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Media days, part two: WVU and some other guys

July 23, 2013 by Mike Casazza
villanos

We are live at the second and final day of the annual football media days with the second and final rotation of the head coach and select players from the remaining five schools.

True, true, the aforementioned “other guys” are, as far as the Big 12 is typically concerned, the guys in that they are Texas and Oklahoma, or Oklahoma and Texas. Throw in Baylor with its Heisman Trophy predictin’ running back and throw ’em where they ain’t coach and the Mountaineers should know their role today.

Fortunately, they’re not alone in their oh-by-the-way presence because they’re joined by Villano V. Iowa State doesn’t have much buzz or recognition here today, but, oh, how that could have been different.

The Cyclones had but one player on the preseason all-conference team released last week, but punter Kirby Van Der Kamp, is not one of the team’s player representatives. Then again, WVU, with no players on the preseason team, opted not to bring Biletnikoff Award watch list honoree Jordan Thompson.

The conversation we could have had with those two!

Anyhow, enough about what this is not. There is star power today and, not coincidentally, Oklahoma, Texas — or Texas and Oklahoma — and Baylor have their tables spanning the length of walls on opposite sides of the room, which gives them the most width and depth possible for the audience.

WVU and Iowa State are back-to-back at the front of the room between the front wall and the back of the camera stage that aims at teh press conference stage. Cozy!

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And there you have 240 words breaking down the layout of the interview room and why it matters. Send this to IMG!

Let’s go blogging …

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Media days: A gathering of the Big 12’s finest

July 22, 2013 by Mike Casazza
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DALLAS — You are looking live at the main stage inside the Omni here as a crowd substantially larger than what was “gathered” when I snapped this photo awaits Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and his state of the Big 12 Conference union.

Updates will follow within the post of Bowlsby’s news conference as well as the thoughts from today’s head coaches (Charlie Weis, Bill Snyder, Mike Gundy, Gary Patterson and Kliff Kingsbury) as the players at Kanas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech. Players from those teams, plus the head coaches, speak later in the day. The rest of the league’s head coaches and player representatives, as well as the league’s coordinator of officials, speak tomorrow.

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Friday Feedback

July 19, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, packing its bags and almost at the start line for the 2013 football season. The Big 12’s media days begin Monday and practice starts Aug. 1. It’s coming. The all-conference team and the poll were the appetizers and make for interesting food for thought.

It’s hard to quibble with the all-conference team because, man, those things are not easy to assemble. The poll is a little easier and thus more fun to pick apart. Six teams got a first-place vote in that thing, which speaks to a certain parity you ought to prepare to hear a lot about this season. Oklahoma State as the predicted champion makes enough sense — the Cowboys will be very good on offense and much better on defense. I’m only surprised by where we find Texas and Oklahoma, though I know the composition of the electorate can have something to do with that.

In a way, though, much of the suspense is over for the Mountaineers. Their media day will be uneventful and probably more aggravating for them than anything else because the questions and the attention they’ll be subjected to is just not what they’re used to. It’s the beginning of the changes they’re about to experience.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, please prioritize. (Aside: Monty Grow!)

rekterx said:

Well color me surprised.

The question that now hangs over the basketball program is, “How many in the current recruiting class do not make it onto the court or do not finish out their time in a WVU uniform?”

I realize this is worth words only, but I’ve heard encouraging things this week about Holton and Macon getting good news. And Dibo is listed in WVU’s student directory now. 

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Order!

July 18, 2013 by Mike Casazza

I’m out of pocket today and unplugging before Big 12 media day next week, but be sure to stay tuned the rest of the day. We’ll see some FOIA requests fulfilled that relate to the Tier 3 saga and we’ll see the Big 12 Conference preseason media poll.

I took a shot today at how that should look and I am, as always, interested in what you have to say about the predicted order of finish for WVU as well as the rest of the Big 12 and what that says about the 2013 season.

(Update: The poll is out and, welp, there are some discrepancies. Also, WVU’s seven-year run as a first- or second-place team in the preseason has met its end.)

Oh, and there will be an F Double tomorrow, though likely in the afternoon.

A little bit of us all just died

July 17, 2013 by Mike Casazza

The NCAA has announced it will no longer be in the game.

You know, of course, about the interesting and uncertain lawsuit brought forth by Ed O’Bannon that targets the way people profit off student-athletes without ever benefiting the student athletes. We don’t really know which way that’s going to go, and the NCAA would have to be included among “we” in this case. Yet the NCAA — no longer “we” as we move forward — would seem to have reservations.  

We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games. But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.

So what now? Well, that’s not really up to the NCAA, nor has it ever been. It sounds as though future participation and representation will be a matter of individual institutional preference.

The NCAA has never licensed the use of current student-athlete names, images or likenesses to EA. The NCAA has no involvement in licenses between EA and former student-athletes. Member colleges and universities license their own trademarks and other intellectual property for the video game. They will have to independently decide whether to continue those business arrangements in the future.

There will be no mention of the NCAA, so it’ll likely just be EA Sports College Football 15, or something like that, but with the NCAA gone, do the schools, or especially the conferences, seize the moment and raise the cost of doing business?

Broken: Charles Sims has a bio

by Mike Casazza

And that bio is now included on WVU’s roster.

Sims city!

by Mike Casazza

Charles Sims, who still has not been announced by WVU as a member of the WVU football team, was named the Big 12’s preseason newcomer of the year today. This is fantastic.

And that was the only mention of the Mountaineers. Neither they nor Kansas had anyone picked for the all-conference teams and Iowa State had just one — and it was the punter. That ought to give us a preview of the preseason poll that comes out tomorrow.

If you thought Texas Tech might struggle, know the Red Raiders have talent in the form of four all-Big 12 picks. That’s as many as Texas, which for my money will be the preseason favorite, and TCU, which could end up being the best team. If you thought Kansas State might be down, lookie at the league-high five Wildcats on the list. That’s as many as Oklahoma State (three) and Oklahoma (two).

Gonna be a wide-open year, gang.

Take this as far as you want to

July 16, 2013 by Mike Casazza

That’s the list of players signed to the 2013 recruiting class who are not yet on campus. (I needed two tweets because I omitted 492-pound Darrien Howard the first time. I was trying to put the list in alphabetical order and just forgot to put him back in before Hyman.)

And that assessment is from Ryan Dorchester, the team’s coordinator of recruiting operations. He said it was “fair” to expect all five to be on hand Aug. 1, when preseason camp begins. If that happens — if — then WVU will have done something really rare and hard to believe: All 26 players in the recruiting class, including Chavas Rawlins, will have enrolled.

True, Rawlins left, but a 100-percent enrollment rate never, ever happens … so hold your breath these last two weeks.

Naturally …

by Mike Casazza

… Jordan Thompson, he of 13 catches for 85 yards last season and one catch for 11 yards in the final seven games, made the Biletnikoff Award watch list today.

I’m being serious, even if I’m the only one.

Hey, I like the kid. I wrote with open optimism last season that he would be a factor. I was wrong, of course, so this one is a stunner. I guess we can say there is nothing wrong with playing receiver in Dana Holgorsen’s offense.

‘… I think’

by Mike Casazza

Bob Huggins’ roster keeps getting smaller and this offseason keeps getting longer. WVU broke up with Aaric Murray Monday — and probably earlier than that, I’ve heard — which means five players have left early and three more graduated since the end of that 13-19 season. Huggins signed six players and has a quizzical commitment from a seventh, Daxter Miles, who we’ll just go ahead and exclude from future conversations because it doesn’t look like he’ll be making it here and it would appear, thanks to various accounts, the story of his commitment is a little bit exaggerated.

Anyhow, Murray’s loss is big in that he was big and WVU didn’t and now doesn’t have a wealth of big players. We can argue talent, trouble and potential all we want, though “argue” probably isn’t the right word, and eventually realize it would have been nice to have a 6-foot-10 guy around, even if he’s your 10th guy. Now Huggins has Kevin Noreen and some new guys.

“We signed six guys who are over 6-foot-7, so I think we’re OK,” Huggins said.

Only three – freshmen Nathan Adrian, Devin Williams and Brandon Watkins – are on campus. Junior college transfers Jonathan Holton and Remi Dibo and freshman Elijah Macon have not arrived. Holton and Macon have eligibility issues to settle before they can enroll.

“Those three are going to be fine, I think,” Huggins said.

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