… in style. Look at the tie. Peep the lapel pin!
Early in the question and answer part, there’s a question about adding to the list of 25 names and Dana sort of tiptoes around things. He gives an answer, though while he says things, he’s not saying things.
This would seem to all be in reference to DeShawn Coleman, Marquion Lane and Jacky Marcellus.
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Good morning on this, the first day of the 2013 signing period. This is also known as national signing day. WVU went to sleep with 24 committed players last night and probably only a little drama to live today. It didn’t look as though there would be too many surprises, if any, though that sort of static seems unlikely given the nature of this day and the whims of teenagers and the ways those whims can so easily be influenced.
Anyway, the Mountaineers had already announced 10 signings by 8 a.m. and seven of those were the players already enrolled. The other three were prep players and two were committed sign. That is to say, one jolt already.
I’ll keep this running throughout the day, up to and including Dana Holgorsen’s 3 p.m. press conference, from which we’ll post some videos and interviews afterward.
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Well, here’s a swerve. How many time have we posted and dissected Bob Huggins in a postgame press conference this season? Perhaps we owe him this one, a pleasant 14 or so minutes where he seems comfortable with the current state of affairs — and even the smallest crowd of the season — following the Big Monday win against Texas.
Maybe he’s figuring this out before our eyes because he’s not really thinking about any of it. Simple replies to questions aiming at something more profound, but it does turn a light to whatever it is that’s happening these past three games for WVU — and again, it’s not much, but it’s better; it might not be going very far, but it’s going somewhere.
And for Harris, now the team’s third-leading scorer with Juwan Staten and Aaric Murray getting closer and closer ever game? He hasn’t shot it well the past two games (8-for-22). He’s been erratic in the first halves (2-for-11 shooting overall, 1-for-9 from 3-point range), but he’s found his way to 31 points and two solid second halves.
“If I’m cold, in the second half I try to be hot.”
That’ll do.
You are looking live inside the Coliseum, that after an adventure getting here. I won’t litter Tier 4 with those thoughts, but let’s just say that of the many things I can think of that Morgantown needs right now — more salt, more trucks, maybe a police officer directing traffic on the busiest road in the area when power (read: every traffic light) is out, etc. — it would appear it needs the Weather Channel most.
This storm, which was in advisory mode since late last night, was seemingly a surprise. Yet WVU is wholly prepared.
Oh! Look at that! A plow and police. What type of palm reader did those WVU executives go to so that they might make such bold preparations? Maybe it was some of Joe DeForest’s magic.
I digress. Inside, this is not another stripe the arena occasion, but you have cards on the seats again.
Easier said than done and I have a feeling many of those signs will be untouched when this thing tips — and it will tip. No cancellation here, despite …
Great day for a bowl game.
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Think about the close or “encouraging” losses or the nice and inspiring wins WVU has had this season — and there have been a few. How many times have the Mountaineers thought or given reason to believe that this might be the occasion when things change?
And how often has WVU mismanaged the moment after the moment? A lot. Saturday’s win at Texas Tech really was the first time the Mountaineers made good on momentum and it’s crazy what that can do to a team in their situation.
It was a necessity, too. Players chanted “Do or die” as they broke a huddle outside their locker room and headed to the floor before the start of the game.
They’re aware their season could be defined or discarded by the stretch that started against Texas Tech and sees three straight games and four out of five against teams with WVU in the bottom four spots in the Big 12 standings.
“We can make a run here, because of our strength of schedule,” Huggins said. “Historically the (NCAA Tournament’s selection committee) has tried to reward teams, where if we get to 17 or 18 (wins) and play well in the conference tournament, we’ve got a chance. It’s not over yet.”
His stats and performances aren’t prolific, but they’re getting better and they’ve become fairly consistent all of a sudden. Three straight games in double figures, that for the first time all season, and a few moments every game that significantly affect things and make you say, “There it is.”
It is a tricky thing, though.
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You are looking live inside United Spirit Arena, home of Texas Tech women’s and men’s basketball. More on that in a moment. Lots going on in this picture. Bob Huggins is doing his pregame sit-down with Tony Caridi, capably flanked by his formidable one-man security force, C.J. Culliton.
I would not want to cross that man, not because he looks like he’d cuillton me into the hospital, but because I’ve had nothing but amiable interactions with him and his raining blows down upon me, or someone who dares to get too familiar with Huggins, would change that visage.
In the background, you’ll see WVU warming up before the 1:46 p.m. tip. Not pictured: Matt Humphrey, who is back on campus once again nursing that shooting shoulder back to health.
Betwixt foreground and background, slugging some Gatorade, is Terry Henderson. He’s not warming up and he winced during the brief part I saw him participate in before this shot, which was after he went to the locker room, presumably for some sort of treatment. I’m told he’s doubtful.
As for the gym …
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Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which at 6 a.m. began a 16-hour sojourn to Lubbock, Texas. I know you don’t care, but I couldn’t believe it. I thought if I typed it and saw the words it would then be real. It’s still unbelievable. Makes the 13-hour day Sunday seem tidy.
I’m not playing in a game tomorrow, but I’m not going to pretend WVU will be completely unaffected by this. These are long days and what people fail to realize is how much time and work goes into travel time.
Well, that and the cumulative effect.
Say WVU leaves the Coliseum for the Clarksburg airport at, 0h, 2 p.m. today. The team won’t take off until about 4 p.m. Then the charter flight to almost any Big 12 city is between two and three hours, which is fine.
But there are only three Big 12 cities WVU will fly to directly this season. There are six trips with bus rides after flights and people overlook what goes into deplaning and prepping and boarding a bus. It’s not another two-hour ordeal, but it’s not instantaneous, either. The bus ride follows and those can take some time, too. Before you know it, the day is gone and it’s time to check in and go to sleep.
And there are nine of these, none longer than this one, and this one is followed by a Monday home game against Texas, though the Mountaineers do catch a break with a 1:30 p.m. game Saturday and then a 9 p.m. start Monday. I have to think Bob Huggins is thinking about this aspect as well as recruiting — and, wow, will we ever get to that — as he evaluates his program’s fit with the Big 12. The nonconference schedule has to tighten up a little but, I bet.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, dial it down.
Oliver Luck said:
THIS ANDREW LUCK FATHER I AIN’T NO IDIOT
Indeed.
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So now it seems the Big 12 will probably ask the NCAA to allow the conference to play a championship game with just 10 teams, two shy of the number the governing body mandates for such an event.
“At a time when lots of deregulation is taking place, it seems a little bit odd that the NCAA would be describing how we determine our champions,” Bowlsby said Wednesday night, when he watched the Iowa State-Oklahoma State men’s basketball game.
“I think it’s reasonable to say if you’re going to have a champion that you’re going to have to designate it in one fashion or another. But to say it has to be between 12 schools or that there has to be divisional play or there has to be a round-robin, we’re deregulating lots of things and that certainly is a candidate.”
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