Joe Alexander remains near the top of the list of people who I cover(ed) and I most enjoy talking to. The list is fluid. It fluctuates. There were times he was No. 1. He might be there again after the very brief conversation we had over the weekend at the WVU fantasy camp.

Asked how he was doing, his pulse soared to about 23 beats perminute and he eased out, “Living. Chillin’. Trying to stay alive.” Naturally. What else is that guy doing? 

And had we not said one word, that lettuce would be enough to get him back in contention. Once I got over that and I got to talking to Mike Gansey and Alex Ruoff and some others, it occurred to me that so many years after the Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen and NIT championship in succession, those John Beilein teams have a very new and very different legacy.

“There were several players from that time that we felt could be really good coaches and Patrick was one of them,” said John Beilein, the Mountaineers coach from 2002-07 and now in charge at the University of Michigan. “I think the key for those teams was we had some very bright kids playing for us.”