Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which would like to apologize to Ryan J. Boyd for a disturbing lack of Ryan J. Boyd lately. We’re better than that. We’ll get better.

Speaking of getting better, let’s continue what’s been a thoughtful and enjoyable discussion of student section situation. Huggins spoke again on the matter Thursday and didn’t clarify anything, but elaborated instead.

“I love the students,” he said.

“They’re what brings enthusiasm to the game. I got a letter upstairs from guy who said, ‘The older I get, the less vocal I get,’ which is true. We need the students and we need them to be involved. I’m not trying to cut them out, but if we’re going to say this is one of the great venues to play in, they need to come out. When they come out, it’s unbelievable.”

You know what’s refreshing? Huggins has spoken out on a few things, but has never taken the tried and tired day-after “What I meant to say was …” route. It seems he means what he says, probably because he’s given it a lot of thought. Too often we have people act in the heat of the moment and react in its wake. This is a welcome change.

As for the situation, is there one? Is he or anyone else saying anything we don’t already know? There is a certain frustration and sometimes it’s better to deal with frustrations than ignore them. This on the table now and it will and must be dealt with. 

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, be careful.

overtheSEC said:

I think the student allottment should be reduced, if only by a section or two and students should apply for basketball tickets just like they have to with football. Huggins made those comments after losing in the Oakland Zoo; check out Pitt’s student ticket policy. http://pittsburghpanthers.cstv.com/tickets/student-ticket-policies.html#a6
Their Loyalty Point system is something I’ve suggested we do for football to address students coming late and leave early. In a nutshell, if you only go to Elon, Longwood, and Delaware State, you have a better chance of getting a ticket against Louisville than someone who only went to UConn, Pitt, and Villanova.
Also, MLB teams have ticket exchange programs for their season ticket holders, why can’t someone be innovative and find a way for the season ticket holders to exchange their unused tickets and allow the University to sell them. As encouragement to participate, the holder can get some $ credit to their MAC donation or something.
The athletic department needs to invest in resources and in creative people for the ticket office to initiate these innovations if they want to maximize revenue and keep their coaches happy.  

I like it. WVU does a lot of things well in this area, but it’s a new era and other places were just more proactive. That’s not a slight against WVU — honest! — as much as it is a tip of the cap to other places. A lot of this is studying what others are doing. As much as it may hurt to admit, Pitt is a good place to start, though Pitt had a lot of solutions built into a new facility, mainly the suites and seating accommodations for big spenders. 

Josh said:

Reduce their alotment of tickets. Create demand. Make it a hard to get item. And after a couple of years, if the demand increases expand it a little, but slowly.

I like that, too. You know what’s the hottest ticket in town? The ticket you can’t get. I have a few other ideas. 1) Student tickets cost $X and are packed into tuition. Well, take that out of tuition, but make the same tickets available to students at the same price. Sell from the best seats back and cut it off at a deadline. When the deadline comes, sell the rest to the public. 2) What if, for example, the allotment for Year Y is the average student attendance of the previous four years. At the end of Year Y, the average attendance matches a scale and qualifies for an increase or a reduction in year Y +1?  3) Combine Nos. 1 and 2. 

ENShawkins said:

I’m glad Mike brought this up because up to now, this topic has just been message board fodder.

I believe Huggs is right, students can influence the game. But not from Row R in the upper deck. During the Pitt game, I noticed their students were organized in a horseshoe around the court. Almost the entire lower level was student seating. This has a tremendous effect on the game.

They need to start opening up more lower sections to students. But as mentioned before, damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Take away those seats and you have a lot of MAC donors that will turn up their nose and close their pocketbook.

As a student from 01-05, I can say that WVU fans, and students especially, are as devoted to the teams as we give them credit for. They always come out for the big time opponents, but tend to have better things to do when the no-names come to town (this is especially true in basketball). I think this is simply the culture of most WVU fans and that is hard to change.  

ENShawkins said:

As an edit to the last paragraph, I meant to type “are not as devoted as we give them credit for.”  

It’s a slippery slope and more likely than not someone is going to be mad about whatever action is taken. I think WVU could start the student section behind one basket, wrap it around the court on just the lower level where the student section is now and then end behind the opposite basket. Seems proportional and, let’s be honest, a change is going to motivate students. I think you could probably drop the allotment a thousand or so in the process, which creates added revenue and probably wouldn’t displace too many season ticket holders.

Juls said:

I am a season ticket holder with tickets that are located in an upper section and wanted to give my two cents. I love it when the students pack out the place. I really appreciate what they bring to the experience of watching the game. That is one of the reasons why it is more fun to watch the games live instead of at home. That being said, it is equally disheartening when you have a lot of empty seats in the student section. I know the first thing that I notice when I get my seat is how full the student section is.

From what I can tell, WVU students get a large number of seats compared to students at most other schools. At some places the students only get about half of the seats WVU students do. In fact, WVU students practically have the whole side of the Coliseum, and I don’t recall seeing any other school do that for its students. It is because they have been spoiled like this that they complain about the higher seats and don’t appreciate what they have. I suggest that if they don’t want to sit in the higher seats then come earlier. If they don’t like the higher seats but don’t want to come earlier, then stay home, but don’t expect the University to continue to have empty seats when there are people who want to go to the game no matter where the seats are. Kansas State students seemed to ALWAYS pack their seats. Cinncinnati students seemed to ALWAYS pack their seats. I also don’t remember seeing many empty seats in the PITT Zoo section either throughout the years.

Finally, I would comment that maybe the reason the student section isn’t behind the team benches is that there is less of a likelyhood that something besides verbal jests will be thrown at the players or refs during the game.  

Welcome to the party, Juls. Good first contribution. Big East rules do forbid student seats behind the bench, almost certainly for the reason you listed.  You mentioned a few great student sections that are close to the floor and really do impact the game. I think the Coliseum lacks the interaction or involvement other places possess and I’m sure that’s going to be a part of what WVU looks at to improve the environment. Cursing at opponents and referees, chanting “Gary Coleman” and other silly things like that just don’t cut it.

Erinn said:

We should also think about the effect the videoboard has on the crowd. Just as in football, it seems its operator can’t get in synch with the crowd. I’ve noticed a few times when the crowd was actually loud (both at Mountaineer Field and in the Coliseum), but then an ill-timed movie clip or TV clip montage starts and everyone in the house is mesmerized and muzzled by it.

STOP USING THE VIDEOBOARD SO MUCH! You’re killing the crowd!! Use it when it’s appropriate … when the crowd has fallen asleep!

It’s a nuance that’s taken some getting used to for everyone. Whenever it starts, the entire crowd stops what it’s doing and looks up at the board … because that’s what it’s there for. It needs a little tinkering, but they’ll get it worked out. Also, “Jump Around” is never used appropriately. This bothers me about as much as my long-running feud with Cotton-Eyed Joe.  A proper “Jump Around” is worth five to seven points. Everyone knows the words, or at least acts like they do, and everyone jumps. It can sustain energy through an opponent’s timeout. What’s wrong with that?

glibglub said:

Is it wrong to hope Levance Fields breaks his foot again?  

Wrong? Yes. Rare? Not at all.

Ken said:

sPitt’s player of the game….Ref Curtis Shaw! 10 Blown Calls, 2 DQs, and 21 Fouls. Honorable Mention Karl Hess and Joe Lindsay. We had no chance. WVU and Huggins should refuse to play when he is the ref. Big East should can him.

Wow, wouldn’t that be something? You used to be able to blacklist referees — keep them away from you — but not anymore. Maybe because so many are so objectionable? Who knows. Imagine if a coach just said, “No way, not playing tonight with that crew. Screw you, ESPN.” Certainly the team would be told it would forfeit and it would then flip-flop and take the floor, but a point would have been made. The story would grow, there’d be tension between the team/coach and the referee(s) the Big East would try to avoid and one or more of the officials would be in trouble, yes?

ccteam said:

The refs were bad, but WV couldn’t stop Blair and Young anyway. Didn’t change the outcome, just how the game would have been played.  

 Yeah, let’s not forget that. The officiating was uneven, at best, but Pitt was and is just better.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

This year’s team is what it is….a team somewhat in transition. A year with only one real point guard who is a true freshman is going to struggle.

We also have a team with its two best players, Ruoff and Butler, who are streaky in their scoring.

The team also lacks size/strength at the PF and C position….that would have not changed with Joe Alexander or Joe Mazulla, but it does take away a veteran ball handler and a 3rd option (actually the first option) for scoring.

They said last night that WVU is a top 15 team with Alexander back….I think that is true if Mazulla was healthy for a full year as well, but that if will never be verified.

They are what they are…a good team that we can/should be cheering for.

You nailed it, sir. It’s difficult, maybe even unfair, to examine the Alexander component because if he’s around, Ruoff and Butler aren’t in the same role and don’t have the same numbers or opportunities to reach those numbers and Ebanks is probably coming off the bench, which slows the progress of Kevin Jones and maybe even John Flowers. It’s a tangled web. The PF and C dilemma is tough to think about, too, because there just isn’t a solution worth worrying about. The great and intriguing unknown is Mazzulla because it seemed to me he was just getting comfortable in his new standing, wasn’t killing himself quite as much to be the guy and had things forming around him. We’ll never know how he, the team or Truck would have progressed in the middle part of the season.

glibglub said:

One of the regulars here, I forget who, will at least be pleased that Joe Mazzulla was rocking a pink shirt and pink tie at the game.  

That’d be Erinn … 

Erinn said:

Glibglub … Yes. I noticed. And yes, I loved it. I was waiting all year for that.
Now … if only Jay Wright will be my Valentine and wear pink on Friday. It would make a possible loss to Villanova less difficult.

Whatever floats your boat. I have to say this, if it’s not already obvious, but I’m excited to see the wardrobe. Someone asked me the other day about the salt-and-pepper look Wright has going. I said I liked it, thought it was dignified, especially for a coach. He then asked what I would think if Wright died his hair black. “Never happen. He’d tell his hair it’s letting him down and the grays would go back to black.”

thacker said:

There had better be a very deep place in hell for people who place kids in harm’s way. I hope Jennings’ brother is safe and sound.

Leave the Duke programs for those Duke kinda of guys.

I’m about to go to a high-major Big East school, having a family. I never imagined it.

Welcome home, Jennings. This is West Virginia.  

The kid’s going to play right away, push for minutes and give you one or two “oohh” blocks or rebounds every game.

Alli said:

But we’re 0-5 against the top 5 teams in our league. We’re 1-6 versus the top 8 (though we haven’t played ‘nova or Cincy yet). In 2007 (when we went to the NIT) we were 0-6 versus the top 5 teams (including the loss in the Big East tourney to UofL).

Right now we seem to think our SOS and RPI will get us in, and there’s no doubt that both of those stats are much better than what they were in 2007 (RPI of 57 and SOS of 99). As great as though two stats are, it won’t matter if we don’t win some of these games at the end. We really need to beat Villanova, and I think a win over UofL would go a long way. An upset in the Big East tourney would help too.  

Makes tonight’s game a certain cliche I just won’t use. WVU could end up as the case study for the bubble this season.

Birch said:

You give the students a 9:00 game on a Friday night, with Huggy chirping at them all week…I’m pretty sure the place will be packed, the decibel level will be cranked and the BAC level will be in the double digits (not for you Jock). I think we’ll have the best crowd of the year tonight from students and the direct payers.  

If this crowd tanks, I’m not sure what the next play is.

ENShawkins said:

I think it will be remarkable because, at the current pace, WVU gets in the NCAAs if they continue on their present course (beat the teams they are supposed to beat, and lose to the ranked teams).

Meaning, they’ll get an invite without the “signature win.” As Mike said, the RPI tells the story. A team with a top 30 RPI has never been left out (correct me if I’m wrong), and there is NO way a top 20 RPI team is left out.

The boys just need to take care of business down the stretch. Stub their toe once and we are back to RPI purgatory.  

Seriously, think about a 10-8 or 9-9 Big East team that has one or two wins against teams higher in the standings and no losses to teams below, and a team that beat three or four ranked teams in 12 tries. What does that mean? No, really, what does it mean? I don’t know. So, yeah, you have to win and can’t have a bad night and a bad loss. But that’s a ridiculously thin line to toe in this league and those toes get stubbed more often later in the seaosn when the thing just wears on you and it becomes more and more difficult to get up and stay up game after game after game …  

overtheSEC said:

Even if we’re 4-3 doesn’t that just make us a 8 seed? It will be interesting to see whether the new 16 team BE tourney helps or hurts us this year. Considering that most likely the 8 and 9 seeds will play each other on the second day, I don’t know how you can’t consider this a play in game for the NCAAs. The winner has the benefit of a .500 BE record or so and beating a team of similar record on neutral court. The loser doesn’t have much of an argument to be the last BE team selected for the tourney. We’ve got to win one in MSG.  

Could be No. 8…could be N0. 6. Depends on who does what. The bye is a key, though. It’s an artificial boost, I think. Suddenly WVU earns a bye in the conference tournament, has a big edge in day two to win a game and has a quarterfinal appearance for the resume. It matters. Regardless, barring a total collapse I can’t see happening, I don’t know how WVU doesn’t make the NCAAs.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Hey, I’d rather have him flip a coin than set up a press conference and say he is going to the University of West Virginia…..who didn’t even know the school’s name where he is “committed”.

Seriously, he is playing for a solid defensive set of coaches IRREGARDLESS (thanks PRod) of which school he picked and consistently has a chance to play for the Big East championship every year. Both are solid academic schools…..

It probably comes down to immediate playing time; he’s probably getting red shirted at WVU due to depth at LB and Rutgers is home and more potential to play.  

Good point. I think the big mistake here was that anyone went public with the coin flip story. So he flipped a coin … strange, funny, maybe a little scary, but he did what he did. That people allowed and even invited everyone to know it and form an opinion is the big deal.

rekterx said:

If the coin flip went our way we would all be welcoming this kid.

That’s reality. 

Mack said:

What I think is funny is that the NCAA uses the “amateurism” argument for every single thing they do . . . except for television deals, sponsored bowl games, free apparel, conference/NCAA commercials with “amateur” athletes in them, 800 TV timeouts during games, etc.  

Really, what would we do without the NCAA? 

Jeff in Akron said:

Oll Stewart seems to be growing into his postion. I remember a comment he made last year, “In a year or two everyone will know what Bill Stewart is about.” At the time it only fueled the Stew must go bashing. If this is what he was refering to, aren’t we the idiots.

Oll Stewart outlined his goals for the program in his press conference, by way of outlining his goals for the recruits. The recurring theme to me was “Integrity”. As Oll Stew stated, none of these guys have played a down of football. Yet, with this class, Oll Stew developed class.

Bash me all you want. I’m really beginning to like Oll Stew. MC saw it first, and I took his lead, grudgingly. After all Oll Stew went through this year, he found a way to look in the mirror and improve. For that reason alone, I’ll take another drink of the Magic Kool-aid.

“Out of the ashes rose the Phoenix.”

I will have no further comment at this time.

Foul Shot said:

Let’s give Oll Stew another season or two before we consider him as rising from the ashes, the Phoenix, or whatever.
There were not ashes to rise from, the team was pretty good when he took over. His team this past season went to 4 losses, which was down from the previous season(s).
Plus, he had Pat White and we expected a bit more than the Meineke.
Nice finish to the season by winning the Bowl, but not so good in losing to Pitt for the second straight year.
So, I am holding off on judging the guy for at least another season. But, if we stumble out of the gate in the fall of 2009, the drums will start to beat and the vultures will start to circle.
I do like the guy and he seems like a nice person. Also, by mentioning character, academics and so on as characteristics in a recruit, that is also good.
But, I hope they don’t have ECU and Colorado type losses (winnable games) at the start of 2009.

Never mind that no comment. Fair assessment here, but let’s give the guy credit, too. He organized a pretty impressive staff, he nailed down a big-time recruiting class, he handled the TBA fairly well (Eugene Smith, no Signing Day explanation, etc.) and he has not wavered a bit on his discipline and quest for character over characters. If you screw up, you’re in trobule. If you don’t belong at WVU, you won’t be at WVU. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. Could he handle/have handled some things better? Absolutely, but expecting perfection was a bit much. Wins and losses matter — a lot, as they should — but there’s much more. It was a good foundation to build upon, which, as you say, makes this next season or two the ones to really judge because he has his feet under him and something solid to stand on as he moves forward.

Jim in Morgantown said:

Tell us Mike, do you have any winter calamity stories you could share with your audience?

I know where you’re going and I’m not going there with you. But I do have a story I’ve hesitated to share because A) I can’t find any confirmation it happened and B) by now I’m wondering if my travel sounds just too cursed to believe. Anyhow, last Tuesday I was supposed to fly from Morgantown to D.C. to Syracuse. After taking off from Morgantown, we landed a few minutes later in Clarksburg. I wasn’t sure why, but figured it was a commuter deal, which isn’t unusual. As best as I could tell from my itinerary, though, this was not planned. I know through experience you’re usually on the ground in Clarksburg 20 or 30 minutes. I grab the laptop, pop in my headphones and transcribe some interviews. A while later a flight attendant comes in and gives sections of the plane an update. She gets to me and I pull out the earphones because I have to hear this. Apparently we landed because there was a wanted criminal on the flight. He was escorted away. Seated in the back of the plane, I never noticed this, but there wasn’t a scuffle or anything that got everyone’s attention. We’re told we’ll be leaving in a few minutes, and we do. As the flight attendant does her cabin check, she informs us the criminal was wanted for hijacking. Enjoy your weekend!