Between The Eers: Handling Jesse Edwards' Return
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00:10 Good Tuesday morning everyone, Scott Khan here on Between the Ears and
00:14 we've got basketball once again here tonight, West Virginia.
00:18 We'll be in Orlando taking on the UCF Knights in their first ever Big 12
00:23 conference meeting and we may or may not see Jesse Edwards,
00:27 who is questionable for this game.
00:30 Josh Eilert said that they were gonna reevaluate him ahead of the game to see
00:37 if he's able to go.
00:38 He went through pregame warm ups on Saturday against Kansas but
00:42 did not play in the game.
00:43 He did dress.
00:45 So I think that is a step in the right direction.
00:47 And one of the questions in my mailbag this week was kind of the timeline for
00:55 Jesse when we could actually see him back on the floor.
00:59 And my opinion is,
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01:04 If you feel like you can get by without him tonight,
01:10 I think you need to be 1000% sure that he is okay to go.
01:18 I mean, whatever that is, you can't just throw him out there if he's at 98 or
01:23 97% in my opinion.
01:25 Those types of injuries, although they're not,
01:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]
01:31 They're not like an ACL or anything like that, but
01:35 it's an injury that causes some hesitation for sure.
01:40 I know I had one and when I returned playing basketball,
01:44 granted it was middle school when I fractured my wrist, but
01:49 it made me a different player.
01:53 I know for sure I was somebody that liked to jack up threes all the time and
01:57 I'd get the ball at the top of the key and I was wide open and wouldn't shoot it.
02:03 Now, for Jesse, obviously a much different player.
02:10 He's not out shooting threes, but he is getting smacked and
02:14 beat around underneath in the paint.
02:16 And that's what led to his injury,
02:21 was the overwhelming physicality that UMass was playing with and got away with.
02:26 But you gotta be careful because he's gonna draw a lot of attention.
02:31 He's gonna be in a lot of traffic, gonna get a lot of contact.
02:35 You have to make sure he is at full strength, not just from a physical
02:40 standpoint, but also a mental standpoint.
02:42 Because sometimes as we've seen too, not being 100% mentally confident,
02:49 or being confident in the injury, being healed, can lead to something else.
02:56 So I think you have to be careful with him, but
03:01 I think it's possible that he plays, I really do.
03:05 But I think a more realistic timeline, and this is no insight or
03:11 anything, this is just my gut feeling on this.
03:15 A more realistic timeline is probably Saturday against Oklahoma State.
03:20 But once again, if you feel like you can get past that game without Jesse,
03:28 which I feel like you probably can, then maybe wait till next Wednesday.
03:34 Give him a whole another week to recover and
03:39 get back into game shape, because
03:44 again, it's not a scary situation like an ACL or
03:50 an MCL or any sort of soft tissue, but it's a tough injury to come back from.
03:56 I know from past experience, but Oklahoma State's a team that struggled
04:05 in Big 12 play, I don't even think they've won a game yet in league play.
04:09 And that's a game that you should be able to win on the road.
04:14 I mean, hell, you beat Kansas at home, I get it's on the road, but
04:18 you should be able to beat Oklahoma State if you can beat Kansas.
04:21 I mean, that's just how you would think, but I mean, this is life in the Big 12 and
04:27 crazier crap happens all the time, so who knows about that?
04:30 But if you can get past these next two games,
04:32 I think next Wednesday against Cincinnati,
04:35 that would be when you'd like to kind of get him back in the fold.
04:38 Now maybe you do get him out there against Oklahoma State, and
04:43 you run him out there for a few minutes.
04:45 Maybe you get him out there tonight for a few minutes.
04:47 But I think you gotta be smart with it, and I think Josh will be.
04:53 I don't know that there will be a minutes restriction of any kind.
04:57 I don't think that that's necessarily the issue.
05:01 I think it's just more about understanding what type of game will be played.
05:06 Is it gonna be one that's physical, or is it gonna be kind of spread it out for
05:12 out one end type of deal?
05:16 If that's the case, then you feel good about putting him in there and
05:19 letting him do his thing.
05:20 But I think the biggest question really is what happens to Pat Sumnick?
05:28 When Jesse doesn't, he come back because he is coming back very soon.
05:32 And Pat is absolutely on a freaking roll right now.
05:36 I mean, 20 points against Kansas, he outplayed Hunter Dickinson,
05:41 who in my opinion is probably one of the top bigs in the country,
05:44 maybe one of the top players in the country.
05:48 Outplayed him, hands down, flat out outplayed Hunter Dickinson.
05:54 He had one rebound at the half.
05:55 And I mean, you're talking about Pat, who's what, 6'7", 6'8".
06:02 I don't remember exactly what his height is, but
06:04 you got him going up against Hunter Dickinson, who's 7'2" or 7'1".
06:11 You would think that Dickinson would be able to win that battle pretty easily.
06:15 Nope, Pat went to work and owned that kid all day long.
06:23 And the energy that he plays with, the enthusiasm,
06:29 the confidence, it's at an all time high right now.
06:32 And that's hard to pull him out of the lineup or
06:36 pull him out of his role, given how he's played.
06:43 But I mean, when you got Jesse Edwards healthy and
06:46 available, you've got to be able to put him on the floor too.
06:48 So are we putting Jesse and Pat together?
06:53 Are we staggering them?
06:54 In my opinion, I think they're probably more than likely going to start
07:01 them together at first and see how it goes.
07:03 But I think it could end up going to a situation where they're going to
07:10 stagger them, Pat will come in and spell Jesse, but
07:15 you'll also come in and play the four together.
07:18 Actually, I really don't know.
07:19 The more that I think about it, because you want to have that backup center.
07:23 A cook could be that technically, but
07:30 I think you'd rather have Pat playing there.
07:32 But you also want your best five on the floor.
07:37 Right now, Pat is one of the best five without a doubt.
07:41 So I think it would make sense to start them both together.
07:46 Actually, now I'm talking myself into it.
07:48 So starting them both together, see how it works.
07:52 If it doesn't work, you can always change things up.
07:54 Put Quinn back into the four, maybe you go cook.
07:58 There's several ways to go about it.
07:59 So I think Pat will continue to play well.
08:04 I don't know, is he going to put up 20 points and eight boards a game or
08:07 whatever?
08:08 Nah, probably not.
08:10 I mean, there's going to be less points out there to be had.
08:14 There's going to be less rebounds out there to be had.
08:16 It's just the nature of adding a guy like Jesse Edwards back into the fold.
08:21 So no, he's not going to put up those same numbers, but
08:25 he is going to still be very productive and someone that I think
08:30 is one of the better bigs, if you will, in the Big 12.
08:34 Now, if you look at what he's done so far, and if he were to,
08:38 let's say, keep this pace up.
08:41 Now, again, that's a very tall order.
08:44 But if he would, I mean,
08:48 you're talking about all league caliber type honors, right?
08:53 I mean, you'd have to.
08:54 I mean, there's no way that he would be left off an all Big 12 team.
09:00 And for someone that is playing out of position,
09:04 who is undersized, has not really played that position before.
09:08 I mean, he's got to be, you would think, a second teamer.
09:13 I mean, obviously, Hunter Dickinson at Kansas is going to be the first teamer,
09:16 but he's got to be in the mix for that second team spot.
09:21 So, I don't know that, again, that those numbers are going to hold up.
09:25 But I think if you're Josh Eilert, you're just hoping that he remains productive.
09:32 It doesn't mean he has to get 20 points.
09:34 It could mean getting you eight points and seven rebounds.
09:39 But if those are quality minutes that he's providing you, then you're good to go.
09:45 So I don't know.
09:47 I think that's your best bet.
09:50 You got to hope you can still get some quality minutes out of Pat, get eight and
09:54 seven.
09:54 If he gives you eight and seven, Jesse gives you another 20 and ten,
09:57 that's pretty damn good production from your guys in the front court.
10:01 So, it'll be interesting to see how Josh handles this.
10:05 When he comes back, how he staggers the lineups, and
10:12 kind of really what Jesse looks like too, because we haven't seen him in over a month.
10:15 It might take him a little bit of time.
10:19 And I think fans need to understand that.
10:21 Again, I know it's not soft tissue, but it is a injury that is not
10:27 necessarily the most easiest to come back from mentally.
10:31 It's going to be something that takes some time.
10:36 He's going to be careful with it.
10:37 He's going to play cautiously with it.
10:39 But if you get him a week or two into this and
10:46 he's back to his normal self, West Virginia's got a chance.
10:48 Like I said the other day, West Virginia's got a 1,000% chance
10:55 to make a serious run in Kansas City with the full boat.
10:59 There's no questioning that.
11:02 Rayquan battle is phenomenal.
11:06 Noah Farrakhan has been phenomenal.
11:08 Kobe Johnson and Spurts has played really well.
11:12 Pat Sumnick has emerged.
11:14 You got Jesse Edwards.
11:15 You've got Quince Leszczynski who has maybe fallen off a little bit, but
11:20 he's still a very quality player for what this team needs.
11:23 There's a lot of really good talent on this roster.
11:27 And if you get the whole boat to Kansas City healthy,
11:32 I don't see why they couldn't make a run.
11:35 But again, this is why it's important to win as much as possible now,
11:40 because you want to get that highest seed possible when you get to Kansas City.
11:44 You don't have to face a Kansas early on in the tournament.
11:47 You hope somebody takes care of them early on.
11:49 You don't want to face a Houston.
11:52 You want somebody like a, and I don't know if you're gonna get the Oklahoma State
11:58 matchup, but you see what I'm saying?
12:00 You want to get those bottom four or
12:01 five teams on your side of the bracket early on.
12:06 So that'll do it for me here today, or actually this morning, I should say.
12:12 Here on Between the Ears, I'm Skylar Callum.
12:14 Make sure you hit the subscribe button on YouTube at Mountain Ears Now.
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12:22 We appreciate you guys tuning in and we'll be back tonight here on this very
12:26 channel for the Mountain Ears Now post game show,
12:30 wrapping up the action between West Virginia and UCF.
12:34 That one, tipping off at seven o'clock Eastern.
12:37 So we'll be back later on to recap the game.
12:40 Until then, take care.
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