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

Return of the native

Mike Gansey is back on the mainland and playing for the Anaheim Assault in the NBA Developmental League. Gansey was playing in Italy but decided to leave the team when his situation became untenable — and if it’s untenable for Gansey, I happen to think it’s really bad. He signed Feb. 6 and should debut soon.

Kevin Pittsnogle, by the way, is now doing work for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. He signed initially with the Austin Toros, but was waived Jan. 9. Also waived by Austin that day? One Kenton Paulino

P.S.
I’m sorry.

Victory (I think) for WVU

About the only thing I can say for sure after learning of this is that one of Rich Rodriguez’s many arguments in this ongoing saga has been dismissed and the lawsuit brought forth by WVU will be decided in state court.

U.S. District Judge John Bailey issued an order Monday morning granting West Virginia University’s motion to remand its case against former head football coach Rich Rodriguez to Monongalia County Circuit Court.

Bailey found that WVU is “an arm or alter ego of the state” and therefore not a citizen. For the case to be heard in federal court, it would have to be between two citizens.

Rodriguez, for some off reason, wanted the case in federal court because he felt he was a citizen of Michigan at the time he was served papers and that he could not be sued in state court by the state because the state was actually a citizen of the state and not its alter ego.€

Go ahead and read that back if you must. I’ll be right here … Welcome back. From the beginning, the matter of jurisdiction didn’t seem that significant to me — and I wasn’t alone.

Flaherty admitted jurisdiction is not a major concern in litigating the suit against Rodriguez.

“I don’t think it’s very important at all,” he said. “We can try this case anywhere and we feel comfortable we can resolve the case in either state or federal court. The problem is that the court has to have jurisdiction and we believe the law is clear and the federal court does not have jurisdiction.”

Then again, Rodriguez gains a small victory in that he is not to pay WVU’s bill for when the case was moved to federal court (temporarily) by Rodriguez. Every little penny helps, I assume, when you’re on the hook for $4 million. 

Recruiting wrap-up

Believe it or not, recruiting classes are not finalized on National Signing Day. What started Wednesday ends April 1 and when last week’s list of signings arrived, it showed 23 names. With the limit of 25 not far away, WVU was working (at least) three other prospects. One, a receiver named Martavious Odoms, is off the list and has signed elsewhere … and I’ll give you one guess where he’s headed.

The other two are all but set. Terence Kerns, a 6-1, 235-pound running backfrom Frederick, Md. Kerns signed Wednesdayat Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy, but since he’s at a preparatory school, his letter needs the signature of a guardian. So once the letter goes from Virginia to Maryland, it’ll arrive in West Virginia and be announced by the football program.

The second player is Benji Kemoeatu, a mammoth offensive lineman who also said Wednesday he’d signat WVU.  His letter is also taking time to arrive, but the Mountaineers expect to receive it shortly.

When both signatures arrive, WVU then has a full class of 25 recruits — and that’s not the end of it. Academics might claim a few players and others might grayshirt — defer enrollment until January and count toward the next class — so the Mountaineers will work to find a few more players worth of filling the vacancies.

In case you’re wondering, the dismissal of three players last week doesn’t change anything for the recruiting class. The limit is still 25 players and the only thing different now is WVU will have three more scholarships available for the current roster at the end of the semester.

Friday Feedback

Thought I had posted yesterday about Bill Stewart kicking three players off the football team — fast — but for some reason it didn’t appear. In hindsight, it was unnecessary to post and discuss because I think everyone would share some form of the same opinion, that being Stewart is making his stance right away and that the former coach wouldn’t have been so emphatic.

Eh, perhaps, but I think it’s ridiculous people would think Stewart is ruling while remembering with something as distant and irrelevant as Adam Lehnortt’s trouble in 2004. And why are we talking about Dan Mozes and his arrest? Remember, too, that he was kept on the team and became a consensus All-America center. One has nothing to do with the other and I think it’s unfair to coaches and players to invoke the names of Chris Henry or Pacman Jones as if they have some influence over what happens inside the football program.

This is simply about three kids getting caught — side-note: I only interviewed James Ingram once, so I don’t know very much about him and what makes him tick aside from the fact he’s from the greatest city in the world, but I cannot believe he told the sheriffs he had more tree at his house — and one coach sticking to his principals. Best of luck to all three and one wonders if the university will and/or should help them in their legal proceedings as the it did for troubled players before them.

Onto the Feedback. As always comments appear as posted. In other words, if you make a mistake, you can’t take it back. Isn’t that right, Ronald Ramon?

Foul shot said:

Coach Huggins, can you please, please, please tell these guys to relax and make some foul shots? I know that you feel the same as we can see your pain each time a foul shot clanks off the rim. WVU should have beaten OK, Georgetown and now Pitt if they could just make some darn foul shots.
It appears that the makeup of the WVU hoops team is such that they are a decent NIT team but don’t quite have the ability to make or win anything in the NCAA Tournament (March Madness.)
We know that Huggins will get this worked out over time as he keeps getting guys like Thouroughman who hustle and think and not guys who get brain freeze such as the group who could not switch on their screens last night against Pitt. It is quite hard to keep taking these losses in winnable games.

A slam dunk, which, by the way, the Mountaineers could use right about now. Imagine if WVU makes its free throws and wins those games. Where are they at 19-4 and 7-3 in the Big East? I think it’s presumptuous to say free throws are the only problem because there are a number of other plays in those games that would have helped had they gone in WVU’s favor, but the truth here is the simplest skill in the game has escaped the players. Worse, they know it. Let’s not forget the team’s top three scorers are in a funk all at once and the same team that has lost three of four has lost to Georgetown and Pitt by one point. It’s not over and it reasons to say those three might soon come around and start hitting. Defense is not the problem and if WVU gets some offense, things will change.

Continue reading…

Hammer time?

I was reading sage sports scribe Mickey Furfari today when at the end of his preview for tonight’s game he did something that caught my eye.

Joe “The Hammer” Alexander, 6-8 junior forward, now is leading WVU in both scoring (14.80) and rebounding (5.80). Alex Ruoff, 6-6 junior, is next at 14.5 and 3.5 followed 6-7 sophomore Da’Sean Butler at 12.7 and 5.7.

The Hammer? Turns out Mickey is forwarding an agenda that perhaps needs to be forwarded — Alexander has somehow defied a nickname for two-plus years now.

Andy Hernandez of Morgantown is a friend who’s among those who walk inside the WVU Coliseum each day for exercise.

In doing that, he frequently bumps into Joe Alexander, the 6-8 forward on the Mountaineer men’s basketball team. One day the two got talking briefly.

“I told him I think ‘The Hammer’ would be a good nickname for him,” Hernandez said. “And Joe replied, ‘I kinda like that. I’d like to be called ‘The Hammer.'”

If it sticks, give Mr. Hernandez the credit.

Maybe there’s a reason he’s defied a nickname — he needs a good one. I think hopeknow we can do better than The Hammer. I’ve heard Vanilla Sky an awful lot and that one seems to have some legs … maybe like the new White Chocolate. I can remember watching him warmup for a home game last year and that day, as he frequently did, he put on a show in the warmup. I was talking with someone about Joe’s ability when he did some silly dunk that stopped me mid-sentence: “Well, the thing about Joe … My goodness!” As in, Oh, My goodness! We laughed. We cried. We agreed to never speak about it again.

So let’s get this done, once and for all. What is Joe Alexander’s nickname?

Well, it appears, as it did from the very beginning, that Kevin Hart is a liar.

A prep football player who had claimed he was duped into believing he was recruited to play at a Pac-10 school admitted Wednesday he made up the story.

Kevin Hart, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive lineman for Fernley High School, offered a broad apology in a statement he issued through the Lyon County School District. Hart said he had wanted to play football at a Division I school “more than anything.”

“When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality. I am sorry for disappointing and embarrassing my family, coaches, Fernley High School, the involved universities and reporters covering the story,” Hart said.

You’ll remember when first we stumbled upon this (allegedly) unfortunate kid.

I think it’s safe to say there’s a place reserved at the devil’s dinner table for the truly detestable person/people behind this prank. Stay tuned…

That was me and I trust you know that was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The “Stay tuned…” suggested how I and many others called shenanigans. There is no way — NO WAY — a kid goes through the recruiting process without visiting a campus he might one day attend or actually meeting the head coach at that college. Some of you suggested the same and suspected something strange.

Continue reading…

A belated happy birthday to …

… John Beilein, who has had luck on past birthdays — this was Pittsnogle’s coming out game — but celebrated No. 55 Tuesday with a whimper as Michigan faded late and lost to Ohio State. That, of course, came after a players-only meeting, which is usually a bad sign. The Wolverines are now 5-17 (admit it, ill will or not, you didn’t expect that kind of struggle) and Beilein admits it’s been a tumultuous transition.

“I really didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be with a brand new team,” Beilein said. “I think we lost a lot of our confidence there. It’s difficult to build confidence when you’re having trouble just getting an open shot, like against Georgetown.” 

As for everything else, it seems poor Rich Rodriguez is dodging the finger of blame.

– Early departure of Michigan receivers for NFL draft? Check!
– Diminished maize-and-blue reputation? Check! 
- Turnover in WVU recruiting class? Check!
– Losses in future athletic department revenue? Check!
– Rain again on Wednesday? Check!
– Tuesday’s twisters in the south? Check!
– Ryan Mallett challenging NCAA rules? Check!

Under traditional NCAA rules, Mallett must redshirt in 2008 transferring from one NCAA Division I school to another.

However, Mallett and his parents, Jim and Debbie Mallett, are appealing through the UA that extenuating circumstances regarding the head coaching change at Michigan from Lloyd Carr, the longtime Michigan coach who recruited Mallett, to former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez gives cause for Mallett’s eligibility at Arkansas to begin in 2008 rather than 2009.

“We feel it’s a little bit different than transferring because you are not happy with where you are,” Debbie Mallett said when contacted Tuesday at the family’s home.

Debbie Mallett said her son did not fit the Spread offense that Rodriguez brings from West Virginia to Michigan.

“He didn’t fit the system there,” Debbie Mallett said. “It’s not his fault that the university hired Coach Rodriguez. Certainly, Coach Rodriguez should be allowed to run the offense he wants to run. And when I tried to talk to Ryan about possibly staying through the spring, he said, ‘ He didn’t recruit me out of high school. He’s not interested in me. That’s not the type of quarterback he wants to run his offense. ‘ Ryan said he thought that it would be a total waste of his time. That at least’I can be in another system learning their offense. ‘ Of course he doesn’t want to sit out. So that’s kind of where we are at. We are letting the University kind of deal with it for us.”

And here comes the other side

Show of hands: Who was wondering how the Michigan folks felt about their new football coach? If I wasn’t typing, mine would be in the air. Well, at long last, someone examined and explained the view from the other side of the fence — and it’s not entirely pretty.

Michigan used to be all about football. Now it’s about news. Rodriguez managed to get a big loan from Michigan athletic director Bill Martin’s bank. Hmmm. Seems like Martin is bending over backward to please and appease Rodriguez, and in the process the entire university is becoming contorted as well.

Winning, of course, is the perfect elixir. Yet, it does seem like Rodriguez will be up against it his first season.

He has no experienced quarterback. Nor a QB agile enough to run his spread option all that effectively. They are literally holding their breath in Ann Arbor at the prospect of signing quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Imagine it – all that football tradition being held up by one kid who clearly loves the attention.

On the eve of signing day…

Here’s a story I truly never thought I’d read about. Furthermore, I’m not even sure how to react to this odd drama involving Nevada offensive lineman Kevin Hart. It’s … it’s … it’s riveting and revolting at once. Imagine, for a moment, what the kid is going through right now. And how does Cal feel? I think it’s safe to say there’s a place reserved at the devil’s dinner table for the truly detestable person/people behind this prank. Stay tuned…