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

Friday Feedback

I’ll admit it: I’m going to miss Joe Alexander. Yes, yes, nothing is official and he may very well tell some dot-com soon that he’s staying in school, but I doubt it. You’d have a better chance convincing me John Hoover is running this blog than you would Joe Alexander coming back to school. I think he’s too good and, more importantly, too smart. Lucky are the NBA writers who’ll get to know the young man. 

DraftExpress: Who is a player that you admire and respect?

Joe Alexander: Matt Harpring, because he’s basically in the league off toughness and being a team guy. He passes the ball a lot, runs the floor, he does a great job.

Matt Harpring? Really, Matt Harpring? I don’t think he ever took it to the tin … with alacrity!

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. There are no do-overs, John Terry.

thacker said:

For Immediate Release: By Jesse Jacobs, Press Secretary for Senator Robert C. Byrd, In the event that Joseph Alexander opts for the NBA draft rather than return to West Virginia University, the Senator will take to floor of the United States Senate and openly weep.

Oh, god, not twice in one month. Joe, you just gotta keep that from happening.  

And we’re off! 

Continue reading…

Surprising in that it’s not surprising

It was written a few days ago that as time passes, it seems more and more likely Joe Alexander is gone.

As the days go by now, it appears those around Alexander and West Virginia University’s basketball program are coming to accept the possibility his time with the Mountaineers is expiring.

Alexander has been so impressive in his workouts that what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas. Reports of his performance quickly spread through the draft grapevine.

One such story came from DraftExpress.com President Jonathan Givony, who witnessed Alexander’s exploits out west.

“If I were a betting man, I’d tell you right now he’s not going back to West Virginia,” Givony said. “I’d say it’s highly unlikely right now.”

The story holds true. Alexander began in the 20s on that particular draft board and was at No. 16 at the time the story was written. He was No. 13 a day later. In fact, he was No. 13 in multiple mock drafts yesterday.

The skinny: Alexander could be the sleeper of the draft. His combination of size, athleticism and shooting ability has GMs drooling right now. He’s still learning the game, but on a team like the Blazers, his versatility could be an immediate asset.

So today comes along and … well, take a guess what happened. Even if that’s not entirely accurate and, perhaps, a bit high — and I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily true — it’s indicative of the trend.

Good company, I suppose

It’s funny, but when you’re in this line of work and you find yourself in one of those all too rare situations when you get to watch a sporting event when you don’t have to worry about writing about it, you inevitably wonder how you’d write about it. Well, seeing as if it’s been a while since I stopped trying to hide the fact I really dig soccer, I can safely say as I watched yesterday’s Champions League final, I was frankly jealous because of everything that happened. That would have been fun to cover.

I’m not a fan of either team. I roll with Liverpool, a rival in England’s Premier League, and I was sad to see the Reds lose to Chelsea in the second leg of the semifinals. The wife’s a Chelsea fan and I have to say it’s hard not to root for Chelsea and its emotional story.

Yet it was Manchester United that caught my eye yesterday in the pregame festivities. Listen closely. It’s a tradition at Man Utd. games and, much the same way as it is at WVU, a theme song. Sing along, if you’d like.

And if you’re keeping count now, the bandwagon has Randy Moss, T.I. and the winners of the Champions League. See title.

E-nough alread-e

I’m not going to say Devin Ebanks has fans of WVU basketball elated. I won’t. I will, however, say it’s made quite the impression. The Mountaineers recruiting class is now No. 10 according to Scout.com and might one day be considered among the program’s best ever.

I will also say this about writers of both stories and of headlines who have taken liberties in using silly plays on words with the name Devin Ebanks: It’s been egregious unnecessary. I read a story not to long ago and counted four such usages. Then I blacked out because my brain had had enough more than it could handle. I have problems with my equilibrium balance — ask people on my softball team — and I awkwardly fell out of my chair. Fortunately, I only brushed my head on the desk and narrowly avoided a trip to the emergency room hospital. I live in fear that sooner or later someone will realize his Devin E. spells … nevermind.

Continue reading…

Holmescoming

Former WVU linebacker John Holmes, who was kicked off the team in February after he and two other former players were arrested on drug charges, could very well return to the team.

Holmes’ case, according to Stewart, has been lowered to a misdemeanor, and he has been cleared to re-enter school.

Holmes met with Stewart Tuesday morning to work out details.

“It was a case of being with the wrong people at the wrong time,” Stewart said of Holmes’ involvement in the matter. “He’s paid a high price for it, an expensive price. It’s come as a high cost to him.”

Good news for Holmes, to be sure, and good news for the defense, which, it is forgotten, can thank Holmes for one of the biggest plays of the season.

This is not the first time we’ve heard this rhetoric from Stewart and he’s made similar redemption possible for Jason Gwaltney. Before we scramble to organize a canonization ceremony, let’s remember — and admit — the former coach would have done the same thing. He gave second chances to Travis Garvin (more than once), Matt Ameri, Mike Watson and many others and at least created an opening for Gwaltney. So it is possible he would have done the same for Holmes, but the reaction to and the explanation for his forgiveness would have been much different, yes?

Joe Alexander is somewhat angry at that rim

stupid_rim.jpg

The great DraftExpress.com has a rather detailed summary of Joe Alexander’s workouts with famed trainer Joe Abunassar and was kind enough to include one fun tidbit.

Any question about just how freakishly athletic he is vertically were answered as we watched him perform a series of highlight reel caliber dunks as the day of workouts came to a close—360s, off the backboard, windmills, the Vince Carter “honey-dip“/elbow inside the rim, between the legs, taking off from a step inside the free throw line, he visibly wowed each and every one of the players on the sidelines with his antics. Just for good measure, he finished off by jogging lightly towards the basket, jumping off two feet and viciously head-butting the rim, as you can see in the photo.

Not that you need to read any more to see that Joe is doing just fine, but it’s a really even and informative report that, at long last, gives us some insight into Alexander’s experiment.

Compliance counts

WVU has a rather detailed system in place to police its student-athletes and make sure no one is breaking NCAA rules. Now it can still happen, but not for a lack of effort on the part of the compliance office, which does little things like encourage members of support staffs to more or less eavesdrop and big things like having football and basketball players register automobiles with the school.

“A lot of it goes back to rules education and hoping (student-athletes) understand the rules and the ramifications, but we’re also relying a lot on coaches and their staffs,” Cox said. “If someone drives up in an Escalade who was driving a Volkswagen, some questions should be raised — and this is a small town, so you’ll see that stuff. If it’s something we feel like we have to bring them in to ask them about, we’ll do it.”

WVU is big — actually “big, big, big,” according to Cox — on rules education and they make sure to inform the student-athletes and the community. Student-athletes get a list of 12 things that qualify as an extra benefit. Local merchants get an annual letter reminding them it’s OK to be nice, but not too nice.

 extrabenefits.JPG

Explanation of
extra benefits

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Letter to local
merchants

So who’s driving this bandwagon?

First Randy Moss pops up with the Flying WVs on a jacket and now this?

Rapper T.I and his girlfriend Tameka “Tiny” Cottle gave birth to their second child, a boy named Major Harris, after midnight early Friday.

“God has blessed us with another miracle,” T.I. told Usmagazine.com.

Another miracle? You must mean after the original miracle.

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. (Would have come earlier in the day, but the Ebanks news was too big.)

> Randy Moss chose some interesting attire for the Celtics-Cavs game.

mossman.jpg

> WVU’s baseball team stumbled into the Big East tournament, where it’ll play Cincinnati. By the way, the Mountaineers are 2-8 since I wrote about them. Josh Whitlock, another feature subject, has lost three straight starts and watched his ERA rise nearly a run. Of course, this is no surprise.

> We’ll always have women’s track!

> Oh, that’s right. There’s also Ebanks, whose stock apparently rose after signing with WVU. He’s up to No. 9 according to Scout.com and I’d imagine the team ranking will jump a bit too when released Wednesday.

> Speaking of Wednesday, that’s (obviously) the last day of the late signing period. Let’s stay tuned…

The intro today is obvious, so much so that someone else is already using it.

Welcome to the big leagues, West Virginia.

Devin Ebanks signed with WVU Sunday and not only gave headline writers heart palpitations – so many puns, so little time! — but immediately gave the program street cred. In fact, the Mountaineers suddenly have not only one of the best prospects in the country, but also one of the best collections of prospects in the country.

Evan Daniels, Scout.com’s recruiting analyst, ranked Ebanks as the No. 3 recruit in the Big East behind Georgetown-bound Greg Monroe and Louisville signee Samardo Samuels. Scout.com ranks Ebanks as the nation’s 13th-best player. Rivals.com places him at No. 11.

Ebanks averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as a senior and 23 points, five rebounds and four assists as a junior.

“This takes West Virginia’s 2008 recruiting class from a solid class to a great one, probably one of the nation’s 10 best, for sure,” Daniels said. “Kevin Jones is really good and can score at (power forward) and Darryl “Truck” Bryant is a typical Bob Huggins kind of player. He’s really tough. But Devin Ebanks is different. He’s an elite-level player.”

What’s it mean? Well, it means WVU is a serious presence now. It means Pitt and Louisville aren’t alone recruiting the NYC area. It means we now value the jobs donw by assistant coaches. It means the next class of elite recruits looks at Huggins sooner rather than later. It means one colleague can no longer make the joke about WVU beating UNC-Wilmington for players. It means you cannot double-team Joe Alexander, if he decides to stay in school. If he opts for the draft, it means the void he creates is not as large. It means Alex Ruoff is going to get a lot of open looks next season. It means Joe Mazzulla is worth two more assists per game. It means Da’Sean Butler and Wellington Smith can get more offensive rebounds. It means the Mountaineers can be very good these next two years and beyond.