MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia men’s basketball team will host Penn State on Saturday in a preseason scrimmage.
Don’t tell anyone … it’s a secret.
That’s what NCAA rules would want you to believe, but search long enough on the Internet and you can find a complete listing — broken down by each of the 32 Division I conferences, no less — of secret scrimmages across the country in the coming days.
Just how non-secret are these closed-door scrimmages? West Virginia has traveled to Columbus, Ohio the past three years to take on Purdue — “Columbus was halfway for both schools,” Huggins explained — and he said the stats from last year’s scrimmage were already on social media before the team got on the bus to go home.
“I don’t know how those things get out,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “It doesn’t get leaked by us.”
West Virginia has also had closed-door scrimmages against Temple and Virginia in past years.
Each Division I school is permitted two preseason exhibitions and schools can break those up in any number of ways.
Some schools like Kansas simply choose to play two public exhibition games against smaller-division teams.
In recent years, West Virginia has chosen to use its two to play other Division I teams, one in a secret scrimmage and one in a public exhibition where the proceeds are donated to charity.
The Mountaineers are doing that this year, too, with Saturday’s match-up against Penn State and then a charity exhibition game against Duquesne on Nov. 1, at the WVU Coliseum.
By NCAA rules, coaches are not permitted to speak about the closed-door scrimmage until after it is completed and only personnel vital to the participating teams are permitted into the gym.
Yet, somehow the info gets made public. North Carolina is hosting Villanova on Oct. 27, while Pitt is playing at Maryland on Saturday. Illinois is traveling to South Carolina on Oct. 27 and Ohio State is at Louisville on Oct. 20.
The closed-door scrimmages do serve as an early-season opportunity for a coach to find out the strengths and weaknesses of his team, all while in a solitary confine.
“You get a lot of things on tape. You go in and show guys tape and it makes more of an impression than it does to stand there and tell them,” Huggins said. “You can clip a lot of things from that. That’s the biggest benefit.”
Huggins said another benefit is having his players run offense against players who don’t see it every day in practice.
Still, there is an argument to be made that the idea of a closed-door scrimmage is outdated and schools are missing out on a money-making opportunity by not being allowed to open up the event to the public.
“Why don’t we just charge for both (preseason exhibitions) and give the money to hurricane relief?” Huggins said. “To me, there’s no difference. I think it’s better for the players to play in front of a crowd. I think it would be better all the way around. What can make you feel better than giving more money to a charity?”
As for Penn State, the Nittany Lions are coming off a 14-18 season and return four starters, including 6-foot-8 senior forward Lamar Stevens, who averaged 19.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season. He was named preseason all-Big Ten.
Penn State defeated West Virginia, 84-82, in a charity exhibition game last season. Stevens had 20 points and 11 rebounds in that game.
Notes
* The Mountaineers were picked to finish fifth in the Big 12, according to the preseason coaches’ poll that was released Thursday.
“Honestly, I’ve never paid that much attention to that,” Huggins said. “We could be picked 10th or fifth, it doesn’t matter until the end.”
* WVU freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe spoke to the media for the first time and said being named the Big 12’s preseason Freshman of the Year provides him more motivation heading into the season.
“It really surprised me,” he said. “It means a lot, but to me, it gives me more motivation to work hard to prove it and play great.”
* Former WVU forward Sagaba Konate was waived by the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. He appeared in one preseason game and scored four points in five minutes of action. According to a report, Konate is expected to join Toronto’s G League team and play on a G League contract this season.
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