[Editors Note] WVMountaineerSports.com is excited to welcome a new member of the team. Jeremy Curtis is a senior news-editorial major in the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University. He works as a sports correspondent for The Dominion Post, serving the greater Morgantown area. Jeremy is from Va. Beach, Va. and is the son of John and Linda Curtis. The Mountaineer tradition runs throughout his family. He is currently living in Morgantown and you can find him at all Mountaineer home games.

PROJECTED STARTERS

PG Darris Nichols 6′3″ 200 lbs Senior (Radford, Va.) 10.9 PPG 4.6 APG

SG Alex Ruoff 6′6” 215 lbs Junior (Spring Hill, Fla.) 10.3 PPG 5.3 APG 72 steals

SF Wellington Smith 6′7” 215 lbs Sophomore (Summit, N.J.) 2.3 PPG 0.9 RPG

PF Da’Sean Butler 6′7” 225 lbs Sophomore (Newark, N.J.) 10.1 PPG 3.5 RPG

F/C Joe Alexander 6′8″ 230 lbs Junior (Mt. Airy, Md.) 10.3 PPG 4.3 RPG 38 blocks

IMPACT PLAYERS OFF THE BENCH

PG Joe Mazzulla (6′2″ 210 lbs Sophomore), C Jaime Smalligan (7′ 265 lbs Senior), F John Flowers (6′7″ 195 lbs Freshman), SG Jonnie West (6′3″ 175 lbs Freshman).

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

The Mountaineers begin the Bob Huggins era with two winnable games at home against Arkansas-Monticello and Prairie View A&M in the Legends Classic tournament. Then they’ll travel to Newark, N.J. for the final two rounds of the Legends Classic, where they’ll battle no. seven Tennessee and either New Mexico State or no. 16 Texas. Butler and Smith will need to have a good showing in their home state as West Virginia will be tested in these early season match-ups. WVU hosts Winthrop on Saturday, Dec. 1, the same day of the football team’s 100th Backyard Brawl with Pitt. The Mountaineers will travel to Birmingham, Ala. Dec. 5 to play in the newly formed Pizza Hut Big East/SEC Invitational against the Auburn Tigers. Dec. 19 will be a homecoming game for Nichols as WVU travels to Radford. WVU and Oklahoma will meet in Charleston, W.Va. Dec. 29.

The Mountaineers will enter the Big East portion of their schedule Jan. 3 at Notre Dame. The no. 12 Marquette Golden Eagles come into Morgantown Jan. 6. WVU will hit the road shortly thereafter and play conference rival and sixth-ranked Louisville Jan. 10. The Syracuse Orangeman will come to town Jan. 13. That early stretch of tough conference games will be pivotal and will reveal how this Mountaineer team will compete in college basketball’s premier conference.

West Virginia and Marshall will play again in Charleston, Jan. 23.

Only three days later, the no. five Georgetown Hoyas will come into Morgantown. Huggins will have a chance to get his first signature win against a Final Four team from last year and the defending Big East champions. WVU will host Cincinnati at home Jan. 30. That will mark the first game Huggins will coach against his former Bearcat team. Critical road tests at Providence and at no. 20 Pitt follow. The Mountaineers will play at no. 25 Villanova Feb. 20. Pitt will head down I-79 and brawl with WVU for the second time, Mar. 3. WVU wraps up its regular season schedule at St. John’s Mar. 8.

The Big East tournament begins Mar. 12 and hopefully the Mountaineers will be in position to head to Madison Square Garden and boost their tournament resume.

SCOUTING THE NEW-LOOK MOUNTAINEERS

The word around Morgantown is small-ball. Don’t be surprised to see the Mountaineers go with a small lineup to try and create mismatches on the floor. Everyone will be interested to see the Beilein-system players adapt to the intense, in-you-face, athletic style of Huggins. WVU should be aggressive, physical and scrappy on both sides of the ball. Alexander is up to 230 and they’ll need him to be a shot-blocking force. He can provide the team with much needed physical defense and rebounding. Expect to see Alexander throw down some rim-rocking dunks that may blow the roof off of the Coliseum. Nichols is one of the most underrated point guards in the nation. He will look to score more and take over a leadership role, as the departed Frank Young will be sorely missed. WVU must fill Young’s void with scoring and especially clutch scoring. Butler and Smith should provide a nice one-two punch at the forward positions. Ruoff will need to be steady and provide defensive sparks with his knack for getting steals. This core of players knows how to win. Look back to a year ago. A 27-win campaign, topped off with a NIT championship, isn’t too shabby for a “rebuilding” team. Huggins has assembled an elite coaching staff. He and his assistants have produced countless NBA players. Huggins will continue to accumulate wins and is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame. If the Mountaineers can continue building their tremendous team chemistry, be patient, especially early on in the season, and buy into Huggins winning style of play, there is no reason this team can’t be successful and earn an NCAA bid.

PROJECTED BIG EAST FINISH

1. Georgetown Hoyas 2. Louisville Cardinals 3. Marquette Golden Eagles 4. Providence Friars 5. Villanova Wildcats 6. Connecticut Huskies 7. West Virginia Mountaineers 8. DePaul Blue Demons 9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10. Pitt Panthers 11. Syracuse Orange 12. St. John’s Red Storm 13. Cincinnati Bearcats 14. South Florida Bulls 15. Seton Hall Pirates 16. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

PROJECTED POSTSEASON APPEARANCES

Georgetown- Elite Eight; Louisville- Final Four; Marquette- Sweet 16; Providence- NCAA second round; Villanova- NCAA first round; UCONN- Sweet 16; WVU- NCAA second round; DePaul- NCAA first round; ND- NIT; Pitt- NIT; Syracuse- NIT; St. John’s- NIT.

(I know these are late to post but the picks were made before noon) 

Couchburners Picks

Trying to do better than .500 this week. Going ATS again.

BCS Top 10

#1 OHIO STATE -151/2 vs Wisconsin - OSU
#2 BOSTON COLLEGE -61/2 vs Florida State - BC
#3 Lsu -7 vs ALABAMA - BAMA
#5 OREGON -7 vs #4 Arizona State - Arizona St
#6 OKLAHOMA -20 vs Texas A&M - Texas A&M
#8 KANSAS -171/2 vs Nebraska - Nebraska
#9 Missouri -4 vs COLORADO - Missouri
#10 GEORGIA -161/2 vs Troy St - Georgia

Big East

#13 UCONN -21/2 vs Rutgers - Rutgers
SOUTH FLORIDA -41/2 vs Cincinnati - Cincinnati
PITT -13 vs Syracuse - Pitt

Shits & Giggles

FLORIDA -16 vs Vanderbilt - Florida
PENN STATE -7 vs Purdue - Purdue
NOTRE DAME -31/2 vs Navy - Navy
Michigan -4 vs MICHIGAN ST - Michigan St

MountaineerBob’s Picks

BCS Top 10

#1 OHIO STATE -151/2 vs Wisconsin - Wisconsin
#2 BOSTON COLLEGE -61/2 vs Florida State - Florida State
#3 Lsu -7 vs ALABAMA - Alabama
#5 OREGON -7 vs #4 Arizona State - Oregon
#6 OKLAHOMA -20 vs Texas A&M - Texas A&M
#8 KANSAS -171/2 vs Nebraska - Nebraska
#9 Missouri -4 vs COLORADO - Colorado
#10 GEORGIA -161/2 vs Troy St - Troy St

Big East

#13 UCONN -21/2 vs Rutgers - Rutgers
SOUTH FLORIDA -41/2 vs Cincinnati - South Florida
PITT -13 vs Syracuse -Syracuse

Shits & Giggles

FLORIDA -16 vs Vanderbilt - Florida
PENN STATE -7 vs Purdue - Purdue
NOTRE DAME -31/2 vs Navy - ND
Michigan -4 vs MICHIGAN ST - Michigan

By laughing at this… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA….

and remembering this!!!!! I was at this one… almost left the game, glad I didn’t. Still gives me chills.

I’m going to give this a shot, not sure how this will work but what the hell. Let’s find out what everythinks of the top 10 this week.

RESULTS:

Ohio State - 9
Wisconsin - 10

Florida State - 11
Boston College - 9

Alabama - 15
LSU - 4

Arizona State - 5
Oregon - 14

Texas A&M - 7
Oklahoma - 11

Nebraska - 8
Kansas - 10

Missouri - 9
Colorado - 9

Troy - 1
Georgia - 17

Make sure you wear your gold at the Thursday Night game vs. Louisville:

Rodriguez said the Mountaineers take great pride in conditioning and getting and staying in great shape. That’s why they have been able to protect leads in the fourth quarter of games, making defensive plays and controlling the tempo with the run offense.

The veteran Mountaineer mentor seized an opportunity Tuesday to urge all fans to wear gold, especially for the upcoming game at night.

“I’d like everybody to wear something gold - a shirt, jersey, jacket, hat, scarf, shoes,” he said. “It would look impressive, particularly at night.

“Night games on TV showcase our program, our university and our state. It’s impressive for fans and our recruits. We’d look good with 60,000 people in gold. That helps establish a strong home-field advantage.”

Don’t have your Gold Rush T-shirt yet? Visit the Shop.

Pat White is back in a big way. After a nearly perfect performance in a wet, hostile environment (hostile for one quarter at least) in New Jersey, Pat White proved that he is the premiere player on the WVU offense. As much as I love Slaton, White is the man that makes it all happen.
Here is a screen capture of the ESPN Rank ‘Em Heisman Watch Poll. Looks like everyone else is starting to look at White and Slaton again… #2 and #5 baby!!! Just last week they were way down if not out of this race.

It’s crazy how college football works. Crazy hype pre-season, mix up in mid season, and then everything kind of resets. That’s what makes it fun! Here’s an exerpt from a great article from ESPN:

“It was a great all-around performance,” White said from a cramped RU field-hockey locker room that doubled as the visitor’s postgame interview area. “Everybody executed today and did the job. We’ve just got to continue to do it. We made plays. When the ball was in a playmaker’s hands, we made plays.

“Football is a team sport. … Heisman … I’m more worried about championships.”

When White finally emerged from Rutgers Stadium in his blue and gold WVU warm-up to board the team bus and begin the trip back to Morgantown, the late-afternoon sky had cleared and was painted with a blue backdrop and a gold sun.

“I’m as good as I need to be … as good as I can be right now,” White said. “I’m getting close. I felt better today than I think I have all season.”

That’s bad news for upcoming defenses, and it may be more than enough to propel WVU to a Big East title and the corresponding January BCS game — with a detour in New York for White for a trophy ceremony.

Don’t know about you, but White gets my vote and he has 4 more games to prove his worth. See y’all in NYC.

Another decisive win by WVU and again we drop in the polls. I guess beating a ranked conference foe on the road just doesn’t do it for the pollsters. I think we are the only team in the top 10 this year to win games, but consistently lose spots in the polls. We stayed the same in the BCS, but at this point in the season, no-gain is just as bad as losing a spot. At this rate, Michigan will have a higher BCS ranking than WVU by season’s end, especially if they knock off OSU. Yeah, the same Michigan team that lost AT HOME to ASU followed by a woodshed beating by Oregon.

What’s so hard for the pollsters to like about a WV team that has a Top 10 offense and Top 3 ranked Defense (OSU #1, LSU#2)? It’s not like we’re the new kids on the block, like UConn and no one knows much about us. We play in a newly revived conference that is at least balanced. I just don’t understand why having four teams battling for a conference title is bad. Why is it good for the SEC and the Pac-10, but not the Big East? Our schedule is much better than it has been and is only going to get better with Auburn, Florida St. and Colorado scheduled over the next few years. There are other top 10 teams who are playing questionable schedules this year…OSU, BC, Oklahoma and Kansas come to mind. What am I thinking? The Big 12 is a powerhouse this year. That’s why they currently lead all conferences with 4 teams in this week’s BCS Top 15.

What’s your take?

I’m very excited about my new formula, it takes several more factors in to consideration, and does a better job judging strength of schedule. Let me know what you think.

Left off of the BCS top 16 that would have made my top 16: Virginia (12.13), South Florida (11.75)

This is an amazing/ridiculous/stupid/awesome/good play. Doesn’t have anything to do with WVU, but damn, what a way to win a game.

I found this on WBGV.com and YouTube and had to post it too. I think every WVU fan should see this…and laugh. I love that we kicked their ass Saturday. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA