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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 11:03:26 GMT -5
11/04/2011 Garrett Cullen Morgantown
No. 24 West Virginia (6-2, 2-1 Big East) faces Louisville (4-4, 2-1 Big East) on Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium in a pivotal conference clash. Both teams enter Saturday in a three-way tie, along with Pitt, for second place in the Big East standings.
And right now keeping control of their own destiny in that Big East title race is the main focus for the Mountaineers.
“I never was able to call myself a champion – in high school I always wanted that feeling,” said defensive back Darwin Cook. “Last year it was a Big East Championship, but it was a Co-Championship so it didn’t really feel that good. That’s what our mindset is this year.”
Saturday’s game will also likely be the last game between West Virginia and Louisville on the football field for a while – it’s a series that has developed nicely into a competitive and interesting rivalry.
While West Virginia has won four straight and leads the all-time series 10-2, every game since 1989 between the two teams has been within two touchdowns. The two most notable games, of course, came in 2005 with the triple-overtime thriller won by West Virginia and then the 2006 top-five showdown won by Louisville.
The last couple of years, meanwhile, have been defensive battles with West Virginia winning 17-9 in 2009 and 17-10 in 2010. And if Louisville has its way in 2011, it’ll be a defensive battle again. The Cardinals enter Saturday’s game leading the Big East in scoring defense (16.2 points per game) and total defense (295.6 yards per game).
“They’ve done a nice job of getting guys and recruiting. They play a lot of people,” said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. “They’re two-deep at each position, and a lot of those guys play. They have a bunch of competition that’s making them better as well. They play well and they’ve got good players.”
And good coaching also helps.
“Charlie Strong has been as well-respected of a defensive coordinator as there’s been in the profession for the last two decades,” Holgorsen said. “The guy’s won two national championships and has been a part of some good programs being the defensive coordinator. That tells you something.”
The Cardinals are coming into Saturday’s game winners of two straight, beating Rutgers 16-14 and knocking off Syracuse 27-10.
“They’ll come in here ready to go,” Holgorsen said. “They’re big. They’re physical. They’re talented. They’re athletic and they’re going to come right into the thick of things in the Big East and expect to win.”
Meanwhile, Louisville head coach Charlie Strong has seen a lot of his young players mature throughout the year, but he sees the matchup with West Virginia as an important test of just how far they’ve come.
“You are going to have to play with a lot of confidence,” Strong said. “It’s going to be an atmosphere where you are going to have to show some toughness. We have to pack our defense. We have to pack our kicking game. We have to pack our togetherness. We’re just going to have to play well as a football team.”
While the Cardinals’ defense has kept them in every game, their offense has struggled to get going at times. The 27 points scored last week against Syracuse are the most scored all year – Louisville comes into Saturday putting up just 17 points per game (113th in the country) and totaling 329 offensive yards per contest (103rd in the nation).
“They may not put up big numbers or big points, but they’re more efficient,” Holgorsen said. “Up front, they’ve got their center back. We say we’re not very experienced with our offensive line, well, we’ve got more than one guy back. They’ve got one buy back up front, so those guys are learning to play with each other and they’ve got a bunch of skill kids who look talented to me. They’re just not on the same page yet.”
Freshman Teddy Bridgewater has taken over the starting duties at quarterback – he had one of his better games of the year last week against Syracuse, completing 17 of 24 passes for 198 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Overall on the year, he has seven touchdowns and six interceptions.
“He’s talented and has a good arm,” Holgorsen said. “He has the ability to get out of it and run down the field. He’s developing a pretty good rapport with the guys around him. He’s throwing it to about eight different guys. It’s a familiarity with the offense and sitting in the pocket or being able to make a play with his feet when things break down.”
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:52:37 GMT -5
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:50:22 GMT -5
11/04/2011
Chip Fontanazza Morgantown
There has been a lot hype and excitement surrounding all of the young Mountaineer basketball players this off-season and tonight will be the first chance fans can see them play.
WVU will play in its first and only exhibition game of the season against Northern Kentucky in the Coliseum. WVU head coach Bob Huggins has gotten a good idea of what his young players are capable of, but he says the next step is to see how they do against someone who doesn’t wear the same uniform.
“Everybody knows what everybody else is going to do, at least most of them know,” explained Huggins. “So it’s good to play somebody else. You just get tired of playing against the same people all of the time, but we really need to practice. What this affords us the luxury of doing is going into the film room with them and saying this is what I’ve been telling you.”
Northern Kentucky is coming off a hard-fought 65-55 exhibition loss to Marshall. The Mountaineers had a scrimmage against Xavier last Saturday and due to NCAA rules Huggins wasn’t able to talk about it.
As the week of practice progressed, Huggins was still trying to figure out which players to use.
“I honestly don’t know who we’ll put out there,” said Huggins during Wednesday’s interviews. “I know we are going to put KJ [Kevin Jones] and Truck [Bryant] out there and Deniz [Kilicli], but other than that its kind of depends on who plays better in the next couple days.”
One position Huggins hopes to have a better idea about after the game is point guard. With Bryant moving to the shooting guard position, Huggins has to fill the point. Neither freshmen Gary Browne nor Jabarie Hinds was on the Italy trip, so Huggins has not seen either in a game setting.
“Offensively everything starts with your point guard and we didn’t have Gary and we didn’t have Jabarie in Italy so I didn’t really get to see them there,” said Huggins. “Really the only time we got to see them was against Xavier and Xavier is pretty good.”
Huggins’ teams have a reputation of being very good defensively and he is trying to instill that mentality into his freshmen. He’s seen some progress since they started practicing together over the summer, but they still have a long way to go. One area he is hoping to see more improvement in tonight is their half court defense.
“I think we’ve made a lot of strides in what we do half court defensively, but the best transition someone can get is off a turnover,” said Huggins. “We just throw it away too much.”
“I think the hardest thing is convincing them to throw it to the guys that have the same color shirt that they have on,” joked Huggins. “Its been very repetitive that we’ve been throwing the ball to the wrong team and it really hurts your defense. There is no defense for that.”
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:47:46 GMT -5
Friday November 4, 2011
by Jack Bogaczyk Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia is a 13 1/2-point favorite over Louisville on Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field.
So what's the big deal about that?
Well, the Mountaineers had better enjoy it - being this "beast of the Big East," so to speak - because winning after moving to the Big 12 Conference (whenever that happens) is going to be more than a little bit tougher.
WVU (6-2, 2-1) began its biggest success in 2005, when Big East football added the Cardinals with Cincinnati and South Florida, a year after Connecticut moved into league football.
In the six-plus seasons starting with '05, the teams of Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart and Dana Holgorsen are 34-11 in conference play ... but haven't finished a season better than 5-2 since sweeping Big East foes (7-0) in 2005.
More to the point, however, is how West Virginia has been regarded in, yes, Las Vegas.
Including Saturday's game with Louisville (4-4, 2-1), the Mountaineers have been the wagering favorite in 40 of 46 Big East dates since 2005. In 2007 and '08, they were favored in every game, non-conference ones included.
In the last 86 games overall (including this Saturday), WVU has been the underdog only 11 times. The non-league favorites were Virginia Tech and Maryland in 2005, Auburn in 2009 and LSU last and this seasons.
In the Big 12 - and especially if WVU keeps non-league heavyweights like Florida State and Michigan State on future schedules - the Mountaineers are destined to be underdogs 11 times in two years, trust me.
At his Tuesday news conference, Holgorsen echoed what many Big East coaches have said in recent years as the conference has been torched repeatedly at the bottom of the BCS totem pole.
"The Big East is the most competitive conference I've been in. Period," Holgorsen said. "From top to bottom, it's the most competitive conference I've been in - within the conference."
Well, the oddsmakers would disagree, when it comes to WVU. Since 2005, WVU has been an average favorite of 9.9 points per game in league play, and that subtracts the point spreads in the six games in which the Mountaineers were 'dogs.
And at Mountaineer Field, West Virginia hasn't been a Big East underdog in six seasons.
The last time was the '05 trip by the Cardinals' program that will visit Saturday. U of L was a seven-point favorite in what became a Big East-memorable 46-44 WVU victory in triple overtime ... sort of the coming-out party for a quarterback named Pat White.
West Virginia's football reputation helped the Mountaineers mightily in the Big 12 membership bid. But among the 10 teams expected to play in the Dallas-based conference next season, eight have been ranked at one time or another this season.
The degree of difficulty will increase with the travel miles, so Mountaineer fans would do well to appreciate averaging 10 wins per season before it negotiates its way out of the Big East.
* * *
AS WEST VIRGINIA primes itself for a move to the Big 12 Conference next season, it's a good time to consider the Mountaineers' football performance in the Big East.
Going back to 1993, when the Big East began playing a full, round-robins conference schedule, WVU owns the third-best record in league history - and tops among the current members.
With this Saturday featuring four conference games for the eight members - the only Saturday with a full league schedule in 2011 - let's look at the conference standings in several ways:
(See graphic above.)
What's the point? Well, in each of the above, only four teams have winning records. Sustaining success in the Big East has been difficult for most programs, and the Mountaineers have pretty much enjoyed their time in the league.
Among current members, WVU is 10 games better than Pitt since the Mountaineers went on their current run of winning seasons in 2002, and eight games ahead of the Panthers since the new threesome joined in 2005.
The Mountaineers seem headed for a 10th straight winning season in conference play. If that occurs, WVU will be the only team in Big East history to do that (Miami was 3-4 in 1997).
West Virginia should appreciate what it's accomplished in the Big East. Life in the Big 12 - while WVU should be competitive there - isn't likely to be as perennially successful.
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:44:59 GMT -5
Friday November 4, 2011
by Mike Casazza Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Darwin Cook spent a bit of time in the end zone last Saturday, which would have been a good thing for No. 24 West Virginia if he were a running back or receiver or the "R" in Rutgers.
Cook is but a safety for the Mountaineers, and his presence in a place the opposition has visited far, far too frequently lately is as big a problem as it sounds.
Yet Cook being in the end zone ended up being the difference in the 41-31 win against the Scarlet Knights.
It was the sophomore from Cleveland who broke up the pass on the failed fake field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. If Cook isn't in the end zone, if he's a step too slow or one stride too far left or too far right, Rutgers completes the pass and goes up 38-28.
Cook was in the end zone and in line to make the play, though. He gave WVU the ball to start a drive that ended 11 plays and 89 yards later with quarterback Geno Smiths' 1-yard touchdown run on a fourth down that again went the right way for the Mountaineers.
It was the play he made that had everyone talking afterward.
"It was a good call," Cook said. "It almost worked."
It did not and that's why the Mountaineers (6-2, 2-1 Big East) are in a far better mood as they play host to Louisville (4-4, 2-1) at noon Saturday (Big East Network telecast).
Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano has pulled some special team tricks in his career and what he tried to do to the Mountaineers seemed right up his alley. Yet it was flawed play, beginning with the backup holder, reserve defensive back, throwing the pass for the Scarlet Knights.
His target was a receiver that the Daily Record, the newspaper in Parsippany, N.J., described as one who "has four catches and at least that many drops this season." Brandon Coleman is also 6 feet 6 and should have given Patrick Kivlehan something easy to aim at.
The voice screamed in Schiano's headset, "We got it!" From the coach's box above the field, it looked like an easy score, but the pass developed slowly, the throw was low and Cook made the play.
"I didn't see the ball," Cook said. "I looped around the end and when I looped around I saw the holder pick up the ball and I saw someone slip into the flat."
Cook knew something was going on, so he stopped briefly.
"I know they're not going to throw it in the flat," he thought.
Cook spun around and "saw a dude wide open."
Cook then did what Cook tends to do. He ran around and made something happen. He locked his eyes on Coleman's and waited for Coleman to raise his arms to let Cook know the ball was coming. Then Cook could pounce and avoid a pass interference penalty.
If things got desperate, Cook would just tackle Coleman.
"Rather have a flag than a touchdown," he said.
Cook chased Coleman and never saw the arms go up. He saw Coleman reach out to his side for the ball and Cook tackled Coleman and did what he could do make sure the ball never got to Coleman's grasp.
He knew he timed it right. He knew he kept Rutgers from a clinching score that would have rerouted WVU's season. He also knew the officials would throw a flag for pass interference. That play was too important, he thought.
"As soon as I got up I looked around," he said. "I didn't see anything, but I was still thinking about that dropped pick."
Cook had been in the same end zone in the first quarter. The Mountaineers were in a coverage that left him without anyone to cover or anything to do except help a teammate. He slipped inside a receiver and had a pass bounce off his facemask.
Moments later, Rutgers threw a touchdown pass. When the defense got together to watch the film, take a guess which play got more attention.
"The pick," he said. "They slowed it down, before it even got to me. They showed it like five times."
Cook was mad only at himself. He said he should have caught the ball before it slipped through his hands.
"It wasn't that hard," he said. "It was terrible. I was helping on another player and when I turned around, the ball was right on me. It was terrible."
Those seven points scored were looking like the difference until Cook kept seven points off the board. Then again, that's kind of like Cook. Sooner or later the 5-11, 205-pound former high school defensive end is going to do something.
"I've been noticing that since the spring," senior cornerback Keith Tandy said. "He was young and still making mistakes here and there, but I kept telling him, 'Keep your head up and keep flying around and you'll eventually make a play.' "
Cook leads the team with 54 tackles. He made 11 against Rutgers in the snow.
"Felt horrible," he said. "Horrible. I've been getting beat up all year. Concussion. Leg. Arm. There can't be anything else left."
A moment later, Cook was jumping out of his seat. He had a device on his right arm that sends a low current to stimulate and heal his elbow. It goofed up and sent a shock to his left pocket, where he was keeping the control.
Now there's nothing else left.
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:41:15 GMT -5
Friday November 4, 2011
by Mike Casazza Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Bob Huggins is about to begin his 30th season as a college basketball coach and his fifth year at West Virginia.
So many times before or after his 691 victories, Huggins has said there isn't much he hasn't seen along the way.
Yet when the Mountaineers open the 2011-12 season with tonight's exhibition against Division II Northern Kentucky, not even Huggins can say what will happen.
"I don't have any idea," he said.
This is what happens when you return just four letter-winners, only three of which played a significant role last season. WVU, which has won at least 20 games and made the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons with Huggins, faces the challenge of inexperience this year.
Preseason All-Big East first team forward Kevin Jones and guard Truck Bryant are the only seniors. Forward Deniz Kilicli is a junior. Forward Kevin Noreen played only briefly last season before injury forced him into a medical redshirt.
Huggins unveils seven first-year scholarship players at 7 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum: Freshmen guards Gary Browne and Jabarie Hinds and freshmen forwards Aaron Brown, Tommie McCune, Keaton Miles and Pay Forsythe and junior college forward Dominique Rutledge.
Rutledge was suspended indefinitely last month, but Huggins said he has reinstated Rutledge, who attended, but did not play at Western Texas Community College last year.
He hasn't practiced much and might not play tonight because Huggins wants to work with people who know what they're doing, which isn't always easy with this group.
"The hardest thing is to convince them to throw it to the guys in the same color shirt they have on," Huggins said. "We turn it over. It's been very repetitive. We keep throwing the ball to the wrong team and that really hurts your defense. There's no defense for that."
Huggins and his WVU teams have both been defined by defense and Huggins said the younger players are quickly getting used to what college basketball demands. WVU's halfcourt defense has improved as the team moved closer to the start of the season.
"It's a lot better than what it was," Huggins said. "We can guard a ball screen now. I'm not sure we can guard the next ball screen and the next ball screen in a possession. That's where we've got to get to. Our league has become pretty much that - grind it out and either get a ball screen or spread people out and take them off the bounce and create."
Huggins has worries about his offense, too. He plans to use Bryant as the shooting guard. That's his natural position, but circumstances made him play point guard his first three seasons. Browne and Hinds are the new point guards, but like Bryant, Hinds played shooting guard in AAU and high school.
The NCAA also kept Brown from joining the team for its exhibition games in Sicily and Italy over the summer. Hinds didn't enroll until after that.
"We haven't been able to really see them yet," Huggins said. "The only time we got to see them was (last Saturday's scrimmage) against Xavier -and Xavier is pretty good. I think I have a little better feel for all the other guys because of the five games we played in Italy."
Huggins said Bryant, Jones and Kilicli will start and the other two spots would go to Brown or Hinds and Miles or McCune. He said the 6-foot-10 Noreen will play a lot, too, and is versatile enough to play with Jones and Kilicli.
The Mountaineers also have walk-on guards Aric Dickerson and Logan's Paul Herbert Williamson. They think highly of both, particularly Dickerson, a noted shooter from Chicago. WVU is down two available scholarship players because guard Juwan Staten and center Aaric Murray have to sit out after transferring from Dayton and LaSalle, respectively.
Northern Kentucky has former WVU point guard Darris Nichols and former WVU graduate assistant Kevin Schappell on its coaching staff. The Norse led Marshall by five points at halftime Tuesday, but fell behind when the Thundering Herd started the second half with 14 straight points and a 25-3 run. Marshall won, 65-55.
The Mountaineers open their season at home Nov. 11 against Oral Roberts, the preseason favorite with two players on the preseason All-Summit League team. WVU then plays host to Kent State at 10 a.m. Nov. 15. The Golden Flashes, two-time defending regular season champions, were named the preseason favorite in the Mid-American Conference.
Two weeks and three games later, WVU plays host to Akron, which was second to Kent State in the MAC poll. Then comes a game at Mississippi State, against Kansas State in Wichita, Kan., and at home against Miami in seven days.
After a seven-day break, the Mountaineers play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tennessee Tech in preliminary play for the Las Vegas Classic. WVU then travels to Las Vegas and plays back-to-back games against Missouri and Baylor. All of that happens in six days. Big East play begins at home Dec. 28 against Villanova.
"I think sometimes you can overschedule and I think we probably overdid it with this group," Huggins said. "I really want our fan base to see good teams and I don't think sometimes our fan base realizes that.
"A year ago, we brought Cleveland State here and played against a first-round (NBA) pick. I kept saying they were good and people were like, 'OK, yeah, right.' The people who were here certainly appreciated it. That was a good basketball team and (guard) Norris Cole is a pretty good player.
"Kent State will be every bit as good and probably even better. They're very good. Oral Roberts has their top seven leading scorers back. When I said Oakland was good last year, everyone said I was trying to be Lou Holtz, but (center) Keith Benson is a pro. You want to do that. The flip side is you want to win. Kent State is going to be a top 50 team, but it only helps you if you win it."
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:37:49 GMT -5
Friday November 4, 2011
by Mike Casazza Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Not long ago, West Virginia and Louisville were playing football games against each other that would factor into not only who would be Big East Conference champion, but also the national champion.
"It's always been kind of like a rivalry game and it's always been competitive," said WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who along with defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich has been involved with this series longer than anyone else on either side. "A couple of them have been classics."
A national championship contender will not be nominated when the teams meet Saturday, as was the case when the teams met in 2006 and '07, but the Big East title is out there for both.
Louisville (4-4, 2-1 Big East) faces No. 24 WVU (6-2, 2-1) at Mountaineer Field.
The Big East Network will televise the noon game, as opposed to the national network that used to reserve a prime-time slot for the two.
The game at Louisville in 2006, which followed WVU's controversy-aided triple overtime victory in 2005, remains ESPN's highest-rated Thursday night game.
Things have changed for both teams.
Both are on their second coach after Rich Rodriguez and Bobby Petrino. The Mountaineers haven't been alone in first place since the final week of the 2007 regular season.
The Cardinals have won their past two conference games, something they haven't done since winning the last three games of the 2006 regular season to win the Big East and represent it in the Sugar Bowl.
This could also be the last matchup of the two for many years. WVU, which is 5-1 against the Cardinals since they joined the Big East for the 2005 season, is off to the Big 12 and perhaps as soon as next season. That move did create some tension between the two schools, though.
The Mountaineers were accepted into the Big 12 last Tuesday and were readying a press conference for a day later. Tuesday night, the plan was paused and a day later Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) asked for an investigation if minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is also a Louisville graduate, became involved after WVU's acceptance and compromised the decision.
Suddenly, WVU and Louisville were again competing for high stakes and again the Mountaineers won. They were announced as the Big 12's newest member last Friday and a series that had lacked meaning for the past few years had new life, though perhaps not where it matters most.
"It doesn't filter down at all," Cardinals Coach Charlie Strong said. "We've got to go play a football game. It has nothing to do with the administration. I don't know if the players look at it on either side."
The Mountaineers say they are not swayed and their future conference affiliation or next opponent doesn't change their ultimate goal. WVU wants to win the Big East. So, too, does Louisville and it would be fitting if the game between teams tied for second place eventually decided who wins the league.
In 2005, 2006 and 2007, the winner won the Big East and the two teams were what the league needed as it recovered from the losses of Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
WVU, which won in 2005 and 2007, finished ranked Nos. 5, 10 and 6. Louisville finished Nos. 19 and 6 and was then unranked after 2007, the first season with Steve Kragthorope
"I assume it was very competitive, like I assume it will be like this year," said WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen, who was an assistant at Texas Tech from 2000-2007. "I don't remember the specifics, but I remember, like I said when I first came here, the runs that specific teams had, the runs that West Virginia and Louisville had there for a year or two, the runs Rutgers had and Cincinnati had. I remember watching that stuff and seeing the games and just how competitive they were."
Louisville was the conference's preseason favorite in 2005 and ranked No. 19 when it came to Mountaineer Field. WVU trailed 24-7 in the fourth quarter, but rallied to tie the score with two touchdowns and a field goal in the final 8:16. The third score was set up when the Mountaineers recovered an onside kick that the Big East office later said should not have been allowed. WVU won 46-44 in three overtimes.
"It was pretty nuts," said WVU senior cornerback Keith Tandy, who was a high school junior in Hopkinsville, Ky., that year. "That's what got me started watching West Virginia. I remember watching that game and going, 'Man, I might want to go to West Virginia.' "
A year later, WVU was No. 3 and Louisville No. 5, but the Cardinals won 44-34 at home. Steve Slaton, who scored six touchdowns the year before against Louisville, lost fumbles on consecutive drives in the third quarter. The second was returned for a touchdown and gave the Cardinals a 23-14 lead.
In 2007, WVU was ranked No. 6 and won 38-31. The Cardinals erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit, but were undone by WVU quarterback Pat White, who won the game with a 50-yard touchdown run with 1:36 to go.
Afterward, White said Louisville linebacker Prestson Smith spit on him during the game. Rodriguez and Kragthorpe downplayed the allegation, but White never relented.
"He came off the field and he was real mad," said senior left tackle Don Barclay, who was redshirting that season. "He showed his passion for the game."
White got his revenge a year later when he set the NCAA record for career rushing yards by a quarterback at Louisville and ended one touchdown run by slowly striding into the end zone and coolly snapping his fingers the final few yards. WVU won 35-21. The past two games were 17-9 and 17-10.
WVU's defense clinched both games. Senior defensive lineman Julian Miller had two sacks after Louisville's final drive in 2009 made it to WVU's 42-yard line.
The Cardinals blocked a late field goal last season, but Tandy's interception ended Louisville's final drive.
"I just know this: In the last 12 games we played, Louisville has won twice and lost its last four," Strong said.
"That should be the eye-opener right there."
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:35:41 GMT -5
Friday November 4, 2011
by Jack Bogaczyk Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- There's a theory I have involving the Big 12 and conference realignment, and while the theory not quite conspiratorial, I think there's a good chance there is bigger than a nugget of truth in it.
For a while, as regards the Big 12, it was West Virginia waiting for Missouri to make a potential move before the Mountaineers could make a potential move.
Now, methinks, the situation is reversed. Mizzou is waiting on WVU.
Missouri supposedly wants to go to the Southeastern Conference. The holdup, presumably, is that the Tigers are trying to negotiate down their exit-dollar amount with the Big 12 ... but nobody will really say that. Not the league, not Mizzou.
Nobody, not WVU, Mizzou, the Big 12, or even the SEC, will say anything of any substance about any of this. And considering how ham-handed the Big 12 has handled a lot of its realignment poker hands, anything is possible.
Honestly, I think it's more something like this:
The Big 12 has to keep Mizzou in the fold until WVU is sure it can bolt the Big East in time for the 2012-13 year. Otherwise, the Big 12's pending, $1.17 billion (13 years) second-tier telecast contract with Fox doesn't fly - because the league wouldn't have 10 teams.
So, Mizzou stays in the Big 12 as the 10th team, until the Big 12 is sure West Virginia is able to extricate itself from the Big East and replace the Tigers as the 10th, Fox-fulfilling school. The Big 12 then says thanks and goodbye to Mizzou by reducing the exit amount, and the SEC does a formal invite.
Which leads me to ... The SEC has said nothing - nothing - about inviting Missouri as the 14th member ... perhaps because the Tigers might be playing in the Big 12 next season if WVU can't move.
There is no way the Big 12 is going to let that lucrative (conference-saving, really) TV deal go astray. So, Mizzou waits while West Virginia and the Big East do their lawsuit-started posturing and negotiations.
At least that's how this longtime press box occupant views it.
* * *
I WAS asked the other day if WVU's lawsuit against the Big East adds to the Mountain State's famed reputation as "a judicial hellhole."
Sure it does. WVU's filing is over the top, and in my opinion has only made a bad situation with the Big East even worse.
West Virginia was shopping itself to other leagues before it landed the Big 12 bid ... sort of like coaches John Beilein and Rich Rodriguez shopped themselves not so long ago, riling the old gold and blue.
Let's see ... WVU sued the Big East. WVU sued Rodriguez. WVU and Beilein stopped just short of suing one another. WVU, as part of the Big East and with Connecticut, Rutgers and Pitt, sued the ACC, Miami and Boston College in June 2003.
How'd that one turn out?
Well, each of the four Big East schools received $1 million in an April 2005 settlement, and WVU got a home-and-home football series with Florida State (2012 and '13), among nine games ACC schools agreed to play against the Big East.
However, WVU's legal fees in the mess were $2,299,658.20. Now, if WVU decides to cancel the FSU series (because it needs to accommodate nine Big 12 games annually), it will cost in the $800,000 range to liquidate the contract. The Big East could contend that West Virginia, in exiting, has only made the situation worse.
If all of this ever gets to court or even if the Big East files a countersuit, don't be surprised to learn WVU also had a significant hand in deciding to turn down the ESPN offer of a $1.4 billion, nine-year TV contract extension because some of the league members thought it could do better with more suitors.
Now, WVU (along with Pitt and Syracuse) has contributed to a situation whereby what's left of the Big East may not close to that dollar neighborhood ... and the major network that telecasts college sports is more than a trifle steamed at the league.
Actionable? Sure, but bottom line, WVU is going to leave the Big East when it wants, and pay big to do so via negotiation.
All of that said, I do agree with the basic premise of the suit.
At its roots, the Big East cares more about basketball than football. That's nothing new. WVU knew that when it joined the conference for football, as an all-sports member, and now.
It's been that way for the two decades the conference has played football. The Big East's foundation in 1979 was basketball, and - the Boise States and UCFs better understand this - that's not going to change.
The Big East, although it added TCU before the Horned Frogs backed away, has been dreadfully slow to react to football expansion. There was the fumbling around when Villanova was being considered as a football member - a deal that WVU helped nix.
Then, after that, the conference went months talking about expansion but doing nothing of consequence until Pitt and Syracuse announced for the ACC.
WVU not only looks bad in its filing of the lawsuit. It's the 14-page document itself that contributes to the "hellhole" reputation. It has more than a few errors of fact contained.
In the "factual allegations" on the history of the Big East, Pitt is left out as one of the Big East football members in 2000. Gee, that's only a school WVU has played more than 100 times. How do you forget Pitt?
The lawsuit says several basketball schools "did not compete in Division I football," including Villanova and Connecticut. Sorry, wrong. UConn and 'Nova played what was then known as Division I-AA football, but they were still in Division I, which has two levels.
And in the section on the charge of "breach of fiduciary duties" by Big East Commissioner John Marinatto, the lawsuit says the "departure of members Pittsburgh, UConn and TCU created an imbalance ... "
UConn didn't leave. Syracuse did.
It's obvious this lawsuit was hastily written and filed ... and haste makes waste. It's too bad it had to be filed, period.
But if it were going to be filed, could perhaps someone with some knowledge of the Big East and major college football maybe have fact-checked it before adding to the reams of briefs in the hellhole?
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:29:58 GMT -5
November 3, 2011
By Dave Hickman The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Not a day goes by when Bruce Irvin doesn't needle Shawne Alston about his speed, or, more precisely, his lack of it.
Alston really can't do much about it. He's a realist, and realists understand their limitations.
"I am who I am,'' West Virginia's junior running back said this week. "I don't have too much speed so I can't really get around the corner. So I just use what I have.''
Imagine the surprise then - the total shock, really - when in a game in the snow at Rutgers last weekend Alston turned the corner and left everyone in his wake. Fifty-two yards and a trail of slush that looked like it came from a truck without mud flaps later, the 5-foot-11, 220-pounder was in the end zone at the end of his longest run ever as a Mountaineer.
A chance at a little payback, right? An opportunity to gloat to Irvin and anyone else who had ever doubted Alston's ability to motor?
Not a chance.
"They just said it was the longest 50-yard run they'd ever seen,'' Alston said. "Tavon [Austin], Coach [Robert] Gillespie, Ryan Clarke, Bruce, everybody.''
Ryan Clarke? Even Ryan Clarke was still joking about Alston's lack of speed?
"I thought I was moving, personally,'' Alston said. "I was moving.''
So what if Austin probably completed his own 80-yard touchdown run at Rutgers a few series later in less time than Alston jaunted 52 yards.
"Yeah, he probably did,'' Alston said. "But I was in the snow. He was in that nice green part [of the field that had been plowed].''
Speed or no speed, though, Alston's performance in Saturday's 41-31 win at Rutgers might have been the next step in his continuing integration into West Virginia's offense. After missing the first two games of the season while still recovering from a neck injury suffered in a winter car accident, Alston has become the go-to big back as the Mountaineers continue to work more running into their offense.
He would finish the Rutgers game with a career-high 110 yards on just 14 carries.
"Shawne is getting there. We've been getting him touches,'' coach Dana Holgorsen said. "He's been getting healthier to where it makes it easier to have another guy who can play a lot of different positions. He can be the main back or the fullback/lead back guy because he's a physical guy. Having guys like him who can play more than one position is definitely a good thing. We'll keep getting him the ball as long as when he runs it and he keeps going forward.''
His next opportunity comes Saturday when No. 24 West Virginia (6-2, 2-1 Big East) plays Louisville (4-4, 2-1) at Mountaineer Field. Barring a freak of nature, though, this one won't be in a snowstorm. Saturday's forecast calls for sunshine and temperatures in the 50s.
That doesn't mean Alston won't be a factor, though. Not only is he the only big back the Mountaineers really have in comparison to Dustin Garrison, Andrew Buie and Vernard Roberts, he's more than just a change of pace. He's another healthy body at a position that requires a lot of them.
"It's a long season, especially at running back. You need more than one guy,'' Holgorsen said. "Running back's probably the hardest position to play in the game because you have so much for them to do, and they take such a beating with pass protection and running the ball and being involved in the pass game.
"Throughout the course of the year you're going to need four or five guys to step up. We're a running-back-oriented team anyway with the amount of backs that we play in two-back and three-back [formations].''
Holgorsen also likes the fact that Alston provides a bit of maturity in an otherwise wet-behind-the-ears collection of runners. The other three tailbacks getting carries are all true freshmen.
Of course, that Alston's name is brought up in the same sentence with maturity is also new this season. Remember, it was Alston who was discovered to have been posting messages on his Facebook page at halftime of WVU's bowl game last December.
Chalk that up as a lesson learned.
"I regret it. I think to a lot of people it gave off a sense of not being focused or whatever, that I wasn't into the game,'' Alston said. "But it is what it is. I won't do it again, I know that much.''
While Alston is no longer chided by teammates for his halftime misstep at the bowl game, he will likely never shake the kidding about his speed. Even if most everyone was willing to let it go, Irvin never will.
"Ah, man, he's the worst,'' Alston said of the boisterous defensive end. "It's between him and Tavon.''
Truth be told, if Alston was confident enough in his speed he could settle the matter rather easily. He could have someone in WVU's video room time his 50-yard dash in the snow. He could put Austin's 80-yard run and his 52-yarder side-by-side and see if Austin really was faster.
Again, though, remember that Alston is a realist above all else.
"No, I don't want to do that,'' Alston said of timing the video tapes. "I don't want to face reality.''
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:26:22 GMT -5
November 3, 2011
By Mitch Vingle The Charleston Gazette
Within the West Virginia men's basketball coaching circle, today's 7 p.m. exhibition game with Northern Kentucky will be a chance to see familiar faces.
Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins will welcome former player and graduate assistant Darris Nichols, former grad assistant Kevin Schappell and even his nephew, NKU guard Anthony Monaco, to the Coliseum.
But for WVU fans, the game will serve as a chance to see new faces in Mountaineer uniforms.
On Thursday, Huggins said two of those new faces - point guard Jabarie Hinds of Mount Vernon, N.Y., and forward Keaton Miles of Dallas - will probably start against the Norse.
The other Mountaineer starters are expected to be veterans Kevin Jones, Truck Bryant and Deniz Kilicli.
The only other returning WVU player, however, is 6-foot-10 Kevin Noreen, who is coming off a medical-redshirt year. The rest of the team consists of newcomers.
Aside from Hinds, the gem of Huggins' last recruiting class, and Miles, a long 6-7 forward, fans will probably be able to check out guards Gary Browne and Aaron Brown, 6-11 center Pat Forsythe, forward Tommy McCune and junior college transfer forward Dominique Rutledge, who has been reinstated after suspension. Walk-on Paul Williamson of Logan saw playing time in the team's trip to Italy.
In Northern Kentucky, WVU will be facing a team from the Great Lakes Valley Conference that opened its exhibition schedule Tuesday night by losing to Marshall 65-55. The Norse hit 7-of-19 first-half 3-point shots, including three from Jon Van Hoose, to take a 32-27 lead at the break against the Herd.
Two NKU players sat out that game but are expected to play against WVU. Eshaunte Jones, a 6-4 junior forward, averaged 4.1 points at Nebraska last season before transferring. The other is Ernest "Stretch" Watson, a 6-7 transfer from Trinity Valley Community College in Texas.
"Northern Kentucky has perennially been one of the best Division II teams in the country," Huggins said. "They're about ready to make the move to Division I. They're talented. They're about as good of a team as you can find for an exhibition game."
WVU will begin the regular season at 9 p.m. on Nov. 11 against Oral Roberts at the Coliseum.
WVU announced Thursday that tickets for the Nov. 22 WVU-Morehead State basketball game to be played in Charleston will go on sale Nov. 7 at the Civic Center box office.
Tickets are priced at $27 for lower-level seating and $15 for upper-level seating. They can be purchased at the Civic Center or by calling 304-345-7469 or 1-800-WVU GAME or online at WVUGAME.com.
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:24:50 GMT -5
November 3, 2011 By Mitch Vingle The Charleston Gazette
THERE ARE very few paths over which West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins hasn't walked.
Today, in a 7 p.m. exhibition game against Northern Kentucky, which now has ex-Mountaineer Darris Nichols as an assistant, Huggins will unveil his latest team.
It's a team with low expectations playing within the rugged Big East for perhaps the last season. Fans will undoubtedly be excited to check out fine recruiting land Jabarie Hinds and the rest of the newcomers.
"We're fine," Huggins said Thursday. "When we start going up and down [the court], we go a little crazy. But as long as we're in a controlled situation, we're OK."
Understandably, WVU isn't receiving much love entering the season. Sturdy Kevin Jones returns, as well as Truck Bryant and Deniz Kilicli, but the Mountaineers aren't receiving the attention of conference peers like Syracuse, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Marquette.
Yet Huggins and his teams have been there before. And in regard to WVU's impending move to the Big 12? Well, Huggins and his teams have been there before as well. Before moving to Morgantown, the coach steered Kansas State.
"Great league, great all-sports league," Huggins said. "There's really good football, men's and women's basketball, baseball ... it's a good all-sports conference."
The coach spoke about his tour of the Big 12.
"Those schools are a lot like West Virginia," Huggins said. "Their fan base is a lot like [that of] West Virginia. Go to Lawrence, Manhattan, Stillwater ... they will all be sold out, and they're really, really into basketball."
Huggins has pointed out that a big difference between leagues is those within the Big 12 play in their own arenas. That isn't always the case within the Big East. But sometimes, like playing at Madison Square Garden, it can be a plus.
Huggins and his assistants have capitalized on that plus in the past by hitting New York's fertile recruiting ground hard. One question amid many concerning the move to the Big 12 is how WVU's Big Apple connection will be affected.
"I don't know," Huggins said. "We'll have to see. Kansas gets into New Jersey and recruits. We went into Chicago and got Jake Pullen when I was at K-State."
Huggins doesn't wish to publicly delve into the move from the Big East.
"It was time to get out," he said. "But I don't want to get into that with the lawsuit [pending]."
(A note in regard to that: The West Virginia attorney general's office has been added to the school's filed lawsuit as counsel.)
But if anyone within the Mountaineer athletic department knows the Big 12, it's Huggins. Kansas State gave him an opportunity after his falling out with Cincinnati.
During the 2006-07 season, Huggins led the Wildcats to 23 wins, their most in 19 years, and built the base for excitement in Manhattan before moving to the Mountain State.
The style of play within the Big 12?
"It's like in every league," Huggins said. "You have contrasting styles. Some play slower, some play faster. Some play zone 90 percent of the time, some play man-to-man 100 percent of the time.
"Obviously, though, there aren't as many contrasting styles because you have six less teams [than the Big East]. Other than that, it's about the same."
Huggins said if the rumors of extending the runway at Morgantown's airport come true, travel shouldn't be a problem.
"It takes about the same time to travel to Manhattan, Kansas, as Manhattan, New York, if you consider the travel after you get off the plane at LaGuardia, etc.,'' he said. "It might, though, affect our fan base."
Whatever the case, Huggins will survive and, more than likely, thrive with the new challenges.
He has before. He will again.
Beginning with one this evening.
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Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:22:00 GMT -5
November 3, 2011
By Dave Hickman The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN -- It was after Louisville's sixth game -- and fourth loss -- of the season when Coach Charlie Strong had seen enough.
His offense had gone three straight games without scoring more than 16 points. His special teams were OK, but nothing to write home about. His defense was playing exceptionally well, but was getting no support.
What the Louisville coach did was not unconventional by any means. He began calling players into his office for one-on-one meetings.
Since that time the Cardinals have won two games in a row. All from a good talking-to?
"Well, the younger players are growing up, but we're beginning to execute and we're playing,'' Strong said. "I told our players in those meetings, 'You've tried it your way, now let's try it our way. We know how to coach, but you've tried doing it your way and it isn't working. So do it our way.'
"But the players are beginning to develop some trust in one another and some confidence. And it was also good that these two games were at home because we haven't defended our home stadium very well. The true test is when we go on the road to West Virginia.''
The bottom line for the Cardinals is that they are going through some growing pains.
Strong is in his second season, his first with what amounts to more than a handful of players he recruited. And he's playing the guys he recruited. Louisville has four freshmen starting on offense and three on defense. On the team's two-deep -- and Strong tends to use those on the two-deep -- there are freshmen and sophomores in every area.
And that includes quarterback, where true freshman Teddy Bridgewater will make his sixth start when the Cardinals play at West Virginia on Saturday.
"We have some young guys ourselves that we expect to keep getting better. But they play a lot more freshmen than we do,'' West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen said. "They start four true freshmen on defense, three true freshmen on offense and five or six others that play.
"Those are all key guys for a quarterback. There's more and more timing than they had earlier in the year. They're a deeper football team than we are. Due to the fact that they're young and they're playing, they're probably going to get better.''
It appears that's exactly the case. After suffering through a 2-4 start, Louisville has come up with back-to-back wins over Rutgers and Syracuse. The defense continues to impress, ranking first in the Big East and near the top 10 in the nation in total defense (No. 12) and points allowed (No. 11).
But it is the offense that is making the difference.
The yards and the points aren't dramatically different than they were earlier in the season, but the Cardinals are much more efficient. They turned the ball over eight times in the first five games and just twice in the last three. Louisville isn't making big mistakes and that's keeping them in games and allowing the defense to win them.
"They're getting better. They've made some changes. It goes back to their young guys and they're playing a bunch of people early,'' Holgorsen said. "They didn't have as much success as they wanted, so they made some changes. Since they've done that, they've been a little more efficient. They may not put up big numbers or big points, but they're more efficient.''
Much of that has to do with Bridgewater, a highly recruited, 6-foot-3, 205-pounder from Miami. Against Rutgers he avoided being sacked by what was then the team that ranked No. 3 in the nation in sacks. He completed his first seven passes against Syracuse last week and the Cards jumped to a big early lead.
"He's got the ability to make a play,'' Holgorsen said. "He's like Geno (Smith, WVU's junior quarterback) was two years ago, growing into himself and learning. He's talented and has a good arm. He has the ability to get out of it and run down the field.
"He's developing a pretty good rapport with the guys around him. He's throwing it to about eight different guys. It's a familiarity with the offense and sitting in the pocket or being able to make a play with his feet when things break down.''
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Post by elp525 on Nov 3, 2011 8:15:07 GMT -5
The Big East wants us to stay?!?!?
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Post by elp525 on Nov 3, 2011 8:13:53 GMT -5
Alright, who put the damn glue in my suntan lotion??
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Post by elp525 on Nov 3, 2011 8:10:45 GMT -5
With no regulations on alcohol sales in the Big 12, WVU starts exploring its options.
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