News and Notes
December 04, 2002 04:07 PM | General
December 4, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – This week’s news and notes ...
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| Coach Rich Rodriguez is one of the favroites to earn Big East coach of the year honors. |
* I’m getting the feeling that Big East commissioner and BCS head man Michael Tranghese is going to have to play the role of UN secretary general Kofi Annan after the Big Ten’s announcement Tuesday night that Iowa “is guaranteed” a BCS bowl spot.
Along the same line, I guess you could say the Big Ten is playing the role of Russia and France.
If I remember correctly, wasn’t it the Pac 10 that tried to force the BCS’ hand a few years ago, too?
* UCLA has just increased its fan base by a couple million West Virginians for this weekend’s game against Washington State. If the Bruins can upset the Cougars, that will open up a spot for USC in the Rose Bowl and possibly send Notre Dame to the Orange Bowl.
That, in turn, would clear the way for a West Virginia trip to the Gator Bowl.
* For those of you Notre Dame haters out there, keep in mind the Big East’s current bowl setup has a lot to do with the Irish being part of the equation.
Notre Dame’s partnership with the Big East took place at a time when the conference was coming off miserable bowl performances in 1996 and 1997. Since 2000, the Big East is a combined 8-2 in bowl games.
* Whether or not West Virginia gets a Gator Bowl berth is still in question. But one key point to keep in mind is that regardless of whether or not West Virginia lands in either Jacksonville or in Charlotte in the Continental Tire Bowl, the school’s postseason payout is still the same. The league takes all of the bowl proceeds and then distributes it to all eight schools. Therefore, West Virginia receives a second-place cut – which is more than third, fourth, fifth, etc.
Also, if Virginia Tech were to upset Miami on Saturday, WVU could snag at least an extra million because even though Miami will still become the Big East’s representative in the BCS bowl due to head-to-head play, the Mountaineers and Hurricanes split first-place money as conference co-champions.
* Is the coaching profession volatile or what? Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum beats the No. 1-ranked team in the country, wins more games than any other coach in school history, and gets fired at the end of the year. Nebraska coach Frank Solich, just a year removed from playing Miami for the national championship, is forced to fire three of his long-time assistant coaches.
Jackie Sherrill, under fire for back-to-back losing seasons at Mississippi State, cut loose offensive coordinator Sparky Woods and defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn as well as three other assistant coaches after a 3-9 season. And Baylor coach Kevin Steele, fired with three games left in the regular season, was asked to stay on and finish the year.
* You are never quite sure how coaches will vote, but it would be a travesty if Rich Rodriguez isn’t selected as the Big East coach of the year. West Virginia’s six-game turnaround matches Ohio State and California for the best in the NCAA this year.
Look for Ohio State’s Jim Tressel to be named national coach of the year, however.
* I don’t have a vote but if I did, I would pick Avon Cobourne, Lance Nimmo, Grant Wiley, James Davis and Angel Estrada to the all-Big East first team.
* West Virginia’s 15th place standing in the BCS poll marks the first time the Mountaineers have ever been ranked in that poll.
* Isn’t it nice to know that Coach Rich Rodriguez and his fine assistant coaching staff can now pursue top prep and junior college football prospects with a No. 15 national ranking in their hip pockets?
* Last Saturday was a first of sorts for the West Virginia University athletic department. It is believed to be the first time ever that the football team (Pitt), men’s basketball team (James Madison) and women’s basketball team (Coppin State) each won games on the same day.
* What a year this is turning out to be! The women’s soccer, football and wrestling teams are nationally ranked, and the rebuilding men’s basketball team defeated the nation’s No. 7-ranked team Tuesday night in Charleston.
And don’t forget women’s cross country star Megan Metcalfe won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional race in Davis, W.Va., and finished ninth at the national cross country championships to earn All-America honors. That is the highest ever finish for a Mountaineer men’s or women’s runner.
* Avon Cobourne still has an opportunity to crack the Top 10 in NCAA career rushing because this year the NCAA has decided to recognize bowl games in their official statistics. Cobourne needs just 44 yards to pass Indiana’s Anthony Thompson for 10th place with 4,965 yards and 88 to reach 5,000 for his career. The NCAA will not consider past bowl games in its career statistical totals, however.
* Running back Quincy Wilson has a chance of reaching 1,000 yards this season. Weirton’s favorite son (Sports Communications graduate assistant Jason D’Alesio being a close second) shows 863 yards on just 130 carries. Quincy needs only 137 yards in the bowl game to reach the magical mark and give West Virginia a rarity: two 1,000-yard ball carriers.
By the way, Wilson’s terrific 6.6 yards-per-carry average is the highest by a Mountaineer running back with more than 100 rushing attempts since 1975, when Artie Owens carried 159 times for 1,055 yards for a 6.6 yards-per-rush average.
* Did anyone in their right mind ever think that the football team would finish the year with a 9-3 record, or that 6-foot-10 freshman forward Kevin Pittsnogle would be this good?
* Talk about turnarounds, the football team’s plus-21 turnover margin this year is 29 better than last year’s minus-eight margin. And the WVU basketball team has taken a 17.7 turnover-per-game average last season down to a more manageable 9.5 this year. Is this a coincidence or what?
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| Guard Drew Schifino could become WVU's first 20-points-per-game scorer since 1983. |
* Here is something to ponder: West Virginia’s 68-66 victory over No. 7 Florida was just the 16th time in school history the Mountaineers have defeated a Top 10 basketball team. Ten of those wins came during a 14-year period from 1952-66.
* And how about this loaded question: Would you rather have an underachieving team full of future NFL starters like the 8-4, 1998 squad or this year’s team with likely just a handful of NFL players that is 9-3? I know what my answer would be.
By the way, have you ever taken a moment to stop and think about the level of talent West Virginia had in 1998? Members of that team include such notable pros as Amos Zereoue, Marc Bulger, Jerry Porter, Soloman Page and Anthony Becht on offense, and John Thornton, Gary Stills, Barrett Green and Chris Edmonds on defense. Defensive tackle Kevin Landolt spent a year with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1999, fullback-guard Wes Ours played two NFL seasons with the Colts and Titans, fullback Anthony Green made the Giants roster in 2001 and wide receiver Khori Ivy is currently on the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad.
* I know Dick Vitale has proclaimed himself to be the champion of the mid-major basketball programs having once coached at Detroit, but do you think he could ever talk or write about schools other than Duke, Michigan State or Kansas before the NCAA tournament selection show in March?
* The West Virginia women’s basketball team is off to a 4-0 start heading into Wednesday night’s game against Delaware State. If the Mountaineers can get by the Hornets, it would match the 1987 and 1989 team’s 5-0 starts as the best in school history.
West Virginia has a chance of entering conference play with an 11-0 record. After Delaware State, the Mountaineers play Robert Morris, Ohio, Wright State, Duquesne and Missouri-Kansas City before opening Big East play at home against Notre Dame.
* Junior Kate Bulger is closing in on 1,000 career points with 890 entering Wednesday’s game. When she reaches it she will become just the 21st women’s basketball player to do so.
* Although it’s still very early, West Virginia sophomore guard Drew Schifino has a chance of becoming the school’s first 20-point-per-game scorer since guard Greg Jones did it in 1983. Schifino is averaging 20.8 points per game through his first four games.
* Boston College suffered a huge blow when senior forward Uka Agbai went down with a neck injury. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz reports that the injury could threaten to keep him out for the remainder of the year.
* Word coming out of Blacksburg is that Virginia Tech coach Ricky Stokes may have used up all nine lives after Monday’s embarrassing 79-77 loss to Wofford. The Hokies are 3-2 with winnable games coming up against VMI, William & Mary, East Carolina, Morgan State, Western Michigan and Towson before facing Florida State on Jan. 4. Tech opens Big East play on Jan. 8 at Villanova. The Hokies are just 6-26 in two seasons of Big East play.
* If you haven’t noticed, only four Big East basketball teams remain undefeated: Connecticut (4-0), St. John’s (2-0), Pitt (4-0) and Georgetown (4-0).
After the first three weeks of the college basketball season, the ACC leads the way with six undefeated teams (Duke, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, N.C. State and Wake Forest).
* Beware of the Connecticut Huskies and I’m not talking about men’s or women’s basketball. The UConn football team finished the 2002 season with a 6-6 record as an independent. The Huskies defeated Iowa State, 37-20 in their final game of the year. Connecticut will remain an independent for the next two years before joining the Big East in 2005.
Have a great week!
