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

Uncle Mo has a closet full of jerseys

March 8, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Jeremy Hazell is probably the scariest scorer in the Big East and he had it going in back-to-back wins to end the regular season. Hazell scored 31 in an upset against St. John’s and then 21 in another upset against Marquette. In the two games, he was 8-for-11 from 3-point range.

And a few minutes ago he drilled a 3-pointer at the top of the key to tie the score and force overtime against Rutgers when everyone knew he was going to shoot it.

So you wonder not if momentum matters, but how much momentum matters. Believe it or not, WVU’s three-game winning streak is the second-longest in the Big East right now (Syracuse and Notre Dame have one a game longer).

In this league, hold on to what you can. The Mountaineers are because they believe in themselves once again.

“We did this one practice at a time and one game at a time. It was a great job not only to stay tough physically, but to stay tough mentally and follow scouting reports and do what we do.”

What WVU did was go 4-1 with home wins against ranked Notre Dame, Connecticut and Louisville and a win at Rutgers. The loss was at Big East champion Pitt and that fate fell upon a bunch of other teams this season.

Only St. John’s, Notre Dame and Louisville beat the Panthers in Big East play, and the Mountaineers topped two of those.

If you believe in the concept of momentum – and WVU Coach Bob Huggins does – then these now 20th-ranked Mountaineers have a couple things going in their favor as they return to the scene of their prime to defend the Big East title it won last March.

“We played Georgetown last year for the tournament championship and we win and they lose and they played four games and they came out flat in the NCAA Tournament and they lost,” Huggins said. “I think it gave us a great deal of momentum and I thought we played with a lot of confidence and a lot of swagger.”

UConn ends slide

by Mike Casazza

Connecticut opened the 2011 Big East Tournament with a 97-71 victory against lowly, though feisty DePaul. The Huskies were hammering the Blue Demons early on and led by 18 points at the half, but it was a seven-point game late, even as DePaul played without Cleveland Melvin.

Then the Huskies scored 17 of the next 20 points and ran away and hid. It’s their largest margin of victory in Big East Tournament play. That’s good news. UConn had lost six in a row in this event, which shocked me. In fact, I was more or less desensitized to this: WVU has the best winning percentage in the past three Big East Tournaments and is the only team to win two or more games in the past three.

Only one other Big East team has avoided a first-game loss in each of the past three tournaments. That’d be Marquette, which plays Providence tonight and can extend its streak and give itself a shot to end WVU’s tomorrow.

Snub won’t wilt Flowers, might give him powers

by Mike Casazza

So John Flowers didn’t win the Big East’s defensive player of the year award, which I still find unusual, but understandable since Rick Jackson is a force for Syracuse in the 2-3 zone and has the credentials.

He led the league in blocked shots — Flowers was No. 2 — as well as total rebounding and defensive rebounding. Jackson averaged 7.2 defensive rebounds per game. Flowers averaged 6.6 total rebounds per game. Jackson even had more steals than Flowers.

Say what you will about the 2-3 and Jackson’s activity and assignments, but he had the superior stats and Syracuse was better than WVU in scoring defense and was best in the Big East in field-goal percentage defense. He’s a worthy winner … and John would have been, too.  

So, in short, don’t weep for John Flowers, but definitely keep an eye on him. Maybe he’s disappointed, but he is motivated and he’s done well with that in the past.

Back in 2008, WVU played and lost an NCAA Sweet Sixteen game against Xavier. Flowers was a freshman on that team and he sat on the bench and watched all 45 minutes of a game that went to overtime and went against the Mountaineers largely because they couldn’t defend the Musketeers in the game’s key moments.

“I don’t think he really knew what it took to play defense for Huggs,” said senior point guard Joe Mazzulla of Flowers.

“I think he larned when he didn’t get in the Xavier game it was going to take something else.

“I think he’s really matured and from that point on he started to take defense seriously and commit himself to the game.”

Ring the bell

by Mike Casazza

Actually, John Marinatto did that yesterday as the Big East’s commissioner ceremonially commenced conference’s tournament week by ringing the bell on Wall Street. Apropos becaus the feeling is the always perplexing Big East Tournament might be at its head-scratching best this season.

“Anything you could tell me that could happen this week, I’d believe it,” Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun told The Post. “If someone thinks they’ve got it figured out, I’d love to hear it. Because I’ve been in this business for 39 years and I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

What’s going to happen, beginning today, is the nation’s premier conference hosting what could be its most unpredictable tournament in the World’s Most Famous Arena.

Hyperbole, you say?

Consider this: The 2011 Big East Tournament came up just shy of being the first tournament of four or more days to have two nationally ranked teams playing on the opening day.

Calhoun’s Huskies, ranked No. 21, are the ninth seed and open the tourney at noon today against DePaul. Villanova, just outside the

Top 25 national rankings in 28th, begins the night session against South Florida.

The calculations like Pitt and Notre Dame the most — and WVU not so much — while Las Vegas agrees … on both accords. The Panthers and the Fighting Irish enjoy 2-to-1 odds but seven of the 11 NCAA (worthy) teams enjoy odds at 12-to-1 or better. That’s ridiculous. The field has 30-to-1 odds, which is the same as Marquette and better than Villanova (50-to-1).

Another reason to embrace change at WVU

March 7, 2011 by Mike Casazza

No surprise that Texas is becoming an immediate and increasingly larger part of West Virginia’s recruiting philosophy and no surprise it’s generally awesome.

The Mountaineers are in on a Texas quarterback named Ford Childress. I’d never heard of Ford Childress before yesterday, but if you had asked me Saturday, “Have you heard of this Ford Childress?” I would have lied to you and said, “Yeah, the high school quarterback from Texas … “

I wonder if parents in Texas just know they’re going to raise a high school quarterback when they give him one of these names or if the kid understands early on that with his name he has to become a Texas high school quarterback. Further, why does Childress look exactly like Jason Street? And don’t ask me where I got this, but here’s Childress’ girlfriend and here’s Lyla Garrity.

This is all for me today. I’m off to the compliance office to see if WVU will petition the NCAA to enroll Childress right now New York for the Big East Tournament. The Big East will announce some awards in a little while: defensive player of the year, sixth man of the year and the sportsmanship award. Tomorrow we’ll learn of the player of the year, rookie of the year, coach of the year and scholar-athlete of the year.

Your guesses, recommendations and justifications are welcome here.

I’ll be back at it with a full slate tomorrow. Meantime, wonder if this year is at all like last year for the Mountaineers. (Comedy at the 6:24 mark.)

The finish reminded the players of the overtime win at Villanova that ended the 2010 regular season.

“It was very similar to this game – losing late in the game, battling back and hitting some shots at the end,” said senior guard Joe Mazzulla. “We fed off that momentum in the postseason and it’s up to us to do that again now.”

It must be March

March 6, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Never mind the inexplicable and unacceptable snow here today, it’s most certainly March. Yesterday WVU and Louisville played as fun a game as I can remember covering in quite some time. Someone I know who has been attending games at the Coliseum since Bob Huggins was a player put the game in his top five. Top five.

Whatever your ranking, it had all the features of March basketball and neither team could have left the Coliseum without being better off heading into postseason play.

And that’s where we’re headed now. It’s an inescapable reality. Say sports or the Madness are not your thing. It’s still popping up in the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading…

WVU aiming to finish No. 1

March 5, 2011 by Mike Casazza

(Update: 3-pointers, foul, free throws send WVU surging into postseason: http://bit.ly/fMp4Uc)

West Virginia plays host to No. 11 Louisville in a little while and attempts to secure a first-round bye in next week’s Big East Tournament and finish perhaps as high as No. 6 with a win. Even with a loss, the Mountaineers can get the bye, but wins are, of course, big because they improve not only Big East seeding, but NCAA seeding.

Part of the seeding is based on who you played and who you beat and WVU has a chance to finish above all the challengers. Play begins today with Georgetown ranked No. 1 in strength of schedule with a rating of 0.6216. The Mountaineers are No. 2 with a rating of 0.6149.

The Hoyas play at Cincinnati today. WVU has the Cardinals. Louisville is ranked. The Hoyas and Bearcats are both NCAA Tournament teams and WVU beat both of them. There’s a strong possibility WVU finishes No. 1 — and as Bob Hertzel perhaps astutely pointed out, the case might be enhanced by a loss to Louisville. A second loss to Louisville.

This is where things get silly, but maybe sensible. The SOS isn’t tied to your wins and losses, but to what your opponents do. So if Louisville sweeps WVU and gets to 24 wins, doesn’t that make WVU’s schedule more difficult than getting a win against a team it couldn’t beat before?

And the outcome in Cincinnati matters as well, but which one matters more?

I’ll hang up and listen.

Continue reading…

Friday Feedback

March 4, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which today asks a question: Are they doing it again?

“Everyone wants to think about how perfect last year was, but it was by no means perfect,” said point guard Joe Mazzulla. “It was around this time we started to come together. It’s the same thing this year. We believe in each other and certain people are stepping up as leaders and the others are following behind them.”

To begin, let’s understand last year’s team was in a much more favorable position when it got its act together late in the regular season. That was a top-1o team that began and ultimately ended the season with Final Four aspirations. This team? Not the same.

Yet a year ago I think WVU was a little uncertain of what it was and what it could accomplish — remember, in late February those Mountaineers were written off as opening-weekend casualties — until beating Villanova in the regular-season finale. That was tremendous tournament prep — road game, 20,000 in a NBA arena, comeback, overtime, game-winning basket. Those Mountaineers took a lot from that game and used it to power their postseason progression.

This team? Again, not the same. The uncertainty isn’t the same because, frankly, the ceiling isn’t the same, but I do think it’s fair to say everyone in that locker room believed they were capable of much better things than they’d been producing. It seemed to me the Notre Dame win put a lot of eggs into the basket WVU carried to Pitt, where the second half was a pretty discouraging outcome. Yet these Mountaineers have actually shown some things in the past two games.

They dominated Rutgers on the glass and then outrebounded UConn, which is always encouraging. The offense comes a little easier. WVU is not prolific. It scored 65 points in both wins and has only topped 70 twice in 12 games … but maybe 65 is the new 70? The Mountaineers are mostly setting up and taking better shots and getting guys in spots where they can score. Mazzulla drives. Turk and Flowers post. KJ finds places he knows. Truck gets to the foul line. So on and so forth. They still don’t shoot it well, but these are better shots. Heck, they attempted only 12 3s against UConn, teh second-lowest total this season.

An even better sign is the way WVU has played in the second half of both games. That wacky streak where the opponent scores more in the second half than the first is alive at 19 games, but WVU has actually outscored the past two opponents by eight and seven points in the second half and twice shot 52.6 percent. The Mountaineers were being outscored by 31 points in the second halves of Big East games this season.

Whatever the verdict entering tomorrow’s game, the constitution of the team believed, even in its lowest moments this season, WVU could pull itself together and be right in March, where the team has won 10 straight games. That this is at the very least being discussed is a victory for them. Every team wants to be peaking in March.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t give up.

Sean Potts said:

He was not upset about the players in the pictures – he was upset at the old and tired looking frames.

I really don’t want to get into this because it’s being taken way too liberally and translated way too unfairly, but, yes, when Dana Holgorsen asked “How old are those?” I think he quite clearly articulated he thought the frames were old and tired looking. I didn’t ask, but I’ll have to assume he knows Pat White and Jarrett Brown both played quarterback at WVU in the past three years and has nothing against them as players.

glibglub said:

I’m working on this great piece that I’m sure Holgs would love: an abstract interpretation of a Red Bull can. Oil on canvas. Real classy. So, if you’re a well-heeled booster and want to gift him with something nice for his office . . .

All better now …

Continue reading…

UConn gets the point, WVU gets the drop on Huskies

March 3, 2011 by Mike Casazza

(Reminder: Ask Me About WVU Sports … We begin at 1 p.m. Here is your link.)

Interesting back-and-forth action last night at the Coliseum. Neither WVU nor UConn could get away from one another and in the middle of the second half the two were engaged in a game neither probably expected. They were trading scores, which is absolutely not what the Mountaineers like, or are known, to do and which is what the Huskies probably thought WVU couldn’t accomplish.

Yet the game was tied six times and the lead changed eight times,  including on five straight possessions. UConn was incredibly hot and made 7 of 8 shots, but could never lead by more than a point. And right about then, WVU changed things up and gave the Huskies fits with the old, reliable a point drop zone.

 UConn made only free throws during WVU’s 10-4 run and went 4:59 without a point and 7:58 without a basket.

“We had to change the tempo,” Huggins said. “We had to figure out a way we could get some stops.”

Shabazz Napier ended the spell with a jumper with  2:50 remaining that cut WVU’s lead to 56-53, but the Mountaineers scored the next nine points, including a critical second-chance basket by forward Kevin Jones.

“They were getting in the paint too much in the first half and the zone kept them out of the paint and made them shoot more jumpers and not focus on getting the ball inside as much as they usually like to do,” Jones said.

“They’re a big team that traditionally gets inside and makes things happen there. We put the zone in and tried to hold them to outside shots and it kind of frustrated them, especially when the jump shots weren’t going in. That’s what we wanted to do to them.”

Kemba Walker missed six straight shots late in the game and only scored on a negligible 3-pointer with 14 seconds to go — and then tried to steal the ball from Joe Mazzulla as Mazzulla tried to dribble out the clock … and take a guess how much Joe liked that. Nevertheless, Mazzulla, and his help defense, got the best of Walker, who was 8-for-23 and had to work and work and work throughout the game.

“We did a good job early in the game wearing him down,” said Mazzulla, who chased Walker around the court in the first half and made it hard for teammates to get the ball to Walker. “We kept contact on him and we used him in the bulk of our offense. We switched screens with him and hit him with screens and on the defensive end made sure we had contact with him at all times.”

Dana Holgorsen does not care for dated wall art

by Mike Casazza

(Reminder: Ask Me About WVU Sports … We begin at 1 p.m. Here is your link.)

West Virginia’s offensive coordinator/coach apparent is, like the man who hired him, into facility upgrades at Milan Puskar Stadium. He believes in the aesthetic and financial value of suites, but that’s just the beginning. 

Holgorsen is particularly concerned with keeing his program’s bells and whistles competitive nationally. If you don’t, or if you aren’t, then you’re something of a dinosaur. A slow dinosaur. Time and opponents are going to pass you by, he believes.

This is a man who sees needs and/or ideas for improvements wherever he looks.

“This is a good, functional building,” he said. “The players park, come in, they meet, they eat, they lift, they dress. Very functional. But there are always things you can do better. Like those two pictures right there, right?”

With that, Holgorsen gestures to a wall from across where he sits in his office and at framed action photographs of former WVU quarterbacks Patrick White and Jarrett Brown. Those are the remaining decorative effects of Jeff Mullen, who coached both players when he was on the Mountaineers staff from 2008-10.

“How old are those?” Holgorsen said. “There’s always stuff like that that you can improve. That’s in the whole building. Furniture can always improve. Pictures can always improve. The weight room floor can always improve. Weight room equipment can always improve. The training table can always improve. The study table in the back. The computers get old and you’ve got to replace the computers with new ones.

“That is something that never changes. The stadium, there hasn’t been work to the stadium in a long time.”