Managing Expectations

Far be from me to rain on the Mounty parade this off season, but with the time upon us, it's time to look at what we should really be expecting this year.

The schedule this years seems to start low and build to a crescendo on Nov 17 with Oklahoma coming to town.  I think this will help us ease into Big XII waters, but it doesn't make up for the depth in this league.  We'll have 9 league games.  That's one more than they play in the SEC and 2 more than we've played in the Big East.  Which means the league has an extra week to beat up on each other.  That's a HUGE disadvantage for anyone in the Big XII.  The conference guarantees itself an additional 5 losses among league teams.

Now I've seen the preseason poles that say we should be favored in all but the OU game.  That may in fact be true, but we were favorites against Syracuse and Louisville last year as well.  We also won our last 3 regular season games against Cinci, Pitt, and USF by a combined 7 points.

So looking at the schedule, I can't pinpoint the losses but I think 9-3 would be a good year.  Maybe one loss in October and two in November.  I worry about the team's mind set the week after OU with the conference perennial  upset architect Iowa State.  That will probably be good enough for a 2nd place tie, as I think a team with one loss will win the Conference.

On the positive, I think the offense will be as advertised.  This is the best line we've had since Rodriquez left town.  Our skill players have been covered enough that everyone knows about them.   My concern is the defense.  I think they'll be fundamentally sound and will develop as the year goes on, but the inexperience is bound to lead to missed assignments and a lot base coverage schemes.  I know they're emphasizing turning the ball over which is great, but this can't come at the expense of fundamental tackling!  A very lackluster NO Saints defense won the Superbowl that way.  But that was a team of vets who knew what they could and couldn't get away with....except that whole bounty thing, but that's another story.

This week  WVU 48  Marshall 14.

Similar to last year, I expect a lot of lighting and the game to be over by the third quarter.  Maybe it will even rain.  No way Marshall has the horses to keep up.  May this series end as it began and every other game, with a WVU victory.

Jones Snubbed

At the beginning of the conference season, I was speculating with a fellow fan that Kevin Jones was putting up Player of the Year kind of numbers. He said "Don't worry. They'll (Big East) screw him out of it." I commented that if he was able to finish the season as the league leader in points and rebounds, they won't be able to. "We'll see" was the response I received. A few weeks ago, I began noticing some of the games that Crowder was putting together for Marquette and they were very impressive. I considered that along with Jones, he was a worthy contender for conference POY.

Today, Crowder will be named Big East POY over Kevin Jones. I disagree with this selection, but not strongly. Crowder would be very deserving if KJ hadn't accomplished what only 2 others have accomplished in 35 years of the league. Unfortunately for KJ and Crowder, the award is an obvious farce. On Sunday, KJ should have been a unanimous selection for First Team All Big East. When he wasn't, it signaled that the vote for POY was going to be a mockery. The votes should be made public. I doubt Crowder would have won had all the coaches considered all the candidates without prejudice.

KJ named All Big East First Team.

Congratulations to Kevin Jones as his selection to All Big East First Team was announced today. Here is the rest of the team:

Jeremy Lamb, Connecticut, G, So.,

Jason Clark, Georgetown, G, Sr.,

Jae Crowder, Marquette, F, Sr.,

Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette, G, Sr.,

Kris Joseph, Syracuse, F, Sr.,

Kevin Jones, West Virginia, F, Sr.,

Truck Bryant was honored with a 3rd team selection. Kilicli did not receive honors and none of the freshman made the all-rookie team which consisted of 7 players. Additionally, one player was a unanimous selection to the All BE 1st Team and it was not Kevin Jones. It was Jae Crowder of Marquette. I would agree that Crowder deserves the recognition and in my opinion is more deserving of consideration for POY than his teammate, yet many consider Johnson-Odom to be the leading candidate from Marquette. These votes come directly from the coaches in the league and coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. Obviously, at least one coach in this league decided that Kevin Jones deserved to be punished because he disagrees with the actions of West Virginia University regarding the conference. I'd like to know who the petty scumbag is and hear him defend not honoring KJ as at least one of the top 5 players in the conference.

Big (XII) Expectations

Now that it's official, the debating has already begun about WVU's expectations of success in the Big 12. The preseason pollsters have the football team in the top 10 for next year, but I don't see where anyone expects us to win the Big 12. (to be fair, Oklahoma is considered a national champion contender next year) I also read an article from Oklahoma that stated our basketball team was going to be rebuilding next year. (I thought that was this year)

Dana Holgerson has roots in Texas and was a coach for several years in the Big 12. That makes the question: Are conference foes tougher to play because they are familiar with the personnel or the system. We struggled in DH's first year against some pretty substandard teams (compared to Big 12 competition) in all aspects of the game. This isn't terribly surprising. USF always gives us a time and Syracuse has beaten us twice in a row when they shouldn't have been close. Will the Big 12 be ready for what may be the best offense in college football next year? I think we'll contend for the conference title next season, but it's hard to imagine we'll make it through that schedule better than Oklahoma and Texas. For the long haul, the move does nothing but benefit WVU for recruiting purposes. Texas will be more accessible for us to recruit from (in the way that Florida is) and the Big 12 is a much better draw for incoming players.

Though it's been exciting watching the basketball team this year, they are ending up about where it was expected at the beginning of the year. They're able to knock off a few better teams while losing to a few they shouldn't and remaining a bubble team. While it's true that we lose two huge contributors from this years team, we only lose two players. With all the freshman getting important minutes this year, they will be seasoned players as sophomores ready to pounce on increased offensive opportunities. Kilicli will be a force to be dealt with, and he'll be joined by transfer Aaric Murray who already has significant accomplishments on his resume from LaSalle. As good as people expect next season's football team to be, I think the basketball team will be just as good. And while it's an increase in strength of schedule for the football team, the basketball players have already been put to the task of playing against the best in college. Recruiting could be interesting given that a lot of our players have come from the NY area and the east coast. Without having The Garden as a draw, Huggins may have to recruit from other areas. I don't doubt he'll be quite successful wherever he gets his players given his past success at KState and Cinc.

Oddly enough, the Women's Basketball team could benefit the most from the move. Coach Carey has done another fantastic job with this years team and his schedule looks to get a whole lot easier. Currently, they battle against perennial powerhouses UConn and ND. (Congratulations to the ladies for the magnificent win at ND last week). Rutgers and Louisville also field strong teams on a yearly basis. That won't be a problem in the Big 12. Counting the teams that will be in conference next year and excluding WVU, the Big 12 currently has one ranked team and two receiving votes. (Baylor is #1, and KState is only receiving 1 vote) The Big East by comparison has 5 teams ranked and another receiving votes. While Baylor will still likely be a powerhouse next year, they should fall off after 6-8 Brittney Griner graduates. That will set the stage for WVU to be a perennial contender for the conference.

The future should be extremely exciting and there is plenty of reason to be optimistic. It's time to show the rest of the country what we have.

Valentines day gift ... WVU to Big XII here is the 2012 Football Schedule... Wowser

Thanks to the Big East for terminating the relationship today... WVU will have to move on to much greener pastures.  I thought that I would miss our "traditional" rivals more but quite frankly I am getting over that pretty fast.  Take a look at what this season has to offer: 

9/1 Marshall

9/8 Open Date

9/15 Neutral site DC: JMU

9/22 Maryland

9/29 Baylor

10/6 at Texas

10/13 at Texas Tech

10/20 Kansas State

10/27 Open  Date

11/3 TCU

11/10 at OSU

11/17 OU

11/24 at Iowa State

12/1 Kansas

Some observations with the above slate. First off it may be the best schedule ever for a WVU squad.   I would point out that WVU plays all  games on Saturday for the first time in I can't remember how long.  WVU gets to play a game in DC  (fertile recruiting ground). Likely will be a WVU home-like crowd.  7 total home games.   WVU shall  have five conference home games.  WVU shall get to play Texas Christian, Oklahoma in likely cold weather games.   Extremely challenging schedule overall, but amplify that with back to back tilts in state of Texas.  Oklahoma State on the road is no picnic. I am guessing the giant-killing Cyclones are looking forward to welcoming WVU as well.  To say I am excited about this season would be a huge understatement.  

Da Geek

Bryant is the key

Well were down to 7. I'm thinking we need 20 to avoid much of the bubble situation. Currently the Mounties sit at 16-8.

Truck is the key because the rest of the team is essentially a known quantity. KJ's good for the double-double. Kilicli is good for half a dozen turnovers and 6-8 pts. Hinds will have a great steal one possesion and trail a cutting guard on D for an easy bucket the next. He'll hit a big shot and then throw up an airball. Gary Brown will drible too much and turn the ball over a couple of times but might give you offense when nothing else is working. Then there's Truck. Defenses have packed in the middle with a zone against KJ and taken advantage of Kilicli's poor hands. That leaves the perimeter a little susceptible to the three. When Truck's on, defenses have to come out to guard him, opening up the middle for the bigs. When he's not, they can focus on rebounding long balls which helps negate KJ's biggest advantage. This has been so much the case, we we're able to get by Providence despite KJs worst shooting effort in at least a year and a half.

Defensively, I can see them working on the changes. Teams look for a switching mismatch. This usually comes against one of the guards, Truck, Hinds or Brown. Unfortunately, Truck can make a 3 man look like an all american in the paint (reference Providence).

While I'll on D, hopefully someone is telling Kilicli he doesn't need to flash all the way out to half court on the screens. Teams will take advantage of his slow feet getting back to the paint!!.

Tonight Notre Dame is going to try to work over our guards on the perimeter with a lot of 3 point shots. Adkins and Grant are both shooting roughly 35-40%. They'll both take about 5 3-point shots a game and ND as a team averages 6-7 3-pointers a game. Beyond that, they're pretty balanced. All 5 starters are at or near double figures. They'll try to find the weak spot on our D and exploit it. They're not hiding anyone on offense.

We have to hold home court. Say we can beat Depaul and USF. At least we'll be favored in those games.

That leaves home and away against ND. Pitt on the road and Louisville and Marquette at home. We'll need 2 wins against the this group to make it to 20. 3 of them are home games. That makes tonights game very important.

I wouldn't want to be Providence today.

After 3 straight losses and 5 days off, I expect the 'Eers to come ready to play. I'm predicting a 20 point win today.

Welcome to the incoming Frosh class (and early admits) Go Eers!!!

The above video is another Dougity Dog masterpiece.  Please visit his You Tube page.  I thought you would like to see this. :)

With one exception, Kinsey, Coach Holgorsen in his press conference yesterday commented on the new commits. I thought his words would be better than anyone else regarding these newest members of the team.  

Imarjaye Albury DT 6-1/280 (Early Admit) Coach Holgerson says: "Imarjaye Albury is a defensive tackle. He is a big, strong guy, who played at Northwestern High School down in Miami. He was a force for them for a couple of years, and we are excited to have him on campus."

Christian Brown DT 6-2/280 Coach Holgerson says: "Christian Brown is a defensive tackle out of New Jersey. He only played one year up in New Jersey. He is a big body. He is a strong kid. He played down in Florida for the majority of his career and then came up into Jersey as a move-in with his father and was able to play pretty good in about seven games. You can’t have enough big bodies on the defensive line. We are all aware of that. Probably one of the needs that we have heading into next year is to get some young guys who are able to play right away when it comes to defensive line."

Roshard Burney RB 5-10/205 Coach Holgerson says: "This kid rushed for 2,000 yards in high school. That doesn’t happen very often. He is a big, strong, powerful guy, who probably weighs 205-pounds already, and he is going to get bigger. He runs on his toes, the kid smiles a bunch and was all-state down in Florida. He is a guy that when you watch his tape, he is going to run you over, but then he is also going to bounce off of you and out-run people. He has got a really good combination of strength and size and can run around pretty fast as well."

Ford Childress QB 6-4/210 (Early Admit) Coach Holgerson says: "We have Ford Childress, who played at Kinkaid school. He is a big, tall guy, who has been in a passing offense for the last three years and understands what we do offensively. We beat a lot of people out all the way from the west coast to the east coast. We are excited to have him up here."

Torry Clayton RB 5-10/190 Coach Holgerson says: "We were able to get a second running back out of south Florida, Torry Clayton. He is more like Roshard, then he is like Buie and Garrison. Buie and Garrison are guys that are shifty guys that can get in spaces and make you miss and start and stop on a dime. Torry is a little bit more of a slasher. He has some power to him. He is not a small guy. He is going to be able to give us some strength in the backfield. As we saw last year, we started camp with five backs, and we were down to two in the bowl game. That is a position that through wear and tear with those guys that you need to play a lot of bodies. We also played two or three bigger backs who are able to get in there and do blocking. With as much as we are in two back and three back sets, the more of those running backs we can have back there, the better. The more of those guys that can carry the ball, the better. So we are looking at a couple of backs that we got from down there that we are pretty excited about who can do a whole bunch of different things."

Travares Copeland ATH 5-11/175 Coach Holgerson says: "Travares Copeland, out of Port St. Lucie, probably has as good of feet as anybody on the roster that we have right now. The kid played quarterback for them. There is a whole bunch of different positions that he can play. He is probably more along the lines of a slot receiver. We can do a lot of different stuff with to get him the ball. He runs well and was a kid that again can play a whole bunch of different positions and those are the type of kids that we want to get. Guys that can play a whole lot of positions. He wants to play receiver so we will stick him in there and try to get him the ball as much as we can."

Kimlon Dillon DB 6-2/180 Coach Holgerson says: "KJ is a great kid. He is a good looking 6-foot-2, 195-pound guy that will smack you. He played both ways for Apopka, which is a really good program in Orlando, that has won a whole bunch of games. He is another guy that is long and lean and can run around and that will also strike you. And as you guys see, some of these highlights we put together for some of these guys, the one thing on that whole tape that stood out to me was when you put him on there, guys running a route across the middle catching the ball, the guy is knocking the heck out of them. KJ is able to cover a lot of ground. He is a physical kid, who is going to get bigger. He is going to get stronger, and he is going to be a guy who could come in and be able to play."

Mark Glowinski OL 6-5/290 Coach Holgerson says: "Mark Glowinski is the only junior college kid that we signed this year out of Lackawanna. He is an eastern Pennsylvania kid. He is a guy that gained on average 50 pounds over the last couple of years. Coming out of high school, he wasn’t very developed. He was tall and rangy. He went to Lackawanna and gained about 100 pounds, and you watch him come off the ball, he is a physical kid. He’s every bit a 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, 300 pounds. He has got great feet, but he plays with an attitude. He has two years of college experience already under his belt, where he can come in and will have a chance to compete for the starting left tackle spot come next year. It was important to us to get one junior college offensive lineman. When you look at what we have coming back from an offensive line standpoint, we basically have four starters coming back, and then we are able to plug a guy like him in there to be the fifth starter or some guys that we will have in the spring to be the fifth starter. It will give us some depth, and it will be fun to watch that unfold."

Jarrod Harper DB 6-1/200 Coach Holgerson says: "Jarrod Harper is a safety from right down the road in Frostburg, Maryland. He was our first commit of the class and was our most solid commit of the class. There is nobody on our list that wants to be a Mountaineer more than Jarrod. He probably came to every home game. He played a lot of running back for Frostburg, and they won a bunch games. He has played a lot of football. He just wants to play on the defensive side of the ball, so we will play him at safety. He was one of the most solid kids that we had. He is just a pleasure to be around. He has a big old flying WV on the side of his head here for the last couple of days and will keep it here. Can’t wait to get him here. He would walk here if he could get into school and be down there in the weight room right now."

Korey Harris DE 6-4/230 Coach Holgerson says: "Korey Harris is a defensive end. He is a good-looking kid. He is 6-foot-4, 230 out of Jacksonville, Fla. He is a guy who will develop into a big boy. He is 6-foot-4, 230-pounds right now, but can come off the ball and get after the quarterback. Headed into the conference that we are heading into, it is going to be crucial that we have guys that can rush the passer, as we all understand that, and this is a guy that regardless of how big he is, you can see his tenacity when he comes off the ball and his desire to get to the quarterback."

Garrett Hope LB 6-3/220 Coach Holgerson says: "Garrett Hope, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound out of The Woodlands, Texas. Another program in that state of Texas in Houston that has won a tremendous amount of games. You talk about Pearland High School, Katy High School and The Woodlands High School, those three teams win as many games in the state of Texas as anybody else does. He is a guy who transferred in a couple of years ago out of Tulsa out of Jenks, which also is a program that won just a ton of games and so his background from what he has been used to is good. He came in and played at outside linebacker. He is a guy who can drop into the gap, but he is also a guy who can rush the passer and is a big physical guy, that to the point, where he is good against the run as well."

Will Johnson TE 6-7/245 Coach Holgerson says: "Will Johnson is a tight end out of Minnesota. He came on a visit in December and watched us practice and how we used Tyler Urban a lot as far as a bigger body, who can put his hand on the ground, and can come off and zone block. He can also run down field and catch the ball. Watching him run up and down the basketball court there at his high school in Minnesota, you can tell and based on what we saw on tape, he is a guy who we are not interested in just sticking his hand in the ground and watching him block. He is a guy who will be able to run a whole bunch of routes and be able to catch the ball down field certainly as much as Tyler did and probably even more than that. Physically, he is ready to do that right now."

Karl Joseph DB 5-11/190 (Early Admit) Coach Holgerson says: "[Karl] has been doing an unbelievable job in the weight room. It is not going to take him a long to adjust physically. He is 5-foot-9, 190-pounds and has got muscles sticking out everywhere. You can see on film that he will be able to come up and hit you and should adjust."

Darreal Joyner WR 5-11/180 Coach Holgerson says: "Dee Joyner is a receiver out of Miami Central. He moved in from Georgia and only played one year there in south Florida. Based on his junior tape in Georgia, we loved how he came in out of his cuts. He isn’t the biggest dude, but he is a playmaker. He can run down field and catch the ball. He is a really good return guy. Going into Miami Central where they have got just tons of talent, he was able to adjust quickly and be one of their most productive guys on the field. He helped them to a 13-1 record and made a lot of plays on a team that had a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays. He adjusted quickly."

Eric Kinsey DE 6-3/250 Coach Holgerson did't comment on Eric as his paperwork didn't arive until after the press conference. 

Nana Kyeremeh DB 5-11/170 Coach Holgerson says: "Nana Kyeremeh might be the fastest guy in this class. He comes from Worthington, Ohio, where the guy did everything. You talk about a guy that can be a cornerback. He is a 6-foot, 6-foot-1 guy who can play cornerback, that can play safety and does an unbelievable job of rushing kicks and blocking kicks. He has probably blocked four or five of them this year. He can play a lot of different things. He is very, very smart kid. I don’t know what we are going to do with him yet. He can be a cornerback, he could be a safety, and he is going to keep continuing to grow. You watch him make plays as far as coming off the edge blocking kicks. He has got a burst and then you also see him pick a ball and take it back for a touchdown. There is not anybody who can catch him"

Sam Lebbie LB 6-2/240 Coach Holgerson says: "Sam Lebbie is a linebacker out of DeMatha over in Washington, D.C. He is a good sized kid, who was a three-year starter for DeMatha. He had 16,000 tackles over the course of his career. He has played a lot of ball, is a physical kid and obviously is not going to get any smaller. I look forward to seeing how he develops over the years."

Devonte Mathis WR 6-2/205 Coach Holgerson says: "Devonte Mathis is another guy from Miramar, who was a very instrumental kid when it came to being on a team that won 13 games and was 13-1 and played safety for them, inside receiver for them, played wideout for them, played quarterback for them and did a whole bunch of things. When you talk about getting as many guys as you can with that type of a body type who can play that many different positions, you got a guy that is going to be extremely productive."

Tony Matteo OL 6-5/280 Coach Holgerson says: "Tony Matteo is out of Manchester High School in Ohio. Tony is another one of these guys who came over to about five different camps and came over to about five different games. He was solid from the very beginning and is a very smart kid who can play center, can play guard and is athletic enough to play tackle. He is going to play in the all-star games over in Ohio. He is a big, tough, country kid who will come over and work hard and be able to take the abuse that he gets from coach Bedenbaugh."

Deontay McManus WR 6-2/215 Coach Holgerson says: "We are excited about Deontay. He was one of our early commits and is one of the most highly rated guys that we have. He is very productive guy, and he was a very highly recruited guy. He committed in the summer and was solid since day one. We are fired up about getting him over here as soon as we can to teach him what to do and get him out there. Physically, I can tell you right now that he is ready to play at the next level. We have got to get him here and teach him what to do, and we have got to get his skills right to the point to where he can get out there and compete at this level. We are excited about Deontay, and we can’t wait to get him here."

Brandon Napoleon ATH 6-0/175 Coach Holgerson says: "Brandon Napolean is from St. Peter’s Prep in New Jersey. He comes from a great family. His dad is Eugene Napolean, who was a great player here back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is a wonderful guy. Brandon is a great player. He played quarterback for them, and they won a whole bunch of games like they have for years over in Jersey. He is a guy who can do a whole lot of different things. He can play on either side of the ball. We have kind of settled right now to start him playing at cornerback. He has enough athletic ability to be able to play cornerback and has played a whole bunch of football."

Noble Nwachukwu DE 6-2/240 Coach Holgerson says: "Noble Nwachukwu is a guy out of Dallas, Texas. He has only played for a few years. He is an outside linebacker type of guy who you see coming off the ball with some pop and can rush the passer. He is a guy who has played at Wylle. That is a high school that they have won a whole bunch of games and played very good competition to the point he is going to be used to the competition. It is just about being able to come in and be able to adjust to the speed of the game. He does do a great job of coming off the ball and rushing the passer."

Tyler Orlosky OL 6-4/290 Coach Holgerson says: "The other guy that coach Bedenbaugh spent a whole bunch of time recruiting is Tyler Orlosky, another big, strong guy. Bill likes football quite a bit. We are talking about coach Bedenbaugh. He likes football, and he likes to go home and eat dinner and bounce his little kid on his knee. Tyler Orlosky and Tony are the same two types of kids where they like to play football and lift weights and go home and sleep and wake up and do the same thing over and over again. Tyler played at St. Edward High School over in Cleveland. He is a great kid. His work ethic is unbelievable and is a big, strong, powerful guy who the more of those guys that you can have up front, the better."

Adam Pankey OL 6-5/290 Coach Holgerson says: "Adam Pankey is the fourth offensive lineman. We wanted to get four, and we got four. We are pretty excited about the four guys that we got. He is an enormous dude. He is 6-foot-5, 290 and runs up and down the basketball court, throwing elbows, getting rebounds and changing directions. He is a guy that was pretty highly recruited that we got in on late and was able to seal the deal here in the last few days. He is really a good kid. He comes from a fun family, is a fun kid to be around, and he has got some younger siblings that might even be bigger than him it looks like to me. So we are excited about the offensive line class that we put together, and he was the one that rounded that out."

Devonte Robinson WR 6-2/175 Coach Holgerson says: "Devonte Robinson is taller than 6-foot-1. It says 6-foot-1 from Delray Beach and Village Academy. He had a great senior season and probably went from 6-foot-1 to closer to 6-foot-2, possibly 6-foot-3 over the course of his senior year. He had a great year. Almost 1,000 yards receiving. He is a wideout. You talk about the different types of receivers that we have. Bigger guys, shiftier guys, taller, leaner guys. The taller, leaner guys are the ones that we stick out wide, and he fits the mold as a pure wideout who is able to get down field at the speed but also be able to catch the ball over the shoulder."

Jordan Thompson WR 5-9/163 (Early Admit) Coach Holgerson says: "[Jordan] is a slot (receiver). He comes from Katy High School, which has won about 95 percent of their games over the last decade or two, but comes from a very good program. He was the second leading receiver in the city of Houston. He is not a very big guy, but as we have found out last year with Dustin, you come in and get into a program, you are going to gain weight, and as long as you can play, you are going to be able to play. We look forward to him being able to go through the spring.

Sean Walters DB 6-2/195 (Early Admit) Coach Holgerson says: "We have Sean Walters, who is a big, tall, lean safety. He is 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds. He didn’t play his junior year. He came back from that and had a heck of a senior year. He is a rangy guy who can cover a lot of ground, play safety. He will probably gain some weight and be able to move down to an outside linebacker at some point as well." 

Welcome home to this class of young men who are charged with carrying on the legacy of WVU football.  

Da Geek

Recruiting News of note:  Yup this stuff is year round... WVU has its first verbal commitment for the class of 2013.  Toledo Central Catholic (Oh.) safety Jayme Thompson committed to the Mountaineers. He already garnered offers from Notre Dame, Michigan, Nebraska, Bowling Green and Buffalo.Welcome aboard Jayme!

More on the Roundball

(15-5) This team looks more and more like a 20+ win team. I had us at 21 at my last review and we're 1 ahead of that mark at this point. You never know in the Big East, particularly on the road. Notre Dame over Syracuse. I didn't see than one coming. Pitt continues to act like Pitt should. But every team, including Depaul, has at least one player that can go off on a given night. I didn't think we could beat Cinci with Truck throwing up bricks, but that is testament to the character of this team. They work hard and find ways to win. Jabari Hinds and Kevin Noreen had exceptionally good weeks. Noreen playing a key role. Hinds has "fantastic" buried inside just bursting to get out. I think he's going to be special. I think G Brown is channeling a little De'sean. He now has 2 last second 3's to send the game into overtime. Both of which we won. Damn, I just love watching these guys. Their chemistry is something special.

So, here my latest run down of what's left:

at St Johns - W (8-12) Their only impressive victory was a 57-55 over Cinci

at Syracuse - L (20-1) The key phrase is the @. They are still the class of the conference

Pitt - W (11-9) 8 game losing streak. Unbelievable! Still have dangerous talent but NO chemistry

at Providence - W (12-8) Cotton can score, but WVU plays defense!

Notre Dame - W (12-8) Most Schizo team in the league with Big wins and BIG loses

Louisville - W (15-5) Haven't really won any BIG games. Under performing, and its @WVU

at Pitt - W (11-9) they're playing bad enough that i can see a sweep this year

at ND - L ND tough at home, I'm flipping because i know we can't win them all. Still HATE ND

Marquette - L (16-4) they seam like a legit top #25 team. Should be a good game at home!

Depaul - W (10-9) Stop Melvin, you stop Depaul. WVU is good at shutting down 1 man teams

at USF - W (12-8) Cant underestimate this team. The can win some games. have to stop Gilchrist

Yeah, that's now 23 wins. I expect we'll lose a couple I have as W's and still end up with 21-22 wins.

Note: We're standing at #26 in the AP and #28 in the coaches but Lunardi has us penciled in as a #3 seed. Not a misprint, #3 seed. Maybe he has us at 23 wins as well!

Go Eers!

Tourney Birth On The Horizon

Barring a major injury or total meltdown, the Mountaineers are well on their way to a NCAA tournament invite. Kevin Jones again led the squad to an exciting and fortunate victory over a very good Cincinnati team yesterday. KJ could earn POTW honors this week and is still well on his way to POTY in the Big East. Along with Kilicli, a couple of freshman also came up big. G. Brown and Hinds did a tremendous job of picking up the backcourt given the freshman-like performance of Truck. It's quite a testament to beat a good team when one of the leaders doesn't show up to play.

And the rest of the schedule looks manageable for an invitation. UConn and Georgetown are in the mirror and with Pitt playing terrible and Marquette and Louisville at home, the 'Eers have a fair chance of winning every game left except possibly at Syracuse. That should easily get them the 6 or so wins in 11 games to be tournament worthy. I commented a few weeks ago that 21 wins seemed optimistic. I was happily mistaken and now that forecast seems a little conservative. Let's Go Mountaineers!