Remember a few years back when Kevin Pittsnogle guaranteed his team would beat Marshall, this despite a documented history of struggles inside the Charleston Civic Center? Naturally, WVU lost and while Pittsnogle had an OK game, the Thundering Herd was ready to make him eat his words. They played with more energy and a greater purpose throughout the game.

Alex Ruoff was a freshman on that team and he witnessed the very nature of the Capital Classic and experienced how it could be manipulated to give one team an edge. Wednesday is his last game against Marshall, which is fine with him as long as his team understands exactly what the outcome means.

“I hate that game, honestly,” said WVU senior guard Alex Ruoff, who is 2-1 against the Thundering Herd. “It kills us if we come away with the loss and if we win it’s nothing. The guys have got to understand that and look at it like that. We need to win it and get the best out of it and think about what a loss can do to us.

“We need to take these next few days seriously and approach it the right way.”

It’s the (first?) fork-in-the-road game this year. Here’s the bad part: Three freshman have never been in the game, and they’re struggling all of a sudden; Joe Mazzulla probably won’t play; Da’Sean Butler and Wellington Smith are juniors who have played 45 and 21 minutes, respectively, in two Classics; Cam Thoroughman played five minutes last year; and Ruoff, the senior, has played 70 minutes in two games, but scored 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting.