https://twitter.com/Holgorsendana/status/824464390103691264
We knew West Virginia could tie this into recruiting, and I guess Dana Holgorsen did with the hashtag. But a big development in 2016 was the proliferation of Holgorsen’s emoji use, and it remains strong in the new year.
Matthew McConaughey has a unique look for his new movie. His inspiration hits close to home in West Virginia. https://t.co/9xn19vgR1w pic.twitter.com/kafxcKtzmc
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) January 25, 2017
I’m confident this can be used in recruiting.
The familiar finish Tuesday night had to have something to do with everything that felt familiar before it. West Virginia was playing well at home. Kansas was in the rear view mirror. Esa Ahmad was doing things. (That guy!) The lead was double digits … and then it was gone.
And then Jevon Carter, perhaps unequivocally the player who can come up with and then get away with this, decided enough was enough.
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You are looking live at Bob Huggins from yesterday’s media session. You may or may not listen to it in full, but if you do, I need you yo corroborate this with me: How many times does Huggins seemingly go out of his way to mention “the cylinder?” I think we know why he’s doing it. We probably know for whom he’s doing it, too. If you’re not sure, go to the comments. I’m guessing you can find the answer, and I’m certain you can ask for and receive it. (Aside: Esa Ahmad is an acceptable answer, too. He’s picked up a few offensive fouls lately for leaving the cylinder and nudging a defender, and Huggins has had to ask for that to be called on both ends.)
Curtis Shaw, the Big 12’s officiating coordinator, explained the cylinder at the Big 12 media day in October. You can anticipate and probably even understand West Virginia’s response to this. Remember, the Mountaineers had their brows arched the prior two years by officiating memos that went out and sure seemed to single out what they liked to do defensively — and from where did those points originate? (I say that because the same memos would highlight traveling out of traps … and from where did that advice come?)
This is all sort of unspoken and at the same time understood, but for as long as I’ve been within the Big 12’s cylinder, I’ve witnessed this, I don’t know, paranoia that teams cannot get a fair shake against Kansas. Most of that is based in officiating. You can build a quality parody account upon curious calls that favor the Jayhawks. What’s that? You have?
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West Virginia has two players in the Senior Bowl this year, and if you’re not familiar with the event, it’s a college all-star showcase of sorts. The North and South teams are coached by NFL staffs, so players get a pretty unique job interview before the draft and before rosters are built afterward. There are scouts everywhere, too, and it’s generally agreed that everything in Mobile, Ala., that precedes the game is more important than the game.
That would included the hands-on practices, but also the check-in, where players are weighed and measured. Good news: Rasul Douglas is big. Not good news: Tyler Orlosky is not as big.
Among the linemen on the North and South rosters, he has the smallest wingspan and the second-shortest arms. I’m going to bet he doesn’t care, and he was always going to be an interior lineman, but if measureables matter — and Orlosky won’t be engineering no-huddle offenses and making checks at the line in the NFL — then Orlosky gave people something to consider.
Kansas has, as you know, a three-game losing streak inside the Coliseum. Turnovers have been a big part of the last two losses with 22 and 14 against the press and West Virginia getting 12 and eight steals. The Jayhawks — a middle-of-the-pack team nationally in turnover per game and a bit above even in assist-turnover ratio — has 34 turnovers in its two most-recent games.
It hasn’t mattered, because this is an 18-game winning streak Kansas brings to town, but Bill Self has a few reasons to be worried before tonight.
“You’re going to turn it over against West Virginia, but they can’t be live-ball turnovers,” KU coach Bill Self said. “You’d rather throw it out of bounds so your defense can get set rather than having numbers coming back at you.”
The Mountaineers, who have forced 441 turnovers while committing just 223 in 19 games, harassed Baylor into 29 turnovers in an 89-68 victory over the then-No. 1 Bears on Jan. 10 in Morgantown.
“You get hounded the whole 40 minutes when you play them,” said KU junior guard Devonté Graham. He had just one turnover, while Frank Mason had seven in KU’s loss last year at West Virginia.
“No team we play has pressure like that. We go against eight people in practice before we play West Virginia to simulate how hectic it is in traps,” Graham added.
There’s a joke to be made here about Kansas being used to playing 8-on-5. I will not make that joke.
Give Esa Ahmad some credit: He’s not played particularly well lately, and a lot of people wrote about that today. Players don’t have to talk to reporters during the media sessions, but Ahmad took a seat off to the right of Bob Huggins while his coach finished and spoke for several minutes about his team and about his struggles. This is not always the case.
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— Mike Harley Jr. Ⓜ️ (@harleyxvi) January 23, 2017
So, Mike Harley, one of the longest-tenured and highest-ranked recruits in West Virginia’s 2017 class, is no longer in the mix. I’m told he is not signing with the Mountaineers on Feb. 1, in case you’re curious about another waffle from the exciting receiver. The relationship ended Sunday night when it became clear Harley, who had just visited Miami and was suddenly touting an offer from UCLA and planning a visit there, wouldn’t say with certainty he’d sign with WVU.
I know recruiting isn’t for everybody — and this is an example why — but we’ve been following this one for a while, and there was a reason.
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Was it just 12 days or was it 12 months ago when West Virginia was beating No. 1 Baylor and ratcheting up the Big 12 championship race? It feels like a long time ago, and the Mountaineers have played three increasingly troubling games, winning one, perhaps fortunately, and losing the last two.
The game comes at you fast, especially when you aren’t looking, and judging by sights and sounds, WVU has not been on guard for a while. It almost doesn’t seem real, but this is really happening.
In the span of five days, the Mountaineers (15-4, 4-3 Big 12) dropped from second place in the Big 12 standings — and a game out of first place — and aimed at Tuesday’s home game against Kansas, which is No. 1 in the coaches’ poll and No. 2 in the media poll, to a multi-team tie for third place with a three-game gap between them and the 12-time defending regular season Big 12 champion Jayhawks.
“There’s a difference between being the hunter and the hunted,” said WVU coach Bob Huggins, who watched his team surrender 40 points in the paint a game after allowing 48. “The old proverb about the dog with the bone is always in danger — we’re not very good on top. We ought to know we have to scratch and claw. That’s kind of what we are, and we got a little bit complacent.”
With losses to Temple, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and now the Wildcats, WVU has as many losses to unranked teams as it did the previous two seasons combined. The Wildcats, who are now 11-1 at home and led by at least 11 points in all but one of those games, had lost eight straight games to ranked teams and were 0-3 this season. K-State is now 2-4 against teams in the RPI’s top 100.
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