Welcome to the Friday Feedback, back in its wheelhouse after 41 of the past 80 days were spent on the road and 35 of the first 73 days of 2013 were spent in Central Standard Time. It’s my least favorite time zone.

You thought that ESPN graphic detailing WVU’s travel was played? You should have seen the one Justin Jackson and I were pushing upon waitresses at Gordon Biersch Tuesday night. It was as if Lordy Rodriguez had graced the eatery with his presence.

But it is, at long last, done. In the past. Yet we’re going to look in the rear view mirror today, probably because I had to drive four hours to an airport yesterday so I could get home in a manner that would allow me to keep my job.

I need not tell you this Big 12 experience settled in way, waaaay below expectations. I knew this, of course. We all knew this. I just don’t think the reality hammered away as hard as it did Wednesday night.

I mean, do you realize what happened in the final 20 seconds off that game? Let’s review:

– Deniz Kilicli goes 1-for-2 at the free throw line to leave the score tied 69-69.

– Texas Tech calls timeout.

– WVU completely disassembles Texas Tech’s play.

– Josh Gray unbuckles the perimeter defense and drives and tries a layup.

– Aaric Murray rotates and swats that shot.

– That block goes right to Jamal Williams like a textbook pass to a positioned shooter in the corner.

– Williams shoots a 3.

– Williams misses.

– Dejan Kravic tips in the offensive rebound to win the game.

Every one of those nine things triggers a distinct emotion in postseason play. Every one of them. The missed free throw sets up a fantastic finish and teases overtime, which are two tantalizing treats for a crowd. The spectators buzz throughout the timeout and seem to unite in witnessing something special.

The deterioration of a play ups the anticipation for what you know is going to be a 1-on-1 situation between a dribbler and a defender. A crossover and a drive brings gasps from the crowd. The blocked shot triggers shouts before everyone realizes the extremely unlikely good fortune of a great defensive play turning into a disastrous one when that shooter winds up to win the game.

The time the ball is in the air is silent until it’s overwhelmed by the groans of a miss. And then you have the shrieks and shouts when the tip-in wins the game.

That should have been awesome, but I can’t remember being more disappointed by the end of a game. All of those events, gathered into a single conclusion, were meet with indifference. It was calm. I can’t imagine Bob Huggins was more mad after the game than I was, albeit for vastly different reasons.

Seriously, imagine if all of that happened inside Madison Square Garden. That timeout would have been the best. The defense would have been met with a cheer. The drive, the block and the open shot would have produced three loud and distinct responses. And the game-winner … actually, that’s hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it. MSG is just different in the way the wonderful fans treat those things.

The whole thing left me empty, but that’s just me and my warped view. A day later I’m reading the local paper and a story on the new teams and the new fans visiting the Big 12 Tournament refers to the University of West Virginia and UWV and I couldn’t help but remember that the Neertainmounts used to get the back page of the New York tabloids.

It had finally come home for me.

It was all so clear, never as impossible to ignore as it was after the early exit from the conference championship: This Big 12 thing wasn’t nearly as cool as it was supposed to be. The Mountaineers were the outsiders, not the outliers. They were the norms, not the exceptions. They were susceptible to the transitional elements we all ought to have realized were so powerful.

And the worst part is that the football and the men’s basketball teams might be a year away from getting it right. It might be longer.

There’s a lot left to reconcile with this Big 12 move and somewhere a long I-70 yesterday I got to thinking about something. Huggins says his team wasn’t ready for the Big 12. I think it’s fair to say Dana Holgorsen has agreed, in less definitive statements, the same could have been said of his team. Both of those programs could have used another year in the Big East to prepare the rosters in terms of both personnel and depth.

How much damage did WVU do by rushing out of the Big East? There’s the hefty buyout and the, um, lost seasons. And, again, they’re quite likely a year away still. How much of the novelty will be left or how hard will it be to restore that luster?

I don’t think it’s wrong to say WVU would have been in a better position if it was entering next year. Some things, like travel, would still be a factor, but other variables could have been more ready.

But here’s the crazy part: The Mountaineers absolutely did the right thing. They had to do it and their most powerful appeal to the Big 12 was that they could be there for the 2012-13 year. We’d be having a very different conversation today if WVU didn’t jump. Instead of living in a world with Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa State, which, don’t get me wrong, isn’t a bad deal, you’d be in limbo with Cincinnati and UConn, Houston and SMU.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t break stride.

Mack said:

In 2011, I said that no conference would be better for the WVU fans than the Big East was at that time. One year in, Mr. Casazza, was I right?

Uh, I already answered that.

The Artist Formerly Known as EER96:

“I don’t always do video blogs, but when I do, I wear traffic stopping ties!”

I might keep doing them. I really don’t see a point in reading, let along writing, practice reviews. It’s drivel. You can’t gain much from what we see. Nothing against the coaches, but I can’t take what they say and repeat it without seeing something to make me believe it. It’s actually lazy. So I’m doing think pieces — and that only covers the selection of my neck wear.

philip said:

nice. enabled me to eat drumsticks and wings with my bare hands.

Honestly, that’s why I’m here.

MontanaEer said:

Lots of hooch in the background.

Made for the best lighting. You don’t see the bookshelf with Proust and Zeno.

wvu304 said:

Rockin’ that WV Press Assn. 1st place award right where it belongs… next to the liquor.

You should see where the APSE columnist award is!

Jeff in Akron said:

Having a QB that’s 6’5″, 234lbs., will make a difference. Add that the QB’s father is a Hall of Fame member and that QB gets the respect of his teammates. For the football team to get anything over a .500 record Ford Childress has to be a good shepherd of the offense. For whatever reason, past the obvious stars on offense, nobody stepped up to their respective challenge the last two seasons. Cody Clay is a find, who else? To me, if Childress is anywhere near matching the numbers that Geno put up the team is in trouble, because nobody else stepped up.

The difference from this year and two years ago, nobody on the team is guaranteed anything because of new coaches. If anything the opposite is true. It’s all about blocking, tackling, and the fundamentals of the respective positions. There were some great stars, and players, on the team the last two years but not many fundamentally sound football players on those teams.

WVU football got away from a lot of the things that made it great. The coaching moves appear to be Holgorsen’s way of getting back to the roots of WVU football. Regardless of the outcome, as a fan, I want an opponent to know they were in a football game come Sunday. Back in the day WVU had a reputation of being an extremely hard hitting tough team, and all anyone had to do for proof was look at the record of the teams the week after they played WVU. I want that reputation back!

I think this is a pretty reasonable, perfectly acceptable mid-March comment — yet I’m not sure Childress is the guy. Nor am I sure it’s Millard. Or Rawlins. Who knows? But, yeah, the competition virtually everywhere has to help and players should quickly realize solid preparation, good practice habits and simple execution will go a long way toward getting and holding onto a spot. All of that will address shortcomings and weaknesses. New coaches have to help, too, because they should all realize they have a lot of work to do. I could talk myself into being interested, heck, nearly exited about all of that this spring. 

SheikYbuti said:

OT, but that’s a plus. There’s an article on the interwebs today about WVU’s pro day yesterday, and how Geno solidified his first-round status. For me, though, the most interesting part was this:

“Mike Tomlin represented the Steelers, who could have interest in wide receiver Tavon Austin after losing Mike Wallace in free agency.”

No word on how Pat White did.

Surely I’m not the only one who sees no valid need-fill connection between Wallace and Austin. And since his workout was closed, the best thing I heard (Read: read) about Pat White was he had a nice press conference.

lowercase jeff said:

re: wvu pro day

the last 24 hours have been an advertisement for WVU all over espn and nfl network. mack, i think your bold prediction that geno would “trick” someone into drafting him in the first round is going to be proven right. pretty early.

as for pat white, whitfield said ten teams have contacted him. it appears as though white will be in a camp somewhere. how long he stays is another story.

The timing worked wonders for Geno. He was at that stage where he’d been under the microscope a little too long and people were picking away to the point bones had been exposed. He hadn’t had a chance to refresh the conversation before yesterday — and he did. Everything I’ve seen says the footwork and mechanics were much improved. As for Pat, he’s obviously wished well, but apart from worries about his body (they still tackle in the NFL) there will be concerns  about his desire.

pknocker40 said:

Did EA also adress the glitch that makes it impossible to block punts/field goals by seeking out Tyler Bitancurt’s input?

OK, so I wasn’t sure how this story would be received, but I’m delighted to see what happened.

SheikYbuti said:

I can’t wait to try this out so I can get 15 three-stars, a couple of two-stars (including the obligatory in-state recruit), 3 four-stars who will either not qualify or wind up washing out, and a half-dozen JC no-star never-weres. At least I can coach ‘em up.

Right, because it’s not the schemes.

Rugger said:

Any chance they will approach the bball coaches for the bball version? Sometimes if helps to show how not to do something.

Ah,  yes. The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership. I’ve got that book, too. 

Mack said:

“Understanding it can’t exactly be simulated in a video game, we just wanted to give them an idea of what it was like on this side of the table.”

This comment specifically tackles how to procure an anonymous person to drop a suitcase full of cash at the recruit’s door and 1) let the recruit know it came from you but 2) not allow it to be traced back to you in any way. Next year, EA will call Ole Miss’s recruiting coordinator to Florida, so you might want to hold out for NCAA ’15 if you want this feature included in the game.

I cannot confirm this.

I Love You, Doug! said:

Wonder if they asked about kickoffs.

Only if Dana told them to.

Rugger said:

*Huggs pins article to assistant coaches bulletin board while grumbling “the players I got now are about as sharp as a pound of wet liver”.*

That’s not very sharp.

jtmmountaineer said:

Apologies if this joke was made in the other thread, but I’m certain this year’s defensive coaches consulted on the first Madden cerca 1991 in which I routinely scored 84 points per contest.

Relax.

pknocker40 said:

Count me in if EA incorporates a realistic bidding process for Third Tier rights into Dynasty Mode.

I know who they’re planning to consult.

hershy112 said:

Mike,

You should try Oklahoma Joe’s while you’re out there. Pretty good BBQ place. You might have to venture out a little to Olathe, KS though. There might be one closer to KC, but I’m not sure.

True story: Haven’t eaten meat since sometime in January. Apart from hating myself for that decision, I feel wonderful.

ccteam said:

I think they will lose to Texas Tech.

First! Let’s just say that four or “us” were talking Wednesday and we agreed this was likely. Texas Tech, believe it or not, was not a good matchup for WVU and the Red Raiders had nearly beaten WVU in Morgantown without one player and while losing three others to fouls. 

Wayne said:

Mike, just how many crews has WVU liked this year? I can’t remember many that impressed me.

Good question. This team reminded me a lot of the 2010 team — and I bet you never thought you’d hear that. But those guys never, ever fouled anyone. Ever. Every whistle was met with astonishment and the consistent theatrics drove opponents and fans berserk. And it was marvelous. That team really thrived off of it. These guys? Not even close. They were constantly bothered by officiating and that’s a particularly weak trait.

Foul Shot said:

Is there a game where we don’t fall behind by double digits?

I really think this is an amazing and underrated stat: WVU fell behind by at least 10 points 17 times in 32 games. And most of those deficits originated in the first half. It annoyed the hell out of some players. 

glibglub said:

Nothing to do with the subject, but basketball uniforms seem to have jumped the shark all of a sudden. I mean, get a load of what Cincy and Notre Dame wore today.

AB said:

First time commenter, long time follower, but I couldn’t let this pass me by. Larry Harrison said something on the post-game broadcast that really bothered me.
When talking of high school recruiting, he said that sometimes a HS coach would say “Coach, I don’t know if this guy can play hard enough for you.” Harrison states “That’s okay, we can teach him to play hard.” Really? It doesn’t seem like it. Is it just me, or should playing hard not even be a question? Any player, freshman, senior, should always play hard. A coach should be teaching these guys how to defend, how to rebound, how to swarm to a loose ball, not teaching them how to play hard for 40 minutes.
I’m with a few of you, perhaps new assistants are needed. And it wouldn’t bother me at all if Murray and Staten didn’t return next season, they seemed to be more trouble than actual assets.

Hey, welcome to the fourth tier. You’re right. These guys took vacations during the game. Never saw that in a Huggins-led WVU team. Lots of ball watching on defense. Lots of stationary offense. How many times did Gray nearly lose his dribble Wednesday and get it back? That can’t happen. And what surprises me most is I thought Gary Browne was excellent at getting to the ball last year — and I don’t think even Mack could argue with me on that. Even Keaton Miles was good at it, but he, too, lost it. Hard to explain, harder to accept.

This wasn’t a loss in the first round of the conference tournament…it was a mercy killing.

Huggins is in a field right now, burying the body of this season & dreaming dreams of finding the next Kenyon Martin to pull it all together.

All snark aside; I really feel like this team – moving forward – has a VERY solid One-Two punch in Harris & Henderson to build on. With the right teammates those guys could be really really good.

But when you’re surrounded by a bunch of guys going for self and more concerned with their $…or whatever the “motivation” for some guys on this team is/was….you can’t build.

Maybe I’m just being overly optimistic….we’ll see I guess.

Here’s a sobering thought. No player on next year’s roster will have played in a postseason tournament victory of any kind, NCAA or Big East/Big 12 tourney.

The knee jerk reaction is to blow things up but that would be a huge mistake.

Our primary problem was lack of intensity, hustle, competitiveness…there is talent on that team.

Deniz and Dom are gone, addition by subtraction. I’m afraid Aaric needs to go as he doesn’t have a hustling bone in his body. Same w Aaron and anyone else in the program whose name starts with Aa. Keaton may fall into this category as well.

Recruiting was good this year and next year looks promising so I wouldn’t make any coaching changes with the possible exception of whoever recruited Murray.

pknocker40 said:

Can we talk about that weak-ass T Higgins just gave Humphrey?

As I saw it, and as I later had it explained to me, someone on the Texas Tech bench said something to Humphrey, which is fine. Humphrey responded, which is fine. Here’s where things got confusing. I think Higgins thought Humphrey was talking to him, and not the Texas Tech bench, and told him to shut up. Humphrey then said something, probably to explain himself, and Higgins felt he’d been disobeyed. But I can say with full confidence WVU doesn’t like having Higgins on a game. In fact, there seems to be an impression Higgins is from West Virginia — whatever that means. He’s from Nebraska.

Shoot4Show said:

Just want to make sure I got this straight. TT player can curse at an official for not calling a foul, but it’s a T if you give someone a stink eye while wearing a WVU uniform? Ok, got it.

Happened right in front of us. We were stunned. It wasn’t as bad as what Murray said, but it was still bad.

Wayne said:

Higgins Loves Murray!

I saw Murray apologize to Higgins in the second half. That’s a weird thing to happen in a basketball game, but I really think the guy has an affect, of some kind, on WVU’s players.

overtheSEC said:

The season ended in the most appropriate fashion.

Can we give proper attention to the joke that is John Higgins? Two technical fouls for talking given to the same team on two separate occasions, neither of which was accompanied by any noticeable physical posturing? Having no idea what they said, I just find it hard to reconcile that the jawing was 1) either unprovoked or unreciprocated and 2) alone itself enough to merit a technical without any other sign of taunting. Rico Gathers was one of the most demonstrative players I’ve ever seen. KJ used to pound his chest so hard I was afraid he was going to crack his sternum. I associate those things with taunting more than talking to an opponent. Murray’s whining in previous games certainly didn’t help his credibility with Higgins I have no doubt. What made the Humphrey T more idiotic though was that Higgins told the TV commentators during the break that Humphrey was responding to something from the bench (something the TV replays failed to ever find video of). If he’s responding, why not a technical to the TT bench?
Bottom line is we’re an undisciplined team that racked up 9 player technical fouls this year (we had 10 total in the 09-10, 10-11, and 11-12 seasons) and there’s no doubt that our reputation has preceded us all season. That’s all an arrogant official like Higgins needs for his precious TV time. By the way, Higgins was an official for 4 of those player technicals this season and Teed Murray up against Purdue in January.

Enjoy the weekend!