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

Family values

Yes, yes, we’ve all heard about the complaints from former Michigan lineman Justin Boren about the way the “family values have eroded in just a few months” under new coach Rich Rodriguez.

This is no newsflash, either: Rodriguez really, really tests kids and I recall that it was with a certain pride that he used to speak about how a dozen or so kids — maybe more? — simply quit after his first practice at WVU.

This is not to defend Rodriguez, or Boren, for that matter, but when a new coach comes in, he’s going for shock, fear and respect. Those who stay are there for the right reasons and the remnants grow tighter together as they continue as a team.

Rodriguez has always been that way and as his star rose, observers and analysts grew to admire the environment. He’s always been admired by his peers. 

“He’s a great individual to work for,” Jones said. “Very energetic. Very passionate. He does a great job of creating a hard edge — being able to get the most out of players. That’s most important. Then he’s a great teacher. The program was centered around a family atmosphere.”

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Friday Feedback

Honestly, I sat inside the U.S. Airways Center last night and said, “You know what? I’ll do the Feedback if B.J. Raymond misses this ju— well, so much for that.” I am instead off to the airport.

Wonderful game last night and an easy story to tell, which is perhaps unfortunate for a still-young WVU team that while valiant in defeat, just never got over some of its greatest failings this season. It’s truly a bad omen when a team executes a switch on defense and people on press row take note.

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In defense of Xavier

The Musketeers spent a lot of time talking up WVU’s offense and, quite obviously, the better defense is going to win this game tonight. It would be unfair to Xavier not to mention the downright impressive stuff the team has done on defense this season. Consider these efforts against star players:

Nov. 24: Indiana freshman Eric Gordon, who finishes the season as the Big Ten’s leading scorer, goes 4-for-12. Xavier wins, 80-65.
Dec. 12: Cincinnati’s prolific point guard Deonta Vaughn goes 3-for-11 and finishes with 10 points and four turnovers. Xavier wins, 64-59.
Dec. 22: Tennessee’s leading scorer, Chris Lofton, goes 3-for-12 and 1-for-5 from 3-point range and finishes with nine points. The SEC champs win, 82-75.
Dec. 31: Kansas State’s all-world freshman Michael Beasley goes 1-for-6 and finishes with a career-low season-low five points. Xavier wins, 103-77.
Jan. 24: Dayton’s Brian Roberts goes 2-for-5 and finishes with five points, his lowest total since the senior’s sophomore season. Xavier beats the nation’s 16th-ranked team, 69-43.
March 22: Purdue’s Robbie Hummel, another fine freshman from the Big Ten, goes 2-for-10 and 1-for-5 from 3-point range and finishes with seven points, Xavier wins, 85-78.
March 27: WVU’s Joe Alexander goes __-for-__ and finishes with __ points. The M_____eers win, __-__.

Irony

I go away for one day and the blog has it’s best performance in months. I’m honored. And kind of embarrassed. Clearly, I’m the wheel and not the hamster here.

Regardless, that was a fine effort and I’m no longer frightened by what might happen here when I go on vacation April 13-20 (I might have a plan for something interesting in my absence). So kudos on the discussion and I’m quite impressed you were able to keep it civil despite some tense moments when I was afraid it would unravel.

For the record, I’m aware there’s a game tonight. And Ryan J. Boyd is here. I’m hoping to get a word with him later today.

Cam Thoroughman’s phone rang the other day. It was his dad and Mike Thoroughman had found something online that made him chuckle.

Cam wears No. 2 and it would seem that Rule No. 1 is don’t shove No. 2.

Or not.

“He flopped,” Thoroughman said Wednesday. “He came in and got me in the back. Then he tried to get real close to me. I turned around to run and I know it looked like I kind of ran him over, but he definitely flopped.”

Perhaps Henderson had some help? Like, I don’t know, an angry 6-foot-7, 220-pound nudge?

“Nah. I stepped back because he pushed me so I had to get my balance back. The I stepped to run and when I went to run, I guess I leaned a little. I know it looks that way, but I definitely didn’t do it.”

No foul was called and, all things considered, Thoroughman got off pretty easy.

Pause

We’re waiting on approval fron the NCAA to “blog” here in Phoenix. There are a few hoops to jump through, nothing too serious, and hopefully things resume after today’s practices and interviews. In the meantime, please continue clubbing one another in the comments.

Somebody pull the Mountaineers off the Blue Devils!

I remember an old NBA fight a few years back when Jerry Stackhouse grabbed Jeff Hornacek by the throat and hit him in the face with numerous unanswered punches. Maybe it’s just me, but WVU is the Stackhouse to Duke’s Hornacek. The Mountaineers used the closed fist quite a few times after Saturday’s win. Not sure what was so bad about that or about Alexander answering a question. Seriously, check this out, digest it and tell me what was so wrong.

Q. Playing in the Big East you guys have obviously played a lot of quality opponents. Where does this Duke team rank in the quality of opponents you played this year?
JOE ALEXANDER: Duke’s a great team, but I think they fit in well in the Big East, but they definitely wouldn’t dominate the Big East. We had a lot of great teams, I think the top six or seven teams are definitely right on par with Duke in the Big East. And the rest of them are right up there, too. 

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I’m off to the Coliseum, the airport and hopefully Phoenix. Might have time to wedge something in later today. If not, let’s take a look into the three people perhaps most responsible for this Sweet 16 appearance:

Bob Huggins:

Bob Huggins, born in West Virginia and now coaching West Virginia, has positioned himself to become a savior and, to some, a saint.

Surely this is a joke, right? That Bob Huggins? The one whose teams in Cincinnati were famous for coming up short, both in the tournament and the classroom? The one who endured a nasty fallout from said school and suffered from personal and health issues? The one who bailed on his next job, at Kansas State, after only two years?

Yes, that Bob Huggins, known as coach Hug-him right now in the giddy basketball state of West Virginia.

If you take issue with the thorny issues of his past, the people there will accuse you of trying to make a Mountaineer out of a molehill. To them, all that matters is that Huggins has West Virginia two wins from the Final Four, and best of all, he’s the stark opposite of the former football coach.

Joe Alexander (Warning: This contains the first printed reference to the NBA. Sssshhh…):

Last season, he started sleeping three nights a week on a blue leather couch in the Mountaineers’ locker room. No sheets or blankets, just team-issued sweats. He figured out a way to unscrew the safety lights that hang over the pool table in order to make it dark.

Although he lives only a few minutes away in an off-campus apartment, Alexander likes to shoot by himself late at night. When asked why he sleeps in the locker room, he offered his favorite kind of answer — a simple deadpan one: “It’s close to the court.”

Joe Mazzulla:

“Oh, man,” said forward Cam Thoroughman. “He just kept talking about how much he wanted to play against Paulus.”

Greg Paulus is Duke’s starting point guard and Mazzulla wasn’t particularly impressed. He sure wasn’t intimidated, either, and wasted no time in getting that point across.

Mazzulla took an inbound pass when he entered the game at the 14:06 mark and Paulus pounced. Mazzulla swung his torso left to right and caught Paulus with an elbow in the face.

It was no accident.

“I watched film of when they played N.C. State. Second play of the game, Paulus is guarding 94 feet from the basket and the N.C. State guy does the same thing,” Mazzulla said. “Paulus didn’t guard 94 feet from the basket the rest of the game and he didn’t guard me 94 feet from the basket the rest of the game. I don’t think he guarded me at all.”

Mazzulla went down the floor and scored on a short jumper.

“If I didn’t do that, Paulus may have thought he had an advantage on me and that would have given him confidence,” Mazzulla said.

The X factor

I watched Xavier on television a few times this season and the Musketeers never won. Furthermore, I wasn’t sure they were all that good.

TV can lie, though, so I watched them closely twice in person this past weekend. Well, they’re obviously good and I was surprised how big and physical they are, which better explains why they rebound so well. Yet while convinced of their talent and their worthiness after two really nice wins, I’m still not sure what it is about them.

They finished No. 9 in the RPI, which is phenomenal for an Atlantic 10 team, played the nation’s 24th-most difficult schedule and was 12-6 against the RPI’s top 100 — including 9-4 against the top 50.

On one hand, I think this might be the best team WVU faces this season. On the other, I can’ explain why.

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In postseason play, teams are required to open their locker rooms for the media, which is something many schools — WVU included — just won’t do during the regular season.

That’s not a complaint, but this is another reason to embrace March. Players are just much different speaking from a podium and in front of a couple dozen reporters and television cameras than they are in their locker room.

In one environment, they’re frequently uncomfortable in your surroundings. They’re nervous, hesitant and careful not to screw up. In the other, you’re quickly made aware you’re on their territory. You see the broken bits of things thrown either in halftime anger of postgame jubilation. Funny messages are scribbled on the dry erase board. Players are clowning around and enjoying the moment. They’re calm, willing and probably trying to do their best to make your story.

Oh, it can suck, too. Just about every time I round a corner and head into a locker room, I think back to the brutal scene in 2006 after WVU lost to Texas on Kenton Paulino’s 40-foot-buzzer beater. Five kids helplessly watched their college careers come to an end and you knew asking how it happened was going to be an awful experience.

Mostly, though, it’s great and what we witnessed Saturday afternoon was exactly why. In fact, it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year.

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