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

Don’t look now

December 15, 2008 by Mike Casazza

But someone is opening eyes at the next level.

Devin Ebanks, F, West Virginia
After getting off to a slow start, the super freshman turned in a pair of 17-rebound performances in the past week. Offensively, Ebanks has been struggling, so he’s turned it up on the defensive end. He absolutely hounded Stephen Curry in the game versus Davidson and showed a lot of promise, even offensively. He needs to settle down on the offensive end and let the game come to him, but defensively he’s turned a lot of heads the past week.

Entirely premature at this point, but the fact remains he’s devoted himself to defense and rebounding — ie, staying on the floor — as his offense comes around. That can’t and won’t be overlooked. Let’s see how he develops and/or preserves his frame as the season progresses. If he’s doing 15 and 12 in February, be worried. Then again, you may be distracted by a ranked team prepping for March.

Peter Magrath did not get the memo

by Mike Casazza

Sunday’s graduation was NOT about Pat White.

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.

– I’m not wondering what Auburn was thinking hiring a guy who just went 2-10. I’m wondering what Mike Brown is thinking. If 2-10 gets your that job, what can 3-9 do for The Product?

– Syracuse got its guy. Another NFL guy, too.

– In an upset, Pat White won team MVP Sunday night. 

– Huggins understands why his team rebounds so well:  “We’re very accustomed to [getting offensive rebounds],” Huggins said. “That’s because we miss so many shots.”

 – Hey, the practice facility is on the way!

Friday Feedback

December 12, 2008 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback at the end of a week I abbreviated for various reasons. One was travel. I did the best I could Tuesday, but was limited Wednesday. It’s going to be like that throughout basketball season, but I’ll think of something. Or someone. There’s a good chance an anonymous mini-me runs this thing as I move from here to there. That’s our secret, OK?

Speaking of moving, the other distraction was and is the fact I just bought a house and this is a whole lot more complicated than I predicted. Not bad. Not hard. Just complicated, especially with the bowl and the holidays approaching. Then when the home inspector screws you and no-shows on an appointment, well, there are other things that must be done outside of discussing this, joking about that and wondering when they’re going to break ground on the practice facility.

I’m out Thursday and Friday (mid-week Feedback?) next week for vacation days I legitimately have to take and the week of the bowl will be tricky. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen because somehow WVU hasn’t told anyone what its plans are for the week. Ideally, time is being spent on the Tar Heels.  

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

Dave said:

Mike –
Can you shed some light on why Pat White was raising his arms and yelling to what appeared to be the press box Saturday? Was it because of the delay infraction? TIA.  

Not with certainty, though I think even a little imagination is all you need. I can tell you what was said and I can tell you why I think it was said, but only two people know the whole story and neither is going to talk about it. I also don’t know why I saw coaches going at one another — and later hugging — and I don’t know why Jim Leavitt is allowed to wander seven or eight steps onto the field.  

Continue reading…

Clothe thyself

December 11, 2008 by Mike Casazza

It’s taking off!

I’ve saud it before: There’s money to be made following these teams at WVU. If only I had a way to make T-shirts … and sell them clandestinely. On a totally unrelated note, I’ll be gone next Thursday and Friday.

The comment explained

by Mike Casazza

The Quizzical Comment has occupied many minds, conversations and Web sites the past several days with no real insight as to exactly what was meant by the strange salvo Bill Stewart offered to end his press conference Saturday night.

I’ve seen and heard a bunch of different variations of the story, but here’s the exact recap: He talked up the bowl representatives, detailed the game’s positives and negatives, complimented Pat White, explained the decision to bench Noel Devine and Robert Sands and then launched a defense of his program, staff and players. At the end, he dropped that little puzzle on our table and simply walked away with a gentlemanly, “Good evening.”

There was no trigger in the press conference. It just happened. As for explanations, it seemed pretty simple. He was irritated by someone or something — or both — and he counter-punched. Turns out we were right, but for all the wrong reasons.

Continue reading…

Almost there

December 10, 2008 by Mike Casazza

Six games. Five cities. Sixteen days. Iowa, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Cleveland State, Davidson and Duquesne. There are three, maybe four NCAA Tournament teams in there. WVU played one of those four at home, one on the road and two in “neutral” environments that felt at times like road games. The Mountaineers are 3-2 thus far and finish Saturday at Duquesne. It hasn’t been easy and hasn’t gotten easier.

Sonya Curry’s son didn’t have it for most of Tuesday night’s Jimmy V Classic, but found  it when it mattered most.

“Steph tried to swing for the fences early. Maybe he tried a little too hard in his first time here,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. McKillop, a native of Queens and the Holy Trinity and Long Island Lutheran coach in the ’70s and ’80s, was also making his Garden debut.

“But the Steph Curry I know came out those last four minutes,” McKillop said. “He never, ever quit on himself, or his team.”

I sat behind the Davidson radio crew and next to a Davidson Internet guy. They were amazed at what they saw … and they see the kid every game.

The Mountaineers were respectful, but completely frustrated afterward because, in truth, if Curry doesn’t make one of his three straight 3s — to tie the score, to cut a four-point lead to one and then to go from one down to two up — they win. And what a win it would have been given the circumstances.

“We’re without our two starting guards and that’s a heck of a team. That’s a top 25 team,” Mountaineers Coach Bob Huggins said. “Take anybody’s two starting guards away – I don’t care who it is – and play that team and see what happens.”

What happened was WVU (6-2) had the game in its short-handed grasp until Curry made consecutive 3-pointer in the final moments and scored 13 of his team’s final 15 points.

You can almost disregard the first half because it was such a strange situation and one the Mountaineers didn’t really expect. Huggins tried everything and to be down just seven at the half was actually kind of good. He pared things down in the second half and WVU did everything but win.

The extent of shoulder injuries to Alex Ruoff and Joe Mazzulla are unknown and both are in a situation where it can get much worse if they don’t allow it to get better. Of course, the veteran presence is needed, especially in the backcourt as WVU now has a pretty valuable lession about its margin of error.

Injuies afoot

December 9, 2008 by Mike Casazza

WVU’s guard depth is about to go from shaky to bad. Expect to hear soon about a foot injury to Jonnie West, who just played a career-high 13 minutes against Cleveland State. He’s expected to be out for a few weeks.

In addition to being one of the team’s most trusted shooters from the 3-point and free-throw lines, West also plays point guard, which is big with Joe Mazzulla unlikely to play tonight against Davidson.

Truck Bryant, who figures to start in place of Mazzulla — that is, if he doesn’t try to play now — needs to empower Bob Huggins to keep him in the game. Will Thomas, who’s been shooting pretty well in practice, may need to play 10-12 quality minutes.

…enough stops to lead the world

by Mike Casazza

It occured to me as Matt Grothe was throwing incomplete passes into the end zone Saturday night and his offense failed for the third time in four tries to score in the red one that WVU is pretty good at defending its own end zone.

I was wrong.

WVU is the best in red zone defense.

The Mountaineers allowed scores on only 27 of 42 possessions opponents brought inside the 20-yard line. The 64.29-percent rate was more than a point better than No. 2 California (65.85) and just one of four below 70-percent.

“I think shrinking the field helps you, so I think that makes it a little tougher on the offense out there at that point,” defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel said. “That situation helps us a little bit, but I do think our kids have really stepped up throughout the year in the red zone.

“That’s something we work on in practice and to be a good football team I think you’re going to have to be good or at least decent in the red zone. We’ve done that for the most part this year.”

Huggins not quizzical

by Mike Casazza

WVU plays Davidson tonight in the Jimmy V Classic (7 p.m., ESPN) and the Mountaineers will get a look at the nation’s leading scorer, Stephen — think Steffen – Curry. At home, you’ll probably get several looks at his mom. WVU’s best perimeter defender, Joe Mazzulla, is unlikely to play and Curry, who rises to every occasion, no matter the opponent, looks to add to his 31.3 points per game.

The Mountaineers’ reaction: So?

“Steph is one of the best in the country, but you know what? (Connecticut’s) Hasheem Thabeet one best players in the country, too,” Huggins said. “We’ve got a bunch of them in this league (the Big East Conference). It’s full of the best players in the country.

“It’s not any different than going to play the people we have to play any other day. Honestly, I think with who we play in this league, what does it matter?

“It’s kind of like when played Kentucky. Everyone was like, ‘You’re playing Kentucky.’ So? So what? Let’s go play. We play the best people in the country game after game after game.

“(The Big East) had three teams in the top five in the country. If we’re going to be any good in this league, we better go play. We need to get better and we won’t get better playing people who don’t challenge us.”

The Mountaineers won’t double-team Curry, like Loyola (Md.) tried last month. Look for constant man-to-man with different people — and different positions — getting time against Curry.