point,
07:21 he can do that, or you could sub him in for Seth
07:24 and he's back in his off ball situation.
07:26 I don't know that you want to have Kurt and Kobe
07:30 on the floor at the same time to start the game
07:33 and have one of them get in foul trouble
07:35 and then who do you go to?
07:36 So I think you got to be smart about how you handle it.
07:42 I don't really think it's necessarily a wrong way to go
07:47 if you do start Kobe over Seth, I really don't,
07:50 but that's just my preference.
07:52 I think you got Seth Wilson,
07:53 he's a really good spot-up shooter
07:55 when he's got someone to work with,
07:57 and I think you need to take advantage of that.
08:01 So, Kurt Creasa, Seth Wilson, if he plays Raekwon Battle,
08:06 Quincy Luzinski and Jesse Edwards would be my starting five.
08:09 But, finally, the impact, in terms of the impact
08:14 of what Kurt will do to this team,
08:18 I really think his addition is going to
08:22 not only allow this team to be more competitive,
08:24 it's going to give them chances to win more games,
08:28 it's going to, I think,
08:31 really help them turn this season around.
08:33 It's hard to believe.
08:35 I mean, it's been a tough season at four and five.
08:38 They've lost some games they shouldn't have,
08:41 but there's still a chance this team
08:44 can get to the NCAA tournament.
08:46 It's not a far-fetched idea
08:50 that they can be playing in the big dance.
08:54 They've got to beat some teams that they shouldn't.
08:58 They've got to take care of the games that they should.
09:01 And when you have a guy like Kurt,
09:03 you feel more comfortable
09:04 that those things are going to happen.
09:06 So, I think this is massive for West Virginia.
09:09 Again, at the very least,
09:11 you get Kurt Creasa back on Saturday.
09:13 You might get Raekwon and Noah three games from now.
09:16 You might get them on Saturday, too.
09:17 We have no idea, but my hunch is they'll hold on
09:21 until the judge makes the final hearing,
09:23 or final ruling.
09:26 But this is a good start,
09:29 and I think it's also beneficial, too,
09:32 that he's going to at least get a few games in
09:35 before Big 12 play begins.
09:38 So, massive, massive news for West Virginia on that front.
09:43 We'll see what happens in terms of the other guys.
09:47 Josh Allert said on Thursday during his press conference
09:50 that he needed to see more details
09:53 before he made any decisions,
09:55 and I got to agree with him.
09:58 I mean, the NCAA has been not the most trustworthy folks
10:03 of everyone out there.
10:06 So, that'll do it for me here today, and us for the week.
10:10 This is our final episode of "Between the Ears."
10:12 Make sure you hit that subscribe button
10:14 on YouTube at Mountain Ears Now.
10:16 Give us a like on Facebook,
10:18 and a follow on X at the same handle.
10:22 We'll be back tomorrow, not on this episode,
10:25 or on this show per se,
10:27 but we'll be back for the Mountain Ears Now post-game show,
10:30 recapping West Virginia and UMass.
10:32 I'll have Chris with me to break that one down.
10:34 So, thank you guys for watching.
10:35 We'll see you tomorrow night.
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