WVU’s men’s basketball team had its end-of-the-year awards banquet last night at Waterfront Place and as I walked from the parking garage across the street toward the hotel, I rounded a corner and came to an intersection with Joe Alexander and his roommate, Jamie Smalligan, who traveled to the gala together.

Joe Alexander, NBA Draft prospect, was not happy to see me.

It wasn’t anything personal — I don’t think — but you could tell by the look on his face and the change of the pace with which he walked that he was caught a little off guard. It was very subtle. I doubt it was anything intentional and he’d surely say he showed no signs, but, in truth, I’m used to such responses. They’re easy to spot now.

Maybe he didn’t realize the media was invited. He did, after all, make light of that with a quick, characteristic one-liner. He also said I wouldn’t be allowed in because I was wearing jeans. So maybe it was Joe being Joe, the dry-witted-though-still-witty kid who deadpans good quotes and makes jokes sound dead serious. More than likely, his brain fired quickly and, to me, it seemed that whether he knew beforehand the media was going to be there or not, he suddenly realized the media was there and he was the reason why.  

For the first time since he told FoxSports.com – (strumming fingers on keyboard…strumming…strumming) — he was entering the NBA Draft April 9, he’d meet with the local media. To discuss his decision. He’d been careful to maintain a low profile and speak to no one but his inner circle about the process, but that chosen path was about to reach a dead end.

He was more glib and deceptive than normal and only once seemed interested in the discussion and that was when someone suggested he was simply curious to see where he stood. “It has nothing to do with being curious,” he said sharply. “I’m not curious. I have a good idea where I stand.”

A moment later, assistant coach Erik Martin interceded to dismantle the meeting and Alexander went off to mingle with the rest of the crowd, which was basically more groups of assembled strangers who, one couldn’t help but notice, were asking a lot of the same questions he was so uninterested in answering for the media.

So I’m mad at Joe Alexander, right? Can’t believe he’d stiff us, elude us, deprive us of the ability to do our jobs, right?

Nope. Actually, I can’t blame him for a moment. Too many people are too concerned about how Alexander’s decision affects them and not him. Don’t get me wrong. His teammates are remarkably neutral and even though they make no secret that they want him back because the team will be so much better with him, you sense they know he can — will? — be a high pick and they want him to go and grab that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if it’s within reach.

Yet there are a lot of people who want him to stay for WVU. Period. They want to cheer him, want their team to do well, want to say he is theirs.  

I admit I’m curious about what he’ll do. He’s a great player, a great kid and, to be honest, he makes my job really simple. I wouldn’t mind at all if he stayed because I know I’m getting good material for another year, but I’ve also seen how hard he’s worked, how greatly he’s improved and how much he deserves a shot if he believes it’s there for the taking. Last night, the only thing I wanted to ask him was how he was doing. I sensed, even before all of this, that he was bothered by it all and I was curious to see how a composed kid like himself kept his composure in a time like this. Who does he talk to? How does he get away? Why don’t people respect his privacy?

Yet he was asked repeatedly if he was staying or going. Well, how the hell is he supposed to know? It was terribly irresponsible and it’s sadly common. He hasn’t done anything toward the process other then enter into it and stay in it so that he appeared on the official early entry list released yesterday. Yet for some odd reason, he and his teammates were asked again and again if Joe would be back or be in the draft. Madness.

Off the soapbox and into the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, I demand no retraction! 

Mack said:

If I gave you a year, would you be able to come up with four more Hawley Field plays to round out a Top 5 of all time? I doubt it.

I really tried to win this challenge, but I couldn’t do it. It was my belief last Saturday’s game-ending inside-the-park home run was an all-time moment at Hawley Field. Also in the top five was the Billy Biggs lights-out no-hitter in 2002 and … well there’s … ah, screw it. Where’s Coach Greg Van Zant?

“No question it’s up there and we’ve had several great moments at home this year. But that was something special because we’d controlled that game. We were up 10-5 and I thought we were in really good shape. Then all of a sudden we go into the eighth inning and Connecticut scores a bunch of runs and jumps ahead. But we kept our confidence and we knew we were going to score a run in the eighth or ninth inning. And fortunately for us, Austin Markell hit a ball off the top of the wall to win the game for us when right now, every win is really important.”

p.i. reed said:

he did a lot of great things here. maybe its because i am greedy or just a bad person, but i cannot help but remember him – a lot – however for how incredibly small he came up in some of the biggest games the last two years

So true and yet so sad that this could very well be the immediate legacy for Steve Slaton who, to be brutally honest, isn’t going to do anything right away in the NFL to change that perception. 

Eric said:

True Slaton did come up small in some key games, but I think Rodriguez shoulders a good amount of blame there. How many times in those games did Slaton get the ball only to find multiple defenders–often unblocked–between him and the line of scrimmage?

After the Pitt game, I got a call from an offensive lineman friend of mine who went to Bama. He was astounded that throughout the whole game WVU never changed anything in response to a defense that clearly had their number. I think that is Rodriguez’s biggest flaw. His confidence in his system crosses the line into arrogance -makes that takes a flying leap over that line. He doesnt realize he is getting outcoached when its happening, and keeps hammering away under the assumption eventually the big play would pop. So often it would, but if you live by the home run you will strike out in some key situations.

Common and probably justified critique of Rodriguez. Many believe he didn’t adjust when it seemed he needed to make adjustments and it bewildered those who could so easily see that what WVU was doing was not working. It’s a balance Rodriguez often struggled with during games. He was so confident in his system and his choice plays that had been so successful that he sometimes hesitated to make a change to things he didn’t trust as much. In that regard, Slaton’s struggles were indeed Rodriguez’s struggles, too.

StraightOuttaNorthCentral said:

Amazing Devine clip. I knew he was a good instinctive runner from watching him last year, but to see all those runs together, I noticed a few very unique things about his running, besides the “accelerating into the line” that Mike mentioned:

1. He doesn’t slow down much, if at all, to make a move.
2. He doesn’t make a move until he has to.
3. He doesn’t run away from contact, but he avoids hard contact by being really fast and really quick.

These are all traits that really set him apart from the average runner. Any one of them alone would make for a good running back. All three of them together make for a potentially special one.

Included for not other reason than to show you this one more time. I must also pass this along for the video — at least one clip from every game in which he played — but also the audio of the unknowingly clairvoyant Tony Caridi. It’s funny, but the more you watch Devine’s clips, the more excited about him you get, the more certain you are that he is something special and the more observations you make about his style. I remain alarmed by how much effort goes into tackling him (note the runs at 2:05 and 2:45 of the second clip), but I’m now delighted to see the balance with which he runs and how he manages to keep his speed and precision at an optimal level. I’m now convinced that if he’s the regular kickoff returner, he’s going to bring two back this season. At least.

Jeff said:

People have short memories. WVU’s basketball program went from respectable to an absolute disaster in Gale Catlett’s final year. It was AWFUL when John Beilein came in. It was excellent when he left. I am thrilled to have Bob Huggins at the helm. But I will always be grateful to Beilein for turning around our program.

I’d say the check is in the mail, but I doubt that’s possible right now.

x_rayted said:

Um, I believe that the whole buyout thing was a mild tryst between Beilein and WVU because we folded like a lawn chair and only made him pay half of the thing. He wants to help WVU from getting fleeced again. Thanks, and good luck not worrying about rebounding in the Big 10 John.

He sees right through our logic!

OB1 said:

Beilein turned the WVU basketball program around and for that the WVU community should be very thankful.

But…

If WVU knew of the coach that was to follow, they would have probably paid him to leave town.

Fair enough. That’s probably the majority opinion right now, too. Oh, Bob Fitzsimmons would like to speak with you…

thacker said:

More Opinion and other Silly Nonsense–

Beilein and attorney Bob Fitzsimmons, who is actually working with WVU in its lawsuit against former football Coach Rich Rodriguez, claimed the buyout was a penalty and that contracts cannot contain clauses that keep one party from exiting the agreement. Beilein and Fitzsimmons also said WVU did not suffer liquidated damages equal to $2.5 million after needing only a few days to hire Bob Huggins as a replacement.

Source: Beilein pays first installment to WVU.

Am I the only one who is a little nervous, now, about the Fitzsimmons involvement?

I’m not sure what to think of this. I know Fitzsimmons is a wizard — wonderful quote in the 10th paragraph, by the way — but I had no idea the magic his wand possessed. A guy who argued successfully that a $2.5 million buyout was unfair is helping argue that a $4 million is fair. It probably has no impact on anything in the case, but it is interesting.

StraightOuttaNorthCentral said:

I wouldn’t worry about Fitzsimmons. There’s a reason he was retained by WVU in the Rodriguez case, and it wasn’t just to prevent Rich from hiring him. He’s there to look for the same loopholes that he exploited in the Beilein case, and any other ones he could think of, and help the legal team gameplan for them.

Assuming he’s still representing Beilein (which I don’t think has been established), he’s not going to hurt one client in one case in order to help another client in a different case.

Never thought of it that way, but wouldn’t it be great, if not extremely wise, if WVU retained Fitzsimmons so WVU wouldn’t have to go against Fitzsimmons?

glibglub said:

All other things aside, just imagine having to sit down and write out a $290K check to your former employer. That has got to hurt . . .

I yield to jmbwvu…

jmbwvu said:

Imagine having to do that 4 more times. That really hurts!

Moving on…

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Garrison has to resign…..there is NO way that he was not aware of the situation involving the degree. With that being said, I’d agree with Mike’s rationale that it has to wait. Kinda like Eddie P’s “retirement” in 2 years.

You can’t be canning your principal witnesses @ this point without severely negative consequences.

Do you think RR is having second “second thoughts” …..???? Now both of his principal problems are on the way out.

What do you mean? Rodriguez has never made a mistake in his life. And I highly doubt he could have co-existed another two years here. The main reason he left was not the buyout or the trust issues. It was that every relevant relationship had reached the point of no return.

Michael said:

I think you are correct in your assessment of the Garrison situation; if MG is removed or fired, it will be after RR vs. WVU has been litigated. As for Marv “Kunte Kinte” Robon’s veiled threats regarding MG’s character issues: don’t go there.
Even if Judge Stone would allow this line of questioning, does Marv really want to open up a line into RR’s less than pristine character? I see RR’s special “recruiting ” of local cheerleaders & real estate agents becoming fair game at that point.

…or we could not go there, either, unless Team WVU can put one of those rumors on a witness stand. I think a better argument has to do with the principle of verbal contracts. Rodriguez alleges Garrison promised Rodriguez he’d reduce and/or eliminate the buyout if he signed the contract. Well, you’ll remember Roy Roundtree promised to play football at Purdue, but Rodriguez swooped in and convinced him to sign with Michigan.

thacker said:

What really matters?

Is that opportunities are going to be lost. A university’s administration and governing body, rather than standing up, taking the lead and impacting significant change, is more interested in hanging out some former coach over that coach’s temper tantrum/fractured ego. A state with a governor so tied up into a university that the university’s reputation is tarnished because of his political influence, a governor who wants to impact change at the NCAA but fails to recognize that before he can expect someone else to clean their own house that his house needs cleaned first.

The only bright light and courage that I am seeing publicly displayed is that of the university’s athletic coaches and their student-athletes. Perhaps it is time for many to re-learn from those kids’ quiet actions rather than acting like rats running for cover. The state’s flagship university has the opportunity to take the lead for the entire state and begin to break the chains of political corruption and cronyism that has shackled the state for generations. To do so, takes quick, bold and decisive action. I am afraid it will not get done.

——-

A man’s wife and/or children should never be held up for ridicule. There is no excuse for such a thing.

——-

Paul asked, I wonder what earlier dates the Robon team couldn’t accom[m]odate?

If I were taking bets, I would imagine that both parties wanted this delayed. Robon in hopes that pressure mounts to have Garrison removed from office before deposition. The university [Garrison and the Board of Governors] in hopes that the Bresch mess will die down and Garrison’s tenuous position becomes stabilized — assumption is made that the university pretty much knew several weeks ago how the Bresch report was leaning. The Faculty Senate meets in May concerning censorship of Garrison.

A couple of other key depositions are still pending to be scheduled, I believe … those of Craig Walker and Rita Rodriguez.

Excellent perspective. Not sure I can or want to add more there, other than to say Team Rodriguez postponed Walker’s deposition because Pastilong’s ran really, really long on the same day. And, yes, the shots at the family are a tad below the belt. I hesitate to mention those things for fear it encourages similar behavior and because I don’t censor or deny or edit comments because this is authentic. It’s like a headache. Sometimes if you ignore it and it goes away. Sometimes you smack yourself in the head and it makes things worse.

Mack said:

While it’s funny that they say Bill Stewart is the worst coach in the Big East… wouldn’t it be unfair to rank him ahead of anyone since he hasn’t really coached a regular season game yet? Ok, so it wouldn’t be unfair to rank him ahead of Greg Robinson…

What are the odds of Robinson coaching the 2009 Syracuse Orange? 100 to 1?

Did you know he’s essentially been paid about $450,000 per win in his three years there? Feel like changing that now? 

Shannon said:

Rodriguez shot so low that he decided to skip the 18th. Instead, he went straight to the 19th and had milk and cookies because he’s just that great of an American.

(SARCASM)

(NOTED) Fantastic work this week. Enjoy the weekend as you’ve earned it.