Sometimes it's tough to watch the cupcake portion of Division I basketball season.
At times opponents are so overmatched it's difficult to take anything away from the games. WVU, for instance, has played Mount St. Mary's, Mississippi Valley State and New Hampshire. The Mountaineers are winning by an average of 42.7 points or a score of 98-55.3.
Yet WVU did show some sweet things against those cupcakes - especially in its win over UNH.
Chide me if you wish. Just understand that same Wildcat team beat Temple 57-52 last week in Philadelphia. Understand the Mountaineers played without three key players in Dax Miles, Elijah Macon and Brandon Watkins. Understand that despite that, New Hampshire's leading scorer Jaleen Smith, who came in averaging 18.7 points, had no points on Sunday. And understand WVU won by 59. That's five-nine.
What's more impressive, though, centers on West Virginia's team shooting touch. In short, it has one.
OK, OK, so the opponents have been less than stellar. Yet check the stats. On 218 field goal attempts, WVU is converting 50.5 percent, No. 45 nationally. Of 75 3-point attempts, the Mountaineers are converting 40 percent, No. 54 nationally.
"I feel like we are a better shooting team this year than last," said WVU forward Esa Ahmad. "Everybody put in a lot of work in the offseason, over the summer... It's really paid off."
"They put a lot of time in and I think we have better shooters than what we've had before," said Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins. "This group probably shoots it the best since any team since 2010. We have a lot of guys who can make shots."
Last season, when WVU went 26-9, WVU hit 44.9 percent from the floor and 32.5 percent from 3-point range. The top 3-point marksman was Tarik Phillip, who converted 40.9 percent.
This season, so far, six Mountaineers - Nate Adrian, Teyvon Myers, James "Beetle" Bolden, Chase Harler, Maciej Bender and James Long - are hitting their treys at a better rate.
Small sample size, sure. Also, it will be much tougher to get shots off in the very near future. But Huggins and WVU fans have to be encouraged by what they've seen so far.
Remember, Huggins' assertion it's the best shooting team since 2010? Well, WVU hit 43 percent in 2009-10, when it went 31-7, and converted 33.7 percent of its treys.
Actually, one can zoom all the way back to 2004-05, when Mike Gansey, Kevin Pittsnogle and Jo Herbert played, and West Virginia hit 45 percent from the floor and 36 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
"We worked hard on it all summer," said Adrian. "We've been looking forward to this. We know we can shoot."
WVU is No. 7 nationally in scoring offense with a 98-point average. If you've ever wondered how "Press Virginia" can be with shooters, well, you might be set to find out.
Other early impressions?
If you haven't sensed it, this is Adrian's team. No doubt. Other Mountaineers might have more athletic ability, but the forward from Morgantown is the leader. You can feel his presence on the court. He also leads the team in scoring at 13.3 points.
"I'm just doing whatever Coach needs me to do," Adrian said. "I'm just trying to get out there and play hard."
Another impression is this "Press Virginia" thing has become very intimidating. Opponents will sometimes turn the ball for no apparent reason. In the second half on Sunday, New Hampshire's Daniel Dion was near midcourt when he turned the ball loose and out of bounds - with no Mountaineer close.
"I think we're to the point where people don't like to play us, that's for sure," Huggins said.
"Hopefully [opponents are intimidated]," said Jevon Carter, who is averaging 10.7 points. "That's what we want. We want to make them uncomfortable."
Finally, there's Ahmad, the former Ohio Player of the Year. He's finally showing a little bit of a mean streak. His stat line of 14 points and 8 rebounds against UNH doesn't begin to show his impact on the game.
"That's the best Esa's played," Huggins said. "That's the hardest Esa's played. We're one of the few teams in the country that has a 6-7 guy out chasing 6-1 guys. I keep telling him he has to learn to use his length better. What he doesn't have in foot speed maybe he can make up in length. I thought he did a much better job [versus New Hampshire]. He did a much better job of leveling people off. He kept [Wildcats] out of places that are harder to guard."
"It's confidence, man," Carter said of Ahmad. "It's all about his confidence. He had [the skills] last year, but now it's coming out."
We'll learn much more in the coming days.