…important matters like the state’s official food and official song.
I’m serious.
Pepperoni rolls and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” are getting the red carpet treatment in Charleston today.
(Reminder: Plenty of time left to enter the blog’s bracket challenge. Group name is “From a bracket standpoint…” and password is “necktie.)
Back at the end of February we were talking about how Mike Carey was at it again, coaching a team through injuries and beyond expectations in a tough league, and I joked that WVU was again bound for the NCAA Tournament and “I just can’t wait to see the selection show when they’re the No. 10 seed in College Park with a second-round date against Maryland.”
I said that because the NCAA Tournament had, repeatedly, asked Carey’s team to travel really far and play either the first- or second-round game on the opponent’s home floor.
It happened again Monday when WVU was picked as a No. 11 seed and made to play No. 6 seed Delaware and the nation’s second leading scorer, Elena Della Donne, at the University of Delaware Sunday.
“It is good we got in. To me that says the strength of the league, our reputation and some of the wins we had on the road; we’re happy to be in,” coach Mike Carey said. “We got a really good draw. We have to play on Delaware’s home floor and that’s a good draw for us because it’s close so hopefully we can get some fans there.”
This is Carey’s seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and the sixth in seven years. He’s very good. But this is the fifth time since the beginning of his string of appearances in 2004 that he’s been a visitor early in the tournament.
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Surely we were all aware of pro day at WVU last week because of Geno Smith and Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey. Pat White craned a neck or two, too.
Yet there were other seniors on the 2012 roster who showed up and showed off in front of 29 NFL teams. Based off what I’ve read and what I’ve talked about with others, Jeff Braun and Ryan Nehlen helped themselves to the spotlight reserved for the stars and suggested they deserve at least a chance.
“I’ve heard late rounds to free agency from my agent and from other sources,” he said. “The biggest knock on me was my athleticism. They didn’t think I could move very well, so I had to show them, and I think I did.
“I ‘leaned up’ and I went out to prove ‘Look, I’m an athlete, too.’ The goal is to get into camp,” he continued. “You can be a third-, fourth-, fifth-round draft pick and get cut. I just want to get to camp. Once you get there, it’s a different game.”
Back by popular demand, a blog bracket challenge. The group name is “From a bracket standpoint …” and the password is “necktie.” There is a prize involved.
Day Three overall, Day Two for me and Day One in pads. Peep the tie.
(Credit the UK Border Agency on the title graphic.)
Welcome to the Friday Feedback, back in its wheelhouse after 41 of the past 80 days were spent on the road and 35 of the first 73 days of 2013 were spent in Central Standard Time. It’s my least favorite time zone.
You thought that ESPN graphic detailing WVU’s travel was played? You should have seen the one Justin Jackson and I were pushing upon waitresses at Gordon Biersch Tuesday night. It was as if Lordy Rodriguez had graced the eatery with his presence.
But it is, at long last, done. In the past. Yet we’re going to look in the rear view mirror today, probably because I had to drive four hours to an airport yesterday so I could get home in a manner that would allow me to keep my job.
I need not tell you this Big 12 experience settled in way, waaaay below expectations. I knew this, of course. We all knew this. I just don’t think the reality hammered away as hard as it did Wednesday night.
I mean, do you realize what happened in the final 20 seconds off that game? Let’s review:
– Deniz Kilicli goes 1-for-2 at the free throw line to leave the score tied 69-69.
– Texas Tech calls timeout.
– WVU completely disassembles Texas Tech’s play.
– Josh Gray unbuckles the perimeter defense and drives and tries a layup.
– Aaric Murray rotates and swats that shot.
– That block goes right to Jamal Williams like a textbook pass to a positioned shooter in the corner.
– Williams shoots a 3.
– Williams misses.
– Dejan Kravic tips in the offensive rebound to win the game.
Every one of those nine things triggers a distinct emotion in postseason play. Every one of them. The missed free throw sets up a fantastic finish and teases overtime, which are two tantalizing treats for a crowd. The spectators buzz throughout the timeout and seem to unite in witnessing something special.
The deterioration of a play ups the anticipation for what you know is going to be a 1-on-1 situation between a dribbler and a defender. A crossover and a drive brings gasps from the crowd. The blocked shot triggers shouts before everyone realizes the extremely unlikely good fortune of a great defensive play turning into a disastrous one when that shooter winds up to win the game.
The time the ball is in the air is silent until it’s overwhelmed by the groans of a miss. And then you have the shrieks and shouts when the tip-in wins the game.
That should have been awesome, but I can’t remember being more disappointed by the end of a game. All of those events, gathered into a single conclusion, were meet with indifference. It was calm. I can’t imagine Bob Huggins was more mad after the game than I was, albeit for vastly different reasons.
Seriously, imagine if all of that happened inside Madison Square Garden. That timeout would have been the best. The defense would have been met with a cheer. The drive, the block and the open shot would have produced three loud and distinct responses. And the game-winner … actually, that’s hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it. MSG is just different in the way the wonderful fans treat those things.
The whole thing left me empty, but that’s just me and my warped view. A day later I’m reading the local paper and a story on the new teams and the new fans visiting the Big 12 Tournament refers to the University of West Virginia and UWV and I couldn’t help but remember that the Neertainmounts used to get the back page of the New York tabloids.
It had finally come home for me.
It was all so clear, never as impossible to ignore as it was after the early exit from the conference championship: This Big 12 thing wasn’t nearly as cool as it was supposed to be. The Mountaineers were the outsiders, not the outliers. They were the norms, not the exceptions. They were susceptible to the transitional elements we all ought to have realized were so powerful.
And the worst part is that the football and the men’s basketball teams might be a year away from getting it right. It might be longer.
There’s a lot left to reconcile with this Big 12 move and somewhere a long I-70 yesterday I got to thinking about something. Huggins says his team wasn’t ready for the Big 12. I think it’s fair to say Dana Holgorsen has agreed, in less definitive statements, the same could have been said of his team. Both of those programs could have used another year in the Big East to prepare the rosters in terms of both personnel and depth.
How much damage did WVU do by rushing out of the Big East? There’s the hefty buyout and the, um, lost seasons. And, again, they’re quite likely a year away still. How much of the novelty will be left or how hard will it be to restore that luster?
I don’t think it’s wrong to say WVU would have been in a better position if it was entering next year. Some things, like travel, would still be a factor, but other variables could have been more ready.
But here’s the crazy part: The Mountaineers absolutely did the right thing. They had to do it and their most powerful appeal to the Big 12 was that they could be there for the 2012-13 year. We’d be having a very different conversation today if WVU didn’t jump. Instead of living in a world with Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa State, which, don’t get me wrong, isn’t a bad deal, you’d be in limbo with Cincinnati and UConn, Houston and SMU.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t break stride.
Mack said:
In 2011, I said that no conference would be better for the WVU fans than the Big East was at that time. One year in, Mr. Casazza, was I right?
Uh, I already answered that.
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Texas Tech won it Wednesday night, mostly because it made the most of all the ticks on the clock. From building a 14-point lead to trading swings with WVU throughout the second half to Dejan Kravic slipping inside for the game-winning tip-in, the Red Raiders took the occasion a little more seriously than WVU, which seemed content with the normal fall behind routine.
And that was that. If a picture is worth a thousand words, look at this photo above the thousand or so words below it.
That’s all for today. Traveling to St. Louis with Dave Hickman and then flying to Pittsburgh. The Big 12, everybody.
You are looking live at the Sprint Center, where WVU has never played a game before tonight’s trilogy-concluding game against Texas Tech. The Mountaineers are 0-2 all-time in the City of Fountains with losses to Kentucky and Texas in the 2005 Guardians Classic at the Municipal Auditorium.
They’re 0-3 all-time in Missouri with the third loss coming in the Savvis Center in 2003, John Beilein’s first season. That was a 75-45 blowout against the Saint Louis Billikens in which Tyrone Sally was sick, Drew Schifino scored 22 points and everyone else scored 23.
Oh, and Curtis Shaw hit Beilein with a T. Imagine that.
Other streaks at stake tonight: The Mountaineers have lose six in a row. They need four straight wins to reach a fifth straight NCAA Tournament and a 10th straight postseason appearance.
About that: No team has won four games in four days in the Big 12 tournament, which means only a top-four seed has won the title (actually, only Nos. 1-3 have won). WVU is the No. 8 seed. Must be a “hell of a league.”
Let’s roll …
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What begins tonight with participants not familiar with the undercard ends Saturday with a team cutting down a net at the Sprint Center knowing there is more basketball to be played in next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Such a thing ought to be somewhere near the backs of the minds of WVU players, but then again, this is a team that’s suddenly taken to thinking about the other half of things.
“Our focus is to play the first half like we’re playing the second half and play like we’re down 20 points from the start,” freshman Eron Harris said.
Harris, who has never played in a college postseason game, is being sincere. After 31 regular-season games, the Mountaineers seem at peculiar peace with an identity created by a series of frustrating first halves and surging second halves.
“We’ve got to come out hungry, maybe go into the locker room before the game and act like we’re down 20 points so we come out with the right mindset to play hungrier,” Harris said. “I think everyone has seen that at our best we can beat some of the best teams in the nation. It’s up to us.”
So said Dana Holgorsen Tuesday following the second day of spring practice at WVU.
It’s very similar to two years ago. Offensively, we were just feeling our way. Last spring it was similar, but with experienced guys. We have a plan, and we are just going to go out there and play football and evaluate guys. We will try to put them in position to be successful and assemble some sort of depth chart. That depth chart will change when we add 20 guys in the summer.
