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

Texas takes WVU to school, but which one?

January 19, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Probably the worst thing about Saturday’s loss to Texas was that it’s followed by a week off, hardly ideal circumstances for the team that has Longhorns in their heads and can’t do anything about that fact, or a fourth bad loss, until playing host to TCU Saturday — and if we’re honest, beating TCU doesn’t really move the needle.

As you’d imagine, there were separate schools of thought after the game, something of a split opinion with a truth that’s probably not even in middle, but isn’t entirely on one side of the fence, either. The obvious take is 77-50 was more of the same from last year — and Devin Williams confessed as much afterward.

Bob Huggins, on the other hand, would not board at that port. Far, far from it, in fact.

“How in the hell can you say that?” coach Bob Huggins said after the 77-50 defeat against No. 20 Texas. “We’re 15-3. How in the hell can you say that it’s like last year? It’s not like last year. It’s not like last year at all.”

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WVU v. Texas: 0-0 no more

January 17, 2015 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live at black-clad West Virginia warming up inside the Frank Erwin Center, and the 20th-ranked Mountaineers will wear their coal colored uniforms for the first time this season.

Of course, WVU tried this last season and it did no go well.

That was then and this now, and that’s more or less the theme of this trip for the Mountaineers, who are the higher ranked team and the one that hasn’t lost back to back games and three out of five and seek to get the better of the team that beat them down three times last season. Las Vegas, which has the Longhorns as a three-point favorite, has the over/under at 136.5 points today and that just seems, for lack of a more appropriate word, tall.

I don’t need to tell you much more about the keys of the game, except to say they remain true. Texas is big and sits back in a 2-3 zone that WVU is going to have to crack.  The passing has to be better than it was against Iowa State’s zone, which isn’t as good as the one Texas will use. Making shots and driving the ball will help, too. The Longhorns play a slower game because the zone tempers teams. The 64.9 possessions per 40 minutes ranks No. 255 nationally. WVU does itself a great service tonight by turning the ball over and making more of the fact Texas gets fewer possessions.

The Longhorns turn the ball over on 21.1 percent of their possessions. WVU forces its opponents to turn the ball over on 31.4 percent of their possessions — the best (worst?) rate in the country. In the four losses, Texas has committed more turnovers three times (minus-21 overall) been outscored in points off turnovers three times by a combined 56-32.

Let’s steal away some space for the live post…

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Mack watches The Bachelor

January 16, 2015 by Mike Casazza

No F Double because I’m traveling — I can handle some questions in the comments — but solid work as usual this week. We’ll bring down an establishment one of these days … which is what West Virginia seeks to do tomorrow night.

Simply put, no one messed with the Mountaineers quite like Texas did last season: 3-0 record, wins by 11, 17 and 17 points that were never that close because the Longhorns had leads of 21, 21 and 30 points, shot better than 50 percent in five of six halves (and 48 percent in the sixth) and had more than 100 points in the paint.

But WVU is bigger in addition to better and better as a result of being bigger. The Mountaineers have held up nicely so far against size in the Big 12, and not quite as nicely against LSU, but looking solely at that overlooks what might be most important.

WVU’s counter is not its size to match Texas’ style, but the style the Mountaineers present that the Longhorns have to counter.

“Speed negates height,” point guard Juwan Staten said. “Height doesn’t really mean anything when you have to dribble the ball against speed and pressure. Height is really only effective in half court.”

That was true throughout last season’s contests. Texas outscoured WVU 102-62 in the paint and was able to get dunks and layups among a long list of easy scores. Yet WVU’s offense is a factor, too, that can go at Texas’ strength. The pace on offense generates pace on defense. WVU believes its plan and personnel can counter for the Longhorns.

“A lot of people now are using their bigs to try to break pressure and they’ve got them bringing the ball up the floor and trying to get it to their guards and get into whatever they want to get into,” Huggins said.

“Then when the shot’s taken, Jon Holton runs like crazy – and he does run now – and his guy’s got to sprint like crazy to catch him on the other end so he doesn’t get a layup, and Wanny does a great job pushing, so if Jon’s open, he’s going to get it to him. But (opponents are) constantly running, which they don’t do every game. We do. Other people don’t.”

Sorry if that doesn’t excite you, but what else do you want to talk about? How E.G.G. thinks renewing the Marshall series “makes sense”?

Yo

January 15, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Nathan Adrian, for at least one night, a night when the team needed him, was who he’d been working to become.

“It’s about challenging yourself,” said forward Devin Williams, who has four straight 14-point games and back-to-back double doubles after he, too, was challenged and counseled by Huggins. “When things are going wrong, what are you going to do? Lay down? Or are you going to keep attacking it? That’s what Nate did. He has an edge to him and that’s what’s going to make him keep going and shooting shots until he figures it out.” 

‘Back here in Morgantown …’ or so they said

by Mike Casazza

Tuesday night’s game was on ESPN News. Eamon McAnaney and Malcolm Huckaby were there to call the game and Jeff Goodman was the sideline reporter and — what’s that? McAnaney wasn’t there? Huckaby wasn’t, either? Inconceivable! I know Goodman was.

Turns out the announce crew, sans Goodman, was back in Bristol, Conn., at an ESPN studio watching and calling the game, part of a plan the Worldwide Leader rolled out in the fall.

In its infancy, the idea jas led to some interesting moments — one crew called Temple v. Tulane in New Orleans and then Cal v. USC in Los Angeles without ever leaving The Constitution State — and some lesser ones — fans have griped about the audio or the connection the announce crew doesn’t have with announcements made by officials or the PA, which are intimate and integral parts of the game.

Tuesday night saw some of that.

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How WVU defeated Oklahoma

January 14, 2015 by Mike Casazza

A painful loss three days earlier? A prolonged struggle for the star player? A ranked opponent known for offense? Didn’t matter Tuesday night. Hear how the Mountaineers prevailed over the Sooners.

Michael Burchett, come on down

by Mike Casazza

Word came at halftime last night WVU added an offensive graduate assistant who knows the Mountaineers, their offense and, most importantly, their head coach.

Burchett, you’ll remember, transferred in from Kentucky in 2011 and was an extra arm who backed up Geno and Paul Millard. WVU liked him a lot — to the point it was newsy when he left — but he wasn’t going to play, so he exited and wound up back at Kentucky and eventually clicked with offensive coordinator Neal Brown.

Brown took the head coaching job at Troy and Kentucky subsequently hired Shannon Dawson from WVU. Brown wanted Burchett to go to Troy and Dawson wanted Burchett to remain at Kentucky because the offenses are so similar. He’s instead back with the Mountaineers.

This, I have to believe, is foreshadowing.

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I think that answered the Plan B question

by Mike Casazza

Juwan Staten needed more than 33 minutes to score against the 18th-ranked team in the country … and what might normally be an ingredient for a disaster didn’t matter Tuesday night and was merely a footnote to West Virginia’s most impressive result of the season.

The Mountaineers hit all their marks — all of them … massive edges in points of turnovers, steals, bench points, you name it, plus winning numbers in shooting percentage, 3-pointers made and assists — and did it against a pretty good team. I mean, cheer WVU for that performance, but don’t doubt the Sooners. Even Bob Huggins admitted Oklahoma had a good plan and was doing work with it early in the game.

But so were the Mountaineers, who went on without their best player and stayed true through some iffy defense by doing what they do and changing nothing to tailor the game to the circumstances within it. They fashioned their inevitable Cumulative Effect, but saw it happen earlier than usual because they started to strong and with so much verve three days after a potentially problematic loss.

All 11 of the Mountaineers who played in the win had checked in during the first half of the first half, and every one of them did something to fill the box score with a basket, a steal, an assist or a rebound with 9:13 left before halftime.

“It was all clicking in some way, shape or form,” Devin Williams said. “Everyone was out there getting deflections, steals, making good passes, getting in the lane, rebounding. Something was happening for somebody. It was scary.”

The Sooners couldn’t handle WVU’s defense early. When the Mountaineers (15-2, 3-1 Big 12) led 23-13 in the first half, they had 26 shots and 10 points off Oklahoma turnovers. The Sooners had six baskets to eight turnovers and half as many shots as WVU.

WVU v. Oklahoma: All signs point to points

January 13, 2015 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live from the student section as No. 18 Oklahoma warms up for tonight’s game against No. 16 West Virginia … on ESPN News.

No, that’s not a typo. Yes, that’s a channel. Yep, it shows games. I got two calls asking those very questions today.

And what of this game? Two teams coming in on the back foot.

Oklahoma had Kansas State at home Saturday and looked to go 3-0 in Big 12 play after opening with a win against ranked Baylor and then crushing top-10 Texas at the Frank Erwin Center. You don’t just walk into the Frank Erwin Center and do that!

The Sooners looked fit, but the Wildcats, a tepid 7-6 in non-conference play — including a loss to Aaric Murray-less Texas Southern — and then 1-1 in Big 12 play with a requisite win against TCU and a beatdown at the hands of Oklahoma State, won in overtime in Norman.

The Mountaineers? A pair of seven-game winning streaks sandwiched a loss to LSU that doesn’t look that bad. Iowa State, though, proved again to be WVU’s foil and sneaked out with a two-point win. It was a home loss for the Mountaineers, but the blow was lessened next to two wins on the road. That said, WVU seeks tonight to preserve whatever remains of a home-court advantage. Back-to-back home losses, no matter the opponent? This aggression, man.

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Let’s talk about Plan B

by Mike Casazza

Hard to say whether WVU’s press was boom or bane Saturday night against Iowa State, to the point Juwan Staten himself wasn’t sure even in the presence of the Cyclones’ turnover numbers.

What’s clear, though, was WVU didn’t have That Run that had become synonymous with the first 15 games (there was even one in the LSU game). Oh, it was out there, and you could sense Iowa State was wary and the crowd was waiting, but that the Mountaineers were looking instead of reaching for it. There never was that push to get to the top of the hill, and, true, it’s hard to set up the press when you miss so many shots and free throws.

Without that action, there was no corresponding reaction.

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