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

Baseball rumor mill!

June 8, 2017 by Mike Casazza

I’m telling you, West Virginia baseball has arrived. Made a NCAA regional and threatened a top seed. Got hosed by a bad call in a big game, which is very big-time and also familiar to you and the sporting events on the biggest stages. Earned a seat on the coaching carousel.

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Oh?

by Mike Casazza

Let’s check in on the coaching search at Ohio State.

Good game, Bob

by Mike Casazza
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Dana Holgorsen and Bob Stoops opposed one another 13 times when Stoops was still the head football coach at Oklahoma and Holgorsen was an assistant and offensive coordinator at Texas Tech, the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State and the head coach at West Virginia.

Stoops won 11 times and lost twice, because of course Bob Stoops won double-digit games. He did it 14 times in 18 seasons.

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Bob Stoops: Out.

June 7, 2017 by Mike Casazza
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Here’s an absolute stunner.

The Big 12, kind of uneven in football and without an abundance of national acclaim in the absence of Oklahoma’s accomplishments under Stoops, now counts seven coaching changes at six schools since West Virginia joined the league.

Just for fun, can you name the active head coaches who have won a national title? I count four.

Bob Huggins: Acrobat

by Mike Casazza

 

I think we glanced over this, likely in the comments, but I’m trying to think of a non-conference game that was or will be more anticipated than this one. I guess UCLA in 2007 was the last one on a similar scale, but I have to think this trumps that. Then we’re talking, what, UNLV? That’s 1983! Heck, where might this be on the list of home games, whether in conference play or outside of it?

Heady stuff, this is. You know it. I know it. Bob Huggins and John Calipari know it.

“Bob Huggins heard before I did and he was so happy,” Calipari told The Cats’ Pause during the SEC spring meeting in Sandestin.

Then offering his best impersonation of the Mountaineers coach, Calipari said, “He called me and said, ’You know you’re playing in Morgantown this year and I couldn’t be happier. I’m doing backflips.’

“I told Bob, ‘I’m trying to get that changed. Has it been announced?’ He said, ‘It’s done, don’t you try to change it. I gotta get off the phone.’”

Fortunately, we’ve got a long time before Jan. 27.

The Big 12 tees up WVU golf

by Mike Casazza
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West Virignia has only had a (reinstated) golf team for two years now. The state has had The Greenbrier for much longer. Sleepy time in the south will take a break for a few days in 2019. The resort will be the site of the Big 12 men’s golf championships.

“The Greenbrier is truly a treasure when it comes to American golf,” WVU men’s golf coach Sean Covich said. “There is much tradition and history associated with it. We are proud to bring the best conference in college golf to Old White TPC in 2019.”

Five Big 12 programs competed in this year’s NCAA men’s championship. Oklahoma won the 2017 national crown, the fourth Big 12 team to win a national men’s golf title since the league’s debut.

And now we wait

by Mike Casazza

D’Angelo Hunter is the latest West Virginia men’s basketball player to enroll. His arrival was announced by the team’s Twitter account this morning. He spent the past two seasons at Navarro College in Texas, and he played more as a sophomore than he did as a freshman. His stats suggest he did a little of everything — 15.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game last season — but they reveal a concern, too. He wasn’t a terribly accurate shooter (and this assumes you trust the accuracy of junior college bookkeeping and ignore the possibility that sometimes a kid has to shoot to help his team).

The Mountaineers aren’t frightened, and you’ll remember Tarik Phillip was a below-average shooter who made himself a very good shooter.

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Here and gone

June 6, 2017 by Mike Casazza
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Say hello to the newly enrolled members of West Virginia’s football team. Davis, Brown, Johns, Loe, McDougle, Roberson Jr., Robinson, Sinkfield, Smith, Stills, Thurmond and Winfield are scholarship players. Twenty of the 21 players who signed in February are now enrolled. The exception is Lackawanna College’s Isaiah Hardy, and I’ve heard no bad news about him. (Update: Bah, forgot David Isreal. He signed and has not yet enrolled. I’ve heard no bad news about him, either.)

One name I want to point out: Jack Bueltel.

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That time already?

by Mike Casazza

The preeminent West Virginia football preseason magazine is available in stores today. You can also buy it online right here.

There’s a pretty deep roster of contributors, and combined they’ve covered virtually every angle. Actually, we’ve covered virtually every angle. I threw a few words in there, and I think “Guessing game” is my feature. So, consider this an endorsement. I carry one of these with me all season because the statistics and the opponent info is really useful, but the stories will get you through to the start of the season. The fact you can get your hands on one of these now means we’re getting close.

Get a look at this while you can

June 5, 2017 by Mike Casazza

I’m not sure how long West Virginia’s basketball office lets this live online, but, hey, offseason pickup games! You’ll see a lot of people you recognize in there, and you’ll no doubt take pride and pleasure in knowing they’re already hard at work for the upcoming season and — holy cow, who’s the chiseled guy in the red tank top swatting shots and taking charges?

Analysts say it’s this guy. He has been on campus, but don’t assume anything here. He and Magic Bender were teammates at Mountain Mission, so he’s familiar with WVU and the coaches. The story goes he’s touring places he’s considering, and the player and the schools are simply getting to know one another.

Two players with futures we can more clearly define? Teddy Allen and Wesley Harris. Both started summer school at WVU today.