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

Comings and goings

February 23, 2015 by Mike Casazza

(Update: I think this makes it official.)

If you have a look at Dustin Garrison’s Twitter timeline, you’ll quickly ascertain WVU’s going to be one closer to the scholarship cap.

One of my favorites, and probably one of yours, too, given his dramatic background, the Bowling Green game, the knee injury before the Orange Bowl and the long, determined road back to form, where he happened to be looking at a really big crowd for his final collegiate season.

Oh, and he can wrestle. Long live The Champ!

We’re also expecting something official soon on Tom Bradley and UCLA. It sounds like some things need to be signed and sent and that’s about it, but everybody I’m talking to says this is coming.

Where does WVU go from here?

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No. 23 WVU 73, No. 22 OK State 63

February 22, 2015 by Mike Casazza

This is ridiculous. Just ridiculous. Watch it and tell me I’m wrong. It’s either a foul on West Virginia or it’s out of bounds on Oklahoma State. There’s no third option here, except that the official went to the third option and called it out of bounds off WVU.

That was overshadowed in the moment because if closely followed The Worst Call of the 2014-15 Season, that being when Gary Browne slipped and fell on defense and put an arm up to protect himself because Jeff Newberry was about to trip and fall on Browne and had to put his arm out to protect himself.

They called this called a charge, and Travis Ford’s reaction was just delightful. He was amused, to say the least.

Anyhow, last Friday night, Justin Jackson and I were eating dinner in Iowa before WVU v. Iowa State. We were trying to predict the future, or at least figure out where this team and this season were going. One of us recommended and we both agreed that we’d have an answer, at long last, the following Saturday night: at Iowa State, vs. Kansas, at Oklahoma State would be informative.

I think you have to agree on a few things now:

1) WVU is in the NCAA tournament.
2) WVU is a top half of the Big 12 team.
3) Bob Huggins is leading the race for Big 12 coach of the year.

Obviously, when the Mountaineers are right, they’re capable of what they’ve done this past week. And when they’re off, they’re capable of what they did the previous few weeks. What I’m still not clear on is whether this team is more like the one from the past two games or the one from two weeks before that.

That said, I think we can agree on this: These guys give you something to talk about, and on Saturday they won with two things you don’t normally expect them to win with: 3-point shooting and halfcourt defense.

“That’s probably as well as we’ve played in the halfcourt,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.

WVU had a season-low five steals and forced 15 turnovers, the third-lowest total of the season, but allowed only 10 points in the paint and just 36 shot attempts. The Mountaineers (21-6, 9-5 Big 12) held the Cowboys (17-8, 7-8) without a basket for 8:29 in the first half and 8:31 in the second half.

Wofford had six points in the paint earlier this season against WVU and North Carolina State attempted 36 shots — and it has been 16 seasons since an opponent took fewer shots in a game.

“I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part keeping them in front of us,” said Huggins, who admitted he backed off his press at times to manage foul trouble. “They had to work hard to get shots. And then we weren’t in any hurry to take shots on our end, either. That tends to make the game go a little faster.”

WVU’s 47 shots were a season-low, but that was accompanied by another little surprise. The Mountaineers matched a season high set against Virginia Tech with 10 3-pointers in 20 attempts to cap a momentous week that began with Monday’s home win against No. 8 Kansas.

“The confidence to beat Kansas and to play the way we played against them, that lets us know when we play as a team and everyone contributes and does what they’re supposed to do, we can have success against everybody,” WVU point guard Juwan Staten said.

WVU v. Oklahoma State: Almost famous

February 21, 2015 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live at some of the gimmicks on hand here in Stillwater today for No. 23 WVU v. No. 22 Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys, who have lost two in a row after winning three straight against ranked Texas, Kansas and Baylor, are 5-2 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Big 12 play and 11-3 here overall. The Mountaineers continue to lead the conference in road/neutral wins (4-3, 6-0) and have managed to split away games in conference play (3-3). But let’s not pretend things are the same now as they were before. WVU’s looked ordinary to mediocre in Big 12 road games not in Texas, muddying up a win at Kansas State and losing by 27 at Texas, 19 at Oklahoma and 20 at Iowa State.

It is hard to win on the road in the Big 12, and I think that’s one of the biggest-but-not-readily-discussed differences from the Big East. These arenas are on campus. Students come to the games, and are generally rewarded for doing so with T-shirts, cardboard signs and drum sets and, in the case of today, all three. These games aren’t played in downtown arenas shared by NBA teams that are far form campus.

And more often than not — I’d count WVU and Iowa State, and possibly Kansas State as the exceptions, except it’s so damn loud there — the fans are right on top of you. I’ll be working today from the baseline under a basket and directly in front of the student section … with a co-ed’s knee in my back.

Ambiance!

All of that said, there is a lot on the line here today, and WVU’s return to road prominence matters mightily. The team enters the day in fourth-pace in the conference standings and could be tied for second by the end of the day. Second-place Iowa State (9-4) is at Texas and third-place Oklahoma (8-5) is at Texas Tech and presently has its hands full. Wins by the Red Raiders, Longhorns and Mountaineers put WVU into a tie for second with Iowa State. The top two teams are off for the first day of the Big 12 tournament and then play the winners of the opening round’s 7-10 and 8-9 games. There’s an big advantage there.

WVU could also end up in fifth place by the end of the day, but find itself in a perilous spot. The Mountaineers could be tied with Baylor, which plays host to Kansas State, and half a game ahead of Oklahoma State. Those two conclude the regular season against one another.

So, yeah, WVU’s eighth conference game against a ranked team and the 10th against a Big 12 team ranked at some point during the season (the difference between the eight and 10, believe it or not, is TCU, which actually was ranked for a week in December and then fell out of the polls despite not losing) is critical. It looks great next to the Kansas win (“Pretty good team” sounds better than “Pretty good Monday.”), it answers some questions about road woes and is stiffens the team’s stance in the standings.

In short, it puts exclamation points where there are question marks.

Lose it today and all those question marks get a Ctrl-B.

And here’s something I assure the Mountaineers know about and want to address today: They’ve beaten everyone in the Big 12 except Oklahoma State.

The live post is still undefeated…

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Things can change with speed

February 20, 2015 by Mike Casazza

So today is the day offensive linemen run the 40 at the NFL Combine, which is a damn big deal because I need to know if the left guard can get around a linebacker in space or get by a safety in the deep middle. It’s nevertheless important for guys like West Virginia’s Mark Glowinski, who’s got a chance to make some coin this week.

Yesterday, he benched 225 pounds 31 times, which was the fourth-best mark among peers present in Indianapolis. Today he ran the 40 in 5.21 seconds, a top-15 number at the combine. For a guard, the bench probably should be more important than the 40, and he’ll have to do well in the skill drills to show burst and mobility that guards need to possess, assuming of course he’s a guard.

As far as the Mountaineers are concerned, things get really interesting today. Kevin White and Mario Alford were measured yesterday. White checked in at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, which only pads the Alshon Jeffery comparisons. Mario Alford, who’s getting good second-tier buzz now because of inside/outside versatility and some special teams possibilities, was listed at 5-8 and 180 pounds. White’s hands measured 9 1/4 inches while Alford’s were half an inch bigger.

Today, they do psychological testing and interviews and bench presses. Tomorrow, they run the 40. Jeffery ran the 40 in 4.48 seconds at the combine. If White hits that, he figures to be a lock for the top half of the first round.

“Kevin White’s my No. 1 wideout,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said this week. “I think if he runs a 4.5 or better, he’s a top 10 pick.”

Mayock means 4.5 seconds. If White covers 40 yards in that time, teams might as well be tossing money bags instead of footballs on those deep routes, because White will haul a lot of cash in if he answers questions about his speed.

ESPN’s Todd McShay has White going No. 10 in the draft to the Rams and McShay’s colleague, Mel Kiper, has White projected at No. 11 to the Vikings. Last year’s No. 9 pick, Anthony Barr, signed a four-year, $12.74 million deal with a $7.58 million signing bonus. The No. 12 pick, Odell Beckham, signed a four-year, $10.4 million dollar deal with a $5.89 million signing bonus, so those projections have White already earning some serious coin.

But if White posts an impressive 40 time, he could work his way into the conversation as the fourth overall pick by the Oakland Raiders, a receiver-needy team. Last season’s No. 4 pick, Sammy Watkins, signed a $19.94 contract with a signing bonus of $12.8 million.

That’d make White the highest WVU draft pick since Dick Leftridge went No. 3 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1966.

“I would expect at No. 4 that’s where (the Raiders) ought to be targeting, and again, I think they’ve got to grind the heck out of Kevin White, Amari Cooper and DeVante Parker,” Mayock said. “I think Cooper from Alabama has got the highest score. In other words, I think he’s the safest pick of that group …”

No way it happens … but Stedman and White outside with Tavon inside. Ha!

Staten’s season shapes up

by Mike Casazza

This was a fun little week for Juwan Staten, who on Monday made a pair of plays to pilfer and then preserve a game against No. 8 Kansas and get No. 23 West Virginia back on track at a time it needed just that. (And with that sequence being one of those most memorable occasions, I figure you can’t get enough of it, so here’s a very good look at the Kansas side of the finish.)

The Mountaineers took two days off following the win and devoted practices Thursday and Friday to getting ready for the first of two remaining games against No. 22 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys, with two of the league’s top three scorers and a zone press engineered by the league’s co-leaders in steals, have followed three straight wins against ranked teams with two straight losses. WVU really does believe it’s a formidable road team, and perhaps better geared to play the way it wants to and has to play away from home, so Gallagher-Iba Arena will be a test and maybe even a treat. Recent results suggest otherwise — 27-, 19- and 20-point road losses, and oh, yeah, WVU hasn’t beaten Oklahoma State in a Big 12 game — but Monday did happen

The topper? This morning, Staten was named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award. He’s one of 16 players on the list, and Staten and Iowa State’s Monte Morris are the only Big 12 players included.

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‘I sound like Coach Huggins. [Cripes.]’

by Mike Casazza

The opening statement is so erroneous, because you definitely did want his statement following Wednesday night’s loss to Oklahoma State.

This has been a long and trying season for Mike Carey — “Honest to God, and I’m trying to be positive, this is probably the toughest season I’ve ever been through, personally and basketball-wise.” — and he and his players still have their heads above water, albeit barely, with three losses in four games and WVU scoring below 60 in each game.

You knew this would be a hard season with major roster turnover, but there have been discipline problems, shooting woes, players slow to learn the offense, never mind their roles and, most notably, preseason Big 12 player of the year Bria Holmes’ uneven offensive performance … and she’s still scoring 19 points per game.

It peaked Wednesday night, and Carey was frustrated, adamant, embarrassed, angry and somehow calm and cordial all at once as he walked the media through a memorable state of the program.

The Mountaineers (15-11, 5-9) are currently in ninth place in the conference, but can salvage things and zoom all third in their final four games — two at home, two on the road, two against teams they’ve beaten, two against teams they’ve lost to, the road games against the teams they’ve beaten, the home games against teams they’ve lost to.

Up first: Iowa State at noon Saturday. Whether WVU is wearing uniforms or T-shirts from Zides, we’ll have to wait and see.

 

The day after

February 19, 2015 by Mike Casazza

We’re now a day clear of the NCAA’s infractions report on West Virginia and its “significant breaches of conduct,” and it doesn’t look any better. There are people who will say, “There’s no postseason ban. There was one scholarship loss, one one-match suspension and one show-cause penalty. It’s all in the past. What are we really talking about here?”

And to them, I will steeple my fingers and nod. Because they’re right. There were and will be more egregious cases than this. I trust you don’t think I don’t think that. These are light offenses made heavy by the volume in which they occurred, and these are mostly imperceptible punishments.

Who knew Ryan Dorchester was barred from campus for a weekend in December? Who knew an assistant gymnastics coach (Aside: Three people have told Travis Doak he got railroaded on this deal.) was suspended for a match? Who knew Nikki Izzo-Brown was suspended from off-campus recruiting for 11 weeks? Who knew about the two- or three-week phone call or text bans in the 14 guilty sports?

But there are also people who will say, “These text and phone call rules are dumb.”

And to them, I will do something different with my fingers. This is not solely, or even largely, about texts and phone calls.

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Tom Bradley exit brewing?

by Mike Casazza

UCLA’s Scout.com site reported last night one of West Virginia’s three defensive line coaches is the leading candidate to become UCLA’s defensive coordinator.

In fact, sources have told us that vetting Bradley because of his association with Penn State is the reason the official hiring has taken some time. It’s still, according to sources, under the scrutiny of Chancellor Block, and the submission could be rescinded at anytime by Mora. But a source close to the situation said, “It’s pretty far down the line that it’s Bradley.”

Should this happen, it’s a neat conclusion for Bradley and for WVU. No messes, no hard feelings. Either Bradley or Damon Cogdell was going to be displaced on the current WVU staff, and the thought all along was it would be Bradley. WVU doesn’t have to maneuver the respected Bradley and Bradley doesn’t have to coach H-backs and tight ends, provided that was a possibility and he didn’t want to. But something like that was definitely on the table.

Bradley instead gets to run a defense with a roster of talented players. UCLA was also one of a small number of schools interested in Bradley after Penn State and before he took the WVU job. That has to mean something to him, as well.

It’s very quiet on my end, which tends to happen when one school steps aside to let another announce a hire.

WVU earns NCAA probation while on probation

February 18, 2015 by Mike Casazza

News today: WVU is on NCAA probation for the next two years! Fourteen sports committed a series of NCAA recruiting violations over 31 months, or technically speaking, “significant breaches of conduct.” WVU self-reported its misdeeds and self-imposed a list of mostly since-expired punishments, and though disappointed this had to happen, the school is otherwise pleased with the resolution.

While the case in its entirety was considered a Level II infraction, there were no allegations against the University that it failed to monitor its athletics programs, nor any allegations of a lack of institutional control or failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

That’s a big deal for a school. You don’t want to get accused of any of those three items, and WVU avoided each. Rifle and women’s cross country were the only guiltless sports on campus, and wouldn’t you know it, gymnastics was the biggest culprit. Of the school’s 294 impermissible texts and 66 impermissible telephone calls, gymnastics accounted for 153 of the texts and one phone call … and one assistant coach was responsible for 151 of those 154 breaches.

In the report it issued today, the NCAA sounded sort of pissed about that part in particular.

The assistant women’s gymnastics coach sent 150 impermissible text messages and placed one impermissible telephone call over a 14-month period. He committed approximately 42 percent of the total violations in this case. The panel was troubled by the coach’s claim that he was ignorant of how NCAA legislation applied to certain aspects of text messaging and does not believe that his claimed ignorance of NCAA bylaws constitutes a defense to his violations. Therefore, in this case, the panel prescribed a one-year show-cause order for the assistant women’s gymnastics coach beginning February 18, 2015, through February 17, 2016 The panel prohibits the assistant women’s gymnastics coach from conducting all recruiting activities as defined by NCAA Bylaw 13.02.13 (2013-14 Division I Manual) during the 30 days preceding the 2015 spring NLI signing date (April 15, 2015). This restriction includes all means of recruiting communication, e.g. in-person, telephone, text messaging, social media, etc. Further, the assistant women’s gymnastics coach shall attend a NCAA Regional Rules Seminar in 2015 at his own expense. Finally, the panel acknowledges and adopts the institution one-competition suspension of the assistant women’s gymnastics coach during the 2013-14 academic year.

That link is the full report, and there’s a lot in that link to read and digest — alleged pocket dials, coaches not knowing the difference between texting and emailing on their phones, WVU’s costly inability to understand software it purchased to monitor text and telephone activity, the fact this happened while WVU was on probation — but one item stands out: It doesn’t seem the NCAA and WVU saw things the same here.

(Update: No, seriously, go read it. Here are WVU’s defenses to the volume of impermissible calls and texts

1. Pocket dial
2. I don’t remember that call.
3. I honestly can’t differentiate between sending an email and a text on my cell.
4. I don’t know the rules.

The NCAA took exception to all of that, especially No. 4, and not only went out of its way, but parked the car, put on the flashers and then climbed the hood so it could stand on the rood to say this cannot happen whilst on probation.)

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Mr. Wizard

by Mike Casazza

The West Virginia Black Bears will reveal their team logo today, and unless it’s a jug of moonshine, I maintain it’s a mistake. Whatever the look, Randy Mazey is ensuring this remains a college baseball town. His third West Virginia looks a lot like his first two in that these Mountaineers seem willing and able to eschew expectations and play exactly as well as they want to play.

WVU, with basically no experienced pitching and but a few seasoned bats, to say nothing of having hardly any outdoor practice opportunities, opened the season at No. 24 Clemson over the weekend and won two of three.

“These are the types of games and series that when the season is over people look back and say, ‘Jeez they came out from practicing inside and beat a Top 25 team on the road and won the series,'” coach Randy Mazey said. “I couldn’t feel better about this team right now.”

The pitching staff posted a 1.04 ERA in 26.0 innings with 20 strikeouts and 10 walks, holding opponents to a .253 batting average. Freshman right-hander BJ Myers started on Friday, taking the no-decision after allowing no runs on four hits with five strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Sophomore right-hander Chad Donato got the victory on Sunday, allowing one run on seven hits with five strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Seven of the eight relievers did not allow a run last weekend. Junior right-hander Blake Smith picked up the win in game one after throwing 4.0 innings of shutout relief. Smith allowed two hits, struck out five and walked two.

“We talked about the question marks on the mound the other day and we had three more turn into exclamation points today,” Mazey said following Sunday’s win. “A sophomore with literally three innings of experience went out there and pitched his rear end off, followed up by two freshmen holding a Top 25 team to one run on their own field. That’s super encouraging for the rest of the season.”

That’s the very good news. The bad? Just 17 more games before a home game! Up next? Three at Georgia Southern, which would be 4-0 if not for giving up a game-winning grand slam to Georgia Tech Tuesday on a 2-2 pitch with two down in the seventh inning Tuesday. What’s the big deal about the Eagles? Just like the Mountaineers, they too were picked sixth in their conference preseason poll, and GSU actually had two first-place Sun Belt votes.