MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - For college basketball analyst Seth Greenberg, returning to the WVU Coliseum this weekend for ESPN's College GameDay coverage brings back many memories, some good and some not so good.
 
According to Greenberg, the good was his Virginia Tech team's 69-67 victory over the John Beilein-led Mountaineers on Jan. 14, 2004.
 
Hokie guard Zabian Dowdell poured in 20 points and forward Bryant Matthews added 19 points and 11 rebounds, but it was it was Greenberg's decision to bring Bryan Randall off the bench late in the game that he remembered most.
 
If you recall, Randall also played quarterback for Tech's football team and was responsible for throwing the interception in the end zone that cost the Hokies a chance at a comeback win over the Mountaineers in Blacksburg in 2002.
 
"At the end of the game there was a loose ball - a 50-50 ball - and West Virginia got the ball out of bounds on the side, and we were up two at the time," Greenberg recalled. "I put in Bryan Randall, who threw about a zillion interceptions that year, and I remember my assistants going, 'What are you doing putting in Bryan Randall?' I said, 'I know one thing, if we can knock the ball away he'll be the first one on top of it.' Now he might get up and start running with it, but sure enough we knocked the ball away, and he dove on that thing, and we ended up winning the game."
 
Greenberg did recall Randall throwing a pick in that West Virginia basketball game as well.
 
"He threw a full-court pass right before halftime, and I think he threw an interception there also, but he came up with that winning defensive play for us," he said. "That was a heck of a win for us."
 
That was the only game Greenberg ever coached in the Coliseum as a head coach because Virginia Tech soon left the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
 
But he did spend a couple of nights in the Coliseum when he was an assistant on Roy Chipman's staff at Pitt.
 
He remembered one particular game when the Panthers were on the short end of an 81-64 defeat at the Coliseum in 1981. That was the first time he ever heard the Mountaineer's musket go off in the arena.
 
Unfortunately for Greenberg, he heard it several times that day.
 
"The first time I heard that musket, I was an assistant at Pitt. We were recruiting Lester Rowe, and he was visiting West Virginia for that night. It was a heck of a game," Greenberg said. "(Greg) Jones was playing, the guard, was playing and the Mountaineers went on a run, and we called timeout and the place is going crazy. Right behind our bench that musket went off; the place went absolutely berserk, and I almost peed my pants.
 


"Well, I looked down the baseline and I turned to Roy Chipman and I said, 'Not only are we getting our asses kicked, we are also going to lose Lester Rowe because he's sitting with Gale's wife giving the Mountaineers a standing ovation!' So, we lost twice that night."
 
Greenberg says West Virginia University has one of the great traditions in college basketball with its 48-year-old facility.
 
"I just think this is a great building," he said. "I'm a basketball guy and you look up and you think about the history of West Virginia basketball, and all of the great players and just what this means to the state. To me, that's a big thing. It's a great environment. I loved coming into places like this because they appreciate basketball here; they appreciate playing hard. (The fans) have ownership in their team and they identify with their team.
 
"Obviously, with Huggs here they identify with that much more because he's one of them," Greenberg added.
 
Greenberg said the program has continued to thrive moving from the Big East to the Big 12 despite facing one of the most daunting regular season schedules in the country.
 
No program in any Power 5 conference has to face what Bob Huggins' team has to face on a yearly basis playing in a league with its other members located so far away.
 
"Look, the Big 12 brings a new generation of basketball to West Virginia," he said. "I think they have the toughest conference schedule in the country because they play nine games in another time zone. No one has to deal with that.
 
"The Big 12 has great coaches, great venues and great traditions, and West Virginia is now part of that tradition and their tradition is as good as any of them," Greenberg said. "But I say this all the time, Huggs' team has the toughest road league road schedule of any school in America. I don't care what league you are playing in because of the travel.
 
"It probably beats him up - it's probably harder on him than those young guys," he said.