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

If you possess free time and a specific interest

February 19, 2014 by Mike Casazza

We’re two weeks past national signing day, so maybe recruiting is not the topic to whet your appetite, but there’s something I’ve ready through, actually found enlightening and feel compelled to share.

In short, some schools, and some conferences, have a championship advantage in college football because of who and where they recruit. And for folks who assumed West Virginia’s fortunes would be enhanced by recruiting classes and that the success would follow suit, understand that’s thus far not the case. In short, the Big 12 doesn’t have or get the most “blue chip” talent and WVU is actually getting fewer of those players now than before.

 

Spring football starts March 2!

by Mike Casazza

I’m not ashamed to admit I’m more than a little familiar with the Twitteractions between Clint Trickett and the the leading Dana Holgorsen parody account. They can’t possibly top this one:

Can the tough get going?

February 18, 2014 by Mike Casazza

It is odd timing to have a week-long break between games right in the middle of February, and whether WVU wanted it or not, whether it’s useful or a hindrance, it was nevertheless earned.

The Mountaineers just played four ranked teams in 10 days and beat two of them. Remember when we were looking at a tricky nine-game stretch in which all of the opponents were or could be ranked? Remember when we wondered if that had ever happened to a team before? And then some of those ranked teams fell off and some of the unranked teams dipped some more?

Well, WVU had never played four ranked teams in a row in regular-season history. So there’s that.

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WVU makes the top 10

by Mike Casazza

Well, it made the top 10 Big 12 football student sections. And there are only 10 schools. And ESPN’s Big 12 blog only ranked five. And the Mountaineers aren’t included.

More and more, as overall attendance drops and the product slips, this is a problem the Mountaineers must fix. It’s part of the larger overall problem — total attendance — but it’s still a part that can and ought to be repaired.

Easy to say. Hard to do. How then will the Mountaineers do it?

Big sexy

February 17, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Bob Huggins made the CollegeInsider.com list of the top 100 sexiest men in college basketball.

There is no way you can have this list without the name “Huggins.” On the court he still brings a lot intensity, but off the court he isn’t quite as confrontational. His press conferences were very fun. As cool as they come in this profession.

The list of head and assistant coaches and media and analysts came out late last week and Huggins actually tweeted about it after his daughter told him he’d made the cut. Huggins was nevertheless informed Monday on the Big 12 teleconference that he was on the list.

“Is that a surprise to you?” he replied.

The answer was that the interrogator was not surprised and that he merely wanted to know what Huggins thought about making the list.

“To keep things in perspective,” Huggins said, “so did Seth Greenburg.”

Huggins said he was looking at the list when his daughter told him about it and that he stopped when he got to the former Virginia Tech coach. And since it was an alphabetical list, Huggins never got to his own profile.

So then, Bob, do you agree with your inclusion?

“Absolutely.”

Conclusion

by Mike Casazza

WVU isn’t as bad as it looked Saturday night. Truth be told, while probably closer to their overall record than something too many step beyond it, the Mountaineers are also more like a team that had won five out of seven than they are the one that was zapped by the Longhorns.

So in closing, WVU doesn’t have a Texas-sized problem. It just has a problem with Texas. It’s really somewhat striking to see how well the Longhorns have played against WVU relative to other opponents — and consider that Texas is 20-5! — and how the Mountaineers have had issues against Texas that they haven’t had against others. Since there are many examples, here’s but a sample:

As poorly as WVU has defended this season, it hadn’t allowed a shooting percentage as large as it did against Texas in more than two years. The Mountaineers never found a way to keep guards out of the paint for easy shots or assists.

“We couldn’t guard,” Huggins said. “Couldn’t. Didn’t. Wouldn’t. You can’t let people shoot that well, especially when you’re not making any shots.”

And while WVU has made a habit of staying close or cutting into deficits, Texas led by double digits the final 22:11 last month and the final 17:45 on Saturday. That’s more than half of the time they’ve spent on the floor together.

The Mountaineers are prone to scoring droughts because they rely on jumpers and because they give up easy scores more often than they find them. Yet Saturday’s game was only the seventh that saw them fall behind by 10 or more points.

Only Missouri, Kansas State and Texas have built 20-point leads. WVU rallied to get as close as six points against Missouri and avenged a 22-point loss to Kansas State with a 10-point win. Texas has built 21-point leads in both victories and can take credit for two of WVU’s four double-digit losses this season.

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Feverish about Saturday night?

February 16, 2014 by Mike Casazza

So that wasn’t a good look for WVU and whatever place it had in line as one of the Last Four In or First Four Out or Next Four Out. I suppose the good news is not a lot of people saw it, but that Bottom Line and the box score shows the Mountaineers were 17 points worse than Texas, and that after being 11 points worst than Texas last month.

Absent context, it’s a blowout for a team that’s good, but still just four games above .500 and only one game better than even in the conference.

With context, it’s no better. There’s no “yeah, but…” to tack onto the score. Texas made a big run early and only once let WVU get close — and then went on an 8-0 run to escape again into double digits and stay there the rest of the way.

The Longhorns had an answer at every intersection.

“I know we missed some shots, but we didn’t respond the way we need to respond,” said coach Bob Huggins, who talked with his team for more than a half an hour in the locker room after the game. “We couldn’t guard. Couldn’t. Didn’t. Wouldn’t. You can’t let people shoot that well, especially when you’re not making any shots.”

And here’s the kicker: The Mountaineers will have no rebuttal until they play host to Baylor (back-to-back wins, by the way) Saturday. People can jump line between now and then, and even if one is just measured against WVU, the last anyone has seen of WVU is getting dunked on 10 times and letting Texas shoot a season-high 57.9 percent.

Then again, Texas has WVU’s number, right? It’s best two shooting days of the season are against the Mountaineers. The offense has twice now come oh, so easy. The matchups are very much in favor of the Longhorns. They rebound much better and guard much, much better and seem to have some sort of a blanket to toss atop Juwan Staten.

So maybe it’s one team, two nights and not much else. Texas can do that with its team, and that defense with those long guys on the perimeter and the big guys down low can give people trouble.

I asked Eron Harris about that — Is this the best defensive team in the league? — and, oh, man, he got very philosophical with his reply.

“They’re all good defensively. I think we didn’t have the night we wanted to have. I’m not going to label anybody the best. I think we’re all a team. We all play game by game. Whoever wins wins. Whoever doesn’t win doesn’t win.”
— Harristotle

I think he thinks they’ll be all right. Do you?

WVU v. Texas: And away they go

February 15, 2014 by Mike Casazza


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I know most of you won’t be able to see this live tonight, but I want you to know WVU is wearing its black uniforms for this one. That’s a first this season, and that makes me think the Mountaineers are feeling frisky this time of year.

Also, I’m sorry I didn’t get this going earlier, but let’s just say the Longhorn Network thing you’re enduring is not the full extent of the inhospitable nature afforded to outsiders.

Of note: Texas forward Jonathan Holmes, who missed Tuesday’s game against Oklahoma State with a knee injury, has been cleared to play. WVU did a pretty good job on him last game — 2-for-7, nine points — but the 6-foot-8 Holmes was part of the problem on the boards. He had 12 as Texas finished plus-19.

Who intrigues me most is Javan Felix. The Mountaineers couldn’t keep him out of the paint last game — to be fair, many teams have that problem — and that was a big reason the Longhorns were “only” 4-for-9 from 3-point range — they didn’t need jumpers. Felix is the team’s leading scorer in Big 12 play (15.2) and he was 6-for-8 from 3-point range Tuesday. That had to skew the scouting report for WVU, but that can’t be the norm, right?

Then again, you probably hope Remi Dibo’s 6-for-8 against Iowa State is the norm, or at least closer to the expected outcome than the 1-for-7 against Kansas. He’s looked good for a while. I thought he had the look early against Kansas before the fouls got to him, and he definitely had it going against the Cyclones. Huggins started leaning on Dibo when the team started to find a groove against Baylor and he’s started the past four games.

I think he’s a key tonight because he’s a guy who can pull a defensive rebounder away from the basket, but he’s also that potentially reliable third scorer WVU is constantly trying to identify. You can reasonably assume Juwan Staten and Eron Harris are going to find their way to 35 or so points. Terry Henderson might be the other guy on a given night, but a lot of that depends on if he believes in it.

Dibo believes in it. He’s going to put the shots up from 3. He’s going to find his seat on the sofa on left of the basket along the baseline. It doesn’t matter if the first one or two go in or not. They’re going up.

And before we begin, I’d like to ask you a question because I prefer absolutes and I have an interesting one for you to consider …

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And now, WVU tries not to bubble over

February 14, 2014 by Mike Casazza

From watching, and from having been there last year, which, sure, might have been an anomaly, Texas doesn’t really have much of a home court advantage.

The Longhorns are sixth in the Big 12 in attendance and about 2,000 fans better per game than WVU. You’re more likely to see some snarky “Erwin Center minutes before the tip” photo on Twitter than you are a sellout. Yet Texas is rolling with eight wins in its last nine games, including a relatively effortless win in the Coliseum last month. The Longhorns have also won 13 of 15 at home this season and five in a row — the losses are to Michigan State and Oklahoma, so, that’s not bad.

More to the point, though, is that Texas is a good squad, good enough to be second in the standings despite being something of an oddity. The Longhorns aren’t in the top half of any of the most important offensive statistics and are at or near the bottom of some of the others that would seem indicative of a team’s success in the Big 12.

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If you’re waiting …

February 13, 2014 by Mike Casazza

… Tony Gibson is WVU’s new defensive coordinator. Or perhaps more accurately, Defensive Coordinator for West Virginia University Football.

There’s been no official announcement for any one of a number of reasons, but probably most of all because Dana Holgorsen is still vetting candidates for the vacant spot on his defensive staff. Previously, you were told the group of possibilities included Bruce Tall and now I can tell you another candidate is in the mix.