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

Opinions are like webcams…

…everybody’s got one. And so it is that I’m spared the work of researching the WVU basketball recruiting class. Good to know the point guard position is in such good hands. 

I am, however, left wondering how the addition of Devin Ebanks changes things.

The WVU Foundation continues to sit on plans regarding the new video scoreboard inside the Coliseum, but we’re beginning to learn a little bit more about the new scoreboard to be installed this summer at Mountaineer Field.

Associate athletic director Russ Sharp said the athletic department expects the scoreboard to be completed in time for the football team’s season opener.

“We’ve done it before – the north and the south scoreboards,” Sharp said. “Scoreboard work gets done during the summer, and it all gets done before the season start.”

Sharp also said that the news and specifics on the scoreboard will be made public at a later date. 

I’m not going to lie…I’m a little concerned. It’s hostile enough without an incredibly sharp 85-by-25 screen at Mountaineer Field and without any sort of replay capability at the Coliseum. Now both venues will be fitted with state-of-the-art devices, which means this question must be asked: Will there be additional security? 
  

Recruiting revisited

Since its sole purpose is directly linked to all things recruiting, Scout.com took some time from its summer yesterday to refresh its recruiting rankings for the still-in-flux 2009 class. WVU does quite well: the nation’s top-ranked receiver, No. 2 fullback, No. 9 quarterback, No. 18 defensive tackle and N0. 24 linebacker among the nine commitments.

Word is a tenth will arrive very soon and deliver, shall we say, a state of sunshine to the program.

Once more, with feeling

(Hey, have you voted in our Big East preseason poll? Have you told everyone you know?)

By my clock, it’s 4:25. What follows is a 10 minute YouTube clip that if enjoyed properly — it’s here where I suggest you not only rewind certain spots, but kill the volume — will take you close to 5 p.m. It’s the Joe Alexander time capsule, a comprehensive look at the offensive force in action. Through the series of game highlights and rather entertaining clips from practice, you see the full repertoire and how it developed through his final season.

I’d forgotten about that baseline move against Winthrop at the 1:55 mark — something else happened that day — but I do recall thinking at that time, ‘Wait, a dribble drive? Where’d that come from?’

It was new, but Alexander’s game eventually evolved to the point the dribble drive was the base for about six or seven different things he could do to score.

Also of note through the sometimes brutal practice clips is how hard teammates worked to get Alexander the ball … and, of course, how much the offense will change next season. Enjoy.

WVU: Where it’s live

 That’s WVU quarterback recruit Tajh Boyd on the left and he’s holding the Eastern Region championship trophy with running back Shawne Alston. They play for Phoebus High, in Hampton, Va., and Boyd and another WVU recruit, Dominik Davenport, helped the school win the Class AAA Division 5 state title in 2006. The Phantoms fell in the semifinals this past season.

Anyhow, Alston, who transferred to Phoebus last fall, will be coming to WVU because that seems to be the cool thing to do if you attend Phoebus.

Joining Boyd and Davenport wasn’t the only reason Alston was eager to commit to WVU, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

“The atmosphere there is so live,” Alston said. “I was up there with Tajh and everybody was giving him high fives and asking for autographs. I told him, ‘I see why you’re coming here.’ “

Alston attended WVU’s spring game with Boyd, Davenport and Great Bridge wideout Logan Heastie — another Mountaineer commitment — in April.

(Keep the votes coming for our preseason Big East poll.)  

Hearing a sports agent say his client will be a “superstar” delivers a significantly softer shock to the system than does news WVU will have a player in the NBA.

Now, Doug Neustadt’s reasons for believing Joe Alexander can be something special are at least worth considering.

“He’s an articulate, smart kid who plays a position that translates well for a shoe company. He plays the three (small forward) – occasionally he’s at the four (power forward), but mostly the three – but most important is that he’s really a dynamic athlete.”

Alexander’s physical abilities and potential project him to be an early to middle first-round pick in the June 26 draft. He’s worked out and could still work out for many of the teams picking between six and 16.

Yet Neustadt believes Alexander’s past might prove to be just as lucrative as his future.

“If you couple (physical tools) with the fact he has a background in Asia and these burgeoning, up-and-coming shoe companies that want to get into the NBA and have gotten in the NBA, the combination could work out very well for Joe,” Neustadt said.

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Playbook available…on napkin?

In what certainly cannot be connected to WVU’s offensive ineptitude against Pitt, it appears the playbook was somewhat brief. So says Seahawks fullback Owen Schmitt. (Questions in bold.)

How different is the offense here from the one you ran at West Virginia? Oh God. We had 12 plays there. Literally. And we ran six of them.

Give it to Slaton? Yeah. Literally, we had 12 plays and ran six. Maybe. At the most.

And Rodriguez got a job at Michigan for it? Well, yeah, but if you are good at something you keep doing it. Obviously, he has perfected that whole thing. This is just the terminology is different. There it was simplified. Here it is very, they don’t make it complex, but back in the day somebody called it this and that’s just the way it is. There are more rules.

(Keep the votes coming for our preseason Big East poll.)

Check your parlay sheets because WVU’s (we need to find the appropriate adjective to go right here) President Mike Garrison was deposed for nearly 12 hours last Thursday. What could have possibly taken so long to discuss?

It was, without question, the most anticipated of the depositions, so much so that it was assumed the location was being kept a secret. On the surface, it made sense because one can only imagine who would have shown up to catch a glimpse of the spectacle. Turns out there was no secret location and, as such, there was a guest conspicuous by his presence.

Former football Coach Rich Rodriguez attended the nearly 12-hour long session to witness the sworn testimony of the man he accuses of making and breaking verbal promises designed to pressure Rodriguez to sign his final contract at WVU.

WVU attorney Tom Flaherty said involved parties have the right to attend depositions and that Rodriguez had not exercised that right before last Thursday.

“I have an opinion why,” Flaherty said. “I’m not going to express it.”

Flaherty wouldn’t go into specifics of the deposition, but said there were highlights.

“When the transcript is released, I think there’ll be some sound bytes you’ll be interested in,” he said.

Talking points

…from the weekend that was. For your use in elevator rides, trips to the water cooler and other awkward moments on a Monday.

> Joe said it is so. How and where does Alexander fit in the NBA?

> Well, he wouldn’t mind Phoenix at all.  

> … and another one got away. 

> Rich Rodriguez spoke with Bray Cary and was allowed to speak his mind.  

> OK, listen please. Seriously. We’ll always have women’s track!

Friday Feedback

(So far so good on the Big East poll. If you haven’t voted, please vote.)

Welcome to an uncharacteristically brief edition of Friday Feedback as we simultaneously race toward 500 posts — this is 457 — and 100,000 page views — 92,856 when I began this morning — since launching Sept. 19. Remember, a few posts were accidentally deleted during a routine server maintenance and the counter wasn’t installed until we felt we wouldn’t be embarrassed by the numbers.

“Hey, 51 hits today? What’s that? That’s not today? That’s for the first three weeks? Oh..”

I think the statistics are good and the boom since December when Rich Rodriguez well into our laptop has been pretty strong. Still, I’m not really sure what the numbers mean beyond the fact I’m impressed we’ve had no libel or slander suits. That itself deserves a party. 

Anyhow, we’re quick today because I want to make sure I have a good seat for the Rodriguez interview this weekend. Did you know it was exclusive? And by good seat, I mean as far away as possible for fear a softball might hit me in the head.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as post. In other words, don’t worry about mistakes. You can always make a comeback.

Bray Cary said:

Coach Rodriguez, after this all blows over and you’ve helped your alma mater out–and essentially built the Mountaineer program from scratch for a second time–by playing WVU in the Big House, you and I should get an apartment together.

Aw, how sweet! Don’t you love the timing of all this? Rodriguez vacates the high road he’s told everyone he’s taken since leaving, but only does so once it’s clear the president he accused of lying is in imminent danger. Then Cary, the dexterous President and CEO of West Virginia Media, who, like many others, called for Garrison’s eventual ouster, slides into town for an interview. It’s exclusive, by the way. Rodriguez then plays Jerry Stackhouse to WVU’s Jeff Hornacek and lands several unanswered punches to the face. What can you say except timing is everything?

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