WVU Men’s and Women’s basketball continues growth in preparation for season

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) - Both men’s and women’s basketball is continuing to ramp up as practice continues in Morgantown.

For the men’s side, the team has three fifth year players, three seniors and a large sophomore core. With that in mind, the competitiveness of the team for spots in the rotation is something that head coach Bob Huggins has taken note of.

“They want to play,” said coach Huggins. “They all came here to play. I think it’s helped the younger guys. They’re looking around knowing that they have to be competitive if they’re going to play.”

Despite the competitiveness, though, coach Huggins says that the team has a good sense of camaraderie, getting along in practice during the early phases despite being such a new team.

“Surprisingly, they really like each other,” said coach Huggins. “We all had a fear of guys coming in, especially when guys are competing for the same position, that they weren’t really going to like each other, but that really hasn’t been the case at all.”

For the WVU women’s basketball team, first-year Mountaineer head coach Dawn Plitzuweit returns seven players from last year team alongside six newcomers. The team is balanced, especially in its growth. With a new system being put in place, coach Plitzuweit’s team is looking to improve each day.

“Our goals and expectations are to continue to improve daily, to really compete, really get after it and see where that leavse us at the end of the season,” said coach Plitzuweit. “We’re a process driven program.”

Despite only having a small amount of time together since June, coach Plitzuweit notes that the team is hungry for improvement and is learning more with each practice.

“We are three days into practice. We’ve made great progress up until this point in time, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Coach Plitzuweit.

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