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

Jon Holton’s odd affinity for KT tape

March 10, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Jon Holton is going to play tonight, and he’s over the twisted ankle that kept him out of the final 14 minutes of Saturday’s game at Baylor, but remember when he hurt his left shoulder and had to leave the Texas Tech game eight days ago?

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Trent Johnson, for the win

by Mike Casazza

Oddly enough, this did not make the official transcript last night.

Daxter Miles is not on Twitter

by Mike Casazza

“I don’t have Twitter,” Daxter Miles explained Wednesday outside West Virginia’s locker room at the Sprint Center.

He shuttered his account about a year ago, he said, and … oh, that’s right. Almost forgot about that. He’s on Instagram (I think this is him), but he wasn’t aware of the parody Twitter account that elicited chuckles after the Mountaineers finished the regular season with a win at Baylor.

“I’m pretty sure there are a lot of catfishers on social media,” he said. “A lot of people have them.”

Up next: TCU

by Mike Casazza

We have a stunner! TCU, the No. 10 seed, has beaten seventh-seeded and heretofore NCAA tournament-bound Texas Tech. Final score: 67-62. (Aside: Red Raiders … in or out? In, right?  No?) The Horned Frogs, who had lost seven in a row, move on to play No. 2 seed WVU. It’s the next part of a series in which they’ve had zero success, and the Mountaineers, in candid confessions, were not expecting this.

That is not to say they weren’t prepared, though. Assistant coach Larry Harrison handled the team’s scouting report for TCU and let us peek inside.

“They’re pretty big up front, so boxing out and rebounding are very important,” Harrison said. “We’ve just got to disrupt their flow offensively. They run a lot of set plays, so we’ve got to disrupt the flow and disrupt their patterns and just make them play a lot of 1-on-1 basketball.”

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Up next: Texas Tech

by Mike Casazza

Texas Tech has beaten TCU , meaning the No. 10 seed is done for the season — and will perhaps soon be in the market for a new coach … but I’d like to give a three-time conference coach of the year some time to recruit to a new facility — while the No. 7 seed advances to play second-seeded West Virginia in the quarterfinal.

The Red Raiders haven’t had much success against WVU. They are 0-8 in regular-season games since WVU joined the conference for the 2012-13 season but own a Big 12 tournament win in 2013. Conference coach of the year Tubby Smith has his team humming at the right time, though, with seven wins now in the past nine games for what should be a pretty calm day on Selection Sunday.

Texas Tech isn’t settling on that, though, and will be gunning for WVU, which must come to the Sprint Center prepared. In charge of those preparations? Assistant coach Ron Everhart, who is handling the Red Raiders scouting report and let us peek inside.

“They’re a team playing as well as anybody in our league right now,” Everhart said. “They got off to a little bit of a slow start, but they’ve really ramped it up. They’ve had a pretty good run. It’s a dangerous team. Their personnel is really good. When you’re bringing a kid like (Devaugntah) Williams off the bench, who’s been one of their better players the last couple years, that tells you how well Justin Gray and Toddrick Gotcher are playing.”

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Welcome to the Sprint Center

March 9, 2016 by Mike Casazza
2016-03-09 12.37.00

Which of these, if any, are going down this week?

Brooks Berry gets the call

by Mike Casazza

Brooks Berry, a former three-time Big East Academic All-Star, is now the athletic director at his other alma mater.

‘Bouncing around is what got me recognized’

by Mike Casazza

The Big 12’s sixth man of the year has been associated with six schools the past six years, but two high schools, two junior colleges and a hop over another Division I school brought Jaysean Paige to West Virginia, a land of chartered flights, free Gatorade and late nights at a sparkling practice facility.

Sure, why not?

March 8, 2016 by Mike Casazza

It can’t be easy to be as good as West Virginia is and to keep coming up with ways that are supposed to prove you are not good. But bless these Mountaineers, for they keep trying and they keep making it look so simple.

It’s been a storyline all season, and here, during the brief break between the regular season and the postseason, WVU is still at it. “Everyone says Oklahoma still has a great chance to be a No. 1 seed,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “They’re not saying we do, but they say Oklahoma does.”

This is art, and that is van Gogh.

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Adams joins the family

March 7, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Blue Adams, after three seasons in the NFL and two in college, has his first full-time FBS gig.