Welcome to the Fri … I don’t remember how the rest of this goes. And for that, I’m sorry.

I checked: First edition since November 13. That’s crazy, but that’s a product of the schedule and the holidays and the bowl game. I think today is the day we begin to settle back into our fun and familiar pattern. Or it could be the last one. Ever. One never knows.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, make sure you get what you want.

Mack said:

“his weight is either 305 or 320 pounds or somewhere between or beyond”

This was my favorite. Basically saying, “He weighs something.”

Mine, too. Recruiting. The best part? I was officially right and wrong. On the WVUSports.com list of signees, he’s listed at 330. On his individual signee page, he’s 20 pounds lighter. 

I Love you, Doug! said:

So maybe Wickline will be WVU’s Man In Texas. Good. Won’t be an overwhelming force but maybe more like a guerilla force — sneak down from the jungle once in a while and blow up a power station (i.e., unexpectedly grab a three- or four-star here and there).

That’s fair, but I don’t think he or Dana wants Wickline spending a lot of time and energy in Texas — it’s not what WVU does or needs to do. This was a really regional class with some successes in junior colleges. But did you see what happened in Florida? One recruit!? I’m not an expert, but I’ll pretend to be for a second. Check out the top classes. And now check out the top 100 Florida players. Lots of overlap there. WVU is never going to be a get-top-kids player in Texas. It is in Florida. But major programs are poaching there — or are stationed there — and a lot of new coaches are digging in there. I’ve read JaJuan Seider said that it was a down year in Florida. Well, first, that shouldn’t matter and WVU can’t afford to be at the mercy of a down year in a state like that, and secondly, Florida had 32 players in the Rivals 250. The counterpoint is WVU nevertheless got players it needed from Detroit, North Carolina, Maryland and even Texas, which is useful.

Shoot4Show said:

I’m not sure my siblings’ allegiance would weigh on my decision. Now, So Cal temperatures in January and sun kissed co-eds would be reasons for consideration.

Yeah, but when your oldest sibling is a millionaire and your family is taken care of for the rest of its days, when another older brother got out of McDonald’s and had 100 yards receiving in a bowl game, when your younger sister has a chance to play basketball on the same campus, that allegiance — and the proximity to the family — might matter a little bit.

Sammy said:

I’m pretty happy with how this class is shaping up – Ferns and White are headliners – but I count up to 8 defensive backs in the class which is great considering the lack of depth there, the losses (and impending losses) and the help that will bring to special teams. (I mean, we use five of them on every play.

I know we dipped into some two-star guys to round out the DBs and some other spots (like Wes Tonkery’s younger brother), but considering the overall large size of the class it makes sense to me.

Four 4-star recruits and 18 3-star guys seems pretty good to me, all things considered. Key will be keeping all these guys eligible and in the program and developing.

We’ll have to wait and see here, but I think the in-state kids will be assets. Reese Donahue has a high ceiling as a pass rusher, and he got more attention than his scholarship offers suggest — but a West Virginia kid committing to WVU early with plans to enroll early is a stop sign for outsiders. I think Tonkery’s going to be an above average safety, too. He’s more athletic than his brother. If he’s healthier, he’ll develop faster.

Bobby Heenan said:

A few thoughts/predictions:

– I believe the hype on Smothers and White. White looks like Karl Joseph closing quickly from the safety spot. Looks like White may get a look at the KJ Dillons spur spot first though from the comments from Gibson. Smothers is not Tavon, but he can be more productive in that slot role (taking sweeps, making plays in open field) more than we’ve seen from anyone since Tavon left.

– I think the sleeper here is Pettaway. I like his film – he runs hard and has good vision. Crawford will be the immediate fill in for Smallwood, but I like Pettaway to be that reliable program depth guy down the line that can step in and be a good solid RB.

– The DB recruits are solid…but let’s be real here…I have VERY low expectations for the secondary next year. You don’t lose 4 of 5 starters and just bounce back unless you’re reloading with blue chippers like Alabama. Look at the faces/physiques of those high school DB guys…they’re not ready. Long has a good frame on him (seems to have long arms like Worley), but they don’t look ready.

Poor Kyzir. He’s Kevin White brother and he’s playing K.J. Dillon’s position while being compared by his new coaches to Karl Joseph. Agreed on Perraway, and he’s not small, either, but I liked what I saw of McKoy, too. Crawford’s tape is good, but I never saw him run away from anyone. As for the secondary, it better be good. The linebackers are all going to be new starters, new players or new to college. Here’s my prediction: Most first-year (true freshmen/junior college) contributors since 2012. Part need, part convenience

Ron from Morgantown said:

At least your boss upgraded your vehicle to 4 wheel drive with plenty of insurance . Your writing both endings now ? Hope it goes to OT , just teasing . I could visit many blogs , I keep coming back to yours because it’s informative and entertaining. ( save the comments , mine included ) . Iowa State in February- it don’t get no better than this . I miss Sam Kinison – especially in Back to School . Here is some good news. Just talked to someone , 100 per cent FERNS is a Mountaineer !!

I just want to say this, with sincerity — Ron had a big week. Ran the entire gamut, there and back. No idea how he knew about my rental conditions, though.

jtmountaineer said:

Down goes Ivan Drago!

You can’t tell me that when WVU took the lead early in the second half someone wasn’t thinking, “HE’S CUT!!!”

ffejbboc said:

I can’t remember a better road win in recent history. It is unbelievably difficult to go into Aames Iowa and waltz out with a win.

Devin Williams and Jaysean were MONEY. I mean, stone cold, zoned in, out of their minds money.

Esa Ahmad took huge steps forward, as did Teyvon Myers. And Nate played really well.

It was HUGELY satisfying to whip them on their home court. Georges Diang is one of those types of opponents that you love to hate. With his Old Man game, frequent walks. But he’s good so it’s infuriating. He is up there with Luke Harangody. We’re talking Danny Ferry territory.

And the various shots of the fans with the OMG looks and frustration etched on their faces? Loved it! It was like 06 Sugar Bowl again. Priceless to send the fans to the exits with time still on the clock.

Uh, there weren’t a lot of great road wins. For all the talk about how WVU is good on the road — and it does have a Big 12-best four conference road wins this season — there were few good road moments. Try a 2-22 record on the road against ranked teams since the start of the 2010-11 season. Only two of those were non-conference games and the 22 losses were by an average of 14 points. So when the Mountaineers are down 15 in the first half at Hilton, yeah, finish your dessert.

LoganvilleJeff said:

When Williams is bad – trying to create his own offense and forcing things, he’s awful. But when he uses his considerable strength to battle inside, get put backs and while also knocking down available mid-range shots, he’s among the best in the Big 12. Great to see Ahmad, Adrian and Myers coming on with Holton’s status unclear.

Still concerned about his shooting percentage. He was 5-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-3 on jumpers. That’s 3-for-9 in his office a game after going 3-for-13. Williams can make jumpers, but to what end? He can draw defenders away from the rim, I guess, but Devin can’t rebound from 18 feet, and he’s not dribbling past guys. If this is to work, Paige and Miles and Phillip and Carter and Ahmad need to cut hard and cut constantly, and I think we saw signs of that against Iowa State — Ahmad’s first dunk was off a feed from Williams.

Down South said: 

I don’t get to watch many basketball games, but, man, Jaysean Paige is one cold blooded killer. I can’t ever be critical or negative about a group of guys that plays as hard as this group does. You can just see the toll it takes on teams as the game goes on.

There’s a lot of Casey Mitchell, except I thought Casey was never as aggressive as he could have been. I dare say he’s one of the best athletes Huggins has had here, but I’d say Jaysean is right up there, too. When he turns the corner on a defender, it’s over because he’s quite good finishing with his left hand.

Dirty Frank said:

Myers played surprisingly quite well. Lots of ability. Seems like he’s finally starting to catch up a little bit.

Also, Adrian was better than you think defensively against Niang.

Watch Myers play. He has no reservations on offense. He knows his role, which is not the first or second or sometimes even the third option, but if he has to go, he goes. He’s not looking for his offense, though. He’s working hard on defense. He’s not great at it, and he looked lost a few times against Florida, but he was tuned in against Iowa State. Defense is what he worries about now, and he wasn’t before, which is why he was so far behind. 

smeer said:

merry Christmas

the team is deep and firing on half its cylinders most of the time

Huggs has a way of building the peak around tourney time – that we win while limping along at Hilton against a pretty good ball club is amazing

maybe the odds makers know something

are we too close to the warts?

Maybe the odds-makers do. Abdel Nader’s dunk at the buzzer pushed the over/under.

Dirty Frank said:

I thought the subtle defensive adjustments drove Iowa State crazy. Getting back in late in the first half had a lot to do with this:

Iowa State was breaking the press and backing off (not pushing the ball at the rim). Our traps started to come from behind rather than at the ballhandler. We got a couple of turnovers and mistakes from them that way. Also, switching a guard onto Niang in the backcourt was pretty great – really disrupted him.

Offensively, it was pretty clear that the high-low stuff wasn’t working early on. Eventually they got into the weave and some spread and went to the rim (Williams making 17-footers helped draw out ISU’s bigs). That was the difference. Iowa State could not defend our guards at 30-35 feet and stop penetration, but they never backed off. and their zone is not good. Like Kansas, Iowa State continued pressuring our guards way too far from the basket and, like Kansas, they were punished for it.

The book on Iowa State is it’s an offensive team that likes to dictate. When you switch things up, it can affect them, and WVU didn’t chase as much after making its adjustments. The high-low stuff is hard to watch, and big or small, WVU’s passers cannot get the ball inside. I think Nate Adrian is still posting up in Gainesville. But that sort of went away too — until late — and I thought WVU’s offense more than the defense wore down Iowa State.

Sid Brockman said:

I also thought Huggs’ decision to go to that junk zone at the end affected the Cyclones’ ability to do what they wanted offensively. When Morris missed that somewhat-bunny near the end, I thought he penetrated looking to pass and found no one open.

I’ve always loved how Huggs changes defenses late in games to tip the scales a little. He is really good at that, IMO.

Agreed. Morris pushed that up on the way down. There was no movement on the baseline. Morris is and was terrific, but I think they Cyclones really miss Naz Long.

Shoot4Show said:

A couple key moves Huggs made during the game… Switching the D to something other than what opponents have to spend so much time preparing for, from the press to a zone, and picking the right D that would be problematic for the opponent was savvy.

What I think was a bigger factor was the switch on offense. Early on everything was going through the bigs. The offense was stagnant with a player camped in the middle, and the guards were non factors. He spread everybody out, created driving lanes, and had the guards attack the rim. (It helped that they made jump shots when ISU sagged.)

That was good coaching.

A lot of that has to do with personnel. The half-court offense is way better with Paige and Phillip (any maybe even Myers now). Carter and Miles are perimeter players. They shoot and do not drive, at least not with purpose. Watch them and watch their defenders. They cause problems for post players on their side of the floor. Maybe they’re conditioned to expect a pass from Williams out of trouble, but Williams has had a hard time receiving and getting rid of the ball. One reason Miles was better Tuesday was he moved and got inside. He even dunked on a cut. That has to continue.

JP said:

I was encouraged by Ahmad’s performance. He can play around the rim which is sorely needed when Holton isn’t around.

Devin was a beast. 10 rebounds in the 2nd half.

Ahmad’s hands are too good (and too big) for him not to attack the basket. I was shocked that vanished from his game. He’s got a good 12-and-in game.

jtmountaineer said:

Senor Jackson might not have written his own headline, but “Mess Virginia” and Atlantic 10 was all his.

Nope, and this is the bad stuff that comes from a coach aiming at the press. Mess Virginia was a headline written over two stories, of which one was his. A page designer wrote that. The A-10 thing was all his. I doubt Justin, from Florida, knew what the headline was in Morgantown. I doubt even more he could have changed it. 

I love you, Doug! said:

And, btw, why the reluctance of other media to identify the writer and the publication? All I saw was a “local Morgantown newspaper,” which could either be the DP or DA, but likely the DP. Why be so oblique about it?

Me or Huggins? I can’t speak for Huggins, but either he tried to reach some altitude or he didn’t want to give the newspaper attention. Me? Coaches don’t tell me what to write, which I guess the the point of conflict in that episode. 

hershy112 said:

Actually, Huggs did mention Justin by name in the post game press conference.

As for Devin’s comments about ESPN, if you watch the highlights from the game on espn.com, there is one highlight (Paige’s 3) for WVU, and the rest are Iowa State. We won by the way. Just in case there is any confusion.

It lives!

DaveK said:

DIS VIRGINIA!!! That’s the way to keep the guys motivated!

Enjoy the weekend!