Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which at 6 a.m. began a 16-hour sojourn to Lubbock, Texas. I know you don’t care, but I couldn’t believe it. I thought if I typed it and saw the words it would then be real. It’s still unbelievable. Makes the 13-hour day Sunday seem tidy.

I’m not playing in a game tomorrow, but I’m not going to pretend WVU will be completely unaffected by this. These are long days and what people fail to realize is how much time and work goes into travel time.

Well, that and the cumulative effect.

Say WVU leaves the Coliseum for the Clarksburg airport at, 0h, 2 p.m. today. The team won’t take off until about 4 p.m. Then the charter flight to almost any Big 12 city is between two and three hours, which is fine.

But there are only three Big 12 cities WVU will fly to directly this season. There are six trips with bus rides after flights and people overlook what goes into deplaning and prepping and boarding a bus. It’s not another two-hour ordeal, but it’s not instantaneous, either. The bus ride follows and those can take some time, too. Before you know it, the day is gone and it’s time to check in and go to sleep.

And there are nine of these, none longer than this one, and this one is followed by a Monday home game against Texas, though the Mountaineers do catch a break with a 1:30 p.m. game Saturday and then a 9 p.m. start Monday. I have to think Bob Huggins is thinking about this aspect as well as recruiting — and, wow, will we ever get to that — as he evaluates his program’s fit with the Big 12. The nonconference schedule has to tighten up a little but, I bet.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, dial it down.

Oliver Luck said:

THIS ANDREW LUCK FATHER I AIN’T NO IDIOT

Indeed.

StraightOuttaNorthCentral said:

New recruiting rule: stay the hell away from the parents of any recruit with the last name Boyd.

Instinctual reaction, right? I’d like to add a sub-rule. Something about a kid who picks his college solely on the wish of one or both of his parents. I don’t know the kid, or the mom, and I haven’t followed this so closely. Maybe this isn’t that and he’s into Pitt and is offended by the way WVU, uh, treated his mom. But there’s something odd about a kid who isn’t going to do what he wants, or push for it. 

The 25314 said:

I have Mama Boyd’s back. How do you recruit a kid without talking to mom? That’s recruiting 101.

But what if it’s not true? Because I’ve heard that might me true. 

Rick said:

And don’t forget the younger brother!
– Stew

Ah, that’s true, too. Well played.

ffejbboc said:

Or the lesson could be, “Stroke dad’s ego” if you happen to be talking about Ryan Switzer’s old man.

Or, in his case, “Move your campus closer to his house.”

Dave said:

Happy Birthday, Rugger.

At least if Whithey blocks the shot, we won’t have to endure it clanking off the rim.

True. He got four Monday and two on the final possession, when I wasn’t sure why WVU was looking for a quick 2.

Rugger said:

Turk looks posessed!

… not sure about the context here.

conservativemountaineer said:

Murray on bench after TO,, supposedly, Huggs was not pleased with him during TO,, “If you’re gonna pout, you’re out”,, according to the announcers.

That happened. Huggins said afterward Murray was “miserable,” but credited him for removing his head from his posterior, which isn’t high praise in January, but is nevertheless praise.

pknocker40 said:

Could anyone on WVU’s roster make KU’s team? Or is that too obvious?

I love this test. Like, if you were picking two teams of 13, wold you take a KU player before a WVU player? I’d say yes. I didn’t think Kansas was blessed with depth, but I’d say it’s close. The Jayhawks don’t have a true point guard and they turn it over a lot — 12 games with more turnovers than the opponent, which is riveting. Maybe Staten?

Matt said:

Off Topic, but when is Kansas TFGD going to be posted?

Damn, I was hoping nobody noticed. I had a technical glitch with my phone Monday night. The memory in the bank of texts reverted to a prior default … after I dropped the phone and it exploded. So sorry. We didn’t have many contributions, if it makes you feel better. And since you’re asking, I’m guessing it does not make you feel better. Treadmill for me!

50yrfan said:

I think we would be embarssed if we were playing in the BE this year. This team can’t shoot. The rim sizes are the same in BE12 as in BE. At times this team just seems lost out there.

… aaaaand that Huggins quote did not go over well. At all. 

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Basketball is a game of matchups and their speed would be a problem, but that said, we should be able to pound that inside at will and get them in trouble on offense…..boils down to our big guys aren’t that good or consistent in their play.

I wonder if it wasn’t just a miscalculation. Did he put too much into Kilicli’s improvement and Murray’s potential and Rutledge’s ability and Noreen’s worth? And is that spun to be square pegs in the round Big 12? I don’t know. I think it’s fair to say Huggins is or has been at a loss, too. I don’t recall such an uneven dispersion of minutes and appearances the prior five years.

Karl said:

I’m getting sick of reading about how WVU’s poor results are a matter of “catching up” with the Big 12. Please. The Big Easts we’ve navigated over the last few seasons had three or four Kansases and five or six Oklahoma States every year. It’s not like we lit it up in the noncon and got exposed once we started league play. (The same could be said of our football team, given the bowl result.)

The argument about being too big doesn’t ring true either. If we were actually good at playing big, then advantage us — you’ve got a bunch of short guards trying to defend bigger stronger guys going for easy shots in the post. If you’re playing a four-guard lineup, it’s usually because you don’t have any talented big men.

I hope Huggs sticks to what’s always worked best for him, which is developing bruising post players, playing hard-nosed defense, crashing the boards, and scoring tough garbage baskets off put-backs. Do what you do best and make the other teams adjust to you.

Clinical strike there. I mean, isn’t this the guy who showed up at the Final Four with the “Do what you do” T-shirts? It just seems weird to me that WVU had something of a unique advantage because it was bigger in a smaller league and didn’t make the most of those matchups. And I can’t imagine him going four guard for good. More than willing to extend the benefit of the doubt, but it’s been strange to see it happen mid-step.

Mack said:

I get tired of this stuff. If your big guys were good, then the Big 12 teams wouldn’t be able to play with you. WVU’s team isn’t any good so it loses games. Davidson, Duquesne, and Purdue aren’t in the Big 12.

Yep. Don’t overlook that point about non-conference play. WVU was troubled in November and December. And this Big 12 is not the Big Easts WVU used to play in. Again, that quote did not go over well.

SheilYbuti said:

Here’s the thing that’s always nagged at me about the so-called superconference concept: how in the world does the Pac-12 get to 16?

Worried because there were four Big 12 teams linked to a move there? I can’t see that happening though, because the grant of rights. And there aren’t many other Utahs and Colorados out there. I suppose they could expand eastward and … well, I don’t really see anyone there. Good one here. I sat for a few minutes and tried to think of some schools that might move or be displaced and eligible and it was not pretty. 

Jeff in Akron said:

Sheik, how about BYU, Boise, Hawaii, and Colorado State?

I’ll give you Boise State, because doesn’t someone have to take that squad? I’ll give you BYU, too, because that place has modern day potential, which is to say it makes sense and cents in the right situation. Colorado State is just terrible in sports of late and, I think, Hawaii is screwed because of location and travel. This is hard. 

hershy112 said:

There have been a few terrible out of bounds calls and on Monday I saw Kansas “set” more moving screens than I’ve ever seen in my life (and that includes Georgetown games). I absolutely believe top teams get calls and the use of the word “subconcious” is probably just PC.

It is refreshing, though, to see a WVU team that gets to the foul line. We haven’t seen that in some time around here.

Drew said:

Big XII refs let offensive screeners practically get away with murder.  The biggest downside of this is that we lack any shooters to take advatage of it.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve muttered “moving screen” while watching WVU defend this season.  It’s not just that they give the offense a little leeway.  They let them shuffle side to side, lean as much as they want, extend their arms or legs/knees, whatever.  It ain’t intramurals, brother.

I put these together for emphasis because I agree on the screens. That’s part of facilitating the offense, I think. Offenses can do some just-short-of-blatant stuff and defenders cannot. I’ll honestly have to pay more attention to the “subconscious” part of this, though. I saw Baylor get away with a lot late Wednesday night against Oklahoma. Baylor was 5-1 in the league and playing at home. Also, Oklahoma is good and would be scary if not for two freshmen guards, who are still pretty good. It’s different in March, though. Three keys to a tournament team: 1) Seniors 2) Guards 3) Senior guards.

50yrfan said:

Against Kansas I thought WV for called to many touch fouls on the outside while WV was getting clobbered under the basket.

But that might be the personality of the league, though. And the personality of WVU. Those guys commit a lot of fouls far, far from the basket.

Mack said:

I don’t like it.

It makes no sense to play a round robin schedule followed by a conference championship game. Which, to me, means they aren’t going to play a round robin schedule any more.

This means, that WVU would play seven (or eight I suppose) conference games and add another Norfolk State to the schedule to replace Oklahoma.

That title game request might be insight into the process. These leagues all know more than they let on and it’s conceivable there’s a strong move toward mandating eight-game conference schedules, which could arguable make the title game concept a little more realistic. That said, if that happens, I can’t see them not expanding, mostly for the scheduling reason you mention above. 

SkeikYbuti said:

We have truly skated off the edge into Wonderland if the Big 12 asks permission to stage a championship game it really has no intention of playing. Believing that Bowlsby and the conference are instead rational, I choose to interpret this overture as preparation for expansion, sooner rather than later, since there is no point whatsoever in playing a championship game at the conclusion of a round-robin schedule. There is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that the playoff committee can dictate terms to the Big 12, i.e., that it must have a championship game or that it must have a certain number of teams (it only needs enough to ensure the quality of its champion). Without the Big 12, a playoff has no legitimacy.

Who knows for sure, but I tend to think that the committee is going to seek uniformity and thus mandate things and I think the conferences willfully go along with it. I don’t see how they don’t do it and agree on a process. Now what’s to say you’re wrong and I’m right? Nothing. And I go all over the map when I think about this. In fact, the more I do, the more I can see expansion, if only because I can’t see a 10-team model existing long side 12- and 14- and 16-team models. But if they do, I just wonder how unique this league can be with 10 teams and no playoff.

Josh24601 said:

Watch her show and her enchanting music sticks in your memory for days.

Just in case the din or Red Panda was finally gone from your mind.

hershy112 said:

Musberger thinks she is a “talented” lady.

Enjoy the weekend!