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

Syracuse practice, where a man shed his pants

December 26, 2012 by Mike Casazza

BRONX, N.Y. — Syracuse huddled before its practice Wednesday morning and listened to Coach Doug Marrone go over some things on the schedule and on his mind. He then yielded to this coach, who was talking and had the guys laughing before he took off his pants.

I did not get a picture of that. I was snapping away at the huddle in search of some lead art and was lucky I captured this, which was the beginning of the act. You’re just not expecting someone to shed his pants.

The man was wearing shorts and the team broke the huddle right after this, so the point was that while it was cold, everyone had a job to do and a duty to push through the conditions.

That said, it was not so cold that maniac/quarterback Ryan Nassib needed long sleeves for his arms or sweat pants for his legs.

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Source: Madsen out for bowl

by Mike Casazza

NEW YORK — Every game needs a story line, right?

It’s early — actually hours before the first WVU practice here — but what we have right now is a team looking for a center. Joe Madsen is out for Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl and a Daily Mail source said the senior is academically ineligible for a second bowl game.

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WVU v. Radford: We are all Minnesota Transition Charter School

December 22, 2012 by Mike Casazza

 

 

 

“It’s really special to do something with your brother like that,” Kyle said. “Our goal growing up was to be Division I ball players, and to be living dream at the same time is pretty incredible.”

 

WVU v. Oakland: Who will play and for how long?

December 19, 2012 by Mike Casazza

I love that logo. I love that the Golden Grizzlies list Twitter handles on the player roster. I love that you’re in control tonight. Have a blast. Can’t wait to read you in the morning to see how things went.

… and I’m out

by Mike Casazza

Must take my remaining vacation days this week since I’m on the ground in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan first thing next Wednesday morning. I’ve already prepped Chuck McGill on forthcoming news — and there should be some, though it looks like WVU’s kinda-sorta worrisome grade situation will be OK, likely with one exception.

There are two basketball games happening in my absence and, as we’e discussed the past few days, there’s plenty to keep an eye on tonight.

“Right now the dribble drive and kick-out is our best weapon,” Harris said. “We’ve got guys who can shoot it and we’ve got a guard who can drive it. I don’t know if our post game is there yet, but we’ve got a lot of time to work on it.

“At this point, I really can’t even say what’s our best weapon (because) we’ve got so much to work on, but we can always have two guys on the floor who can shoot and that can be a good weapon for us with the point guard we have.”

I’ve got your games covered tonight and Saturday and the duty again rests in the reliable hands of Michael Carvelli. I’ll open up a live post for tonight’s game, if that’s OK with you, and I’ll do the same for Saturday. I want everyone to check on on lcj Saturday, though.

Meantime, to keep things festive, here’s a picture of my dog in front of our Christmas tree.

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Mountaineers back at work

December 18, 2012 by Mike Casazza

I was in the neighborhood of the Coliseum around 1 p.m. today and decided to get there really early for the 1:30 interviews. Deniz Kilicli, as you can see, had the same idea. He was working out more than an hour before practice started and it was just him and a manager for most of that time.

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On WVU’s weird basketball schedule

by Mike Casazza

Tomorrow is WVU’s 10th game … and third home game. That’s the latest the third home game has been played since the 1997 and 1993 seasons. In the Coliseum era, only once in the 1988 season was the third game played later — Dec. 21.

This season started earlier than all three and this season has more games played before the third home game. So that’s unusual and the inconsistent tine between games only further hampers things. Yet WVU plays its next four games at home and with no class on campus. In fact, the 4-5 Mountaineers, off to their worst start since the 1999 season, play six times before the spring semester begins.

If this is a team in need of some help, this little stretch can help. Yet that’s up to the Mountaineers, who thus far haven’t inspired much of such faith.

“Since I’ve been here, we have had guys that were very committed to what we’re doing,” he said. “Joe Alexander worked as hard as anybody. I told you guys all along I was very impressed and very grateful to Darris Nichols and Jamie Smalligan and those guys who bought in – I mean, they bought in from Day One and were committed to doing what I wanted them to do.

“Then we lose Joe and we lose Darris and Jamie and Da’Sean stepped up. Wellington Smith got a whole lot better. They were in the gym. They weren’t hanging out on High Street. They weren’t hanging out at some girl’s house. They were in the gym committed to what we’re doing.”

The frank Stedman Bailey

by Mike Casazza

You and I tend to gauge these things differently, and while I still contend that silly catch against South Florida last season was one of the best, given the situation, I’ve ever seen, I’ll always admire Stedman Bailey for his answers to our questions.

There were a lot of those, this season especially, so it should probably be no surprise that he didn’t attach a lot of accessories to his decision. Once aware of records within reach, he was honestly concerned about where his stats might be next season and how that might affect his future — and his son’s future.

“I kind of felt it was only right to go out with them,” Bailey said. “I also think at this point my stock probably can’t get any higher and I knew I’d have a new quarterback next year and Tavon won’t be there on the field and defenses would probably key on me and try to just cover me and I could have my numbers go down from what I did this year.”

I don’t want to reward him for simply being honest, as rare as that trait can be, but I think we all appreciate that reply. We knew the score, we suspected he’d be leaving and we even predicted and understood the reasons. At the very least, that was his pitch on the way out, as opposed to a curveball that everyone would have been too smart to believe.

News! About football!

December 17, 2012 by Mike Casazza

1) Stedman Bailey is going pro. He informed Dana Holgorsen and the head coach told the media at his press conference Monday.

2) Keith Patterson is your new defensive coordinator. Joe DeForest is associate head coach/safeties coach. There is no co- anymore. DeForest did not speak with reporters Monday, but Holgorsen was complimentary of DeForest as Holgorsen detailed the move and the duties.

Holgorsen said DeForest is “very, very, very valuable to our coaching staff, to our football program because he wears many hats.”

3) Graduate assistant Andrew Magee, invited to WVU by DeForest this season, will coach cornerbacks in the bowl game. He was a pretty good player, when healthy, at Oklahoma State who had a shot in the NFL before the Chicago Bears red-flagged a neck injury.

4) Grades were due at WVU Monday. Holgorsen said he wasn’t sure about player statuses but hoped to know later in the day. I’ve been told there are worries about a small amount of key players, though WVU thinks most, if not all, will be clear of eligibility concerns.

There can be no looking back now, right?

by Mike Casazza

By now, you know that Bob Huggins undid that top button Saturday night and let most of his team have it after an 81-66 loss to Michigan. We’ve seen a bunch of these through the years, but this one was more pointed and personal than the others. He named names. He referenced incidents. He highlighted lowlights. It was 10 minutes of gloom for a seemingly doomed team.

“Let me tell you what those moves were from,” he said. “I’m sick of it. I’m sick of watching guys stand around and watching guys not compete and watching guys miss shot after shot after shot and never come early, never stay late and don’t even think about coming in on an off day.

“And they’re going to tell me they care? I want some guys who care. We’ve got a great coaching staff. We’ll coach them up.”

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