Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which had one of the finest blog engines in all of the Big East, but is just OK right now among Big 12 writers and can’t win any awards. I need better cameras and digital recorders for production and more notebooks for my drafts and a damn “down” button. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable!

But I soldier on during an eventful off week. Dana Holgorsen would like nicer things and people would like to have a variety of opinions about what the head coach is supposed to say and do. Whether you like it or not, there really wasn’t much to see or to construct into something bigger Tuesday. He’s talked about facilities for a long time and specifically what he needs and what’s wrong with what he has.

It’s been going on for so long that Mountaineer Athletic Club donors have already pledged about $2 million of the roughly $5 million the MAC needs pledged so it can begin construction of the new team room. That didn’t happen between Tuesday and today.

“We have a plan in place, and we have for some time now, about how we’re planning on completing the next phase of football renovations,” Borman said. “What Dana said Tuesday, to be honest, gives us some talking points.

“Maybe some people we’ve talked to have read about it in the newspaper or have heard what he had to say, and maybe that’s a call to action for them, but at the end of the day, it’s still our team’s job to go out there and see the do what we can to get those pledges.”

We’ll dig into all of that, but it’s fair now to say this, not because of what was said in this week’s press conference, but because we’ve now been to all of the Big 12’s stadiums and can now think and speak in a free and informed manner.

WVU has the worst football facilities in the Big 12. The worst. I’m sorry, though I don’t think I’ll hear a lot of arguments from the people who have been to most or all of them. And I’d include people at WVU in that group.

I’ll listen to arguments about whether the Mountaineers are No. 9 or No. 10. One of those spots belongs to WVU and one of those belongs to Kansas and it’s not the sort of thing you decide on a Saturday in November. And while Kansas’ football stadium is very underwhelming and in need of fixes, the program has a nice team center and two beautiful practice fields. It’s alarming if you want to make a big deal out of the sort of success the Jayhawks “enjoy” on the field.

WVU has a better stadium, though not one that doesn’t need fixes, and it trails Kansas in the areas where the teams meet, prepare and practice.

Again, we can juggle No. 9 and No. 10, but there’s also this to consider. While there isn’t a great margin between those two, there’s a big gap between No. 8 and No. 9. Figure Texas is No. 1 and Oklahoma State and Oklahoma follow. Baylor is jumping line now and that new stadium is going to be a game-changer. Then you have, I think, TCU, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Iowa State, and maybe you can juggle those four.

There’s a point to be made there, too. WVU is a long way from being on the same level with most of the conference. On the field, Holgorsen wants to be the best and that’s not unreasonable, either. Off the field, I don’t think he wants to be the best because I think he knows he can’t compete here with the baubles at Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma and probably even Baylor now. But a spot in that second echelon should, in his purview, be a goal and a destination.

Making a move to the Big 12 was a move into a new neighborhood with a new neighborhood association with new rules and expectations about how you have to maintain your home. WVU’s facilities are good enough to win with, much like they were for Don Nehlen and Rich Rodriguez and Bill Stewart. Nobody is denying that. But are they good enough to win with at a high level consistently?

This is where the conversation changes. Quite likely, the answer is that, no, they are not. Not now. Not with the armaments you need to win these new battles. The world changed when conference realignment happened, but before that, WVU was losing ground as the most talented team in the Big East and the school with the best and most toys. I’m not confident the Mountaineers have adequately made up for what was lost.

The Mountaineers are trying to recruit and then develop players who are good enough to help them win and win in the Big 12. That means beating out very good schools for the services of those players, but also turning the players you have into even better player with the resources you have on campus.

More often than not, the recruiting battles are not against Big 12 schools, but against regional neighbors, which means you have to out-facility them, too. The development capabilities are a necessity to compete in the Big 12. Both are attained with far greater ease and regularity when you can use what you have and wow players and trump competitors at the start. That’s not happening when you won’t show recruits the training room — and really, how much time do players spend in the training room in their career? Ask these Mountaineers about that.

Don’t move into a new house with a wine cellar and not fill it with bottles because you fear you might drink the wine.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, dish it out.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

I’m not sure if this is a sign of the times or just bad evaluation on our coaching staff:

2012 class: 11 of the 29 signed no longer with the team

Maybe this is a sign of the times, but that should be your sophomore and redshirt freshman class. I would think that is what you lay your hopes for improvement on….unfortunately, the majority of the losses are at the top end of that class (in terms of recruiting stars).

This drove 2 things — more JCs in this year’s class and took scholarships that could have been 4-year guys and brought in attempts at quick fixes that will be out of the program next year.

You can’t continue to lay this at the feet of Stew as these are your guys……..and, as fans, we are left holding the bag as DH rightly said Saturday afternoon — this is not the Big East.

That’s a lot of departures. A lot. And as you mentioned, some of them are highly regarded players, too. Yet WVU has 50 players scholarship players in the freshman and sophomore classes, so all is not lost. What’s half of 50? How large is a recruiting class? The answer to both is 25. It’s getting on track again. Now, as for that Big East comment, people aren’t going to like that only if they don’t get the message. If they think Dana is disparaging what WVU achieved in the Big East, well, one, I think they’re wrong, and, two, I think they completely miss the point. The Mountaineers have never, ever played a schedule like they have these past two years. Is WVU much different today as far as talent, personnel, depth, potential, so on and so forth, than it was in 2005 or 2007? Not really. But Texas and Oklahoma aren’t much different either. Oklahoma State and Baylor are much different.

 

Mack said:

I guess I’m in the minority (at least after a bad loss I am) in that I think Holgorsen is a good coach and is building the program. In a season filled with new players and JUCOs, this season could have been awful (see 2012-13 WVU basketball) but this team turned out to be very good when healthy. Next year, it returns most of the team and hopefully will have another solid recruiting class this offseason.

I can see the plan and the process and recognize that the pieces are, at worst, in place. They’ve lost some players and they’ve missed on players, don’t get me wrong. But if Dana subscribes to the idea this takes patience and development, and if you subscribe to that, then you can at least see down the line. This season could have been worse, too. Two wins are against William & Mary and Georgia State — and let’s not forget the W&M game was decided by a touchdown. One win was somehow against Oklahoma State. The one thing I can’t help but notice is WVU had a healthy quarterback for all three of those games. The one thing we’ll never know about this team is what 12 games of Childress, or even 10 games, might have meant. I don’t think there’s much of a question he was their guy and that a pec, uh, tore up their plans.

Parks said:

I, personally, am a big fan of the so-called “theatrics” on the side lines.  To me, that shows a coach that cares.  It’s not a sign of immaturity to me as much as it is a sign of someone that wants so badly to win.  I think if you watch the way he celebrates with the players after a good play, it just goes to show how much he cares all the way around.  Now, am I happy with this year’s results or some of the other decisions HCDH has made?  I am not.  However, when healthy, I see a team that is a lot closer to a good team than the record or last week’s game would indicate. I think with some of the guys that came in late this year and had to redshirt and some of the guys we have signed to come next summer, we can really shore up a lot of areas where we need added depth or talent.  That does nothing for the QB situation which is the biggest question mark on this team.  If all three will stay on and go through Spring and Summer ball together, we may find one that can create a cohesiveness with the rest of the offense.

I think the problem is they maxed out the headset budget somewhere in the middle of the Maryland game. But Dana’s not the only guy who does that stuff. He’s not the only guy at this school who does that stuff. But he makes for good television and let’s understand there aren’t instructions in production meetings for cameramen to keep a lens on Holgorsen. Television is intrusive and Dana doesn’t have a filter. I don’t think either one of them is wrong.  

Rugger said:

So Rich is the gold standard for sideline demeanor?

It is generally accepted that people make better decisions when they are calm than when they are irate. The theatrics would be fun for me if we were winning, making good decisions and coaching players up during the game.

I sat behind the bench at (hack) the Maryland game and I witnessed ZERO interactions with players during the game choosing instead to fume on the sidelines. I understand the emotion but he needs to rise above it.

If there are theatrics and we’re winning, they’re seen as part of the winning formula. When you have theatrics and are 4-7, I see it as an immature distraction.

To be honest, I don’t pay a lot of attention to what Dana does on the sideline and I generally fast forward through action between plays and series, so I can’t speak to what he’s done. But I can appreciate your point. It doesn’t look good, but maybe it’s not functioning right, either. That makes sense. I said this before this season, but some assistants and coordinators have a hard time managing everything when they’re in charge of everything. Yours is a completely valid point.

Sammy said:

The only thing that gives me hope is that in Kevin Sumlin’s third year at Houston he went 5-7 (in Conference USA) when Case Keenum got injured and they rotated a bunch of quarterbacks. I think Charles Sims was also academically ineligible that year.

I’m not saying Dana bounces back with a 13-1 season the next year like Sumlin did — Sumlin knew he was getting Case Keenum back — but Sumlin seems like a pretty darn good coach and his third year was derailed with rebuilding and instability at quarterback.

In other news, any chance Dana swings a JUCO QB who can be here for the spring? Not saying that person becomes “the guy,” but Auburn, LSU and several other teams are doing pretty well with JUCO quarterbacks. (I also seem to remember some guy named Cam Newton.)

Here’s an interesting conversation: Does Holgorsen stick with the understandable one-quarterback-a-year plan or does he seek to prevent another mess like the one he encountered this season and add more than one? Follow the plan or learn and adapt? Consistency or wherewithal? I’d be surprised if William Crest is the only quarterback in the 2014 class. Not sure if it’ll be a juco or a freshman or a legitimate walk-on, but I suspect he’ll have company.

philip said:

While I like the geographic matchups and truer rivalries better in the ACC, I agree the overall quality of the Big 12 will toughen us up in the long run. It’s going to be sink or swim when you’re in a pool with Sooners, Longhorns, Cowboys, Wildcats and, now, Bears. Building – and rebuilding – is a painful process.

Yeah, imagine WVU on the other side of the bridge. It’s a long bridge, but it’s still a bridge.

I Love You, Doug! said:

Something Mike said said here or elsewhere really stuck with me: You win games with guys No. 23-44, or somesuch. All the attention is on starters and, among them, on few stars. And, because we tend to focus on the QB and RB, who mostly play the whole game, we’re not noticing all the backup players who are shuttling in and out and giving the starters breathers.

The Big 12 is a very good offensive conference, but I remain surprised and impressed by the depth these teams have on defense, and especially on the defensive line. And that’s surely been a trend with all these coaches so that they can better compete with the offenses. We know way more about backups this season than we have in the past, though. WVU’s problem was the backups got hurt and couldn’t play, which put the backups to the backups in the game. Players start for a reason.  

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Best part of this……..every WVU hater who cheers for little brother is crowing from the highest hills on their successful season and WVU’s problems.

The sad part is that they are right– our offense is bad and not getting better…..and they can’t hide behind the injuries that have killed the defense.

Leadership on this team (from the coaches) appears to be lacking — didn’t look they even tried to play hard…..and that is on them.

And soon Marshall will go around south Florida recruiting and saying it has the best facilities in the state. And that’ll be accurate.

The 25314 said:

Apparently I’m overreacting and hhhate holgorsen bc I think the KU loss was one of the worst in the modern era.

Yes, temple at home was bad, but were they worse than Kansas? Look at their record. They were winning multiple conference games a year at that time under bobby Wallace and went 4-7. And we were in the first year of changing from I to spread.

Navy went 5-7 in 99. Yes, a terrible team. But Kansas hadn’t won a conference game since 2010. They haven’t won more than 3 games since 2009. Both temple and navy were more successful.

This is year 3 of holgorsen. He wants us to believe that wvu is the only team in history to ever have injuries. That sounds pretty agenda driven to me.

No reason why we can’t have our opinions. I just happen to disagree with yours, as you do with mine. But I’m going to need to see a comment to the effect of “My team is the only one to ever have injuries.” Putting those words in his mouth drives an agenda. That’s what I mean. 

Clarence Oveur said:

I remember a discussion we had re: Millard and his capacity to improve.

I think the Kansas game has put that topic to bed…

I seem to remember a conversation about reaching a point where you are what you are, but that sometimes that trend can be bucked, too. Whoops.

pknocker40 said:

If losing to Kansas is unacceptable, then having inferior facilities to Kansas (and the rest of the conference) is similarly unacceptable. Right?

And away we go…

Mack said:

More on facilities, Holgorsen is not saying “Build these facilities or I’m outta here.” He’s saying “You want to be competitive? Here’s what we need and why.”

Either the money gets raised and spent for those things or not. The only thing he’s asking for that I don’t think prior coaches have asked for is the practice fields just bc I’ve never heard of coaches not wanting to practice in the stadium. . . but apparently no one else in the Big 12 does that.

But the stuff he’s requesting is the kind of stuff that’s going to need to be done eventually, it’s just a matter of when.

Fair to assume, too, that there’s a tad of “it should have been done already.” Again, these aren’t brand new ideas. But his intent is up for debate. I think the video this week was important for the purpose of context. You can read newspaper articles or listen to news hits on the radio and get the author’s presentation. You can go to fan sites or message boards and get snippets. Either way, you’re going to base your take off someone else’s take. Watching the video changes that. It wasn’t unprompted. It was a response to a question. And, no offense to the Dominion Post’s Ed Owens, but there’s no way Dana’s asking Ed before a press conference to plant that question. Drop that conspiracy. 

Lee In  Dayton said:

Mike, I understand your point about Dana being asked about facilities and not bringing them up himself, but IMO he’d’ve been better served if he’d just said something like, “Let’s talk about facility upgrades after the season. Right now I’m focused on helping this team put this loss behind us and preparing them to send our seniors off with a win over Iowa State.” Dana’s humble and sincere demeanor yesterday helped, but against the backdrop of losing to Kansas the facilities comments still had an air of making excuses.

Timing could have been better, absolutely. Unless he wanted to push the pedal a little bit and expedite the process. Sometimes you can’t win for losing. Set the timing aside, though: The message is the same now as it was in August. He didn’t amp it up for Tuesday’s stage. 

Patchy said:

In the interest of consistency, it should be noted that one Rich Rodriguez had a similar, if not identical, wishlist where facilities are concerned.

But we rarely hear the facilities mentioned anywhere during spring practice, except for newly-built palaces such as Oregon’s.

So you’re saying Dana is merely making it more palatable for The Product to come back to WVU?

JC said:

Why was no one complaining about this when Holgo said these same things earlier this year, or even last year? Even the timing of the comments is no big deal, given the context. Saying the timing is a big deal has overreaction written all over it…..

They complained, trust me. The environment was much, much different, though.

The 25314 said:

The new basketball practice facility was supposed to help with recruiting. It hasn’t. Facilities are just one aspect of recruiting. Relationships and winning are more important.

I understand the complaints with the IPF. I think Mountaineer Field is a bigger problem. It looks untouched by man or beast since its construction. But the shortcomings in facilities isn’t the reason that we are stuck with a three-headed disaster at QB or why our coach is unable to generate any kind of consistency out of his team.

No reason to think anybody on the roster in August 2014 will see a new practice facility. And I don’t think a new building fixes everything, much like I don’t think that practice space has been used to explain away issues that require separate and significant fixes.

Wvurph said:

At least it sounds like he has a plan and seems to be thinking long term as far as the program as a whole goes. It doesn’t seem to much to ask for a functional weight room, meeting room, practice field, and the indoor facility seems like a massive waste of space and money. Have these been concerns of previous coaches as well? Not sure if he gets the above it automatically makes us better but I really think having a full roster may make a difference next season as well as the young guys getting experience this year. Next year I think we will find out whether holgorson is our long term solution or not. If he gets the qb situation figured out

The connector between facilities and wins is that you win with players and you get players through recruiting and you recruit better and develop those athletes better with facilities. And imagine canning Dana next year and hiring a coach with no plan to fix the things that, as you say, have “been concerns of previous coaches as well.” You have to progress.

Parks said:

Are we still keeping TFGD for basketball as a special occasion only or making it a staple this season? I’d ask this in the chat if there was a chat, but now I must ask here..

Special occasions.

Sammy said:

I enjoyed Scoop & Score this week Mike. Two questions:

1) What are the odds Millard transfers after this year? If I were him I’d transfer to an FCS school where he’ll probably throw for about 4,500 yards against, ahem, more appropriate competition. (I actually really like Paul as a kid who has had to repeatedly step into tough situations (Geno’s helmet flying off, the roller derby of quarterbacks this year, including being the starter, losing his job but then coming in randomly throughout), I just don’t think he’s got the tools for this level. I should’ve known something was wrong when I thought William & Mary’s quarterback threw a better deep ball than our guy.)

2) Will Ford ever be healthy? You say they will focus on him in the spring, but what if his pectoral muscle doesn’t really heal? I’m no expert but when can we expect that to be normal, and is that ever? I had heard there was a divot in his chest where the muscle was. That doesn’t sound fixable.

1) I’d say low, but I can only guess. 2) I’d say yes. He might start against Iowa State, so that makes me think he’ll be fine by April. The “divot” line was Dana’s, but if you tear a pec, there is a pretty noticeable void there when you’re as muscular as a college quarterback tends to be in the upper body. But he didn’t need surgery and he wasn’t shelved for the season, so it would seem he’s at least on track.

Karl said:

Mike, this morning was the first time I had the opportunity to listen to your show. I enjoyed it, nice job!

A few things Ryan Dorchester said kind of solidified a thought I’ve had this week as I’ve listened to the talk about WVU facilities and recruiting. While being so detached geographically is a disadvantage in obvious ways, it could also conceivably be helpful in the facilities situation. As RD noted, we’re not regularly competing against anyone in the Big 12 for recruits. All of those schools live and die by who they get in Texas, while we build our program on kids from PA-MD-OH-FL-NJ-VA, and maybe pluck a couple of kids from the Deep South. I found it interesting when he said that we most often go head to head against Iowa State for kids in Florida.

With that in mind, does it really matter how our practice building stacks up against Oklahoma or Texas? Or is the most important thing for WVU to have facilities favorable to the other “Big 5″ conference schools in our region — Pitt, PSU, Syracuse, VT, Ohio State, Rutgers, Maryland, Louisville, and perhaps a few others. The kids who are looking at WVU are most likely comparison shopping at these schools. And now that we’re getting Big 12 money, I don’t see any reason we can’t build facilities favorable or at least comparable to most of them, if we don’t have them already.

I sure hope WVU never went into this thinking it could go building-for-building with Oklahoma or Texas, but you make a great point: Based on what Dorchester said on the show Thursday, WVU rarely recruits directly against Big 12 teams, except Iowa State. And Iowa State has better stuff. Still, that point makes you wonder if WVU really and truly has to be better than, say, Texas Tech, or if WVU should be more concerned with being flashier than Maryland and Virginia Tech and the like. The Mountaineers are probably closer to the middle there than they are in the Big 12, but that doesn’t mean that’s where they want to be. Again, though: Great point.

glibglub said:

Not many people know that just as Tolstoy started with the working title of ” War, What is it Good For,” Bob Marley began with “No Game, No Chat.” Thankfully, he eventually came up with something catchier.

Hmm.

Parks said:

No ga–me, no chat
Well I remember when we used to sit
In random places question Mike if the coach was fit
Oh and some people, they hypocrites
As they would mingle with the good people we meet
Good friends we have had,
Oh, good friends we’ve lost along the way
In this great future you can’t forget your past
So dry your tears, I say
No ga–me, no chat.

Whoa, man. Not sure if I should or shouldn’t take personal days in the future. 

SheilYbuti said:

I’m really confused; I thought it was Jesus Jones who was first struck with the inspiration:

I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
No game, no chat
There is no other place I want to be
No game, no chat
Watching the world wake up from history

That’s not clearing things up for me.

Rugger said:

Eddy Grant says:

Now in the street, there’s no chatting
And-and a lots of work to be done
No place to post clever rantings
Now I must work and have no more fun

Oh no, we gonna chat down to University Avenue
And then we’ll take it higher
Oh, we gonna chat down to University Avenue
And set a couch on fire

Hate to tell you this, but I’ve got a week of vacation coming to me that’s going to me more like two weeks because of the holidays …

Mack said:

One more thing, what is the explanation for these tournaments where they have WVU play two games in Morgantown, but West Virginia moves on to the “next round” of the tournament whether it wins or loses? Why do they even claim that the games in Morgantown are part of the tournament?

It’s games for the Georgia Southerns, wins for WVU and name recognition and fan presence at the destination for the tournament organizers. The games in Cancun will be on the CBS Sports Network, by the way.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Huggs still confuses his location with Cincinnati — you travel 2 hours to come to a mid week game that starts at 7 means you take a half day off of work and then get home after midnight to go to work the next day.

As far as the students go, two things are going against him that is simply a paradigm change that goes with kids today. They don’t have to go to games to be together and they can stay at their dorm/apartment and watch that game on TV with the same or better view.

Big time opponents will draw mid day crowds, but let’s face it, does anybody get excited about the prospect of seeing our team (that will finish the season at .500 if we are lucky) against a no-name opponent?

I thought Huggins tiptoed around that question. Almost like he knew it was absurd to make a big deal out of it. Because it is absurd to make a big deal out of it.

Mack said:

Huggs is doing what coaches do . . . try to get more people to the games. If we were having beers with him, he’d say the same thing we’re saying.

Right. He fulfilled is duty and backed off of it. 

Patchy:

Ah, but the ‘school-age children’ issue masks a bigger problem. I have been to dozens of arenas and seen schoolkids in their multitudes regardless of the night of the week.

The problem is that the PARENTS can’t get in and out of the Coliseum area in anything approaching a reasonable time. Parking is still a primitive, random, catch-as-catch-can affair. Lighting around the area is inadequate, especially where many are traipsing through a parking lot and up a steep walkway. Add a little or a lot of winter weather and it’s a full-on adventure getting into town, getting to the venue and back again.

Having the Coliseum situated at a T-junction with no roads around, behind it, etc. is madness, as is having only surface parking on the property.

When fans count themselves lucky to park 3/4 mi or more from the venue, WVU has a problem. OL paid a bit of lip service to it when he took the job but nothing has really changed.

Spot on. Parking is a ridiculous nuisance there and part of the problem, I think, is that WVU thinks the problem is charging $20 for what was once free. That’s not the problem. It’s a friggin’ mess. It’s too hard to get a spot there. It’s too hard to get a spot in the vicinity. It’s too hard to park far away and walk a long way to the Coliseum. And the traffic around there is just the worst and not controlled effectively. Here are a few things I’ve gathered by fielding frustrations through the years:

– People park on the available spots on Jerry West Boulevard hours before the game so they don’t have to pay and so they don’t have to walk far to get to their car after the game. If you’re coming from out of town, you can’t get those spots. You’ve been displaced before you ever hit the road. Why not prevent parking there until, say, an hour before the game?

– The walk from, say, the CAC is brutal when it’s cold or snowy, things you get in Morgantown.

– There’s way, way too much permit parking and not enough people going to the games to justify it.

– Traffic cops are the worst. If you come up Patteson toward the Coliseum, there are three lanes. One goes left onto Jerry West Boulevard, one goes straight into the Coliseum parking lot and one goes right with a yield lane onto Jerry West Boulevard. On game days, there’s an option to use that right lane and have it go straight as a second lane into the Coliseum, which is smart. Except when a cop is idling  in his car at the top of the right lane making sure you can’t do it. This happens to me a lot and it’s never been explained why the sign is out saying to use that lane and the cones are out to create the lane and a cop is just sitting there not letting people use it. It creates a chaotic scene, too. 

– Foot traffic is inevitable, but also the product of forcing so many fans out of the parking lot. It causes a huge problem, though. The Coliseum’s main entrance/exit point at the Patteson/Jerry West intersection has two lanes: One is for entering, one is for exiting. The entrance lane leads to a place where you have to turn left or right to get to a parking spot. That line is always long because of people walking and traffic turning left having to stop to let the walkers cross and hit the sidewalk at the Coliseum entrance. I’ve always wondered this: Why the hell is there an exit lane leaving the Coliseum before the game? No one’s leaving! At least, not enough people to justify keeping it open. If you’re dropping someone off, or doing something minor enough that you only need to be there briefly, you and the few others like you should be rerouted to one of the other two exits onto Jerry West Boulevard. Now that exit lane is a second entrance lane. People who need to turn left to find parking can get in the left lane. People who need to turn right for parking can get into the right lane. And then the walkers can walk in between those two lanes without having to constantly stop traffic. 

You’re welcome.

Parks said:

Oklahoma–You really think we won’t get above .500 this season? You and I are watching different teams then. We are spacing the ball really well and when we want to, playing pretty decent defense. True, our composure and staying in the game with big leads could get better, but what else is to be expected? We’re playing a few guys that weren’t supposed to be playing this year. This team has the makings to be sneaky good. As long as they continue to improve on the defensive side of the ball and all 5 or 6 of our shooters don’t go cold at the SAME time we should be alright. This team is showing a lot of promise to me.

This is a much better offensive team that seems to like passing the ball and running from defense to offense, two things that weren’t present last season. I’m not sure how long their legs last or how long they keep shooting it like this, but they’re building good habits. What’s interesting is that you can see them struggling with defending and rebounding because they seem so eager to get into offense. Believe it or not, this team has to get used to being good on offense. There are worse problems to have.

overtheSEC said:

Last night makes me think this team will definitely have some high quality wins but some inexplicable losses. This is compared to last year’s consistent brand of suck that never overachieved but never really underachieved. I hope you all like horrible losses to go with your holy crap upsets. When Virginia Tech finishes in the bottom third of the ACC this season we’re really going to want that one back.

Shooters, young kids, fast offense, extra defensive possessions. It combines to create a smaller margin for error that you’re right to anticipate this season. At the worst, it’s good to see them getting better offensively — 77, 82, 96 and 110 points in the first four games!

pknocker40 said: 

I get sad thinking about Cam Thoroughman trying to play under the new contact rules.

Enjoy the weekend!