Oct. 22-27 Blog
October 22, 2007 10:07 AM | General
We’re changing things up a little bit. For the past four years Campus Connection has kind of been like a weekly blog full of tidbits, notes, commentary, quasi-opinion and weak stabs at humor that have sometimes hit the mark and at other times completely missed. Well, to keep up with the Jones', we’ve decided to turn Campus Connection into a daily blog. If we miss a day then you know we’re struggling.
Hope you enjoy it ...
Practice Facilities
Posted By John Antonik: October 26, 2007 (1:09 pm)
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| Villanova's practice facility |
Villanova coach Jay Wright readily admits that having a basketball practice facility has little to do with winning basketball games, but if you don’t have one you will lose any chance of getting the top basketball recruits needed to win those games.
Wright says having a basketball practice facility shows proof to the nation's best prospects that your school is committed to having a major program.
That’s why next month Wright and Villanova women’s basketball coach Harry Perretta will be moving into their brand new $18.5 million Intercollegiate Athletic and Recreation Facility sitting on what used to be the Pavilion parking lot.
Villanova’s practice center will have two courts, 32 plasma televisions, antibacterial carpet, extra tall hallways and doorways, a theater, iPod stations, and a video editing suite.
The training room includes customary cold and hot whirlpools and the team theater has a floating ceiling so there is no dead space for audio purposes. Each locker room includes Xbox and PlayStation 360.
Keep in mind Villanova doesn’t play I-A football so its athletic budget is modest compared to other much bigger schools.
Is this excessive? Perhaps, but it is the direction college basketball is moving toward and West Virginia is traveling down that path as well.
A practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball is in the planning stages and athletic department personnel are beginning to tour other facilities around the country in an effort to design the best possible structure for the space available.
"We've toured Virginia's, Louisville's and Kentucky's facilities and we were impressed with what we saw," said Russ Sharp, associate athletic director for business and finance. "We've hired an architect that has done NBA practice facilities, designed Virginia's new basketball as well as other substantial projects. We are hopeful of having renderings completed in the next six weeks."
When completed, a basketball practice facility could wind up being one of the most expensive capital projects the athletic department has ever undertaken.
Something of this magnitude has not been built at WVU in more than 25 years. The football stadium was completed in 1980 at a cost of $22 million. The WVU Coliseum was finished in 1970 at a cost of $10.4 million.
Adjusted for inflation, the football stadium in 2006 would cost $58.9 million and the Coliseum would cost $55.2 million. In today’s climate, those prices would be considered bargains.
Rutgers Television
Posted By John Antonik: October 25, 2007 (2:14 pm)
If West Virginia is going to play well then this weekend is the time to do it. Earlier this week ABC announced that 82 percent of the country is getting the West Virginia-Rutgers game airing this Saturday at Noon. The network has assigned its top afternoon crew (Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Bonnie Berntein) to cover the game.
The only region of the country where the WVU-Rutgers game won’t be shown is in the Big 12 region, which will receive the Colorado-Texas Tech game.
Hawaii and Alaska will also carry the West Virginia-Rutgers game.
Locally, WBOY in Clarksburg and WTRF in Wheeling will televise the game. WTAE-DT will also have the WVU-Rutgers game, although the regular WTAE will carry the ESPN Regional telecast of the Pitt-Louisville match-up.
The West Virginia-Rutgers game will air in Pittsburgh on Weather&Traffic Watch 4 Channel. Cables systems carrying the Weather&Traffic Watch 4 Channel include:
Comcast: Channel 204/100
Armstrong: Channel 450
Atlantic Broadband: Channel 110
WVU 10th in Preseason Poll
Posted By John Antonik: October 25, 2007 (10:03 am)
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| Bob Huggins |
I was looking at last year’s Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll and I noticed that Kansas State was picked to finish fifth in the conference ahead of Texas Tech, Missouri and Oklahoma.
K-State was coming off a 15-16 record and a first-round loss in the Big 12 tournament to Texas Tech in 2006. But the Wildcats had a new coach in Bob Huggins, and the respect Huggins has accumulated in the coaching profession after 25-plus years was evident in Kansas State’s spot in the coaches’ poll.
Huggins wound up leading the Wildcats to a 10-6 conference record and a fourth place finish in the Big 12.
The reason I bring that up is because yesterday, Huggins’ first West Virginia team was picked to finish 10th in the 16-team Big East by the league coaches. It’s safe to assume that a Bob Huggins basketball team has never been picked to finish 10th in anything.
The Mountaineers also didn’t get a single player mentioned on the all-Big East preseason teams.
Keep in mind, the West Virginia team Huggins is inheriting this year wasn’t exactly bad last season winning 27 games and the NIT championship. Four of five starters from that team are returning in 2008.
I am certain those two items will be brought up frequently by Huggins to a team that already wears a chip on its shoulder for perceived slights in the past.
It’s always nice to go into a season with a cause and the Big East coaches presented West Virginia with a big one yesterday.
Nathaniel Zinn: Stat Man
Posted By John Antonik: October 24, 2007 (3:20 pm)
Our own Nathaniel Zinn, formerly known as Nate Zinn during his WVU playing days as the back-up to the back-up kicker, has become much more productive for West Virginia University today in his current role as one of our two graduate assistants.
Possessing a keen eye for important statistical trends, Mr. Zinn passed along to me a nice little nugget of information earlier today.
Jeff Casteel’s West Virginia’s defense has allowed only three 100-yard rushers in its last 32 games. That, of course, is relevant because this week West Virginia is facing the Big East’s No. 1-ranked rusher in Ray Rice.
After permitting three 100-yard rushers in its last four games of the 2004 season, only three have done it since: Louisville’s Michael Bush in 2005, Rutgers’ Ray Rice and Georgia Tech’s Tashard Choice in 2006.
And Rice didn’t reach the 100-yard mark until the overtime period, finishing regulation with 18 carries for 88 yards.
The Mountaineer defense is ranked 12th in the country this week against the run giving up just 89.4 yards per game.
Despite Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel averaging 285.1 yards per game through the air, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez says his No. 1 objective is to stop Rice.
“You have to focus on what they want to establish, and I think they want to establish Ray Rice,” Rodriguez said. “They have done their best when Rice carries the ball 25 or 35 times and they are having 10-12-play drives.
“If they are able to run the ball and if Rice can get some runs it is going to be a tough afternoon for us,” Rodriguez said.
Parity in College Football
Posted By John Antonik: October 24, 2007 (9:27 am)
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| Rich Rodriguez |
Seven years ago when West Virginia and Rutgers played the games were typically over by the end of the first quarter. The Mountaineers beat the Scarlet Knights by a combined 120-7 in 2001 and 2002.
Today, it is an entirely different matter. The games the last four years have been highly competitive. West Virginia has won all four but has done so by narrowing margins: 34-19 in 2003, 35-30 in 2004, 27-14 in 2005 and 41-39 in triple overtime in 2006.
The quickest way to irritate West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is by mentioning those first two games against Rutgers.
“I think everyone wants to talk about the first two games,” Rodriguez said. “Everything has changed since then. Our rosters are different and their roster is different. We’re doing different schemes. To compare those two games is ridiculous.”
Rodriguez says the days are over when teams like Penn State can win 25 straight games against the same school. He believes there is too much parity in the game today.
“We are at a day an age when games are becoming closer,” Rodriguez said. “College football is becoming more like the NFL.”
Rodriguez believes it is pointless having strength-of-schedule ratings until the end of the season.
“It’s like voting in the polls – it’s a popularity contest in the beginning of the year,” Rodriguez said. “Two or three injuries later you don’t have the same team.”
Coming Full Circle
Posted By John Antonik: October 23, 2007 (2:40 am)
When you coach long enough sometimes the same things happen to you. Former West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden is finding that out this week after his Florida State team lost 37-29 to Miami last Saturday.
A prankster placed a for-sale sign in Bowden’s yard. The last time that happened to Bowden was during his days at West Virginia as a young head coach when he was hung in effigy in 1974 during his team’s disappointing 4-7 season.
A year later in 1975, Bowden won nine games, defeated North Carolina State in the Peach Bowl and left for Florida State.
Bowden said he will save the sign for when he moves. Florida State has lost 10 of its last 14 regular season ACC games.
The Streak Continues
Posted By John Antonik: October 22, 2007 (10:10 am)
One of West Virginia’s longest running streaks was in jeopardy last weekend. The No. 25-ranked women’s soccer team has been ranked by at least one poll for 72 straight weeks dating back to Nov. 9, 2002. A loss at either Georgetown or Villanova last weekend could have knocked the Mountaineers completely out of the rankings.
And a loss looked likely at Georgetown last Friday afternoon when West Virginia fell behind 3-1 late in the second half. But the Mountaineers scored four goals in a span of 16 minutes to pull out a thrilling, 5-3, come-from-behind victory.
“It was one of the wildest games I’ve ever been associated with,” said WVU assistant coach Nikki Goodenow.
Two of those four goals came from senior Ashley Banks, who had a hat trick for the game. Coming into the season junior Deana Everrett was expected to provide the bulk of the goals this year after scoring 22 last year. However, Everrett has become more of a playmaker this year leading the team in assists with nine. Banks has the team lead in goals this year with 11 including seven in Big East play.
Banks assisted Kim Bonilla’s game-winning goal at Villanova on Sunday. The Wildcats were once a nemesis for West Virginia, winning a pair of games in 2004 and knocking the Mountaineers out of the Big East tournament on a penalty-kick shootout.
West Virginia has now won three straight against Villanova. The Mountaineers have also recorded their eighth-straight 10 win season and have made the NCAA tournament in each of the last seven.
The Mountaineers strong play is coming at the right time. West Virginia (11-4-1) has won three out of four on the road in conference play leading into a pair of matches this weekend against USF and Marquette at Dick Dlesk Stadium to complete the regular season.
A pair of wins could lead to a three-week streak of home matches heading into the NCAA tournament because West Virginia is the host site for this year’s Big East championship.
