Feb. 18-24 Blog
February 18, 2008 05:47 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 ...
Biggest Bang for its Buck
Posted By John Antonik: February 24, 2008 (6:24 pm)
There are presently only two schools still in the running to claim a 10-win football, a 20-win men’s basketball and a 20-win women’s basketball team in each of the last two seasons.
One school is perennial powerhouse Ohio State, whose $101.8 million athletic budget has produced a 12-1 record in football, a 30-3 record in men’s basketball and a 28-4 mark in women’s basketball in 2007.
This year, the Buckeye football team posted an 11-2 record before losing once again in the national championship game. The OSU women’s basketball squad is presently 20-6 and on target for another NCAA tournament bid under veteran coach Jim Foster. The Ohio State men’s basketball team still has some work to do with a 17-10 record, but the Buckeyes should once again reach the 20-win mark with four regular season games remaining and post season play ahead.
The only other school in the nation capable of reaching this impressive trifecta is West Virginia, which is keeping pace with Ohio State by spending about $60 million less per year.
In 2007, the three major sports in Ed Pastilong’s WVU athletic department posted records of 11-2 in football, 27-9 in men’s basketball and 21-11 in women’s basketball.
This year, West Virginia is on target for another 10, 20, 20 repeat.
The football team finished 11-2 with a victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. The women’s basketball team is poised to make a jump into the Top 10 for the first time in school history with a 22-4 record heading into Wednesday night’s game at Pitt. And Bob Huggins’ men’s basketball team is one victory away from reaching the 20-win mark. When they get it, it will be the fourth straight year men’s basketball has reached 20 victories.
You can make the argument that Ed Pastilong’s WVU program gets the biggest bang for its buck of any athletic department in the country.
Hunting for Wins
Posted By John Antonik: February 22, 2008 (3:07 pm)
It’s a good thing the NCAA tournament isn’t being picked this Sunday. West Virginia lost by 22 at Villanova on Wednesday night and the Mountaineers are once again hunting for wins to add to its tournament resume.
Right now West Virginia’s best two victories are against Marquette and Syracuse at home. The Mountaineers are 5-8 against RPI Top 100 teams and are 2-4 in Big East road games this year. WVU’s RPI remains in the low 40s after the Villanova loss.
“We need to win some games,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “I don’t think there is any doubt about that. But you know you play them one at a time so we’ll just concentrate on the task at hand and make sure we are ready to play.”
Some think the Big East may get the squeeze once again this year and only get six in the tournament like it did last year. If that’s the case then West Virginia and Syracuse may be on the outside looking on.
However, RPI expert Jerry Palm believes the power conferences are going to get more than their share of bids this year due to the large number of one-bid leagues this year.
According to Palm, he has 23 locks for the tournament. Five of those 23 locks come from the Big East (Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette and Notre Dame), four come from the Big Ten (Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin) and three come from the Pac 10 (Stanford, UCLA and Washington State).
Other locks include Duke and North Carolina from the ACC, Kansas and Texas from the Big 12, Tennessee and Vanderbilt from the SEC, Memphis from C-USA, Xavier from the Atlantic 10, St. Mary’s from the WCC as well as Butler and Drake.
If you count Palm’s 23 locks with the 16 one-bid leagues that accounts for 39 of the 65 tournament slots, meaning there are 26 bids out there for the taking.
Breaking it down further, as of today Palm sees 32 teams vying for those 26 spots. Here is the list of teams to pay attention to as we move toward conference tournament action:
ACC (4
Clemson, Maryland, Miami, Wake Forest
Big 12 (3)
Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
Big East (3)
Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia
Big Ten (1)
Ohio State
Pac 10 (4)
Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, USC
SEC (5)
Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi and Mississippi State
Atlantic 10 (4)
Dayton, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and St. Joseph’s
West Coast (1)
Gonzaga
Others
Houston, BYU, UNLV, Davidson, Oral Roberts and South Alabama
And at 16-9, 6-7, I still wouldn't count out Villanova either. The Wildcats can get back into the thick of things with a pair of home wins over Connecticut and Marquette. After that they have remaining games at home against South Florida, and on the road at Louisville and Providence.
Wise Decision
Posted By John Antonik: February 21, 2008 (12:07 pm)
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| Johnny Dingle |
It is beginning to look like Johnny Dingle’s decision to leave West Virginia University a year early was a wise one. The defensive end is one of four former Mountaineers invited to participate in this week’s NFL Combines in Indianapolis and Dingle’s stock has steadily been rising.
Listed at 6-foot-3 inches and weighing 273 pounds, Dingle has the speed and the athleticism to play on the outside in pro 4-3 defenses. When Dingle first entered the draft most felt he was either a late-round pick or an undrafted free agent, but Dingle has now moved himself up into the middle of the draft with the possibility of being taken on the first day, according to NFL Draft Scout.com.
Dingle is one of two West Virginia players rated in the Top 100 by The Sports Xchange. Dingle is the 92nd-rated prospect in the draft while running back Steve Slaton is rated 62nd.
According to The Sports Xchange, Slaton is an “entertaining player who has a powerful, compact frame, runs good with initial quickness and is at his best when he is able to put on a show in the open field.”
Slaton is expected to provide help as a combination runner, receiver and returner.
Fullback Owen Schmitt and wide receiver Darius Reynaud were also invited to this year’s combine.
Lambert Trophy
Posted By John Antonik: February 20, 2008 (10:27 am)
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| West Virginia coaches pose with the 2007 Lambert Trophy at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
ECAC photo |
At one time winning the Lambert Trophy was considered the ultimate prize in Eastern college football. Today the award doesn’t carry the same cache because Penn State is now a member of the Big Ten and no longer plays West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse annually.
Still, it was hard for West Virginia coaches Bill Stewart, Jeff Casteel and Bill Kirelawich to suppress their smiles Tuesday night at the Eastern College Football Awards banquet at Pegasus Restaurant in the Meadowlands Sports Complex when WVU was announced as the ECAC team of the year and was awarded the Lambert Trophy.
It is only the fourth time in school history West Virginia that has been awarded ECAC team of the year (1975, 1988, 1993 and 2007) and just the third time since the trophy was first presented in 1936 that WVU has claimed the Lambert Trophy (1988, 1993 and 2007).
The Lambert Trophy was established by brothers Victor and Henry Lambert in memory of their father August to recognize the best team in Eastern college football each year.
To be eligible for the award, a school must be located in the East or play half of its schedule against eligible Lambert teams. A total of 14 bowl subdivision schools were eligible for Lambert Trophy consideration this year.
WVU athletic department representatives in New Jersey to accept the Trophy included Deputy Director of Athletics Mike Parsons, Football Communications Director Mike Montoro, Head Coach Bill Stewart and assistants Jeff Casteel and Bill Kirelawich.
CBS announcer Ian Eagle served as master of ceremonies.
At-Large Chances
Posted By John Antonik: February 18, 2008 (11:27 am)
West Virginia has six regular season games to build a case for NCAA tournament consideration. The Mountaineers are 18-7 heading into Wednesday night’s game at Villanova but are only 17-7 in the eyes of the selection committee because their season opener against Arkansas-Monticello does not count.
The Mountaineers may or may not have to win all six remaining games to get into the tournament. Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez watched his Pirate team lose by 21 to the Mountaineers on Sunday.
“They look like a NCAA basketball team to me,” Gonzalez said.
Others aren’t so sure. ESPN.com had the Mountaineers among five Big East teams with work left to do. West Virginia has won two straight since then and will take an RPI of 40 into the Villanova game on Wednesday night.
West Virginia doesn’t have a marquee non-conference victory like it did last year when it knocked off UCLA, and 12 of its 17 wins have come against teams ranked 100 or worse.
However, a few teams are hovering around the 100 mark in 18-7 UMBC, 16-8 Duquesne, 17-9 Winthrop and 14-10 Marshall.
And WVU has two Top 50 victories against Marquette and Syracuse so far with games remaining against No. 59 Villanova, No. 93 Providence, No. 12 Connecticut and No. 19 Pitt.
The difference is in the middle. Last year, West Virginia played 11 teams with RPIs 174 or worse. This year, WVU has only faced five that low and will not play a team worse than 152 (DePaul) the rest of the year.
Last year Duquesne was 222. This year the Dukes are 86. Last year Marshall was 165. This year the Thundering Herd are 110 and knocking on the door to the Top 100.
UMBC is currently 101 and Winthrop is 118.
Six of West Virginia’s seven losses this year have come against teams with RPIs 32 or better including No. 1 Tennessee. The only bad loss, if you can call it that, was to No. 80 Cincinnati at home. The Bearcats are presently 12-12.
Last year at this same point in the season West Virginia was 20-6 after its 10-point win over Seton Hall and had a strength-of-schedule rating of 101.
This year, the Mountaineers have a far better strength-of-schedule rating of 47 and consequently, they are 10 spots better in the RPI.
