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

A case for Huggins

March 4, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Will West Virginia finally get the Big East Coach of the Year award? After years of John Beilein frankly not getting his due and Bob Huggins coming into the conference during Mike Brey’s best year, the odds are pretty good this might be WVU’s year.

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Technically speaking…

by Mike Casazza

…WVU doesn’t speak much during a game.

A STAT the Mountaineers don’t mind trailing in? Technical fouls. With USF Coach Stan Heath’s well-earned technical in the second half, WVU fell behind 7-0 in that category this season.

Honestly, with the consistent state of mediocre officiating, that’s amazing. And who would have thought Bob Huggins would have coached a game at Fifth Third Arena in which three technicals were called and none went against him or the Mountaineers?

Big scare for Big Fisch

March 3, 2009 by Mike Casazza

In case you didn’t know it, former center D’or Fischer — remember how good he was against Wake Forest? — is one of the better players in Europe and stars for Maccabi Tel Aviv. If he’s escaped your thoughts, it’s time for a change. Fischer was cut badly in an attack outside a nightclub Monday.

“D’or arrived in the early morning with a big and very deep cut on his cheek. He couldn’t close his eye or smile easily,” Dr. Eyal Gur, head of plastic surgery at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, stated in a joint press conference with Maccabi Electra. “We performed a micro-surgical process to repair the damage. He will be released from hospital in two to three days and should be able to play again in two to three weeks. It will take between three and six months, if at all, until normal function returns. We have to wait until the healthy nerve grows. We hope he’ll be able to smile and shut his eye as before.”

Maccabi plays in Europe’s Top 16 Thursday at Alba Berlin, home club for an old teammate.

WVU is watching

by Mike Casazza

Everyone and everything.

Ever wonder how the teams gather film on whoever it is thay play from round to round? It seems like a scramble, right? Brackets are announced. Prepare for Team A. Play the game with an eye on Game B. Beat Team A and prepare for the winner of Game B.

In conference play, there’s less than a 24-hour window between games. In NCAA play, it’s less than 48 unless it’s the time between the second round and the Sweet 16 or the Elite Eight and the Final Four. There’s a week between those rounds and there is some more recent footage from the initial rounds, but you’re not thinking about those opponents when trying to advance.

The responsibility for video preparation rests with the team’s video coordinator and his staff. At WVU, that’s Josh Eilert, Joel Pinto and Kevin Schappell, respectively. They’ve been and will continue to be busy.

Now his office is the headquarters for WVU’s scouting system, featuring six DirecTV DVRs with the capability to record 12 games at once, six monitors, eight DVD recorders and a duplicator.

A 24-inch iMac has the specialized SportsCode video analysis software as well as the invaluable inventory of all the year’s games recorded off television.

“The only thing you really miss on TV is a lot of time they cut away from out-of-bounds plays,” Eilert said. “We watch the TV cut as a staff and we like the broadcast. You listen to the commentators, who’ve seen the teams play more than we have.

“Last year, listening to the Arizona commentators and their conversation, you could see the tendencies as players. They obviously knew more about them than me or you.”

Andy Kettler really does like kids

by Mike Casazza

The basketball team’s strength and conditioning coach took this job because things just didn’t click the right way when he was working in baseball.

“My mentality and the work ethic I want out of the kids fits better at the college level instead of with 35-year-old athletes who have been through multiple surgeries,” he said.

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Sharpen your disdain for ESPN

by Mike Casazza
 

College GameDay is coming to the Coliseum Saturday. Why knows, maybe the ire-drawing World Wide Leader provides the juice needed to empower a needed WVU victory. Fifth place in the Big East is now impossible with Villanova smoking Notre Dame last night. Eighth or even ninth looks likely.

As for Saturday, WVU’s well-defined, well-organized procedures are now available.

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Truck: A pick-up

March 2, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Numbers can lie. Truck Bryant’s don’t. Since he took over the starting point guard job for good in December, WVU has won more often in spite of him than because of him. Look at his worst performances: Cincinnati, Pitt II, Syracuse, Louisville, South Florida I, Marquette. All losses and a game WVU nearly lost (USF). Of those losses, you could argue they’re all winnable if Bryant is steady and not shaky, even Marquette, when he was scoreless, but so ineffective it caused an early string of trouble on a team that still played close for 35 minutes.

His best? South Florida II, Providence, Pitt I, Georgetown, Marshall, Miami (Ohio), Duquesne. All wins and a Pitt game for which he can’t be blamed.

And as WVU was hot and cold the past five weeks, so, too, was Bryant. Sunday, though, he was sharp.

“He’s been in a little slump lately, the freshman blues,” said senior Alex Ruoff, who went to nearby Central High and had many of the WVU fans in his corner among the 5,082 inside the Sun Dome. “He’s been playing with a little more confidence lately and he knows how much we need him. Coach expressed how much we need him to be successful this year. We’re good when he’s good.”

Bryant had 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting and added two assists and a steal without a turnover. He had eight of the team’s first 13 points.

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Hoping against tie-breakers

by Mike Casazza

Looooooong story short, WVU could finish anywhere from fifth through ninth in the Big East standings and have either a bye or no bye in the tournament. It’s a fluid situation and, for example, you can rule out fifth place if Villanova wins at Notre Dame tonight.

Then again, if Notre Dame wins, Providence beats Villanova Thursday and WVU beats DePaul and Louisville, WVU finishes fifth. If that same scenario plays out and Syracuse beats Rutgers and Marquette to force a four-way tie, WVU is again fifth.

The Mountaineers could also finish eighth — tie with Providence, Syracuse and Cincinnati — or ninth — tie with Syracuse and Cincinnati.

The best shot at a bye is to win out. Anything else threatens to put WVU into the first day of the tournament. Tie-breakers threaten to bend my brain into a knot.

If you think you’re ready, here are the Big East’s tie-breaker procedures.

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Talking Points

by Mike Casazza

…from the weekend that was. For your use in elevator rides, trips to the water cooler and other awkward moments on a Monday. Sponsored by “The Chase for 0-18.”

– USF: Not so good 

– And, to think, two of the Bulls’ wins are against dreadful DePaul.

– The GARC is to rifle, I guess, what the Big East is to men’s basketball.

– You are where you’re from: Meghan Morris is getting it done!.

– Please, do not understimate the underpublicized work of the women’s team.

Friday Feedback

February 27, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which, if it were socially acceptable, would drape itself in gold slacks, a sports coat and shoes without reservation. Last night’s game is really pretty self-explanatory — lots of late chances, no follow-through — so this is an abridged edition. Plus, a flight to Tampa and a date with several spring training games awaits, to say nothing of a suddenly tricky game Sunday against South Florida. Let’s skip the tribute video and dive right in.

As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, sometimes you just can’t win.

JP said:

NIT! NIT! 

I’m not ready to go there yet, but WVU could have made things a heck of a lot easier by winning — check that — by cashing in on one of those final four possessions. Now Sunday is a “must win,” according to Da’Sean Butler. I don’t see that being easy whatsoever. And is it just me, or have these guys been through not only some really tough and painful losses, but some drastic ups and downs the past two years? We’ll see how resilient they are. Again.

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