By Dave Morrison
MORGANTOWN — All summer West Virginia coach Bob Huggins raved about his recruiting class. But he was especially strong on 6-foot-9 Mountain State Academy graduate Deniz Kilicli.
Made sense, since he was a player most Mountaineer fans were familiar with, playing here in Beckley.
But nobody could have thought Huggins’ comments were little more than coachspeak, having seen Kilicli in action at Mountain State.
He was big — a beast at 6-9, 270 — but he was seldom dominant. Often he was disappointing. He didn’t get an inordinate amount of boards for his size, he traveled way too many times when he got the ball in the paint and sometimes, frighteningly, he looked lost.
Still, Huggins pumped up the big guy from Turkey.
There is a reason why Huggins is so successful as a coach.
In Sunday’s 104-82 exhibition win over Mountain State, Kilicli had eight points and six rebounds in 19 minutes.
He was called for traveling on his first shot attempt, but after that he did little wrong, going 4 of 6 from the field and he also had two blocked shots and two pretty nifty assists.
Most know that Kilicli will not be available for the Mountaineers’ first 20 regular season games, after it came to light that he played on a team in Turkey which had paid another player.
You’d think the big, bearded Kilicli would be upset at more of the NCAA’s nonsensical rulings.
But he’s not.
“I didn’t know the rule,” he said after Sunday’s exhibition game. “No one in Europe knows the rule. But rules are rules. If something happens, it happens. It gives me more time to practice and get better.”
Huggins said he doubted the NCAA rulebook is a best-seller in Turkey.
He also said, once again, that he thinks Kilicli has the potential and talent to be a first-team All-Big East performer one day. Clearly, the onus is on the player.
And Kilicli certainly didn’t disappoint his coach when he said he will keep a stiff upper lip through the 20 games.
“It is motivation,” he said. “On game days I will work out and lift and make myself better. I know I have a long way to go before I am where I should be.”
You’ve got to like the determination.
He is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was a year ago, barely able to speak the language. Like basketball, he got a command on that quickly, taking about two months to learn a foreign tongue. And he learned a lot of that by watching television.
Huggins even joked about that.
“He speaks better English than some of the guys I’ve had in the past,” he said.
Did I say leaps and bounds?
Some think he might have earned a starting job by the time Big East play rolls around were it not for the NCAA’s ruling.
Given the fact that he played 19 minutes in Sunday’s exhibition is definite indication that Kilicli is in the Mountaineers’ plans. Only five players played more minutes and nine total played double-figure minutes.
Only five had more points and only three had more boards.
“Missing 20 games will be a setback,” Huggins said. “It’s going to be a challenge keeping him engaged while we are, hopefully, playing for a Big East championship. It’s easier said than done. But he can do some things (to help).”
And you’ve got to believe he will.
Just like Huggins said he would, all along.
