What do you say we ring in the new year with a smorgasbord of West Virginia University sports notes?
 
Here is an interesting stat regarding freshman forward Derek Culver: the Youngstown, Ohio, resident recently had an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double against Lehigh in just his second career game for the Mountaineers.
 
Compared to West Virginia's top 10 players in career double-doubles, only Rod Thorn, Lloyd Sharrar and Carey Bailey did it faster than Culver.
 
Sharrar got a 14-point, 16-rebound double-double in his first collegiate game against Carnegie Tech during the 1956 season. Thorn produced a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double in his Mountaineer debut against William & Mary in 1961 and junior college transfer Bailey did it against William & Mary with 14 points and 13 rebounds in 1968.
 
Jerry West got his first double-double (17 and 22) in his second career game against Furman in 1958; Wonderful Warren Baker produced his first double-double (15 and 19) versus Air Force in his third career game in 1973, as did Devin Williams (18 and 10) against Duquesne in 2014.
 
It took Tom Lowry 11 games before he recorded his first career double-double (13 and 13) against VMI in 1962; Hot Rod Hundley needed 12 games to produce his first double-double (35 and 10) against Carnegie Tech in 1955; Maurice Robinson needed 14 games to do it (14 and 13) against Rutgers in 1975 and Kevin Jones was 26 games into his freshman season in 2009 before he got his first double-double (12 and 10) against Notre Dame.
 
In the last two games against Lehigh and Texas Tech, Culver shows 23 points and 19 rebounds.
 
"He's a future pro, the next great big at this school – if he let's (Bob Huggins) coach him," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard opined after Wednesday night's game at the Coliseum. 
 
There was one astonishing statistic from Wednesday night's Texas Tech loss that really had me scratching my head: West Virginia's starting five of Jordan McCabe, Chase Harler, Wesley Harris, Esa Ahmad and Logan Routt shot a combined 3-of-17 from the floor and scored just 11 points – and the Mountaineers lost by ONLY three points to the No. 5-ranked team in this week's NCAA NET rankings!
 
And, if West Virginia only misses 10 free throws instead of 14, it somehow wins the game!
 
How?
 
Bob Huggins, that's how.
   
Sticking to the subject of head scratchers, did you realize that of recently-departed Dana Holgorsen's five bowl losses at WVU, three came with his backup quarterback starting the game – Skyler Howard versus Texas A&M in 2014, Chris Chugunov against Utah last year and Jack Allison versus Syracuse last Friday night?
 
Those are the only three instances in Mountaineer history that's ever happened, spanning 37 bowl games and 96 years.
 
Amazing!
   
An email from John Pudner of Value Add Sports recently showed up in my inbox rating college basketball's most valuable players based on a formula measuring points per game on offense and defense.
 
Kansas' Dedric Lawson is college basketball's most valuable player with a value add average of 13.29 points per game.
 
The rest of the top five is made up of Duke's Zion Williamson (12.3), Tennessee's Grant Williams (11.69), Texas Tech's Jarrett Culver (11.03) and Wisconsin's Ethan Happ (10.91).
 
According to this, West Virginia's most valuable performer right now is junior forward Lamont West with a value add average of 5.74 per game. 
 
That places him 190^thamong all college players rated this year.
 
Once he gets enough games under his belt, I suspect Culver eventually ends up on this list as WVU's most valuable performer.
 
Here is the website for you to peruse: http://valueaddbasketball.com/?jpudner@concentricgrasstops.com
   
As I write this, I'm am listening to the Bee Gee's "Staying Alive" being piped into the Coliseum sound system. Yet I press on.
   
A quick update on former Mountaineer guard Jevon Carter. He saw five minutes of action in Memphis' 113-101 loss to Houston last Monday before being reassigned to the Memphis Hustle today. He appeared in five games for the Grizzlies, averaging 3.2 points and 1.0 assist per game since joining the active roster last month.
   
The outcome may not have turned out the way Mountaineer fans had hoped, but this year's Camping World Bowl game against Syracuse experienced a 12-percent increase in TV viewership over last year's game that featured Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech.
 
The 2018 contest, without West Virginia's star players Will Grier, Gary Jennings Jr. and Yodny Cajuste, still reeled in 4.83 million viewers, up from the 4.32 million viewers that tuned in to last year's game and the 4.25 million who watched Miami defeat West Virginia 31-14 in 2016.
 
It's the largest TV audience for the game since 2014, when 4.9 million viewers watched Clemson rout Oklahoma 40-6 in what was then known as the Russell Athletic Bowl.
   
Running back Kennedy McKoy is sneaking up the WVU career rushing list. Following a junior season that saw the Lexington, North Carolina, resident lead the Mountaineers with 802 yards and eight touchdowns, he is now tied for 14^th with Shawne Alston and Walt Easley with 19 career rushing touchdowns. McKoy is also now 20^th with 1,870 career yards and 34^th with 343 career attempts.
 
He needs 130 yards next season to become just the 18^th player in school history to rush for more than 2,000 yards during his Mountaineer career.
 
Meanwhile, quarterback Will Grier finished his 22-game Mountaineer career second to Geno Smith (98) in career touchdown passes with 71, third to Smith and Marc Bulger in career passing yards with 7,354, fourth in career completions with 516 and sixth in career attempts with 785.
 
David Sills V ended his WVU career second to Stedman Bailey (41) in career touchdown receptions with 35, seventh in total touchdowns, eighth in receiving yardage with 2,097 and 12^thwith 132 career catches.
 
Gary Jennings Jr. finished sixth in career receiving yardage with 2,294, seventh in career receptions with 168 and tied with Shelton Gibson and Ka'Raun White for 10^th with 17 career touchdown receptions.
 
And, Romney's Evan Staley is working his way up the WVU career charts as well. The junior is ninth with 22 career field goals, 11^th with 75 career PATs and 28^th with 141 career points.
   
Speaking of Sills V, I recently saw where he signed with Steinberg Sports & Entertainment for his representation in the 2019 NFL Draft.
 
Leigh Steinberg's current 18-player NFL client list includes Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II and Denver Broncos quarterback Paxton Lynch. He has had the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft a record eight times plus 60 other first-round picks during his career. Steinberg is often credited as being the inspiration for the popular movie "Jerry Maguire."
 
One NFL Draft rating service has Sills V rated the ninth-best wide receiver in this year's draft.
   
Taking a peek at next year's football schedule, I'm sure you are aware that the Mountaineers are opening the 2019 football season against one of their own.
 
Former Mountaineer backup quarterback Curt Cignetti is now coaching the James Madison Dukes. He replaced Mike Houston, who took the East Carolina job last month. Cignetti, 57, is the son of former Mountaineer coach Frank Cignetti. 
 
He was 14-9 during his two seasons at Elon after posting a 67-26 record at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
   
According to Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel, secondary market ticket prices are plunging for Monday night's national championship game between Alabama and Clemson: https://sports.yahoo.com/title-game-ticket-prices-plummeting-90-percent-college-football-worried-214530894.html
 
Wetzel mentions the distance from Levi's Stadium in San Jose, California, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Clemson, South Carolina, as one possible reason.
 
The 5 p.m. local kickoff time is also not helpful, as well as the third title-game meeting between these two powerhouse programs in the last four years.
 
Since the College Football Playoff was established in 2015, just 10 different programs have played in the event – Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Oregon, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan State, Washington and Notre Dame.
   
West Virginia's seventh annual baseball Leadoff Dinner will take place next Saturday evening at the Morgantown Marriott Waterfront Place Hotel.
 
Tickets and table sponsors are still available and can be purchased online right here: https://wvuf.wufoo.com/forms/m8pw2q00x1dfal/
 
West Virginia opens its season on Friday, Feb. 15 at Kennesaw State before traveling to Atlanta to play Georgia State on Saturday and Georgia Tech on Sunday. The following weekend, the Mountaineers will be back in the Peach State to play a three-game series at Georgia Southern.
 
During my SID days many, many years ago, I was once barricaded in the bathroom of a Greyhound bus during a baseball trip to play the Eagles.
 
My extended visit to the bus bathroom spanned southern West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina before the culprits finally released me from captivity.
 
Since then, I've always had a phobia for anything related to Georgia Southern or Statesboro, Georgia.
 
By the way, Mazey will be starting his seventh season at West Virginia with college baseball's 10^th-best Major League prospect, according to Baseball America. 
 
That's right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah, who tore up the Cape Cod League this past summer.
 
The Cape was also once the launching pad for former first-rounder Chris Enochs and Jedd Gyorko, now in his fourth season with the St. Louis Cardinals and his seventh in professional baseball. 
   
And finally, earlier this week Ole Miss coach Matt Luke announced the hiring of West Virginia alum and former coach Rich Rodriguez as its offensive coordinator. Rich Rod last served as an offensive coordinator for Tommy Bowden at Clemson in 2000 before replacing Don Nehlen as WVU's head coach in 2001.
 
The 55-year-old Rodriguez also coached at Michigan for three seasons and six more at Arizona until he was let go following the 2017 campaign.

Have a great weekend!