December 23 Notebook
December 23, 2004 02:04 PM | General
December 23, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men’s basketball team has an opportunity to earn some national respect next Wednesday night when it takes on No. 20-rated George Washington at the WVU Coliseum.
The 8-0 Mountaineers are off to their best start in 22 years and are looking to crack the Top 25 for the first time since 1998.
Nationally ranked George Washington will be just the third ranked non-conference opponent to play inside the WVU Coliseum in 15 years. The last nationally ranked non-conference foe to play in Morgantown was No. 7 Tennessee, which defeated WVU 79-78 on Dec. 2, 2000. Prior to that, West Virginia upset No. 22 Pitt 97-93 on Dec. 9, 1989 while the Mountaineers were members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
West Virginia has played 22 previous games against nationally ranked non-conference opponents at home since 1953 having won just six. The biggest home win came against No. 1-rated UNLV, 87-78 on Feb. 27, 1983.
The George Washington game has been designated a Family Day, meaning for $45 a family of four will receive four tickets, four hot dogs, four Cokes and a large box of popcorn.
Family Day tickets much be purchased in advance by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME. Family Day tickets are not available online.
WVU fans staying down at the Marriott Sawgrass in Jacksonville will be able to listen to the game on a radio frequency yet to be determined.
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Nationally Ranked Non-Conference Opponents at the Coliseum |
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| Date | Opponent | Ranking | Result |
| 12/2/00 | Tennessee | 7 | 79-78, L |
| 12/9/89 | Pitt | 22 | 97-93, W |
| 2/12/87 | Pitt | 2 | 70-64, L |
| 12/22/84 | Virginia Tech | 17 | 65-63, L |
| 2/27/83 | UNLV | 1 | 87-78, W |
| 2/14/80 | Louisville | 3 | 90-78, L |
| 2/10/79 | Ohio State | 3 | 72-55, L |
| 2/11/78 | Syracuse | 18 | 74-73, L |
| 2/17/73 | Virginia Tech | 19 | 86-68, L |
| 2/20/71 | Notre Dame | 14 | 107-98, L |
| 12/11/70 | Army | 14 | 74-71, W |
| 12/7/70 | Kentucky | 3 | 106-100, L |
| 1/27/70 | Davidson | 11 | 87-82, L |
ESPN Classic will televise the game as if it were 1979 – the network’s first year. Former announcers and coaches will be hired to broadcast the game.
Although he will not go into the attic to dig out some of his old clothes, Beilein does remember owning one of those ridiculous flashy sport jackets popular at the time.
“I had a red plaid jacket like Bobby Knight when I was coaching JV basketball. I know it’s at the Goodwill somewhere right now,” Beilein laughed. “I told my wife (Kathleen) on our first date, ‘You’re going to see me in one of those red plaid jackets one day coaching on TV just like Bobby Knight.’ She almost got rid of me right then.”
Beilein says he never owned a black leather sport coat.
West Virginia will face its toughest foe next Thursday afternoon when it travels to 9-2 Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a 70-58 winner over North Texas Wednesday night. The Islanders took No. 11 Michigan State to the limit in a 62-58 loss on Saturday, Dec. 19.
The Mountaineers and surprising St. John’s (10-0) are the only two Big East teams still undefeated. Conference heavy weight Connecticut lost for the second time this year at Arizona State, 61-50 on Tuesday night. The Huskies also lost to North Carolina earlier this year.
Florida State had its final practice on campus on Monday Dec. 20 and will reassemble in Jacksonville on Sunday, Dec. 26 for its first workout Sunday afternoon.
The two teams are schedule to have a Friday morning press conference at the East Touchdown Club at Alltel Stadium with both coaches and selected players in attendance.
Both teams will participate in the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame luncheon at noon on Friday.
The Mountaineers are currently 37th in the Division I standings trailing No. 35 N.C. State and Tennessee by one point with 95. The women’s cross country team’s 15th-place finish at NCAAs gave WVU 45 team points. The women’s soccer team’s No. 17 placing was good for 50 points. WVU does not sponsor men’s cross country, women’s field hockey or men’s water polo.
Duke is currently No. 1 on the list with 327 team points. Notre Dame is the top Big East school in second with 287 points. Boston College is 12th with 153 points, Connecticut is 17th with 139 points, Villanova is 26th with 119 points and Providence is 29th with 117 points.
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| Sophomore Meg Bulger is nationally ranked in three statistical categories.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Meg Bulger is nationally ranked in three categories. The sophomore is tied for third in three-point field goals per game (3.1), 21st in three-point field goal percentage (58.1) and 35th in scoring (18.6).
Senior guard Sherell Sowho is ranked 20th this week in field goal percentage at 59.8 percent.
For the men, Patrick Beilein is tied for 16 in three-point field goals per game (3.3) and tied for 18th in three-point field goal percentage (51.1).
And senior center D’or Fischer ranks 12th in the nation in blocked shots with an average of 3.3 per game.
Kline rejoins Orioles executive vice president Jim Beattie, who was the general manager with the Montreal Expos when Kline pitched there from 1998-2000. The Sunbury, Pa., native broke into the majors with the Cleveland Indians in 1997. He has a career 27-30 record in eight seasons.
Kline is expected to team with B.J. Ryan to give Baltimore the best lefty relief tandem in the majors.
He pitched for West Virginia in 1993 before being drafted by Cleveland.
Louisville’s Bobby Petrino recently signed a contract extension that will pay him $1 million per year. The price for coaching in the Big East is obviously going up.
The one school that might have second thoughts about writing a check for their portion is 6-5 Akron, the only bowl eligible team not participating this year. The MAC has teams playing in the GMAC, Fort Worth, Motor City, Independence and Silicon Valley Bowls this year.
There are 28 bowl games this year.
Have a great holiday season!
