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So much for that!

March 17, 2016 by Mike Casazza

There have been a lot of comparisons between this West Virginia season and the 2009-10 season, and perhaps that’s because these Mountaineers made it into the top 10 for the first time since those Mountaineers, that this team like that team finished up near the top in a power conference and made it to the final game of the league tournament.

There are a few metropolitan New York City area players now like there were then, and the area figures into the postseason with Brooklyn playing host to these opening weekend games and Manhattan being the site of the Big East tournament six years ago. In that NCAA tournament, WVU was a No. 2 seed. This season, WVU is a No. 3 seed. Those are the school’s highest seed since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Oh, and Kentucky could be an opponent in the East Region final, though sharing a region seems more norm than exception.

That must be a good omen for Bob Huggins, provided the comparison is apt.

It is not apt.

“Not really,” the Mountaineers coach said. “We don’t play the same. That team had great overall size and length. We didn’t have a real big guy, but we didn’t have a little guy either. There’s not much similarity to the way we play, either.”

Props to the NCAA field

by Mike Casazza

Two items to help you pass the time before the first games tip this afternoon and West Virginia’s media and practice sessions, which begin at 3:45 p.m. First, a final reminder to join our bracket pool. Second, a look at some NCAA tournament odds and props.

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Better than past experiences

March 16, 2016 by Mike Casazza

This seems to happen to WVU a bunch — remember Minneapolis in 2009? — but the squad had it relatively easy Wednesday night.

Safe haven

by Mike Casazza

Clearly, I'm staying in the safe part of town.

A photo posted by @mikecasazza on

When you travel a lot and spend an inordinate amount of time in confined spaces with the same people again and again, you make friends. And you find other people can’t stand. But the former is more common than the latter, because you’re sharing experiences and looking for a chance to blow off steam, and you tend to flock together.

The NCAA tournament experience is thusly unique, because you’re going to cities you (probably) haven’t been to or spent a lot of time in before, and you want to make sure you’re around people you know and not alone in what’s a pretty fun time. I like to stay in Brooklyn whenever we travel to New York City. The rate for the media hotel here was outrageous. I had a familiar hotel in mind, and the rate was employer-friendly, so a bunch of us are staying at the same hotel.

I won’t name names, but one person was a little concerned about the 10-minute walk to and from the Barclays Center. I believe this will put this person’s mind at ease. (Aside: I was a point man for Cleveland last year, but let me tell you, a fencing center in Cleveland means something totally different.)

Ron Everhart’s odd assignment

by Mike Casazza

(Don’t forget to enter our annual blog bracket competition.) 

Just to be clear, the majority of West Virginia’s focus is on Friday’s game with the crafty and also rarely defeated champions of the Southland Conference, Stephen F. Austin. A majority. Not all of it. The Mountaineers are approaching this weekend as a two-game tournament, and that means preparing for Sunday’s game.

WVU’s second-round opponent plays the late game Friday, and ordinarily coach Bob Huggins gives one assistant one team and another assistant the other team. But WVU’s opponent Sunday is Notre Dame or Tulsa or Michigan. Notre Dame is the No. 6 seed and Tulsa and Michigan – and this is so, so very stupid – are the No. 11 seeds. The selection committee gave us six (!) No. 11 seeds, the same number of No. 16 seeds it gave us.

I don’t have an explanation.

Wichita State and Vanderbilt played a play-in game Tuesday, and if you thought Gregg Marshall, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet were going out in a play-in game, or that they even deserved to be in that spot, I’ve got a No. 16 seed I’d like to sell you on this weekend.

The other play-in affects WVU. Tulsa and Michigan play in Dayton, Ohio, tonight and then travel here to practice and meet the media tomorrow and play Notre Dame Friday. The Mountaineers will be watching, and assistant coach Ron Everhart – Deleted scene: Everhart’s scouting report for Texas Tech last week – is scouting the affair.

On television.

Everhart rather likes it and for the same reason he likes to scout teams in person and not through strictly edited clips.

“It gives you a better feel,” he said. “When the game is tight, when they come out of a timeout, the little things in a game that are going to change the game, what are they going to do offensively and defensively to benefit their teams? You get a really good feel for who the coach has a lot of confidence in and maybe who he doesn’t. It’s kind of a unique deal.”

Everhart will take tonight’s winner into the Friday night game against the Fighting Irish, and someone else will have Mike Brey’s squad.

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How five teams beat SFA

by Mike Casazza

Stephen F. Austin photo

West Virginia has lost six basketball games since we turned the calendar from December to January and from 2015 to 2016. Stephen F. Austin, WVU’s first-round opponent in Brooklyn Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament, hasn’t lost once in that same period of time. The Mountaineers lost five times in 36 days spread across January and February. The Lumberjacks have only lost five games during this 4-month-old season.

This is not where we’ll compare resumes, and I don’t have to tell you that life in the Southland Conference is easier than it is in the Big 12. But SFA, which was already used to winning with 18-0 and 17-1 conference records followed by tournament titles and NCAA bids the past two seasons, has won 20 games in a row. It doesn’t know losing, and though in the grand scheme that might not mean much come 7:10 p.m. Friday, it means something.

The Lumberjacks won their final 26 regular-season games and then two in the Southland tournament before beating VCU in the first round in 2014. Three players remain from that team. Last season, SFA won its final nine regular-season games — and 19 in a row before a surprising road loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi — and lost to Utah in the first round. Seven of those players are back this season.

But enough about wins. WVU’s coaches and players aren’t studying film and box scores to see how SFA will win Friday. What happened the five times the Lumberjacks lost?

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About Stephen F. Austin

March 15, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Here’s what we know for sure about Stephen F. Austin:

1. Will wear purple Friday, and West Virginia is 6-0 against purple teams this season

2. Hasn’t lost since Dec. 29, and that was a defeat snatched from the jaws of victory at UAB

3. Only lost five times, all in road/neutral games, but those five losses … hmmm: at Baylor (No. 25 RPI) by 42, at Northern Iowa (No. 70) by 10, vs. Tulane (No. 271) by one, at Arizona State (No. 99) by seven and at UAB (No. 83) by 10.

4. Well-rounded, with a signature offense (spread) and defense (pressure), and ranks in the top 21 nationally in scoring offense (No. 21 80.7), scoring defense (No. 14, 63.2), scoring margin (No. 1, plus-17.6) and field-goal percentage (No. 18, 48.4).

5. More often than not had the best player on the floor.

What we don’t know? Well, there’s a lot, because SFA is a bit off the radar, recent success notwithstanding, but this is where the fun begins.

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Too cool for pool?

by Mike Casazza

 

A photo posted by @mikecasazza on

Our 2016 bracket pool is up and running. A prize is again up for grabs. Defending champions are Mack (2014) and Josh (2015). Will you be next? Only one way to find out. (You’ll need to sign up for a CBS account, but it’s simple.)

Link: http://tinyurl.com/zbgq3fk

Password: littlegeneral

WVU not surprised by the No. 3

March 14, 2016 by Mike Casazza

The Monday morning prophecy is West Virginia ought to be on upset alert. The top 16 seeds are all favored, but WVU is the smallest favorite at minus-5. Among the fellow No. 4s, Miami is minus-13 1/2, Texas A&M minus-13 and Utah minus-8. The top-ranked No. 3 seed — it’s true — plays the toughest No. 14. Stephen F. Austin has won 20 games in a row, the longest winning streak in the country this season, and though it’s seeded as the final No. 14, it’s rated higher than Green Bay, Buffalo and Fresno State in the RPI and by KenPom.

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Lonnie gallops away

by Mike Casazza

Plenty of NCAA tournament talk to cover today, but let’s begin this day with where we ended the last one. WVU’s losing a fourth assistant coach — two were not retained, two now have left for ACC jobs — as Lonnie Galloway, the highest-paid non-coordinator on the staff, will help run the offense at Louisville. He’ll share the coordinator duties with Chris Klenakis. In addition to the title, Galloway will sign a multi-year contract for a salary he would not have come close to here unless or until he was named coordinator. It’s a strong move for him and not exactly great timing for WVU: Spring football started yesterday.

Interestingly, and perhaps with an explanation as simple as “This is a contract extension and not a new contract,” is the absence of a clause to compensate WVU for Galloway’s early exit from the contract. Contracts that offensive coordinator Joe Wickline and safeties coach Matt Caponi — I don’t have one for Blue Adams yet — have the following:

That said, I highly doubt Dana Holgorsen would deny a “release”to Galloway in this situation — more years, more money and an elevated role — or to many other coaches.