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Campus Connection: The Sounds of Progress
December 18, 2015 12:53 PM | Men's Basketball
The sounds of jack hammers and heavy construction equipment have been going on over at Milan Puskar Stadium for more than three months now with progress on the east side of the stadium becoming noticeable to motorists using Don Nehlen Drive and the folks living on that side of town.
The plan is to have that side of the stadium completed before the start of next season, along with the installation of a new playing surface, and then begin work on the stadium’s west side and have that completed before the start of the 2017 season.
Construction work is also about to begin at the WVU Coliseum, giving the nearly 45-year-old facility some long-overdue improvements to its concourse and the overall fan experience.
The goal is to move all of the administration offices off the concourse level of the arena upstairs to make more space for additional restrooms and places for people to congregate.
The WVU Coliseum has been a fantastic basketball venue for many, many years, but the time has come to modernize it in order to give Mountaineer fans what they expect and deserve – an enjoyable, first-class basketball experience each time they come to the Coliseum.
A time frame for the Coliseum work has not been firmly established yet, according to April Messerly, assistant athletic director for facilities/operations.
Some more random thoughts and notes as we head into the weekend …
* Site prep has begun for the new Hot Rod Hundley statute that will reside outside the Coliseum Blue Gate on the opposite side from the Jerry West statue. The official dedication for the Hundley statue is planned for late February, 2016.
* The concluding two minutes of West Virginia’s 86-68 victory over Marshall on Thursday night in Charleston were a very good reason why it’s never wise to bet on sporting events.
* It’s clear West Virginia has another good basketball team with a lot of the needed ingredients to make another run in March. This team plays hard for 40 minutes, it has a defense that gives people fits – especially when the season gets to a tournament setting and the prep time is much shorter – and the Mountaineers have a lot of brainpower sitting over on the bench to navigate through the minefields that come up during the season.
The question is: Does West Virginia have enough offensive firepower to keep pace with the really good teams it will be facing down the line?
If you haven’t noticed, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Baylor are really good again this year. And Texas, which has lost to Washington, Texas A&M and Michigan, has also won seven games so far this year including its rematch against the Huskies and a two-point home victory over third-ranked North Carolina.
That’s 10 games against five excellent basketball teams that will have plenty of time to figure out how to attack West Virginia’s press.
The other four will not be a walk in the park either.
It will be interesting to see how "Press Virginia" fares in what appears to be a very difficult Big 12 Conference this season (All-Pro Photography Dale Sparks photo).
* There were 56 fouls called during Thursday night’s Capital Classic in Charleston, which is pretty typical for that game. The three officials calling the game – Joe DeRosa, John Higgins and Mike Roberts – are Big 12 regulars, meaning the Mountaineers will see these guys plenty of times in the coming weeks.
* I was going through some old basketball box scores the other day when I came across a game West Virginia played against George Washington at the Field House in 1960.
In that game, Jerry West pulled down an incredible 31 rebounds to go with a line score that included 29 points and three assists. And while a 6-foot-3-inch forward grabbing 31 rebounds is certainly eye catching, that’s not what got my attention.
What amazed me is that the Mountaineers pulled down 85 rebounds for the game while George Washington had 64, meaning there was an awful lot of bad shooting going on that night.
The Mountaineers made 30 of their 90 field goal attempts for 33.3 percent, while the Colonials fired away at a 30.2-percent clip on their 86 field goal tries.
Furthermore, West Virginia was credited with just seven assists on its 30 made baskets while GW players assisted three times on its 26 field goals. Of course, what constitutes an assist has changed a great deal through the years, meaning you have to be very careful when comparing statistics from different eras.
In reality, if you go back and examine the field goal percentages of teams from that era what those two teams shot that night was pretty typical for that time period.
West, considered one of the greatest players in NBA history, made just seven-of-23 from the floor that evening.
It just goes to show you how much the game has advanced through the years.
* I saw that former St. Louis Rams and former WVU wide receiver Stedman Bailey is out of his hospital bed jogging around the Miami-area hospital he is staying in less than a month after being shot twice in the head.
That’s certainly great news for West Virginia University’s most prolific wide receiver, who had one of the most incredible statistical seasons in school history in 2012 when he caught 114 passes for 1,622 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Bailey’s 150 points scored in 2012 eclipsed a 93-year school record for single season scoring established in 1919 by the great Ira Errett Rodgers, who produced 147 points that year by running, passing, receiving and kicking.
* It’s hard to believe Chris Henry died six years ago. It seems like just yesterday he was catching long touchdown passes from Rasheed Marshall here at WVU. It’s amazing how quickly time flies.
Buchanan
* West Virginia junior defender Kadeisha Buchanan being recognized as one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy, presented to college soccer’s top player, is a tremendous achievement for the Brampton, Ontario, resident.
Buchanan helped the Mountaineers to a school-record 19 victories this season and a meeting against eventual national champion Penn State on its home field in the NCAA tournament Elite Eight.
West Virginia finished the season ranked seventh in the country – the highest season-ending ranking in school history for coach Nikki Izzo-Brown’s Mountaineers.
Congratulations Kadeisha! And, congratulations WVU women’s soccer on a terrific 2015 campaign!
* WVU baseball coach Randy Mazey and his wife, Amanda, who we’ve gotten to know quite well through her television work with West Virginia Media and her online reporting for WVUsports.com, have spent the last two weeks backpacking in New Zealand.
According to Amanda’s Instagram posts, the couple backpacked 40 miles during a five-day period and now are spending a few more days visiting the country before their return to the States.
Mazey can afford to take a couple of days off before Christmas after pulling in what many consider to be the best early signing class in school history last month. Mazey’s 12-player November haul was rated 41st in the country by Perfect Game, making it the first time in school history the Mountaineers have signed a top-45-rated class.
Mazey’s 2014 recruiting class was ranked 51st and the group of players he signed two seasons ago was ranked 53rd.
It looks like the boost from having a new ballpark and playing in one of the top baseball conferences in the country is finally starting to kick in for the Mountaineers.
* Speaking of early signees, women’s basketball recruit Bailey Thomas, now playing at Centennial High in Las Vegas, is the granddaughter of pro football hall of famer Emmitt Thomas, a secondary coach on Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs staff.
Thomas is one of four players coach Mike Carey inked last month.
The Mountaineers are going to get an immediate boost in the backcourt when Florida State transfer Chania Ray becomes eligible for Sunday’s game against James Madison. Ray sat out two semesters after spending last fall in Tallahassee and she will give Carey another option to use at point guard.
After Wednesday’s 31-point victory over 2-7 Longwood, the Mountaineers have a much tougher road ahead of them with games coming up against 6-2 James Madison, 7-2 Indiana and 6-2 Elon, who has a win at NC State, before getting into Big 12 play at home against 9-0 Texas on Wednesday, December 30. Including past and future opponents, the Mountaineer women are facing the 26th-toughest schedule in the country, according to the NCAA Toughest Schedule Report.
Henson
* Sammie Henson’s West Virginia wrestling team checks in at No. 24 in this week’s Intermat dual rankings. The 5-2 Mountaineers compete at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tennessee, January 1-2, before opening the Big 12 season against fifth-ranked Oklahoma State at the WVU Coliseum on Friday, January 15.
West Virginia also has red-letter home matches coming up against eighth-ranked Oklahoma on Sunday, January 17, against fourth-ranked NC State on Sunday, January 31, and against 25th-ranked Pitt on Sunday, February 7.
If watching top-flight wrestling is your thing, then the WVU Coliseum is where you want to be in January and February.
And finally, a very Merry Christmas to everyone!
Hopefully everyone’s stockings are overflowing with goodies – including mine!
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
