Posted by John Antonik on Tuesday, March 17, 2009
(11:27 pm)
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Bob Huggins |
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Want to see the Mountaineers get to the Final Four? Well, Bob Huggins has said the teams that usually make it that far need to have lady luck on their side. He also says there is one other thing all Final Four teams all seem to do pretty well - make open shots.
“You start watching the Elite Eight and the Final Four and virtually every open shot the team makes it,” he said. “That’s how they got that far.”
Shooting has been a concern of the coach because his West Virginia team hasn’t performed that task very well of late. Can you guess the last time West Virginia made at least half its field goal attempts? Try nine games ago against Villanova on Feb. 13 (31 of 62).
Surprisingly, West Virginia has only shot better than 50 percent from the floor seven times this year - and not coincidentally, all seven of those games were blowout Mountaineer wins. You will be hard pressed to find another team in the NCAA Tournament with a stat like that.
The Syracuse loss in the Big East Tournament semifinals was the first time this year the Mountaineers lost a game while shooting a decent percentage (47.2). In its other 10 losses, West Virginia shot 41.1 percent or worse.
During Huggins’ Sunday press conference the razor-sharp Bob Hertzel came up with a tight slider low and away when Huggs repeated something Denny Crum once told him about the need of having good luck in the NCAA Tournament.
Asked Hertzel, “So does that mean John Wooden is the luckiest man in NCAA Tournament history?”
Wooden won 10 titles during a 12-year span from 1964-75.
Huggins glanced at Hertzel and a smile quickly formed on his face when he came up with the answer that he liked.
“How many of those does he win if Walton or Jabbar gets hurt?” Huggins asked.
Good point.
To give you an idea of Bob Huggins’ NCAA Tournament experience consider this: Huggins in 26 years of coaching NCAA Division I basketball has two more NCAA Tournament victories than West Virginia has in the entire history of its program (20).
… And he will continue to have two more wins than the school as long as he coaches here.
Did you realize that nearly half (nine) of West Virginia’s 20 NCAA Tournament victories have come since 1998?
One of West Virginia’s three basketball games against Dayton came in the 1968 National Invitation Tournament in New York City in 1968. The Flyers wacked the Mountaineers with a nightstick, 87-68, and then went on the win the NIT that year.
Those of you stuck in your cars or in the office on Friday afternoon and unable to get in front of a television set to watch West Virginia play Dayton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament can listen to Sirius Satellite Radio’s coverage of the game on channel 126.
Also, the NCAA will provide free online streaming of all tournament games through CBS College Sports.
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Bill Stewart |
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For you twitters out there, you’ve got a new celebrity to keep up with: Bill Stewart. Coach Stew’s twitter site can be accessed at http://www.twitter.com/CoachStewart. His most recent entry was Tuesday, mentioning football SID Mike Montoro’s spring preview on MSNsportsNET.com.
Tony Caridi, the department’s other twitter, has been keeping all of us current as well. Tony says he got a haircut today, which is nice to know considering we will all get to see it on the radio this Friday.
Of course you can check out Tony’s hair when his daily online updates from Minneapolis begin on Wednesday.
With West Virginia and Pittsburgh playing at the same time on Friday, Mountaineer fans in the Pittsburgh market will have to watch the WVU-Dayton game on WPCW (Channel 22). Should both teams win the same set up will take place on Sunday. HD viewers in the Morgantown area can watch the game on Comcast Channel 710.
With so many local teams in postseason play, the Pittsburgh papers are being required to do quite a bit of juggling with its staffs. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is sending Ray Fittapaldo and Ron Cook with the Pitt men’s team to Dayton, Paul Zeise is going with the Panther women to Seattle, and Colin Dunlap will be with Robert Morris and West Virginia in Minneapolis.
And just think, both Duquesne and Penn State came within an eyelash of making the Dance as well.
In my opinion, this is the strongest local college basketball has been in many, many years. What makes it even more astonishing is the fact that Pitt, West Virginia, Robert Morris, Penn State and Duquesne are importing the vast majority of its players. Robert Morris, for example, doesn’t have a single player from Pittsburgh on its 2009 roster.
I was really pulling for Fairmont’s Ron Everhart to get Duquesne into the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes came up five points short in the A-10 championship game against Temple, and will face Virginia Tech in an NIT first-round game in Blacksburg, Va.
Look out Hokies.
We’re also pulling for Mickey Furfari. His widely read Mountaineer coverage in the statewide syndicate has been suspended due to a non life-threatening medical condition. For many years now Mickey has been bestowed the honor of asking the first question at all WVU press conferences, and we have always enjoyed his frequent visits to the Coliseum.
Bob McClain, a former graduate assistant on the West Virginia football staff, has landed the recruiting coordinator/tight ends spot on Todd Graham’s staff at Tulsa.
Ex-Mountaineer assistant coach Herb Hand is now coordinating the Golden Hurricane offense.
The West Virginia women are making their third post-season appearance in as many years after being invited to play in the WNIT against Coppin State Thursday night at the Coliseum. Five of the eight post-season appearances in the history of the women’s program have come under Mike Carey.
I am told that this year’s class of recruits is a monster one. I am also told that Carey’s group of assistant coaches is the best collection of recruiters he’s ever had.
A very nice report on Morgantown ran on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Tuesday night that is also now online (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29744203#29744203).
I guess one of the best-kept secrets in the country is no longer a secret. Now if we could just get a little help with some of our roads …
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Jarrett Brown |
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Having spent about a ½ hour with the media a couple of weeks ago before the start of spring practice, offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen made it a point to say that West Virginia’s offense will be very similar to what you saw last year. Senior Jarrett Brown replaces Pat White at quarterback this year.
Mullen believes Brown’s set of skills are very similar to Pat White’s – more so than the casual fan might think.
“I don’t think Jarrett gets enough credit as a runner and I don’t think Pat got enough credit as a passer and their skill sets are a lot closer than you think,” Mullen said. “Jarrett can really go as a runner and Pat can really throw as a thrower.”
Spring practice begins on March 24.
If you haven’t noticed, we’ve added a new feature at the bottom of the page to keep you up to date with the latest University news. Hope you like it.
Have a great week!
