The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

The almost perfect 10

March 18, 2016 by Mike Casazza
team10

Stop me if you’ve heard this, but 10th-ranked West Virginia is just about unbeatable when it leads a game by 10 or more points this season. I’ll be honest with you: The Mountaineers were reluctant to believe this, because 10 points isn’t near insurmountable, but they were also inclined to buy in because of who they are and what they do.

“I think the reason why it’s so hard to come back is we keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing to get the lead,” forward Jon Holton said. “We keep pressing and we keep trying to score, and by the time the game ends, the other team is always tired.”

Brad Underwood is a fan of Bob Huggins

by Mike Casazza

From Thursday’s news conference:

Q. You mentioned Coach Huggins. In the one year you spent working with him in ’06/’07 at Kansas State, what are some of the things that you picked up from him?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, there’s two things that Huggs did that were unbelievably impressive to me. One is, as a head coach, I’ve never been around or had seen anyone who spent as much time recruiting as he did, as a head coach. Fabulous, fabulous recruiter and spent tremendous time.

The other thing is he’s the single best communicator with people and with players that I’ve ever seen. Just had an unbelievable way of effecting young men in a positive way and can get on him and get the best out of them on the basketball court and then just so caring and so involved in their everyday life. It’s a reason he’s been successful and as a hall of fame coach approaching 800 wins. His players love him to death, and it was a great learning experience for me.

Brace yourself for a WVU homecoming

by Mike Casazza
teyvon

Rarely if ever will you find college players at this level who don’t know one another from one experience or another. If they weren’t teammates on an international team before their NCAA careers, then they tried out for the same squad. If they weren’t at the same Nike camp, they had common acquaintances who were. If they didn’t see one another on the AAU circuit, then they did during the college camp grind. If their teams weren’t foes in the same city, then they were in the same state.

Sometimes the road narrows and bends and leads you back home. This was a big deal last year for West Virginia and its Ohio Mountaineers.

And every now and then, they come from the same borough.

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Bob Huggins is not a fan of commercials

by Mike Casazza
huggsthurs

From Thursday’s news conference:

Q. Coach, you’ve been at this a long time. How has the tournament changed over the years? And how has your preparation for the tournament changed?

BOB HUGGINS: Probably not as uptight. I was just walking down here, and I thought about the first time that I sat in that meeting, and I was at the University of Akron, and I’m looking around at all these guys, and I’m like, wow, you know, and you think — we must have been the last seed in the tournament because we played Michigan, who was the number 1 ranked team in the country the whole year. We played really well. I think we lose by six or something like that, but we played really well. I’m thinking, how do you ever win six games in this deal? Haven’t figured that out yet.

But we’ve won four a few times. I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s gotten — I don’t know how much it has changed really. We were playing in domes back then, and that was — what would that have been, early ’90s, I guess. No. Probably late ’80s. Late ’80s, we were playing in domes. We’re playing in domes now. I don’t know that it’s — the meetings are still long, boring. So I don’t know what all’s changed. More commercials maybe. I’m not sure.

On the day before the day of, WVU hung loose

March 17, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Thursday’s shootaround was pretty chill. They typically are for the Mountaineers.

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Pictures for stories

by Mike Casazza

We have two people here for words and two for visuals. The latter snapped some sweet shots of today’s action in Brooklyn. Keep an eye on @samowensphoto and @ctrcgm throughout the weekend.

My scouting report was better than theirs

by Mike Casazza

The Big 12, Baylor bear the tourney’s first stunner

by Mike Casazza

Hello, old friend

by Mike Casazza

USA Today photo

Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats are here in Brooklyn, and they’re the No. 2 seed playing tomorrow against the No. 15, UNC Asheville.

Q. You’ve spoken before about your affinity for playing in New York and playing at the Garden. You’re obviously in New York, but you’re not at the Garden. Does it feel differently when you’re playing at Barclays as opposed to Madison Square Garden?

JAY WRIGHT: It is a little different. When you’re at the Garden, it’s like pure tradition. You feel like it’s old school 1New York. When you’re at the Barclays Center, it just feels like it’s like hyped hip-hop New York. Everything’s new and black and hyped. It’s just different. I love both of them.

But for our fans, our strongest alumni base is the Metropolitan area. So when we’re here, our fans love to be here. We’re having major issues with tickets because the NCAA cut back tickets this year, and this place is sold out. We’ve got a lot of people that normally come when we’re in New York that can’t get in.

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And now, a real scouting report

by Mike Casazza

Brad Underwood, seen above prepping Stephen F. Austin for the Southland Conference tournament championship game, has garnered and will continue to garner attention from major programs for his style on offense and defense. Earlier this week, we attempted to comb through what the Lumberjacks do.

But who am I to tell you how it is? I’ll cede the stage to Bob Huggins as he explains the SFA offense.

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