Welcome back to the Friday Feedback, floundering for far too long, but now hopefully back on track — wait, did I say that before? Well, this time I mean it. The schedule is normal now through the NCAA Tournament, which leads me to an interesting dilemma and discussion, one I’ve mentioned in passing before and would like to revisit now.

I’ve got a big-time family wedding March 17. In Fort Worth. That happens to be the first Saturday of the NCAA Tournament. My family is cool. They understand the schedule conflict. The bride gets it. They say it’s no problem if I miss it — and I sense they’re only concerned if my wife is there. Conversely, JackBo would be more than happy to cover the NCAA Tournament in my stead. He, too, gets it. So, is essence, I have a free pass either way, but neither is an occasion to miss.

A while ago, back when I learned the wedding date and realized I had a potential problem, I was honestly shopping around for plane tickets. I didn’t buy one, but I was looking. Then, I think right around the time WVU was battling Baylor, I started to panic a little. The basketball team is actually pretty good — and shame on me for doubting, yes?

Right now, I know this thing can go any way. I can miss the wedding for the NCAA Tournament. I can miss the NCAA Tournament for the wedding. I can miss the wedding for the NIT. I can miss the NIT for the wedding. Ideally, and not surprisingly, I’d like to cover the NCAA Tournament. The NIT, not so much. I’d also like to be at this family event. Then again, I’m sure part of me would be bummed out if WVU was a one-and-done team and I covered it and missed the wedding. And I’d be furious if I went to the wedding and WVU went 2-0. Of course, WVU could play Thursday or Friday and, in theory only, lose its first game and I could be in the air ASAP.

So there are many options. Here’s the problem: You ever shopped for airfare to DFW or DLF? It’s not pretty. It’s pricey (Unless you know some secrets I do not … hint, hint). You’re better off buying a ticket early, but as far as I can tell, expensive is expensive and if I bought a ticket, say, a week before the wedding, convinced WVU was a NIT team, I’d be paying a lot, but not a whole lot more.

Here’s a predicament — and, really, an exercise in predicting the rest of the season: You’re in my shoes and you have to make a decision TODAY. What would you do? My current idea: I’m booking early flights hoping there are scenarios where the flights are oversold and I can graciously surrender my seat for vouchers.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, make the best of a bad situation.

glibglub said:

It’s true about the Gettysburg Address comparison. My kid had to recite Huggs’ entire U Conn postgame locker room speech in school last week.

Just kidding. I have no children. You’re welcome, society.

Foul Shot said:

Compared to last year, KJ is a totally different player around the hoop with sticking the ball in either on a pass to the post or off an offensive rebound.
This has to be the huge difference in his ability to score.
Truck is still hot and cold, looking for a strong performance from him tonight on the road.

He doesn’t even try to dunk it. He just goes up very fast and skips it off the glass. Very hard to guard that without fouling or goal tending. Many times someone will defend an attempted dunk or lay in and goal tend or commit a foul and get away with it because the offensive player left too much open to interpretation. Also, KJ’s struggles against size, as explained to me early last year by a scout, are virtually non-existent. He did pretty well against UConns bigs, though he spent some time on the perimeter, too.

pknocker40 said:

“Truck Bryant: Marquee player.” These are strange and wonderful times indeed!

Your joking aside, it’s hard to argue that, right?

rekterx said:

And this team still has a huge upside. Let’s just see how good they are a month from now.

I still think Miles will discover something more consistent on offense, Deniz will get healthy and you’ll continue to get roundabout contributions from the Browne/Hinds/Brown triumvirate. A key will be developing something reliable out of the Noreen/Rutledge role. I guess in all things in this conversation, the greatest improvement you and WVU can hope for is more consistency and fewer unexpected eggs.

IrishBillATL said:

Surprised no orange bowl celebration. Or maybe they are Planning something soon.

Many of the players weren’t back on campus the day of the Georgetown game. Remember, they didn’t return to class until Monday. They’ll have one soon enough. And you know what? I hope they do it during a timeout and not halftime. If it’s at halftime, the other team isn’t there to witness it and then the crowd has a bunch of time to calm down before the second half starts. If I’m Bob Huggins, I’m calling a full timeout with about three minutes left in the first half and then just kicking up my feet in the huddle. Hell, I’d call two timeouts, jsut to the party could have the time it needs.

DanaHolgorsen’sPreCirrhoticLiver said:

That out of bounds call on the second to last possession was outright robbery.

I was on the opposite end of the floor … and I couldn’t believe the call. I’d say others were surprised, too: “Oriakhi said in the game, ‘That’s out on me. It’s clearly out on me,'” Kilicli said.

lowercase jeff said:

drummond is good.

i need to know noreen’s +/-.

KJ was alone tonight.

college basketball officiating is terrible. they blew calls all over, for both teams.

there is no way rutledge wasnt the better option tonight.

no aaron browne down the stretch?

very angry.

I had Noreen at minus-7. It’s only the fifth time in 17 games he’s been a minus guy. Then again, he’s had what Statsheet.com calls “clutch” minutes in four games and has been a minus guy four times … three times in a loss. Rutledge’s +/- is better, but the playing time and the situations are misleading.

Karl said:

I was at the WVU-Seton Hall game in Newark a few weeks back, and one of my takeaways from seeing them live was that there seems to be some distance between the veterans and the younger guys on this team. Specifically, it looked like Jones, Truck and Kilicli were a clique and didn’t want the young guys in it. You could see it in the body language — who slaps hands with who, how the older guys shook their heads when the rookies made a mistake, how they reacted when each other made mistakes. I bring it up because the Jones quote that Mike leads off this post with seems like more of that.

You’re not  the first person to tell me about this — and I mean, the body language in that Seton Hall game as a background reference for that KJ quote. It’s going to happen. Veteran guys are always  more frustrated with younger guys because 1) they stopped making the youthful mistakes long ago and 2) they know they have only so much time and they often wonder if the younger players are working against the same shot clock, so to speak. There have been times when those three guys have, in essence, been by themselves out there and Monday sure looked like one of those occasions. I will say this: These guys aren’t nearly as demonstrative and visibly frustrated as some of the previous teams were. The 2009 team, with Ebanks, Truck and KJ as freshmen, had body language with subtitles. The Final Four team was unbelievably transparent. Those were good teams. I think a lot of that has to do with Huggins — and that’s not a knock on him or the players. Huggins is honest with his guys, to the point you can often hear him yelling at a player. You know where you stand and you’re expected to handle it. Maybe it’s no different among the players.

ccteam said:

A clique or 3 guys trying to lead? I admit I haven’t seen them play in person yet, but I just don’t see the same thing Karl sees. I see the veterans correcting the young guns, but I also see thing encouraging and celebrating with them when the freshmen do something well.

I guess that’s the point. There’s a thin line here. Guys need to lead, but have to involve and not ostracize others. I don’t think Karl was indicating any sort of segregation, but suggesting there are times when frustrations are evident.

The 25314 said:

It looked like a certain guard took consecutive bad shots in an effort to get “his” after we took a 10 point lead, and we never found a rhythm again. But, it was allowing UConn to score 30 points in the last 11 minutes, shooting 30% for the game, and not stepping on UConn’s throat in the first half that led to the loss.

Can you live, at this point, with that certain guard having the green light? You know what you’re getting, right? And it’s been OK for most of the season. As convenient was it was to use words like “selfish” and blame a stagnant offense, the defense wasn’t there during the game. UConn got the ball near the rim a lot and didn’t pressure the ball very much. I mean, Tyler Olander took a step in jumper from 15 feet. That shouldn’t happen.

The 25314 said:

Mike,

I assume there will be a chapter in your book about Jeff Casteel?

Is the epilogue a chapter?

overtheSEC said:

can’t imagine being a head coach and looking around the room at a staff meeting and not have hired half the guys in the room. Jeff Casteel’s departure is unquestionably a loss, but the order/likemindedness that it could potentially bring may close the gap on what is lost in terms of continuity.
At least that’s what the optimist in me says…

Honestly, set aside your personal feelings about allegiances or Rodriguez or Casteel, et. al., and isn’t this pragmatic way the right way to view the situation?

Dr. Stern said:

I don’t see how Kirlav had much of a choice in the matter.

… because he didn’t. Really, Casteel’s replacement didn’t t have to keep Kirelawich and as much as people here grew to like and appreciate his gruff nature, it’s not exactly the easiest thing to embrace. Plus, now he gets to work with that Polynesian Pipeline Oll Stew used to predict.

The 25314 said:

It is dissapointing. I really don’t want to end up all offense and no D, like every other Hal Mumme inspired program. They play terrific offense in the Big 12, and I’m glad we adopted their ideas, but they generally play terrible defense. Give me a DCo from the South or East. That talented men like Casteel and Holgorsen can not get along for their mutual professional benefit is just dissapointing.

I can’t remember who it was, and I don’t want to single him out, but in a chat earlier in the season someone called me out for suggesting it was possible the offensive and defensive coaches wouldn’t get along. The question was something like, “Are you really telling me well-paid professionals working toward the same goal can’t get along?” and I replied “Yes, I’m telling you that,” not as in indictment of WVU’s staff, but as the coaching industry as a whole. You can put all the incentive and compensation available in the same room and it just doesn’t guarantee one guy liking the other. Oh, and in just about every chat this season, someone or some number of people would ask me why the ENTIRE defensive staff declined to do the Mountaineer Mantrip. Just saying …

Drew said:

I don’t know anything about this guy but the only two times I really watched OSU this year (Iowa State and Stanford) the defense was not very impressive.

I’d really like to see someone with a nice resume and not just one of Dana’s buddies.

To be fair, Joe DeForest wasn’t Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator. He’s an ace recruiter and a renowned special teams coach and, from the beginning, I thought that was the appeal … as odd as it still seems to see the guy make what is, essentially, a parallel move.

hershy112 said:

I wish Casteel the best. From what I’ve seen of him at WVU, he seems like one of the class acts in all of college football. He’s leaving the right way. No matter how you feel about the 3-3-5, he will be missed.

The only issue I have with his exit is that after the Orange Bowl he said he wanted to be back at WVU. That did two things that bothered me, though only slightly. 1) It insinuated Holgorsen didn’t want him back and even if it was true, both Jeff and Dana had done everything up until that moment to keep secrets secrets. 2) If Holgorsen didn’t want Jeff to go, then it was entirely up to Jeff to return and he chose not to.  That said, I’m being picky and I’m not going to let 11 seconds change the way I feel about 11 years. He did a lot of great stuff for WVU and, personally, I think I learned a few things about how I do my job just from covering him. Here’s all you need to know about Jeff: WVU let him release a farewell statement through the university. WVU doesn’t do that. I wish he had a buyout just so he could make the check out to “West Virginia University” and put hearts or smiley faces above every “i”.

Karl said:

I realize things can still go south from here, but I actually think Casteel, Holgorsen, et al have handled this as classy as possible — at least in public, which is what matters most. If there really was any bad blood between the two, it never manifested itself as sniping or backhanded comments in the papers. The quote I actually most identify with the Holgorsen-Casteel relationship is from the beginning, when Holgs said one of his most important jobs as head coach was keeping Casteel happy.

Our last look at Jeff Casteel as a Mountaineer was him getting a Gatorade bath following Route 70. Not a bad way to go out. Whatever the personal relationship between these two men, they were a successful partnership on the field. I appreciate Casteel’s time as a Mountaineer. I have no problem with him pursuing another professional opportunity — whatever the reason — and as Don Corleone would say, I wish him the best of luck … provided his interests don’t conflict with ours.

And it is here where I remind you the Big 12 and the Pac-12 have two bowl games against one another. You know it’s going to happen. We’re going to have to hire a full-timer to adequately cover that bowl prep.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

I think we should be concerned on a number of fronts……first, we have built a group of kids (and recruits) predicated on the 3-3-5. On a first blush, you may say that’s not much different than the 3-4, but I don’t see that as true. Our bandit safety is a oversized guy, but not LB size and is susceptible to being blown up if consistently standing in a conventional LB spot.

We just loaded up on safeties in this incoming class — we either are going to screw a bunch of kids less than 30 days before signing (which kills you in that area for HS coaches) or we are going to take a bunch of guys who will have limited playing time and become malcontents.

We also are loading up on coaches with TX and midwest recruiting ties…..I know we are joining the Big 12, but let’s face it, are we abandoning the mid-Atlantic, PA, OH, and FL just because half of our league games are played in this part of the country. DeForest is very well thought of out here — great ties in Houston recruiting but that is supposedly where both Dawson and DH are strongest.

Seems to be just a matter of bringing guys you are comfortable with in to surround you…..nothing wrong with that, but there’s something said for finding guys who you trust, but also know the turf. We aren’t TX, OK, OSU, FL, etc., where the school name and tradition brings them home.

The Product has the same problem with the rumored additions — the bigger drawback is that ALL his games are away from the recruiting grounds traditionally worked by his guys. I think both are bad fits but his is worse.

Understand your post Mike, but there have to have been internal problems. How does a guy like Kirlav who has been an employee of WVU since 1980 just decide to pick up and take a lateral position across the country…….

Hey, I’m with you on everything you said. All very good observations and causes for concern.  The last paragraph ought to stand out among the ones before it. I’m not naive enough to say there weren’t problems. I’m just saying they were never obvious until a 32-year veteran moved two time zones to the left really close to retirement. I really mean this: Show me evidence from the 13-game season that the three coaches didn’t like Dana or Dana didn’t like the three coaches. Did it exist? I think it’d be hard to say no, but it’s hard to submit Exhibit A … unless the no-shows at the Mantrip count.

Wayne said:

Once Casteel decided to leave – for whatever reason – the remaining defensive coaches had to know that their job status was uncertain. The new DC will want his own people and rightfully so. As for the extra safties, there was already talk that some of the recruits would move to LB. I just hope that we eventually find out if Dana really wanted Jeff to stay or if he wanted his own guy and why.

With regard to your last sentence, it, too, is provocative, but Jeff will never say and I doubt Dana will, either.

Patchy said:

Kirlav will be missed by all, even by those who may not know who he is. He’s one of a kind, the best at his job and never sought a moment’s credit in contrast to many of his brethren.

Fair-weather fans who like to watch footballs flying through the air, who think “entrance music” is an important topic and whose eyes glaze over when the discussion turns to OL or DL will, inevitably, gripe about the next opponent that moves the ball effectively without giving a thought to the importance of line play and, by extension, the coaches responsible.

Patchy is on the record, folks.

wvu304 said:

“Also, things have really quieted over there. It’s tightened up a lot, and if I were to put my finger on something, I’d say it was probably the Big 12 mishap, but it was trending that way before. Change in leadership, I suppose.”

What am I missing here? What is this referring to?

Just my observation and experience, but since the Big 12 move was sourced and reported, then didn’t happen, the information sharing has slowed. Secrets are secrets. People don’t talk. I think the circle of trust is extremely small. Or everyone hates me. It’s 50-50.

Sheik Ybuti said:

I am going to try a new tack and advocate for the 4-4-4 defense. Oll Stew was pumped about this alignment until he got flagged for it twice in a row.

Did he enlist his play-by-play guy to help him clarify it three days later?

pknocker40 said:

I think another burning question is: Which hotel will the new DC be living in?

On my note pad … right … now.

Steve Dunlap said:

Dana….um….I use to be DC here at WVU. Um….I actually had some really good defenses. Just letting you know.

I’m getting the sense you might get to work in the office Oll Stew was supposed to work in for that undefined 30-month period, unless you want to coach elsewhere.

Spatial Angel said:

How about Todd Graham…knows the 3 3 5…will be looking for work soon.

Good friends with Dana, too. Just like Casteel!

Dave said:

I’m torn on the 3-3-5. On the surface, it has worked well overall … however, I still have memories of how it was torched at times (the UL games, LSU this year, letting Georgia back in the game, Grothe seemed to have it under control, etc.).

Sometimes, we were able to outscore the other team. Othertimes, not so much.

Many want to evaluate the 3-3-5 based on the strength of the defensive line or the linebackers, and  that’s fine, but I always thought Casteel’s best defenses — and worst — were defined by its safeties. In 2006, Casteel was a safety short and had to use John Holmes. The next year, Holmes was an impact linebacker and Ryan Mundy was glue with Eric Wicks and Quinton Andrews/Ridwan Malik. In 2009 and 2010, Sands, Garvin and Glover were very good. Good safeties allow the defensive backfield to do a lot of the 3-3-5’s most confusing and effective things. And, man, is WVU recruiting a slew of safeties this year.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

We really do not want Venables to take that job…..the defenses have not been the same in the last few years. There’s a good reason that Bob Stoops is bringing his brother Mike back to the defensive staff — they have not been the same since he left…….

I think Venables is perfect — the fans are already turning on him!

Better Lucky than Goode said:

Could be a good old fashioned three-team trade: Arizona essentially sends Mike Stoops to Oklahoma, WVU trades Casteel and Co. to Arizona, and Oklahoma deals Venables to WVU.

You’d need the commissioner’s approval on that one. Gee, if only there were a commissioner of some capacity for some entity floating around one of those three schools …

Linda in Kansas said:

As a WVUer and OU fan due to marriage, I like Venables. Yes he has suffered a lot of complaints since Mike Stoops left, but I have always liked him. Seems like a good stand-up kind of guy. Also, so much experience with a top notch program like OU can’t hurt. Of course when Snyder decides to leave K-State, I wouldexpect him to be a viable candidate for that job.

Correct, the K-State thing has followed  him for years since he has the strong tie to the program, but I think WVU could live with that, especially if there were co-coordinators and Venables could kind of mentor the other guy before the handoff. And that’s if this happens, which I suspect is still a long shot.

PeterB said:

Here’s the solution: make Venables the defensive coordinator, and give DeForest a really bitching title, like “special teams assassin” or “head chief of kickin’ and hittin’”

 

 

 

 

 

glibglub said:

Maybe one could be the DC in waiting. What could go wrong?

… moving on …

rekterx said:

Full disclosure … I expect Marshall to be higher than sky high and win the game.

They’ve got a tricky game tomorrow, too — Donnie Jones and UCF.

Sheik Ybuti said:

I expect the referees to call 55-60 fouls (again) and the game to devolve into tedium, with the outcome in doubt until the final minute (ten minutes in real time), after which fans of both schools shall slump in simultaneous but seemingly incongruous states of anxiety and catharsis as the buzzer sounds its blessed euthanasia.

My bad, thought that was understood.

glibglub said:

Also there will be shot and/or game clock problems.

My bad, thought that was understood.

hershy112 said:

I am still holding out hope since both teams are actually decent this year, that we can have a good officiating crew. Although a lot of that hope went away after the Cincinnati/Xavier brawl. I’m sure officials will try to keep this game under control even more now. Is that possible? Is it possible to call more than 74 fouls?

Oh, is that a challenge?

hershy112 said:

Hershy – First the football team got to 70, then the basketball team got to 70; if it is all the same to you, I’d rather not find out if the refs can get to 70 (fouls called) too.

Here’s what bothers me: It’s a 7:30 p.m. start. The officials are in no rush.

Sheik Ybuti said:

I remember once when the refs let ‘em play. Marshall was coasting toward the end of the first half; then a near-brawl erupted, J.R. VanHoose got T-ed up, we got back in the game with free throws in the last few seconds of the half and went on to a fairly comfortable win (maybe 8-11 points?). Ah, the good old days.

Ah, the Lionel Armstead days.

Dave said:

“Dave … it’s up to you. We have 60 fouls, we have clock problems … answer this and your team gets the win. If not, they get a chance to steal … Name something that you expect at this year’s West Virginia/Marshall game in Charleston”

I’m going to go with “Press Row Internet Problems …”

Survey says …

Enjoy the weekend!