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

Heastie on board

January 15, 2009 by Mike Casazza

The one I thought would enroll this week has indeed enrolled and WVU now has a real player in the receiving corps: Meet Logan Heastie.

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Well, he does a mean meow

January 14, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Pat White’s quest to reach the NFL begins next week with practices for the Senior Bowl, which are generally more important than the game itself. The game, in Mobile, Ala., is Jan. 24 and White is, in essence, one of the reasons the event exists. After four years of college as a highly successful player, he gets four practices and one game to show off to NFL personnel who need further convincing.

And the interest is indeed there.

The Dolphins are intrigued by West Virginia quarterback Pat White in the upcoming April NFL Draft with an eye on his having a major role in the team’s Wildcat offensive variation next season. That’s according to a source of ours who is privvy to personnel guru Bill Parcells telling an associate exactly that within the past few days.

This is interesting on a couple of fronts. 1) It suggests Tuna is actively engaged in draft planning and has every intention of staying on despite recent speculation. 2) It indicates Miami feels there is much life left in the Wildcat and many ways to expand it.

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Black eyes, band-aid, no worries

January 13, 2009 by Mike Casazza

You figured practices would be spirited following West Virginia’s loss to Marquette Saturday.

“They have to work hard. They don’t have a choice. The idea of someone walking around in practice is preposterous,” Bob Huggins said.

Right on cue, Cam Thoroughman had a black eye Tuesday and Devin Ebanks was wearing a band-aid above his right eye and a white headband as some sort of extra protection. Ebanks collided with Will Thomas, but I’m told Thoroughman slipped on ice while racing Cam Payne to the car in the Coliseum parking lot Thursday night.

That said, people were reasonably pleased with the response to defeat.

– Alex Ruoff declined to be interviewed and told WVU’s sports information staff he was taking the day off. The hunch is obvious, though don’t read very much into it.

“Everything’s fine. There’s nothing going on,” Da’Sean Butler said. “After a game, if you feel like you did something wrong or something happened that shouldn’t have happened, as a player you feel like saying it and that’s it.”

– Joe Mazzulla caused a minor stir when he appeared in practice gear, but that’s been going on for a while. He sometimes wears the gold scout team jersey and plays defense against the first team, just to stay sharp and in shape. He did, however, say for the first time what he’s thinking about as he tries to decide whether or not to redshirt.

“If we’re .500 in league play and I can’t make much of a difference, I’m probably not going to waste a year,” he said.

Granted, .500 in the Big East might not be a bad record, but it at least shows he’s going to consider where the team is when he feels healthy.

Looks like good news

by Mike Casazza

… in that this Manassas Journal Messenger story, known around the world as a journalist factory, reports no new news on Brandon Hogan.

Hogan, who made the trip to Charlotte, would not elaborate on the unspecified illness that kept him out of practice all week as well as the bowl game. He would only say he was sick.
But as he watched the game on TV from his hospital room with Osbourn head football coach Steve Schultze by his side, Hogan said he was touched by the way his teammates remembered him, in particular senior quarterback Pat White, who in the post-game celebration, held up Hogan’s jersey number (22) in front of the television cameras.
“That made me feel better,” Hogan said.

As I read between the lines — and piece together various bits I’ve heard and trust since the bowl — I’d say we see Hogan at spring practice.

Oh, please let this happen

by Mike Casazza

Well, it’s barely January, but is it ever too early for Backetology and Joe Lunardi?

Note the 8-9 matchup in the South Region. I’d pay to see that. Not for any personal reason. Quite the contrary, in fact. I just think each side would do everything within the legal parameters of the game to win … and maybe a few things outside those parameters.

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Let’s review

January 12, 2009 by Mike Casazza

ENShawkins said:

Mike, looks like that comment you wrote about team chemistry after the Kentucky game is becoming prophetic.

Boy, am I glad you said that. It wasn’t quite fear and loathing, but it was out in Las Vegas where we first got a glimpse at the fierce and competitive West Virginia basketball team. The Mountaineers lost to Kentucky in a game they felt they should have won, which led to them handling the loss in an unusual manner.

They only masked their fury after losing to Kentucky by declining to say who it was they were pointing fingers at.

To see such a reaction so early indicates they either care only about winning and justifying their hard work or they don’t care for the plays and the players who keep it from happening.

Or both.

This is a team that believes it works harder than anyone else in practice and is led by a coach who doesn’t understand why his guys won’t work just as hard in a game. Together, they put so much energy and emotion into one game that a loss doesn’t just hurt. Sometimes it demoralizes.

And when it demoralizes, it can be divisive.

People didn’t really agree with that column, or just didn’t want to, and they let me know through e-mail and on message boards.

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He’s no Pittsnogle

by Mike Casazza

Remember a few years back when Kevin Pittsnogle guaranteed his team would beat Marshall, this despite a documented history of struggles inside the Charleston Civic Center? Naturally, WVU lost and while Pittsnogle had an OK game, the Thundering Herd was ready to make him eat his words. They played with more energy and a greater purpose throughout the game.

Alex Ruoff was a freshman on that team and he witnessed the very nature of the Capital Classic and experienced how it could be manipulated to give one team an edge. Wednesday is his last game against Marshall, which is fine with him as long as his team understands exactly what the outcome means.

“I hate that game, honestly,” said WVU senior guard Alex Ruoff, who is 2-1 against the Thundering Herd. “It kills us if we come away with the loss and if we win it’s nothing. The guys have got to understand that and look at it like that. We need to win it and get the best out of it and think about what a loss can do to us.

“We need to take these next few days seriously and approach it the right way.”

It’s the (first?) fork-in-the-road game this year. Here’s the bad part: Three freshman have never been in the game, and they’re struggling all of a sudden; Joe Mazzulla probably won’t play; Da’Sean Butler and Wellington Smith are juniors who have played 45 and 21 minutes, respectively, in two Classics; Cam Thoroughman played five minutes last year; and Ruoff, the senior, has played 70 minutes in two games, but scored 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting. 

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.

– Marquette rather enjoyed Saturday’s game. 

- Ditto for UConn’s Renee Montgomery. 

– The same cannot be said for Alex Ruoff.

– Looking good in defeat? WVU gymnastics.

– Oh, that Pacman.

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Your weekend notebook

January 9, 2009 by Mike Casazza

I feel like this is a better place to comment upon the weekend than padding the Feedback’s stats. There’s a pretty good/meaningful basketball game tomorrow as well as this surprising move by Greg Isdaner.

Comment away …

Friday Feedback

by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which resolves to stay fat and keep on smoking in 2009. It returns as it departed — the comments are carrying the content. I rather enjoyed the debate on the Alex Ruoff shot. It proved there are various ways to watch and interpret a game and rarely is any one way wrong.

Officially, though, the last word goes to Bob Huggins.

“In hindsight, you can say, ‘Yeah, go score the ball,'” Huggins said. “If Alex makes that shot, we go up by one and you’re saying, ‘Hey, that was a great play.’ That’s a shot he generally makes.”

Ruoff’s miss was rebounded by teammate Cam Thoroughman, who was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one at the foul line.

“So what happens if we go down and throw it in there (instead of Ruoff shooting) and we get fouled and miss the free throw?” Huggins said. “The guy who got the rebound was the guy running in the lane, if you recall. Probably in hindsight we did the right thing. We got a wide-open shot, we got a rebound and we got fouled.”

So there! Want another great debate? Who represents the NBA’s rookie class in the slam dunk contest Feb. 14? Surely you say Joe Alexander, who promises to blow your mind if given the chance.

“My game plan is not to turn it into a circus,” he said. “I never liked seeing people use props or anything weird. My goal is to only do things that are actually possible in a game. People can say what they want about how the contest has been tweaked through the years and how the rules affect this and that and how certain people get gypped, but when it comes down to it, it’s about the best dunks and I think I have those.”

Same old Joe. Fame didn’t and fortune hasn’t changed him as best as I can tell. I’m hoping he wins the vote because I really believe he has something special in reserve. Come on China!

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, you never know when your words will reach the world.

Birch said:

Welcome to Morgantown Mr. Carter.

Or should we say, “Welcome to the Town of Morgan, Mr. Carter.”

Should yes we.

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