Getting Defensive
January 24, 2004 10:18 PM | General
January 24, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – This year’s West Virginia University men’s basketball team is proving that it can play defense.
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| J.D. Collins breaks up this Boston College pass during West Virginia's 65-62 win over the Eagles Saturday. The Mountaineers are allowing opponents to average just 66.9 points per game. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Saturday the Mountaineers held Boston College to nine points below its average in defeating the Eagles, 65-62. It is the ninth time this season West Virginia has held the opposition to less than 70 points in a game.
West Virginia is allowing opponents to average just 66.9 points through 16 games, the lowest scoring rate since the 1988-89 season when West Virginia held opposing teams to just 66.2 points per game on the way to a 26-5 record and a spot in the NCAA tournament.
The Mountaineers that year had the nation’s second-best defensive field goal percentage, holding teams to just 40.1 percent. WVU also held eight teams to 60 points or less that season.
Since then, West Virginia’s next best defensive team was the 1997-98 group that allowed opponents to score 69.2 points per game. Not coincidentally, West Virginia managed to advance to NCAA tournament play that season as well.
In the four ensuing years following 1998, West Virginia allowed opponents to average 71.1 points per game in 1999, 71.9 points per game in 2000, 73.8 points per game in 2001 and a horrendous 78.9 points per game in 2002.
Last year Coach John Beilein’s group held teams to an average of 69.6 points per game. If West Virginia can maintain its defensive average this season, it will be the first time since the 1987-88 and 1988-89 campaigns that Mountaineer basketball teams have produced back-to-back years holding opponents to less than 70 points per game.
In addition to keeping the score low, West Virginia is also making it difficult for opposing teams to shoot high field goal percentages. After the Boston College game Saturday, opponents are shooting just 41.7 percent overall and 37.8 percent from three-point distance.
And while those defensive numbers won’t necessarily guarantee wins for West Virginia, it does bode well for the Mountaineers staying in games for the remainder of the season.
This and That
Believe it or not, Elmassian is making his first stop in the Big 12. Elmassian was an assistant for three schools in the Big Ten (Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota), one school in the SEC (LSU), one school in the Pac Ten (Washington), and half the former Big East (West Virginia, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Syracuse).
His coaching stints also include stops at Marshall, East Carolina, William & Mary, Ferrum College and Richmond. He has yet to land a job with a school in the ACC.
Also, Quincy was recently listed as college football’s 80th best player by Bruce Feldman of ESPN The Magazine; WVU teammate Grant Wiley was 65th on that list.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I did an Internet search on Lemming in an effort to get some biographical information on him because I once heard that he got his start in the recruiting business as a mailman. I found his web site and clicked on the link for his biography only to find out that he didn’t have one. I’m sure it’s just an oversight and not because of a lack of credentials.
By the way, I can’t confirm how Lemming got his start.
One final tidbit on Mr. Lemming: Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times wrote a fascinating article a few years ago about how Lemming works. According to Doughty, who keeps tabs on Virginia’s top prep players, Lemming made a call to Al Groh after he took the head coaching job at Virginia to see if he could photograph Virginia’s top prep players on the UVa campus for his magazine.
Virginia Tech learned about it and was interested to see what type of affect that would have on Virginia recruiting. Several of the players wound up signing with Virginia, prompting Hokie coach Frank Beamer to ask Lemming if he would be interested in taking pictures of Virginia’s top players in Blacksburg in the future.
What a great business this recruiting business is.
The recruit’s next visit to Auburn was a let down when he found out he had to fly coach with seven other prospects.
Sometimes the extravagant approach works and sometimes it doesn’t. I remember Don Nehlen once telling a story about how he landed Anthony Carter at Michigan while he was the Wolverines’ recruiting coordinator. Florida State sent a private plane to pick up Carter and showed him the works. Carter’s mother wasn’t interested in that approach and wouldn’t let her son get on the plane. Michigan wound up with Anthony Carter.
Now, the ACC has to wait an extra year before it can play its championship game because Boston College couldn’t break free from the Big East in time to begin playing ACC football next season.
And just think, Miami turned down a guaranteed $9 million per year to stay in the Big East and continue to win national football championships.
It reminds me of the Pig and the Poke episode in the movie European Vacation when Clark Griswold goes against the advice of the rest of his family and turns down all of the nice prizes for a chance to go for it all. However, instead of winning the grand prize and going to Europe like the Griswold’s did, Miami gets to fly express to Clemson, S.C., and Charlottesville, Va.
The only other WVU signalcaller to be picked for the Pro Bowl was Jeff Hostetler in 1995. Hostetler completed 263 of 455 pass attempts for 3,334 yards and 20 touchdowns with 16 interceptions. Bulger’s 2003 numbers are comparable to Hostleter’s 1994 season. Bulger completed 336 of 532 pass attempts for 3,845 yards and 22 touchdowns with 22 interceptions.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
