CHARLESTON — It’s 24 hours before Best Virginia is to make its way to Charleston to compete in the first round of The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Along the sideline at WVU’s practice facility sits Best Virginia head coach James Long studying a page of sets and plays that’s he’s probably spent hours diagramming.
Guard Teyvon Myers is nearby stretching and he makes some sort of joking comment in Long’s direction.
While barely even glancing away from the page, “Yeah, you New York guys are always spending your time before practice stretching instead of getting some shots up,” Long fires back.
In a nutshell, that is Long’s approach to coaching basketball: Focused, methodical, but also willing to relate and mix it up a little with his guys.
“His mind for the game is really really good,” said Best Virginia guard Tarik Phillip, who played with Long at WVU when Long was a walk-on with the Mountaineers. “His work ethic is even better.”
“James knows so much about the Xs and Os and his IQ for the game is what we love about him,” added Best Virginia forward John Flowers.
Long and Best Virginia will be back in action at 9 p.m. Monday at the Charleston Coliseum, when they face No. 7 seed D2 (on ESPN2) for the right to move on to the Super 16 of the TBT.
At 26, Long is younger than most of Best Virginia’s players — “Age has nothing to do with it,” Phillip said. “He’s got a great mind and is a great source of motivation for us.” — and he will return for his third season as the head coach at WVU Tech in Beckley after his stint with Best Virginia.
He’s led the Golden Bears to a 36-15 record over his first two seasons, including a River States Conference tournament title last season and the team has earned two berths into the NAIA national tournament.
And he quickly earned the respect of his older Best Virginia players.
“We all told him, ‘Don’t be afraid to coach us, just tell us what we need to hear. Don’t be timid, don’t be shy,’ ” said Flowers, who also doubles as the general manager of Best Virginia. “He’s been doing a great job of that and speaking up. It’s a learning process for him, as well, but I’ve been impressed with how he handles day-to-day situations.”
Best Virginia practices were not glorified pick-up games. Instead they were purpose-driven, focusing mainly on whatever Long had already diagrammed on those pages before practice.
Flowers said it’s a different approach than what Best Virginia had with Jarrod West, who coached the team during the 2019 TBT.
Where West kept things loose and fun, Long has continually talked about the need for Best Virginia players to get better, even though a small handful of them are near the end of the professional careers.
And he’s his own man during games. He’s cool and calm with a good poker face, even during the most pressure-packed moments.
It’s the anti-Bob Huggins style, who Long played three seasons for at WVU before spending an additional three years with Huggins as the Mountaineers’ video coordinator.
“These guys have always told me to not be scared to coach them and I think I came in on my heels a little bit,” Long said. “I wanted to validate a lot of things and get everyone’s opinion. These guys have given me the feedback I needed. At the end of each day, we say ‘family,’ and we really mean it.
“I think that’s what we have going for us if we want to win $1 million. They’ve taught me about myself. You don’t need to validate things, coach us. I take that in stride. It’s about all of us getting better. When the TBT is over and if we win or lose, if we all got better, then it’s worth it.”
It’s Long’s constant drive to see improvement from his players and his own level of preparation, Flowers said the Best Virginia team needed.
“He’s really an up-and-comer,” Flowers said. “James is going to be a big-time head coach one day. Just the way he approaches the game, he’s got an unbelievable mind for basketball.
“He’s going to be a major Division I coach very soon. That’s the real type of potential he has as a coach.”
Best Virginia announced Long as the head coach in April and the TBT bracket was announced on June 21.
Best Virginia assistant Dave Tallman joked then that Long was probably already knee-deep in film study for the first opponent.
Flowers now refers to Long as a straight business man when it comes to his approach.
“I didn’t know that about him before,” Flowers said, before breaking out in a smile. “If I did, I probably wouldn’t have picked him.”
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