Important months ahead for Ahmad and Macon

Before West Virginia started its 2015-16 season, head coach Bob Huggins made a lofty comparison for his first-year forward Esa Ahmad.

The Cleveland native came to Morgantown with hoopla considering the attention his recruitment received. Ahmad was a Rivals100 prospect in high school, holding offers from 18 different universities including topflight programs like Maryland, Ohio State, Oregon and Wisconsin.

“I think he’s like Da’ was,” Huggins said in October, linking Ahmad to former West Virginia All-American Da’Sean Buter.

“He (Ahmad) could play the two, three or four spots.”

Huggins also believed Ahmad would provide West Virginia with instant and dynamic scoring, but it never came to fruition during his freshman season.

The expectations were probably a tad too much, but it worked out because surprisingly, senior guard Jaysean Paige picked up slack in the scoring column, carrying West Virginia throughout the duration of the season while Ahmad filled a supporting role.

Ahmad started all 34 games he played in, registering double figure scoring totals only three times – against Stetson, TCU and in the NCAA Tournament opening round loss to Stephen F. Austin. His best game probably came at Iowa State, scoring nine points and grabbing three rebounds to help West Virginia gain its first ever win inside Hilton Coliseum.

Admittedly, Ahmad never was comfortable on offense or defense until the second half of the season.

“In the beginning of the season, I was trying to find myself,” Ahmad said. “But I learned the system, and with the help of Devin (Williams) and Daxter (Miles), I got a little more confident.”

Because West Virginia uses its pressing style, Huggins and his staff ask a lot of their players defensively. Ahmad focused largely on figuring out how to play within the full court scheme.

“It’s all about rotations and I think I got better with it, over the year,” Ahmad added.

Ahmad needed most of the season to learn his responsibilities in the defense, so throughout the offseason, he can turn his attention to progressive his offensive game.

During his freshman season, Ahmad showed an ability to drive the lane with success to dunk the ball with power, but failed to prove his jump shot could be relied upon.

With Paige graduating, Huggins will have to have someone replace Paige's production. Ahmad is probably an ideal candidate to help West Virginia and Huggins do so.

Forward Elijah Macon is another player facing high stakes this offseason. In his redshirt sophomore season, proved he could at times, thrive offensively and be nonexistent at other times.

Macon had three double-digit scoring games in the first month of the season, but saw his production fall off against tougher competition. At TCU, at Florida, in Morgantown against Oklahoma and in both the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals versus TCU and the Big 12 Tournament semifinals against Oklahoma, Macon didn’t score a single point.

He had just two points against Stephen F. Austin.

“Going in the summer, I know I need to have good workouts to completely change myself,” Macon said. “I need to keep my work ethic strong to become a better player and once the new guys come in, I want to be able to help them. We need to get back to the tournament next year.”