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

Bob Huggins: His pitch needs refining

January 22, 2013 by Mike Casazza

This is splendid, except one part: Huggins is actually a fantastic fundraiser.

The sound, and the consequences, of silence

January 21, 2013 by Mike Casazza

My guess is that thought none of use were in the locker room after Saturday’s loss, we could use our background knowledge, pick out a few words and reasonably describe the scene. Bob Huggins usually treats his players to honesty and chases it with volume for emphasis.

Our descriptions, quite likely, would have been wrong.

The doors protecting the locker room were closed for about 30 minutes after the game and we heard nothing loud or alarming as we waited outside.

Turns out it wasn’t much different inside.

Huggins eventually opened the doors inside Mackey Arena and headed to his contractually obligated radio appearance, but his face wasn’t flush, his breaths were even and he simply sipped a bottle of water and screwed the cap back on top.

That was not the norm, either.

“It seems like he’s just over that phase,” guard Jabarie Hinds said.

That doesn’t seem like a good sign.

WVU v. Purdue: Imagine if he beats Huggins!

January 19, 2013 by Mike Casazza

 

You are looking live at Purdue Coach Matt Painter, dispatched to the treadmill 90 minutes before Saturday’s game. Perish the thought if his Boilermakers beat WVU today and Bob Huggins has to do something about it.

Never been here before, but I’ve heard things. Namely, when it’s a good good Purdue team, or a good opponent, or a nationally televised affair, this is a really tough place to play. Da’Sean Butler has told us before that the crowd here for the the 2010 game, which was a Final Four team, mind you, was the best and most disruptive he could remember. I remembered him pointing out the odd configuration as soon as I got a look at the angular place today.

Look how close to the floor the stands are. There’s not a lot of room behind the baskets before a wall rises and takes you to two sections of students that serve as shooting backdrops. The sidelines aren’t as close and they have some VIP seating there in comfy chairs, but it just feels very tight and close in here, which is the opposite of Wednesday’s surroundings.

And the students? Inventive types! Check the Paint Crew Gameday Sheet — page one and page two. As your boy Frank Giardina points out, the Paint Crew, an homage to Matt Painter, followed the Gene Pool, an homage to Gene Keady.

Then again, the whole place is kind of compact. I mean, they park you in the football stadium, which is like 90 feet from the Mackey Arena.

All aboard …

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So I’m eating dinner and the phone buzzes …

January 18, 2013 by Mike Casazza

… and this just happened on my Twitter timeline.

Outstanding.

Friday Feedback

by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, where the house never wins. Previously irrelevant, and now sadly topical, a side story to start  here today:

One picture I think I had to leave Mount Pleasant with was of Dana Holgorsen’s childhood home. I don’t necessarily know if that was true before the start of my trip, but it was by the end, mostly because it was so hard to find.

Really, it was not as easy as you would think. Nobody seemed to know or remember and nobody could pull up a document and find it for me. Perhaps lazily, I thought that would be the case after earlier efforts came up empty … and at the time, that didn’t concern me because I wasn’t writing about the house. I was writing about Mount Pleasant and one of its four most famous exports.

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89.3%

by Mike Casazza

You think Erin Harris is on a roll right now? Think he’s proved a proclivity for prime time the past three games? You’d be right, but you really should have been in the Lawrence North High School gym this one day in the fall of 2011.

It was then and there where this story started, where Bob Huggins saw something that made him simply state, “You’ve got a scholarship right now.”

And there’s symmetry because Harris and WVU play at Purdue Saturday, about 75 minutes north of where Harris first made a name for himself.

 

‘I’m done’

by Mike Casazza

Let’s grab the Windex and the paper towels and clear up one thing right away: A Bob Huggins postgame press conference is, by definition, eventful.

It seems like every one of them this season has featured an event. A one-liner, an anecdote, a compelling critique of one player or one aspect of his team, a completely transparent explanation that is so honest it makes you just a little uncomfortable.

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WVU and I both on the move

January 17, 2013 by Mike Casazza

More wheels up and down for myself and the basketball team. Those fellas arrived home around 4 a.m. and had to be in class a few hours later. They’ll practice today and tomorrow and then leave after practice for Purdue.

I’m on the way to Indianapolis, I hope, to get a look at Eron Harris’ high school … and that guy had a timely performance last night. Oh, yes, he started in place of the injured Terry Henderson, but more importantly, I just turned in a long-form feature on the Indianapolis native about his preparedness for college, thanks to Indiana high school hoops. Then, bam, 17 points and four 3-pointers. Phew.

There’s also a larger point now about making moves because Bob Huggins vowed last night to no longer rest the fortunes of this team, which has played better and sometimes quite well the past three games, on the shoulders of his bigger players, who have seen their roles wane the past three games.

In fact, he said he was “done” with it and vowed to play a small lineup moving forward. That’s what worked last night.

“We changed lineups and tried to spread them and penetrate and get shots,” Huggins said. “We played with one big. We played with the one big who tried to get a rebound.”

Something to track, but this can be traced back to the dribble-drive stuff, I think. He wanted to be a bigger, more physical team, but that doesn’t look like the best way for this collection of players to operate.

Finally, farewell for this year to Iowa and many thanks to the accommodating folks in Mount Pleasant.

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WVU v. Iowa State: Now Henderson free!

January 16, 2013 by Mike Casazza

You are looking live at the Hilton Coliseum, by reputation one of the rowdier places to play in the Big 12, so long as Iowa State is giving them something to yell about. That’s the case this season and the gym is filling quickly, thanks in large part to a long line of students waiting outside to get in here tonight for a nationally televised affair.

Now, this will change when the gym fills up and people are added to the background, but this is a very deep and open gym. It’s NCAA Tournament’y.

Now, I saw that will change when there are bodies in the background, and it will because it removes the depth, but it also adds distractions. There’s a lot to look at there.

The big pregame news here (that happened when I was in Mount Pleasant, for the record) is that freshman Terry Henderson, the team’s starting shooting guard and heretofore most reliable 3-point shooter, is back on campus with a lower back injury.

Curious what Bob Huggins will do? Me too. We know Juwan Staten is here and he is scheduled to play. Let’s pencil him in with the starting five with Hinds and, for all we know, Noreen and Rutledge. What of that second guard spot? Is it Eron Harris, at the risk of rattling the nice little off-the-bench groove he’s been in lately?

Is it Gary Browne, who gives the reserves a jolt? Let’s not forget those reserves include Aaric Murray and Deniz Kilicli, who were starters before Huggins found them lacking in an area, likely an area Brown’e play benefits.

Is it Keaton Miles? You say that’s not likely because he’s been out of sight and mind lately, but he  has the most starting experience and  would also cause the fewest rotation disruptions.

Is it a wild card, like Aaron Brown or Matt Humphrey?

Let’s find out!

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Hint!

by Mike Casazza
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