Well Oiled Team
January 27, 2004 05:13 PM | General
West Virginia has played four times at Alumni Hall and the one that I remember the best was the 1997 game and the show that Seldon Jefferson put on.
Seldon just came out and made everything he shot. Brent Solheim and Damian Owens were juniors that year, but that was Seldon’s team. St. John’s had Zendon Hamilton, Felipe Lopez and Lavor Postell and West Virginia blew them right out of the gym.
I remember after the game St. John's coach Fran Fraschilla coming up to me afterward saying, “I’ve never seen a team that was so well oiled like this one and then have a player like Jefferson run the complete show.”
West Virginia was really outstanding that night defeating St. John’s, 90-77. Jefferson went 4 of 6 from three-point distance and finished the game with 23 points. Owens and Adrian Pledger scored 18 points each, and Solheim added 17. It was one of the better road performances West Virginia has had in Big East play. Not surprisingly, that is the only game West Virginia has ever won at Alumni Hall.
I like the shorter bench with seven or eight players John Beilein is using, but it becomes hard in February when these guys are playing 30 or 35 minutes a game. Then you take Kevin Pittsnogle and Joe Herber, who have really not stopped playing since last year because of summer basketball. That’s a lot of basketball for them.
In reality, West Virginia will probably go seven again on Wednesday against St. John’s with forward Jerrah Young meeting the team at the airport Tuesday night. It will be tough for Jerrah to be mentally ready to play St. John’s without practicing or seeing video tape.
The problems that St. John’s is encountering right now ultimately go back to Mike Jarvis. I’m not really a big Mike Jarvis fan and I thought that he has played off of other people’s material at both George Washington and St. John’s.
Now, because he has had such a tough time recruiting New York City kids at St. John’s, that program is undergoing a major reconstruction. One player that comes right to mind is Rutgers guard Quincy Douby who played at Brooklyn’s Grady High School, committed to St. John’s, and then changed his mind and went to Rutgers.
Last Saturday Douby scored 19 points to help Rutgers defeat St. John’s, 78-70 at the RAC.
So I think it was poor decision making on the part of them in recruiting that undoubtedly led to their downfall along with some personal problems with some of their players.
I did read in the Washington paper that Jarvis may have his eye on the Georgetown job, but Hoya coach Craig Esherick just signed a long term contract before the start of this season. We’ll have to wait and see on that one.
I used to see Lou Carnasecca in those sweaters at the games all of the time and I will be interested to see if he is at our game Wednesday night. Is St. John’s still calling upon him to help make decisions for the basketball program? Probably not as much anymore, but is he still Mr. St. John’s? Yes, just like Dean Smith is to North Carolina.
I’m not convinced that the BC win canceled out the Virginia Tech loss because I want to win one on the road this year. Beating St. John’s Wednesday night or going to Villanova and winning there could cancel it out. I believe it’s probably going to take five or six wins for West Virginia to get back to New York.
As we move our way toward the end of January, I really see the Big East sorting itself out and the league is real heavy at the top right now. Before the start of the season, I saw the top four teams being Pitt, Syracuse, Connecticut and Notre Dame with all of them playing each other twice. That left Providence being the one team that could really benefit with the softer schedule. But it doesn’t make any difference: Providence is one of the four best teams in the league regardless of who they play.
Right now, my four best teams in the Big East are Connecticut, Pitt, Providence and Syracuse in that order. My number five team would probably be Notre Dame. I don’t know who number six is, though I probably lean toward Seton Hall over Villanova.
I would be remiss if I didn’t make some room to write about the job Mike Carey has done with the women’s program this year. I have had several opportunities to watch the ladies and I’m very impressed with the way they have performed.
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| According to Jay, Meg Bulger possesses all of the intangibles needed to become one of the school's best all-around players.
(All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The women have been able to put together a 13-5 record heading into the Georgetown game Wednesday night by playing sound defense. Carey would love to be able to go on down the floor and extend the defense but he can’t because he doesn’t have the depth and he has really no room for margin of error.
The big bright spot now is that Meg Bulger is developing into one of the top freshmen in the conference. You just can see her skills just blossoming.
Meg is a wonderful passer and that might be her best skill. She goes with both hands to the basket and her range is better than most people think. I love to watch her play, too, because you can tell that she’s seeing things a little bit ahead of the rest of the players on the floor. She knows what’s going on and she’s still learning Mike’s system.
In my opinion, Meg Bulger could be the best women’s player – barring injury – to ever play at West Virginia University.
With this women’s team, now I think they can win basketball games if Kate Bulger doesn’t have a good shooting night. They have some other weapons out there, too. Yolanda Paige is playing great and Sherell Sowho has great athletic ability and is having a very solid season.
I know the Women’s NIT really doesn’t capture fans’ attention, but I think West Virginia has a shot of making that tournament. Considering where this program was just a couple of years ago, I think that is a major achievement.
Mike and is coaching staff have really recruited hard and I saw recently that West Virginia has the country’s 17th-best recruiting class. I know they are still after another top player who has narrowed down her list to West Virginia and plans to visit soon. If WVU can land this girl that would shove their recruiting class even higher.
Don’t forget also that sitting out this year is 6-foot-5 post player Yelana Leuchanka.
One final observation I have concerning the women’s program is that I see Mike Carey becoming more comfortable coaching the women now after spending most of his career with the men.
You can see it in the relationship he is developing with the ladies and the way he is communicating with them. It has taken some time for him but now the players really look to Mike as a type of father figure. I can also see the way the parents enjoy having their kids play for him and that has helped tremendously.
