Miles Sadler is aware of the expectations, but his focus at WVU is to simply improve
Sadler not concerned with high expectations
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MORGANTOWN - As the doors to the West Virginia practice facility opened Monday, Miles Sadler was making his usual rounds.
He moves around from one group of teammates to the next and stops to have a short conversation with a WVU assistant. If you already didn't know who Sadler was, he wouldn't stand out.
That's likely by design. Despite being one of the highest-decorated prep basketball recruits to ever enroll at WVU, Sadler is just one of the guys.
"I'm not someone who is here just for myself," he said just after the Mountaineers finished their first of 30 practices leading up to the season beginning on Nov. 2. "I feel like I'm fitting in."
The anticipation and expectations surrounding the 6-foot high school All-American point guard and national top 20 recruit reach as high as the mountain tops in the state. Sadler doesn't shy away from that.
"I don't feel pressure about that. I'm here to be me," he said. "The expectations, I see them all the time, but I don't let it affect who I am as a person. I'm coming in with the mind set of helping the team get better. Whatever the team needs me to do, I'm willing to do."
Arriving in a freshman class the year after the sport was dominated by the likes of former freshmen A.J. Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer, Sadler will be part of the national question if his class can have that same type of impact.
That, too, he all but shrugs off.
"I just want to control the controllables and control what I can control," Sadler said. "They had a great year last year. A lot of freshmen in the Big 12 had a great year last year. I'm not necessarily trying to live up to any expectations. I'm just going to be me."
And then the whistle blows.
Through two hours of sprints, drills and scrimmages, Sadler's burst and speed are a highlight. His confidence shines through. His step-back jumpers clearly command attention. He throws lobs at the rim in the blink of an eye and always on the mark.
"With this team, I've had the most options I've ever had in my life. There's probably like five people who jump 40-plus inches," Sadler said of the lobs. "Whoever wants it can get it if I throw it to the rim. They probably fight for it over themselves."
The two-hour window is only a glimpse, but one that provides an energy-filled and up-tempo view into a team that appears ready to make its own mark in the Big 12 in Year 2 under Ross Hodge.
There is competition at every spot on the floor. Outside of an occasional timeout during scrimmaging, the action never hits neutral. Sadler certainly fits in nicely as a piece of the action. He also pushes the tempo; a ringleader of the organized chaos, so to speak.
"I've mentioned it about Miles before, but he has a heart for learning," Hodge said. "He allows not only myself, but the staff to coach him. He wants to be coached. That's what makes Miles special.
"Obviously he's been gifted with a lot of talent, but his willingness to be coached and not walk around like he has all the answers is what allows him to get better."
That part of the Hodge-Sadler relationship was already built long before Sadler enrolled in college. It was built through the recruiting process, in which Sadler had already become accustomed to being told by other college coaches what most high school point guards love to hear.
Hodge went in a different direction.
"Most of the time when you're on recruiting visits, coaches tell you what you want to hear, but he was talking to me about my flaws," Sadler said. "That really stood out to me. You don't hear that often coming out of high school and you're a 5-star (recruit).
"If he was telling me that during the recruiting process, I couldn't imagine what he was going to be saying once I was here. It was good that he gave me that taste early. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it was what I needed to hear."
Their discussions now are about getting the game to slow down for Sadler, to know when to use that burst of speed and when to step back and look at the possession a little differently.
It's coming along, Sadler said, as is dealing with being a local celebrity. He gets stopped all the time at WVU football games. The workers at Chipotle know him so well that they have his order ready by the time he walks through the door.
"I'm still anonymous, somewhat," he said. "Like, I'm not getting noticed all the time at the grocery store. I don't think I've got to that level, yet. I'm sure eventually that Kroger will get to know me very well."
Notes
— WVU forwards Brenen Lorient and Javan Buchanan are practicing with the Mountaineers, while challenging the NCAA for a fifth season of eligibility. They have a hearing scheduled for Sept. 24, in the Northern District Court in Clarksburg, seeking an injunction against the NCAA.
— WVU center Mouhamed Sylla sat out Monday’s practice, but did participate in drills. Hodge said Sylla would be practicing soon and will be ready for the start of the season. WVU guards Amir Jenkins and Jelani McKoy also sat out the practice. Jenkins is still recovering from two shoulder surgeries in the offseason, but Hodge said Jenkins was ahead of schedule in his recovery.