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Campus Connection: Weekend Notebook
January 13, 2017 11:41 AM | Men's Basketball
This week’s West Virginia University sports news and notes, brought to you with limited commercial interruptions …
For you Sabermetricians and Jed Drennings out there smart enough to understand math, I encourage you to read Matt Norlander’s column on CBS Sports.com about college basketball’s “roughest vegetable of the bunch” - West Virginia.
Norlander writes that despite having no star power or national sex appeal, West Virginia could be a Final Four contender this year and he has the numbers to back it up - even if most of them are way over my head!
Speaking of numbers, college basketball metric-man Ken Pomeroy has loved West Virginia all season long, ranking the Mountaineers No. 2 in the country this week behind Kentucky.
Again, it’s a formula I don’t understand but it sure does look good to read!
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Speaking of numbers, West Virginia’s RPI, which had been hovering in the 40s for most of the year, took a big jump following Tuesday’s blowout win over No. 1 ranked Baylor.
The Mountaineers head into weekend action with their RPI now at No. 21, according to ESPN.com.
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Nathan Adrian
The growth of Morgantown’s Nathan Adrian this year is not unlike many, many West Virginians who I’ve watched play high-major college sports for the last 25-30 years.
Sometimes it takes them a little longer to develop.
Why?
One word: confidence.
Self-confidence is the No. 1 issue I’ve noticed in a lot of the West Virginia kids good enough to play at WVU and other places - it just takes them a little bit longer to believe that they are good enough to compete at this level.
I began to understand this much better a few years ago when women’s track coach Sean Cleary had some really good local runners on his team. Once these girls began competing (and beating) top runners from other states, they realized they were not only as good as those other top runners – they were better than them!
One of those girls, Clara Grandt Santucci, is now one of the top marathoners in the United States.
James Jett, one of the fastest human beings ever, lacked self-confidence while growing up in the Eastern Panhandle and it wasn’t until he beat some good out-of-state runners in a meet in Virginia as a junior in high school when he realized he wasn’t just running fast in West Virginia - he was running fast everywhere.
Look at what Martinsburg’s Justin Arndt accomplished on this year’s football team. His message to the guys back home and other small places around the state is to stick with it, don’t give up and keep fighting.
It can happen.
It’s just a matter of believing in yourself.
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Ron Everhart
Our best wishes to West Virginia assistant men’s basketball coach Ron Everhart, who continues to recover from back surgery. He has missed West Virginia’s last two games against TCU and Baylor and will not be on the trip to Texas for Saturday’s game against the Longhorns.
He is hopeful of getting back on the bench soon though.
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Mike Carey’s 18th-ranked Mountaineer women’s basketball team continues to battle through a number of debilitating injuries, particularly in the backcourt.
A lack of depth has limited Carey to just a seven-player rotation this year, but West Virginia recently knocked off 20th-ranked Oklahoma and has a 14-3 overall record heading into Saturday’s game against 16th-ranked Texas at the WVU Coliseum that will be streamed live right here on WVUsports.com.
By the way, outstanding sophomore guard Tynice Martin continues to lead the Mountaineers in scoring with an average of 17.8 points per game.
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Our IMG Learfield outbound ticket sales team of Justin Morgan, Lee Harris, Derek Stahl and Matt Harman pulled off a “La La Land” by winning an impressive seven - yes seven! - awards at this year’s IMG Learfield General Managers Conference held in Orlando, Florida, this week.
They also took home the big one - Property of the Year - which is like winning the Academy Award for sales.
Great job guys!
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Dabo Swinney, in high school in the late 80s, looked exactly how you think he did pic.twitter.com/8dqSLuqezC
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 10, 2017
When I saw this tweet from ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell during Monday night’s Clemson-Alabama national championship game, the West Virginia Lottery jingle “Dreams do come true, it could happen to you …” immediately came to mind.
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Justin Crawford
West Virginia football coaches are all over the country right now pursuing high school and junior college players to fill out the remaining spots for this year’s signing class, which will be announced on Wednesday, February 1, right here on WVUsports.com.
Earlier this week, WVU’s recruiting efforts got a big boost when junior running back Justin Crawford announced via Twitter that he was returning for his senior year.
“I will wear that old gold and blue for one more amazing year of my life,” Crawford tweeted.
With underclassmen D’Onta Foreman, Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine entering this year’s NFL draft, that leaves Crawford as the top returning rusher in the Big 12 heading into 2017.
Crawford ran for 1,184 yards in 2016, but nearly half of those yards (540) came in only two games against Oklahoma and Baylor.
His final performance of 2016 against Miami in the Russell Athletic Bowl consisted of just six carries for 16 yards.
Evening out his production over a 13-game season, demonstrating more durability, becoming more involved in the passing game and getting into the end zone more often (he scored just four rushing touchdowns in 2016) will certainly enhance his NFL status in 2017.
And having a full developmental season with Mike Joseph and spring ball with Dana Holgorsen will put Crawford in a much better place when West Virginia lifts the lid on 2017 against Virginia Tech in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday, September 2.
If you’re not sure, just look at what another year did for junior college cornerback Rasul Douglas.
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West Virginia’s two star women’s soccer players, Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence, have signed professional contracts to play for top club teams in France.
Why France and not the U.S.?
Because both players are going to make significantly more money playing overseas.
I was stunned to realize just how poorly compensated professional women’s soccer players are in the U.S. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has a pay ceiling per player of just $37,800 with some players making as little as $7,000 per year, according to an article posted last March on Time.com.
Alex Morgan is the highest paid American female soccer player and her salary as a member of the Portland Thorns is a reported $450,000. She also collects about $1 million per year in endorsement money.
The top players in Europe easily make six figures, with some earning as much as $500,000 Euros, which is actually a little more than $530,000 in U.S. dollars - exceedingly more than what top U.S. players are making.
Lawrence and particularly Buchanan - the No. 1 player in women’s college soccer this year - stand to make additional money in endorsements.
As a result, West Virginia University women’s soccer fans are going to have to get up early in the morning, or stay up late at night, to follow Buchanan's and Lawrence's professional soccer careers.
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Randy Mazey
And finally, the word I keep hearing from down the hallway is that this could be the best team baseball coach Randy Mazey has assembled at West Virginia.
The Mountaineers return 21 players from last year’s team that was three outs away from beating TCU in the Big 12 championship game, including seven of nine starting position players.
Among the returners are freshman All-Americans Darius Hill and Ivan Gonzalez, plus veteran standouts Jackson Cramer and Kyle Davis.
Of the eight Mountaineers named to the All-Big 12 team, six are back this season.
Mazey is also working in a 17-player recruiting class that he considers the best he’s been able to assemble at West Virginia so far.
The Mountaineers open the regular season on Friday, February 17, with a three-game series at Charlotte. The following weekend, West Virginia will play four games in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, against George Mason, defending national champion Coastal Carolina, Ball State and Coastal Carolina once more.
Non-conference games away from Morgantown will continue against Nicholls State, Tulane, Southeastern Louisiana and Old Dominion before the Mountaineers’ home opener against Morehead State on Tuesday, March 14.
The first Big 12 home series is not until April 7 when Kansas comes to Morgantown.
This year’s leadoff dinner will take place on Saturday, January 28, at the Morgantown Event Center at Waterfront Place Hotel.
To reserve your table or tickets to the Leadoff Dinner, register online at WVUMAC.com/Leadoff or call the Mountaineer Athletic Club at 800-433-2072.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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
Ross Hodge | College Basketball Crown Preview
Monday, March 30
