Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which sees a reduction in playing time in the near future and is leaving this place … but will also make a comeback.

Brace yourself: 11-day vacation starts May 31. Haven’t figured out how I’ll handle that, but it will be handled. Now, how you handle it, that’s up to you and how you navigate the news that comes while I’m gone.

But that’s not relevant. Let’s enjoy this one while it’s in our system. Good job, good effort this week, capped off by the pretty phenomenal Quest for No. 10 yesterday afternoon.

glibglub said:

No-goalie soccer drills. Winner is first to score 59 or first to make Marlon Leblanc cry.

hershy112 said:

Event 10:

Players will attempt to locate the practice facility and make their way inside to the court. First person to find the court wins.

mfeld said:

Event 10: Draw straight line on basketball. Make ten three point shots in a row. Give basketball to current players and instruct them on how to make ten three pointers in a row. Winner gets to go coach at Michigan.

JC said:

10 – First to find the rear view mirror gets it…

Mack said:

Suggestions for Event #10.

First one to get off the plane and onto the tarmac without falling down and causing a massive black eye?

Person who gives the best 5-minute extemporaneous speech on how much West Virginia University means to the state of West Virginia.

Player that has the best ability to be universally loved by all players and coaches (ranging from highfallutin coaches like Krzyzewski and low brow coaches like Andy Kennedy) yet universally loathed by all fans.

First player to say a variation of, “We’ve learned from our mistakes and now know what we’re doing and will be successful” after a bad practice is immediately cut.

Players who show up to practice early.

Players recruited by John Beilein. (They’ve worked out well for Huggins in the past).

SheikYbuti said:

10. Beginning at Saturday night bar-closing, within a three-block radius of the Suncrest Jimmy John’s, collect as many rear-view mirrors as possible. The vehicles need not be unlocked, or even parked. Bonus points for destruction of signage. Bruce Irvin is ineligible.

Bobby Heenan said:

Great stuff, fake Huggs…though you may want to simplify and work on the unneeded adjectives (ex: using “missed” to describe the threes from Juwan).

Event #10a) Jimmy Johns Free Throws – whoever hits the most free throws during the time it takes for my sandwich to be delivered wins.

Event #10b) Pickup Truck Parallel Parking – Guy who parks the best in a tight spot on High Street wins (difficulty – no rear view mirror).

Event #10c) Sherwin Williams Palate Test – Guy who gets the closest shade on a palate of Sherwin Williams blue/purple to my lips after Gary drives it out of control one-on-three on a break wins.

Shoot4Show said:

Event 10 (Alternative): First player successful in the making of Huggs to use his favorite expletive as a gerund is the recipient in the awarding of the scholarship.

Faux Coach Holgs said:

EVENT 10: Must find out who threw that coin, point him out, and throw him outta here. Cause that’s just stupid.

D.H.P-C.Liver said:

Have Coach scream. Players have to guess whether it is:

A. Player’s name
B. Ref’s name
C. A curse word

overtheSEC said:

Jimmy Johns Sub Eating Contest

My goodness. There is no cherry I can place atop that. I can’t ignore the timing, though. It felt like the bachelor party before the wedding. A few of you have asked about the status of the blog contest we entered. We should know soon.

Announcement. We anticipate naming the winners by the end of May.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t just blow up.

Karl said:

Is it cause for concern that it’s almost June now and we have only two FB “commits” to date?

That’s a good question, because they hit the road pretty hard right after spring football and have nothing to show for it just yet. They had three on this date last year — Hodari Christian, Marcell Lazard and Chavas Rawlins. It usually heats up around June 1. I never knew why. Maybe they’ve made visits or maybe they’re out of school and ready to make the call. Last June 1, 738-pound linebacker Darrien Howard committed June 1 and Tyler Tezeno and Eli Wellman followed by the middle of the month. I think what we have to keep in mind this season is WVU won’t come close to 25 scholarships, which means they’ll have fewer commits, but also a far more certain, uh, screening process. Quality, not quantity, this year.

Lee in Dayton said:

So, what is one relevant difference between WVU football 2012 and WVU football 2013? Lonnie Galloway is back as wide receivers coach. And now Ivan McCartney is back as a wide receiver. You think about that.

It does help, I suppose. LG recruited McCartney, but LG was also the receivers coach the year McCartney caught one pass, couldn’t get on the field and should have been redshirted. Maybe the prevailing point ought to be that the coach knows the good and the bad of the player.

Mack said:

Didn’t a slot receiver quit on the same day as McCartney?

Travares Copeland, now at N.C. State. Devonte Robinson packed his bags this past semester, too.

smeer said:

good insight/article

i am fairly optimistic

he’s given a second chance – last chance – so the pressure/boundary is there to do well

just like so many kids who finally get serious their senior year

and good guess by Wayne – I forgot about Cogdell who has probably been speaking wisdom into the kid since he left the program and the one to broker his return. (it benefits his program as well – win-win-win)

I also believe getting out of the shadow of Geno and Stedman will benefit. There’s only one football and Geno preferred sharing it primarily with the two guys now with horns on their helmets.

For a kid who was the star and was used to touches – its hard when you know you can make plays but you don’t get the ball.

So Trickett and Sticks. Any more surprises?

They’re at 24 scholarships for the 2013 class, so there’s a chance you might see a cornerback, or something in an area of need, jump aboard late. I’ll wait to see where McCartney’s head is at near the end of fall practice. How will he react to that depth chart this time? Didn’t go well last time. He’s starting from the bottom and similar adversity has toppled him before. If he can handle being third string, cool. If he’s first string, gravy. Right now, I think it’s dangerous to base a future on an incongruous past.

rekterx said:

Thanks for covering this Mike. But, really, you didn’t need to tell us. We’ll be able to read all about his progress on Twitter. That is where all this stuff plays out.

I hope he makes it. And I hope I don’t read about it on Twitter.

I’m torn, man. For the longest time, I didn’t follow players on Twitter — and I still don’t. I found that even tracking them made me think of certain players certain ways, and that wasn’t always fair. But Twitter is a game-changer and kids want to act as their own information ministers. It feels a little irresponsible to ignore what’s available. (Aside: Thoughts that the Miramar and McCartney Twitter accounts broke and forwarded this story? WVU didn’t and hasn’t really announced it, and I would think WVU may have preferred McCartney simply show up and go to class and stay off the radar. But maybe that’s just me.)

hershy112 said:

I’m hopeful that things work out well for him, but on a slightly different beat, until he proves something on the field I will refer to him as Ivan, McCartney, or Ivan McCartney. He’ll have to earn back the Sticks nickname.

Fair. And to be fair, he’s never been a troubled kid. He’s never caused the media problems. You could offer an olive branch to far, far worse people. 

Rugger said:

The fact that Dana let Ivan back on the team tells me he STILL has a 85 tons of potential. Perhaps an ounce of maturity will open that up for all to see.

Damon won’t make that call unless he believes it will work, imo.

I’m pretty pumped to see Ivan do well…..been that way for 4 years…patience is a virtue. Let’s Go Mountaineers!!!

Bingo. Low, low risk with varying levels of potential reward. But honestly, even if he doesn’t play much or at all and he has a fun time being on a team and getting a diploma, everyone wins.

JC said:

Can we go ahead and give this guy a lifetime contract and big spread out on Cheat Lake?

So do you sweep the baseball coach into the basket of offseason worries? “Wait! Clemson needs a coach? Mazey was at Clemson. No!” (RELAX! Clemson does not need a coach.)

Parks said:

Remember when we first entered the Big 12 and everyone wanted to know how the bad boys of the Big East were going to fit in with such tradition and class? We discussed it would take showing them that we were what we were in the Big East because of our success as of late and their inability to handle it. Granted, we’ve had some dark moments, but I think we are showing the Big 12 that WVU does indeed have class and a place among the teams of this conference.

The recognition you’ve described could, under other and more ordinary circumstances, be hard to acquire. It’s funny and wonderful and remarkable it was this easy.

Parks said:

As for Hill taking Coach of the Year, eh. I know we finished 3rd after being projected to finish last, but we did struggle right at the end. The end always matters more than the beginning it seems.

Eh, the Wildcats were picked to finish seventh. They won the league by 2.5 games, finished 24 games above .500, had the best (and only winning) road record and absolutely mashed. Really, their stats are very good. WVU’s story was a nice one, but the numbers aren’t as good as Kansas State’s — worst defense, second-to-worst pitching — and the slide at the end of the year didn’t help. I like the Jae Crowder jokes, and I always will, but this snub feels right.

SheikYbuti said:

Until you scroll down and find out that KSU did what it did with 7 (SEVEN!) players selected to the Big 12 first team, and WVU did what it did with just one.

True, but if the Big 12 did a preaseason all-conference team, would he have had seven players on it? I would argue no, since they were seventh in the preseason poll. Fun little Catch 22 there — a good coach produces good players, but good players make a coach look good.

Down South said:

Maybe the rest of the Big XII just has no appreciation for how terrible our baseball has been before this year.  Hard to appreciate how good a job Coach Mazey has done without some understanding of the futility that preceded him.  We are indignant that he didn’t win the award for getting his team to third place in the regular season because we simply can’t comprehend the fact that he got his team to third place in the regular season.  People who don’t follow WVU as closely might not have that same understanding.  Having said that and mindful of the much-deserved praise for the way he has handled the time in Oklahoma, I loved to see Coach Mazey’s quotes on the day after the tornadoes.  Basically said that the trip was so worthwhile and such an important experience, that it was successful regardless of whether they won a game while they were there.  Taking that pressure off his team and telling them it’s okay to go play loose because the trip has already been a success.  Always coaching.

And then there’s that. I would consider that a very valid point here. To some, Mazey coached a team with a stud pitcher, inconsistent pitching and some poor defense to a record two games above .500 in the Big 12 and six games above overall. A single-season view ignores how far those achievements have actually brought this team.

Big Al said:

How about we quit complaining about what Coach Mazey didn’t get, and offer some CONGRATULATIONS to Harrison Musgrave for being selected (unanimously!) as pitcher of the year. That is a tremendous honor, well deserved, and worthy of celebration!

Indeed. Big game for Mus tonight. Big game.

Mack said:

I don’t know, I guess I’ll be “that guy” on this one . . .

The whole thing just seems weird to me. Going out and buying necessities for the victims is very generous and everyone should be proud of the guys for that. (Cynically, I’m wondering where the money came from). The constant tweeting kind of is what it is . . . but when you start putting out produced videos then – to me – it has gotten way over the top.

I can listen to that and not be offended at all. I guess the other side of that is that perhaps WVU’s self-promotion inspired the other Big 12 teams, or even other individuals, to do something. Also, recruiting. Everything goes back to recruiting.

Mack said:

I just read Mike’s story on it and it does make me feel better about the whole thing. I don’t care for the video, but this was a very good act of generosity.

Show of hands: Who (nearly) cried? Because a lot of people told me they cried and, honestly, I didn’t see that coming.

WVMANIAC said:

First of all the money came from the Friends of Mountaineer Baseball fund that Mazey and the Mountaineer Athletic Club started this year. It wasn’t out of the general fund or the kids pocket. It was alumni donations to the baseball program.

http://mountaineerathleticclub.com/files/FriendsofBaseball_FINAL.pdf — Here is the signup sheet. After hearing this I might join just because of the great publicity Coach Mazey and the team have given to my alma mater.

I have no problem with the video – Its not a report or Tony Caridi interviewing kids, its Matt Frazier with a small camcorder (probably used for game filming) interviewing the kids on how they feel about giving back. It not “hey look what I did!”

This is true. I asked Mazey this Tuesday and I thought he was a little embarrassed to talk about the funding. I later came to believe it was irrelevant. The who or the how doesn’t mean as much as the what.

Lee in Dayton said:

Think about this aspect of it – subsequent to all the publicity for WVU doing this, Kansas’ and TCU’s teams did something similar. Also, Randy said on CNN today that Ken Kendrick is donating $200k through the WVU baseball team to Oklahoma tornado relief. Heck, when I read about what the team was doing I picked up my iPhone and texted $10 to the Red Cross. Would all that have happened without the inspiration (or perhaps challenge) of WVU’s actions? Perhaps. But perhaps not.

Excellent.

Kevin said:

I’m with you guys. I absolutely love the fact that these guys wanted to help and I don’t mind charities using twitter or other means to inform others about the situation or cause, but it can reach a point where it seems a little cheesy or feels a little like the message is more about the people helping than the people that need help.

I wouldn’t say anyone has crossed the line, but with the produced video it feels like they might be flirting with it

I absolutely love that this is a place we can have this conversation and not start throwing rocks at one another. Was it aggressive? Sure. Was it redeeming? Sure. Can we still be friends? Of course.

Insider said:

WHy do people think JayZ is actually going to be his agent? Is JayZ doing the designs, or sewing the fabric for Rocawear? Is he running the front office of the Nets?

Nope.

This is just a business venture for one of the more successful American businessmen in the last 20 years. He’s lending his name to a company. That’s it.

Some people are idiots and react before they think. This, as you state, is an affiliation. Geno’s under an umbrella that Jay-Z holds, but Jay-Z can also make it rain. 

IrishBillATL said:

My biggest concern is that he gets too distracted with marketing himself and signs up for too many obligations for Jay-Z. As Mike said, his compensation for his first contract is largely formulaic so hopefully he can find the right balance in making additonal dough through endorsements and staying focused on his actual job…..playing QB for one of the worst franchises in sports. Gulp.

I can only pretend to tell you I know how it’ll work, but I think the marketing part is just a matter of getting Geno’s name or face on products or billboards or the like. And Geno isn’t a star, so it’s not like he’ll be overwhelmed with requests right now. He’ll find a few, though, which is the point. Also, let’s not ignore this: Roc Nation gets a piece of everything. There’s money to be made off of athletes. It’s a money-maker for the agency in an area where it hadn’t made money before.

Mack said:

I didn’t think schools were allowed to (or as a matter of general practice didn’t) comment on which players they are recruiting?

Common misconception, but when asked a coach can say whether he’s recruiting a player.

ccteam said:

Harris and Henderson at SG are solid, the problem will be getting them each enough minutes. Both can play SF but it leaves WV smaller than Huggs might like. Trying Harris at PG is an intriguing option.
Staten is definitely only a PG and Browne is a decent backup PG but a poor option at the SG position. I think a true PG is the best option.

Harris can play PG. He did it in high school and, apparently, Huggins has said on the rubber chicken circuit and Harris can/will next season.

Bobby Heenan said:

I can see the rationale in going for another (combo) guard. By my count, we have 4 serviceable guards total, two of which can handle the point. Staten really can’t slide over and play the two, and IMO Browne at the two is really very last resort. I think we clearly want to give the minutes at the two to Harris and Henderson, but an injury or mis step by any one of the four guards opens up a big hole in depth.

I think going with a combo 1-2 guard here solidifies depth and is an insurance policy for both guard slots. It’s probably hard selling a can’t miss true point guard or true two guard a scholarship at WVU right now with Staten and Harris (and to some degree Henderson) appearing to have a pretty strong hold on major minutes at the 1 and 2, respectively. However, a guy that can play a little of both may find more minutes.

By my estimation (take that for what it’s worth – nothing), Miles appears to be the better player and fit. Miles to me looks like Hinds v2.0 with potential for superior finishes at the rim.

I like it, and factor in again the possibility Harris can play point. It’s interesting to consider. Also, Dax Miles is bigger than Hinds and looks more explosive, no?

Parks said:

So the 2 guys that took the most offense to what Turk said are now gone? Not saying Turk was right or they were, but it does seem strange to me that 2 of the most outspoken guys against that interview are now gone as well. Could be good. Could be bad. Next season is going to be like watching an entire new team. That has to be good. Can’t be worse..can it?

There are no coincidences. Not letting Deniz off the hook entirely, but this is what it is.

wv4life said:

he was a good kid, I always thought he had solid character, but as huggins has said in the past there are a lot of nice kids in the library as well, they wont be on the team any time soon. The reality is he was going to be a role player at best. I thought he might be one of the guys that could would guard wiggins, but thats gonna fall to the new juco guys…good luck

Let’s not overstate Keaton’s defensive prowess. Or wherewithal. Good kid, though. That will be missed.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

We all knew this guy was going to sit before recruiting was finished……he couldn’t stay on the court when they were horrible last year.

Everyone rants on Huggs and his recruiting — which I think is justified to some extent. What none of us seem to take into account is not as obvious — no kid at this age is content with being a role player in most any sport.

Transfers occur all the time — some we are happy with (Clint Trickett), some we may not (Brunetti, Copeland, etc). The fact is, and it’s not a good one, is that they are told they are good for so long, that they can’t accept that they play with kids as good or better than them.

That class that just disintegrated before our eyes were full of guys didn’t mature as the staff thought they could — either on or off the court. You would expect a guy with Hinds’ ability to develop his game and you can’t see into Forsythe’s head about getting homesick.

The biggest problem is the boom/bust cycle that this program is on — you can’t continue to bring this many new faces in and see sustained success. Before someone throws the Kentucky flag, realize this — the caliber of athlete Huggs is getting is not on that level and we are not going to “out athlete” the opponents, even in the Big 12 where the level of basketball is not as deep as it was in the Big East.

The first paragraph sums it up, everything else flows with similar sensibility. There comes a point where a coach has to do what he has to do and there comes another point where it’s risky, but also necessary.

Gordo said:

Anybody else wonder why Miles playing time was reduced this year? I thought he played well enough when he was given the chance. It is especially puzzling when you think about how frustrating the rest of the group was and how much Huggs complained about effort. Miles seemed like a guy that was at least giving what he had.

He had his moments. I thought he was great against Oklahoma State, but not many other times. And let’s be brutally honest: If he was giving it his all, and the results were 2.9 points and 1.7 rebounds, there really isn’t much time or room for that. Sorry. He blew up plays on offense and defense and, repeatedly, did things he had just been instructed to not do. He was also hurt, we later discovered.

Parks said:

I think as the season goes on and we hear who’s on the court and in the weight room we’re going to know more as to who and what to expect. I do think that Harris has the best chance to capture this team, both on and off. I would agree that if Staten (possibly Miles or Millinghaus?) is going to run your point that they need to have the voice to put people where they need to be. Although you could say that guys should know where to go when they’re out there. I know they didn’t last year, but they should have known…

Based on what I know about how he feels about the bad senior year in high school and what I witnessed last season, I think Harris has it in him. What I’m about to say is going to come across poorly, but it’s the best way I can say it: He’s not a good loser. I always thought Da’Sean and Ebanks were the same. Certain guys just hate to admit someone else is better than they are and it drives them absolutely crazy and sometimes to great lengths to avoid that. It’s not a bad trait if it’s channeled properly. WVU really needs that. I think Harris, who we remember was in tears on the bench once, who gave us elaborate explanations for losses, who was openly frustrated with teammates he would not name, can mature and channel it. Also, let’s not forget WVU voted Staten a captain before the start of last season.

Mr M said:

Huggs, channeling his Robert Frost, had Miles to go before he slept.

Enjoy the three-day weekend!