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

And this is (something of) a stunner

March 24, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Eron Harris. Out. The sophomore has asked for and been granted his release so that he may transfer.

A few of us heard whispers about this in December. I hadn’t heard anything about it since then and figured whatever situation may have existed was blown away by the bevy of shots and points the team afforded him. Things change, you know?

But if you’re like me, and if you don’t believe in coincidences, you have to wonder if he checked out in the last few games on the schedule.

Whatever the case, it’s a major, major blow and another player to transfer out of the program.

Tom Bradley is getting lots of meals

by Mike Casazza

WVU’s new senior associate head coach and defensive line coach is having and getting a hard time as he becomes acquainted with his new surroundings, and figure his task is appreciably harder after spending so much time at a place like Penn State.

Playfully deceived by his new staffmates — “I thought, ‘Well, I’ll coach the linebackers because I coached the linebackers at Penn State for 10 or so years.’ ” — and his new defensive line charges — “To tell you the truth, I think they lie to me sometimes and send me the wrong way deliberately.” — Bradley is looking for a way to get up to speed with his players and their new lingo so he can figure out players he never got to know through recruiting.

Turns out the best way to his head is through his stomach.

“One of the nice things about West Virginia is the training table is right there and everyone gets done at the same time, so they’re not coming in different waves,” he said. “I pick a spot that’s just right and sit there with them. I want to hear what they’re talking about, not that they’re going to say a lot of things in front of me. I’m trying to figure the code words out now. As they begin to trust you, they’ll tell you more and more.”

One down, five to go

by Mike Casazza

So I’m supposed to meet the women’s basketball team in Louisville should WVU get through Albany and LSU in Baton Rouge this week. I have no idea whether I’ll have to pack my suitcase one more time or put it on the shelf for the offseason.

The Mountaineers looked every bit a No. 2 seed in the first half against Albany Sunday and then looked like the No. 15 seed in the second half that got way too close for comfort.

WVU won and gets the homestanding Tigers tomorrow, but as our On-site Friend of the Daily Mail reports, the Mountaineers can’t let history repeat itself if they don’t want history to repeat itself. Mike Carey is gunning for his first Sweet Sixteen, but he can’t let his team play like it did in the first round.

Showing mettle worthy of perhaps a higher seeding, the 15th-seeded Great Danes (28-5) pulled to within 56-51 with seven minutes left to play. West Virginia (30-4) responded with a 16-6 run to put the game out of reach at 72-57 with 1:02 left.

The win advances West Virginia into Tuesday night’s second round to face No. 7 LSU, a 98-78 winner over No. 10 Georgia Tech. The win also helped the Mountaineers break the school record for victories, but coach Mike Carey thinks a repeat performance won’t be good enough.

“Nothing against Albany, but if we play like that (again) LSU will beat us,” Carey said. “Its going to have to be a 40-minute game, 40 minutes of concentrating, attacking and playing our defense.”

Continue reading…

Friday Feedback

March 21, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which turned back the clock this morning. I went over to WVU’s pro day at the indoor practice facility because Charles Sims and Will Clarke are probably both getting drafted in May and Darwin Cook has a chance to hook on somewhere, if not late in the draft, than soon thereafter as a free agent. It gets hard to get in touch with those guys as the draft approaches.

And then there were two people I had to put eyes on. One was Howard Jones, the Shepherd University star who wowed a lot of folks as a top performer at the combine. (He ran a 4.45 40, I was told, today.)

The other was Noel Devine. If you’ve only been here a while, you should know we used to spend a lot of time just watching Noel’s high school highlights and then his college highlights. I’m happy to report that the aura still shrouds him. He’s still jacked. He’s still stupid fast. And people still watch him walk by and then turn to the closest person and say, “Hey, that’s Noel Devine.”

And why not? He put 225 pounds up 24 times and ripped off a 10 foot, 8 inch broad jump. Then he ran a few 40s — they didn’t give us times, or any other useful information, which is dumb because we’re invited to cover it, but I saw people time him at 4.34 and 4.42 — and zipped through the cone drills and caught some passes and, oh, did I mention he has a stomach bug and was puking all morning?

Devine, who is now 26 years old,  is making another run at the NFL. He’s healthy — healthier than he was at his 2010 pro day when he had a bum toe and ankle — and says he has his heart and mind right after being a little humbled the past few years. He hopes the game has changed, too, and will accept a person of his skill and, yes, size. If not, his rights still belong to the Montreal Alouettes.

It was a fun chat I’ll turn into a nice story, but I really do hope the guy gets the happy ending he now seeks.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, rampage.

avb31 said:

Here’s a vote for an NCAA bracket contest.

Unrelated, but the women’s team kind of got screwed. Got a 2 seed and will have to play AT the 7 seed in the 2nd round. If they win that road game, they get Louisville AT Louisville in the Sweet 16.

That’s a joke.

It is a joke … and it isn’t. The first two rounds aren’t chosen for the women’s tournament like they are for the men’s. The women’s tournament goes to hotbeds where fans will flock and it’s almost exclusively on campus. Schools submit bids, a few years in advance, I think, and the tournament organizers try to make sense of the sites and matchups. So to some extent, WVU can’t do much about it, but, man, sooner or later the organizers have to do something to make life easier on the Mountaineers. I mean, back-to-back road games would be a bit much for a No. 2 seed, no? 

SheikYbuti said:

Maybe WVU and Morgantown need to start bidding to be a host site.

I believe they’ve tried, to no avail.

Continue reading…

Bling is in the air

by Mike Casazza

Next week, a previously approved plan to renovate and enhance athletic facilities all over campus will be discussed by the Board of Governors. A week after that, WVU is likely to go ahead with a $106 million, bond-heavy, guaranteed-income-propelled plan to change the paces you watch Mountaineers sports live.

Continue reading…

The ball is tipped…

March 20, 2014 by Mike Casazza

That’s my jam. Forever.

A reminder to you to remind other people that there’s still time left to join our bracket.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/o5h9gg5
Password: itwasaredjacket

Scoop & Score starts at 9 a.m. and I need not tell you what we’ll be talking about today. Randy McClure from Rush the Court will be with me to preview the tournament. I’ll cover some conspiracy theories and how to literally grow the game and then we’ll put a ribbon on WVU’s season. Listen live!

(Update: Podcast! This was fun.)

Speaking of, when the end arrived Tuesday night and we sought some answers, we got some answers about how WVU went from 14-9 to 17-16. One more or less proves the Mountaineers were not ready to be better than what they turned out to be.

“I think we stopped listening,” said forward Kevin Noreen. “Coaches question that every day: ‘Are you guys listening?’ That’s probably the main problem. I still think guys listen to the scouting reports. They listen to what’s expected and what to expect in games. But at the end of the day, when Huggs tries to talk to someone one-on-one, sometimes it went in one ear and out the other with a few guys.”

I’ll buy it as an explanation and as the outcome. As Bob Huggins put it, your relationship with the game is a lot like your relationship with your girlfriend. If you don’t pay attention to her, she’s not going to be around very long.

Absolutely unrelated … I’m sure a lot of us are digging in for several consecutive hours of basketball today. We’ll open the post for that and for any other comments. Enjoy!

And we’re done

March 19, 2014 by Mike Casazza

I guess I’m probably only surprised because it went the way we thought it might go, with West Virginia back peddling out of the NIT last night with a loss that follows recent form, when you thought there might be a better response. But that’s a 3-7 finish with each loss by 10 or more points and defense and rebounding bedeviling the team toward the game as they did toward the end of the schedule.

But I actually am surprised about something that’s stuck with me for a while: The Mountaineers have spent a lot of time for a long time on the back foot. When they’re the more forward of the two teams, they can be pretty good. But so often they are the ones in the counter punch position and it’s hard to win games when you’re battling back, or conditioned to be the one to battle back.

Continue reading…

WVU v. Georgetown: Old school

March 18, 2014 by Mike Casazza
desk

You are looking live at the media work room at McDonough Gymnasium here on the campus of Georgetown University. I’m not knocking it. I like it.

This is a 62-year old building on an old campus that is proud of its history and its antiquities. If you’ve never been to Georgetown — the place or the campus — just understand McDonough Gymnasium fits in nicely. If you have been here, you grasp that.

The place we’re in tonight still houses the coaches’ offices, sports information and athletics administration offices and the sports medicine and training room facilities. It’ a functional place, not a dump. It’s just not intended to be the home to a powerhouse basketball program. And it isn’t.

The actual gymnasium is exactly what you thought it was. It’s small. It’s basically a high school gym. But this is going to be fun to watch and I bet it’ll be fun to participate in, too. With the bands on opposite ends and the outnumbered fans trying to drown out the majority, with the two teams with considerable history fighting to keep playing, it’s a memorable postseason basketball experience. At this level, that’s all that matters.

gym

Continue reading…

Tier 4 Tumult (Update: It works!)

by Mike Casazza

We have our annual NCAA Tournament pool.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/o5h9gg5
Password: itwasaredjacket

 

A few of you offered to help as scorekeepers for the NIT pool. Much appreciated, but I was only kidding when I solicited that. As much as I don’t want to keep score manually, I don’t want to outsource it. I’m nevertheless flattered you offered.

I’m on the way to Georgetown with Scoop & Score graduate Justin Jackson. His life keeps getting better since the appearance. Speaking of, Randy McClure from Rush the Court will be the guest Thursday morning. Whatever will we discuss? No, really. What? Feel free to suggest some questions. (Disclaimer: That might happen or it might not. If I’m traveling Thursday for a NIT game Friday, prepare for a Best of Scoop & Score.)

While I’m gone, entertain yourselves with what’s happening to the WVU basketball teams.

Continue reading…

NIT INTtel

March 17, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Bob Huggins said this morning Juwan Staten did not practice yesterday, but he noted that there is no swelling in and around the left ankle the Big 12’s leading scorer rolled in Thursday’s loss to Texas. Beyond that, “I don’t know,” he said.

Also, do you want tickets to the WVU’s NIT game? Too damn bad.

Tickets are now available to current athletics donors at the $50 level and above and 2013-14 men’s basketball season ticket holders. Current Georgetown University students with a valid GOCard will be admitted free of charge (subject to availability). For more information, please visit here.

(You should check your secondary market for this.)

Finally, I was going to do another NCAA bracket pool this year, just so someone can beat Mack. Would you rather:

1) a NIT bracket pool?*
2) a NCAA bracket pool?
3) both?

*I need helping finding a NIT bracket group online. Or I need a scorekeeper.