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

Hate to interrupt reminiscing about sandwiches …

January 9, 2014 by Mike Casazza

… but there’s a sizable game Saturday at the Coliseum against No. 11 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are still finding their way after losing Michael Cobbins for the season Dec. 30. They lost at Kansas State and won at home last night against Texas, but they have some really good parts, led most notably by Marcus Smart.

We love to compare players from the present to the past, and not even Bob Huggins could spare himself a peak into the rear view mirror.

“I thought he was absolutely terrific,” Huggins said over the summer. “I don’t know that we’ve played against a guy that controls the game from the point guard position like he does since I was at Cincinnati and we played against Jason Kidd.”

Kidd had quite a night in an overtime win against the Bearcats and that’s remained with Huggins ever since. Smart is similar in size, style and purpose, of course, and Huggins will have his hands full defending that guy.

Do you guard him with Staten for speed to stay between Smart and the basket? Do you pick Eron Harris for height and length that can obscure vision and discourage passes? Do you play a lot of zone? The Mountaineers don’t guard it very well, so they better come up with something … smart.

Scoop & Score with that David Ubben

by Mike Casazza

We’re live at 9 a.m. on SMC Radio. Why is Bobby Petrino slithering back to Louisville important? When do you know it’s really cold outside? What to make of Wednesday at WVU football? Plus Big 12 football and basketball with David Ubben — not the one from Benghazi.

(Update: Podcast right here. This one got a little silly, but felt right.)

Quick change of topic today

January 8, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Damon Cogdell in, Erik Slaughter out at WVU. Expect Cogdell, a former WVU linebacker and now the former head football coach and athletic director at Miramar High, to be named a defensive assistant. He’ll become the defensive line coach and hit the ground running recruiting South Florida. Literally.

Slaughter, the defensive line coach who’d recruited southern Ohio, will not be brought back for a third season with the Mountaineers. Word is Shannon Dawson will take over Slaughter’s recruiting territory.

Today happens to be the first day of the spring semester at WVU. Andrew Buie is back on the roster and I’m told indefinitely suspended receiver Ronald Carswell and also cornerback Avery Williams will not be back next season. (Update: Confirmed. Here’s the updated roster.)

Four junior college transfers — quarterback Skyler Howard, cornerback Keishawn Richardson, linebacker Edward Muldrow III and offensive lineman Sylvester Townes — and high school early graduates Ricky Rodgers and Davonte James are to be enrolled this semester, as well. (Update: James and Rodgers are in, but the jucos are now — yet. They have until Friday and WVU expects that to happen.) (Update: Howard, Richardson and Townes are in, as well.)

(Update: Here’s WVU’s announcement of the addition of Cogdell as an “assistant coach on the defensive side” — and that makes you wonder if all the moves have been made, doesn’t it? The annual coaches’ convention starts Monday. Cogdell, who has never coached in college, has a two-year contract for $200,000 a year. I need a new gig.

The Slaughter thing does seem interesting on some level, and let’s get this out of the way first. He was really fun to watch and to talk to and I think he was an assistant people on the outside liked. And no wonder …

 

If you need a Slaughter fix, this is for you.

Anyhow, I’d talked to people who’d run into WVU or WVU targets on the recruiting trail and what they’d heard was WVU wasn’t making any changes, though, sure, I might have been talking to people involved solely with offensive targets. And maybe WVU was telling people what they wanted to hear. I’d be lying if I told you I thought Slaughter would be gone.

WVU looked like it had a pretty good defensive line in 2013. I thought that group was much better this past season than it was in the one before it … but then I looked at some things that deserved more our attention, namely that the Mountaineers didn’t make many plays on the defensive line. In a results based business, you can understand this because the lack of sacks, TFLs and pressure are now two-season problems.

Slaughter also recruited southern Ohio, which had to have been a tall task for someone with his relative lack of experience. WVU wasn’t doing really well there and adding Cogdell a year after adding JaJuan Seider (and losing Robert Gillespie) gives you the idea WVU would rather double up in South Florida.)

On 15:16 and the rest of 2013-14

by Mike Casazza

We’ve covered the strong stretches and the promising play West Virginia exhibited in its victorious two-game road swing. True, an 11-point lead became a two-point deficit Monday, but the Mountaineers didn’t quickly choke away that lead. It was taken away over a prolonged period as they made 9 of 15 shots and committed just one turnover. They weren’t bad. Texas Tech was just a little better, and ultimately not good enough.

So we saw the Mountaineers doing things better and generally looking more organized despite some issues with illness (Eron Harris against TCU, Remi Dibo against Texas Tech) and little injuries (Nate Adrian doesn’t look like a guy with two good ankles).

But those are among the improvements and innovations that happen when a team has only two games and a lot of practice in 15 days before the start of conference play.

One such innovation? Devin Williams and Brandon Watkins playing together.

Continue reading…

One more for the road

January 7, 2014 by Mike Casazza

So the Internet was not cooperative for a few of us at the arena last night, where there was not much united spirit late in an overofficiated West Virginia win against Texas Tech. And that’s a shame because I was funnier than hell watching it all unfold. You’ll have to take my word for it, but the Mountaineers survived Texas Tech and its inside game and suddenly potent shooters and scoring.

As it stands, WVU is alone in the Big 12 until at least tonight and a not impossible series of wins by Baylor over Iowa State, Kansas over Oklahoma and TCU over Kansas State this week would have WVU alone in first place for Saturday’s home game against No. 11 Oklahoma State. At the very worst, it’s a tie. “Significant,” is what Eron Harris said about the 2-0 start.

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WVU v. Texas Tech: Headbantage, Rebels

January 6, 2014 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live inside United Spirit Arena, where WVU will tango with Texas Tech in just a little bit and where the Red Raiders will enjoy a home court advantage and a sizable edge in headbands. That’s Deaflympics bronze medalist Luke Adams at the foul line and Shooter! Dusty Hannahs at the 3-point line. Seriously, Hannahs is the maybe the only guy who is much of a threat from the arch.

The Mountaineers have an esteemed fraternity of headbandits: Kevin Jones, John Flowers, Dan Jennings, Devin Ebanks … I could go on  to D’or Fischer, Chaz Briggs, Drew Schifino … but they haven’t had a member these past two seasons. And these past two seasons have been unkind. I sincerely doubt this is a coincidence.

The Red Raiders will need all the power of the headbands absent a student a section and whatever energy was expended and lost as they rallied from down 15 points in the second half Saturday and lost 73-62 here against Iowa State.

There are no motorcycles in the gym this season, either. That’s a shame…

Then again, perhaps WVU has lost some GQ mojo. Eron Harris has ditched the neon green socks.

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That shot did not go in, by the way.

And since you can’t wait for the update, no, there is no sign of Jonathan Holton, nor was there any sort of news delivered from the NCAA to the Mountaineers today. I’m going to create a hashtag for this saga.

Example: WVU could use some help inside against a Texas Tech team that pounds it down low and pushes for paint touches. #NoHolton

Or …

The Mountaineers pass the eyeball test standing next to these Red Raiders. #NoHolton

Seriously, WVU has to play big inside. Texas Tech has scored 543 of its 1,029 points in the paint this season. That’s 38.8 points per game, and that would be a school record. The Red Raiders don’t shoot or make 3-pointers — they get 18.3 percent of their points from outside, the 10th lowest percentage among power conference teams — because they shoot 53.3 percent from 2-point range and get 61.4 percent of their scoring there — the fifth highest total in the country.

Forwards Jaye Crockett (14.1 points per game) and Jordan Tolbert (12.5) are both 6-foot-7 and are both shooting 60 percent from the floor. Seven-footer Dejan Kravic can be a handful now that he’s healthy. He’s been fit the past five games and averaged 9.8 points and 6.4 rebounds, and the guy whose tip-in knocked WVU out of the Big 12 Tournament last season has shot 19-for-38 along the way.

Kravic’s nationality? Canadian, of course.

Let’s blog, eh?

IMG checks its rear view mirror

by Mike Casazza

Season One of the collaborative project between IMG College and WVU and its Mountaineer Sports Network is in the books. Seems it was a success in the presence of documented obstacles, too.

“Off the charts,” is what one executive said to describe the efforts to quickly organize, effectively operate and beat sales projections by up to 25 percent.

“Obviously the biggest challenge for us operationally was time,” Potter said. It was a big concern of ours, and it was certainly something that we voiced internally.

“But in the end, we came down with the attitude that we would rather be working with West Virginia University in an extremely challenging situation than not working with West Virginia University at all.”

Still on the road, still waiting on Mr. H

by Mike Casazza

I’m not sure beating TCU, as improved as the Horned Frogs are this season, before 5,000 people and no students is a Herculian task for which West Virginia ought to be commended, but it’s better than the alternative.

A loss there Saturday or here in Lubbock tonight against Texas Tech would have ben and could still be bad, bad things for WVU.

So, sure, the win was better than the alternative and it was better than the preceding experiences on the road. WVU had lost six in a row on the road dating back to last season, and though this year’s team is not last year’s team, this year’s team had two bad losses on the road this season.

It’s somewhat hard to call the Missouri game a bad loss because the Tigers are good, but it was bad because WVU wasn’t very competitive in that game until some trivial moments late and Eron Harris was benched. The Virginia Tech loss was bad, not just because the Hokies aren’t a superior team, but because WVU had and wasted a big lead.

The Mountaineers didn’t have the prettiest numbers against the Horned Frogs, but they were never really in danger and never had that one costly stretch of play to cost them again away from home.

Continue reading…

WVU v. TCU: Follow these orders

January 4, 2014 by Mike Casazza
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You are looking live at a wall inside the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, where WVU and TCU tangle at 4 p.m. Could be fun! TCU plays some 2-3 zone. I see you working, Horned Frogs.

You might have suspected this already if you didn’t hear it last night, but …

I’ll get into that a little bit more later in the blog. Your big news right now is that Eron Harris is working through the flu and probably won’t start today.

Oh, speaking of blog, what rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs?

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Hmm

January 3, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Before I throw an idea out to you, a reminder that I’m allegedly heading to Dallas today to see an improved, an improving TCU play host to West Virginia. That opens play for both teams in what’s going to be a Big 12 that’s better than what introduced itself to the Mountaineers last season.

The Horned Frogs are healthy (Amric Fields is back and he’s pretty good) and talented (best recruiting class and best single recruit in school history) and they have one of the league’s more improved players (Kyan Anderson).

But we have a most interesting sideline battle Saturday.

Continue reading…