Feb. 11-17 Blog
February 11, 2008 03:01 PM | 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 ...
Random Notes
Posted By John Antonik: February 14, 2008 (11:27 am)
I ran into a guy at the Coliseum concession stand the other day that West Virginia could certainly use on the basketball court this year: 6-foot-10-inch, 270-pound center Brian Lewin.
Lewin is back on campus finishing up his degree after spending time playing basketball overseas. Lewin averaged 7.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game for the Mountaineers in 1998, helping West Virginia to a 24-9 record and the school’s first NCAA tournament “Sweet 16” appearance in 25 years. Ironically, Lewin was on the WVU team that knocked Bob Huggins’ Cincinnati club out of the NCAA tournament on Jarrod West’s bank-shot 3 at the buzzer.
“Man I would have loved to have played for Huggs,” said Lewin between sips of coffee.
And Huggs could certainly use Lewin’s girth around the basket this year. Once Lewin completes his degree, he plans on moving back to Calgary where he has been living.
Although I must admit I have never found guys in cars making left-hand turns for three straight hours all that interesting, we do have a small army of NASCAR fans here in the Coliseum. Countless lunches have been ruined when the conversation turns to Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson and Rusty Wallace.
At any rate, West Virginia University is well represented in the sport. Two former Daily Athenaeum writers who first cut their teeth covering Mountaineer sports are now distinguishing themselves as motor sports scribes.
Jenna Fryer is the lead auto racing writer for the Associated Press and recently published a book with Jack Arute about the Indianapolis 500. Fryer also took part in an ESPN Sports Century tribute to Dale Earnhardt.
Brant James is also making a name for himself covering the sport. In addition to being the auto racing writer for the St. Petersburg Times, James is a NASCAR contributing writer for CNNSI.com.
Once you are done looking at the Sports Illustrated swim suit pictures make sure you cruise over and see Brant’s latest effort by clicking here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/brant_james/02/13/earnhardt/index.html
James informed me via email that WVU is second only to Northwestern in the number of writers covering the sport.
Way to go Mountaineers!
I got a note from our department super web sleuth Tim Goodenow informing me that our men’s basketball non-conference schedule is not as bad as some people might think. As of the beginning of this week the WVU men’s slate was rated 41st toughest in the nation.
Here are some other schedule-strength rankings:
Had John Beilein said no thanks to Michigan last spring do you think he would have been keeping close tabs on what is going on in Bloomington, Ind., right now? A buy out clause in his West Virginia contract kept Beilein from getting the Indiana job 23 months ago when Kelvin Sampson was hired.
Perhaps Beilein is still paying attention.
Fairmont native Ron Everhart got a big win last night when his Duquesne Dukes knocked off Dayton, 63-61, to secure Duquesne’s first winning season in 14 years. Duquesne is now 16-7 and is two games over .500 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Everhart and West Virginia coach Bob Huggins are long-time friends and Everhart’s victory over Dayton last night did his buddy a big favor, helping bump West Virginia’s RPI up three points from 46th to 43rd today.
Student Turnout
Posted By John Antonik: February 13, 2008 (10:43 am)
Meg Bulger says having a large student turnout makes a big difference in the team’s performance. West Virginia’s last home game against No. 4 Rutgers on Jan. 29 resulted in a 63-54 victory over the Scarlet Knights. It was the highest-ranked team West Virginia has ever managed to defeat.
West Virginia gets another crack at a nationally ranked team tonight when No. 18 Pitt comes to town. The Mountaineers are 2-2 against ranked teams so far this year losing to Tennessee and Connecticut and defeating Rutgers and Notre Dame.
“It’s going to be a fun game,” said Bulger. “Anyone that can come out and support us please come out and cheer as loud as you can. It definitely helps and we appreciate it a lot.”
West Virginia even had the pleasure of celebrating with the students on the court after the Rutgers wins. Bulger admits it was shocking to see the students pour out of the stands.
“At the end of the game I actually said, ‘They’re going to rush the court.’ Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Once they’re here they get into it,” Bulger said. “You are welcome to rush the court if we happen to win again – you’re more than welcome to. Just be careful. I will keep my (knee) brace on.
“It just makes it a lot more fun and a lot more exciting for us when we’re out there,” Bulger said.
Four to NFL Combine
Posted By John Antonik: February 11, 2008 (3:01 pm)
The NFL has released its official list of combine participants and four West Virginia University athletes will be in Indianapolis on Feb. 20-26.
They are defensive end Johnny Dingle, wide receiver Darius Reynaud, fullback Owen Schmitt and running back Steve Slaton.
Dingle led West Virginia with nine sacks and 19 tackles for losses to go with 48 tackles in 13 games. Dingle helped West Virginia rank seventh this year in total defense.
Darius Reynaud caught a team-best 64 passes for 733 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2007 and finished his career with 133 catches for 1,550 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Schmitt ran for 272 yards and scored four touchdowns in 2007 and finished his career with 1,003 yards and 13 touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Schmitt also caught 32 career passes for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Slaton had three straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Mountaineers including a career-high 1,733 yards as a sophomore in 2006. Slaton finished his career with 3,923 yards to rank third in Big East history. Slaton owns the school record with 50 rushing touchdowns.
Dingle, Reynaud and Slaton opted to leave school a year early.
Top Executives, Coaching Staffs, Player Personnel Departments and Medical Personnel from all 32 NFL teams will be on hand to evaluate the nation's top college football players eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft.
The 2008 NFL Draft will take place in New York City April 26-27.
