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

Dibo coming? Or going?

May 8, 2014 by Mike Casazza

I don’t follow Eron Harris on Twitter, but my news feed was all atwitter yesterday about something Harris disseminated on the social media network.

In essence, he celebrated getting released from his scholarship, which is probably more smart than petty because he started getting calls almost right away, including one from Michigan, which really isn’t a surprise and really isn’t much closer to home than Morgantown. But Bob Huggins will release everyone without restrictions. He won’t block schools. So Harris was celebrating formality.

And within the same tweet, Harris was hopeful that “my boy Remi” would secure his release as well.

Well!

Unless Remi Gaillard was arrested and close, personal friend Eron Harris was counting down the hours until he got out of jail, there could be only one explanation. I worked on this a little bit yesterday, which, by the way, was a year to the day that Remi Dibo committed to WVU. Near as I can tell, this caught people off guard because it didn’t feel imminent, but it’s also not dead.

Dibo is not without options, but he has basically only two. Well, three, because one of them is to not do anything and play his final season at WVU.

He can’t transfer to a junior college (obviously, because he already graduated from one) and he can’t transfer to a Division I school (he’s entering his fifth year and fourth season of eligibility, so he doesn’t have a year in residence available to sit out to follow transfer rules, and he can’t go the post-graduate route because he hasn’t graduated from WVU).

He can transfer to a Division II school and play right away (as long as he’s eligible at WVU), and that’s not an ugly alternative around here, or overall. Dibo can also just leave school and play professionally, and with some international ties in his past, that’s not impossible, but that’s not something people knew him to be seriously considering before getting his degree.

I’m sure there’s something to this, one way or another, and well find out for certain soon.

Be there or be from a place other than Charleston

May 7, 2014 by Mike Casazza
Draft ad

This is a thing and this thing is happening tomorrow night. And as one of my bosses points out, it might be the closest thing to a Tier 4 tailgate. (Also, that’s the guy you want to get after about the tailgate.) Pay attention to the star burst, too, please.

Also, no Scoop & Score tomorrow. I neglected to mention on the air last week we had a previously scheduled conflict. We’re back next week, and that’s our season finale. I’ll press pause for two months and come back for Big 12 media day, when the talking points are fresh and the takes are especially hot.

But in the meantime there and even here, I’m digging in for some stories and projects I want to devote time and depth to. I also have vacations I have to get to, too. I’ll be busy. Please don’t think I got lazy.

Guesses?

by Mike Casazza

The good news for WVU is it has to be the home team this year, right? It seems like WVU has always been the road team for whatever conference challenge it was in against the SEC.

So if the Mountaineers do get a home game, that helps the home schedule because, based on what we know, it’s lacking. Some series ended. Others call for road games. North Carolina State is in Madison Square Garden. The preseason tournament is in Puerto Rico, though a preliminary game against the College of Charleston is at the Coliseum.

I know nothing, but I’m going to guess Tennessee. Runner up? Auburn.

(Spoiler! It’s LSU.)

Ponder this, WVU pundits

May 6, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Chris Huston, of the very good Heisman Pundit website, has his post-spring Watch List for the 2015 award. It includes Jameis Winston, even though Huston staunchly believes Winston cannot win again, as well as Rakeem Cato, two Alabama players and four Big 12 players.

It’s a fun list and a fun offseason activity. You can look at that and argue that some people shouldn’t be on there and some people were left off of there. Which leads me to this: None of the Big 12 players hails from West Virginia, which isn’t a surprise at all. Still I wonder, if Huston does one of his straw polls early in the season, who is most likely from WVU to make the list?

Can you feel it, Mr. Anderson?

by Mike Casazza

(sic) One thing stands out to me. Alex Anderson, of Miramar High, of course, because, of course, apparently committed to WVU and then had WVU running backs coach JaJuan Seider come back to tell Anderson the Mountaineers had accepted the commitment.

Translation: WVU courted Anderson and Anderson liked the pitch. Anderson committed and then WVU went back and made sure Anderson wasn’t an academic risk. Upon further review, the Mountaineers and their fact-checkers agreed it was safe and smart to plan for Anderson as part of the future.

That’s basically how you get everyone on campus.

Since we’re here, let’s talk about that 2015 class and what might be if everyone makes it to campus — and that’s a tricky proposition because Jovon Durante may or may not have de-committed in favor of Alabama, but it sure looks like he’s at least reconsidering his original decision.

That would be a blow for the standing of the 2015 class. I won’t enrage you again with the 247Sports rankings — I mean, you all were ferocious — but instead give you the Scout.com and Rivals.com rankings. So far, so pretty good for the Mountaineers.

That’s a walk-off, right?

May 5, 2014 by Mike Casazza

‘We have the funds, so let’s do it.’

by Mike Casazza

Not that these two events are necessarily related, but there’s a certain symmetry that we have to acknowledge. On Saturday, WVU played host to the fan experience committee summit and people I talked to who were in attendance were thoroughly impressed by the hospitality and the sincerity they experienced.

I don’t think I’d blame anyone for going into that with a crook eye and wondering just how genuine the offer to change the culture would really be.

And then the well-paid athletic director, the one who spent his college days under center, his post-graduate days in a fine law school and then worked both domestically abroad in big offices in fancy locales before trotting home to enjoy a comfy arrangement running a burgeoning college sports program, explains the need to chance the NCAA establishment by saying it presently makes no sense.

Not to say Oliver Luck is not a commoner, but, again, I think people could throw the crook eye out there and wonder how he could possible relate to the squeezes others feel. But he, and his contemporaries, are increasingly attuned to the topic.

Broad and important reform is coming. It seems as factual as it does eventual, and it’s not merely about unlimited meals or a stipend to supplement a scholarship check. There are many initiatives the NCAA seeks to examine and a layman’s look shows you how more people than student-athletes will benefit.

It isn’t just about a few thousand extra dollars as a stipend or unlimited snacks after practice. Luck wants to plug every hole in the dam.

Consider this scenario: In this year’s NCAA tournament, a team could win two games in San Antonio and then head to the Sweet 16 in New York City. That’s an 1,800-mile, 27-hour journey by car. What if the family members of a Cyclones player couldn’t afford airfare to get from Point A (home) to Point B (San Antonio) to Point C (New York City) and back to Point A in a week’s time? They could drive, of course, but there’s going to be a significant cost factor involved. They’ll need food and lodging and transportation.

The mother and father of a player might be pinching pennies to experience the journey with their child, so they consider ways to cut costs so they’re inside Madison Square Garden when the game begins.

To do this, the mother and father sleep in their car overnight.

That compromise irks Luck.

“That’s tough,” he said. “Here we are with healthy salaries and we’re investing $100 million in infrastructure and here we have a mother and father who want to watch their child play, but they don’t have $150 to stay in the Marriott Courtyard. These are real stories and we need to listen.”

‘You get a feel for it. You know what’s going on.’

May 2, 2014 by Mike Casazza

sloth

That’s relief pitcher Ryan Hostrander and, yes, he’s hanging upside down on a pole in WVU’s dugout. This is important. This is the Rally Sloth.

WVU does a lot of “kind of ridiculous” things in its dugout during games. There’s a sledgehammer,  a make believe sniper rifle, faux fishing poles, impromptu parties and another rally animal saved for equally significant moments. It’s part of the game, a game the Mountaineers happen to be playing quite well right now.

“There’s no doubt the energy in the dugout translates to the success on the field,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “As a coach, that’s the energy you strive for every day, but it’s so hard to get when you’re dealing with 18- and 19-year-old kids who are taking tests and have girlfriends and have social lives and have a lot of other things going on.

“Sometimes they come prepared to play. Other times they don’t. It’s your job as coach to make sure they’re always ready to play, but the little dugout games they play do help — and even though my back is turned to them, I can see everything they do.”

You should go to see the WVU v. Texas series this weekend and you should pay a lot of attention to what happens in the dugout.

Please turn in your homework

by Mike Casazza

Mission: Accomplished.

I know I said wanted to withhold the identity. I did because I don’t want this to be seen as a farce. To me, the proxy practice gives the committee a chance to hear from … I don’t know, how many people are on here who sincerely care about the game experience and would like to be on the committee? A whole lot, right? Certainly more than the 12 or so picked for the committee. So this is a chance to get the opinions of a lot of people from a lot of different parts of the country, many who can’t make the meetings for one reason or many reasons.

And while I think it’s a good idea, I don’t know what others think and I didn’t want the eventual pick from our audience to be treated any differently because someone is skeptical of our inside man’s intentions. So anonymity was the way to go.

Welp, that went away yesterday.

Continue reading…

Big news for the blog

May 1, 2014 by Mike Casazza

We got a commentor on the Fan Experience committee. I don’t want to out the person, or for that person to out himself/herself, but this is exciting and we’ll get into it tomorrow and make sure we handle it properly.

But do me a favor … a homework assignment, if you will. Be ready tomorrow to submit some ideas for The Person to bring to the meeting May 3. Don’t comment here (in fact, I’m turning off comments for this post) or on another post. Think it over tonight and come back tomorrow to turn them in so The Person can arrive equipped Saturday.