Check this kid out: Future WVU Coach

Knowing that St. John was not going to go to the Big East Tournament next week not to mention they were playing in front of a sparse crowd at the world’s most famous arena you would think the West Virginia Mountaineers would stomp them all day. When WVU was up 23-12 with about 10 minutes left you’d think they could but leave it to the Johnnies to play with pride which is important in the playgrounds of NYC. It was that pride, led by coach Norm Roberts, that almost gave St. John’s an upset win and potentially spoiling WVU’s NCAA hopes which appeared locked after Monday’s win over Pittsburgh.

Enter Joe Mazzulla. Playing for most of the second half in place of the injured Darris Nichols he was outplayed defensively leading the Johnnies to make some important buckets near the end of the game. It was Mazz who fouled Malik Boothe with 5.5 seconds left with the score tied at 66. Boothe calmly drained both and with a St. John’s timeout someone to take charge. It was Mazzulla who dribbled through the full court press (even dribbling off his knee to cut through a double-team) to score a lay-up with .3 seconds left to tie the game at 68 and send the game to Overtime. Read the rest »

Saturday, West Virginia (21-9, 10-7) heads to the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, for its final regular season game against St. John’s (11-18, 5-12).

The Mountaineers have found a home away from home in New York City in recent years, especially in March.

Rewind back to the 2004-2005 season under former head coach John Beilein. WVU defeated Providence, then-No. 19 Boston College and then-No. 13 Villanova, in Madison Square Garden, before falling to Syracuse, in the Big East Tournament championship game.

The Mountaineers performance in the conference tournament helped them secure a NCAA Tournament bid. Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey and company shocked the college basketball world and took WVU all the way to the Elite Eight. WVU came up just short against Louisville, in a thrilling overtime loss that would have sent the Mountaineers to the Final Four.

Fast forward to 2006-2007. WVU advanced to the semifinals of the NIT, again in Madison Square Garden. Darris Nichols hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-point basket from the corner against Mississippi State.

The 63-62 victory over MSU propelled WVU to the NIT championship game against Clemson. Frank Young lead all scorers with 24 points in his final game in a West Virginia uniform. WVU claimed its first NIT championship since 1942.

Playing in ‘The Big Apple’ has proven kind to the Mountaineers of late. Tournament games in the Garden have launched WVU’s premier postseason play and exhibited a prestigious basketball program’s history, in a football-first state.

Those Mountaineer moments and players will live in the hearts of WVU fans forever. Read the rest »

The coaches of West Virginia’s football program held a media luncheon to get everyone familiarized with each other on Wednesday. After reading up on the luncheon and some of the things talked about, I found what Jeff Mullen and Doc Holiiday discussed during the luncheon interesting. What I would like to do is give you a breakdown on what they had to say, along with the Q & A done with Jeff Casteel.

Jeff Mullen:

The offense will be running the option in addition to the shotgun attack. They want to make sure the defenses they play have to plan on the run, keep, and pitch with running the ball. In addition to that, they want to give the players a chance when running or throwing the ball if they have a defense facing them especially fully in the box to be able to stretch the field.

He mentions that the offensive line is the heart and soul of the offense, and that everything will begin with the line.

He believes it all boils down to the players. He says that it starts with getting good recruits and coaching them hard with the fundamental areas and demanding it from the players. The coaches will give them the schemes and the oppurtunity to win, but they will never sacrifice the players abilities with really smart ideas from the staff room.

Doc Holliday:

He breaks down briefly the areas of recruiting they have set. In addition to drumming the high schools across West Virginia for players and doing what they can to keep them in state, they will be hitting Atlanta, GA hard in their recruiting travels.

He believes recruiting in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia are important areas of emphasis for the staff. They will be hitting those states hard as well which will have them working very hard to get kids to join the Mountaineers.

He states that they have some concerns in the tailback area with depth, mentioning the signing of Zach Hulce, as well as concerns with their slots and H receivers.

He mentions they are still pursuing a couple of prospects for this year’s recruiting class.

Jeff Casteel:

He gives a brief couple moments of preview of the defense. He says how excited they are this spring and mentions the turnover in staff for the first time in 5 or 6 years. He touches on the addtions of Steve Dunlap and Dave Lockwood and the process of meshing their ideas with what they have always done defensively the last 5 or 6 years.

He spoke of losing players on defense and that they were down to 5 or 6 scholarship players going into spring practice, and that they had signed on 5 or 6 more to add back to the losses of seniors and early draftees. It will be a big challenge this spring, but with the fact there are new coaches in place it’s a pretty good situation. The recruits will start fresh with unbiased opinions of the new coaches as well as the newer version of WVU’s defense.

He feels they have alot of players to fill spots for this years team, but until spring practice is full on then they can find the spots for the players that fit them best. He mentions that Zac Cooper is moving to the defensive line for the 2008 season, and that they don’t expect many changes in postion other than the obvious ones needing filled.

On Reed Williams: “He will not be in spring practice. We’re holding him out due to some shoulder issues that he is healing up from.”

The only thing I have to say about what is written above is: I don’t like the option run attack much because it gives the defense facing it a chance to cause fumbles if they get to the right spot at the right moment. It’s about timing. Facing a player who is skilled and seasoned on the field can very well cause the same problems that arise when you do reverses. The pro of it is that it does give us more of a chance to find a way to make positive yardage in gap assigments and in some blitz packages that will throw off the defense. But I’m pretty confident that come kickoff 2008, the staff will have the players ready and will be ready to run with the blue and gold for another chance at the Big East title.

Today was a slow day for WVU Bball news so I thought I would go out and see what was a buzz about football and….

Ahhhhh Nice… I flipped over to Yahoo Sports College football front page and saw this.

What a sight for sore, football depraved eyes. (Spring game is getting closer and closer)

Anyway, when you read the article, Rivals has the combo of Pat White and Noel Devine as the most dangerous players in college football… check it:

1. West Virginia QB Pat White/West Virginia TB Noel Devine: One of just three players to rush and pass for 1,000 yards last season, White scored seven touchdowns on rushes of at least 20 yards. That included a game-winning 50-yard burst against Louisville. A better passer than most think, White also threw 14 touchdown passes, including four that covered at least 30 yards. Meanwhile, Devine averaged a whopping 8.6 yards per carry as Steve Slaton’s true freshman understudy last season. Devine had five touchdown runs of at least 10 yards, including a clinching 65-yarder against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. His season-long run covered 76 yards, and he did this all on just 73 carries. Slaton won’t be around next season, so Devine should be even scarier.

And what do the dill-holes at ESPN have us ranked pre-season?

Also check out this spring capsule breakdown of the big east.

New Coaches:

Bill Stewart, West Virginia: Stewart had little trouble winning over the fans in Morgantown for two reasons: because he beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl and because he isn’t Rich Rodriguez. The next task is to win some game. Stewart, who went 8-25 as a head coach at VMI, looks to keep much of the same system in place, including the spread offense. He retained Rivals.com national defensive coordinator of the year Jeff Casteel, who will continue to run the 3-3-5. Stewart hired away some talented assistants from successful programs, such as Jeff Mullen from Wake Forest, Doc Holliday from Florida and David Johnson from Georgia.

Biggest Position Battles this spring:

West Virginia: Defensive end. Redshirt freshman Julian Miller will be the only returnee from last season, but soon will have company. The Mountaineers will have junior college end Larry Ford for the spring. But the real prize won’t arrive until fall, when four-star JC transfer Tevita Finau lands on campus.

Players that should emerge this spring:

West Virginia TB Noel Devine: To Mountaineers fans and recruitniks, Devine already is a household name. Look for him to take a big leap in production during his sophomore year with Steve Slaton leaving early for the NFL. Devine averaged 8.6 yards per carry as a backup last year, but carried the ball more than 10 times in a game just twice. With his smaller frame, he and the coaching staff will look to limit the wear and tear on his body as the season progresses.

Impact newcomers this spring:

West Virginia DEs Julian Miller and Larry Ford: Miller, a redshirt freshman, was the only defensive end on scholarship before Ford enrolled in January. Since West Virginia plays a 3-3-5 stack defense, Miller and Ford will compete for one spot during the spring.

September can’t get here fast enough.

StatSheet.com has some awesome game stat and charts about every bball game. It’s a great way to graphically see how the game breaks down. Enjoy.

College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com

College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com

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West Virginia knew they had to win this game in front of an ESPN Big Monday audience on Senior Night with Darris Nichols, Jamie Smalligan, and Teddy Talkington playing their final game at the WVU Coliseum.

In front of 13,960 fans, including a vocal jammed pack student contingent, the Mountaineers pounded Pittsburgh inside and out as they won 76-62. Led by Joe Alexander’s 2nd straight 32-point game the Mountaineers have most likely solidified an NCAA Tournament berth. (Mountaineerbob totally called this one!)

Joltin’ Joe was 10 of 16 from the field plus 12 of 16 from the foul line. He also was solid in getting frontcourt players DeJuan Blair and Sam Young in foul trouble and they both eventually fouled out. Nicholas scored 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting with 3 treys. The Rainmaker chipped in with 14, and had 3 treys of his own. LaVance “Don’t Taser Me, Bro” Fields scored 15 for Pitt.

It was a back and forth slobber-knocker throughout the first half until about 4 minutes remaining as WVU was leading 27-25. The Eers went on an 11-3 tear to get the lead up to double-digits for the first time tonight at 38-28.

The Eers held it there at the half with the score of 40-30. In order for West Virginia to get after the Big Dance invite they had to come out on fire. After a couple wide-open three point attempts by Young were off the mark, WVU was off and running as they scored the first seven points of the second half.

Pitt tried to keep it close but Alexander was almost perfect. He couldn’t miss from 17 feet, off the bank, and even hit a tip-in, basically Alexander was putting on a clinic tonight against Blair and Young. The closest Pitt ever got to WVU in the second half (after than opening second half spurt) was fourteen, and that was end of the game.

About 200 students rushed the floor to the fine tune of Country Roads after the game. What a great night to be a Mountaineer!

What it all means…

The Mountaineers will wrap up the regular season Saturday afternoon as they go to NYC to play the St. John’s Red Storm at the world’s most famous arena Madision Square Garden. While tonight’s win puts a seal of approval in the NCAA Tournament resume with 20 Division-I wins as well as 10 Big East wins, the next game is important for seeding purposes.

If we win and Marquette loses to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome WVU will clinch the 5th spot due to their win over Marquette. Let’s not think about that now, let’s just savor this kick-ass win over the Panthers. I just want to know if anybody is burning their old couch tonight in Sunnyside? If so, burn one for me tonight!

College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com

Students, if you’re reading this, you should be heading out to the Coliseum right now and waiting for hours to get that coveted lower-level seat. That area will be the best seat in the house as the West Virginia Mountaineers are in yet another MUST-WIN battle. This time it will be in front of a nationwide ESPN Big Monday audience. The 175th meeting of the BBall Backyard Brawl will take place in front of a packed Gold Rush crowd at the WVU Coliseum. The tipoff is at 7pmE.

Read the rest »

PITT vs. WVU

In Morgantown

Major implications….

A win: Helps us clinch a Tourney spot and possibly put PITT on the bubble.

A loss: Could put us on the outside looking in… again.

I hate that all of our big games come down to playing an overrated PITT but makes livin’ in Pittsburgh interesting.

My prediction. A WVU win by 12.
PITT 64 - WVU 76

REVENGE will be sweet. I’ll be there cheering on the blue and gold. See ya there.

Eat Shit Pitt.

and Let’s GOOOOO Mountaineers.

Meg Bulger and Yinka Sanni capped off Senior Day with 20 points each including 6 treys from Bulger as 13th-ranked West Virginia held on against star player Angel McCoughtry and the Louisville Cardinals 78-70 to clinch third-place in the Big East Conference. This win gives WVU the first-round bye for the second straight year. All seven seniors played for the Mountaineers which included a rare start by Kendra Goodley plus spirited play by Lateeyah Joye in a stretch the Eers needed the most when Sanni got four fouls early in the second half. McCoughtery rallied from a FG-less first half to score 29 points with 11 rebounds and five steals. WVU made just enough effort to carry a much-needed victory that almost didn’t happened. Read the rest »